022
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“Sir, I’m truly sorry. This NR device was one I acquired from someone else, but yesterday, I already sold it to another buyer.”
When Xiu Jin arrived at the shop of that dark market vendor, the owner, who had kept the store closed for several days, finally opened up. Before Xiu Jin could feel any relief, the owner, upon learning his purpose, wore a regretful expression.
“I wasn’t around these past few days because I was making a home delivery,” the owner said.
Xiu Jin: “…”
“You only have this one set? Nothing else?”
“Yes.” The shopkeeper nodded.
Xiu Jin nearly choked, overwhelmed by urgency and fury: “Who did you sell it to?!”
The shopkeeper’s chubby face scrunched together until his eyes almost disappeared; he shook his head, smiling like a Maitreya Buddha: “Sir, we have rules in this line of work—we cannot disclose customer privacy.”
“I really need it urgently!” Xiu Jin stepped forward, pulling out a small crystal card. It was an anonymous Star Coin card; swiping it against his personal light-brain would instantly transfer the stored Star Coins into his account.
“This is one hundred thousand.” He pushed the crystal card toward the shopkeeper. “Tell me who you sold it to.”
The shopkeeper’s gaze fell upon the small crystal card, his eyes gleaming shrewdly with “$$” symbols. However, he did not answer immediately. Instead, he maintained his previous expression, merely shifting it to one of difficulty: “This… aren’t you putting me in a tough spot? I…”
Xiu Jin narrowed his eyes. “Shopkeeper, you only get one chance. If not, I’ll just forget about it.” He made a move to withdraw the crystal card.
The Seventh Prince might be somewhat “naive” in certain aspects, but when it comes to business, he has encountered many bosses like this one who try to jack up prices on the spot.
He very much wanted the NR device, but that didn’t mean he would let the other party push their luck and demand an exorbitant price.
The boss, being shrewd, immediately understood what he needed to do.
He took the crystal card and answered honestly, “Sir, to tell you the truth, I don’t know who the buyer is either. They offered me a generous price and instructed me to deliver it remotely to an address on Planet Gly. When I arrived at the designated delivery location on Planet Gly, I never met the buyer in person… The only information I can give you is that I handed the item over to a high-level intelligent robot.”
Judging that the boss wasn’t lying, Xiu Jin felt a headache coming on.
However, currently only two NR units have been located; one is in Nong Jiusi’s possession, and buying anything from Nong Jiusi is utterly impossible.
—No one can “buy” anything from Lord Jiusi unless he himself no longer wants it.
The remaining unit might still be a possibility.
As long as the other party isn’t someone like Nong Jiusi, his chances of successfully making the purchase are quite high.
However, judging by the shopkeeper’s description, the buyer doesn’t reside on the Imperial Capital Planet but rather on Geli Planet, which lies at a considerable distance from the capital. Such being so particular—they insisted on the shopkeeper personally delivering the item, forbade the use of interstellar express delivery, and required a robot to receive it upon arrival.
It is evident that this person’s status must be high, or at the very least, they are not poor.
“Give me the location and time for the exchange.”
The boss, having easily earned 100,000 star coins, handed them over without hesitation.
He felt his luck had been quite good lately. The NR device he sold was bought from an old woman for less than ten thousand star coins, then resold at a high price to a mysterious buyer, and now another rich second-generation heir was trying to snatch it up.
If he had known this situation would arise, he wouldn’t have sold so quickly. With both parties bidding against each other, the highest bidder wins; he reckons he could have earned far more.
But this is fine too.
Contentment brings happiness.
After seeing off the wealthy young heir who had clearly been wearing a disguise, the boss chuckled as he transferred the ten thousand star coins he’d received for free into his own account.
While the Seventh Prince struggled through a difficult and arduous search for the NR device, Bianbian was earnestly contemplating what gift to give her “Uncle See-No-Evil.”
The little girl thought for a long time but still couldn’t decide what to give.
She didn’t have any special gift to give.
“I’ve got it!” Bianbian suddenly had an idea. She pulled open the drawer beneath the coffee table and took out a sketchbook. The earlier pages were filled with colorful doodles, messy drawings Bianbian had made herself with her crayons.
The little girl flipped to the blank pages at the back, carefully tore one out, and made her decision: she would fold it into a small animal for the uncle.
Bianbian can fold several kinds of small animals—frogs, butterflies, little rabbits, piglets, fish, and more—all originally photographed by Lu Yu for Bianbian to play with as toys.
Sometimes the little girl would mischievously unfold the animals Grandpa had folded, then carefully refold them along the creases, naturally learning the technique in the process.
“I wonder if Uncle, who can’t see, will like this, but it’s the only gift Bianbian has to offer,” she murmured to her teddy bear while folding.
Grandpa always said that when giving gifts, what matters most isn’t their value, but the sincerity behind them.
If Uncle can’t see it, he won’t like it..
“If you don’t like it, I don’t know what to do.” Looking into the little bear’s eyes, Bianbian pressed her lips together and said.
Yet she began folding the paper with earnest concentration.
Carefully recalling the steps, Bianbian became lost in her thoughts, completely unaware of the passing time. Having drunk an entire bottle of brain-nourishing formula brewed with organic mineral water, she surprisingly felt not the slightest bit hungry.
The first animal she folded was a little rabbit. After finishing the folding, she used a paintbrush to color it in—dabbing a bit here, a bit there—and soon, a colorful little rabbit was complete.
“Gray-Gray, doesn’t it look nice?” She proudly waved the little rabbit in front of the teddy bear, then pressed her finger on the bear’s head to make it nod, indicating it looked super nice.
The little girl’s vanity was greatly satisfied; she set her finished work aside and began folding another small frog.
She folded several in quick succession, but while working on a little pig, she suddenly paused mid-fold—she had forgotten how to proceed.
After several failed attempts, he ended up tearing the paper. Glancing at the little bear, a flicker of discouragement crossed his tender young face.
Suddenly, she remembered something. Her eyes lit up as she jumped to her feet and pattered back to her bedroom. She pulled open the second drawer of her nightstand—inside lay a collection of origami animals, all folded by Lu Yu for his granddaughter in the past.
Bianbian had almost forgotten they were kept here.
From among the abundance of origami toys, she picked out the little pig Grandpa had folded. Then she spotted a blue dragon with wings; finding it beautiful, she took that one too and returned to the living room.
The little girl carefully unfolded both the pig and the dragon, then refolded them along the original creases. Once she had learned how to fold them, she tore off a fresh page from her drawing book and began folding anew.
Of course, she wouldn’t use the ones her grandfather had already folded just to fill the quota.
In the spacious living room, a tiny figure sat quietly on a cushion, folding a sheet of semi-stiff drawing paper. Occasionally, she would look up and speak to the little bear sitting opposite her.
Beside her, several lifelike origami animals sat, stood, or lay in various positions, each a different color. In her hands, she was working on the last one, also the most difficult—a blue dragon with wings.
“My hands are so sore,” Bianbian said, shaking her small hands before setting down the half-folded dragon and lying flat on the floor mat to rest.
With a quick turn of her head, Bianbian gazed proudly at the five folded creations before her, her big eyes shining with accomplishment.
“If Uncle doesn’t like them, I’ll just keep them for myself,” she thought to herself.
Lying there folding until exhaustion caught up with her, the little girl felt sleepiness creeping in; her long lashes fluttered gently before she quickly drifted off to sleep.
　　*
Thanks to Nong Jiusi’s “assistance,” Huan Tianjue ultimately secured Xiu Yan’s sponsorship as desired. Knowing that these two “friends across generations” had matters to discuss, he tactfully took his leave.
No one knows what Nong Jiusi and Xiu Yan specifically discussed, not even Nong Tang; all he knew was that the elder’s expression upon leaving Xiu Yan’s office was one of pleasure.
“Master, shall we head back?” Nong Tang asked.
Nong Jiusi thought for a moment and said, “To the palace.”
Nong Tang acknowledged the order and was just about to activate the aircraft when he heard Nong Jiusi say, “Never mind, let’s go back.”
Nong Tang didn’t dare to ask for the reason either.
Of course, he couldn’t know that the reason Nong Jiusi changed his mind was simply because he suddenly remembered a certain little one. That morning, when she entered the game, she had said she wanted to give him a gift. After so much time had passed, he wondered what she might give him.
Thinking this way, anticipating the little girl’s gift felt more important than going to the imperial palace to seek out the Emperor, so Nong Jiusi chose the former without hesitation.
Just so willful!
Returning to the palace, Nong Jiusi dismissed Nong Tang, closed the door securely, and only then casually activated the NR device to log into the game.
As soon as he entered the game, he was greeted by the sight of his little one fast asleep on the ground, her bottom sticking up in the air.
“…”
A system notification popped up: [Bianbian is sleeping soundly; please do not wake her.]
After silently observing for a moment, Nong Jiusi squatted down on his long legs, poked the little one’s pouted cheek with his finger, and said with utter disdain, “Whom did you learn this sleeping posture from?”
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If you find your precious daughter’s sleeping posture unappealing now, just wait until later—
Even her tiny toes will smell sweet~~
　　*
This is the first update; a second one will follow once Da Wanzi finishes writing~~
The following is [HIGHLIGHTED]!
Xiu Dad and Long Dad are not a couple, so please don’t misunderstand; there will be no BL pairings in this story either. This is a romance for the little ones~