And so the days passed, one by one. Wei Bai worked the fields during the day, built houses in the afternoon, and still had to coax the children at night; one could say he was mentally and physically exhausted.
That girl Ling had no other talents, but when it came to learning his bad habits, the student had surpassed the master. She spent her days idling about with a devil-may-care attitude. In short, her education was a complete failure.
Shu wasn't looking after the children anymore. The last incident had spurred her on, and she followed Wei Bai to toil in the fields, becoming the first to learn the "Song of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms."
The two little blockheads, Nian and Xi, were a bit afraid of little Shu, so they just played by themselves. Most of the time, little Nian would bully little Xi. Little Xi, used to being bullied, would occasionally fight back. When she couldn't win, she'd run to Daddy to tattle, to which Nian would exclaim, "Despicable!"
A month later, the houses for the entire village were finally rebuilt.
It was already late at night by the time he had helped every family settle in. The stars and moon twinkled brightly. Wei Bai returned to the last remaining dilapidated house.
"Alright, it's time for us to move too."
Carrying one child in each arm, with Shu in a basket on his back, Wei Bai walked towards their new house.
As the de facto village chief, Wei Bai had also planned the layout of the roads. The houses were mostly built next to each other, distributed on either side of the dirt paths.
Their own house was no different from the others. It had a front courtyard, which led into a reception area. On either side were bedrooms, one primary and one secondary, about four hundred square meters in total. There was nothing else here, but land was something they had in abundance.
Wei Bai placed their belongings in the master bedroom. The whole family would sleep here from now on. The bed was eight meters long and eight meters wide, taking up more than half the room. Besides that, there was only a wardrobe, a desk, and a window.
"Dad!"
Just as he had finished tidying up the room, he heard Ling call for him. Wei Bai poked his head out of the bedroom. "What's up?"
Ling was standing at the main gate. "There are a lot of people here to see you."
See me? Everything is done. It's the middle of the night, what do they want to see me for?
Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Wei Bai went to open the door.
On the wide, flat ground in front of the house stood a great many villagers, of all shapes and ages. Upon seeing him, they moved in unison to prostrate themselves and kowtow.
"Alright, alright, what are you doing this for in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? Go on, go on, all of you, shoo. If you've got nothing better to do, go check on the fields."
Wei Bai waved his hand in annoyance and even stepped outside to shoo them away.
The huge crowd hurriedly got up and dispersed.
"Lord Wei, Lord Wei, hey, don't shoo me away!"
"Please don't tire yourself out, we're leaving."
The young men of the village were the most energetic. They laughed, kowtowed twice, and then led the others away.
"Heh, honestly," Wei Bai shook his head helplessly.
"Dad, what's this?"
Ling curiously picked up a jar they had left behind. Wei Bai glanced at it.
"Wine, probably."
"What's wine?"
"Open it and take a sniff."
Ling lifted the lid of the jar, and a fragrant aroma filled the air.
Driven by curiosity, the eldest daughter dipped her finger in, brought it to her lips, and smacked them a couple of times.
"Not bad."
"Of course it's not bad!" Wei Bai snatched the jar from her, gave her a roll of his eyes, and said smugly, "Could the wine your dad brewed be anything but good?"
Because he had no wine to drink in reality, and it was even less likely to find any here, Wei Bai had topped up another ten thousand for brewing skills, and even got a matching acceleration ability. Because he had been busy, he had asked the villagers to look after it for him, and they had delivered it today.
"Let's go, back inside!"
Humming a little tune, Wei Bai carried the wine jar back into the house.
The room was brightly lit by the fire. Nian and Xi were already asleep, and little Shu was amusing herself by poking their faces.
Plonking himself down at the head of the bed, Wei Bai opened the jar and took out a bowl. Little Shu curiously came closer and peeked inside.
"Daddy, what's this?"
Wei Bai poured a little wine and handed it to her. Shu took a sip—"yueh~," then dodged away in disgust, making her old father roar with laughter.
Ling wanted to drink some, but was too embarrassed to ask, so she pretended to be asleep. In reality, she was watching her father drink with half-open eyes, swallowing her saliva from time to time.
Sipping his wine, Wei Bai basked contentedly by the fire, feeling very comfortable.
Just then, the long-silent commission agency sent a new notification.
[Special Commission: "Sui Beast's Disintegration" has been completed. The player may now exit the simulated world at any time.]
[Account Balance: 135,000 Lungmen Dollars]
[Level One Agency Structure "Hall of Accountability" Unlocked]
[Hall of Accountability: If a commission fails, the client and the commissioned party may go to the Hall of Accountability to hold the player accountable. The player can also use the Hall to be exempted from Lungmen Dollar penalties.]
Wei Bai tipped his head back and downed a mouthful of wine.
He had a family to support now. He couldn't just leave whenever he wanted.
Compared to a game built of numbers and code, the world within the commission agency was more like a small, independently running world. After staying for so long, it was hard to distinguish it from reality. Wei Bai had no intention of leaving before his daughters grew up.
Besides, regardless of whether he was in reality or not, once a commission was completed, the player could continue to accept new ones.
He wasn't sure what the mechanism of this Hall of Accountability was. He'd figure it out when the need arose.
Closing the game panel, Wei Bai had two more small bowls of wine.
The wine he brewed himself had a much higher alcohol content than the wine of this era. After a short while, he felt it going to his head. He decided to use the dizzy feeling to drift off to sleep.
Ling opened one eye and called out softly, "Dad?"
No one answered.
"Dad, are you asleep?" she said, a little louder.
After confirming that Wei Bai was really asleep, Ling crawled to the edge of the bed, picked up the wine jar, and prepared to take a sip.
"Big sister, that's Daddy's..."
Shu tried to stop her weakly, but Ling shot her a glare. "What? Can't I have a little?"
"Oh..." Little Shu shrank back.
Ling cautiously glanced at her sleeping father again. After making sure there were no signs of him waking up, she took a sip.
*Mmm, not bad, it's good.*
Just one more sip...
Mmm, it's good.
One more sip...
Mmm, just one more.
"Huh?"
Ling tipped the wine jar. How was it empty?
Ah, how is it GONE?!
Panicking, Ling stealthily placed the wine jar back in its original spot.
Little Shu, who had witnessed the entire crime, sighed.
Forget it, I'm not getting involved.
Neither big sister nor little sister is worry-free. Daddy is still the best.
Shu crawled over to Wei Bai's side and snuggled into her father's embrace to sleep.
Ling didn't know what to do, but the alcohol hit her all at once. She fell over and passed out.
Her sleep didn't last until dawn. Instead, she found herself in an unknown place. It was dark all around, and Ling floated in this dark space.
"Where is this? Why is it so dark?"
The moment this thought appeared in her mind, the world was filled with a blue sky and white clouds.
"Huh?"
Ling blinked. Could it be...
"Wine!"
She shouted, and a jar of wine instantly appeared in her hand.
So dreaming was this fun and freeing.
Grinning, Ling wandered through her own dreamscape, sometimes flying into the sky, sometimes returning to the ground. Whatever she wanted, she got, as if it was her natural-born right to rule the dreamscape.
In that case, can I go see what's in Father's dream?
The idea popped into her head. Ling tried to cross over to the other dream. Whoa, it actually worked.
She arrived in a red room. Wei Bai's dream was jubilant, with the character "囍" (Double Happiness) posted everywhere.
Is this a wedding?
Ling looked around and found her father by the bed. He was dressed as a groom and was whispering sweet nothings to the bride:
"My lady, you have come thousands of miles from the Great Wilderness City to marry me. I... I will surely not fail you..."
The words made Ling's skin crawl. She quickly looked at the bride.
The bride was dressed in a grand red gown, her face covered by a red veil, making her features impossible to see. But she felt strangely familiar.
If this is a dream, it shouldn't hurt to look, right? After all, seeing who Dad's sweetheart is... is sort of like seeing my mother...
Yes, that's what I'll do.
Having made up her mind, Ling paused the dream, flew in front of the bride, and gently lifted the red veil.
"What!"
Seeing the bride's face clearly, the eldest daughter was dumbfounded.
Dad, you..!