I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 270
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- Chapter 270 - In the Dream, Three Thousand Falling Flowers
Chapter 270: In the Dream, Three Thousand Falling Flowers
In the prestigious residential area of Zilan Garden, Honor District, Shenzhen City, Jiang Wei warmly welcomed me, Xiao Mo, and Xiongxiong, who were dressed in cosplay, at 107 Zilan Garden Street.
“Sometimes I feel so fortunate to know you guys, a group of friends with common interests,” he said.
On the second floor of the house, Jiang Wei led us to the soft sofa in the living room and sat down. His girlfriend… oh, no, I should say his wife now, Ye Zi, came from the kitchen with a large bowl of fruit and fruit-cut milk, placing it on the table.
“Try this, it’s local fresh milk, with a shelf life of only three days, just arrived this morning.”
“Thank you.”
I took a small bowl, lifted a large spoon, and scooped myself a spoonful of milk and fruit. Perhaps because I was in my “elf form” at the moment, these “natural foods” like fruit and milk seemed to have a certain irresistible charm to me, especially the variety of fruits, making me want to eat them all at once.
The fruits in Jiang Wei’s house were indeed abundant, such as the strawberries, horned melons, mangoes, and… this one… should be a kiwi, right? Paired with the local fresh milk, the rich fruity aroma combined with the milky fragrance instantly made it hard for me to look away.
“Nuo’er is still the same as in memory, a little glutton,” Jiang Wei said with a smile as he saw me diving into the food like I was in my own home.
“If you need more, there’s plenty at home. Do you want some coconut? Shall I open one for you?”
“No need, this is enough,” I replied, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“We’re guests at your house, so technically we should be the ones bringing fruit…”
As a southern city, Shenzhen City has a pleasant climate. Besides seafood, the production of various fruits is also quite astonishing. Similar to the “Medicinal Plant Garden” in the Honor District, there are many “off-season fruit plantations” here. Even if they are not in season, diligent farmers can still grow them in greenhouses.
As the saying goes, “You see, where would you find melons at this time? They’re all from the greenhouses.” Shenzhen City’s “off-season fruits” are also well-known. However, these fruits are a bit pricey.
What impressed me most at the fruit shop before was when a customer bought a supposedly very good durian, and when they checked out, it cost 120 yuan. Some seedless watermelons out of season could sell for seventy to eighty yuan each if they were big.
So even though fruits in our country are relatively cheaper, being able to eat so many varieties of fruits when visiting someone else’s home is still very novel to me.
Perhaps this also has to do with my lack of social skills.
“No, no, if you really bring fruits over, it’s like you don’t consider us as friends.”
Seeing that Yin Xiao Mo was still sitting there, Jiang Wei took the initiative to pick up a spoon and bowl, and scooped out a bowl of fruit and milk for her.
“Try it, my wife has been working on this for the past few days, and she says it’s especially delicious.”
“Um…”
Yin Xiamo took the bowl, tried a piece of strawberry inside, and then took a sip of milk.
“This taste reminds me of the milk I used to drink in the village when I was a child.”
“Right? This is fresh milk from our city. I asked a friend to get it directly from the factory.”
Jiang Wei smiled, “Fresh milk and pure milk are different. The nutrients in fresh milk can be better preserved, but at the same time, its shelf life is shorter, usually only three days to a week. Pure milk loses many nutrients after high-temperature sterilization, but it has a longer shelf life and is convenient for transportation. I only recently learned about milk-related knowledge.”
“That’s good.”
Yin Xiamo glanced at me, “Let Nuo’er eat more, she always refuses to eat at home. She’s grown so big, but her chest hasn’t grown at all.”
“Hey!”
I felt uncomfortable hearing this, “What do you mean ‘her chest hasn’t grown at all’? Is that something I can control?”
“Hehe…”
Ye Zi covered her mouth and chuckled, “Nuo’er is cute like this. Are you both planning to cosplay as Nahida and Lumine today? Both of your styles fit those characters well! Especially Xiao Mo’s Lumine…”
Xiao Mo’s Lumine? Are you saying Xiao Mo is naturally carefree, so cosplaying as a carefree character is a “true portrayal,” right?
“And Xiongxiong too.”
Then, Jiang Wei turned to Sikong Yue beside him, “Are you not feeling hot like this? Should I lower the temperature of the air conditioning?”
“Oh no, no, no, sir, you may be underestimating my heat resistance abilities.”
Xiongxiong waved her hand and then used her right hand to control the mouth of the bear puppet to open and close, saying, “I once traveled alone in Africa in a camper. During the hottest times, you could fry eggs directly under the sun. We even ran several kilometers on the grassland with cheetahs at temperatures like that.”
“You played with cheetahs in Africa?”
Jiang Wei looked somewhat incredulous. “Uh… Although everyone in the group says you, the wealthy young lady, love traveling around the world and come from a rich family, but this… isn’t this too wilful?”
“That’s how life should be. Look, this time it’s because I came to Shenzhen City for tourism that I got to know you all, right? You should do whatever you want to do. That’s what being a human is all about!”
Xiongxiong put her hands on her hips, chest puffed out. “Isn’t there a song in your country that goes like this? How to live——that is——a lifetime.”
“How to——live——it’s only a hundred years…”
“If you’re going to live, live with gusto, and if you’re going to be alive, be lively!”
As she spoke, Xiongxiong even started to mimic the tune of that song in earnest.
“Wow, I didn’t expect Sikong Yue to be so young and still a foreigner, yet she understands some of our local animation songs.”
Neither I nor Xiao Mo said anything. Ye Zi, who came out of the kitchen carrying a fruit platter with watermelon, exclaimed, “That song I loved so much when I was a kid… Uh, I like you for your cuteness, for your confidence, for your refusal to give up…”
“Back and forth, enduring all hardships, can all be ignored——the past pains are being rewritten into happiness, the wind gently blowing, clouds drifting by, the road ahead is the way back home…”
“Huh?” Ye Zi’s voice made everyone in the room silent for several seconds.
“Um, that…” Finally, Jiang Wei took the initiative to ask, “Wife, what animation is that theme song from?”
“Haven’t you seen it?”
Ye Zi was surprised. “Tiger Cub’s Return. It was my favorite animation when I was a kid. You must have seen it. Back then, after school, you would always buy a pack of spicy strips, take one for yourself, say you don’t like it, and then stuff the whole bag of spicy strips into my hands. Then you would drag me to the grocery store in the village that had a color TV. They used to play Tiger Cub’s Return.”
“Is… that so?” Jiang Wei scratched his head, feeling embarrassed.
“I don’t remember watching that animation. What’s it about?”
“It’s about a little white tiger and its little donkey friend, with a little boy with big front teeth. And the villains are two men, one fat and one thin, driving a car, holding rifles, trying to chase the little white tiger. The little white tiger runs back to its hometown with the little donkey.”
Ye Zi tried to jog Jiang Wei’s memory, “Really don’t remember?”
“Boys in love are all like this.”
Sikong Yue interrupted Ye Zi, “Maybe at that time, Mr. Jiang Wei’s entire attention was on you. He probably doesn’t remember any animation.”
“Is that possible?”
Ye Zi said somewhat regretfully, “That’s really a pity, that was my favorite animation… By the way, Jiang Wei, do you remember any anime from back then? You couldn’t have spent a whole semester watching anime with me and not remember anything, right?”
“Who said that!”
Jiang Wei retorted. “I was the king of anime back then, I watched so many anime!”
“Then sing any theme song.”
Ye Zi crossed her arms. “Don’t tell me it’s ‘Tom and Jerry’?”
“How could it be! I don’t even know how to sing the theme song for ‘Tom and Jerry’…”
Jiang Wei thought for a moment, cleared his throat, and seemed to be mustering up some emotions.
After a while, he awkwardly began, “Ding ding ding, ding ding ding, when you encounter trouble, recite a verse of scripture, tut tut tut tut tut, at critical moments, you get confused — gold confused, silver confused, not as good as being familiar with your own confusion…”
“Pfft.”
Jiang Wei hadn’t finished singing when Ye Zi couldn’t help but laugh, “Your tune is too off!”
“I’m not a music prodigy, okay!”
Jiang Wei protested, “Anyway, that’s how it goes. Since you say you remember the cartoons you watched as a kid, tell me, what’s this one called?”
“Is there even a need to guess?”
Ye Zi blinked, “The Clueless God, it was the hottest cartoon on TV C at the time.”
“Haha, you’re really something, wife!”
With that, Jiang Wei suddenly turned to me, “It’s Nuo’er’s turn!”
“Huh?”
I was a bit puzzled, “Why… why are you suddenly playing a singing game?”
“Come on, one by one.”
Sikong Yue, wearing two bear gloves, also chimed in, “Sing the theme song of an animation!”
“Uh…” I felt my face heat up, “Do I really have to sing?”
“Yes, yes, Nuo’er is so cute, your singing must be good too!”
While applauding, Ye Zi added, “Nuo’er, you can relax the criteria a bit, it doesn’t have to be an old cartoon, just sing one!”
“Um…”
Seeing everyone around me looking at me expectantly, especially Xiao Mo, who even gave me a look that said “If Nuo’er doesn’t sing, she’ll face consequences” expression, I instinctively searched my mind for songs I knew. For some reason, a melody slowly surfaced…
“Clearly tears were still hanging on my face, hey, but in a blink of an eye they’ve been left behind—yet my heart is still full of curiosity, wanting to ride on Haley’s Comet every day…”
“Whether it’s sunny or rainy, keep a good mood, lift your head, put on a smile, and march forward—”
Recalling that melody in my mind, I looked around and saw Jiang Wei, Ye Zi, and Xiongxiong all quietly listening to me sing. I tried to imitate the scenes from when I watched that anime, following the mood back then, I sang:
“Maybe you’ll encounter lions, tigers, leopards, and some surprises waiting for you, oh oh oh!”
“Then, let’s add a little interlude to make the whole world HAPPY—”
“Don’t forget to look down and count the stars at night, make a wish, and maybe happiness will come, you don’t need a map to complete your journey—”
This song is the opening theme of the anime “Mafukiden: Pandarian” that I watched when I was a child.
Back in those days, anime wasn’t called anime, and every night after everyone returned home tired, the TV would be turned on to play the shows on time. Everyone could like any character from the anime, and as long as everyone watched it together, we were all friends.
At that time, there was only one TV in the entire orphanage, but in the evenings, it rarely played anime. Instead, it was the news. We kids had to go to the neighbor’s house to watch anime. This neighbor uncle was considered a master of all trades in our eyes. In today’s terms, he was a “mechanical master,” able to turn almost any electronic device into treasure.
Uncle’s family didn’t have much money, so they couldn’t afford a television. The TV in his house was said to have been picked up from a garbage dump and repaired by himself. Whenever it was time for dinner in the evening, Uncle would open his door and switch to the cartoon channel. Soon, a large group of children without parents would squeeze into his house, all from the nearby orphanage.
Uncle said he liked children very much. He had a wife before, but she passed away due to illness. Uncle didn’t remarry and moved to the old residential building next to the orphanage to spend the rest of his life. But because there were few people living there, it was too quiet, so he wanted to bring the children to his house in this way.
Including myself, many children in the orphanage at that time watched cartoons in this way and learned a lot of knowledge.
After going to college, I specifically went to Uncle’s house to find him, but unfortunately, the building where Uncle lived had been demolished, and no one knew where Uncle had gone.
“Mafukiden: Pandarian” was the most memorable anime I watched at that time. Its opening and ending songs are still hummed by me until now.
The opening song “Happy Journey” is very cheerful, mainly about going on adventures with friends, and the main melody is very optimistic. But its ending song “Friend” seems a bit… lonely:
【The noise from the attic continues incessantly, the teddy bear with one eye missing complains that there is no one to hug it anymore】
【Since when did I dare not cry out loud? Those friends who are headache-inducing, do they still love teasing others like they used to?】
【Running forward with all my might, afraid of getting lost, breaking through the finish line and enjoying the cheers, there is no one to dance with you anymore…】
“……”
The opening song of “Mafukiden: Pandarian” isn’t very long, and in no time, I found myself singing the entire song in a slightly dreamy mood.
After my singing faded away, everyone in Jiang Wei’s house fell into a long silence.
“What… what’s wrong?” I asked, a little puzzled, looking at the silent room.
“It’s not…” Ye Zi, who was the first to come back to her senses, shook her head.
“Nuo’er, did you really never learn to sing before?”
“It’s just so miraculous, Nuo’er, your voice, it’s just like…” Jiang Wei also had a look as if he just descended from the clouds.
“It’s like… heavenly, for a moment there, I almost doubted if I had returned to my childhood.”
“Isn’t that a bit exaggerated?”
I felt a bit embarrassed. “I just… sang casually…”
“No, no.”
Xiongxiong chimed in, “Your singing almost made me lose my senses just now, it’s like there’s some kind of magic in it. Nuo’er, are you really from another world, a music-loving little elf?”
“Huh? Um… Uh?” I stammered, taken aback.
“Nuo’er.”
While I was still pondering whether these people had conspired to say strange things, Yin Xiamo leaned over and said, “The elves are natural singers and wandering poets. Their songs have a certain magic to them. During wartime, some armies would even invite elves to play the harp or sing to soothe the soldiers and enhance the power of the wizards.”
“You unconsciously tapped into this talent just now. Everyone sitting here is ordinary, and they were easily enchanted.”
As she filled up an empty bowl with some milk and fruit for me, Yin Xiamo leaned close to my ear and whispered in a voice only we could hear.
“Next time, don’t casually sing in elf mode. Ordinary people might not be able to handle it.”
“……”
……
After a simple “getting to know each other” session, we at Jiang Wei’s place proceeded to the formal “business negotiation.”
“I won’t check how much is inside. Just this once. The matter of the new computer doesn’t need to be brought up again.”
Handing the envelope containing the 5,000 yuan I withdrew from the bank to Ye Zi, Jiang Wei said seriously, “Even though I know you feel guilty, Nuo’er, this is my bottom line. If you give us money again with a reason like helping with the computer, I’ll be angry.”
“Then let’s consider this matter settled.” I nodded.
“You can discuss the graphics card with Xiongxiong.”
The computer that Jiang Wei helped me assemble, based on the prices online at the time, would cost nearly 20,000 yuan if I were to buy each component separately from official stores. Initially, I gave Jiang Wei 2,000 yuan, and now I gave him another 5,000, which is almost equivalent to giving him 7,000 yuan. If we calculate, just the 3090ti graphics card alone would start at 10,000 yuan. Jiang Wei was actually at a loss. Even if he sold it to me at cost price, he would still lose money.
However, considering that he and Ye Zi had their wedding at a café and Ouyang Xue didn’t charge him much, so rounding off, we can consider that both sides are even.
Of course, perhaps Jiang Wei didn’t see it that way. He found a feng shui master himself, and the result the feng shui master calculated was for him to “spend money” once before opening the shop. So, in Jiang Wei’s eyes, giving us the computer was equivalent to offsetting the “risk” calculated by the feng shui master, and us giving him a red packet later would seem a bit “ungrateful.”
As for Xiongxiong’s side, I only realized now that it was because of Ye Zi that the two of them made contact.
Ye Zi and the current mayor of Shenzhen City, Ye Yuqing, are distant relatives.
The reason why Jiang Wei made the decision to “lie flat” but then suddenly decided to act as an agent for graphics cards to “make a big move” was because… Wei and Ye Zi wanted a child.
Yes, it was that sudden. When Jiang Wei told us about this, he himself sighed about the unpredictability of life.
Previously claiming to be a man who spent his whole life with a 2D wife, he suddenly had a girlfriend, suddenly found love, suddenly got married, and then after discussing it together, they decided to have a child.
Deciding to have a child meant that they couldn’t “lie flat” like before. Since they chose to have a child, they wanted to give the child the best. Although Jiang Wei’s current financial situation could easily support a child, it’s always good to save more money. So, Jiang Wei decided to continue striving!
Although they wanted to strive, because the previous computer store was sold, Jiang Wei couldn’t immediately find a way to make more money. Ye Zi, as Jiang Wei’s wife, didn’t sit idle either. She asked friends everywhere to find out if there were any opportunities.
After some inquiries, she heard that her distant relative was Ye Yuqing, and Xiongxiong’s family just happened to ask Ye Yuqing to find a graphics card agent in the city. Tongmeng Network was the first partner, and Ye Zi also had a demand, so Xiongxiong came over on behalf of their family to discuss the matter of graphics cards with Jiang Wei.
“I have no problem.”
In the living room, after looking over the contract brought by Xiongxiong, Jiang Wei immediately made a decision.
“We accept all the conditions in the contract, but I have one condition.”
“Oh?”
Xiongxiong was curious, “What condition, tell me?”
“I’ve checked the information of Jialan Company. Almost all the computer components you produce are named after flowers, except for the graphics card, which is named ‘Tianqi’ to cater to gaming. Here, I hope that if I represent it, I can have the authority to modify the name and appearance of the graphics card.”
Xiongxiong was even more curious: “Do you have this capability?”
Jiang Wei appeared very confident: “I know many graphics card manufacturers, some of whom have at least ten years of experience in making graphics cards. There should be no problem in this aspect.”
“So if we give you the authority to modify the appearance and name…”
Xiongxiong asked tentatively, “What name do you plan to give to this non-public graphics card?”
“Lily.”
“Hmm?”
“Aren’t all the computer components of Jialan Company named after flowers? The computers in the cafe mostly use your components, so I plan to name this graphics card Lily.”
Jiang Wei looked serious, “And use a two-dimensional design. Of course, I will absolutely guarantee the quality and after-sales service of the graphics card.”
“A two-dimensional design?”
Xiongxiong became interested, “You mean… something like ‘Two Girls Graphics cards’?”
“Yes, I have ready-made plans for that.”
“Have you already designed it?”
“I’ve already designed the corresponding graphics card, but there are two of them.”
Jiang Wei revealed a “I’m a shrewd businessman” expression.
“Otherwise, how could it be called the Lily Series graphics card, right?”
“Two-Girl Graphics Cards? Interesting.”
Xiongxiong took out a pen and wrote a few strokes on the small notebook she carried with her.
“Can I take a look at the sketches you’ve designed?”
“Just Nuo’er and Xiao Mo.”
“Huh?”
“I mean… using Nuo’er and Xiao Mo’s virtual images for the graphics card girl’s design. I’ve previously consulted an artist and had them design corresponding two-dimensional images for the two of them.”
Jiang Wei turned to me, “Since Nuo’er and Xiao Mo are both here, we can discuss the copyright issue together.”
“What?”
Jiang Wei’s sudden topic left me a bit dizzy.
“How does a graphics card suddenly have something to do with us?”
“I want to use your and Xiao Mo’s virtual images, just like the promotion in the cafe.”
Jiang Wei took out his phone and displayed the cute two-dimensional images of himself and Xiao Mo on the computer he had previously prepared for me.
“I’m willing to allocate a portion of the profits from here to pay for the copyright for both of you.”
“So it’s like Nuo’er and Xiao Mo are also our shareholders. In the future, every time this graphics card is sold, you both will receive a share. How about it?”
“……”
……
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