I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 269
Chapter 269: The Woes of a Centaur Girl
The Crispy Sharks handed over by Sikong Yue were vanilla ice cream flavored, and they weren’t even a well-known brand from China, they had a strong “European” style.
It could even be said… that these things might not even be considered “Crispy Sharks”. It’s just that its shape and packaging instinctively made me think it was “Crispy Sharks,” but upon closer inspection after receiving it, I realized something was off.
“Orchid… Wafer Biscuits?”
Taking this little snack, I carefully examined the food description on it, taking a while to understand the “meaning of the name” of this snack.
Its shape was similar to that of Crispy Sharks, rectangular stick-shaped, and based on my years of “research” on Crispy Sharks, it seemed to be about two centimeters longer than Crispy Sharks. The packaging was mainly green and white, with the main pattern being vanilla mixed with cream rolling up the wafer biscuit.
Only the name of the food and the list of ingredients were in our language, while the rest were some symbols that I couldn’t understand, not like English, Korean, or Latin. It should belong to the type of national script that I completely didn’t understand.
Without a doubt, it should be produced in that “archipelago” country of Sikong Yue.
“We call this ‘Orchid Cuties’ over there.”
Sikong Yue, at the driver’s seat, started the car and said, “This is a literal translation. I haven’t been learning Mandarin for very long, so I don’t know how the translation in the local language here would be.”
I almost blurted out, “You can call it Crispy Sharks, uh… vanilla flavor?”
“What on earth is Crispy Sharks?”
Sikong Yue chuckled at my words. “Very crispy sharks? We don’t have the habit of catching sharks, that’s what killer whales do.”
Like some foreign language translations, Sikong Yue occasionally uses a bit of local grammar when she speaks, like “Oh my god” or “Look at what you’ve done,” I can’t say exactly, but it gives off a kind of… foreigner vibe.
Combined with her slightly girlish voice, it’s quite cute.
“Oh… it’s just that we have similar snacks here, called Crispy Sharks.”
I tore open the packaging and looked at the small milky-white bricks inside. I instantly smelled the unique aroma of cream and vanilla, and said somewhat happily, “Thank you!”
“We’re old friends after all!”
The car slowly pulled out of the space outside the café, down the rotating ramp onto the road below the coconut trees. Despite claiming to have just gotten her driver’s license last year, Sikong Yue still drove the car very steadily.
“You can have any snacks and drinks here, they’re all specialties from our country, and they’re all my favorites.”
“Huh?”
It wasn’t until then that I noticed how cute the interior of this “Painted Car” decorated by Sikong Yue was. Its exterior was mainly black and white, resembling a girlish style black bear costume, but the interior was completely different, mostly white and pink. Behind the two tables and chairs in front of me were pink lace bows, and below were storage boxes with cute bear paw patterns in pink.
As Sikong Yue said, there were many snacks and drinks inside, including milk candies, jellies, and some desserts similar to canned fruits.
This decoration should correspond to the two summoned beasts of the female protagonist in ” Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear,” the white bear and the black bear.
“Where in the Honor District are you going?”
Just as my gaze was continuously drawn to the snacks inside the bear paw storage box, Sikong Yue in front, also known as Sikong Yue, spoke up, “Let me see how to plan the route.”
“It’s on the road at the border between Nanqi District and Honor District, isn’t it called Prosperity Road? You can see that neighborhood after crossing the Shenzhen Bridge, and then my friend lives in that neighborhood… It seems to be called Zilan Garden? Oh right, it’s No. 107 Zilan Garden.”
I searched my brain for information about Jiang Wei, and soon remembered the memories of riding bicycles with Xiao Mo there.
“Actually, I don’t know if that area can be considered part of the Honor District. All the houses in that community are single-family houses.”
The first floor is used for various computer parts as a warehouse, the second floor is for living, with a hall, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. Then the third floor, like the first floor, is a whole unit used to raise turtles. If I remember correctly, Jiang Wei’s villa also has a fourth floor, which is the rooftop, used to grow plants or various small birds and pigeons.”
On the map of Shenzhen City, the area west of the first Shenzhen River is generally divided into the Honor District. However, in recent years, when I saw people arguing on social media in Shenzhen City communities, they didn’t consider that area as the “Honor District.”
“Are you also at No. 107 Zilan Garden? Could it be that we’re looking for the same person?”
After hearing my words, xiongxiong in front seemed curious. “Is his name Jiang Wei?”
“Huh?”
I was also a bit dumbfounded. “The person you mentioned… the graphics card distributor, is him? Jiang Wei?”
Jiang Wei is the distributor for the Tianqi 3000? No way? It must be a coincidence, right? After all, “Jiang Wei” is quite a common name. In a big city like Shenzhen, there might be dozens or even dozens of people named Jiang Wei. It wouldn’t be surprising to have someone with the same name.
But if this person is also named Jiang Wei, works in the computer field, and coincidentally lives in the Honor District, then I have to consider whether he is the Jiang Wei I know.
I have also learned a bit about the situation with Sikong Yue’s family. Their family and the country where their family company is located are island countries. They are also developed countries with a very good economy. The people live in peace and prosperity, and most goods can be self-sufficient.
Their family company mainly deals with high-tech products, such as computer CPUs, graphics cards, and so on. However, they used to develop products mainly for domestic sales, with very few exports. Because the country is too “comfortable” and has abundant resources, decades ago, people there had different lifestyles from ours.
For example, a farmer might own a piece of land to raise cattle and sheep, and in their leisure time, they would return to their cottage to watch the news and play games. Their motivation was not to make a lot of money but to find a job they enjoyed, like farming, and as long as they could support themselves and enjoy life, whether they were good at it didn’t matter much.
When I was researching related information online, I came across similar reports. It said that in the archipelago where Sikong Yue’s country is located, due to its abundant resources and favorable climate conditions, agriculture is the primary industry.
However, if you were to approach the farmers there to discuss cooperation, asking them to sacrifice some rest time to expand their scale, cultivate more land, or establish more farms to export surplus products and make a lot of money, they would think you were crazy. They would express that their current lifestyle is just fine.
The company where Sikong Yue’s family is from operates in this manner. Their logo is a little elf, and the company’s name translates to “Jialan” or “Gloriosa” or “Garland.” Originally, it meant “gloriosa lily,” and the elf in the logo represents purity and beauty, much like the gloriosa lily, without too much special meaning.
The CPUs and graphics cards produced by this company have basically only been sold domestically for decades, and these past few years mark the first time they’ve ventured abroad. Surprisingly, the first distributor they found was… a small business owner like Jiang Wei?
“He said his name is Jiang Wei.”
Perhaps not expecting my reaction, Xiongxiong, who was driving, explained, “He used to write novels on Yae-Do Novel Website under the pen name Marisa’s Iron Butt.”
That’s him, all right.
“Are you looking for him to distribute graphics cards?”
I was curious. “I remember Jiang Wei sold his original store before and moved all his assets here to retire, right?”
“I’m not too sure about that,” Xiongxiong smiled.
“Partnering with him was a decision made by the family.”
“The standard version of the Tianqi graphics card?”
“Yeah.”
Approaching an intersection without traffic lights, seeing two elderly people about to cross the road ahead, Xiongxiong slowed down, stopped in front of the crosswalk, then turned to me.
“Actually, all the Tianqi series graphics cards currently on the market are standard versions. We haven’t authorized the chips to any other manufacturers.”
When Jiang Wei gave me that computer before, I went online to cram my knowledge about graphics cards, learning about what “reference cards” and “custom cards” are.
A reference card is a graphics card independently designed by the manufacturer after developing the chip, without any modifications. On the other hand, custom cards are produced by some distributors who collaborate with the manufacturers, obtaining chips and other materials to modify them into various designs before selling them.
Clearly, Jiang Wei is just a relatively successful computer dealer and doesn’t have the ability to independently modify graphics card designs and materials. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have time to work part-time writing novels, nor would he have known me when I was struggling financially.
Actually, this is normal. Xiongxiong’s family company is relatively unknown, so if they want to expand their market, they can only start by approaching these individual “dealers” to “hone their skills.”
But I didn’t expect them to have directly approached Jiang Wei.
Didn’t Jiang Wei say he was going to live an ordinary life and lie low before? Why did he suddenly decide to collaborate with a graphics card merchant?
“We were planning to find individual merchants with a certain influence on the internet and a good reputation from years of store operation. I’ve been in the reader group of Marisa’s Iron Butt for a long time, and I’ve talked to him a lot. I roughly know what kind of person he is. Considering that he also has many fans online and hasn’t been involved in any scandals over the years, people who bought computers from him say he’s relatively honest and has good after-sales service.”
Seeing the puzzled expression on my face through the rearview mirror, Xiongxiong explained, “Plus, it seems like he’s planning to expand his business recently, so we decided to collaborate with him.”
Jiang Wei is planning to expand his business recently? I remember he didn’t say that half a month ago, did he?
“Well, then we can go together.”
Although I was curious about the reasons behind it, considering whether Jiang Wei’s side was short of money was their family matter, so I didn’t go into detail to ask Xiongxiong about their cooperation arrangements.
Instead, I casually asked a question that had puzzled me when I was searching about Xiongxiong’s company before.
“By the way, Sister Sikong Yue, in your country… are people’s surnames all flowers?”
This was also the most curious question I had when watching “Age of Aquarius”. There were many discussions online about the protagonist Jialan Shuo, and among them, the most puzzling thing for people was his surname, Jialan.
In the setting, the protagonist Jialan Shuo comes from a country where people speak the Three Kingdoms language, and the surnames of the people there are all flowers, such as Lily, Hyacinth, Carnation, and so on. And Jialan Shuo’s surname is Jialan, a compound surname.
In history, compound surnames are very common on our side, such as Ouyang, Murong, Zhuge, Sima… Even Xiongxiong’s passport name here is a compound surname: Sikong.
But “Jialan” is a surname I’ve never heard of before. And because this surname is a “flower name”, there have always been people speculating online whether “Jialan” has a real-life prototype, whether there really is a country where everyone’s name is a flower name, and some even believe that the events of 2012 have actually happened, and what we are in now is just a planet very similar to Earth, but we also call it “Earth”.
As an extension of this, countless people who felt unsatisfied after watching “Age of Aquarius” also formed “Detail Groups,” specifically to study various details in the movie. The surname “Jialan” was just one aspect of their research. They believed that people with the surname Jialan actually had prototypes in Xiongxiong’s country.
They thought that since this movie was sponsored by Jialan Corporation, there must be some kind of undisclosed secret. Jialan was just one of the codewords. Following this clue, they estimated that they could uncover a large amount of evidence that “Age of Aquarius has arrived.”
What surprised me the most was when I saw a post that even mentioned, “Pluto was kicked out of the nine planets” because “the saviors found a new galaxy without Pluto,” and “we living on ‘Earth’ are just clones of the original, and our original selves are on the real Earth.”
“No, those strange analyses on the internet are all fake.”
Perhaps knowing what I wanted to ask, Sikong Yue explained proactively, “The reason why the protagonist’s surname is Jialan is just because our company’s name is Jialan Technology Co., Ltd., for advertising effects. The movie is fictional, there is no Age of Aquarius, and no Jialan family…”
So that’s how it is. I also think the netizens are too sensitive.
“If we’re all going to see Mr. Jiang Wei, then it’s simple. I’ll just drive to his house and talk to him about cooperation. Once we’ve sorted things out, we can go to the expo together.”
After the two elderly people in front crossed the zebra crossing, Xiongxiong started the car.
“May I ask conveniently? What is it that you’re looking for Mr. Jiang Wei for?”
“Oh, so it’s like… going to… essentially pay the final installment,” I casually remarked.
“Before, we had him customize a computer for us. Initially, we paid a deposit, and now that the computer is ready, we’re going to pay the final installment, and also catch up with him.”
“I see, it seems like you’re quite familiar with each other.”
“Yeah… we’re both authors. We were in the same author group before.”
“So, the rumors about Yae-Do Hall authors knowing each other are true.”
“My acquaintance with Jiang Wei is just a coincidence. In fact, I’m more familiar with Pipi. Do you know about the Divine Pet Pipi? He’s also an author at Yae-Do Hall.”
“I do. His books used to dominate the Yae-Do Hall’s rankings, and he’s considered a veteran author. I’m also in his reader group. I remember he has a daughter who bothers him every day, leaving him with no time to write.”
“Xiongxiong really has a wide circle of acquaintances…”
“It’s so-so. I’ve joined many reader groups, but I don’t really talk much. However, I do often read the conversations in the groups.”
“……”
In the casual chatter with Xiongxiong, the car slowly drove out of Nanqi District, onto the first Shenzhen Bridge of Shenzhen City, passed through the bridge adorned with hanging lights, and arrived at the relatively quiet Honor District Prosperous Road.
Actually, I didn’t find it surprising that Xiongxiong knew Jiang Wei and the others. Because Xiongxiong herself is the legendary “rich lady” from Yae-Do Hall. She not only joined numerous author groups, but her personal account at Yae-Do Hall is also top-tier, belonging to the kind of “whale account” that has maxed out experience points through rewarding novels.
At that time, many people speculated whether this Xiongxiong was the young master from some wealthy family, but it turns out she’s a young lady.
Speaking of which, even if Xiongxiong wears this bear suit, her figure still looks so good. I’m actually a bit envious… Ahem, no, what’s a tough guy like me envious of.
In the midst of time passing leisurely, Xiongxiong drove the car to the neighborhood where Jiang Wei was located.
“Sorry, please show your pass.”
Probably scared by the appearance of Xiongxiong’s “QQ car,” thinking that such a “two-dimensional” flavored small car shouldn’t belong to the residents here, the security guard responsible for checking didn’t raise the barrier with the security post’s gate, instead choosing to walk out from the guard booth and knock on the car window.
“What are you here for?”
“My friend is a resident here. We’re here to visit him, just for half an hour.”
Xiongxiong rolled down the car window and flashed a big smile at the security guard, then pulled out a hundred yuan.
“Uncle, can you make an exception?”
“Oh…”
The security guard was probably taken aback by Xiongxiong’s generosity. Plus, both Yin Xiamo and I, whether in the car, belonged to the kind of “beautiful as fairies” girls. He took the money, stunned for a good three seconds before coming to his senses.
“Alright then, try to come back before noon, okay?”
“Okay!”
Closing the window, watching the barrier rise in front, Xiongxiong drove into the neighborhood.
“You didn’t have to give him money.”
I felt a bit sorry: “Just give Jiang Wei a call and let him talk to the guard.”
“It’s our custom to tip service staff in our place, you know.”
Xiongxiong shrugged, “It’s okay, the security guard is also a working person, deserving of praise.”
“……”
I don’t know what to say about this.
I guess Xiongxiong has her reasons for this. After all, she’s going to discuss business with Jiang Wei later. If she has to trouble Jiang Wei to open the door for her, it might give him the feeling of… “Even people from big companies like us can’t handle security guards.” I’m not a business person anyway, so I don’t really know.
“You guys can get off here, I’ll park the car up front.”
Xiongxiong stopped the car at the entrance of Zilan Road and opened the rear door for us.
“Okay.”
Yin Xiamo and I got off the car. “We’ll wait for you here.”
“Alright.”
As we watched Xiongxiong drive the car towards the parking lot, Yin Xiamo beside me pointed to the bunny backpack behind me.
“By the way, Nuo’er, there’s something I forgot to tell you.”
Curiously, I turned around. “What is it?”
“Do you remember the centaur Dolly I mentioned to you before?”
“I do.”
I nodded. “She was the first centaur girl the hero from the other world got to know. They had a good relationship.”
“The centaur tribe follows a name inheritance system. When I went back, I passed by the centaur tribe and happened to meet Dolly’s daughter. Now, this daughter has inherited Dolly’s name. Centaurs spend almost their entire lives running, but because there’s no more fighting on the other side of the world, the former Dolly, the horse the hero rode at the time, hopes to bring Dolly over here and have us provide her daughter with a job, preferably related to running.”
Under the warm sunlight, Yin Xiamo made a surprising remark.
“I estimate that in another two or three days, little Dolly will be here.”
“……”
……