“It’s a temple festival that includes a fair and a matchmaking event,” Prince Baiyu explained. “The Fox clan holds one every year. The upcoming one will have a ten-year ritual sacrifice to the gods.”

“Guess who's going to be the star of the show!” Lady Hoshi giggled. “Me! I’m going to do the deity dance; you should watch.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said, but I lied.

I was definitely going!

[Deity Procession & Festival:

Get Ready, Players! The Deity Procession & Festival is Coming!

The biggest event of the year is almost here! Prepare for the Festival!

What's Happening?

Epic Deity Procession: Join a massive parade, escort divine avatars, and witness incredible spectacles!

Divine Rewards: Earn exclusive blessings and boons from the gods for participating!

Festival Fun: Play new mini-games and challenges for special festival tokens and reputation.

Exclusive Gear: Grab limited-time outfits ONLY available during the festival!

Lore Unveiled: Discover new stories and secrets about the world and its deities.

Entrance Requirement: One Festival Ticket and Invitation from the Fox clan.]

The System information made me so excited that I was in a daze and didn’t hear what they were talking about, so when there was a pause in the conversation and everyone turned to look at me, I passed the buck to my apprentices. “Lari, Kharli, Mo, what do you think?”

“I want to go to the fair!” said Mo. “But not the matchmaking part.”

Lair and Kharli nodded their agreement.

“The procession sounds nice,” said Kharli.

“So does the shopping,” said Lari.

They chatted about it some more as we walked back to the main house, and I mentally clicked on the underlined words in the event description to find out more details about the mechanics. I was still distracted when our guests gave us invitation letters and then said their goodbyes.

“Before we leave, I have to ask. What are those things on your heads?” Lady Meihui pointed at the icons.

I looked up. “I forgot about that!”

We all laughed, and Kharli explained they were lucky magic spells.

I mean, they weren’t really, and I believed my apprentices knew that, but it was difficult for outsiders to understand the concept of System-exclusive cosmetic items.

“Can I touch it?” asked Lady Hoshi.

I knelt and let her try, but her hands passed right through the icon.

“You’re not the only one who has an icon,” said Lady Hoshi.

Lady Meihui reached out a hand to stop her. “Don’t-”

“Look!” Suddenly, a pink glow surrounded the little girl, and tiny golden stars orbited her head.

“Wow.” I clapped. It was a wonderfully mystical sight.

Lady Hoshi’s attendant didn’t say anything, but she gave the little girl a reproachful look. I figured what she did was taboo or something.

The glow died down after a few seconds, and Lady Hoshi turned into her fox form and ran off.

“Thank you for the visit and tour!” Lady Meihui yelled over her shoulder as she ran to catch up with her young charge. She could run surprisingly fast in her fancy long robes.

“Goodbye, see you at the festival!” I shouted after them.

***

That night, I tried my hand at making pommes boulangère.

“It’s a three-step recipe. I can’t fail… too much,” I said to my apprentices and Yinuo. “Right?”

Yinuo kept a poker face while Lari, Kharli, and Mo took out [Burnt Food] from my earlier failures and silently piled them up on the counter in front of us.

“Right,” said Kharli.

Lari and Mo just grinned at me.

We were in the kitchen in the second courtyard where we lived. The third courtyard was where our guests, the clan members stayed. I had furnished this room with the [Country Kitchen] furniture set from the Cash Shop.

[Country Kitchen:

A lovingly crafted furniture set that brings a classic, no-fuss look to your home. It includes everything you need: a sturdy wooden counter for prep, a reliable oven and stovetop for cooking, a large sink with hot and cold taps, and a dishwasher for easy cleanup. Each piece is made from solid wood and built to last.]

“Okay, the first step is to cut the [Potatoes] and [Onions].”I demonstrated it to them. Thankfully, the System had a mandoline I could use to slice the potatoes thinly. “Er. I’ll try that again.”

Yinuo quietly picked up the [Burnt Potato] and put it in the trash can. I pretended not to notice Lari sneaking it away from the trash and into his inventory. The kids were making a game of collecting as many of my failed creations as they could, claiming one day they would be priceless treasures.

My Cooking skill had improved a lot. This time, it only took two more tries before I was able to slice the [Potatoes]. Next, we cut the [Onion]. I used a knife and succeeded after only two tries.

“And now we layer the ingredients in a baking dish.”

I let Yinuo do it for me to avoid failure. She placed the [Potato] slices first, followed by a layer of [Onion], and repeated the process until all the ingredients were used up.

“The last step is to bake this in the oven.”

“Teacher, I can’t believe we don’t need to use herbs or salt,” said Kharli.

“I can’t believe we’re putting this in the oven with no water,” said Mo.

“I can’t believe Teacher only made one dish,” said Lari.

“You mean, because you think it will burn? That’s why you, my three good and obedient apprentices, will each make one more dish for your Teacher to cook.”

They all laughed, but they did as I requested. With their help, I managed to pull out one perfect dish from the oven. Yinuo threw the others in the trash.

[Congratulations, you just advanced a Cooking level!]

[Your Cooking level is now 10.]

“Yes! I got a Cooking level!” I danced around the kitchen happily.

Level 10 was a milestone, too, and it unlocked a [Chef’s Larder] that spawned a lot of basic items every day like [Milk], [Flour], [Egg], [Oil], [Butter], etc. Not that I needed it, of course.

Yinuo and my apprentices congratulated me.

“I shall serve this to Prince Baiyu tonight. Deming’s food might taste better, but my prince tells me there’s nothing as delicious as a meal cooked by your sweetheart.” I looked around at the others. “Shall we serve your dishes at the dinner table? I’m sure Scholar Wu will be impressed.”

“Teacher, can we taste it first?” asked Mo. She was eyeing the food hungrily and already had a fork in her hand. “It smells wonderful.”

“Sure, why not?”

We each cut a small piece from the baking dish. The top was crisp and golden brown, and when I cut into it with my fork, steam rose from it, carrying the scent of herbs and butter, which was extremely strange seeing as we had used neither. The potatoes were soft, having absorbed some mysterious liquid made by the System’s cooking process. It was a simple but delicious bite, especially hot and fresh from the oven like this.

“Wait a mo,” I said. “Shouldn’t this be too hot for us to eat?”

“The System made it cool enough for us,” said Lari. “Whenever we cook, it’s always the right temperature for eating.”

“No, it’s not,” said Mo. “Did you forget the [Peach Pies] we baked? They had to be cooled.”

We continued eating, and I brought up the topic of the festival, which was one of the more exciting things that had happened this year.

“We need new festival clothes,” I said. “The Fox clan will probably go all out since they love fashionable clothes, but won’t it be hot?”

“Teacher, it’s not just clothes. Lari doesn’t have any good shoes left. His feet keep growing,” said Mo.

“You’re all growing. We shall have all new summer outfits. Last year’s are too small for you guys now,” I said. “How’s it going with your dowry chests?”

We chatted while eating, and continued discussing it at the dinner meal.

Yinuo wrote a list of all the things we wanted and added some suggestions of her own. Shopping was a serious topic here since good cloth such as fine cotton, linen, and silk were relatively more expensive compared to their cost back on Earth. Commoners often only had one or two basic outfits. Clothing was made to last and was meticulously repaired using advanced sewing techniques. Yinuo and the other maids could fix a hole by sewing a patch on it so expertly that one would never know that it was mended unless you flipped it over to see the inner side.

This was totally different from my experience on Earth. My parents loved to travel to several countries every year, and we often bought new local clothes wherever we went, which we often gave away at a charity shop at the end of our trips.

Prince Baiyu, whose family had a huge silk production business, added his insights and offered to have his family’s agent show us the latest fashions, an offer that I quickly accepted.

“Do we get a discount? A huge one?” I asked him with a smile as he devoured the food I made just for him like a man who hadn’t seen food for weeks.

“These potatoes are too good.” He leaned back on his chair and chuckled. “Yes, I can give you a ten percent discount.”

“Awesome.” I covered my mouth with a hand and whispered into his ear. “After dinner, let’s go to our special place.”

Eyes twinkling, he nodded.

***

“Tonight is a special night,” I said to my boyfriend.

We were lying on a picnic blanket under a scholar tree in a small clearing. The sound of water from the small stream on the glade’s western side was soothing, and the gentle night breeze brought with it the intoxicating scent of the night-blooming jasmine. We were at the Mysterious Glade, a place only he and I could enter.

[The Mysterious Glade:

A hidden place blessed by the forest spirits. Protected by a powerful magic, it has remained undiscovered for countless eons.

It is a place of healing and peace, where problems and worries fade away. Legend states that if you sit quietly in the glade, the answers to your deepest questions will come to you, but do not stay for too long, or you might never emerge from the Mysterious Glade.]

“Every night with you is special.” He kissed my neck.

“Wait a few minutes,” I whispered into his ear.

We lay there side by side, waiting.

“Look!” I pointed at the eastern sky, where a golden light was flickering and moving towards us. “They’re almost here.”