Chapter 207: Dyeing the Roof Green
Qing Yatou laughed when she heard that and said, “Yuyou-jie, I don’t want to be someone who lives off others. You don’t have to feel like you owe me just because you took the gold and jade abacus.”
“I have a feeling… we’ll reach a win-win outcome.”
Seeing the bright sparkle in the young girl’s eyes, Xu Yuyou suddenly felt a huge responsibility on her shoulders—like she had to find an especially good path for this girl. Otherwise, it would waste all her sincerity.
After obtaining the golden abacus, Yuyou’s system suddenly refreshed and displayed a new task progress. Her current completion rate was 50%.
Clearly, from the system’s perspective, properly arranging Qing Yatou’s future was also part of the treasure-hunting task.
“I want to know more about you,” Xu Yuyou said.
Qing Yatou tilted her head and replied, “I’m just an ordinary village girl with no special skills.”
Xu Yuyou: …I don’t believe you at all.
“Being able to communicate with a house is already a special ability,” Xu Yuyou pointed out.
Qing Yatou sighed. “Unfortunately, only Bai Bai listens to me. Other houses ignore me.”
Xu Yuyou glanced at the house. Its once-white walls had already peeled away, making the name “Bai Bai” (which means ‘Whitey’) seem completely unfitting.
“Would your house be willing to be renovated? I want to hire people to repair it, inside and out. Would you be okay with that?” she asked.
Qing Yatou’s eyes lit up. “Yuyou-jie, Bai Bai would love that! It has told me many times that it’s getting old and is afraid it won’t be able to stay with me for much longer. But if it gets renovated, it can accompany me for a long, long time.”
Seeing how innocent and sincere she was, Xu Yuyou thought, Even if there were no golden abacus, I’d still want to help her.
“You’re good at growing rapeseed?” Xu Yuyou asked.
She had picked up on this detail from an earlier conversation between Qing Yatou and Cheng Chunhua.
Qing Yatou’s face filled with pride. “If I tell them to grow well, they grow really well.”
Xu Yuyou wondered, Does she have some kind of mystical farming constitution?
“What about flowers?”
Qing Yatou nodded. “The flowers I raise are the healthiest and prettiest.”
That confirmed it. Xu Yuyou had an idea forming in her mind.
“If you could live in this courtyard, grow your own crops, take care of flowers, and cook your own food—would you like that?” she asked.
A look of longing appeared on Qing Yatou’s face. “That’s my dream life.”
Even though she appeared calm, she had been struggling to avoid Cheng Chunhua, living a hard life. She hid in the old house during the day and only went out at night to find food.
If it weren’t for her unique constitution—allowing her to receive gifts from nature—she wouldn’t have survived.
“I’ll hire a team after the New Year to help you renovate the house,” Xu Yuyou continued. “There might also be a photography crew moving in. You’ll be the featured artist in our company’s countryside living series. In the future, you might need to shoot videos and do livestreams. Would that be okay with you?”
Qing Yatou had no objections to being filmed. She only asked, “Can I really decide how the house is renovated?”
Xu Yuyou nodded firmly. “You’ll have full control over the house’s renovation, the video content, and the style of your livestreams. I won’t interfere at all. I’ll even write it into our contract, ensuring that you maintain complete control over your work.”
Qing Yatou wasn’t familiar with the self-media industry and didn’t even ask about work hours. She agreed immediately.
Xu Yuyou wasn’t planning to exploit her. The contract terms were exceptionally generous—only eight hours of livestreaming per month for a base salary of 10,000 yuan, plus top-tier revenue sharing.
In her past life, a few major countryside vloggers gained popularity, but they mostly focused on food rather than farming or gardening.
Xu Yuyou wasn’t sure if Qing Yatou would go viral, but this was the best arrangement she could think of in a short time.
The moment Qing Yatou signed the contract, the system chimed in with a notification.
[Congratulations, Host! You have completed the combined treasure-hunting task. Reward granted: A special hearing ability that works… sometimes.]
Xu Yuyou stared at the system message, confused. “Is this some kind of defective product? Unstable quality control?”
The system gave no explanation.
But suddenly, she heard an old voice.
“Wonderful! I’m finally going to be beautiful again! I’ll visit Qing Qing in her dreams… and tell her to dye me green!”
Xu Yuyou froze. Who the heck is so wild that they want to wear a green hat?
She glanced at the others. Everyone looked normal—clearly, she was the only one who heard that voice.
Quickly realizing the source, she casually asked, “What do you think of changing the roof tiles to green? Would it look nice?”
Qing Yatou tilted her head and looked up. “A green roof with white walls… that might look nice. But I’m not sure if Bai Bai would like it.”
Like it? Your Bai Bai is dying for it!
The old voice rang in her ears again, full of excitement.
“This girl has taste! No wonder she’s Qing Qing’s boss! Just what I wanted!”
Xu Yuyou’s lips curled slightly. She had confirmed that the house itself was talking to her.
But after a while, the voice faded until it disappeared entirely.
So, this was the power of her new system reward. It truly was sometimes working, sometimes not.
Even though the house was sentient and wouldn’t harm its owner, Xu Yuyou still felt it was too dangerous for Qing Yatou to stay here alone. She invited her to stay at the orphanage for a while.
Qing Yatou shook her head vigorously. “Yuyou-jie, Bai Bai won’t hurt me. I’m safest here.”
Xu Yuyou had no way to convince her. She even considered hiring a bodyguard for her, but Qing Yatou refused that too. Even after returning to the orphanage, Xu Yuyou was still worried.
“Woof woof! Human! Let’s go play!” Suddenly, her dog, Guai Guai, barked beside her.
Xu Yuyou’s eyes lit up. She petted Guai Guai’s little head and asked, “Dog King, do you know any stray dogs around here? Ones that can communicate and would be willing to protect a new owner?”
Guai Guai puffed up proudly. “Human, there isn’t a single stray in this entire area that I don’t know. Just wait, I’ll call them over now!”
He ran outside the orphanage and barked loudly for a full three minutes.
Soon, Xu Yuyou saw a group of scruffy, stray dogs emerging from various corners of the hillside.
“Woof woof! Guarding a house isn’t fun! You never know when you’ll be abandoned again,” a black dog complained.
But most of the other dogs were eager.
“Pick me! I’m the most obedient!”
“Don’t pick him! He’s a coward—he runs away when there’s danger!”
“Pick me! I only need 80% of my meals to be full!”
“I only need 50%!”
Xu Yuyou held her forehead. Forget about workers competing with each other—why are these dogs suddenly getting competitive too?
