Ita Era

Chapter 4 Peach Blossom Village (Part Two)
The village chief said, "Haitang is the goddess of this ceremony. According to the rules, she needs to live as the bride for six days. Since there is a bride, there must also be a groom..."

As the only female player, Sun Qi asked, "Village Chief, can you not be so strict about gender restrictions?"

Sun Qi's words drew laughter from the villagers present, and the village chief said awkwardly, "That might not work."

The village chief coughed and got back to the point: "The bride and groom will live in a house next to the San Niang Temple, and they need to offer incense to San Niang together every morning. But there is one thing to note: you are not a real couple, and you cannot have marital relations."

After the village chief finished speaking, the villagers started to jeer again. Haitang covered her face with her hands and shook her head repeatedly, with a patch of bright red between her fingers.

The village chief interrupted the farce, saying, "Gentlemen, who would like to be the groom? Of course, in the end, it will be Haitang who chooses."

Li Si asked, "Village chief, what is the groom supposed to do?"

The village chief replied, "No need. Haitang is very diligent and can do all kinds of housework."

Li Si immediately said, "I'm willing," and raised his hand.

Both Zhang San with glasses and Zhao Liu with the crew cut raised their hands, making Ding Shi, who hadn't raised his hand, stand out. Everyone couldn't help but look at Ding Shi. Ding Shi apologized, "I already have a fiancée, and she's a shrew."

The villagers didn't understand: "What does 'the roar of a lioness from the east of the river' mean?"

Presumably, the movie hadn't been shown yet at the time. Ding Shi explained, "He has a fiery temper and can't tolerate any nonsense."

A woman laughed and said, "It's just a vinegar jar."

Everyone laughed, and the atmosphere was very friendly.

The real reason: Ding Shi has always believed in the adage "there's no such thing as a free lunch." The groom's status is too privileged; he only needs to offer incense once a day to live a life of leisure, and he even has such a beautiful young woman as his nanny. Putting everything else aside, just looking at Haitang's graceful figure and beautiful face makes him want to eat a little more.

The village chief said, "Haitang, it's your turn to choose."

Haitang lowered her hands, her face flushed, and scanned the group of people before her eyes fixed on Zhang San, the bespectacled man. His handsome features, refined demeanor, and smiling face were completely different from the roughnecks of the village, instantly making her heart flutter. Without hesitation, Haitang pointed at Zhang San and continued to cover her face shyly.

Zhang San received a system notification: You have become the groom of Haitang in Peach Blossom Village. The side quest is complete.

Zhang San smiled gently at Haitang, who, with the shy demeanor of a young girl, nodded in response.

The village chief gestured for everyone to look at the second villager, a woman around ninety years old: "Grandma Wang is physically unable to move around easily and needs a godchild or godson to help her with some things."

Li Si asked again, "What are these 'some things'?"

The village chief said, "Grandma Wang's son and his family all live in the county town. Her son is a high-ranking official at the bus station, and her daughter-in-law runs the bus station's canteen. As her godson, he has to deliver a jar of pickled vegetables to the minibus driver every day, and the driver will then distribute them."

No one raised their hand because Grandma Wang was too old, and people were reluctant to live with an elderly person who was not a relative.

A villager reminded her, "Grandma Wang's family eats meat every day."

The village chief explained that the minibus runs daily from the county seat to Taoyuan Village and back. The daughter-in-law, who runs the bus station canteen, needs to get up early to buy ingredients, and she buys a pound or two of meat each day for the driver to take to Taoyuan Village. The driver then brings back pickled vegetables from Taoyuan Village to the bus station for his daughter-in-law.

When it came to eating meat, Ding Shi and the others immediately thought of hard, rock-hard steamed buns that required dozens of chews to swallow. Everyone except Ding Shi raised their hands in unison.

Ding Shi's reason for refusing was simple: he didn't like living with an elderly person he had no relatives with, nor did he want to eat food cooked by such an old person. Furthermore, it carried a sense of discrimination and disdain; he believed that women of that age had poor hygiene habits, perhaps using bamboo strips to pee and then tearing chicken apart with their bare hands.

Grandma Wang looked around with a smile for a while, then pointed at Zhao Liu, who was now granted the status of god-grandson. Only Li Si, Ding Shi, and Sun Qi remained without an identity.

The village chief raised his cane and said, "My legs are not good, and the village is big and there are many things to do, so I need someone to help me run errands. Therefore, I need an assistant."

Li Si asked, "What does the assistant need to do?"

The village chief replied, "We'll do whatever needs to be done."

Li Si and Sun Qi exchanged a glance, but neither of them moved. Ding Shi raised his hand, and the village chief nodded: "Alright, you're the one."

Ding Shi's reasons for choosing this path: He couldn't stand staying at home and was happy to have a legitimate reason to wander around the village. Besides, compared to Zhang San and Zhao Liu, he had at least put in some work.

Most importantly, neither Haitang nor Grandma Wang, corresponding as the groom and god-grandson, mentioned money. While the village chief also didn't mention money, given Ding Shi's understanding of rural life at the time, as the village chief's henchman, getting some money wouldn't have been a problem. Others had ID cards; he not only had an ID card, but also an official status.

The village chief continued handing out identification tags: "Our village has been busy with sacrificial activities recently, resulting in a shortage of manpower for the night patrol team. Does anyone want to join the night patrol team?"

Every night at 11 PM, the night patrol players are required to patrol along designated routes. Their job is similar to that of a night watchman, except that they don't have to strike the horn, but they do have certain fire prevention and theft prevention functions.

Upon hearing this, Li Si inwardly cursed, realizing his first two identities were merely a matter of coasting along. Starting with Ding Shi's identity, the players' job duties became more concrete. Compared to Ding Shi's flexible work, the night patrol's work began to have fixed times, locations, and tasks, with specific responsibilities.

Thinking of this, Li Si immediately raised his hand: "I'm a man, it's more suitable for me to be the one to patrol at night." After saying that, he nodded kindly to Sun Qi.

Sun Qi nodded in gratitude: "Thank you."

Li Si obtained the identity of a night patrolman. The village chief looked at Sun Qi and said, "Girl, there is a primary school in our village, which is facing many difficulties. The first difficulty is that many parents are in arrears on tuition fees. The teachers are under pressure from their superiors and can only pass the pressure on to the children, asking them to go home to get the money during class. But the children still can't get the money and are afraid to go to school. The second difficulty is that some parents favor boys over girls. The older girls have to cook and wash clothes for their families every day, and after school they have to chop firewood and cut pig feed. Not only can they not concentrate on their studies, but they are also late every morning and leave early. Even worse, some of them carry their younger siblings to school."

The village chief said, "We hope that as a volunteer at the school, you can help the school solve these problems."

After the village chief finished speaking, seven tasks were issued to Sun Qi. After quickly glancing at them, Sun Qi almost lost his balance. The issue of children dropping out of school was a very thorny problem.

Sun Qi was filled with regret and subconsciously asked, "Village Chief, can I change my identity?"

The village chief nodded: "Of course, as long as both of you agree, there is still a chance to change your identities."

Sun Qi looked at everyone. She immediately ruled out the groom's role, as she was too timid to do the night patrol. That left only Ding Shi, the village chief's assistant, and Zhao Liu's godson. Obviously, being the grandson was the easiest role.

Seeing Sun Qi looking at him, Zhao Liu waved his hands repeatedly, refusing first. Sun Qi looked helplessly at Ding Shi, who didn't care. As the second-in-command of the city's largest criminal group, dealing with both internal and external issues was his main job.

Er Ya hadn't been to school for three days. When asked why she wasn't going, and what conditions would make her willing to go, she replied that she didn't have time to go to school because she had to take care of her younger brother. For Ding Shi, this was easy; in an instant, he came up with three solutions.

One option is to hire a nanny. Two is to persuade his parents to take care of his younger brother. Three is to get rid of the younger brother. Ding Shi leans towards the second option, since parents are not obligated to raise their children. Of course, even if he can't persuade them, Ding Shi won't actually get rid of his brother; at most, he'll break one of his parents' legs so they can stay home to take care of the child and do all the housework.

At this moment, Haitang spoke up, saying, "Sister, the work of the village chief's assistant is very hard."

Ding Shi looked at the crabapple tree, but the crabapple smiled shyly, turned her face away, and refused to look at him. Ding Shi was speechless. Did the famous saying "The attic is dark" already exist in the countryside back then?

Sun Qi said helplessly, "Fine, I'll be a volunteer."

(End of this chapter)