Chapter 065 Sea King – “One of the Top Ten Gifts to Touch Your Boyfriend’s Heart” (11/20)
The room fell silent.
After a long moment, one student finally muttered, “…I think I’m hearing things.”
“Haha, what a coincidence.” Another student laughed awkwardly. “Me too…”
“I thought I heard Brother Xu ask us about buying a gift…”
“What a small world. Me too…”
They exchanged glances and suddenly realized this might not be a figment of their imagination. What kind of auditory hallucination had four people hearing the exact same thing?
Another awkward silence fell.
The students looked at Ye Mingxu in a daze, then quickly averted their eyes.
“Brother–Brother Xu.” One student managed to force a smile, making a weak attempt to avoid embarrassment. “What did you just say? Could you repeat that?”
Ye Mingxu replied indifferently, “A gift.”
The students: “!!!”
Seriously… Brother Xu actually wanted to buy a gift!
Ye Mingxu—this taciturn guy who refused to even use his smart bracelet and kept everyone at a distance of several hundred meters—suddenly wanted to give someone a gift!
Who would believe it?
This cognitive dissonance was as mind-boggling as if that genius from Kalandi’s Intermediate Division suddenly transferred to Siming Teji!
“Can we ask… who it’s for?” One student couldn’t hold back any longer and blurted out the question.
Ye Mingxu replied coldly, “No.”
He was giving Shi Jingge a gift. Why would he let anyone else know?
“Well… is it for a guy or a girl…?” Another student scratched his nose. “Guys and girls like different things, so the gift would definitely have to be different.”
Ye Mingxu thought for a moment. “A guy.”
“Is he a student or something? Is he from our Pharmacy Department?” another student chimed in, but this time, Ye Mingxu didn’t answer; he just shot him a cold glare.
In an instant, the Siming Teji students dared not ask any more questions. Several of them suggested gift options, but Ye Mingxu silently rejected them all.
One student activated his smart wristband. “Let me see what’s good to give!”
He opened the shopping app, searched for gifts, and as a list popped up, he read them off to Ye Mingxu one by one.
Ye Mingxu looked pensive as he walked over to the student. “Do it again.”
The student: ?
“You’re so clueless!” Another student came over and slapped the first one on the back. “Brother Xu wants you to reopen the shopping app!”
The student suddenly realized what was going on. He closed the page first, then gave Ye Mingxu a detailed introduction to SkyNet, opened the shopping app, searched “gifts”, and walked him through the entire process step-by-step.
Ye Mingxu nodded. “T–Thank you.”
He’d actually learned that response from Shi Jingge.
But for the students at Siming Teji, it was like a powerful bomb had been dropped out of nowhere. It sent all four of them reeling.
“Holy shit, I’m really hearing things this time!”
“Help! I’m hallucinating! Does anyone have a Sobering Potion?”
“I’m heading to the infirmary. Don’t fight me for it!”
“Are auditory hallucinations contagious? Aaaaaah!”
Ye Mingxu pulled a bottle of Sobering Potion from his pocket and held it out to the student who’d been screaming for one.
“Here,” Ye Mingxu said.
The student: !!!
Seeing that the student hadn’t moved for a long time, Ye Mingxu simply shoved the bottle into his hand and turned to walk away.
He still had to figure out what gift to give Shi Jingge.
The student looked at the potion in his hand, glanced at the other people around him, and then dazedly watched Ye Mingxu’s retreating figure.
Then he muttered, “So I was dreaming after all… I even dreamed that Brother Xu gave me a Sobering Potion. This dream’s really fucking unrealistic.” He shuffled over to the couch and laid down. “…Then I’ll just sleep a little longer.”
The other three stared at him in silence. Their combined gaze made him unable to stay lying down.
He leaped from the sofa, nearly breaking down. “Am I not dreaming?”
A quiet voice drifted over. “If you drink the Sobering Potion, won’t you know for sure?”
The student glared at the speaker with disgust, tucking the potion away. “No way!”
Brother Xu gave this to me!
Actually, it wasn’t that he didn’t know. All of this was real, not an illusion, and certainly not a dream.
But…
Wasn’t this the most unbelievable thing ever?!
“So, what do you guys think?” a curious voice finally broke the silence after a long while. “Who’s the gift for?”
The four exchanged glances. After a moment, someone said, “Could it be… Mentor Zhao?”
Come to think of it… that actually made sense! If not for Mentor Zhao, then who else could it be for?
After Ye Mingxu got back, he downloaded the SkyNet Shopping Center app, searched for “gifts”, and went through them one by one.
He wasn’t really that into giving gifts to begin with and had no idea what to give, so he just relied on his intuition to rule out suggestions like potions, materials, and spirit flowers. Then, as he browsed through SkyNet, he found himself at a loss for what to choose.
Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to a line of text: [The Federation’s Largest Gift Center—They’ll Be Moved to Tears When They Receive It!]
This looked good.
Ye Mingxu’s eyes lit up. He clicked in to take a look and, seeing that the reviews were all positive, immediately placed an order, entering Shi Jingge’s address and contact information.
After placing the order, Ye Mingxu felt a bit unsatisfied, so he continued searching for more.
Slogans like “The Federation’s Most Popular Gift,” “One of the Top 10 Gifts to Touch Your Boyfriend’s Heart,” and “Gift Delivered Today, Civil Affairs Bureau Tomorrow” were especially appealing to Ye Mingxu.
However, Ye Mingxu still had one small doubt. If these gifts were so great, why were they so cheap?
Shi Jingge was still unaware of what was happening on the Siming Teji side. He was running around stressing over his thesis; he hadn’t written one in who knew how many years and was immediately overwhelmed by the formatting requirements.
Shi Jingge also found time to buy another bouquet of roses, turning them all into rose tea—part of which he listed for sale online and part of which he mailed back home.
The original owner’s father’s damaged mental energy required slow, gradual recovery. While he could take soothing potions, Shi Jingge felt that even if he sent them back, the father wouldn’t take them.
Chances were, he’d keep them and sell them whenever his son needed money—or perhaps keep them for his son indefinitely, just in case he needed them someday.
These parents were extremely devoted to their only son, willing to endure endless hardships and neglect their own needs for his sake.
After much deliberation, Shi Jingge decided the rose tea was the better option. He added some healing spiritual flowers and herbs to the batch he sent home, and the results weren’t half-bad.
Most importantly, rose tea didn’t have a fixed price—only he sold it. He could just make up a shelf life on the spot; his parents would have to drink it whether they wanted to or not. Would they really wait until it expired?
As for the batch of rose tea online, it sold out instantly since Shi Jingge had promoted it in advance on his Moments. Perhaps because the quantity was so limited, not everyone managed to buy some, even though many people were waiting and watching the clock!
Among them, Qiu Yuanjiu’s roommates had the worst luck.
All three of them went to monitor the sales on the SkyNet ten minutes early, but in the end, none of them managed to snag any!
“How about,” Ying Changyuan said painfully, “we go ask Senior Shi?”
“I can’t live without rose tea anymore,” another roommate said, rubbing his temples. “Whether it’s the taste or the effects, there’s no substitute!”
Ying Changyuan nodded in full agreement. “But…” He hesitated. “How are we supposed to approach Senior Shi? Offer double the price? It just feels like we’d be disrespecting him…”
The other roommates nodded in agreement. The three exchanged glances, each seeing defeat in the others’ eyes.
Why were their fingers so slow?! How could they not have snagged even a single one?!
The moment the credit points hit his account, Shi Jingge suddenly felt as if he’d escaped poverty and struck it rich. He transferred half of them to his father’s account, and the very next second, a video call came through.
Shi Jingge answered it. An aged middle-aged man appeared before him, his eyes fixed on him with an almost greedily affectionate gaze, the emotion in them nearly spilling over.
A slight twinge of pain flashed through Shi Jingge’s heart. He softly said, “Dad.”
The man on the other end immediately broke into a smile, like a child who’d received a pleasant surprise. He nodded repeatedly, then hurriedly asked, “Why did you transfer so many credit points to me? You’re such a foolish child, why won’t you listen? Your mom and I have everything we need at home; why would we need credit points?
“You’re studying away from home and at the Federation’s top academy no less. You can’t afford to look out of place. Keep these for yourself; buy plenty of spiritual flowers and herbs. Your folks don’t need you to worry about these things!
“I’ve got some credit points left here too; I’ll transfer them all to you. Don’t send any back to me, okay? All that back-and-forth is useless—your mom and I don’t need ’em!”
Another, slightly hoarse female voice chimed in, “Exactly! Your dad and I are at home. What don’t we have? Do we really need to rely on our son to support us? Keep those credits! Why not use them to buy a potion furnace? I heard Aunt Zhang next door say that a top-notch alchemist must have one. She bought one for her son, so our Xiao Ge should have one too! Listen to Mom—go buy yourself a potion furnace!”
The two of them chattered back and forth, their eyes brimming with excitement as they looked at Shi Jingge. They greedily watched his every move, as if they wanted to etch his image directly into their minds so they could bring it out and savor it day and night for days to come.
When was the last time their son video-chatted with them, anyway? They couldn’t quite remember. It had been far too long. It must’ve been nearly two years since they’d last seen him.
Right now, nothing made them happier than seeing their son.
After they finished speaking, Shi Jingge finally said, “I’m already using a potion furnace. I entered a competition recently, and won it as a prize. It works great.”
His mom exclaimed in delight, “My son really is amazing!”
Shi Jingge’s dad felt a sense of pride, lifting his head high.
“Take those credit points; that’s the money I earned from selling potions.” Shi Jingge paused. Seeing that they still looked unconvinced, he suddenly snapped. “I told you to take them, so just take them! Why all the nonsense? If you won’t take them, then just stop calling me your son! You don’t take my credit points, you don’t drink my potions, you don’t want anything I have. What good am I to you as a son?”
As soon as Shi Jingge said this, how could these parents, who loved their son dearly, even think of refusing? They rushed to placate him.
“Okay, okay, alright, alright. We’ll do whatever you say.”
Shi Jingge tilted his head back slightly and said in a scolding tone, “So are you going to drink the things I mailed back? I made them with my own hands!”
His tone was exceptionally unreasonable.
“We’ll drink them, we’ll drink them!” the woman said with a smile. “Xiao Ge made them himself and mailed them just for us, how could we not drink them? We’ll drink them as soon as they arrive right away!”
The man nodded beside her. The look in both their eyes was one of pure joy as they gazed at Shi Jingge.
Shi Jingge suddenly felt a pang of sadness. He said softly, “School has a week of break next month. I want to go home.”
This couple felt as if a pie had fallen from the sky; they were completely stunned! Their son—Their son wanted to come home!!
“Are you really… really coming home?!” The man nearly threw himself at the optical computer screen.
“Mm-hmm.” Shi Jingge nodded.
After their initial elation subsided, the couple grew a little worried and began asking Shi Jingge in a roundabout way if something had gone wrong.
Shi Jingge pursed his lips. “I want to eat deep-fried Dingxing fish.”
“No problem!”
“I sent you some rose tea as well. Brew it with hot water and drink it every day. When I get back, I’ll be checking to make sure.” Shi Jingge paused. “I know exactly how much I sent, and I know exactly how much should be left. If you don’t drink it, I’ll get really mad!”
“Okay, okay, okay. We’ll definitely drink it.”
They chatted on video, catching up and sharing updates for another hour until the sound of a delivery at the door signaled they should end the call.
After hanging up, the couple scrambled to sign for the package, neither willing to surrender the right to do so. In the end, the wife won out and got to sign.
A neighbor in quarantine happened to be stepping out and saw the scene, chuckling. “What did you two buy?”
Those two penny-pinchers actually bought things sometimes?
“Who says we bought it?” the man said in a hoarse voice, his eyes brimming with pride. “Xiao Ge sent it. That kid—all he does is waste money. He finally made a little money selling medicine, but instead of keeping it for himself, he insisted on sending it to us. And now he’s sent us this stuff, insisting we have to finish it. He’s coming back next month to check we did, too. That kid really keeps us on our toes!”
“You better believe it,” the woman said, taking the package and letting out a long sigh. “His dad and I are just sitting at home. What do we need this for? We’ve got only one child out there, and since we can’t look after him, we already feel guilty enough. Yet he always thinks about us. He never stops to think about himself or how much he worries us!”
Neighbor: ?
That boastful tone was particularly grating.
“Well, I’ll have to join in on the fun,” the neighbor said with a smile as she walked over. “It must be special for Xiao Ge to send it all the way here! Let me take a look.”
The neighbor didn’t believe for a second that there was actually anything special in there.
After all, ever since Shi Jingge left for school, when had he ever sent anything home? Every time he contacted his parents, it was just to ask for money, money, money.
Before Shi Jingge was born, the Shi family had lived a decent life. They’d often treat themselves to something nice, like low-grade spirit fruits, and occasionally bought some energy potions.
But since Shi Jingge came along, forget about potions—they hadn’t even eaten a single spirit fruit since then. Especially after Jingge left for school, the two of them had been surviving day by day on cheap, discounted nutritional supplements!
Even so, the couple still felt they were letting their son down.
They believed that with his exceptional talent, Shi Jingge was bound to achieve great things in the future. If he hadn’t been born into their family, he would’ve been taught by renowned masters long ago and become famous at a young age.
Why did the Shi family go to work in those shady mines and end up covered in injuries? It was all because Shi Jingge was constantly asking for money!
And yet, the couple still went on and on about their son every day, thinking of nothing but him, unaware that Shi Jingge didn’t care about them at all.
Whenever they saw them, the neighbors felt sorry for them.
So what if they had a son with exceptional talent? That couple’s life wasn’t even as good as theirs!
His own son might not be as talented as Shi Jingge, but at least he was dutiful. Unlike Shi Jingge, who went wild as soon as he left home and hasn’t even come back to visit!
After hanging up, Shi Jingge stood there in a daze for a while. It wasn’t until there was a knock on the door and a package notification that he snapped back to reality.
Shi Jingge opened the door, signed for the delivery, and received a huge pile of packages. A quick glance revealed there were at least seven or eight of them.
…But he hadn’t bought anything on SkyNet recently, had he?
Just then, Shi Jingge received a message from Ye Mingxu.
Ye Mingxu: [Gifts. They’ve arrived.]
Ye Mingxu: [Xiao Ge, remember to open them.]
Shi Jingge looked down at the packages. For some reason, a sense of foreboding suddenly welled up inside him.
Should he open them or not…?
Author’s Note:
Ye Mingxu: They say these gifts are so touching they’ll bring you to tears!
Ye Mingxu: Are you moved, Xiao Ge?
Shi Jingge: I sure am…I really, am.
Ye Mingxu: (*ω＼*)
Teacher Zhao: False advertising—I’ve reported it 🙂
Edit: Krone
Proofread: Choux_choux
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