Chapter: The Assassination Bounty
Aphra set up a barrier around the Golden Tree.
The red energy shield protected the Golden Tree inside. No one could enter.
To enter the barrier, a specific magic incantation must be recited.
Aphra told Cheng Yu the magic incantation to enter the barrier. Cheng Yu told Ivennie.
In this way, Ivennie could enter the barrier to receive the Golden Tree's baptism without worrying about the Golden Tree being stolen.
Four days later in the morning, the neighing of horses broke the tranquility of the early morning.
Captain Carl of the Northern Fortress Cavalry came to Cheng Yu Manor with a dozen cavalrymen.
"Cheng Yu, good morning!"
Carl and Cheng Yu were old acquaintances. They walked into the manor very familiarly and found a place to sit down.
"My large baking oven has been built. I can bake bread for you."
Making bread was simpler than making buns. You didn't have to wrap meat filling one by one—the production efficiency was much higher.
Carl looked at the large baking oven of several dozen square meters next to the manor. It was hemispherical—about the same size as the large baking oven in the bakery of the Northern Fortress.
This kind of baking oven could bake hundreds of breads at a time.
"How many do you want?" Cheng Yu asked Carl.
"Bake me three hundred."
Carl didn't buy too much bread for the first time.
One sesame bread was equivalent to the size of two buns.
There were over a hundred people in the cavalry squad. Each person would probably be full if they ate two.
Cheng Yu and Mina went to the kitchen to prepare the dough.
Cheng Yu poured a large bag of flour into a wooden basin, mixed it with water, and added sugar, yeast, and other things to the dough.
He took out the second wooden basin, poured in flour, mixed it with water, added sugar, yeast, and other things.
The third wooden basin, the fourth wooden basin... repeated the above operation.
Mina was responsible for kneading the dough.
Under the action of Mina's power, flour, water, sugar, yeast, and other materials were quickly and evenly mixed.
Forty minutes later, the dough was fermented.
The two of them brought several large bowls of dough into the oven, placed the dough of uniform size in the small grids on the inner wall of the oven, brushed it with oil, and sprinkled it with sesame seeds.
The last step was to bake it.
"Xiao Fu, start working!"
After walking out of the oven, Cheng Yu shouted at the second floor of the manor.
To not be called a freeloader who ate and drank for free, Aphra had promised Cheng Yu yesterday to help him with work.
For a long time, no one responded.
"Xiao Fu! Xiao Fu..."
The voice volume increased successively, but still no one responded.
"Why no response? Is she dead?"
Walking into the wooden house of the manor, Cheng Yu came to Aphra's room on the second floor, took out the key, and opened the door.
Aphra was sleeping with a strange sleeping posture—arms spread out, upper body lying on the floor, legs on the edge of the bed. Her whole body had fallen under the bed, but not completely.
Slightly tilted head, black hair messy—sleeping soundly.
This guy is so lazy!
Cheng Yu complained internally.
"Get up."
Cheng Yu pulled Aphra's wrist and shook it.
"What? Dinner?"
Aphra, who was half asleep, vaguely heard someone calling her to eat. She struggled to sit up and tried her best to open her eyes.
"What else do you know besides eating and sleeping? Get dressed and follow me to work."
Cheng Yu crossed his arms in front of his chest—like a black-hearted slave owner urging slaves to work.
Aphra didn't refute. She'd agreed to Cheng Yu to help with work yesterday. She slowly put on her clothes.
Picking up the comb, Cheng Yu roughly combed Aphra's hair twice, pulled her wrist, came to the large baking oven, and asked her to be responsible for lighting the fire.
Sitting in front of the stove, Aphra rubbed her eyes, sleepy, and slowly used fire control magic to light a flame in the large baking oven.
In a state of half-asleep and half-awake, she used fire control magic to maintain the fire in the stove.
Slowly baked for half an hour on low heat—the wheat aroma of bread filled the entire manor.
Smelling the aroma of sesame bread, Aphra instantly woke up from her dazed state.
"Cheng Yu, can I have one?" Aphra asked.
"This is baked for Captain Carl and the others, not for you. If you want to eat it, I'll bake it for you later. Add some pig blood to the flour—it'll be bloody sesame bread."
"Yeah!"
Aphra looked at Cheng Yu with a smile.
[Aphra's Favorability Towards the Host +5]
The system notification sounded. Aphra's favorability toward Cheng Yu increased again.
"Sesame bread is fifty copper coins each, 314 pieces. I'll give you a deduction—300 pieces, a total of 15,000 copper coins."
"Ordinary bread sticks are five copper coins each. Yours is too expensive—equivalent to ten times the price of ordinary bread sticks."
Carl smiled bitterly.
I bought braised beef buns from Cheng Yu before—fifty copper coins each, and at least there was beef in it.
This sesame bread is made of pure flour, sprinkled with sesame—the cost is extremely low.
"You get what you pay for. Sesame bread is much larger than steamed buns, and the taste is better than ordinary bread sticks."
"Okay. I'll buy it back for my brothers to try."
Carl took out a gold coin and fifty silver coins to pay.
Such expensive bread can't be eaten as a staple food. Buy it back to taste it.
Cheng Yu asked Mina and Ivennie to pack over three hundred loaves of bread.
Carl and the others returned to the Northern Fortress with the bread.
"Earned a gold coin and fifty silver coins. How can we expand sales channels?"
The output of sesame bread was larger than that of steamed buns. Expanding sales channels could make more money.
Just as Cheng Yu was thinking, two people came outside the manor.
A thin man with a body like a bamboo pole and a bald man with a body as strong as a monk.
"Cheng Yu!"
The bald man shouted at Cheng Yu.
Looking up outside the manor, Cheng Yu recognized the two people.
They were members of the Shadow Society. The skinny one was called Andy, the bald man was called Buck.
"What do you want to see me for?"
Cheng Yu walked over and looked at the two men—one strong, one thin.
"Let me show you this."
Buck took out a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to Cheng Yu.
"What's this?"
"Look for yourself."
Cheng Yu looked at the content on it.
This was a bounty for assassination. Someone had paid for Cheng Yu's head.
Cheng Yu was shocked. I'm a kind person who's kind to others, but I've been offered a bounty for assassination?
"Where did you get this bounty?" Cheng Yu asked.
"We went to visit a friend in a killer organization and saw this bounty by chance."
Members of the Shadow Society were blessed by the God of Shadow. They could hide themselves in shadows and approach enemies silently. They had the innate advantage of being killers.
There were many members of the Shadow Society in the underground killer organization near Snow City.
Buck had seen someone offered a bounty on Cheng Yu's head, so he took off the bounty order and showed it to Cheng Yu.
"If you're interested, please bring the bounty order to the Red Maple Winery. The price is negotiable."
"Where's the Red Maple Winery?"
"The Red Maple Winery is owned by the Welt family, just thirty kilometers east of Bailu Town."
A few days ago, the head of the Welt family had tried to buy the Golden Tree from Cheng Yu but was ridiculed by him, so he issued a bounty order to the killer organization—offering a bounty for Cheng Yu's head.
"It turns out they're from the Welt family. I want to meet them."
Cheng Yu planned to go to the Red Maple Winery in person.