Chapter 75: What I Didn’t Do Last Time
A week ago.
Late at night.
Little Can moved silently into Chu Jiu’s workshop.
It picked up a page filled with drafts in its mouth, flipped the scrap paper over, and laid it flat on the desk.
Then, using its paws to steady the quill, it mimicked the way Chu Jiu usually wrote, dipping the quill into the ink.
It then bit down on the penholder, trying to write neat and beautiful characters on the paper.
However, the small stick simply wouldn’t obey.
Every stroke, every line, every letter it wrote was crooked and unbearable to look at.
It looked almost like a cat paw dipped in ink and randomly pressed onto the paper.
Little Can’s golden eyes narrowed into displeased half-circles.
What was wrong with these paws? Why couldn’t they write beautiful characters?
Old He’s letter clearly said that if they wanted to add content to that book in the future, it had to be written by someone with good handwriting, and someone Chu Jiu was familiar and close to—like his “future wife.”
Future wife.
Little Can knew what a “wife” was.
For example, Irene was Douglas’s wife.
Irene would link arms with Douglas, lean her head on Douglas’s shoulder, pack freshly baked snacks into Douglas’s backpack and tell him to “eat slowly,” and kiss him goodbye when he left.
Linking arms, leaning on shoulders, preparing handmade food, and kissing and hugging—
Just imagining Chu Jiu doing such things with a human who came from who knows where made Little Can’s eyes go from half-circles to sharply angled forty-five-degree upright half-circles.
No way! Angry!
If there absolutely had to be such a human, then wouldn’t it be better if it were Lu Qingyan!
At least that guy was strong enough to protect Chu Jiu.
And… when Chu Jiu mentioned him, there was always a bit of light in his eyes.
Chu Jiu probably didn’t dislike him, right?
While thinking this, Little Can threw the completely ruined piece of paper into the bamboo wastebasket.
*
Five minutes ago.
Lu Qingyan, who had just finished a routine meeting, received a fluctuation from the sensory valve.
Both the instant projection device and the sensory valve were the latest improved versions from the engineers. The projection device allowed him to project his mental power to WT0906 while maintaining his own consciousness; while the sensory valve allowed him to capture the emotional changes in the mental state on WT0906 faster and more accurately.
In other words, previously, only when his mental counterpart, the “Little Can” in Chu Jiu’s heart, experienced extreme emotional fluctuations, such as intense tension, unease, or even fear, could he receive the sensory input and establish a projection connection.
But with this sensory valve, even if Little Can wasn’t facing a “life or death” situation or a “near-death experience,” Lu Qingyan could receive the sensory input.
This allowed Lu Qingyan to “go” to WT0906 more quickly and personally assess what was happening and whether he needed to expend a large amount of mental power to maintain the projection state.
However, Lu Qingyan had noticed that his judgment was sometimes not rational enough.
Like last time.
He had clearly determined that Chu Jiu was not facing any real danger, that the two strange beasts were actually grown-up three-horned oxen. He could have immediately interrupted the projection and given “control” back to Little Can before Chu Jiu even reacted.
Or, he could have cut off the projection after Chu Jiu finished communicating with the natives of WT0906.
But he had stayed.
Not only had he stayed, but he had stayed until the projection device kept issuing warnings due to low mental power and finally almost forcibly interrupted the connection.
This time.
Lu Qingyan’s brow twitched as he once again sensed the fluctuation. Without making a sound, he put on the instant projection device and began to establish a connection with his mental counterpart.
Information and emotions flooded in.
In less than a second, Lu Qingyan already knew what had happened during this period.
Not only that, but he knew: Chu Jiu had kissed Little Can’s forehead again. Little Can still slept on Chu Jiu’s chest every day.
Oh, just yesterday, that guy had been rolling around on Chu Jiu’s chest, then meowing and nuzzling Chu Jiu’s face.
…When will my mental counterpart stop acting so much like a kitten?
As for the event that triggered Little Can’s tension and anxiety this time—
Writing?
Such an ordinary little thing actually made his mental counterpart so anxious and uneasy?
It wasn’t until Lu Qingyan saw the complete information: “Need to find someone close and familiar to write. Like a future wife.”
Lu Qingyan: ……
Between “interrupt connection” and “stay,” he chose “stay” without the slightest hesitation.
*
“Lu Qingyan!”
Chu Jiu didn’t know if he was more surprised or more delighted.
He walked quickly towards Lu Qingyan, “You… you came.”
“Was… was it Little Can who summoned you?”
After saying this, Chu Jiu once again felt like he had said something pointless.
If it wasn’t Little Can who summoned him, what else could it be?
Lu Qingyan looked at him steadily, his ice-blue eyes like clear, transparent lakes that couldn’t be fathomed: “Yes.” Chu Jiu subconsciously shifted his gaze and whispered, “Ah, sorry, causing you trouble again…”
If Lu Qingyan was doing something very important, wouldn’t he be causing him a lot of trouble?
Lu Qingyan: “?”
Chu Jiu: “Actually, it’s not a very urgent matter, it’s just that I need to find someone with better handwriting and someone I’m more familiar with to write.”
“I was just! thinking if I could ask the old village chief, I think the words he writes on the wooden board are very beautiful.”
“I didn’t expect Little Can to summon you directly…”
Feeling inexplicably nervous, Chu Jiu didn’t even notice that he was chattering non-stop.
Lu Qingyan: “You don’t need to feel sorry to me for Little Can’s actions.”
Chu Jiu: ???
Oh, right. After all, Lu Qingyan is Little Can’s rightful owner. What I said was a bit presumptuous and overstepping my bounds.
Thinking of this, Chu Jiu couldn’t help but feel a heat rise to his face for his thoughtlessness, and he could only awkwardly shut his mouth, not knowing what else to say at this moment.
Lu Qingyan was silent for several seconds before slowly saying, “This is a very important matter.”
“If Little Lighthouse’s nest is accidentally destroyed, we might not be able to get the sea monster’s information, which will ultimately affect the merger of Bean Village.”
Lu Qingyan’s words were so reasonable and so serious that Chu Jiu unconsciously nodded vigorously: “Yes, yes. That’s indeed the case.”
Lu Qingyan: “Therefore, finding a suitable person is very important.”
At this moment, Lighthouse, who had been floating in mid-air, drifted over: “Ah, Chu Jiu’s kitty.”
Tata looked curiously at the kitty who had transformed into human form, its voice as soft and gentle as ever: “Chu Jiu, if your kitty can write beautiful characters, then he is very suitable.”
“He is full of your scent, which is a characteristic only close people have.”
Chu Jiu’s face flushed instantly.
He kept telling himself: Tata is talking about Little Can, talking about the kitty! In the eyes of spirits, Little Can and Lu Qingyan are no different. So, it’s not, not saying that Lu Qingyan and I are very close…
Of course, we’re not completely not close…
Chu Jiu’s logic began to become muddled and self-contradictory.
Just as Lu Qingyan calmly said to Tata, “In that case, let’s begin.”
With that, Lu Qingyan sat down at the desk, took out the quill, dipped it in ink, and placed his finger on the blank page.
Tata gave an extremely joyful smile, floated gracefully above the feather, and its small tentacles gently rested on the white plume.
Lu Qingyan held the pen, and a word flowed from the tip onto the paper.
His right hand holding the pen had distinct finger joints, and his wrist moved freely and deftly.
His left hand pressing down on the page had slender, strong fingers, and his skin was an almost bluish, cool white.
Three words involuntarily surfaced in Chu Jiu’s mind: So beautiful.
…Ah, I mean the handwriting is beautiful!
Chu Jiu told himself loudly in his heart.
It had to be said that Lu Qingyan’s handwriting was indeed upright and grand, completely different from his own scribbles.
The words on this page made the previous children’s stories… really look like they were written by a few-year-old holding a pen.
Sigh, if only his own handwriting was a little better, he wouldn’t have had to ask Lu Qingyan for help.
After this thought popped up, Chu Jiu’s expression couldn’t help but become a little dazed.
Just as he was thinking this, Lu Qingyan stopped writing and looked back at him: “Need to draw a picture.”
Draw a picture?
Tata floated a little higher: “Mmm-hmm, need to draw an illustration based on the fishermen’s descriptions, that way it will look more direct.”
Oh, I see.
There seemed to be some helplessness in Lu Qingyan’s brows: “I’m not good at drawing.”
Chu Jiu was a little surprised: “Ah? Really?”
It seemed… seemed like there wasn’t anything Lu Qingyan wasn’t good at.
Lu Qingyan: “Really.”
With that, he stood up, walked to the wooden board Chu Jiu usually used, picked up a charcoal stick, and casually drew a picture on it.
“Can you tell what I drew?” Lu Qingyan asked.
Chu Jiu stared at the drawing and studied it for a long while. Tata floated over and looked carefully from front to back and side to side.
Finally, Chu Jiu and Tata looked at each other and whispered an answer.
Chu Jiu tilted his head, looking at Lu Qingyan, and said with certainty, “It’s a sunflower!”
Lu Qingyan: “……It’s a lion.”
Chu Jiu: “…”
It was clearly Lu Qingyan who drew it so abstractly, but the one who blushed was Chu Jiu.
He held it in for a long while, trying hard to find a reason: “The lion’s mane is drawn so well! So vibrant, just like sunflower petals!”
The originally smiling Tata looked blankly at the drawing, then at Lu Qingyan, then at Chu Jiu, not knowing what Chu Jiu was basing his belief that this shape was a lion on.
From this “lion,” Chu Jiu believed one thing: Lu Qingyan really couldn’t draw.
Since that was the case, drawing should be left to him!
Chu Jiu looked at Tata: “Can the person writing and the person drawing in the book be two different people?”
Tata: “Of course.”
At this moment, Lu Qingyan had already given his seat to Chu Jiu: “Here.”
Chu Jiu sat down and held the pen.
Strangely, the moment Tata landed on the feather, Chu Jiu actually “saw” a scroll painting!
It was waves, a fishing boat tossing in the waves, countless tentacles stretching out from the waves, and black liquid spraying out…
Without any need for thought or reprocessing, the pen moved on its own, as if to project the scene before him completely and accurately onto the small page of paper.
This feeling… was truly indescribable.
Chu Jiu didn’t know how long he had been drawing.
He didn’t know that while he was concentrating on drawing, Lu Qingyan was right beside him, intently watching his profile without blinking.
He only knew that when Tata said, “Okay, this is everything that surviving fisherman experienced,” the painting in front of him instantly vanished. He looked down:
There was indeed a picture on the paper.
Although this picture wasn’t as terrifying as what he had just personally seen, it was vivid and natural, clearly showing the characteristics of the “sea monster.”
At this time, Lu Qingyan said, “You draw very well.”
Tata waved its tentacles: “Didn’t expect that Chu Jiu, who writes so ugly, can draw such beautiful pictures!”
Chu Jiu was a little smug and a little embarrassed: “Well, I’m better at drawing than writing.”
Lu Qingyan said seriously, “Your handwriting is very distinctive.”
Chu Jiu: “..Ah?”
Lu Qingyan: “Your handwriting shows that you write very seriously, it has a kind of pure naturalness.”
Chu Jiu’s eyes widened: “R-really?”
Lu Qingyan: “Really.”
Chu Jiu couldn’t help but smile, his eyebrows curving: “I never thought anyone would say that about my handwriting…”
“I was often laughed at for my handwriting when I was a kid, they said what I wrote looked like earthworms crawling…”
“Actually, I clearly tried very hard to write, but no matter what, I couldn’t write well…”
Lu Qingyan raised his hand and brushed down the unruly hair on the top of Chu Jiu’s head, then quickly retracted his hand, his voice gentle: “It’s a different kind of beauty.”
Hearing this, the light in Chu Jiu’s eyes was as bright as sunlight falling on a lake. He wanted to laugh heartily but felt it would be very unseemly.
In the end, he could only stand up, his face flushed: “Ah, that, juice, I’ll go make you some juice.”
Tata, who had floated back into mid-air, was very confused:
Why did Chu Jiu’s kitty think Chu Jiu’s handwriting was beautiful? No matter how you looked at it, it had nothing to do with “beautiful.”
Hmm, what a strange kitty…
*
After Lu Qingyan wrote out the remaining text and paired it with Chu Jiu’s drawing, it could be seen that the “sea monster” that had been wreaking havoc outside Sea Moon City every August was this kind of monster:
They usually appeared in groups, using their tentacles to stir up waves and capsize ships; they had hard mouths that could directly bite reefs into rubble; they swam very fast; they could spray black “black water” that made people lose their resistance.
The most terrifying thing was not the number of these sea monsters or how ferocious their habits were, but that once they entered a “berserk state,” they were enough to “prevent nearby Espers from using their abilities.”
Because of this, even the elite among high-level Espers were helpless against this group of sea monsters.
And according to folk legends, to prevent the monsters from entering a “berserk state,” arrows made of special wood were needed to pierce their bodies.
This special wood came from the “Primal Tree” of the “Azure Icefield.”
Unfortunately, no one knew what this Primal Tree looked like.
Everyone just passed down the story: the fruits and branches of this tree could turn chaos into order, madness into calm, and even dullness into intelligence.
…Azure Icefield? A “Primal Tree” that could turn dullness into intelligence?
Chu Jiu immediately remembered what the former Feathered Clan king and queen had told him—
Many years ago, the Feathered Clan ancestors encountered an accident in the Azure Icefield and ate the fruit of a tree in a moment of crisis. This tree not only saved the ancestor’s life but also opened his intelligence, and from then on, there was the Feathered Clan.
Afterwards, the Feathered Clan ancestor drew a map of the path to find this tree.
“Opened the ancestor’s intelligence,” and the sea monster legend’s “turned dullness into intelligence” were too similar!
In this case, the magical tree mentioned by the Feathered Clan was very likely the “Primal Tree” in the sea monster legend!
Chu Jiu immediately took out the map, placed it on the table, and unfolded it with confidence!
—Uh.
When he looked at this map back then, he felt it was full of small bird claw prints and completely unrecognizable.
Later, he thought that as the proficiency of his passive skill [Child’s Words] increased, he might be able to decipher a thing or two.
In…
Still unable to recognize it.
Couldn’t even tell it was a map.
Chu Jiu scratched his head in frustration.
At this moment, Tata floated over, curious: “Hmm? What a strange map.”
Chu Jiu froze, then exclaimed in surprise, “Tata, you can understand it?!”
Tata said, “Yes… Tata needs a little time to read the complete information…”
“Then you can have humans draw a map that you yourselves can understand…”
Tata blinked its beautiful big eyes, looking at Chu Jiu gently and softly: “Does Tata need to read this map?”
Chu Jiu: “Yes! Yes!”
“Mmm… then Tata will start now… in about a day, it should be able to…”
While speaking slowly, Tata floated down onto the map and spread itself out again into a small, translucent rice cake.
Chu Jiu’s eyebrows completely relaxed with joy. While calling out, “Little Can! I’ll be able to make you grilled squid plate in a while!”, he subconsciously reached out to pull Little Can into his arms for a tight hug—
Then, his two paws, coincidentally, landed squarely on Lu Qingyan’s face.
The posture looked exactly like he wanted to hold the other’s face and do something indescribable.
Lu Qingyan: ……
Chu Jiu: ???!
After a second of awkwardness, Chu Jiu quickly retracted his hands, his tongue starting to tie itself in knots: “Sorry, sorry!”
“It’s just that, um, Little Can is usually by my side, I’m used to it…”
“I really didn’t, didn’t mean to…”
Watching the golden hamster with red ears, not knowing how to explain himself, the black cat propped his chin up with one hand, looking interested: “Grilled squid plate? What is that?”
Seeing that Lu Qingyan was calm and didn’t seem the least bit angry, Chu Jiu slowly calmed down.
He explained, “Grilled plate, grilled plate actually refers to ‘teppanyaki,’ it’s a way of eating.”
“First, heat the iron plate, then put seafood, meat, mushrooms, and so on on it, and slowly fry them.”
“When frying, the meat will ‘sizzle’ on the iron plate, and the oil will bubble out. The aroma is so strong that you can’t even cover it up.”
Lu Qingyan seemed genuinely interested in this topic and asked again, “Then what is ‘squid’?”
Only then did Chu Jiu realize: they didn’t have the concept of squid here.
He continued to explain, “Just now! In that sea monster legend you wrote, that creature with tentacles that sprays black water, in the… in the stories I’ve heard, there’s a smaller, very similar creature.”
“We call this creature ‘squid’ or ‘cuttlefish’.”
“…Hmm, it’s very delicious!”
It really is very delicious! The pan-fried baby squid sold at the snack stalls outside his school had an aroma that could travel far in the autumn!
Lu Qingyan shook his head with a hint of regret: “Never eaten it.”
Chu Jiu’s eyes widened slightly: “You haven’t eaten squid, or you haven’t eaten teppanyaki?”
Lu Qingyan: “Neither.”
Chu Jiu immediately patted his chest: “I’ll make it for you—”
“Ah wait, there’s no squid here.”
“I can make grilled three-leaf fish, do you want to eat that?”
Lu Qingyan replied with a smile, “I’d like to.”
Chu Jiu nodded seriously and continued, “Okay, anything else? You order!”
His tone was as grand as if he was saying, “This whole wasteland is yours, whatever wild vegetables you want to eat, I’ll dig them up for you.”
Lu Qingyan: “Mushrooms?”
The mushrooms you squeezed like toys in your earliest livestream.
Chu Jiu: “Okay. Any more?”
Lu Qingyan: “Tofu?”
The warm food you once ate bit by bit, your eyebrows full of satisfaction.
Chu Jiu: “Okay. Any more?”
Lu Qingyan: “None.”
Chu Jiu: “……Oh, then you eat very healthily…”
“Let me think about what Rawr Rawr Rabbit eats, hmm, need to pan-fry some vegetables for Kakaba,” Chu Jiu muttered to himself.
Watching Chu Jiu seriously counting on his fingers, Lu Qingyan once again propped up his chin, the corners of his mouth curving upwards without any concealment.
After Chu Jiu finished counting, he suddenly remembered something and asked Lu Qingyan cautiously, “How long can you stay this time?”
Lu Qingyan replied very certainly:
“Tomorrow.”
“I will discuss some things with Douglas today.”
“Tomorrow, after Tata deciphers the map, I’ll see if you need me to ‘write’ anything more.”
*
No. That evening, the spirit beasts of the pioneer hut enjoyed a delicious teppanyaki dinner, eating until their bellies were round and they could barely move. In the end, it was Lu Qingyan and Chu Jiu who carried the stuffed spirit beast babies one by one back upstairs and put them in their nests.
After settling all the spirit beasts, Chu Jiu peeked downstairs:
Lu Qingyan was already sitting comfortably on the sofa, leisurely flipping through a handwritten book.
This person had already said before dinner that he “needed to borrow the sofa for the night,” rejecting Chu Jiu’s suggestion of “you’re taller than me, so you should sleep in the bed” without leaving any room for argument.
Now seeing that Lu Qingyan clearly had no intention of giving up the sofa, Chu Jiu thought for a moment, grabbed a blanket, found a checkers game, and ran downstairs.
He opened the chessboard in front of Lu Qingyan, his face serious: “Last time we didn’t even start playing checkers before you left.”
“This time—”
Before he could finish speaking, Lu Qingyan had already taken over: “This time, we must make up for it.”
Chu Jiu was stunned for a moment, then nodded repeatedly, his unruly hair on top of his head shaking constantly: “Yes! Make up for it!”
This “making up” continued until they forgot the time.
In the end, Chu Jiu wrapped himself in the blanket, holding the checkers pieces, and fell asleep face down on the sofa, like a little ostrich.
Even though he was already used to Chu Jiu’s “terrible sleeping posture,” Lu Qingyan couldn’t help but smile again: How could someone sleep like this…
He sighed softly, pried the checkers pieces from Chu Jiu’s hand, first lifted the blanket and draped it over his arm, then picked up the sleeping, disheveled boy horizontally and walked upstairs step by step.
The bamboo stairs creaked, waking the spirit beasts.
“Dang dang dang, it’s Little Can and Chu Jiu…” Kakaba yawned.
Lu Qingyan gently placed Chu Jiu on the bed, then tucked him in and smoothed the corners of the blanket.
After doing all this, Lu Qingyan stood up, preparing to go downstairs.
“Glup glup? Little Can, aren’t you going to sleep with Chu Jiu?” Gulp-Glup rubbed his small eyes.
Lu Qingyan: “No.”
Rawr Rawr Rabbit: “Roar roar roar? Then Chu Jiu will miss Little Can, after all, you sleep hugging every night…”
Lu Qingyan: …
Kakaba yawned again: “Dang, dang dang…”
“Are you worried the single bed is too small? Then you can turn into Little Can…”
Lu Qingyan pinched his brow: “I cannot.”
The spirit beasts: ……?
Why? That’s so strange.
Lu Qingyan knew he didn’t need to explain.
But he said softly, “Little Can can sleep beside Chu Jiu. Little Can, without human consciousness, could stick close, kiss, and hug Chu Jiu without any reservations. But the Lu Qingyan who is present… cannot.”
In either form, it was not allowed.
With that, Lu Qingyan transformed into a large black cat, leaping down the stairs as lithe as a phantom, without making a sound.
