Chapter 289

Page Ninety-Nine

Plant Strawberries? Plant Sausages!

“Xiao Kai…”

Mother had been concerned since earlier, and her bowl of white porridge remained untouched. After much hesitation, she asked, “What happened to your lips? Why are they so swollen?”

Xiǎo Lěi, by Xiao Kai’s side, pretended to fiddle with an already licked-clean bowl, feeling guilty.

“…It was caught by a pair of pliers.”

Being embarrassed to say the real reason, I made up an excuse. However, Xiǎo Qínglán seemed to have guessed something, giggling beside Mother.

But Mother didn’t let go and continued asking, “Why would your mouth be caught by pliers? Does it hurt?”

“Not really.”

“How can it not hurt when you’re so swollen and purple!”

Ah? Is it that serious?

I explained with difficulty, “It just looks more severe. Look, I’m fine eating!”

“But when did you get pliers in your room?”

Great, Mother was going to dig deeper. I knew she was worried about me, but this kind of worry only made things harder for Xiao Kai or Xiǎo Lěi.

“Alright, Sister Wēi, don’t ask so much. If you keep asking, Xiǎo Lěi will hide under the table.”

“Hmm? Did Xiǎo Lěi cause this wound?”

Xiǎo Qínglán squinted and smirked, “If I’m not mistaken, it should be because these two fledglings got their methods wrong during their first kiss…”

“Uwaaahhh!!”

Xiǎo Lěi screamed in embarrassment, running to the living room and rolling on the sofa with the satiated Yòu Zi.

“What are you doing? I’m going to throw up! Don’t do that, you can’t do that!”

Mother glared and asked, “…No way? You’ve been together for so long and only now are you kissing?”

I blushed, not knowing how to respond. Lǐn Huā stepped in, explaining, “Sister Wēi, Kǎi-Chan is quite timid! Xiǎo Lěi misunderstood ‘French deep kisses’ as fully sucking on each other…she ended up swelling his upper lip.”

That’s how it was.

“Hahaha! How could someone be so foolish! I thought Xiǎo Lěi knew better!”

Xiǎo Qínglán laughed exaggeratedly, even slapping her thigh.

But I originally thought the same. This idiot had seen so many adult books and movies but was just theory-bound, turning into a wimp in practice, attempting a deep kiss right away.

Damn, my upper lip still hurts.

“Do you and Xiao Kai kiss?”

Gossipy Mother directly asked. Lǐn Huā traced her lower lip and smiled, “Of course! I won’t lose to Xiǎo Lěi…but we were nervous, and I bit my teeth.”

Neither Lǐn Huā nor I have buck teeth, and our teeth are neat. The only reason we could bite is if our faces were too close.

“Sister Wēi, this isn’t right!”

Xiǎo Qínglán suddenly spoke seriously, “With three girlfriends, Xiao Kai can’t even kiss properly. He can’t bring happiness to girls like this!”

“Is there a connection between kissing and happiness?”

Ignoring my comment, she continued, “So, I think Xiao Kai needs a kissing lesson. I can be the teacher.”

I vaguely understood her intentions.

But I retorted, “What lesson? Are you planning to teach me by kissing me yourself?”

“I have no intention of kissing you! I want Sister Wēi to join me and demonstrate!”

I knew she had ulterior motives.

“Let’s skip the demonstration, but I do have something for you.”

Mother pushed away Xiǎo Qínglán’s face and stood up, heading to the living room. From a briefcase on the sofa, she took out a box labeled “Gang 0.01.”

“Mom, why are you giving me this?”

She said sternly, “Regardless, safety is important!”

—

[8:00]

“I’m here to pick up my beloved Xiao Wei~ Line up to get in the car!”

Knowing Mother was going to the Research Institute, Old Lady quickly teleported back to pick us up and stuffed us into the treasure.

“Don’t bring the stinky cat~ Go home and find Mom for milk!”

However, Xiǎo Qínglán was stopped. She clung to Old Lady’s thigh, pleading:

“Just take me along! I won’t cause trouble!”

“It won’t work on me, brat.”

Old Lady kicked a few roundhouse kicks but couldn’t shake her off, still clinging tightly.

“I don’t feel comfortable leaving her alone. Let’s take her with us.”

Mother pleaded. Old Lady grumbled, “She’s not a child, why worry about such things?”

But she put Xiǎo Qínglán inside the treasure. Old Lady added, “My rest time is limited, so I’ll head straight to the Deep Research Institute. Those who need to go up can use the teleportation platform, which I’ve modified. It doesn’t require much mana to use.”

Lǐn Huā asked, “How is Sister Qiǎnxià’s surgery preparation going?”

Old Lady hesitated then smiled, “The operating room is ready, but the level isn’t high enough. We need to sterilize it.”

“What level does an operating room need?”

“Organ transplant surgeries require the highest level of cleanliness, but the underground institute’s operating rooms don’t meet that standard. We’ll use magic to solve this problem…”

A jolt shook us, and the scenery above the glass dome changed, revealing an illuminated cave.

“…We’ll prepare the surgery today. The surgical instruments are being prepared by Boss. The rest isn’t a big deal. You don’t need to worry too much.”

Lǐn Huā said seriously, “Then we’ll focus on persuading Grandma to accept the surgery.”

“…Okay, Mom’s part is left to you.”

“Mom”…saying that carries some risk, doesn’t it?

Leaving the treasure, Old Lady ran to the fourth lab that sank yesterday. Mother followed, though she couldn’t help much, but seeing Old Lady busy satisfied her. Xiǎo Qínglán didn’t dare cause trouble in Shi Jiejie’s territory. Being thrown out was the least of her worries; angering Shi Jiejie might result in her being turned into a clay pot dish.

Xiǎo Lěi asked, “Chairman, what should we do now?”

Lǐn Huā pointed out, “Actually, Xiǎo Lěi, you should be attending class today. It has nothing to do with you.”

Xiǎo Lěi immediately protested, “What do you mean? Chairman’s grandma is my future grandma! At the very least, she’s my respected principal!”

Is that how you make connections?

“Hey! Stop making loud noises in the institute!”

Professor Shí Huǒróng, carrying an old leather suitcase, scolded loudly from the power generation room.

Lǐn Huā also complained, “Professor, you have the loudest voice…”

“What are you girls here for? If you have nothing to do, go upstairs. Everyone here is busy with the Moonlight incident.”

I replied, “To bring Mother to the institute to accompany Qiǎnxià, and check on the situation…are you going on a trip, Professor?”

“I was forced to take a vacation, even my staff was taken by Bìfāng.”

Yesterday, Bà Hé mentioned this.

I asked, “Are you going home? Do you even have a home?”

“Of course, I’m my granddaughter’s namesake, so my inheritance is mine to manage!”

Being proud of herself calling herself a granddaughter?

Professor Shí continued, “But I won’t be returning this time. Bìfāng wants me to take Bà Hé to her family to confirm her identity.”

Bà Hé is going home.

Due to using an incomplete transformation spell on Yǐn Tiānjié, she faced punishment from Shi Jiejie: no return to the institute, no private research, and a visit to her parents…well, the last one seems more like a good gesture than a punishment.

“Are you going to Bà Hé’s place now? Then we’ll go up with you.”

I intended to greet Shi Jiejie, but since they weren’t at the institute, there was no need to go to the lab.

“Professor, let me carry your suitcase.”

Respecting elders, Lǐn Huā reached out to take the professor’s suitcase.

“It’s just some clothes, not heavy. You don’t need to treat me like an old man.”

Then change your modesty!

Yòu Zi jumped onto the old leather suitcase, hitching a ride.

“…Was this teleportation array always so ostentatious?”

Though I knew Old Lady, who mastered alchemy, wasn’t short on gold, I hadn’t expected her to use it for a teleportation platform, which was twice as large. The discarded teleportation stones were tossed into the corner of the lab, abandoned.

“Gold has unique properties that stabilize mana. Using gold as the carrier for spells prevents mana overflow, making it ideal for a teleportation platform.”

As she explained, she inserted a mana battery into the control panel. The operation remained unchanged.

She then asked, “What are you planning next? You skipped class to do something, right?”

“We’re going to persuade Grandpa in the south to convince Grandma to accept the surgery. Sigh.”

Even Lǐn Huā felt helpless talking about Master Hālìlùyà.

“Oh, are you going to see Cāng’ěr?”

A golden light screen rose, enveloping the entire teleportation platform.

“If you don’t mind the delay, ride with me.”

The light screen vanished, and we found ourselves in the barn. The platform here was made of pure gold, contrasting with the old wooden barn.

“Are you going to Master’s place, Professor?”

“Yes, I’m going specifically to scold her. We’re old acquaintances.”

She mentioned this before.

“She designed the temple where your master resides.”

This was news to me.

“So, you knew about magic before the ‘reboot’?”

“No, I didn’t. I was commissioned for that project. Since everything was legal, I didn’t ask further.”

Leaving the food stall, we followed the professor down two streets and boarded a yellow beetle-shaped car.

A small four-seater car…we’re all squished!