Chapter 46
Xiang Huaizhi had played games for so many years but had never encountered a fireworks system. Never mind assembling fireworks, he didn’t even know the exact location of the fireworks vendor.
Now Jing Huan should understand Qiu Feng’s intentions very clearly.
Under normal circumstances, Little Sweet Jing would have immediately left the party, but at this moment the little fox spirit stood in the scholar’s party without moving a muscle, and Qiu Feng did the same.
It was obvious\u2014they were privately chatting in the team.
What were they talking about?
Xiang Huaizhi thought about it. The person who had just been “sharing a bed” with him probably wouldn’t have changed feelings so quickly. Besides, judging by Qiu Feng’s past love life, the other party wasn’t gay.
But the little fox spirit stood straight on the firework, showing no sign of leaving.
Shouldn’t he tell the junior about Qiufeng’s situation?
The thought was dismissed by Xiang Huaizhi as soon as it surfaced \u2014 if Jing Huan truly liked that scumbag, he’d really be playing matchmaker.
Behind them, Lu Hang was nearly out of breath from running the quest, grumbling, “This quest is a nightmare, one stage wants me to find like ten NPCs. How long did you take to do it back then\u2026 Never mind, I’ll get a milk tea to perk up. Xiang, do you want one?”
“No.”
Xiang Huaizhi suddenly remembered the three cups of milk tea he had just bought for the little fox spirit; maybe Jing Huan was now sipping the drink he\u2019d bought while pouring out her heart to Qiu Feng under the moon.
He withdrew his gaze, twitched his fingers, and the black-robed man turned and ran out of the map, returning to the main city.
Why worry so much? He and Jing Huan were unrelated; he shouldn\u2019t interfere in her affairs.
Besides, Jing Huan had the right to choose. If Qiu Feng was the type she liked, then all the better \u2014 she wouldn\u2019t come pester him anymore.
Xiang Huaizhi forced a composed face to comfort himself, then opened his game inventory and glanced at the gem lying there quietly.
If the little fox spirit truly intended to get involved with another man, then this gem seemed no longer appropriate to give away.
Jing Huan had never seen such extravagant fireworks before.
He stared blankly at the character “\u666f” beneath his feet, surrounded by hearts, and didn’t snap out of it for a long time.
“Is it pretty, Xiao Jingjing?” Qiu Feng’s tone was gentle. “I just figured it out\u2014made several failed versions.”
“It’s beautiful.” Jing Huan exclaimed. “The firework system can actually be used like this?”
He had seen Lu Wenhao set off heart-shaped fireworks for his wife in the dorm before; heart fireworks were an old trick, plenty of tutorial posts on the forum covered them. But he’d never seen anyone spell out a character inside a heart.
Qiu Feng smiled at that and finally saw hope.
Look, the girl was so moved she\u2019d gone live.
“If you like it, that’s enough.” He said with a smile, “If you want, I’ll make it for you every day.”
Jing Huan: “No, that’s too many flowers\u2014didn’t that cost a lot?”
The worst thing about assembled fireworks is that every component and special effect is sold separately; even making a big heart usually costs a couple of hundred yuan.
“Not much,” Qiufeng said casually. “Just over five hundred for each one; including the duds, it only cost a bit more than eight hundred gold.”
He knew exactly how to chase a woman \u2014 first, you had to let her know that you were willing to spend money on her.
Jing Huan was genuinely stunned.
The money was secondary; it was the thought and effort he’d put into that heart-shaped picture that was enough to move anyone.
If he had that skill, who couldn\u2019t he chase?
No wonder he couldn\u2019t stir her heart\u2014compared to Qiu Feng, he was worthless!
Sure enough, compared to sweet talk and flattery, concrete actions were still the most effective.
While Jinghuan was reflecting, her friend’s icon suddenly blinked.
[Friend] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: .
Jing Huan was stunned. When did Xin Xiang Wang Zhi come online?
[Friend] Xiao Tian Jing: [heart][heart][heart] Brother!
[Friend] Xiao Tian Jing: My eyes are blind, I actually didn’t see your online notification! TvT
Seeing that familiar sticker and emoji, Xiang Huaizhi couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
[Friend] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: Just logged on, are you doing the dungeon or not?
After sending that, Xiang Huaizhi opened the dungeon list and considered which instance to run.
The Nine Heroes dungeons reset weekly for challenge attempts, but because there are so many of them players can\u2019t finish them all, so everyone picks the high-experience ones to do.
[Friend] Xiao Tianjing: Ah, brother, I won’t post a chapter today.
[Friend] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: ?
[Friend] Xiao Tianjing: I have a bit of something to do! >.<
Xiang Huaizhi instinctively glanced at Jinghuan’s friend info.
Still in the Moon Palace, not even the coordinates had changed.
[Friend] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: Got it.
After replying, he closed the chat window and the instance interface together, then expressionlessly opened a video app.
He casually clicked on a newly released film and had only watched for a few minutes when the Nine Heroes task bar at the bottom suddenly lit up.
Someone sent him a message in the game.
Ever since he met Xiao Tianjing, he hadn’t closed his inbox. This time the private message came from a level-43 alt.
[Private] Secretly Missing: Are you there?
[Private] Secretly Missing: I’m Xian Mengmeng, this is my alt. Don’t hurry to block me yet\u2014I came to you this time because I have a business proposition.
[Private] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: Go ahead.
[Private] Tou Tou Xiang Nian: Is your team planning to kill the War God?
[Private] Tou Tou Xiang Nian: I know Lu Tiaotiao is running the War God quest. I wanted to ask if your team’s first-person perspective of killing the War God could be streamed in my channel? I can pay.
Although Jiuxia had been running for years, there weren’t many teams that had actually slain the War God; most only managed it after wiping several times. Because of the uncertainties involved, few people livestream these kills\u2014afraid of wiping, and even more afraid of wiping and still failing.
And on the rare occasions when he killed the War God live, the number of viewers was astonishing.
So as soon as Xian Mengmeng heard that Lu Tiaotiao was going to kill the War God, she immediately thought of this plan.
[Private Message] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: How do I get a first-person perspective?
[Private Message] Tou Tou Xiang Nian: Just bring me along on your account, my gear is already all set.
They were the backups her fans had worked for many days and nights to earn.
Afraid Heart-to-Heart would disagree, she hurriedly added.
[Private Message] Secretly Missing: Don’t worry about Xiaotianjing \u2014 I’ll pay four shares, one for each person on the team; I can give her a little more.
[Private Message] Heart-to-Heart: Not short on money.
[Private Message] Secretly Missing You: …You said you’d make it up to me.
[Private Message] Heart’s Desire: I can compensate your financial loss, but I won’t team up with you.
After sending that, Xiang Huaizhi reopened the “reject messages from strangers” toggle.
Xian Mengmeng couldn’t get sympathy here, so she went back to Luhang to cry about it.
“tsk, I told Xian Mengmeng you wouldn’t agree, why is she still coming to find you,” Lu Hang said.
Xiang Huaizhi didn’t even look up: “Block strangers.”
“I never use that feature. What if some little girl who adores me comes looking for me?”
“Don’t worry, she won’t.”
“Well, you never know\u2014look at Xiaojingjing, isn’t she the same?”
Xiang Huaizhi seemed to have been poked in a sore spot; after a long moment he said, “I mean, there’s no little girl who worships you.”
“…Dammit.”
Lu Hang gave Xian Mengmeng a few perfunctory words, found hunting NPCs boring, and decided to log into WeChat on his computer to chat with the guild members.
Once the workweek starts, the guild chat channels quiet down; only WeChat keeps the conversations going.
“Fuck!!!”
Xiang Huaizhi heard the person behind shout suddenly.
He frowned, not yet having time to ask.
“These fireworks are badass, Qiu Feng is ruthless, I admit it, completely admit it. I’ll give him the title of the biggest asshole in Mirror Flowers, Water Moon\u2014I don’t deserve it.” Lu Hang opened the large image and murmured, “So you can do fireworks like this\u2014learned something.”
Xiang Huaizhi turned his head; the romantic scene that had unfolded in the Moon Palace today had been screenshotted by Qiu Feng and posted in the guild group.
He withdrew his gaze, opened WeChat, and began scrolling through the chat history.
Qiu Feng: [image] Aren’t these fireworks awesome?
Mo Wen Guqi: Holy shit, badass!
True Love Zhizhi Taotao: The sect leader is too amazing [kneeling]
Wind-Chasing Youth: Wait, isn’t the focus that character “Jing” and the little sweet Jing standing on the fireworks!!
Maimai Silent: Did the sect leader catch up?
Xiaoxiao: As expected, congratulations to the sect leader! Can’t wait for the wedding feast! [smile]
………
Next came a flood of congratulatory messages, but Qiufeng didn’t speak again, and Xiao Tianjing hadn’t appeared at all from start to finish.
“No wonder you didn’t go to the raid today.” Lu Hang flipped through the chat log and slammed his hand on the table. “Xiao Jingjing ran off with someone else!!!”
Xiang Huaizhi: “……”
“Damn, is Xiao Tianjing going to join Qiufeng’s fixed team from now on? Won’t raids be so boring after that.” Lu Hang paused. “Is she still coming with us to kill the War God?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sigh, it seems like they’re all getting married.” Lu Hang said, “After all, they used to be teammates. I should give her something… Xiangxiang, what are you going to give Xiaojingjing as a wedding gift?”
“I don’t know.”
“But the girl has always been shy; for her to stick to your side for so long is already rare.” Lu Hang muttered to himself, sighing, “I wish her happiness.”
When Xiang Huaizhi didn’t respond, he put on his headphones again with a composed expression, using the movie’s audio to drown out Lu Hang’s murmurs.
Jing Huan waited beneath the Temple of Heaven in the main city all afternoon; his eyes blurred from looking before he finally finished what he needed to do.
He opened Xiang Huaizhi’s chat window and called out “Brother,” but the other party didn’t reply for a long time.
So he opened WeChat.
Xiaojing: Big brother~
A few minutes later.
To: ?
Xiaojing: What are you doing, why are you ignoring people in the game T.T
Xiang: …watch a movie.
Xiaojing ya: Got time to play a game!
Xiang: What’s up?
Xiaojing ya: Something’s up!
Xiaojing: Big news!!!
Xiang: I’m here.
Xiaojing: Mm-hmm, I’m waiting for you at the Moon Elder shrine *^0^*!
Xiang: ……….
Xiaojing: …0.0 What’s up?
Xiang: Nothing, soon.
Getting married so soon?
Xiang Huaizhi closed the video, pushed aside the tangled, hard-to-name emotions in his heart, and steered the character toward the Matchmaker Temple.
The Matchmaker was an elderly man with white hair, holding a bundle of red thread in his hand, his expression kindly, and a little fox spirit sat in front of him.
Except for the little fox spirit, there was no one else.
Seeing him, the little fox spirit immediately rose from the ground and pretended to dust off the dirt from her clothes.
[Current] Little Tianjing: Brother!
[Little Tianjing invites you to join her team. Yes, no.]
Xiang Huaizhi had a meal, then joined the group.
What did he mean by that? Why wasn’t Qiu Feng there?
“Brother, what book did you make today?” Jing Huan asked him.
“Something urgent came up, I didn’t make any.” Xiang Huaizhi asked, “\u2026What are we going to do?”
No one in the team responded to him; instead they took him by the hand and led him out. The two of them left the Moon Matchmaker Shrine.
They walked all the way to the guild transporter, and the scene shifted\u2014the two game avatars appeared inside the Idle Pavilion’s guild grounds.
Jing Huan led him to the little stream they had visited before and disbanded the team.
Xiang Huaizhi hadn’t yet had a chance to speak when the world before him suddenly lit up\u2014
Countless flowers spread out from beneath the little fox spirit\u2019s feet, colorful and profuse, a riot of blossoms.
Flowers of different hues were pieced together into a familiar pattern.
It was the heart-shaped design he had just seen that afternoon.
The only difference was that the character \u201c\u666f\u201d in the center of the fireworks had been replaced with \u201c\u5411.\u201d
[Current] Little Sweet Scene: Ta-da-da-da!!!
[Current] Little Sweet Scene: A Wednesday gift for brother! Today is another day of loving brother so much!
Jing Huan looked at the move he had just learned, completely pleased.
After watching the fireworks today, he threw a thousand gold to Qiu Feng as thanks and payment, asking the latter to teach him how to make the heart-shaped fireworks.
Giving flowers as if offering them to Buddha \u2014 convenient and effortless.
On the other end of the computer, Xiang Huaizhi stared at the fireworks, slow to react.
Lu Hang passed by holding a cup, saw the screen and was shocked: “Holy crap? This?? What’s going on??”
Xiang Huaizhi came to himself, tugged at his lips, his tone carrying a faint satisfaction and ease even he hadn’t noticed.
“Just what you saw.” he said, “The person is still here, didn’t run.”
Author’s note:
Qiufeng: You have no heart.
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