茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Both the living room sofa and coffee table are overflowing with various printed documents. Tang Baona sits on the sofa, flipping through some of the files whilst deep in thought, a frown etched onto her face as she stares at the notebook on her knees.

As for Yang Zhen’er, she is uncharacteristically volunteering to clean up the dishes, and even takes them to the kitchen to wash.

After cleaning up the kitchen, Yang Zhen’er walks over, grabs a small ottoman and sits down next to the coffee table, resting her chin on her hands, her brow furrowed deeply in thought.

Tang Baona, who was busy working, couldn’t help but glance at her roommate. When Yang Zhen’er was around, she was usually a constant chatterbox, easy to ignore while Baona continued her work. But today, her silence seemed out of place and unexpected, prompting Baona to pay attention.

“What are you thinking about?” Tang Baona finally couldn’t help but ask.

It seemed that Yang Zhen’er was just waiting for her friend to ask. She immediately replied, “Something’s wrong!”

“What’s wrong?” asked Tang Baona, puzzled.

“Chef Xiang is acting odd,” Yang Zhen’er replied. “I asked him on WeChat this afternoon, he said he hadn’t gone to Tongshi Town yet and he’s still in Citong City.”

“Uh huh, so what? What’s strange about that?” Tang Baona questioned.

“Didn’t he say he was going back to discuss the ‘Youlong Restaurant’ business?” Yang Zhen’er addressed.

Tang Baona expressed her doubt, “He arrived in Citong only last night, isn’t it normal for him to stay at home for a couple of days before going to Tongshi Town?”

Yang Zhen’er replied, “Nana, what day is it today?”

“What day?” Tang Baona takes out her phone to check, “February 14th, 21st of the lunar month, Friday, oh, Valentine’s Day?”

“Right, Valentine’s Day! If the situation in Tongshi Town wasn’t urgent, why didn’t Chef Xiang stay and celebrate Valentine’s Day before going?” said Yang Zhen’er, “He should have taken advantage of this day, ask you out to have fun, invite you for dinner!”

Tang Baona’s eyes widened, “Ask…ask, ask me what?! I am not his girlfriend…”

Yang Zhen’er narrowed her eyes at her friend with an expression that said “Quit pretending”. After a while, she spoke to herself, “Could it be that Chef Xiang knew about your ostrich-like personality? On such a special day if he stayed, it would be awkward not to ask you, but if he did, he’d worried you’d reject him, leaving things awkward. So he made up an excuse about Tongshi Town and left? Looking at it this way, he is just like you, both ostriches!”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Tang Baona couldn’t take it anymore and picked up a stack of files next to her and threw them at her friend.

Yang Zhen’er swiftly turned her head to dodge, but was hit squarely on the forehead and rolled off the ottoman onto the floor with a yell, clutching her head.

Tang Baona was speechless, she had just thrown the stack casually to scare Yang Zhen’er but hadn’t expected her to dodge just to get hit in the face.

Fortunately, it was just paper and didn’t get thrown with much force, it shouldn’t have hurt too much.

But when Yang Zhen’er rubbed her forehead and sat up, instead of “wrestling” like she usually did, she sat dazedly, causing a wave of worry to arise in Tang Baona. She stood up and reached out to touch her friend’s head, “Are you okay, did that hit you too hard?”

Yang Zhen’er simply leans her forehead into Tang Baona’s hand, letting her friend rub it for her, then she ponders out loud, “Nana, haven’t you noticed that every few days, Chef Xiang will ‘go missing’ for a day or two?”

Tang Baona, realizing that Yang Zhen’er’s forehead wasn’t actually hurt and she was just pretending, pushes her away and asks confusedly, “What do you mean, go missing? It’s normal for Xiang Kun to be busy with his own stuff and not always eat or hang out with us.”

“It’s not very normal, Nana, when we first met Chef Xiang, his previous company had just closed down right? He wasn’t working, so why would he be so busy all the time?”

“We weren’t familiar with him at the time, so of course we wouldn’t hang out often. Besides, he has a lot of his own things to do, like gaming and such. This game he’s playing now, he actually started playing ages ago. Remember the voice reading system?” Tang Baona pointed out.

However, Yang Zhen’er continued talk about how she had talked to Zhang Qian before, that during the time they were trying to hang out with Chef Xiang, he would often say he was out on a business trip, and his phone was either out of the service area or turned off. But Zhang Qian hardly ever got ahold of Xiang Kun when she wanted to, and neither her coworkers nor partners had seen him, which was very strange….

“It’s possible that he has accepted other jobs at the same time and had to run around to cooperate with others in person,” Tang Baona guessed.

“Also, when we send him messages on WeChat or call him, he often replies in the afternoon, saying he overslept and didn’t see them. But do you remember when we all went to play in Tongshi Town together? Chef Xiang, who was playing outside and staying in a hotel, always managed to get up early in the morning for a jog and workout. How could he often sleep so late?” Yang Zhen’er spoke with increasing vigor as she continued to recall the past.

“That’s also very normal. Sometimes he stays up all night to finish his work, watch movies, or play games… What exactly are you getting at with all these conjectures and assumptions, Zhen’er?” Tang Baona asked curiously.

“Have you seen the group photo of Liu Chuang, Brother Bin, and Chef Xiang from their college days that Liu Chuang shared in the gaming group? Didn’t you notice that Chef Xiang has changed a lot?”

“Well, it’s been so many years since he graduated from college, he just lost some hair and put on some bulk, that’s normal since he’s been working out.” Tang Baona commented.

“It’s not just compared to university… Brother Bin also used to say, Brother Xiang has transformed drastically in just a few months.” Yang Zhen’er shook her head and speculated, “I suspect that maybe Brother Xiang had some sort of adventure after his company went bankrupt, and he joined some special organization. Then he changed. This organization might require its members to carry out secret tasks periodically, which is why Brother Xiang often disappears without explanation. After the tasks are completed, Brother Xiang gains special abilities, like cooking, wood carving… Ah, could it be that Brother Xiang’s return to Citong City this time isn’t about the restaurant, but to carry out a ‘secret mission’?”

“Mission, my ass!” Tang Baona quickly flicked her forehead and scolded, “A secret organization that teaches cooking and wood carving? Instead of fantasizing, you might as well help me look over these documents. We still have to meet with Zhang Qian and Attorney Liang tomorrow, we can’t go unprepared, right? We previously agreed to liaise with Zhang Qian on behalf of Xiang Kun.”

Yang Zhen’er rubbed her forehead and looked at her innocently, “Didn’t we agree before? I cook, I clean up, I wash the dishes, and you look at those documents. Then, whatever you say tomorrow, I’ll just follow. All I have to do is echo your sentiments, right?”

“What cooking are you talking about, didn’t you just order food? Isn’t cleaning up just throwing the takeout containers in the trash? There are only two soup bowls, one spoon, and two pairs of chopsticks to wash, right? Ah, anyway, you have nothing to do now, help me look, since you’ve worked in finance for so many years.” said Tang Baona.

“I’m not idle, I’m very busy… I will invite Brother Xiang to play a game together. If he refuses, he might indeed be on some ‘secret mission’. Right, do you think Brother Xiang might be secretly dating someone in Citong City? Uh, this is hardly plausible, Brother Xiang does not seem like a playboy.” Yang Zhen’er said as she picked up her phone to send Xiang Kun a WeChat message.

After a few minutes, she received Xiang Kun’s reply. Yang Zhen’er got excited again, showed her phone screen to Tang Baona, and said, “Nana, look, I didn’t guess wrong, did I? Brother Xiang again said ‘I’m busy tonight’! With his personality, if it were work or home affairs, he would surely explain it, but he just said ‘I’m busy’, without giving any details. There must be something fishy! He’s surely doing something he doesn’t want us to know about!”

Tang Baona gave her a blank look, lifted her hand to ruffle her hair, “If you aren’t going to help me, could you at least stop disturbing me and go play in your room?”

Yang Zhen’er reclined on the couch beside her, phone in hand, legs propped up on the backrest. She texted as she muttered, “No, I need to inform Old Xia about this, have him keep an eye on Brother Xiang.”

After she sent a series of WeChat messages to her cousin, she instructed, “Old Xia, tonight you must find a way to invite Brother Xiang for supper. This spying mission is on you!”

Few moments later, Xia Libing’s reply came, a panda sleeping Zzz emoji.

“Stop sleeping! A cousin nurtured for a thousand days is used for such a day, today is the day you repay me, your dear cousin! Go spy on Brother Xiang’s movements for me!”

A few moments later, the reply was still a panda Zzz emoji.

“This is about your Sister Nana’s happiness, stop sleeping and listen to me, be a good girl!”

The reply remained unchanged, still the panda Zzz.

Yang Zhen’er obviously didn’t know, at this time in Citong City, in the house where Xia Libing lived, it was Xiang Kun who was using Xia Libing’s mobile phone to reply.

According to the previous cycle, Xiang Kun was due to drink blood again on February 15, which was tomorrow.

The rabbit needed for the blood drinking was already purchased with Old Xia from an arranged breeder, delivered here by a small truck, and were now in Old Xia’s kitchen.

Yes, the place for this blood drinking session was set to be Xia Libing’s house. And since it was previously explained to his parents as a “business trip,” he won’t be returning home tonight, there’s no need to pretend sleep and can directly stay at Old Xia’s place.

Because he came home very late last night and had to wake up early in the morning to drive to Zi Huan Mountain to meet Xiang Kun, Old Xia wasn’t very active today, feeling sleepy after dinner.

Xiang Kun then told her to sleep first, get enough rest tonight so that she had the energy to stay up tomorrow.

Although Old Xia now has a way to remain awake in the “conscious world” to resists sleepiness, it is still necessary to rest well and conserve her energy.

Just like after Xiang Kun drinks blood and sleeps, he leaves his phone with Old Xia to handle possible emergencies, before Xia Libing goes to bed, she also hands over her phone to Xiang Kun so he can handle possible emergencies that may arise, like her third aunt suddenly coming over, and on her behalf, can reply messages saying she is not at home.

What Xiang Kun did not expect was that he did not receive a message from Third Aunt, but instead received a series of messages from Yang Zhen’er about his “secret organization” and “secret mission.”

Xiang Kun couldn’t help but find it amusing, not expecting the usually baffled Yang Zhen’er to have moments of sharpness.

Truth be told, although her guesses about the “secret organization” and the “secret mission” are not true, her chain of thought and suspicions are indeed correct.

After dealing with Yang Zhen’er using Xia Libing’s phone, Xiang Kun uses his own phone to browse over the information sent by Alice. Around two o’clock in the morning, he began to connect with the chopstick on Xia Libing’s pillow, guiding the dream.

This has been discussed with Old Xia previously, to start the dream in the second half of the night, allowing Old Xia to trigger the “Dream in a Dream.”

As for whose dream it is, to be honest, neither he nor Old Xia know yet. Anyhow, the object initiating the dream is on the window ledge of the dormitory, and whoever is being induced into the dream is definitely someone in the dormitory.

In the afternoon, Xiang Kun snuck near the division, placed a “black circle graffiti” around a “super-connected object” orb and launched it onto the window ledge of the dormitory using a slingshot.

He wanted to use this method to ‘invoke dream warnings’.

To give a hint to the police force, letting them go to Zi Huan Mountain, where they will discover the bodies of those affected by the ‘mutated parasites’, so the families of the deceased could have some closure, instead of continuing to be left in that desolate mountain cave.