Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

"System," Shen Liang murmured to himself.

His vision was immediately enveloped by a layer of light, transparent but clear screen-like material. Shen Liang couldn't tell if it was floating on his retina or in his brain, and it was covered with Chinese characters written in bold.

[Currently eligible for Stigmata.]

【none. 】

[Please, executors, accelerate the process of exploring the world.]

Yes, it's a system that has nothing at all. Shen Liang doesn't even know what these words mean. He only knows that ever since he was able to travel freely between the worlds of Teyvat and Earth, he has had this system that displays all kinds of data.

In other novels, this would be an essential cheat code for time travel, but at least in other novels, the system is easy to understand, and you can even complain to the host about wasting words. But his system was born when he first discovered he could time travel, and apart from giving him the function of opening a light screen to travel at any time, nothing else was revealed.

Even when Shen Liang inquired about the "current eligible candidates for the Holy Mark" in various ways, the system remained silent.

In other words, this is a classical "system" that doesn't use memes or have its own emotions, and it can't even do "interaction"—it's most likely just a program, and one without instructions.

Then we don't need to pay attention to it.

Shen Liang turned around to face the dark living room and said, "Xiao Ai, turn on the lights."

"The ambient lighting in your living room has been turned on."

As the warm light came on, Shen Liang looked at the messy living room. The giant screen TV was still showing the Switch game in standby mode. The sofa had been pushed to the corner, and potato chips, spicy strips, and a fruit plate were scattered on the handmade carpet. Two little girls, about thirteen or fourteen years old, were sleeping on the carpet.

The two little girls looked almost identical, clearly twins, the only difference being their hair color—pink and blue, respectively, colors rarely seen in everyday life. Both girls wore messy, loose white shirts, revealing their slender, white thighs. One was sprawled out on her back while the other had her head on the ground, neither behaving like a proper lady.

Shen Liang glanced at the air conditioner indicator on the wall, and sure enough, the central air conditioning was set to 30 degrees Celsius. This was the cost of sleeping with the window open on the 27th floor in winter while wearing such thin clothes. Shen Liang wondered how much electricity they had used. So he kicked the pink-haired girl who was banging her head on the ground. It took her a while to rub her eyes and see the boy in front of her.

"Brother!" The little girl scrambled to her feet, giving the one sprawled out on the floor a good kick, then jumped up and hugged Shen Liang's waist. "Lilia, Lilia, wake up! Brother's back! We've got food! I want cherry-roasted durian!"

"I want beef pie... ugh, ice cream, and blueberry braised pork intestines. Lilia loves her brother the most." The girl called Lilia hadn't even opened her eyes before listing the dishes, and even so, she spoke calmly and unhurriedly, while also looking down on her older sister, "Idiot Rosalia, your brother won't satisfy you. What you want to eat is all culinary horror."

"Isn't blueberries and pork intestines a culinary disaster together?!" Rosalia roared in anger.

"Blueberries aren't a terrible dish even when they're with poop."

"Then you eat it!"

"I won't eat it, and I won't poop either. Beautiful girls don't go to the toilet."

"From then on, when I brush my teeth in the morning and Lilia needs to use the toilet, I'll take a shower in there!"

"Ha, ha, ha, it's not like there aren't restrooms upstairs, what a stupid sister..."

Shen Liang hadn't even uttered a word since the beginning, yet the two little girls, who had just woken up, had already started fighting. Fortunately, despite their fierce words, their fight was mostly just about knocking each other down on the carpet, their clothes a mess. Shen Liang thought of picking them up and stopping their antics as she used to, but then sadly realized she had lost that right.

—Rosalia Arlene, 149 cm. Shen Liang, 159 cm.

Seeing the two extremely hungry little girls, Shen Liang walked towards the kitchen: "You've been eating snacks all day, why didn't you order takeout?"

"The TV shows say that many lecherous old men use the excuse of delivering takeout to break into the apartments of single women. These vulnerable single women are powerless to resist. Rosalia and Lilia are such delicate and lovely young women. Ordering takeout is a life-threatening thing for them!" Rosalia said with certainty.

This time, Lilia, who was standing next to her, didn't contradict her sister and nodded seriously.

The social atmosphere in Bunkyo Ward is excellent, and Shen Liang doesn't recall ever hearing such news before. Therefore, he knows that the video he downloaded to his computer and made a hidden file must have been seen by those two troublemakers.

These two little girls are not Japanese, or Chinese like him, but Russian Siberians.

Strictly speaking, they are children from an orphanage in the Siberian town of Oymyakon. The orphanage, named "Saint Sister Cocolia Children's Welfare Institute," was established by the former Soviet Union and is now a military-controlled orphanage managed by the Russian military. It houses abandoned and homeless children in one of the coldest permafrost regions on Earth.

Shen Liang, Rosalia, and Lilia were all from that orphanage. Because Shen Liang was the oldest, he was practically the older brother to all the children. Many of the children who were initially sent there were cared for by Shen Liang, not the headmistress, Cocolia. Shen Liang entered the orphanage at eight, tending to the younger girls' needs. At eighteen, he finally graduated without a second thought, becoming a self-reliant popular novelist in Japan. His decent royalties even placed him among the middle class.

then……

Then the Cocolia Orphanage launched the "One-on-One Sunshine Support Program," saying that living in the icy and snowy Siberia all year round was not suitable for children to understand the world, and that the children should go out and explore.

The youngest sisters, Arlene and Arlene, were not yet able to support themselves, so they were handed over to him, the "most outstanding graduate of the orphanage three years ago." Director Cocolia had not informed him beforehand and had sent the Arlene sisters on a plane. Looking at the hopeful, sparkling eyes of these two mischievous children, and the reporters with cameras ready to publicize the news of the orphans meeting and the deep bond between the siblings, he simply could not refuse.

It's absurd to think of a 21-year-old taking care of two 14-year-olds, but there's nothing that can be done about it. Apparently, the Russian military is strapped for cash right now, and they've already demolished most of the welfare institutions like orphanages that needed to be dismantled. Oymyakon is a remote, cold town, and sending supplies there would be far less costly than dismantling the orphanage and relocating it to another city, since there aren't many people there anyway.

But the children were unwilling, preferring to go out into the world and earn their own living rather than have their orphanage, filled with memories, disbanded. So the Arlene sisters went to live with Shen Liang, who was said to be doing very well. The other children, it is said, are now doing all sorts of things—after all, they are orphans who grew up under military training, and Shen Liang knows that they are all highly skilled and will not starve anywhere.

As she thought about it, Shen Liang lifted the lid of the plate. There was braised sea cucumber with scallions, braised tofu in salt water, tempura, a large bowl of French vegetable salad and a cherry and blueberry platter. It was a simple and plain four dishes and a fruit platter. Since the Alin sisters had big appetites, a small pot of Northeast rice was also steamed.

Chapter Four: How much is Mora worth?

Shen Liang poured himself a glass of homemade liquor, a type of spirit brewed in rural southern China. Locally, it wouldn't cost more than fifteen yuan per jin (500 grams), but the price was different abroad. Shen Liang had a contract with a farmer's tavern, receiving ten jin each month, just enough for one person's meals.

Rosalia drank sparkling wine straight from the bottle, while Lilia preferred German blueberry liqueur. Both were low in alcohol and sweet, leaning towards beverages. They actually wanted to drink vodka from their homeland, but Shen Liang wouldn't allow children to be exposed to such outrageous things. After the Arlene sisters strongly protested, both sides compromised and opted for alcoholic beverages.

Although there was no roasted durian or braised pork intestines, compared to the impoverished orphanage where they ate mashed potatoes, borscht, and pickled cucumbers every day, and had to wait for the supply truck to deliver cherries every few months, the Arlene sisters felt like they had arrived in paradise.

After dinner, Shen Liang put on a trench coat and led the Arlene sisters, who had changed into beige turtleneck sweaters and pleated skirts, and were wearing thick white thigh-high socks for winter, out the door.

He has many things to do on his way back to Earth today. Time flows at the same rate on Teyvat and Earth. The longer he stays in Teyvat, the more things need to be done on Earth. In particular, he can't let anyone know that he has shrunk. He has to avoid most of his previous relationships. Fortunately, he is an online author and doesn't have many social obligations to begin with.

"What kind of continent is Teyvat? Last time my brother came back, he said he got along well with Big Sister Beidou. Is Big Sister Beidou as pretty as Rosalia?" Rosalia asked curiously as they walked, holding Shen Liang's left hand. Lilia quietly held his right hand. The three overly beautiful and adorable children walking down the street attracted the attention of passersby, but Shen Liang was already used to it.

When he was in his early twenties, he was too embarrassed to hold hands with his two unruly children when they went out, fearing police questioning him, so Rosalia would always cause trouble. Now, however, he can walk with his head held high without any worries; becoming smaller might not be a bad thing.

“Silly sister, brother sold his body to get protection from that Captain Beidou. It’s a very cruel reality of society. You should feel sorry for him!” Lilia said. “If we could have gone with him, we wouldn’t have let him suffer such humiliation in another world!”

"But we don't have any power! Teyvat has the Eye of God, and everyone there has superpowers. If we go there, we'll only get humiliated together. It doesn't matter if my brother becomes unclean, Rosalia won't mind, but it won't do if Rosalia becomes unclean!" Rosalia retorted loudly, "Bronya will beat my brother to death!"

Shen Liang simply couldn't understand what was going on in the sisters' minds; he had never been able to follow the sisters' thought processes.

“Teyvat is not dangerous, at least not for me. I can simply activate the teleportation barrier and return to Earth. I’ve tried it, and just as life on our side cannot pass through the teleportation barrier, life on Teyvat is the same,” Shen Liang said. “I plan to investigate further. The value of an unfamiliar world is immense. If I can get even a little bit of profit, it will be enough for us to live on for a lifetime.”

"Hehe, other protagonists in transmigration novels are always doing big things when they transmigrate, but I just want to make some money." Rosalia spread her arms wide, making a "big" gesture, then stuck out her tongue. "Pathetic, so pathetic~"

But Shen Liang didn't care. Rosalia didn't know the cost of living when she wasn't in charge; a pair of her winter socks cost 10,000 yen and wouldn't even last a week. And now he hadn't received any royalties for a month. Because he had shrunk, he couldn't go to the publishing house or sign contracts online; he had to plan ahead to ensure his livelihood.

He's practically undocumented now because the face on his residency permit and ID card doesn't match his current appearance, making it difficult for him to find work. He also specifically instructed the Arlene sisters not to tell anyone about his shrinking and time travel, especially not to tell Cocolia.

Although Dean Cocolia raised him, Shen Liang knew that Cocolia ultimately had a military background, and it wouldn't be right for the Russian military to find out about his extraordinary experience as a Chinese man.

For Shen Liang, although he grew up in Siberia and now lives in Japan, he is ultimately Chinese. He sees things from a Chinese perspective, and as a Chinese person, with the ability to time travel and shrink, he can't help but worry about being discovered and studied by capitalist countries.

That might not be so bad; he might become financially independent and worry-free. But he's someone who could easily achieve financial freedom. He's already quite content with his simple, modest life with Rosalia and Lilia. Exposing himself to the scrutiny of national organizations is not his wish.

So what he has to do now is continue to make money using the "time travel" cheat. He can't work anymore, but he still has to make money.

So he arrived at the entrance of the gold shop.

Ahkah Jewelry is a popular gold shop in Japan. As soon as Shen Liang entered, she was warmly served by the manager, who was dressed in an office lady outfit. The manager, who works in a gold shop, has a sharp eye. She can tell that Shen Liang and the Lin sisters, with their fair skin and clean appearance, and whose outfits cost at least 200,000 yen, are definitely high-quality customers. Although they look like middle school students, the manager would never judge a book by its cover. It is not uncommon for "rich kids" to come to Japan to buy jewelry for their girlfriends.

"I'm not here to buy gold, I'm here to sell it. Do you have an appraiser here?" Shen Liang rejected the manager's enthusiastic sales pitch, but her question made the manager look disappointed. People who come to sell gold, no matter how elegantly dressed they are, generally indicate they are short of money or experiencing cash flow problems.

It's impossible to sell to someone like that; they're probably annoyed and have no desire to buy anything. So the manager led Shen Liang to the appraisal counter on the second floor, where an elderly appraiser in his fifties was carefully polishing a necklace. Usually, a gold shop's appraiser and craftsman are the same person, since gold shops nowadays almost exclusively sell finished products, and custom-made gold is rare.

Seeing a little boy with shoulder-length black hair stop in front of his counter, the appraiser paused, glancing at the manager. Shen Liang didn't waste any words, placing a gold coin wrapped in paper on the counter, his expression shifting to a cute one, "Grandpa appraiser, hello! I found this kind of gold coin at home, approximately how much is it worth?"

This is a speaking skill, and Shen Liang believes that any advantage that can be used should be used. These old men from the Showa era have been involved in student movements, and they hate capitalists and petty bourgeoisie the most. So, in front of them, Shen Liang should act like a well-behaved and clever junior, and being sweet-talking by calling them "Grandpa" will definitely not hurt.

It just means that her image in Rosalia and Lilia's eyes will be slightly distorted.

The gold coins Shen Liang gave out were Mora, or more precisely, 10,000 Mora.

In Teyvat, Mora comes in different qualities: coins made of clay, copper, and iron are worth 1 Mora; those made of jade and silver are worth 100 Mora; and those made of gold are worth 10000 Mora. It is said that all the silver coins circulating in Teyvat are made from the flesh and blood of the Geo Archon, the chief god of Liyue, and that gold is the highest form of Mora, containing the will of the Geo God.

Shen Liang keenly realized that the value of a 1 Mora coin worth 100 Mora was vastly different from that of a 10000 Mora coin in Earth's civilization. The value of gold was far more than a hundred times that of jade or silver of the same volume!

The appraiser took the 10,000 Mora gold coin, tossed it in his hand, and his professional experience with gold made him immediately realize something. "This gold coin of yours, is it pure gold?"

I love Rosalia! .jpg

Chapter 5 10,000 Mora = 1 ounce of gold = 150,000 yen

Modern Japanese jewelry stores rarely sell pure gold jewelry; most brands sell karat gold, as they consider pure gold products too rustic and heavy. Even a coin like Shen Liang's could be roughly identified in purity by a specialist at a glance.

"I'm not Japanese, this is an artwork from my country," Shen Liang said deliberately.

"A work of art."

After obtaining consent, the appraiser cut off a small piece, melted it, and placed it into a spectrometer. After a series of operations, he nodded and said, "The purity is very high, but the limit of this machine is 99.99% pure gold. This gold coin weighs about one ounce and is currently worth about 17 yen."

At this point, the appraiser laughed and pushed the gold coin back: "Of course, this is the market price. We generally don't buy at the market price here, sorry."

This was a subtle hint, and Shen Liang knew why he said that.

Because Shen Liang has not yet provided proof of purchase for the gold, the gold shop considers his coins to be "black market" gold. Generally, gold shops wouldn't dare accept such items, especially large chain stores like this, which don't need the gold.

The appraiser even suspected Shen Liang of being a con artist because he had just mentioned "artworks from my country." Since gold is a hard currency, many people who discover artifacts in gold will melt it down and cast it into a mold to avoid detection of anything unusual… Shen Liang's gold coin wasn't of high quality compared to most modern pieces, and the design on it was quite peculiar, further reinforcing the appraiser's suspicions.

Legitimate shops generally do not do business with people in the gray area.

However, Shen Liang was prepared for this. He only dared to trade with genuine large-scale gold shops when there was no proof of purchase for the gold.

Tokyo does have its underground markets, like the one in Shinjuku. These black markets allow the buying and selling of gold without proper documentation, but there are no guarantees or laws. Shen Liang just wants a peaceful life; going there to trade is risky, and being targeted by the black market or the police would be very troublesome.

Moreover, he is currently a fifteen-year-old junior high school student.

“Grandpa, let’s be frank.” Shen Liang didn’t realize he had used a Chinese proverb, but thankfully, he could roughly understand its meaning after translating it into Japanese. “I know your shop doesn’t accept gold of dubious origin, but Grandpa, are you really willing to let a child like me talk to those ruthless gangsters in Shinjuku about money?”

The appraiser smiled and pretended not to understand.

“I see that the purchase price of 1 ounce on your sign is 178,000 yen, and as far as I know, the gold buying and selling is done on commission for the salesperson, not the craftsman.” Shen Liang didn’t care and continued, “The black market price of gold is 160,000 yen per ounce, so I will lose 18,000 yen for every gold coin I buy.”

"The loss wasn't too great."

"May I ask how much your income is?" Shen Liang suddenly asked.

This was a very impolite way of asking, but after a moment of surprise, the appraiser thought of something and smiled, "Around 30 yen."