Interstellar Travel: Becoming a Dress-Up Game Designer

Chapter 191

The next player was a tea farmer. His garden was filled with various types of tea trees, planted from tallest to shortest, resembling a well-organized shrub garden. Upon closer inspection, the players discovered that the tea leaves included purple buds, red buds, buds with abundant white hairs, and very oily buds—more than a dozen varieties in total. Each leaf was thoughtfully labeled with its name and the type of tea it would be used to make.

Many players were amazed, commenting on how dedicated the tea garden owner was. They estimated that the owner had done so much work searching for tea trees all over the world without doing anything else in the instance.

Of course, the reward for such an independent-minded player as Qingfengyi was also quite touching: a jade tea sculpture. The tea garden owner had built a beautiful artificial mountain and fountain in the middle of the tea garden, and this tea sculpture was placed on top of it. The green jade tea tree sculpture was lifelike, shimmering in the sunlight. Especially in the morning sun, it seemed to gild the tea sculpture, covering it with a thin golden light, squeezing out the green inside, giving people the illusion that it was about to transform into an immortal.

The third one is quite interesting. He makes tea bonsai, filling his yard with bonsai, each one extremely unique and beautiful. He cultivates his bonsai from seeds, choosing the best tea varieties from the dungeon. Then he finds players with tea spirits or uses growth-accelerating items from treasure chests to grow them, shaping them with ropes and wires.

There are various shapes such as an eagle spreading its wings, a panda embracing bamboo, and welcoming guests from all directions, all very grand and beautiful. The most appealing is the camellia bonsai, with a single camellia flower standing alone, and a huge main stem that has been shaped into a fleshy, rounded form by a support. The roots are deeply embedded in the soil, and next to it is a rock engraved with the bonsai's name.

The camellias are pink and white yin-yang flowers, with large blooms that dominate the top of the tea bush. Some enthusiasts approached the owner offering high prices to buy them, but this owner truly loves bonsai and couldn't bear to part with a single one. He even happily took them to see other bonsai because everyone liked them, and when the enthusiasts went along, they discovered that his house was truly filled with bonsai!

Xiao Yi Ju's garden is filled with potted plants made from various trees and flowers sourced from the dungeon, along with artificial hills and rocks, all arranged in neat rows. Xiao Yi Ju has no roof, not even a kitchen; the house itself is also filled with potted plants placed on shelves.

The houses range in size from palm-sized to two-meter-tall, and are decorated to resemble the hermitage of Lin Weng.

Next is the Castle Homestead, which doesn't have a castle at all, just endless grasslands covered with potted plants. The greenhouse is huge, built entirely by the player. They used materials from several official greenhouse skins to create a structure three times the original size. Inside the greenhouse are plants that require temperature control or are sensitive to temperature, such as orchids and pennywort.

It's not that these kinds of plants are extremely sensitive to temperature, but rather that the current climate is characterized by four seasons, with cycles every three or four days, which is very frequent and makes these plants prone to dying.

Of course, you can also buy props and talismans to turn the potted plant into a fixed prop, so that it will not be affected by climate factors.

One of the players visiting the site asked the owner of the bonsai, "Why don't you fix it? Fixing talismans aren't expensive, they're only 100 copper coins each."

The owner of the bonsai smiled and said, "The fun of bonsai is not about the final shape, but about the process of growth. I have read some historical records, and some bonsai can be cultivated for decades. Appreciating its appearance as it changes with the years and seasons brings me far more joy than being fixed at a certain period."

Most players don't quite understand his idea, but every single potted plant here is really beautiful!

“I think they’re alive. The more I look at them, the more unique and beautiful they seem. You really won’t sell them? Name your price.”

The owner of the bonsai shook his head and said, "Not for sale. These bonsai are all treasures that I've accumulated little by little!"

A quick glance at his player home reveals that you can't buy anything from here. This player was willing to forgo the official player house design, demolishing that beautiful and imposing castle to build a potted plant base, which shows how much he really loves it.

If Xiaoyiju weren't so well-suited for displaying potted plants, it's unlikely that Xiaoyiju would exist.

There are many strange players in Qingfengyi, and the various bizarre reasons for being listed on the creativity list of each event can stay popular for a long time.

The first and second days showcased tea culture, serving as a final summary of the event. Similar to the previous event, "Inherited Traditions, Endless Rivers of History," this type of overly broad, fragmented content makes it difficult for players to grasp the core message. They might find the gameplay fun, rich, and free, but they won't consider the underlying macro-level significance. While the summary may have an educational feel, isn't that what inheritance is all about? There must be a process of teaching and summarizing to reduce the learning time for future generations, allowing them more time to think about new things. This accumulation is what leads to the development of technologies like warships in later generations and even interstellar worlds.

The last day is the day players look forward to the most!

The film opens with a cinematic scene: a group of women picking tea leaves on a tea mountain, their slender fingers flying across the leaves, their hands moving in perfect unison. Birdsong fills the air, the morning sunlight, tinged with a delicate haze of dew, makes the women appear even more beautiful, and the tea leaves even fresher. Even before it's been processed, the tea seems incredibly delicious.

The girls wore green aprons with red peony flowers, white short tops with pink cabriole necklines, and loose blue trousers with a peach blossom and a butterfly embroidered on the cuffs.

The shoes are floral canvas shoes, soft and pretty.

A headscarf was coiled on her head, its edges strung with colorful stones, pearls, and silver ornaments. It swayed with her movements, jingling and chirping like birdsong.

The players craned their necks to look at the sky, so captivated by the beautiful scenery that they forgot to speak; the scene was utterly silent. Just then, a clear, melodious voice rang out—a very pleasant and cheerful song:

"Ah, in March, the mountains are covered in tea! Herding cattle and gathering firewood are amidst beautiful scenery. Why is the tea so fragrant? It turns out the beauties have picked baskets full..."

A man wearing an embroidered vest rode an ox down the mountainside and, seeing the girls in the tea plantation, began to sing a song from afar.

The tea-picking women below seemed to be startled awake, their cheeks slightly flushed, whether from the sun or from the fatigue of picking tea. Peeking over there, I saw a handsome young man, his cheeks even redder.

A bold girl immediately sang back, her voice echoing through the valley, seemingly audible in every village. One girl took the lead, and the others joined in, their mountain songs ringing out loud and clear.

A number of men emerged from around the young man—some chopping wood, some hunting, and some herding cattle. They all stopped what they were doing to join in the fun, and within minutes, several hundred people had gathered on the tea mountain.

Each folk song is more beautiful than the last.

Where have players ever heard of this kind of tune or seen this kind of scene?

I was completely mesmerized, and couldn't help but hum along. These kinds of songs are so catchy and so enjoyable!

Lin Shuying, hidden among the players, blushed slightly as she listened. Despite being proud of her hometown's folk songs, she sounded a tiny bit shy, haha.

Back in her childhood, she was a star in the folk song scene, able to sing so well that even women in their sixties couldn't help but laugh and cry. But after starting junior high, she stopped singing folk songs altogether, feeling ashamed. Kids always think that way, believing pop songs are cooler, better, more fitting, and more likely to find like-minded people.

After coming into contact with many Chinese treasures, I realized that folk songs are the true essence!

Pop songs also originated from variations of foreign folk songs, gradually emerging and eventually dominating the music world. Lin Shuying doesn't know much about music, but music doesn't suddenly appear with a particular style. She always believes that everything needs a foundation and fertile ground to develop. It's like how humans can't imagine what aliens look like. Even with countless science fiction films, the aliens we imagine are just variants of life on Earth. After arriving in interstellar space, we discover that the insectoid races are nothing like the ones in science fiction movies—simple-minded or ridiculously evil. They are simply another form of life in the universe, and all their schemes and plots are for the continuation of their species. It's not a matter of which is more advanced or who occupies the moral high ground.

There is no moral high ground in the world. What does exist is that the position you choose requires you to grasp the moral high ground in order to obtain the benefits you need.

To put it bluntly, self-interest is the foundation of everything. Don't say talking about self-interest is vulgar; without self-interest, who would want to associate with you?

Chinese music has a history of five thousand years. Although some parts have been lost or innovated, the tradition has never been broken. In particular, the folk songs that spontaneously formed among the people are incredibly vibrant, full of life and brimming with local culture. If one day this treasure trove were to be opened, what an extraordinary and unparalleled gem it would be!

It will surely shock everyone on Earth!

Now, the interstellar people are really shocked, hahaha.

After the folk songs ended, the girls took the tea leaves home, some selling them to tea merchants. Then it was time for the family to process the tea. For farmers, processing tea themselves was simple: a kerosene lamp, the whole family. Most sat in front of the stove, tending the fire, with two sweet potatoes buried in the flames. One or two people would take turns processing, adding the tea leaves to the freshly cleaned cooking pot, stirring and kneading them continuously. They chatted as they worked, adjusting the wick of the lamp three or five times before the fire in the stove finally went out.

The tea leaves are placed in a winnowing basket on top of the pot, and the next morning they can be stored in a jar. This jar of tea will last for a year.

The tea vendors don't work at night, but during the day. Muscular, strong men sweat profusely as they stir-fry and knead the tea leaves, then quickly sort them according to the process and type of tea, sending them into different processing steps.

This is different from what farmers make themselves; it's more particular, with requirements for the integrity of the tea leaves. Everyone sings a rhythmic chant while frying the tea, each note carrying a powerful energy.