茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Chapter 118: Unpacking The Gift

Back home, with Tang Baona’s permission, Yang Zhen Er couldn’t wait to open the gift from Xiang Kun.

She was really curious about what was in this big box from Xiang Kun.

While tearing open the outer wrapping paper, Yang Zhen Er said, “Previously,

Xiang Kun secretly asked me what would be appropriate to gift you.” Tang Baona laughed and said, “Oh? And how did you respond? I guess this question was probably more troublesome for him than programming or cooking!”

Yang Zhen Er chuckled, “I told him it’s the thought that counts and not the gift. He must be thinking of returning the favor because you gifted him that bow. I wonder how he found out about your birthday…did he ask Old Xia?” “The bow was a gift from all of us,” Tang Baona emphasized.

“Yeah right, Old Xia and I didn’t contribute any money.” Yang Zhen Er said, having finished unwrapping the colored paper to reveal a wooden box.

The wooden box was rather crudely made, without any paint or finish, but the edges and corners had been sanded down to prevent any splintering.

Upon opening the box and seeing the wooden carving inside, Yang Zhen Er couldn’t help but exclaim: “Nana, it’s your Saber!”

“Huh?” Tang Baona sounded puzzled. Walking over to take a look, she too was stunned—a wooden carved Saber? How unique is that?

Both of them carefully removed the wooden carving from the box and set it on the table.

Despite the lack of paint, the unvarnished wooden carving had a lively feel to

Somehow, they could sense the determination in its eyes and even the hair seemed to sway as if fluttering in the wind.

Tang Baona even felt like the carving was about to raise its sword and shout out, “EX Calibuster!”

Judging purely by carving skills, artistic sense, or experience, Xiang Kun was far from being an artist. But he had acquired familiarity with his materials and tools, achieving a sense of mastery during the carving process which allowed him to express himself through the craft.

Touching the smooth “armor” of the wooden carving, Yang Zhen Er marveled, “Where did Xiang Kun find such a unique Saber wooden carving? It must have been a bit pricey… I need to buy a few of these myself. I wonder where he bought them…”

As Yang Zhen Er took out her phone to take photos, Tang Baona mused, “He said he made it himself.”

Snapping pictures, Yang Zhen Er looked at her in disbelief. “Impossible! He knows how to do wood carving?” she said, shaking her head adamantly. “No way, I don’t believe it… Maybe he commissioned it, but made it himself? I’ve never heard of him being able to do this before! And when we have visited his house in the past, we never saw anything like this, not even a single carving tool…and he’s a coder, not an art major…”

However stunned by the carving, Tang Baona added, “I don’t think he has any reason to lie.’

There was indeed no need for Xiang Kun to claim that he made the gift himself if he had bought it; it was an easily exposed lie. Moreover, based on Xiang Kun’s character, he probably wouldn’t even bother to tell such a lie.

Yang Zhen Er gently touched the top of the carving’s head, wondering aloud, “Did he learn wood carving just to make you a gift? Hmm, I doubt it. He must have already known how to do it and just picked it up again. There’s no way he could produce something like this with just a few quick lessons. Gosh, I’m jealous of Xiang Kun—the chef. Not long after learning how to cook, he’s already at a level where he could start a restaurant. He was able to hit bull’s eye on his first try at archery, even winning against the instructor, and he’s impressive at fighting and playing cards. Didn’t our coach Qinn say that her boyfriend has been missing our bald friend at the gym? Supposedly, Xiang Kun is some sort of gym guru! In the past, we could at least laugh at his tone-deafness, but after hearing him sing tonight, I was almost driven to tears…” Here, “coach Qin” referred to hers and Tang Baona’s fitness instructor, and “Qin’s boyfriend” was the coach of the gym where Xiang Kun used to work out.

“Be careful, don’t break it-!” Tang Baona reminded her in a soft voice.

“Hmmph, stingy!” Yang Zhen Er responded while pulling out her phone to text Xiang Kun, “I’m gonna pre-order my birthday gift from Xiang Kun! After all, you said that I also contributed to the bow, hehe!”

But after she sent the message, she received no response for a while.

Tang Baona placed the carving in her room, and after some inspection, fearing it might not be secure, she decided to get a custom transparent display case to protect it.

Looking at the carving holding a large sword, Tang Baona couldn’t help but think back to Xiang Kun’s outburst in the KTV corridor: Why did he react like that? Was it because that guy was hitting on me? Does he have a violent streak?

Thinking back to Xiang Kun from that moment, Tang Baona felt a pang of fear but also an inexplicable sense of allure…

Of course, these thoughts she dared not share with anyone else.

Arriving home, Xiang Kun expertly butchered two rabbits, but even after drinking their blood, he found he was still hungry. This suggested to him that his “appetite” had indeed increased.

During his last feeding, he had drunk the blood of two rabbits and had vaguely felt it was insufficient, but as the feeling wasn’t significant, he hadn’t drunk more. This time, however, the deficiency was obvious, so he had to consume the blood of three rabbits.

Also, these Belgian rabbits were bigger than the ones he had previously

bought, and therefore had more blood. All together, the three rabbits provided nearly 600ml of blood.

Xiang Kun considered moving to the countryside. Continued increase in his feeding needs could pose problems living in a residential estate like he was currently. He had been questioned by the property management multiple times already for bringing home large quantities of rabbits.

After finishing the blood, Xiang Kun, figh ting sleep, began dealing with the rabbit meat while contemplating his rendition of “People Like Me” at the karaoke room.

Upon reflection, he concluded that all nine people in the room with him had been affected by his “Emotional Assimilation”.

Considering this, it seemed that ‘Emotional Assimilation” worked better in enclosed spaces, or when he had already attracted others’ attention.

He wondered what the effect of “Emotional Assimilation” would be in an open space like a square with everyone’s attention on him. Would the effect diminish with distance, or would it work as long as someone could see him?

If “Emotional Assimilation” was combined with some psychological techniques, could it assist with hypnosis?

However, a precondition for “Emotional Assimilation” to work on others was that he himself needed to first be in that emotional state, which created a lot of limitations..