茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

For most people, if they deduce something through careful observation and analysis, their convictions tend to be stronger compared to hearing the same information from someone they’re not very familiar with.

Because people always lean more towards believing their own judgment.

That’s why many con artists frequently use the same tactic — creating conditions that lead you to make conclusions, and then allowing you to draw out the information they want to deceive you with.

How does one set up a chance encounter without arousing suspicion? Xiang Kun’s approach was similar; he didn’t create the encounter, but rather let others “bump into” him.

From Liu Shiling’s conversation with her mother, Xiang Kun deduced that they would choose to dine at a restaurant renowned for its rabbit meat. Although Shiling’s Mom hasn’t promised her daughter nor mentioned which restaurant they’re going to dine at, the direction of the conversation combined with his judgment of Shiling’s Mom’s character gave him a strong clue.

Xiang Kun arrived at the restaurant ahead of time. Because the restaurant was popular and it was peak dining hour, he took a ticket to wait in the outdoor waiting area.

After a short while, a group of six young students, who appeared to be students, also took their tickets and sat down next to him.

A few minutes later, Xiang Kun watched as Shiling’s Mom, leading Little Fatty Girl by the hand, walked in their direction.

Judging from the direction they came from and the time they spent, Xiang Kun guessed that they had momentarily forgotten where the restaurant was located and took some time searching for it.

He pretended to be engrossed in his phone, acting as though he hadn’t noticed them.

However, his distinctive appearance was hard to miss. Both Little Fatty Girl and Shiling’s Mom spotted him almost instantly. Excitedly, Little Fatty Girl cried out, “Uncle Bald!”

Xiang Kun feigned surprise, looked around blankly before settling his gaze on Liu Shiling, who was hurrying over. He stood up, displaying a face of surprise and delight.

“Xiao Lingdang, what are you doing here?” Xiang Kun pinched the chubby cheek of the Little Fatty Girl who was hugging his leg, and then looked up at Shiling’s Mom approaching from behind, “What a coincidence~!”

“Indeed, I didn’t expect to run into Mr. Xiang here.” Shiling’s Mom greeted him with equal surprise. “When did you arrive in Star City, Mr. Xiang? Are you here on business?” Aside from being surprised, she didn’t think much else. After all, their decision to visit this particular restaurant for rabbit meat was spontaneous, and Xiang Kun was evidently here before them.

“Actually, I’ve only been in Star City for a few hours. Look, I still have my luggage with me. The job is simple, I should be able to leave by tomorrow.” Xiang Kun replied. Seeing the guests who were in front of him being led in by a waiter, he laughed, “I heard the rabbit meat here is exquisitely delicious, so I came to give it a try. You know, I’ve always been very interested in cooking rabbit meat.”

Shiling’s Mom laughed in response, “The rabbit meat you make, Mr. Xiang, is unparalleled. Liu Shiling particularly enjoys it. She’s been mentioning it constantly since we’ve been in Star City. Just now, she mentioned wanting to eat the rabbit meat you make, so I brought her here. I didn’t think we’d run into you…”

Xiang Kun laughed and responded, “In that case, why don’t we dine together? We can order a wider array of dishes and try a few more. I’m here by myself anyway.”

After brief hesitation, Shiling’s Mom agreed.

Not only was she starting to feel hungry, shared seating with Xiang Kun could advance their turn, but she also had a few questions she wanted to ask Xiang Kun. If it wasn’t for lacking his phone number, she might have already called.

Liu Shiling and her mother naturally sat down next to Xiang Kun to wait, no longer needing to fetch a new ticket.

As soon as Little Fatty Girl sat down, she proudly showcased her coin tossing skills to Xiang Kun.

“Uncle Bald! I’ve learned too!”

In actuality, when he was discreetly following from far, Xiang Kun had already noticed Little Fatty Girl practicing coin tossing.

Truth be told, he was even more shocked than Shiling’s Mom was when their daughter first learned how to toss a coin. After all, Shiling’s Mom witnessed her daughter’s progress day by day, therefore, the surprise wasn’t as drastic.

Watching the coin roll smoothly over the back of Little Fatty Girl’s hand, and how she used an improved method to roll the coin fewer times but more fluidly, Xiang Kun was convinced that this was a skill that couldn’t be acquaired through “hard practice” by such a young child. This had to be related to the reduced sensitivity of the coin.

It seems like Little Fatty Girl had gained some sort of ability similar to his, which allowed for the sophisticated control of items established through “super sensory contact”?

But this was strange; is the substance that helps him establish “super sensory contact” with items absorbable by others?

Then why didn’t the other items he formed “super sensory contact” with show such a significant decrease in sensitivity?

Is there a specific condition for it to be absorbed?

Thus, Xiang Kun feigned great astonishment and exclaimed, “Xiao Lingdang, you are amazing! It took me years of practice to master this. You’re so much better than Uncle Bald! Can you let Uncle in on your secret training method?”

The little fatty girl curiously asked, “Isn’t this coin a magical coin?”

In other words, this coin is magical, and since I, Liu Shiling, have magic, I don’t need to practice it, right?

Xiang Kun remembered what he had told Liu Shiling about the magical coin and magic before, so he blinked his eyes and decided to adapt to the little girl’s logic- following her language. He then asked, “So, Xiao Lingdang, can you tell Uncle Bald how you acquired the magic to make it spin?”

Liu Shiling looked at the coin and earnestly answered, “I just told it that it could flip over, it shouldn’t drop, it should flip over like this, and then this way.” While saying this, her plump fingers skillfully manipulated the coin to slowly roll from between her index and middle finger to between the ring finger and the pinky, clamping it steadily – she was even able to demonstrate the slow-motion process for Xiang Kun.

Shiling’s Mom, standing by, looked at her daughter with a mixture of worry and distress in her eyes.

Now Xiang Kun understood, the little girl attributed the learning of flipping the coin to the coin itself, thinking that it was one of the coin’s “magical” abilities?

So, in the eyes of the little fatty girl, achieving “magic” needs no practice. All that is required is “communication” with the coin and obtaining its “approval” – although to anyone else, her “communication” with the coin would appear as her practicing.

However, if that’s the case, the little fatty girl’s thinking has come close to reality, hasn’t it?

“What about the magic paper?” Xiang Kun asked again. Of course, he already knew, through his sensory contact, that the paper was in the big pocket on the little fatty girl’s denim overalls.

Indeed, the little fatty girl took out the neat A4 paper from the pocket of her overalls.

Compared to when Xiang Kun had given it to her, the sheet had more creases and looked quite old. However, it could still be seen that the little fatty girl cherished this piece of paper. There were no stains or damages visible. This was also evident from her careful movements while taking it out and her expression of treasuring it.

Shiling’s Mom said, “Now she always folds that paper you gave her once or twice before using other papers for practice. Her origami is very popular in her kindergarten now.”

Liu Shiling added proudly, “Now I can fold twenty-eight kinds of origami and six types of airplanes.” With that, she held up her chubby hand and showed a six.

“Xiao Lingdang is really amazing!” Xiang Kun praised, then asked again, “This is also magic paper, then why would you fold other papers? I thought the magic was in the object and there was no need to practice?”

Liu Shiling naturally replied, “Because if that paper is folded too much, it will break! Uncle Bald, please give me more magic papers!”

“Sure, I’ll bring you more the next time I come to Star City on a business trip.” Xiang Kun agreed with a smile. He felt that Liu Shiling had established a complete system of magical items and magic in his little head, and if it weren’t for Shiling’s Mom present, fearing that talking too much about such topics might seem strange and childish, he would have asked more details.

Xiang Kun, based on his past observations of phenomena, his understanding of “Super sensory contact,” “Emotional Infusion,” and other consciousness-related abilities, combined with the little fatty girl’s performance and description, made some guesses and conjectures:

He had previously assumed that establishing “super sensory contact” or “emotional infusion” on an object was like formatting and programming it with his consciousness, but these objects didn’t have any actual “functions”. Whether it was the object under “super sensory contact” that could make Xiang Kun sense its location and control it more easily, or the “emotionally infused” object that could sense others’ emotions and guide dreams for Xiang Kun to sense after others fell asleep, the source of these abilities still came from Xiang Kun himself.

So theoretically speaking, these items should not possess the ability to activate these “functions” when Xiang Kun is not in “contact”.

However, from the performance of the little fatty girl, she has indeed acquired the enhanced ability to control the items under Xiang Kun’s “super sensory contact”.

Could it be said that the little fatty girl, through some means, resonated with the “client” on the item at the same frequency, got “recognized”, could interact with it, and gained the privilege to “call the function”? As a result, she could connect directly to Xiang Kun through these items when she came into contact with them, to a certain degree, “call” Xiang Kun’s abilities to help her use these items?

So, what’s the way the little fatty girl did?

Xiang Kun does not believe that anyone who gets an item with his “super sensory contact” can “call” his abilities through these items.

From the description of the little fatty girl, there may be some conditions like having more contact with and understanding of these items, truly believing in the magic and functions of these items from the heart, and getting approval from Xiang Kun himself.

Finally, they were led to an available table. The waiter brought the menu for them. Xiang Kun ordered four rabbit-related dishes and a soup and then handed it to Shiling’s Mom. She, who was worried that they couldn’t finish it, just added a vegetable dish.

The dishes arrived shortly. Xiang Kun told them that he had already eaten in the afternoon and was not hungry. He mainly wanted to try different cooking methods for rabbit meat, so he couldn’t eat too much.

Shiling’s Mom served her daughter and then, while her daughter was focusing on her food, she leaned over and whispered to Xiang Kun, “Mr. Xiang, is there anything special about that coin?”

Xiang Kun asked in confusion, “What do you mean by special?”

“It’s just…” Shiling’s Mom didn’t seem to know how to put it and looked a little bothered, so she quietly explained to Xiang Kun the entire process of her daughter playing the coin guessing game with her, as well as how her hiding the coin was easily discovered. She also mentioned the changes in her daughter’s personality during recent times.