Traveling through The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

"Do you know who it is?"

"I don't know. Cindy's rank is too low, so she is not qualified to know the client's situation. But the other party should be very poor. A target of your level only offered 300 Septim. Cindy said that no one is willing to take this mission, but she asked you to be careful, for fear that someone would come and kill you first and then claim the reward. With your mediocre skills, I'm not saying anything bad about you..."

"I will protect the Baron!"

Lai Mei couldn't stand Rigel's praise and criticism of me, so she stood up and retorted. The little saber-toothed tiger looked her up and down with a meaningful smile, and asked calmly: "You are a woman, he is a man, do you stand by and watch him when he takes a shit and sleeps?"

Lydia didn't expect that this well-dressed noblewoman would say such vulgar and obscene words. Her pretty face flushed, but she couldn't find words to refute. She didn't know whether to sit or stand, and she stamped her feet in anger. Rigel really liked to see Lydia embarrassed, and even suggested that she marry me, so that she could always be by my side and protect me closely. Of course, I decisively rejected this suggestion. From her fake smile, I knew that if I dared to show even the slightest agreement, I would definitely be in big trouble.

"You don't have to worry too much. Cindy said that if your status or strength can be significantly improved, they will adjust their offer for you. If the other party does not accept the new offer, the mission will naturally be invalidated. You are a baron now, maybe you are worth 10,000 Septim? You should be careful recently, and I think you will be fine in two months."

I chatted with Rigel for a while. With outsiders around, I couldn't ask her directly about her pregnancy, so I had to ask her when she was going to move to Falkreath and ask about her father's health. Seeing Lydia and Bryce twisting and turning in their seats, looking very uncomfortable, I took Lucia and left.

When Bryce stood up, her legs went weak and she knelt at Lucia's feet, frightening her so much that she quickly helped her up. The little devil who claimed to be brave enough to beat up old people, children and dogs actually became so cowardly after being glared at by Rigel. I took the opportunity to teach her that a true warrior should protect others instead of bullying the weak with force. Bryce is not a bad child, but the Amulen couple neglected to teach her, and she is at a rebellious age, so she has become a naughty child that everyone hates. I asked Lucia to take her to visit Riya, hoping that the Red Guardian's force can form a second round of crushing on the little devil.

Lydia was quite critical of Rigel's random matchmaking, but out of consideration for my feelings, she only complained in a low voice. She had already concluded that the assassin who sneaked into Dragon's Peak Palace that night was targeting me, so she was particularly nervous and frowned all the way, probably thinking about how to arrange my security when I went to the toilet and slept.

Lei Mei and I went to the inn to greet Donna. Stein reported to me that he was worried that the Bloodthrone Fortress was too simple and desolate, so he stayed with Donna in Helgen Town temporarily, and moved there after my house in Falkreath was built. In order to prevent Donna from getting bored, he also reclaimed a small piece of land behind the inn and planned to plant some vegetables or flowers.

You have to know that in Skyrim, anyone with a little status would not bother to do farm work personally. The word "farming" has almost been stigmatized as a synonym for lowliness. The Gray Mane family was ridiculed for raising cattle in their backyard. Stein was very keen to find that I was quite disdainful of these so-called aristocratic behaviors. He may have done these things just to please Donna and then to please me, but no matter what his starting point was, I have to say that he did it very beautifully and made people feel comfortable. This is the difference between him and Sam. This child seems to be honest and dull, but in fact he is smooth and smart, and good at observing words and expressions. What is particularly rare is that he does things without any trace of flattery, and does not ask for credit afterwards. People who have come into contact with him, such as Lund and Rigel, all praise him for his loyalty and reliability, and Donna is no exception.

I found Eddie and asked him to start collecting information about the Silver Hand Mercenary Group. Eric has already had a grudge with this organization, and we will have to deal with them in the future. I don't want him to go to his death like Scoyue did. However, the Silver Hand's activities are located in the north, and I am not sure whether Eddie can get any valuable information. Another possible source of information is the Sentinel of Stendar, who has a certain degree of cooperation with the Silver Hand. I may be able to get the contact information of the Silver Hand through Cassidy and try to contact them.

After a lot of setbacks, the inn finally managed to operate normally, but the current customer flow is still very bleak. I estimate that in about a month, when the weather turns warmer, business travelers from all over the country will start to go out. In addition, with our alliance with Snowman Territory, it is only a matter of time before business improves. Eddie and Murray are not well educated, so they finally came up with a conventional name like "Helgen Inn" and have now made a sign to hang at the door.

I naturally had to drink a glass of juniper mead. This series of wines accompanied us through a difficult period and has become a symbol of the tenacity, unity, optimism and bravery of the people of Falkreath, and is quite popular. Eddie adopted my suggestion and launched two categories of juniper mead and juniper malt, attacking both the high-end and low-end markets. It is said that Danger has bought all his special juniper mead in stock to entertain the distinguished guests from the Whiterun who came to the alliance. He also plans to make further improvements to the formula after solving the problem of juniper supply, and try to make two new products, refreshing and rich.

"I think you can go a step further and try non-alcoholic gin drinks, or other drinks, to capture the market of women and children. Also, you can't just call them gin or something. You have to brand your wines, use people's names or something else, and the names must be loud. Remember, high-end and low-end wines can never use the same brand! Those nobles hate to use the same things as commoners. Don't look at me with that look, don't you know how I got my noble status?"

Lai Mei left the wine cellar silently. I guess my former image as an artist in her eyes has completely collapsed. Eddie was very excited and asked Murray to bring a pen and paper to record my business experience in a flamboyant manner.

"Let me think about it... That's right! Tea! You'd better hire one or two people to do this. You have to classify pine needles according to different months and places of origin, and then we can try to see how different the taste is. It would be best if we could classify pine needle tea according to the rules of wine. In the future, when people mention it, for example, the pine needles I brewed in this pot are from the first planting of the Moon Boneless Mountain, which is higher than your pot of the Sun High Moon Evergreen Forest."

Eddie shook his head to show that he didn't understand. "It's all water boiled with pine leaves. How can it be high-end or low-end?"

"In the first month of planting, the weather is warm but still cold. The unique volcanic energy of Sangu Mountain penetrates into the tender buds along the tree roots. Therefore, the pine needles collected from this place in this season have the characteristics of being yin on the outside and yang on the inside. They are refreshing and sweet when you drink them, which can best refresh the mind. Drinking them can nourish the spleen and stomach and have the effect of strengthening the body. If it is the rainy month, the weather will be completely hot, and this refreshing feeling will be gone. Without the balance of refreshing, the tea will inevitably be hot and dry, and will not have the effect of warming and nourishing."

Eddie raised his head and gave a thumbs up, "Brother, you are amazing. You can even drink this."

"I can't tell the difference. I just made it up."

Eddie stared at the paper full of nonsense he had painstakingly written down and snapped his quill.

"That's the idea anyway. It all depends on how you brag. Don't be shameless. You can be a little more imaginative. If the tea drinker can't tell the taste, it only shows that his taste is very poor. Just remember the most important point. The cost of things sold to nobles cannot be more than 5% of the selling price. If you set the price too low, people will think it's a common product and they won't want it. Do you understand?"

"They're not stupid. A few pine needles are hard to find. Who would spend money on them?"

"This is the key. We are talking about pine needle tea. Just take it as an example. As long as it is a product you want to sell, you can use this routine. First of all, I believe that different pine needles must have different tastes. The difference may not be too big, but it definitely exists. We must first find out what is the best and most unique one, and the standard for evaluating the quality of pine needles must be in our hands. You have good interpersonal relationships, so you can find some well-known figures, such as Miss Angie or Lord Danger, and let them endorse your statement."

"Brother, I think you are more suitable than these two. You don't even need to draft a lie."

"Of course I will speak up for you, but everyone knows that we are partners, so wouldn't I be just bragging about my own products? I'm definitely not as persuasive as others. So I advise you to find a few more respectable people, or set up a teahouse where people who like to drink tea can gather together to taste tea. The stories that everyone can come up with together will definitely be better than what we two can come up with."

"Who is Wang Po?"

"Don't worry about these details! By the way, if we want to run this teahouse, we can't accept everyone. We need to pay a membership fee. Those who can't afford it should stay away from it. I don't look down on the poor, but it's hard to manage when there are too many people and too many mouths."

Eddie changed his pen and started writing again.

"Don't interrupt me, wait until I finish, or I won't know what to say if my train of thought is interrupted. After we determine which pine needles are better, you can set more stringent standards. For example, I only want the tender leaves that grew that year on the tops of the three pine trees right behind the witch's cabin in the Misty Forest of Scattered Bones Mountain. Even if he shaved all three trees into a bald head like you, how many kilograms of pine needles would he get? Moreover, they must be new buds, and things are precious because they are rare. There are only three or four hundred grams of these every year. Fifty grams are given to Miss Angie and one hundred grams are given to Lord Danger. They both like them very much. The remaining two hundred grams can only be bought in your Eddie's store. What do you think is a suitable price?"

Eddie's eyes sparkled, and the small wine cellar became brighter.

"Also, you have to find a way to store these fresh pine needles, right? You can either dry them out in the sun, fry them in a pot, or dig a cellar and freeze them to keep them fresh. Different pine needles are suitable for different processing methods, and there are also the places and times for drying, the heat for frying, and the precautions for freezing. These are all tricks. You can't pass these tricks on to others. If you want to hire someone, you have to find someone you can trust, and it's best to have them sign and seal a confidentiality agreement for you. If there's a leaker, I suggest you go find Cindy to deal with it."

Eddie broke the second pen.

"Brother, I heard that Cindy went to the dark..."

I nodded.

"So looking for her doesn't mean... you don't have to be so ruthless, right?"

"These are your sources of income. Cutting off someone's source of income is like killing their parents. How do you think we should avenge our parents?"

Eddie didn't comment. He had changed. He would now use silence to show his disapproval. In the past, he would rather have a fight than speak his mind.

Of course, I have also changed. I am no longer the little chef who just wants to live a stable life and survive in troubled times. I have become ambitious and vicious.

And Rigel, Eric, Cindy, everyone has changed...