茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Chapter 181: 12 Yellow People (Additional 3 for Alliance Master Youmeng Zhiyu)

After driving Tang Baoting and her boyfriend home, Yang Zhen Er said to Tang

Baona, “So, Baoting and her boyfriend are a sure thing, right?”

Tang Baona rolled her eyes at her: “You already called him brother-in-law, why ask such a question now? My parents and grandfather have met him, and his parents also met Boating. I guess after the parents from both sides meet and discuss, we would get a wedding date. It should be OK by then.”

“I used to think Baoting would prefer those who are domineering and prominent,” Yang Zhen Er sighed.

Tang Baona chuckled, “My sister only has one type she likes – handsome guys, the ones that have good looks. She said that generally, handsome guys tend to be flirtatious and unfaithful. Her boyfriend, on the other hand, has the face and physique of a pop star, but has the heart of an introverted homebody. That’s more reassuring. You don’t have to worry about him being seduced by tantalizing women.”

“That… actually makes a lot of sense!” Yang Zhen Er nodded in agreement, “Being obsessed with gaming is definitely better than being obsessed with other women. Also, I used to think you cared a lot about appearances too, but I didn’t expect… umm, it’s not right. After getting to know Carpenter Xiang for a while, I find him quite good-looking. Even Baldy seems normal now, especially with his body in shape…’

“Wait, why did you bring up Xiang Kun?”

“Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about him and I said it out loud. Heh heh, remember to remind Carpenter Xiang for me. I want him to hurry up with my birthday present!”

When they returned to the house they all shared, Gao Yao immediately rushed to log into his computer to play his online game. However, when he saw the number of people queuing up in the game server, he couldn’t help but let out a desperate howl.

In the meantime, Tang Baoting went to the balcony and video chatted with her grandfather on WeChat.

“Baoting, are you back from dinner? So, what do you think?” On the other side of the video call, Mr. Feng had placed his phone on a stone table in the yard and asked anxiously.

Tang Baoting briefly recounted the process of visiting Xiang Kun’s house for dinner, focusing on the part where she asked Xiang Kun about the reason for the eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carving. She then added:

“Grandpa, I saw the wood carving on the way to Xiang Kun’s house and I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I think the problem might actually just lie with my uncle himself. I heard from my aunt that he often comes home late after entertaining clients and goes straight to bed. He could go on for days without uttering a word, and sometimes he doesn’t even come home at night. Drinking like this every day is sure to lead to physical and mental problems and it’s easy for him to become paranoid. Speaking of which, grandpa, you didn’t really have a nightmare, did you? I heard from my uncle that you dreamed of an eight-armed monster. Is that true?”

Mr. Feng was startled and quickly responded, “I didn’t! When did I tell him that I had such a dream? I just told him that it’s normal to have a nightmare or two once in a while!”

Tang Baoting was puzzled, “Then grandpa, why do you think there’s a problem with the wood carving?”

“I didn’t say there was a problem! It’s your second uncle who thinks there is one!” Mr. Feng insisted.

“But grandpa, if you think there’s no problem, then why did you let my uncle take the wood carving to the temple? And why did you ask me and Nana to go and check on Xiang Kun’s house today?”

“Your uncle was so certain about it, I can’t just deny it outright, can I… It’s because I’m also worried about Nana!”

Tang Baoting replied, “Anyway, I didn’t see anything wrong when I went to his house. He cooks well, is funny and caring. He even has a pet canary. That’s way better than you, grandpa – you let the last bird you had die. He doesn’t even need to keep the bird’s cage closed, without worrying it might fly away.

“Moreover, he’s made a lot of works. I think they’re quite good. Apart from the eight-armed monster, there are many normal wood carvings as well. He’s giving Nana a canary wood carving to replace the old one for you next time. I might not know much about all these things, but I really think they’re impressive. Even Gao Yao, who is always staring at his computer screen or his mobile phone, is interested in his carvings.

“Plus, like I mentioned before, he was introduced by my classmate Wang Han.

He’s her husband’s college friend and a good buddy from the same dormitory. His character and background are well-known, so I don’t think there should be any problems.”

Mr. Feng felt as if he was getting a lecture from his granddaughter for some reason, but he couldn’t refute her. So, all he could say was, “Hmm, it seems like he’s a fine young man. I must find a chance to meet him and have a personal conversation.”

Tang Baoting chuckled, “Well, you talk to Nana about that then. She’ll have to find a time to send you the canary wood carving.”

Thinking back on the call he had with Tang Baona in the morning, Mr. Feng couldn’t help but feel even guiltier.

After seeing the Tang sisters, Yang Zhen Er, and Gao Yao off, Xiang Kun quickly washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, before moving to the plan he had thought of during the day:

Under the same emotional mode, craft multiple “emotionally infused” objects, then test if creating an “array” of them can lead to a qualitative change, influencing the emotions of people who are awake after the blood-drinking period.

As for what emotion to choose, Xiang Kun has given it careful thought.

For instance, at the very beginning, he unintentionally used the fear of “what one turns into, the circumstances one gets stuck in”. The carvings emotional intensity during crafting wasn’t particularly strong, but the effect it had on people was nonetheless bizarre. Especially for the client from the consulting firm, the dream he had certainly left a psychological imprint.

So, if he is to test emotional influence on people now, it must be something more positive.

Xiang Kun decided to choose one of the most essential positive emotions happiness.

As they say, “In life, the most important thing is to be happy!”

Happiness is an emotion that is easily perceptible in its changes. If a person is truly happy, it is difficult to conceal their feelings. Everything from their facial expressions to body language, heartbeat, breathing and hormone secretion will change.

So, once successfully influenced, Xiang Kun won’t be kept in the dark.

As for how he can place himself into a state of happiness, Xiang Kun chooses to browse through some previously watched comedy films, TV shows, novels, and animations.

Examples include films like “East Meets West” , early films by Uncle Ge such as “Be there or be square”, “Games Gamblers Play”, and movies starring Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang like “Lost on Journey”, “Lost in Thailand”, TV dramas like “Unofficial History of the Martial Arts”, “Dragon Gate Inn”, the mini-series “Surprise”, and animations he once found amusing like “Crayon Shin-chan”, “Slam Dunk”.

However, he discovers that laughter and joy need novelty. Unlike sentimental things that can be obtained and felt through retrospection, the longer the time involved, the less powerful the feeling.

These previously humorous films and animations don’t elicit as much laughter as before. He would still chuckle when watching them, but he doesn’t find them as “hilarious” , and doesn’t experience that much happiness.

Recalling the past feelings doesn’t seem to help him immerse himself in the emotion, or to induce the present self into that state.

Perhaps happiness is an emotion that is immediate, fresh, and even somewhat superficial?

Xiang Kun scratched his head, looked at the time, it was past 11 pm. He wondered, was Tang Baona asleep?

He sent a probing emoji on WeChat. After about ten seconds, he received a similar probing emoji reply.

All right, she wasn’t asleep.

“Do you have any great comedic works to recommend? Anything would work, be it animations, films, or TV series.”

“Do you accept Japanese, American, or Korean dramas?

“I do, as long as they are humorous.”

“For animations, you should try ‘Gintama% ‘The Daily Lives of High School

Boys’, ‘One Hundred Thousand Cold Jokes’, ‘Despicable Me’. Oh, there is also a

Japanese film similar in style called ‘Seto Inland Sea’. ‘The Method of Stealing Keys’, ‘Watching My Wife Play Dead When I Come Home Every Day’ are also quite good. Some years back, there was ‘Please Take My Brother Away’, have you seen ‘Charlotte’s Troubles’ and ‘Embarrassed Iron Fist’

“Mm, good, some of them I’ve heard about but haven’t watched yet.” Xiang Kun responded quite pleased.

Tang Baona continued to write: “Zhen’er from the side pitched in. He nominated two short films, ‘Two Men’s Monodrama’ and ‘Brothers Are in Harmony Today’. He guarantees they will make you laugh till your belly muscles ache.”

Xiang Kun sent an emoji with bulging muscles, “I already have abdominal muscles…”

Having received his “spiritual fodder” mapping list, Xiang Kun began to watch a variety of videos consecutively, simmering the emotion at the same time.

Apart from looking for the works recommended by Tang Baona, he also sought out some classic comedy sketches that he hadn’t seen before.

At 4 a.m., wearing his headphones and with his face numb from laughter, Xiang Kun started carving the boxwood material that had been previously cut into twelve even-sized pieces, and which had not established any “super sensory contact”.

Xiang Kun originally planned to carve twelve mini cartoon versions of the Chinese zodiac. However, after immersing himself in his emotions, the first carving he did wasn’t a rat as planned, but a grinning minion. Consequently, it was only natural for him to carve twelve minions each with different features and expressions.

When he finished carving, he saw that it was already dawn. It seemed strange to him. He checked his phone and to his surprise, it was already 6 a.m. on the 2nd of November.

He had been carving continuously for over 26 hours!

However, considering it took about two hours for each of the twelve wood carvings, it wasn’t out of the ordinary.

Although these carvings are small, they were still rather sophisticated. Xiang Kun had used his hands for all of them, he didn’t use any electric grinder. This made it even more difficult and physically demanding — however, that’s not a problem for Xiang Kun.

If those were to be made into furnishings, the twelve mini wood carvings were still far from being completed. More fine-tuning and polish are required, this too would require a lot of time.

But for Xiang Kun, they weren’t meant to be gifts. They were only tools for applications and experiments, so there was no need to be too demanding with them. As he had a sense of accomplishment after each piece was finished, he was 80 percent certain that he had successfully performed “Emotional Infusion”, and established a special connection on these minions.

After the next “blood-drinking period” , he could use them for experiments.

Xiang Kun stretched lazily, feeling that he had been sitting for too long. If he were an ordinary person, not to mention eating and using the toilet, he’d probably have hemorrhoids from all the sitting.

If it weren’t already broad daylight, he would have gone off for a few sprints up the hillside, as a way to vent his emotions..