茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

The private detective didn’t show up again, but even if he waited for Xiang Kun at the entrance of the neighborhood, it would be meaningless. After buying eight rabbits, Xiang Kun didn’t plan on going out for the next few days.

Apart from dedicating his time to the project for Director Lin and Zhang Qian’s company, Xiang Kun also made a few pairs of chopsticks using boxwood from his home.

Xiang Kun didn’t prepare any other tools, he didn’t even have a hand plane. Because he didn’t want to wait for another Blood-drinking Period, he didn’t associate any related tools, but directly used the set of tools he had for woodcarving.

However, the main reason for making these chopsticks was to use “Emotional Infusion.” Therefore, a slower process was what he needed.

After finishing the chopsticks and applying food-grade wood wax, Xiang Kun looked at the finished chopsticks with some helplessness.

Although his chopstick-making speed was much slower than the standard handmade process, and the tools were not exactly suitable, the time taken wasn’t enough for “Emotional Infusion.” It wasn’t until the third pair, when he deliberately slowed down and focused on making them more carefully and meticulously, that he successfully completed the “Emotional Infusion”.

However, for that third pair of chopsticks, “Emotional Infusion” was only completed on a single stick, the sixth one.

During this “Emotional Infusion”, the emotions he used were “interest” and “focus,” and the scene he imagined was himself deeply engrossed in studying various ways of cooking rabbit meat and different recipes.

He wondered what the “projection” would look like to those influenced by the chopsticks – would they see Xiang Kun cooking, or plates, pots, and pans full of rabbit meat?

However, when he made these chopsticks, he didn’t intend to use them to influence other people’s dreams.

His purpose was only to collect emotions.

At half-past eleven on the evening of November 10, after drinking the blood of eight Belgian rabbits, Xiang Kun finally felt satisfied. He breathed a sigh of relief. After drinking the blood of six rabbits last time and still feeling hungry, he assumed that seven or eight rabbits would be just enough. This time, he had prepared eight rabbits, and it turned out to be just the right amount.

On November 12, Xiang Kun invited Tang Baona and Yang Zhen Er for a meal at his home after staying at home for several days. Upon hearing the news, Tang Baoting and her fiancé Gao Yao also came over to eat.

Apparently, the last meal they had at Xiang Kun’s house left a deep impression on the couple.

Around 6 pm, the four guests arrived at Xiang Kun’s House. Tang Baoting felt a bit embarrassed. This time, they brought two bottles of what looked like expensive red wine.

However, during the meal, only one bottle was opened, and it all went into the bellies of the three girls.

As for Xiang Kun and Gao Yao, one drank plain water as usual, and the other drank cola.

On the way back, Gao Yao, who drank cola, naturally became the driver. Although he doesn’t drive much, he at least has a driving license.

Tang Baoting, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat, glanced at her fiancé driving and said to Tang Baona and Yang Zhen Er in the back seat, “The situation tonight was a bit strange, wasn’t it? The men bought and cooked the food, and we three girls were drinking wine, while those two were drinking cola and water.”

Yang Zhen Er also laughed, “Good men, the Tang Sisters have good taste!”

Tang Baona gave her friend a glare and pinched her.

Gao Yao, who was driving, suddenly said, “It’s rare to find a man who cooks so well; you should hold onto him. Also, during dinner, Xiang Kun’s attention was mostly on Nana, he hardly ate anything.”

The sudden talk from Gao Yao, who had been driving in silence, caught the other three off guard. Tang Baona immediately scolded, “Brother-in-law! When did you become so gossipy? His attention was not always on me!”

“I was just saying…” Gao Yao shrank his neck due to Tang Baona’s loud voice and muttered quietly.

Ignoring the teasing from her sister, Yang Zhen Er, and Gao Yao, Tang Baona kept her head low to look at her phone, subconsciously touching the pair of chopsticks in her bag wrapped in a plastic bag.

During dinner, Xiang Kun told the three girls that the chopsticks they used were handmade by him.

Tang Baona noticed keenly that the chopsticks used by her sister and Yang Zhen Er were sharp at the tips, only hers were blunt.

Because of the way she held chopsticks, she wasn’t adept at using pointed chopsticks, especially for slippery dishes that she found difficult to pick up. Flat chopsticks, however, were much more comfortable to use.

The pair of chopsticks that Xiang Kun made for her were remarkably comfortable; not only were they flat-tipped, but they were also of perfect length. Using them felt like an extension of her arm, making them hard to put down.

So when she left, she naturally asked Xiang Kun to give her the chopsticks.

She couldn’t help but wonder: “Were these chopsticks specially made for me?”

…

Tang Baona’s guess was indeed correct. When Xiang Kun was infusing emotions into the chopsticks, he specifically considered her as the “observing” target. He wanted to directly collect the emotions of others while enjoying delicious food. Now, the person he understands the most in terms of taste and preferences, apart from his parents, is Tang Baona. So, when making the chopsticks, the user he subconsciously imagined was Tang Baona.

Through observing her over several meals, Xiang Kun had long noticed that Tang Baona was not very skilled at using sharp-tipped chopsticks. Therefore, the chopsticks he made for her were deliberately blunt-tipped, and he also made some minor adjustments to the length according to her hand size, finger length, and grip to make it more suitable for her use.

The other two pairs were originally blunt-tipped as well. However, because he didn’t complete the “Emotional Infusion”, he changed them to sharp-tipped to differentiate them.

During dinner, Xiang Kun was able to directly sense Tang Baona’s emotions while eating through the chopstick.

After sensing for a while and correlating some less common emotions with her behaviors, expressions, and taking into account his understanding of her habits, micro expressions, and various sensory information, it felt a bit like he had a “Real Mind Reading Skill”.

He could even predict her inner dialog based on her usual speaking style.

For example, when Tang Baoting complained that Gao Yao was too lazy sometimes, coming back after being busy all day and playing games until midnight. When he gets tired, he would strip off his clothes and go to bed without showering, his stench would wake her up at midnight.

Tang Baona pursed her lips, raised an eyebrow slightly, and lived a little amusement in her emotions that also reminded him of when she teased Yang Zhen Er. Xiang Kun could then guess her unspoken words in her heart. It would probably be something like: “Sis, didn’t you do the same at home~”

But probably out of consideration for maintaining her sister’s image in front of Xiang Kun and Gao Yao, she didn’t speak out what she thought.