Chapter 055 Sea King[mfn]Slang for someone who is always ‘fishing’ for bed partners. Usually has several ‘Love Interests’ but always looks for the next ‘bigger fish’.[/mfn] – “ “I won’t refuse my senior.” ” (01/20)
In the first-year dormitory of the Intermediate Division at Kalandi College, a somewhat arrogant and spoiled teenager was using his optical computer to try on virtual outfits, searching for the perfect look.
After trying on several outfits, he found two he liked but couldn’t decide between them. After prolonged deliberation, he simply knocked on his roommate’s door.
As the top academy in the Federation, Kalandi College offered excellent living conditions. The dorms were small villas, each with four bedrooms.
His roommate opened the door quickly and looked slightly surprised to see him. “Qiu Yuanjiu?” He paused before asking, “What’s up?”
No one visits without a reason; the roommate didn’t believe for a second that Qiu Yuanjiu would come looking for him out of the blue.
Qiu Yuanjiu showed him the two sets of photos generated by his optical computer. His tone was lazy yet tinged with arrogance. “Which one do you think looks better?”
His roommate furrowed his brow slightly. “They both look good.”
“You have to pick one,” Qiu Yuanjiu said.
“The one on the left, I guess,” his roommate said reluctantly.
Qiu Yuanjiu nodded, keeping his gaze fixed on his roommate.
His roommate smiled politely. “Is there anything else?”
Qiu Yuanjiu’s expression darkened slightly. “No.”
“Well then.” His roommate waved cheerfully. “See you later.”
Before Qiu Yuanjiu could respond, the roommate shut the door.
“Damn it.”
Qiu Yuanjiu muttered a few curses, glaring at the door in frustration. In the end, he didn’t knock again; instead, he turned and knocked on another roommate’s door.
The roommate who’d just left happily returned to bed and started tapping away at his lightbrain. Thinking about Qiu Yuanjiu’s aggrieved expression from earlier, he felt refreshed.
Want to show off? Want to play petty games? Want to piss him off?
He wasn’t going to give Qiu Yuanjiu that chance! Does that make you mad? Hehehe.
The first roommate was on their guard, but the next one wasn’t nearly as wary.
After helping Qiu Yuanjiu pick out his clothes, he chuckled. “Why are you dressing up so carefully? Going on a date?”
Qiu Yuanjiu nodded demurely and feigned nonchalance. “I didn’t want to go either, but Senior Shi kept inviting me over and over again. It was driving me crazy. So, I’m just indulging him this time so he’ll stop bothering me.”
His roommate’s expression suddenly turned strange. He stammered for a while but ultimately didn’t say much, merely adding, “Well, I hope your date goes well. Have fun.”
Qiu Yuanjiu frowned at him. “What’s with that look on your face?”
“It’s just…” His roommate hesitated for a long moment. “Over the weekend, Senior Shi went to the amusement park with some other people, and our classmate ran into them. Did you know that?”
Qiu Yuanjiu’s face froze before he snapped, “Of course I know! What does he think he’s hiding from me? He’d love to tell me every single detail of his day. It’s just that I find it annoying and refuse to listen. But with something like this, how could he dare go without telling me first?”
Qiu Yuanjiu tilted his head back smugly.
His roommate nodded, looking as if he half-understood, and asked, “Are you two together now?”
Qiu Yuanjiu froze. “What gives him the right to be with me? Do I look that easy?”
Having finished showing off and achieved his goal, Qiu Yuanjiu strutted back to his room, but halfway there, he turned back to warn his roommate not to repeat a word of what had just happened.
A look of understanding flashed across his roommate’s eyes. He shrugged and returned to his room.
At this point, he was pretty sure ninety percent of what Qiu Yuanjiu had said was a lie. Otherwise, given Qiu Yuanjiu’s personality, he’d be eager for everyone to talk about it and for the whole world to know.
Qiu Yuanjiu thoroughly enjoyed those looks of envy and resentment. But what did other people’s business have to do with him?
The roommate would just pretend he’d heard nothing at all.
Qiu Yuanjiu picked out his clothes and decided to take a nap. He set an alarm, setting it half an hour later than the agreed-upon time.
By the time he woke up, got ready, and made it to the meeting spot, Shi Jingge would already have been waiting for at least an hour.
But Shi Jingge was the one who’d invited him in the first place. Did he, Qiu Yuanjiu, look like the kind of person who was easily invited?
Making him wait an hour was actually pretty lenient on Shi Jingge’s behalf.
Qiu Yuanjiu soon drifted off to sleep.
Meanwhile, Shi Jingge was reviewing the original host’s communication records to understand his social connections. There were so many contacts, it made his head spin.
Just then, the doorbell rang at the villa where Shi Jingge was staying. At the same time, a mechanical voice announced, “Mr. Shi, you have a package.”
Shi Jingge went out and saw a massive mechanical bird. Upon seeing him, the bird even bowed with its wings. “Please provide your optical brain.”
Following the mechanical bird’s prompt, Shi Jingge passed it over for verification and received the package.
The mechanical bird nodded. “Optical Bird Express—we always deliver. If you’re satisfied with my service, please give me a five-star review, dear.”
Shi Jingge gave it a five-star review, and only then did the mechanical bird depart, satisfied.
Back in his room, Shi Jingge opened the package to find a bouquet of roses so lush they seemed ready to burst.
In the interstellar age, roses weren’t cheap. Converted to today’s prices, they were roughly equivalent to his father’s weekly wages after working in a black market mine.
And being delivered at this time, it was undeniable who they were meant for.
Returning them was out of the question. The roses themselves were innocent. How could he return them?
Giving them away was impossible too. If he honestly handed these out, wouldn’t the implication be obvious enough?
Shi Jingge poked at the bouquet and actually sensed a trace of spiritual energy; though faint, it was undeniably there.
Suddenly, he was reminded of the spiritual teas Jiang Lingqing had given him in his previous world. Perhaps he could use this bouquet of roses to make some flower tea.
Back in his previous world, the disciples of Shuixing Peak had been quite fond of the spiritual tea made by Jiang Lingqing’s junior. It also offered some benefit to Qi Cultivation Stage disciples; though its effects were slower than those of elixirs, they were consistently stable, providing a subtle, nourishing effect.
He couldn’t keep asking them to trade for it every time, so later, Shi Jingge dragged Wen Xusheng along to try making some themselves. Along the way, the three-tailed cat had played the troublemaker, deliberately provoking Wen Xusheng, and in the end, the man and the cat nearly came to blows.
Thinking of this, Shi Jingge’s lips curled slightly upward. The faces of the three-tailed cat and Wen Xusheng flashed through his mind one after another, followed by a wave of disappointment and sadness. Shi Jingge pinched his palm to snap himself out of those memories, using his busy schedule to push the events of his previous world from his mind.
Shi Jingge opened his optical computer and specifically searched online for information about rose tea. However, since roses were very expensive and valued primarily for their ornamental appeal and symbolic significance, there wasn’t much information available on the subject.
This also meant that the chances of selling rose tea were slim, unless it possessed some other unique value such as soothing or healing mental energy. Products related to psychic energy always sold well.
In this world, everyone possessed psychic energy, but the higher one’s psychic energy, the more prone their mental sea was to instability. Once it began to collapse, death was inevitable. Therefore, anything that could help maintain it was highly sought after in this world.
This was also one of the reasons why pharmacists enjoyed such high status in this world.
Wait a minute…!
Elixirs. Rose tea.
What if I fuse them? Shi Jingge had found a promising direction.
He retrieved the materials kept in this world’s preservation cabinet, a device specifically designed for pharmacists to store ingredients, with excellent conservation properties. When he took the materials out, he couldn’t help but pause in surprise.
Weren’t these the low-grade spiritual flowers, herbs, and fruits used for crafting elixirs in his previous world? Did this world also call them spiritual flowers, herbs, and fruits? Or were the scientific names just slightly different?
…Could there be a connection between this world and his previous one?
Shi Jingge forced himself not to dwell on it and headed to the student council’s private laboratory with his gathered materials. Even the crucibles used for making medicine bore a resemblance to the alchemy furnaces from his previous world.
For the remaining time before his meeting, Shi Jingge immersed himself in the laboratory.
He had retained his skill in alchemy from his previous life, so he felt right at home with creating this world’s medicines. The original host had possessed a natural talent for such work and had many fresh ideas and theories in his youth, though he never had the chance to bring them to fruition. Now, with Shi Jingge in his place, he finally had the opportunity.
Though Shi Jingge failed on his first two attempts, on the third approach, he changed his strategy and succeeded!
Shi Jingge poured the successful rose tea into small, transparent vials. Since the vials were small enough, he managed to fill two or three dozen of them. He went home to try it out, adding hot water to make a cup. The delicate fragrance of the roses was intertwined with subtle threads of spiritual energy, leaving him feeling refreshed and at ease.
After he took a deep breath, it seemed as though even his spirit had brightened. Perhaps this could help ease his financial pressures.
But Shi Jingge didn’t have time to dwell on it. He arrived at the meeting spot with just seconds to spare, only to find, unfortunately, that the junior he’d arranged had yet to arrive.
Shi Jingge ordered a drink, took a sip, found the taste a bit odd, and pushed it aside. He opened his lightbrain to review papers and research on pharmacology.
An hour and a half later, Qiu Yuanjiu finally showed up.
“Sorry, senior.” Qiu Yuanjiu smiled. “I’m late.”
Shi Jingge smiled and nodded. “It’s okay, I haven’t been here long either.”
Qiu Yuanjiu smiled a bit, clearly skeptical, but in the blink of an eye, he noticed the drink by Shi Jingge’s side. The cup was almost full, clearly indicating its owner hadn’t taken many sips.
Two possibilities: one, this wasn’t his first drink; two, as Shi Jingge himself had claimed, he’d just arrived and hadn’t had a chance to drink it yet.
Qiu Yuanjiu instantly felt a bit put out. If he hadn’t deliberately arrived late, did that mean he would have been waiting for Shi Jingge?
Even if that possibility was only fifty-fifty, Qiu Yuanjiu couldn’t accept it.
Shi Jingge handed him a gift box containing two small bottles of rose tea and smiled. “A little gift for my adorable junior.”
Only then did Qiu Yuanjiu feel a bit better, feigning surprise. “Ah, thank you, senior.” After a pause, he said with a hint of distress, “I left in such a rush that I didn’t prepare a gift for you, too. I’m really sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Shi Jingge said with a slight smile. “It’s enough that you came.”
“How can that be? ” Qiu Yuanjiu declared earnestly. “I can’t just ignore you because you’re being nice to me. You’ve helped me so much, yet I forgot to bring a gift. Even I would hate myself for that. I must–”
Before he could finish, Shi Jingge gently interrupted him, “You don’t need to go to such lengths, junior. It’s just a little something I made myself; it’s not worth you stressing over. If you really wish to”–Shi Jingge paused, letting out a soft sigh, looking as though he didn’t know what to do with him–“then please help me promote it.”
“Huh?” Qiu Yuanjiu was confused.
Shi Jingge chuckled lightly. “This is a floral tea I made myself. I plan to sell it on the network. If you like it, could you help spread the word? I’d greatly appreciate it.”
Qiu Yuanjiu: “……”
This wasn’t at all what he’d imagined.
Feeling a bit down, Qiu Yuanjiu decided not to dwell on the matter any further. He nodded and cut straight to the chase. “Senior, did you call me here today because there’s something on your mind?”
Shi Jingge hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Actually, there is something.”
“Just tell it to me straight, senior.” Qiu Yuanjiu smiled smugly, his words carrying a hint of innuendo. “You’ve helped me so much, comforted me and guided me when I was in pain. I know what you mean. How could I possibly refuse your request?”
Shi Jingge looked intently at Qiu Yuanjiu and let out a long sigh. “It’s really great that you think that way, junior. I was actually worried you might get upset.” Shi Jingge looked at Qiu Yuanjiu, his eyes crinkling in a smile. “In that case, I’ll just come out and say it.”
What was he going to say? A confession?
Qiu Yuanjiu sat up straight, staring intently at Shi Jingge. “Just say it, senior. I won’t refuse you.”
—————–
Author’s Note:
Right now—
Qiu Yuanjiu: I won’t turn you down, senior
Later—
Qiu Yuanjiu: F*ck off, aaaaaah!!
Qiu Yuanjiu: Roll for Laozi!!!!!!!!!
We’ll see Xiao Bai again in this world~ These two worlds are slightly connected~
Edit: Krone
Proofread: Choux_choux
