Weird, my gaming life

After leaving the house, Lin Yuan walked along a narrow path and arrived at the office of the servants' quarters. He opened the door and saw a middle-aged man with a stubble beard sitting in a rocking chair, drinking an unknown tea and fanning himself idly with a banana leaf fan.

"Manager!"

Lin Yuan clasped his hands slightly and said respectfully.

Upon seeing the newcomer, the middle-aged man's previously relaxed expression softened into a smile.

"It's Lin Yuan, kid! Here he comes again to take on odd jobs!"

He was quite satisfied with the diligent young man in front of him. There were more than two hundred people in the servants' quarters, but very few of them were diligent. Most of them would finish their assigned tasks for the day and then hide away to cultivate diligently.

Zhang Haishan remained noncommittal about this, saying that those who diligently cultivated their skills should take a look at their own status and not really think they could become great heroes with a second-rate cultivation technique!

He had been working in the servants' quarters for nearly twenty years and had never seen a servant disciple manage to enter the outer sect.

To put it bluntly, the Daoist boys who were taken back by those wandering outer disciples were, to put it nicely, called miscellaneous disciples, but to put it bluntly, they were just a bunch of laborers.

Qinghe Palace has a strict selection process for its true disciples. The lowest level is from a scholarly family, and the highest level is from a prominent family with a deep foundation in martial arts.

After all, the more profound the skill, the more it requires the disciple to understand its deeper meaning. Without a cultural foundation, one might easily go astray and become possessed by evil spirits.

Moreover, it's said that the poor study literature while the rich study martial arts; without some family wealth, it's incredibly difficult to make progress in martial arts.

A bunch of peasants, at most they could outlive him and make him the manager of the menial quarters. As for wanting to escape his status, he would have to be a prodigy with such good aptitude that the sect would be willing to train him for free.

Otherwise, do you really think that the martial arts sects in the Jianghu are running charitable halls? Not only do they spend a lot of effort to train you for free, but they also expect you to bring glory to their family when you grow up. Isn't that a joke? If they really had that kind of time, wouldn't those aristocratic families who lay a solid foundation from childhood and donate money and goods to the sects be more appealing?

"Yes, foreman, I'm getting a bit tired of chopping wood lately. I'd like to try something different. If possible, I'd like to work in the laundry room for a while!"

Upon hearing Lin Yuan's request, Zhang Haishan's expression showed a hint of doubt, knowing that the washroom was no easy place.

As a famous sect in Jiangnan, Qinghe Palace has over a thousand disciples. They are always busy washing so many clothes that they can't keep up with the workload. It is a major area for people to avoid the menial labor quarters.

"Lin Yuan, are you sure? Let me tell you, with your small frame, you probably can't handle going to the washroom right now. Although you usually come into contact with a lot of outer disciples there, Uncle Zhang has to remind you, we menial disciples are nothing in front of them!"

Feeling Zhang Haishan's kind reminder, Lin Yuan couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Uncle Zhang, you know I'm still young, and I want to take a gamble. Even if there's only the slightest chance, I'm not willing to let it go!"

Hearing Lin Yuan's resolute answer, Zhang Haishan opened his mouth. To be honest, he could understand this feeling. The handyman disciple who was tricked into joining the sect did not come with a dream of becoming a martial arts hero.

But reality is often cruel. He spent nearly twenty years in the servants' quarters, and very few disciples were able to leave.

"Fine! Since it's your request, I won't stop you. I hope you can see reality soon! People like us, downtrodden as peasants, are destined to spend our whole lives wallowing in this mud!"

After saying that, Zhang Haishan casually picked up a wooden plaque from the table and tossed it to Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan looked at the three large characters "washing room" engraved on the wooden sign and couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

"Thank you, Uncle Zhang, but how can I be satisfied without giving it a try? What if I succeed!"

Zhang Haishan waved his hand. He was already tired of hearing these kinds of words. Looking at Lin Yuan, who was excitedly walking out the door with the token, he couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile.

"If it succeeds, I won't stay here for twenty years!"

Zhang Haishan couldn't help but sigh. He had seen too many young people like him who were full of hope, but in the end, they didn't live up to expectations and gradually became as numb as he was.

For ten years, they did the same thing day after day, and what's most infuriating is that they didn't even get paid. Apart from the first second-rate martial arts manual, they had no other income and could only drift through life in this menial courtyard. How could they be content with that?

If there were even the slightest chance, they wouldn't be working as free laborers here. As for escaping, in this world where people fly around, who can escape those martial artists? If caught, it's a crime of betraying one's sect, and they could lose their lives at any time.

Moreover, the government won't interfere, because they did indeed learn the martial arts of Qinghe Palace.

After leaving the servants' office, Lin Yuan headed straight for the washroom. Soon he arrived at a simple courtyard, where he saw a few people busy at work.

As soon as Lin Yuan pushed open the door, several pairs of eyes immediately fell on him.

"Hey! Another newbie here. Kid, who did you offend?"

A man with a pointed mouth and monkey-like cheeks, about fifteen or sixteen years old, asked with a mocking expression.

Lin Yuan glanced at him indifferently, then strolled over to a pile of clothes.

"I haven't offended anyone; I wanted to come here myself. And from now on, I'll make all these clothes myself. You seniors should get some rest!"

Upon hearing Lin Yuan's answer, the entire courtyard fell silent instantly, with everyone inside thinking they had misheard.

What did they hear? Someone actually took on all the work themselves! Did the sun rise in the west? Or had they run into another complete idiot today?

"Hahahaha! No way, kid, you think you can get the appreciation of the senior brothers here just because you do a lot of work? You must be dreaming!"

The man with the pointed mouth and monkey-like face was the first to react, and he couldn't help but burst into loud laughter.

They thought so when they first came here, since the laundry room was the only place where they could have a chance to interact with the outer disciples. At that time, they also believed that as long as they were diligent and hardworking, they would definitely be able to attract the attention of the passing senior brothers.

But reality told them that the senior brothers who came to collect their clothes wouldn't even glance at them, and sometimes they even looked at them with disdain. Gradually, those who were capable and perceptive left.

Those who came in voluntarily, but who didn't know how to curry favor with those in charge, could only stay here and endure each day like an eternity.

"Yes, yes! Little brother, I advise you to put away your little schemes! This isn't a good place!"

A woman with some attractive features couldn't help but offer some kind words of comfort.

However, Lin Yuan remained unmoved. He didn't offer any further explanation, picked up the clothes, and quickly began washing them. With his current strength of twenty points, he wouldn't feel particularly tired even if he washed all the clothes here.

The reason he came to the laundry room was naturally because the trigger point for that adventure was right there. In his previous life, there were quite a few adventures like this that could allow outer disciples to rise to the top in one step. Many people wrote detailed guides on the forum to show off, even marking the time and place clearly.

The reason Lin Yuan remembered this matter was thanks to his increasingly powerful mental strength. Now, he could recall the general outline of anything he had seen in his previous life, as long as he concentrated and tried hard to think about it.

In his previous life, he had just glanced at information related to Qinghe Palace, but he hadn't paid much attention to it at the time. So he only got a general idea and knew that the player had accidentally entered a clothes-drying area on his way to get clothes, which triggered the quest.

The timeframe is roughly at this stage, before Qinghe Palace was wiped out due to the drastic changes.

As for arriving early, it was simply because Lin Yuan didn't want to miss this extraordinary encounter due to unforeseen events. After all, this game world is now a real world, and what if he didn't have time or was delayed by other things on the day the mission was triggered?

........

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. The laundry room had changed a lot. Apart from Lin Yuan who was busy, the others in the courtyard were either washing clothes half-heartedly or hiding in the house pretending to distribute some high-end clothes.

After all, it's almost the end of October, the height of the lingering summer heat. It's incredibly hot outside, so we'd better stay indoors as long as possible.

However, as they spoke in hushed tones, their eyes would occasionally drift unconsciously towards Lin Yuan, who was constantly busy, their gazes filled with unspeakable sarcasm.

Lin Yuan ignored their stares and instead picked up a basin of clean clothes and carried it to a drying area not far away.

The entire Qinghe Palace was built on a large mountain, with a long and narrow rectangular structure. Their servants' quarters were at the very back of the Qinghe Palace, near the top of the mountain, and the drying yard was in a deserted place, next to a steep rock wall, and above that was a bamboo forest.

At this time of day, apart from these menial disciples, almost no one else comes here.

Lin Yuan picked up a basin full of clothes and started drying them. It took him almost no effort to neatly hang the clothes on the clothesline. When he heard the system notification that he had gained 0.2 energy points, he felt a great sense of accomplishment.

However, this time he did not leave immediately. Instead, he waited patiently for a while, and suddenly his ears twitched, and his heart was slightly excited.

"They're here! They're finally here!"

Lin Yuan quickly surveyed the area, then stealthily hid under a pile of clothes drying in the sun, eavesdropping on the sounds coming from the stone wall.

"How's the plan going?"

"Father, please rest assured, that old man's daughter is completely infatuated with me now, and she does whatever I say!"

"Hmm! Good! As expected of my son, we absolutely cannot be careless about this matter. You must take down that old man Xiao Weiran's daughter as soon as possible."

Take this and find a way to get it into that little girl. If we can get that old man's daughter under our control, I don't believe he won't give in!

"Yes, Father!"

The young man answered respectfully.

Then the sounds of their conversation gradually faded away.

After waiting for quite a while, Lin Yuan finally peeked out from under the clothes, his eyes filled with excitement.

Because his task panel already had two large golden characters flashing, 【Adventure】, and you could see the general information inside by expanding it slightly.

[A conspiracy from the Second Elder]

For some reason, the Second Elder harbored resentment towards the Third Elder of the sect, but due to his limited strength, he had no choice but to find a way to harm the Third Elder's twelve-year-old daughter in order to coerce the Third Elder into submission.

........

"I see," Lin Yuan thought, his mind beginning to work.

Xiao Weiran is the Third Elder of Qinghe Palace. I often heard the outer disciples talking about him, and he is a doting father.

Those two were actually planning to harm his daughter. What if I had tipped them off beforehand...?

No wonder that player was able to rise to the top in one step. For a guy who had a child late in life, what could be more important than his daughter?

Lin Yuan's eyes flickered slightly, then he pretended to be nonchalant and returned to the washroom.