Managing

"Managing?"

Cheng Shuili interrupted her endless drivel, pointed to the headless portrait nearby, and couldn't help but ask, "Is this also part of the management?"

"My lady... please do not mock me."

The consultant lowered her head. From Cheng Shuili's angle, she could just see the incredible crimson flush on the consultant's cheeks.

Cheng Shuili: "......"

This one had a kind of primitive beauty, untainted by the modern internet.

Cheng Shuili set aside her habitual sarcasm and asked patiently, "What went wrong?"

The consultant was talkative, which was one of her few virtues, so she always explained things very clearly.

Cheng Shuili not only learned the full story but also saw through the system's little schemes.

"It was managed at first, but later it was forbidden. It said something about not being able to provide so much convenience. I don't really understand that phrase, but I signed a protocol dozens of pages thick at the time. I am illiterate, so the other party translated it for me. I was terrified of doing anything that violated the protocol, so I memorized it thoroughly. It included not being allowed to clean, not being allowed to water the grapevines, not being allowed to..."

Cheng Shuili pretended not to hear her prattling and lowered her eyes, contemplating the few useful sentences from earlier.

Not being able to provide so much convenience.

This sentence was clearly missing an object.

But who else could the system be targeting? Naturally, the players.

Cheng Shuili looked at the messy environment around her and imagined a clean, tidy manor.

The system certainly manages a lot...

And this consultant certainly talks a lot...

Cheng Shuili softly interrupted her, signaling her to talk about something else.

The consultant nodded and explained obediently why she had been playing god and ghost.

"This manor originally had only me, but starting from one day, it began changing owners frequently. At first, I greeted them very enthusiastically, fulfilling my duty as a guide. After discovering that these people stayed for at most a month, and most died within a week or were unable to continue owning the manor for other reasons, I lost the enthusiasm to assist."

The consultant sighed and continued helplessly, "Every time the owner changes, this place reverts to its original state. Rather than wasting time and energy, it is better to keep it as it is from the beginning."

"The manor was only a bit dilapidated before; it didn't have these terrifying things. I set those up myself to reduce trouble!"

Her tone suddenly became proud.

"The footsteps you heard were also things I deliberately tinkered with! These things are actually recordings sent by my other three friends. Fortunately, they can be played repeatedly, otherwise, it would be too much trouble for them!"

"Friends?"

Cheng Shuili raised an eyebrow.

Based on what she had learned so far, this consultant was definitely an NPC.

Do NPCs actually have friends?

The consultant nodded and said sincerely, "There are four consultants like me in total. Because we all signed the same protocols and such, we naturally became good friends."

I see.

That means there are four manors?

Cheng Shuili lowered her eyes, suddenly realizing that there were only four slots for territories. One or two might be a coincidence, but too many coincidences meant it was a deliberate design.

Can you summon a dragon if you collect all four territories?

Cheng Shuili twitched her lips, reined in her wild thoughts, looked at the consultant, and asked, "So, you created all this commotion just to scare away the owners of this manor?"

Under Cheng Shuili's suspicious gaze, the consultant stood up again. She sniffed, stepped back, and in front of Cheng Shuili's dumbfounded expression, she flopped to her knees and kowtowed three more times.

"My lady! I truly know I was wrong. Please, you must not drive me away, you must not kill me!"

Cheng Shuili: "......"

Feudal society really does cause no end of harm.

Although Cheng Shuili was a bit angry, she still immediately told the consultant to get up.

She was, after all, a new youth educated in the modern era. Even if she was a bit lacking in manners, she hadn't reached the point where she could watch an old thing kowtow to her without changing her expression.

The consultant had just said herself that the system called her a lucky NPC from the teens.

An old thing who was hundreds or perhaps even a thousand years old...

Cheng Shuili didn't continue that train of thought. Seriously, why is the system poaching people everywhere?

Beastmen count as one! Normal humans count as one! Now, these ancient relics from the teens have appeared, and there are four of them at once.

Yes, Cheng Shuili had already clarified that the four of them came together, which is why they signed the same things, could talk to each other, and became good friends.

As for her consultant's method of playing god and ghost, someone who kowtows at the drop of a hat would certainly not have come up with it.

This method, as Cheng Shuili guessed, was thought up by her friends—and by all of them together, at that.

Well, that could be considered strength in numbers.

According to the consultant, this method really did drive away several manor owners.

Until today, when she met Cheng Shuili, a creature who seemed more like a ghost than she did...

"Why does the master have no footsteps, nor any sign of life?"

The consultant blinked, looking extremely innocent.

Cheng Shuili had no interest in explaining it to her. She frowned and asked, "Since you are a consultant, you should know the general situation of the manor, right? Introduce it to me."

"My lady... do you also want to renovate the manor?"

The consultant's voice was somewhat helpless; after all, in her view, every owner's term was only a short thirty days, and that was in the best-case scenario.

Compared to the long time she had spent living alone in the manor, those thirty short days wouldn't even occupy the length of an ant.

Since any changes made would be a waste of effort, why do it at all?

If Cheng Shuili were a monarch, she would definitely be an autocratic queen; at least, that's how it appeared to the consultant.

Cheng Shuili did not explain it to her, but simply repeated her question.

The consultant had lived for so long, and although she hadn't had much contact with humans, she still had a talent for observing expressions. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to play god and ghost so successfully, right?

"The greatest wealth of this manor is the endless fields outside. In terms of area, those fields outside occupy about 3,500 hectares, though they are all abandoned now. There is also a residential area behind this castle; when the manor was prosperous, most of the workers lived there, but it is also abandoned now. Furthermore, being exposed to the wind and sun, the quality there is not as good as it is here. If it were to be reused, it would definitely need to be rebuilt."

The consultant cautiously glanced at Cheng Shuili's expression, and noting that she didn't have much of a reaction, she continued, "That thing told me before; it said that the things here are normal. If you want to farm, the crops can grow normally."