43. A Task To Sell His Novel

Ryūhei separated the two. Then, he asked Hu Tao why she had come. As far as he could remember, Zhongli had even read the latest manga he published. So there was little chance that Hu Tao would come to buy manga again.

Meanwhile, Ryūhei already knew the reason why Xingqiu had come to his shop. So he didn't have to ask.

"Let's go out together!"

Hu Tao's question left Ryūhei dumbfounded for a moment. Hu Tao didn't realize it at first, but after seeing Ryūhei and Xingqiu's expressions and their silence, she blushed.

"I-I'm not asking you to go out on a date! I want your help to purify the spirits! Ahaha." Hu Tao laughed awkwardly. She couldn't believe that her words made them misunderstand.

Since Hu Tao said so, he let out a chuckle before replying,

"I refuse!"

"Why? Didn't we have an agreement that you will help me as long as I buy your manga? You can't turn back your words!"

"I went out with Mr. Zhongli since this morning to purify something. So, you can say I already helped the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. Don't you think so? In the first place, wasn't our agreement to help you promote your product? I'm not your assistant after all." Ryūhei didn't remember if his agreement was to help her with the work. However, Hu Tao didn't think so.

"But, that time I said "as long as you help me, I will buy all your manga" and I still remember it well. So, helping me to purify spirits still counts, you know. Hehehe."

Hu Tao thought that well. But, Ryūhei smirked as if he grasped the victory over her.

"We didn't form a contract. So I don't have an obligation to help you."

Hu Tao pouted.

"Uuu. Meanie!!! You tricked me!"

"Hehe. Well, you tricked me as well. Are we even now?" Ryūhei said while chuckling. "Next time, okay! Xiangling will be traveling to Mondstadt tomorrow, so I will finish her favorite manga before she leaves."

"Ohh… no wonder she ran around to find ingredients. Turns out she's going to travel. But, why did she tell you while not telling me at all?" Hu Tao grew suspicious of Xiangling who was more friendly with Ryūhei. But, Ryūhei replied.

"You aren't that close with her, are you?"

"The same goes with you!" Hu Tao threw it back at him.

Ryūhei shrugged his shoulders.

"She's my neighbor. Even if she doesn't tell me, I will know eventually."

Then, Hu Tao grinned while covering her teeth with her left hand.

"Hihi. So you're eyeing her? Say, say, what made you interested in her?" She said while getting close to him. In fact, she was too close as her face was only a few centimeters from Ryūhei's.

Ryūhei grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away.

"Calm–calm down, flat board! It's not like I'm interested—" Ryūhei halted his talk.

"F-flat…" Hu Tao seemed stunned by Ryūhei addressing her as a flat board. "To call me flat… ha ha…ha." Hu Tao laughed dejectedly as if Ryūhei's words dealt a fatal blow to her senses. Then, she walked away leaving the shop absentmindedly.

"It's the first time I've seen her like this." Xingqiu commented after seeing Hu Tao like that. Then, he turned to Ryūhei. "Your words are sharp sometimes. You even deal critical damage to her."

Ryūhei shrugged his shoulders.

"Perhaps! Just so you know, if I didn't do that, she would constantly pester me with her antics. And that would be troublesome. Still, I didn't expect her reaction to be like that. It seems I just grabbed her weakness. Good to know I guess."

"You're a devil!"

"I'm fine being a devil. Anyway, you're not coming here just for a chat, right?"

Xingqiu looked around before whispering to him.

"I just finished my script. Can you make the copies and put them in your store?"

"Okay, let me see."

Xingqiu handed over the script to Ryūhei. But, when Ryūhei read the first page, he twitched, then turned to Xingqiu.

"This is not a script, but doodles. Sigh."

Although Ryūhei could read it, it didn't mean the others could. People might have a hard time understanding the writing. If he remembered correctly, there was an app to convert handwriting into text. He just needed to buy a tab or a phone to install it. Good thing he had a lot of points to buy one. Otherwise, he had to ask Xingqiu to revise it.

Suddenly, a notification sounded inside his head.

[The host has a new task! Sell 30 copies of A Legend of Sword within half a month! Successfully selling 30 copies within the set time, the host will unlock the novel category in the system market and obtain a soft copy of the Journey to The West and Romance of The Three Kingdoms novels.]

"Seriously? Xingqiu said that his novel won't be popular in Liyue Harbor. But well, whatever. I need to try to sell it along with my manga. But, Journey of the West, huh? Was the TV series from China that was very popular at that time an adaptation of this novel?" Ryūhei said in his mind.

He didn't really understand that. Still, if the series was so famous, the novel must be one of the best classic novels as well.

"But, I don't know the other one."

Putting aside the reward, he began to ponder on how to sell Xingqiu's novels if the sales quota had not been reached before the appointed time.

Ryūhei turned to Xingqiu.

"I'll help you to publish this novel. You just need to sit back and wait for the results in the next half a month."

"Woah. Sounds reliable. Hehe. I know I can count on you. Then I'll wait for the news later."

Then, Xingqiu said goodbye to Ryūhei.

Seeing Xingqiu's figure disappear from his sight, Ryūhei went to his room while telling Atsuko.

"Atsuko, if you want to take a break, just close the shop temporarily."

"Got it, boss!"

Arriving at his room, he chanted to open the system, then tapped the market icon after the holographic interface appeared before his face.

He started sorting tabs with good specs. After confirming which one he wanted to buy, he pushed his finger forward. Before he tapped to buy, something popped into his head.

"Wait a moment. In the first place, this world doesn't have an internet connection. If I buy this, am I just wasting my points? What to do?"

He rubbed his head in confusion as he didn't know what to do. He even had promised Xingqiu earlier.

"But, as I recall, many Windows and Android applications were sold on the marketplace when I was on earth, especially paid ones. Lemme check first. Hmmm, but what was that again… Optical… emm, an Optical Character Reader application? Ah, I forgot what that was."

Ryūhei tried to remember. There is a tool that has the function of scanning handwriting on photos into digital text. Unfortunately, he did not know the name of the application.

He tapped the search icon and typed "Windows app" in it.

Then, all kinds of Windows apps popped up on the holographic screen. Anti-Virus, Microsoft Office, Media Player, etc. But, Ryūhei only checked the app related to documents.

A few minutes later.

"Found it."

He found an application that has an OCR or Optical Character Recognition feature which is a document editing feature and something along the lines.

"So, the Pro version of Adobe Reader can convert handwriting into digital text, huh?"

Having confirmed this, Ryūhei immediately bought a high specifications tablet along with all the important applications that might be needed.

Oddly enough, all applications that have been purchased and sent to the inbox have been put together into an OTG flash drive.

"Eh, it's so convenient."

Ryūhei unboxed the tablet first, turned it on, then installed all of the apps. While waiting for the app to be installed, he took out the drawing pad to finish the second volume of Shokugeki no Sōma.

Ryūhei could just draw using his new tablet. But he has been used to drawing using a drawing pad ever since he still lived on earth to make fan art or illustrations.

It took Ryūhei all night to draw the manga, causing him to sleep soundly in the morning and wake up during the day. Good thing that Atsuko could take care of the shop by herself after 3 weeks of work. So, the shop is still open normally.

Ryūhei quickly washed his face and ate before he took photos of Xingqiu's manuscript.