From a distance, everyone could already make out the general outline of the village.
Tan Xingyun thought the same as the live stream comments, he didn't dare drive the car too close, so he stopped nearby and tentatively said, "We're here, miss. We're still in a hurry to get going. You can walk the rest of the way yourself, right?"
The red-dressed woman didn't seem offended, on the contrary she looked pleased. "Of course, of course. You've already gone through so much trouble for me! Oh, here, take this as my travel money."
She somehow produced a stack of banknotes and pressed them into Li Kang's arms.
"I don't carry much cash, this is all I have. Please don't look down on it."
After saying that she smoothly got out of the car, and did not try to invite everyone to the village to attend the wedding banquet.
Li Kang, who had suddenly had money shoved into his arms, stood there stunned and confused. He reflexively wanted to return the money. "No! We can't take this!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Li Kang snapped back to reality and his inner voice screamed, holy crap.
This isn't the real world where he could just refuse! He was bargaining with a supernatural being!
Fortunately the red-dressed woman didn't notice his stiff expression, she just waved her hand. "Just take it. I can't freeload your car. If you weren't in such a hurry, I would have invited you all to the village to finish the banquet first."
Li Kang silently exhaled, hesitated, then passed the money to Xu Xi beside him. "Brother Xu, look at this…"
Xu Xi was slightly surprised, but he still took the money. While he bowed his head to inspect the banknotes, he didn't miss the exchange between Tan Xingyun and the red-dressed woman.
The money in his hand looked exactly the same as the bills in his own pocket, no difference at all.
Over there Tan Xingyun, quick-eyed and quick-handed, called out to the red-dressed woman who was about to walk toward the village. Under the teammates' puzzled gazes, he took out a few pieces of paper money.
"Although we don't have time to attend the banquet, meeting such a happy event is fate. Consider these a small gift to bless you."
The red-dressed woman quickly reacted. Not only did she show no odd reaction to the paper money, she even accepted the so-called gift with a beaming smile.
"Then thank you for your blessings. Wait here a bit, I'll go get you some wedding candies, so you can share the good fortune."
After the red-dressed woman hurried off, before the teammates could ask questions, Tan Xingyun stepped forward to explain. "Unlike that old woman earlier, this woman is obviously friendlier and can communicate normally. I think there's still something special about her."
Xu Xiuman thought for a moment. "But the information she revealed from start to finish was very limited. She only said she was going to a wedding banquet."
Tan Xingyun nodded. "Right, but do you all remember that old man from the funeral shop?"
Li Kang asked curiously, "What about him?"
"We originally thought that old man's presence was only to give us certain clues and items, and in fact it was. But we were only passively accepting. Only Brother Xu actively pried out deeper clues."
Listening quietly, Xu Xi didn't expect the topic to be pulled onto himself. Especially since he really had just stumbled into it by accident, every time it was brought up he felt an inward awkwardness.
Xu Xiuman instantly understood when she heard that. "In real life people attending a wedding usually give a bit of money as a gift, so you imitated that on a whim to try it."
"Yes," Tan Xingyun admitted.
His intention had really been that simple.
"It proved to be effective," Xu Xiuman said softly as she watched the red figure running back from not far away.
[Holy crap, they could even make that connection?]
[This beer-bellied uncle is pretty impressive, bold, careful, clever. He looks like someone who can survive long in the game]
[So why didn't Xu Xi think of it?]
[Why must Xu Xi be the one to think of it? This is a multiplayer instance, not a solo run. Are the other players supposed to stop thinking? Ridiculous]
[Ignore that idiot above]
[It's not necessarily that he couldn't think of it, maybe he just wasn't interested in taking the extra step]
[Wedding candies sound like one-time-use items. When someone can clear instances fast, why care about such trifles?]
[Trifles? Strange phrase]
[Many players can't even get a single disposable item after several instances, and you call it trifles?]
[Stop arguing, the red-dressed woman is back]
Under the live comments' watchful eyes, the red-dressed woman returned, panting.
"Here, take these wedding candies."
Tan Xingyun counted the candies at a glance — exactly eight pieces. He accepted them and smiled in thanks. "Thanks."
"It's nothing. Then I'll be off. Be careful on the road, and I wish you a smooth journey."
She waved goodbye and turned to leave.
Tan Xingyun didn't stuff all the candies into his pocket. He took two and handed the rest to the others. "Let's each take two and split them equally."
Li Kang made a sound of surprise and, bashful, scratched his head. "Uncle, you earned them, how can we take them?"
Those candies were most likely instance items. He knew how valuable certain items could be — sometimes they were lifesavers. Besides, he hadn't contributed much along the way and felt awkward about freeloading.
Tan Xingyun smiled and spoke amiably. "We're all teammates, and this instance succeeded because of everyone's cooperation. Although my attempt had a good result, there was a one-in-three chance it could've gone wrong. Everyone shares the consequences with me, shouldn't we share the rewards too? Besides, the woman gave eight candies, maybe precisely so we could split them fairly."
Xu Xiuman looked at him thoughtfully and didn't refuse. She took two candies of different wrappers from the middle-aged man. "Thank you."
The eight candies were divided into two kinds: one wrapped in floral paper and one plain white, four of each.
Tan Xingyun and Xu Xiuman each took one of the same kind.
Li Kang saw this and shyly took two pieces, quickly offering his thanks. "Thanks, Uncle!"
Xu Xi thought the same as Li Kang. He wasn't that shameless to take suspected item rewards that someone else had procured. But with the others already taking theirs, it didn't feel right for him to be the only one not taking any.
So he took the last two candies and sincerely thanked the man as well.
[Wow, this beer-bellied uncle is so generous. If those are items, that's eight of them. He just split them up like that!]
[If it were another player they'd hoard them all, who would be foolish enough to share with teammates?]
[This uncle isn't stupid, actually he's very clever and not greedy]
[Uncle: never thought we'd get into an instance and still have to consider social etiquette]