Don’t Covet the Beautiful System!! - Chap 127
The bright sound that rang out from time to time in the room disappeared. The light and shadows in the living room changed, the white gauze curtain was blown by the wind and the hanging rings collided and made a soft sound.
The greenery was swaying, the sky was blue and the sun was a clear gold. There were slight noises everywhere in summer.
In the sudden silence, the cat Hua Hua stopped chasing his tail.
He raised his head curiously and looked at the kitchen where his second master had walked in and never came out again.
Why didn’t his master continue to open the packages?
What about the large plastic duckling that was promised to be bought for him?
Was his master secretly playing with his little yellow duck?!
The white cat’s tail stood up high and walked toward the kitchen, the love heart on his butt shining in the sun.
But he stopped alertly when he was about to reach the kitchen door.
His first master was also inside.
After getting along for so long, his first master wouldn’t tease him at every turn like his second master. He was a relatively mature and stable human being.
However, Hua Hua discovered that since the last time he was lifted by his neck and thrown out of the room, his first master had started to use this action on him regularly.
For some unknown reason, his first master was becoming more savage.
What an abominable human being.
Hua Hua shook his neck. As a smart and witty cat, he decided to creep at the kitchen door and wait for his second master to come out.
The cat lay in the corner of the wall and shrunk into a wall. He waited and waited in the warm weather, almost falling asleep.
It wasn’t known how long he waited before his second master finally came out.
Hua Hua stretched out his neck. He didn’t find the little yellow duck for the time being. He only saw the red cheeks of his second master.
Was it hot?
It wasn’t hot.
He circled around his second master, as if to find the little yellow duck he had hidden.
“Meow meow meow meow?” What about my gift?
His second master, who usually talked a lot, didn’t speak. It was his first master who answered him. “This is my gift.”
The usually cold first master put two t-shirts of the same style into the washing machine and seemed to be in a good mood.
Hearing this, his second master blushed even more. While feeling ashamed and indignant, he picked up Hua Hua and lowered his head to scratch the soft belly.
“Meow meow meow!” Let go of me!
Why was his second master so hot?
He wasn’t an ice cube. He couldn’t be used to cool down!
The washing machine started to emit a continuous roar. The cat resisted in Ji Tong’s arms and the freshly cooked vegetables were submerged in boiling soup.
Pei Qingyuan was always unable to take his eyes away from the sun.
After lunch, he accompanied Ji Tong to unpack the rest of the express packages.
Hua Hua got the little yellow duck as a gift and was finally satisfied. He lay on the plastic yellow duck, pressing it back and forth with his paws and listened to the noises it made.
Ji Tong bought couple clothes, daily goods and travel necessities and a lot of weird gadgets.
It was from a giant butterfly doll to a ceramic cat ornament.
Pei Qingyuan took the scissors to open the packages and handed the contents to Ji Tong, who would ask him if it looked good. After getting a satisfactory answer, he would place them in the right place.
The afternoon was lazy and the living room filled with the sounds of a cat and duck.
However, Pei Qingyuan noticed a detail after opening a few packages.
The names of the products on several courier slips had words like ‘birthday gift.’
His birthday was in October, which was still early, and none of his friends recently had a birthday.
Seeing Ji Tong holding the astronaut night light and excitedly putting it on the bedside table, Pei Qingyuan’s movements gradually stopped.
After reading the Host Domestication Log, he knew that Ji Tong regretted not being able to celebrate his 18th birthday.
He also knew that Ji Tong would never take the initiative to bring up his unhappy past. Even if he had to mention them, he would quietly hide the sad parts in them.
Therefore, Pei Qingyuan never specifically asked. He didn’t want the atmosphere to become heavy again.
Today, the weather was good. Everything was beautiful and clear. On such a summer day, it seemed like old things could be taken out to dry with light steps.
Once Ji Tong finished putting away the night light and sat down next to him again, Pei Qingyuan asked, “Are you buying yourself birthday presents?”
His tone was very ordinary. Ji Tong was stunned before nodding with a bit of embarrassment. “I searched for keywords and saw many interesting things, so I bought a few.”
“When is your birthday?”
“There are still more than 20 days left. It is June 17th.” Ji Tong’s answer was very ordinary and full of personal characteristics. “So in theory, I am really an older brother.”
Pei Qingyuan corrected him. “You said that the timeline is different so I am actually a month or two older than you.”
Then he changed his tone and spoke with an unclear meaning, “Or do you want me to call you ‘Big Brother’ again?”
Ji Tong had no courage. “…I don’t want it any longer.”
Being called ‘Big Brother’ came at a price.
On the issue of age and height, he decided to accept his fate for the time being.
He would wait until the day when he could beat Pei Qingyuan and the main brain and then discuss it.
It just sounded a bit far away, alas.
Seeing his constantly changing expression, Pei Qingyuan knew that this person was planning something strange again.
The atmosphere was still light.
So his voice was gentle. “Don’t buy it yourself. I’ll give you a birthday present.”
June 17th. It was a few days after the international competition. It was very good.
Flowers, trophies, fresh scenery and a first birthday.
Ji Tong made a calm sound and reached out to take an unopened package.
After a few seconds, he couldn’t help peeking at Pei Qingyuan. “What type of gift?”
“The gift won’t be known until your birthday.”
Ji Tong snorted again. He watched Pei Qingyuan open the page, looked at it for a while and said abruptly, “I can’t guess what you will give.”
Pei Qingyuan smiled. “Then don’t guess.”
“But I’m going to receive a gift.” Ji Tong’s eyes were bright like twinkling stars. “It is a birthday gift.”
He didn’t say he was happy but there was excitement in every syllable.
If it wasn’t for the fact that his hands were dirty from the parcel bags, Pei Qingyuan would definitely rub his head.
“Yes, you will get a lot of birthday presents.”
It was more gifts than those missed.
Ji Tong asked, “How much is a lot?”
The cat circled around the little yellow duck with novelty and also cheerfully asked questions.
This was what he wanted most. An ordinary life and ordinary conversation.
“Will you give me many gifts or will many people give me gifts?”
Ji Tong thought for a while. “No, others still don’t know what day my birthday is. Should I send something on my Moments to notify everyone?”
“How should I make the notification seem natural?” He fell into deep thought. “I have to give everyone time to prepare gifts. Do you think ten days’ notice is enough?”
The young man around him always had endless words to say but Pei Qingyuan couldn’t find the right words to answer.
He had no choice but to kiss the star in the daytime.
This was until the star closed his eyes again.
Half a month later, the airport.
There were people moving everywhere. In the departure hall, Ouyang Yu arrived early because he was excited and was playing with his phone while waiting for his teammates to come over.
He was originally looking at his Moments when he suddenly frowned.
[Ji Tong: Going to the airport! In addition to the competition this month, this is another very important thing. It is.]
Then it was gone. It came to an abrupt end.
The accompanying photo was a clear sky and a residential building in summer. It was estimated that it was taken casually when he was at home.
The question was, what else was important?
Ouyang Yu was held in suspense and typed a comment with crackling sounds.
[Ouyang Yu: ?? Have you been kidnapped? Don’t say it halfway!!]
[Ji Tong replied to Ouyang Yu: It is a warm-up. The rest will be said next time ヾ(@^▽^@)ノ]
The college students had their curiosity hooked and raised protests one after another.
[Cui Yinan: What is it? Are you finally going to move out of the dormitory with Brother Pei into a two-person world?]
[Huang Wen replied to Cui Yinan: Huh? Is it what I thought??]
[Ouyang Yu replied to Huang Wen: Tsk, this is probably a straight man. You live up to your name.]
[Xie Yuchi: D*mn, can you finish the sentence? Was your phone snatched by your boyfriend?]
[Ji Tong replied to Xie Yuchi: Don’t swear.]
[Ji Tong replied to Xie Yuchi: I didn’t snatch it. I also sent the above sentence for him.]
Seeing this, Ouyang Yu decided to put down his phone and stop looking for abuse.
This annoying stinky couple.
But not long after he put away his phone, his teammates and their family arrived one after another and he was attacked by the stinky couple in reality.
Not far away, two boys wearing the same white t-shirts and pushing the same black suitcase walked toward this place.
Their clothes and suitcase were the same, the only difference was their temperament. The suitcase pushed by the livelier boy was covered with fancy stickers.
Lin Rui spoke innocently, “Is that a team uniform? Why don’t we have it? This suitcase also looks good.”
Xie Yuchi rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you go and ask the captain if he can give you a set?”
Ouyang Yu smiled sourly. “No problem. It is winter when getting off the plane. The couple t-shirts are only temporary.”
As a result, after getting off the plane and arriving on the other side of the phone, everyone crossed the covered passage and opened their suitcase to get their clothes in the still warm terminal. Ji Tong and Pei Qingyuan took out the same style coat with different colors.
Ji Tong wore white and Pei Qingyuan wore black. They looked more like a couple than when wearing the same color.
Moreover, Pei Qingyuan also took out two dark blue scarves from the box and wrapped it around Ji Tong first.
The dark blue scarf was particularly conspicuous against Ji Tong’s white coat and the edge of the scarf revealed a little cute mushroom pattern.
It was too much.
It wasn’t like people didn’t know how to wear scarves by themselves!
In addition, how could even the scarves be a couple’s model?!
Ouyang Yu felt that even the down jacket couldn’t cover his cold heart now.
Lin Rui looked a bit melancholy. “I miss my girlfriend.”
Ouyang got shot again. “You guys have only been separated for half a day. Senior Sister obviously sent you off!”
Lin Rui spread open his palms and sighed. “It is like this when you are in love.”
…The world was so unfriendly to single dogs.
Ouyang Yu looked at Xie Yuchi sadly. “Aren’t the two of us particularly miserable?”
Xue Yuchi rarely didn’t dislike this increasingly perverted junior and agreed. “It is a bit.”
He was about to slightly criticize the shameful behavior of his two juniors in showing affection when he heard Ji Tong say, “In a while, Xiao Hei will come to pick us up outside the airport. We transported Xiao Hei over in advance and hired a local driver.”
Ji Tong looked at him with a smile. “Senior Xie, if you need to use the car then you can borrow it at any time.”
He still remembered that Xie Yuchi said that he wanted to use Xiao Hei and drive it in front of the scumbag. The scumbag senior was still studying this major after going abroad and was likely to come to participate in this year’s international competition.
In reality, a cross-border car consignment was a bit troublesome, time-consuming and long and ordinary people wouldn’t do this.
However, Xiao Hei wasn’t an ordinary car and Ji Tong wasn’t an ordinary person.
If asked, it was the magic of the mysterious, rich President Ji.
Ouyang Yu watched helplessly as Xie Yuchi’s iceberg face showed vivid emotions for the first time.
The unspoken criticism also became a compliment.
“What is the other important thing this month”? Xie Yuchi’s tone was enthusiastic. “In fact, I don’t think other things are too important. Right now, I want to attend your wedding the most.”
Ouyang Yu: “……”
Traitor!
But.
“This scarf is so cute. It goes well with the two of them.” Ouyang Yu quickly changed his mind. “Xiao Hei is here. Can I also borrow it for a day?”
Even if he hadn’t thought about what he would do with Xiao Hei, he would just borrow it first.
No way, Xiao Hei was really too cool.
In the harsh winter of a foreign country, laughter spread far away.
Ji Tong, who had been looking forward to traveling abroad, packed his suitcase early and looked forward to leaving every day. Thus, Pei Qingyuan’s team was the first to arrive.
Other teams that were going to participate in the international competition, such as Qiao Yunhe, also arrived one after another in the next day or two. In any case, the school had approved the holiday. It was good to take the opportunity to play abroad for a few days.
The teachers of the school had teaching tasks and they would basically arrive the day before the competition.
However, no matter who it was, they would make similar shocked sounds when seeing Xiao Hei, who came to greet them at the airport.
“Sitting in this car, I feel like I’m not here to compete but to inspect an investment.”
Qiao Yunhe, who had outstanding language ability, said.
During this period, the local driver and tour guide who couldn’t help saying ‘holy s*it’ when sitting in Xiao Hei every day would take everyone to visit many famous attractions. Ji Tong had a lot of fun along the way.
The camera he used to hang around his neck was now always held by Pei Qingyuan and took many photos for him.
The pea-green robot Mark also had a special seat in the car and was treated like a human. He chatted with the people in the car.
This was the happiest picture that Ji Tong could imagine.
It would be better if it could snow.
He already had many snowball fights but he had yet to see snowflakes falling in June.
“Mark, when will it snow?”
Mark quickly searched for the weather information and replied, “There is a 60% chance of snowfall tonight.”
Ji Tong’s eyes lit up. “I think it will definitely snow.”
Tomorrow, the competition officially started. Tonight, the organizers set up a buffet for the contestants to communicate with the visiting guests.
Mark nodded. “Hopefully it will snow.”
This was now the most everyday friendly mode, a comprehensive weakened version of the exaggerated praise and flattery mode.
Ouyang Yu was ready to move. “Mark is lacking character. I really want to switch to the new mode.”
The sentence was severely stopped by everyone present except Ji Tong.
They didn’t want to be infected by Mark. This killing move should be used to infect opponents.
“Can’t you just let Mark say a few words?”
Xie Yuchi was ruthless. “No, I still want to talk to people well at night. I asked several old friends to meet at the dinner.”
Ouyang Yu, who was in love with Mark, struggled for it. “If it snows tonight, how about releasing the new version of Mark? Don’t you want to hear what Mark has to say about the snowy night?”
“…Okay, but only for three minutes and you have to wait until the dinner party is over.”
The instigator, Ji Tong, laughed happily. Mark also raised the corners of his animated mouth.
This scene was frozen in the photo in Pei Qingyuan’s hands.
Ji Tong turned his head to ask, “Senior Xie and Senior Lin have teams they know but we don’t know anyone. Will the buffet at night be boring?”
“No.” Pei Qingyuan put away the camera. “There will be many people who will come to chat with us. If you get bored then we can leave halfway through.”
The format of the RS Cup’s domestic and international competitions was basically the same. The one with the most attention and the longest schedule was still the soccer competition. The life event they participated in didn’t need to be compared round after round. This time, there was no card robot to compete in the same field and the works of all teams were different. They just had to be displayed in order and scored by the judges. Then the scores would be compared.
However, as the champion of this event in the domestic competition zone, the robot Mark received a lot of attention. The video of the competition was also circulated.
It was a pity that after translation, Mark’s language charm was reduced. Even so, this innovative idea and quite amazing completion had caused a lot of discussion.
Last year’s winning team was very concerned about this work.
In the brightly lit buffet room, Ji Tong carefully selected his favorite foods. This time, he didn’t need Pei Qingyuan to taste it for him.
Pei Qingyuan accompanied him to get food. Xie Yuchi and Lin Rui went to chat with acquaintances. Ouyang Yu was still in the hotel making a video call with his family and would come later. In any case, this meal was a voluntary activity and wasn’t very important. He wasn’t accustomed to eating the food here and was going to pad his stomach first before coming.
Ji Tong, who loved to eat everything, had just filled his plate when he saw several blond-haired foreigners walk toward him and politely say in a foreign language, “Good evening, did you develop the robot called Mark?”
There was Ji Tong in the video of Mark playing cards, so he was the first to be recognized.
Ji Tong nodded.
Several people looked excited. “Your idea is very new.”
Ji Tong was busy eating and Pei Qingyuan greeted them politely in a fluent foreign language.
It turned out that this was the team that won the competition last year. Several team members were enthusiastic and hearty and praised Mark’s innovative design. They exchanged some technical discussions.
Ji Tong ate and listened quietly while feeling that Pei Qingyuan was also very good at speaking foreign languages.
At the end of their discussion, their expressions were a bit regretful.
“With your abilities, you should do something more valuable to people,” a foreign girl named Annie said. “I don’t mean that Mark is bad, but after all, he can only be used for entertainment. There is no practical utility.”
“Mark is funny but it is meaningless fun. Maybe you should spend your energy on business and contributing something to the world… I hope you don’t mind my offense.”
“Thank you for the suggestion.” Pei Qingyuan’s voice was calm. “But I don’t think so. Meaning is a subjective concept and there is no single correct standard.”
In the subtle silence, another slightly teasing male voice interjected. “Annie, you always want to do something for this world.”
Annie and his companions turned to look and said with surprise, “Hey, Zhuang. You are here as well.”
Ji Tong’s eyes showed a hint of surprise.
He hadn’t expected to meet an old acquaintance that he didn’t know very well here.
He was Pei Qingyuan’s classmate when he was a student at the private high school and was also the president of the school’s student council.
Since he clashed with President Ji when smiling, Ji Tong disliked him. Thus, Pei Qingyuan took the initiative to promise not to interact with him as much as possible. In any case, he originally wasn’t familiar with this person.
Looking at the similar Asian faces of the three of them, Annie was curious. “You seem to be from the same country. Are you friends?”
Zhuang Wenbai smiled. “Yes, I am Pei’s high school classmate.”
After a brief chat, Annie and the others left, leaving space to them.
Looking at the backs of the leaving people, Zhuang Wenbai’s smile was filled with emotion and said to Pei Qingyuan, “Long time no see.”
Due to the original promise to Ji Tong, Pei Qingyuan didn’t want to have too much communication with him. But after all, they met by chance in a foreign country so he still responded, “Long time no see.”
Ji Tong remembered very well that the day when Pei Qingyuan walked into the classroom as an exchange student, Zhuang Wenbai greeted him like this.
Zhuang Wenbai didn’t know Ji Tong, so he looked at Ji Tong and asked, “Your teammate?”
“Yes.” Pei Qingyuan didn’t intend to introduce Ji Tong and asked casually, “Are you also coming to participate in the competition?”
“No.” Zhuang Wenbai still smiled. “I’m here to look for opportunities.”
At the same time, Ji Tong quietly searched for information about Zhuang Wenbai in his mind.
He was surprised to find that today wasn’t the first time they had encountered Zhuang Wenbai since graduating from high school.
When the jelly bean graffiti painted by Pei Qingyuan’s uncle Pei Siyou went viral on the Internet, it was once mistakenly associated with a foreign, emerging technology company called Zart. This was regarded as a promotional picture made by the latter to promote their products.
It was a company founded overseas by Zhuang Wenbai’s family.
Zhuang Wenbai studied abroad after graduating from high school but his college major wasn’t the common financial industry and commerce of a rich second generation, nor did it involve the field of science and technology. It was actually art history.
When Pei Minghong’s company changed blood, one of the capital involved behind it was him.
It was just like Ji Tong’s previous analysis. This person was really a villain.
Ji Tong looked in the direction Zhuang Wenbai had come from. There was a group of middle-aged people holding wine glasses and talking. They were obviously all businessmen.
Zhuang Wenbai seemed to be quite interested in him. He noticed Ji Tong’s gaze and took the initiative to explain, “They came here for the same purpose as me, although they don’t know anything about artificial intelligence.”
“Of course, I don’t know anything.” Zhuang Wenbai’s tone was frank. “But everyone says that artificial intelligence is the electric energy of the future.”
He smiled warmly. “No one wants to miss an opportunity to master electric energy.”
Someone in the group turned around and signaled to him, probably to let him go over. He nodded and finally said to Pei Qingyuan, “Your robot is very interesting. Congratulations in advance on the good results you will get.”
The conversation simply ended.
Once Zhuang Wenbai walked away, Ji Tong immediately told Pei Qingyuan the information he had found.
“Ruan Ruan, what type of person do you think he is?”
Pei Qingyuan’s answer was succinct. “A careerist.”
Ji Tong thought about it and felt it was very appropriate. “I feel that he doesn’t seem to like you very much.”
Zhuang Wenbai’s performance had always been very decent but Ji Tong could feel a faint rejection.
Pei Qingyuan acquiesced to his words and asked, “When I was in high school, why did you ask me not to interact with him?”
Ji Tong said truthfully, “It is because at that time, Sister Yinyin taught me some stereotype judgment methods… I thought he might be a villain.”
“What stereotype?”
Ji Tong quickly recited it, “A type of handsome, gentle and elegant glasses-wearing man who treats his friends and family well is either an infatuated second male lead in an urban love world who loves the heroine but can’t let her go or he is the scheming, paranoid villain who was good at disguising in the urban business world.”
Listening to him say this, Pei Qingyuan couldn’t help saying, “Then I hope he is the second one, the villain.”
“Why?” Ji Tong was puzzled.
“It is because the main brain representative said that this is a world dominated by the career line.”
That’s right.
Ji Tong let out a rather bored sound. Then he heard Pei Qingyuan say again, “It is also because the villains in the career line take longer to solve.”
Ji Tong looked at him with surprise.
“It means there is still a long way to go.”
Pei Qingyuan stared into his eyes seriously. “And every time I see this villain, I remember that someone told me in my heart that you don’t like to see him smile.”
According to the current trajectory, if Zhuang Wenbai wanted to enter this field then there would definitely be an intersection in the future. Perhaps he would be a partner or an opponent, but the probability of the latter should be higher.
Pei Qingyuan didn’t hate this type of future. Rather, he had some expectations.
It didn’t matter as long as the person around him at this moment would still be there at this time.
Together, they kept secrets and memories that no one knew.
Once his words fell, snowflakes started to drift outside the window of the buffet hall.
A surprised smile appeared on Ji Tong’s face. “It is really snowing tonight.”
“Yes, it is snowing.”
Pei Qingyuan let himself be pulled out of the banquet hall.
The young couple held hands and walked into the snow.
“I like to see you smile,” Ji Tong said. “But it is also good not to smile.”
“It is all good.”
The breath condensed into a white mist and small snowflakes fell on the fluttering eyelashes.
Ji Tong posted something else in his Moments.
[Ji Tong: It is snowing today, on the other side of the world. I like June because I am going to be a year older. It is a very important year.]
The accompanying photo showed snow drifting in the night sky.
In the hotel room, Ouyang Yu was about to leave and sighed with relief when he saw this. He put down the hook hanging in his heart. “It turns out that this month is his birthday. I thought it was something else.”
The next second, another one popped up.
[Ji Tong: In the future, we will also look at the snow together. The winter snow and summer snow.]
The accompanying photo was two shadows crisscrossing in the snow.
…Stinky couple!
Out of anger, Ouyang Yu called back his parents, whom he had just hung up with. “Dad, Mom, it is snowing here.”
He raised his phone and walked to the window. As he passed by Mark, he thought of something and said excitedly, “By the way, I’ll show you something fun.”
“Mark, switch to Mary mode.” Ouyang Yu cleared his throat and said, “Look, it’s snowing outside.”
Under the curious gazes of the middle-aged couple on the video call, Mark turned his camera eyes to look at the snow outside the window while moving the rollers.
The night was as brilliant as a jewel, illuminating the robot’s bean-green mechanical case. Its smooth mechanical wrist had an additional ornament, a handsome black watch.
The street lights were dim and the moonlight was white. People walking on the streets opened their palms to catch the snowflakes falling in the sky.
“Oh my god…”
Mark stood by the window and let out a gentle aria. “This is really a wonderful night.”
