Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Jing Huan’s parents were both workaholics, with his mother being even more severe. However, despite their busy schedules, the couple never neglected their child’s well-being. They even managed to set aside several holidays each year for family trips.

After Jing Huan started university, the family spent much less time together. This semester, they had only seen each other through video calls, so even the usually composed Mrs. Jing couldn’t help but nag a little more than usual.

Mrs. Jing frowned as she looked him over. “Why are you dressed so lightly?”

“Three pieces, that’s enough.” Jing Huan said, “Let’s go, I’ll treat you to a meal.”

Jing’s father laughed and nodded: “Alright.”

“What would you like to eat?” Jing Huan asked.

Jing’s mother replied: “Just take us to the place you usually eat at.”

Of course, Jing Huan wouldn’t take his parents to eat that ten-yuan-a-bowl braised chicken. After some thought, he decided to go to a nearby Cantonese restaurant.

After turning around, he once again met Xiang Huai Zhi’s gaze.

Jing Huan raised an eyebrow in surprise, still smiling, even stopping beside him as he walked back.

“Bro, weren’t you going to buy something?”

Huai Zhi stood quietly, his gaze lingering among the three of them for a few seconds.

It’s too similar.

“Yes, I’ll go right away.” He nodded to the two people behind him. “Hello, Uncle and Auntie.”

Jing’s mother smiled warmly. “Hello, are you a classmate of Jing Huan’s?”

“Mom, this is my senior, Huaizhi Xiang.” Jing Huan didn’t like hearing such polite talk and quickly interrupted them, “Bro, this is my mom…”

“Biological mother?” Huaizhi Xiang asked.

The air fell silent for a moment.

Only then did Huaizhi Xiang realize his question was somewhat odd.

He pressed his lips together, about to apologize, when Jing’s mother covered her mouth and burst into laughter.

“She’s my real mom…” Jing Huan also laughed. “And this is my dad, my real dad!”

Xiang Huaizhi lowered his gaze to the couple’s interlocked hands and spoke after a long pause, “I’m sorry, it’s just that both of you look very young.”

After a brief chat, Jing Huan took them and left.

Xiang Huaizhi bid farewell without showing any expression, his gaze lingering on Jing Huan.

Xiang Huaizhi had once guessed that Jing Huan’s parents must be quite well-off, otherwise he wouldn’t have spent tens of thousands to buy a game account. It was only because of recent arguments that he was short on money.

But he had completely overlooked the fact that every time they met, Jing Huan was wearing different limited-edition sneakers.

For example, the pair Jing Huan wore today had been released just two months prior. Even overseas, they had to be snatched up quickly. Given that Jing Huan was in the midst of a cold war with his family at the time, his weekly allowance of two hundred yuan would never have been enough to afford them.

Last time when he was chased by ZuiAiMaiMai, Jing Huan was so furious that he even bought several purple-tier equipment, which must have cost at least five figures in total.

Who working night shifts at a convenience store would be willing to spend tens of thousands on in-game equipment?

These details hadn’t escaped Xiang Huaizhi’s notice; he could even recall them clearly.

He just never considered other possibilities.

He never thought Jing Huan would lie to him.

Even now, he couldn’t think of a reason why Jing Huan would deceive him.

After a moment, Xiang Huaizhi withdrew his gaze and turned to walk back toward the school.

After having dinner with his parents, Jing Huan brought a cup of milk tea home with him.

After tossing the milk tea into the fridge, he took out his phone and sent a message to the dorm group chat.

Xiao Jing: @Gao Zixiang Your mom asked my mom to bring you some pickled vegetables, a whole big jar. When are you free to come get them?

Gao Zixiang: What? Your mom came?? Why didn’t you tell me, I could’ve treated them to a meal.

Xiao Jing: Oh please, what’s there to treat in this dump anyway.

Lu Wenhao: Tch, you still should’ve said something. Xiang’er keeps telling me your mom is stunningly beautiful, I’ve always wanted to meet her.

Xiao Jing: Do you want to experience my dad’s fists?

Lu Wenhao: Bye-bye.

Gao Zixiang: But why did they choose to come over at this time?

Jing Huan scoffed, lying on the sofa with his legs crossed, and took a photo of the newly acquired item before sending it to the group chat.

Xiao Jing: Nothing much, just came to give me a birthday present. 【Photo】

The photo shows a car key with a blue and white logo.

Gao Zixiang: ?

Lu Wenhao: ???

The two of them spammed question marks for a full two pages.

Jing Huan held his phone, grinning from ear to ear.

Nothing beats the joy of showing off—he wasn’t even this happy when receiving gifts.

Gao Zixiang: What about the car?! Where’d you park it?

Xiao Jing ya: In the garage at home.

Lu Wenhao: What’s the use of just having the key when the car isn’t even here?

Xiao Jing Ya: Can’t you just wear it on your waist to show off?

Lu Wenhao: Screw you. If you actually take this key outside, I’ll take your last name.

Xiao Jing Ya: You’re just trying to take my last name by any means. I won’t give you that chance.

After sending this message, Jing Huan casually tossed the keys onto the table.

There was no way he would actually take it outside. He only said it in the dorm group chat for a laugh.

All three of his dormmates came from well-off families. None of them lacked a small BMW, and their exaggerated reactions earlier were just to play along with him.

Gao Zixiang: How do you want to celebrate your birthday this year?

Xiao Jing: But seriously, what’s the point of celebrating birthdays when you’re already in your twenties?

Gao Zixiang: If you don’t celebrate birthdays in your twenties, are you saving it all up for a grand seventieth birthday celebration??

“……”

Jing Huan typed lazily.

Xiao Jing: Give me some suggestions.

Lu Wenhao: I heard there’s a new agritainment place opened in Linbei, the food’s amazing. The owner even has a boat—you can go fishing by the sea during the day, pick vegetables in the fields, and enjoy dinner on the boat with the sea breeze at night. How about it?

Xiao Jingya: Pay money to go fishing and pick vegetables??

Gao Zixiang: Have you ever done it before?

Xiao Jingya: Nope.

Gao Zixiang: Of course you should go try it. You probably only get to experience farm work once in your lifetime.

Damn it.

He actually thought there was some truth to that.

Jing Huan leaned his head against the sofa cushion and hesitated for a long moment before finally replying with a single “Okay.”

Lu Wenhao: Then I’ll call to book a spot now. This place is really popular—if we don’t reserve in advance, we won’t even get on board. It’s just the three of us, right?

Jing Huan typed out an “Mm,” but then, suddenly thinking of something, he deleted it.

Xiao Jing ya: Hold on, let me ask someone.

When he received the message, Xiang Huai Zhi was weeding.

The small house has been neglected for a long time, and the weeds outside the door never seem to end—cleared today, they sprout again tomorrow.

Xiao Jing: Bro, are you free on Tuesday?

Xiang Huaizhi: Yes.

Xiao Jing: Wanna go to a farmhouse together?

Xiao Jing ya: [Share: Linbei and Mei Farmhouse Welcomes You] This place.

Xiang Huaizhi didn’t even click to open it.

Xiang Huaizhi: Okay.

Xiao Jing ya: By the way, will Brother Lu come? It’s on me.

Xiang Huaizhi: No need, let’s split the bill.

Xiao Jing: Don’t, it’s my birthday, I should treat everyone. Just show up.

Xiang Huaizhi: …

Xiang Huaizhi: Got it.

Jing Huan sat in front of the computer, scrolling through the chat messages, feeling a strange sensation rise in his heart.

He noticed that ever since he got the idea that Heart’s Yearning and Xiang Huaizhi were very similar, he couldn’t help but keep comparing the two.

Then he realized their voices were alike, their names were alike, and even their way of speaking was very similar.

A WeChat notification sound interrupted his train of thought.

Spring Xiao: @everyone We won! For the next two months, the herb-gathering rights in the main city still belong to our Idle Pavilion. The leader of the Wuji faction has also stated they won’t compete with us anymore—we’ve secured this battle! Great work, everyone! Bonuses will be distributed tonight! The teams on duty during this period will also receive corresponding rewards!

Seeing this message, Jing Huan let out a sigh of relief—he no longer had to guard the Silk Road every night.

As soon as he logged into the game, he received several system notifications in a row, reminding him to claim bonuses within the guild.

The guild vault was packed with people, all there to collect their share. Little Fox Spirit squeezed through the crowd and opened the dialogue box with the guild manager.

[Guild] Sweet Scene received 500 gold due to “Leader’s Reward.”

[Guild] Little Sweet Scene received 100 gold for “Idle Pavilion rocks!”

[Guild] Little Sweet Scene received 100 gold for “participation reward.”

[Guild] Little Sweet Scene received 100 gold for “Idle Pavilion rocks!”

………

The words “Little Sweet Scene” filled up the entire guild chat channel.

[Guild] Fate’s Peach Oolong: ?? Why do you have so many rewards?!

[Guild] Sweet Scenery: Huh? Doesn’t everyone get several copies?

[Guild] Don’t Ask When I’ll Return: Three copies per person… You actually have EIGHT?!

Jing Huan froze for a moment, scrolling up to check—everyone else indeed only had three.

[Guild] Luoluo: I took a look, several rewards are overlapping, and Little Sweet Scene doesn’t seem to be the team leader either. Did Chunxiao make a mistake?

[Guild] Little Sweet Scene: I’ll go ask >.<

[Guild] Chunxiao: No mistake made, your husband’s share is included too.

[Guild] Sweet Scenery: ……

[Guild] Little Sweet Scene: Well… although we’re married, we keep our finances separate! I’ll return it, please send his portion separately T▽T

[Guild] Chun Xiao: He told me earlier to give it all to you. You two lovebirds can sort it out between yourselves.

[Guild] Sweet Scenery: ……

[Guild] No Return Date: [lemon]

[Guild] Silent Pulse: I’m eating [lemons]

The chat box instantly flooded with lemons.

Longing for Love seemed to have muted the guild chat, as they hadn’t shown up at all. Jing Huan moved the cursor over their avatar and saw their coordinates.

When he flew home, Longing for Love had just chopped down a weed and was tossing it into the basket on their back.

Jing Huan: “…”

For the great War God to stoop to this level…

Big God, you really do have a thing for loli voices, huh.

[Current] SweetScene: Brother, don’t pull out these weeds… We don’t really play the housing system anyway.

Xiang Huaizhi didn’t actually enjoy tidying up the courtyard either. He just needed something to occupy his mind temporarily, and weeding didn’t require much thought.

When he saw SweetScene, he dropped the basket where he stood without saying a word.

[Current] SweetScene: I collected the guild money for you. Turn on your silver receiving function so I can transfer it to you.

[Current] Heart’s Desire: Take it.

Before, I was worried he didn’t have money to spend, so I had Chunxiao send it all to his account.

Now, just consider it a birthday gift.

[Current] Sweet Little Scene: No way >.<