GRMFBS CH135

Zhan Yan had just finished searching the gossip threads when he immediately received a task invitation from Wan Yan. The reward points were still a pitiful 20, but the other items offered were extremely generous. Looking at the words “holds grudges” in the gossip thread, and then at the generous task reward Wan Yan offered him, Zhan Yan didn’t know for a moment whether this should be considered a sudden disaster or a sudden windfall. Although he wanted points more to exchange for lightning talismans for his boyfriend to wear, having the protection of Wan Yan Ghost King as a transition wasn’t bad either.

But this task also had its difficulties. Wan Yan might be a bit psychotic, but he wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t just hear a story and believe it was his own past. What if someone made up a story to trick him?

Wan Yan had to remember it himself after listening to it, and only when he was certain it was his past would he acknowledge it.

Zhan Yan searched around in the Gossip System and got a rough idea.

Approaching Science: [I don’t want those.]

Approaching Science: [One protective Ghost King Seal. I’ll give you a clue, how much you can remember is up to you.]

The Wan Yan kitty’s vigilance went online.

Wan Yan: [You won’t lie to me, will you?]

Approaching Science: [You can try it out first, and pay if you’re satisfied.]

Wan Yan: [Okay.]

Approaching Science: [The black iron fish pendant that the Mountain and Sea Traveler lowered down hasn’t had its eyes dotted.]

Hasn’t had its eyes dotted?

Wan Yan lowered his head to look at the black iron fish pendant between his paws. Towards the pointed fish head, there was a small indented mark on each side, looking like the fish’s pupils.

Wan Yan tried hard to think back to when he fell from the tree hugging the black iron fish pendant. At that time, the positions for the fish’s eyes on this pendant were indeed empty.

Then did he dot these two pupils? Wan Yan had no impression of it. He reached out the tip of his claw and hooked the indented pupil areas, then retracted it, afraid of scratching the marks.

Next, he just had to wait for Wan Yan to recall the memory of dotting the eyes of the black iron fish. Zhan Yan logged off the forum and prepared to check on how the grape investment was going.

The grape investment was stuck.

The person sent by Shoude Company was conducting on-site investigations in Mentong County, and had also tasted the large grapes ripened on the vine, full of praise for the taste. Out of commercial considerations, he made a suggestion: give the Mentong big grapes a product name that sounded delicious upon hearing, reflected the grapes’ characteristics, and made people curious, such as Lychee Fragrance Grapes, Lychee Honey Grapes, or something similar.

Puyang Xia blew up the moment he heard it and refused no matter what, stating that picking a name was fine, but it absolutely could not include the word “lychee.”

The people from Shoude Company complained in their work group: “That breeder of theirs is too bizarre.”

“The biggest feature and competitive advantage of his grapes is the lychee fragrance, why can’t the name include lychee?”

“Didn’t he breed them himself?”

The investment was stuck on the naming. This grape was bred by Puyang Xia, and he held the patent rights. Currently, Mentong County planting his grapes fell under his conditional gifting. If he didn’t agree, these grapes couldn’t be renamed and sold.

Zhan Yan scrolled through the gossip threads. The locals in Mentong County eagerly desired this investment and had also developed dissatisfaction towards Puyang Xia. Someone secretly approached the people from Shoude Company, suggesting they ditch Puyang Xia and go solo. The grapes were planted by them, managed by them, and they wanted to sell them; why couldn’t they change the name?

This was not compliant from a legal standpoint, but it wasn’t without room for maneuvering.

Zhan Yan downloaded the electronic version of the original gift contract from the group, saw the words “Mentong County Big Grapes” written on it, and felt a little sorrow for Puyang Xia.

But you couldn’t completely blame the people of Mentong County. They had been poor for too long. They had planted grapes for so many years without being able to monetize them, and now that they finally had an opportunity, they couldn’t understand why Puyang Xia, this eccentric old man, had to be so stubborn about a name.

Zhan Yan thought for a moment and sent a message tagging the person in charge in the group: “Ask him if the name ‘Lychee Is Inferior’ is okay.”

The person in charge went to ask.

Puyang Xia had been furious for the past two days because of the name issue. Seeing a message from the person in charge, he didn’t want to reply and reluctantly clicked it open.

Upon seeing the three words “Lychee Is Inferior”, Puyang Xia savored them, and his eyes lit up: “Wonderful!”

“Lychee is inferior to grapes, lychee is inferior to grapes, hehehe, Lychee Is Inferior…” Puyang Xia stood up, stroking his beard and walking in circles around the room, “Too wonderful, too wonderful! This is exactly what the name should be!”

He stroked his beard and clapped his hands, rejoicing by himself for a long time before remembering to reply to the person in charge’s message.

“This name is excellent! We’ll call it this name!”

“How did you think of it? Great talent! This name fits my grapes the best!”

Seeing that he hadn’t replied for a long time, the person in charge originally thought this eccentric old man still disliked the name and was wondering how to comfort his little boss. He hadn’t expected to receive this string of praises from Puyang Xia right after.

The person in charge understood. Puyang Xia just wanted to step on lychees.

Person in charge: “You flatter me.”

“I didn’t come up with this name, our little boss did.”

Puyang Xia deleted the four words “no flattery intended” and re-typed: “Since you didn’t come up with it, what are you being flattered about?”

Person in charge: …

Eccentric old man!

Puyang Xia: “Your little boss is a person with taste!”

“I’m willing to give him grapes to eat for free!”

The person in charge thought to himself, we’re about to build a factory in your area, does the little boss still need you to give him grapes if he wants to eat them?

He forwarded Puyang Xia’s string of praises to his little boss, and conveyed Puyang Xia’s strong desire to give him grapes.

Zhan Yan: “Sure.”

Person in charge: ? The little boss actually wants them?

Of course he did! Zhan Yan had seen all the various bizarre grapes Puyang Xia had bred in the Gossip System.

The person in charge created a group chat.

Puyang Xia: “Hey, aren’t you the one who bought grapes before?”

Upon learning it was Zhan Yan, Puyang Xia was deeply moved. Zhan Yan knew their grapes were hard to sell, so he brought his family’s company in to invest. What a good kid!

And so, when Zhan Yan asked if he could be given grape seedlings and choose the varieties himself, Puyang Xia generously agreed.

Puyang Xia said it was fine, but he had too many grape varieties to type out and introduce one by one, so he had no choice but to take a bunch of photos of grape vines and send them over.

Looking at this massive pile of grape vines, no matter how the person in charge looked at them, he felt they all looked identical.

Are you making our little boss open random blind boxes?

Zhan Yan was fearless, opened the item description function, and started scrolling through the pictures.

As he scrolled, Zhan Yan found the variety he wanted.

[This is a grape vine that can bear colorful fruits but tastes extremely sour and astringent.]

Zhan Yan: “[Picture] This one.”

Puyang Xia: “How about you choose another one? The fruits of this one aren’t tasty, they’re sour and astringent, and the maturation speed of the individual grapes is inconsistent.”

A bunch of grapes would have some ripen earlier and some later, but the overall maturation speed of the same bunch would be roughly similar, so you could wait until the entire bunch was ripe before picking it. However, the maturation speed of each individual grape on the same bunch for this type of grape varied slightly too much; by the time the front grapes were fully ripe, the back grapes might still be green and astringent. This meant this type of grape couldn’t be picked by the bunch and had to be picked one by one, which was extremely inconvenient.

Zhan Yan: “What colors are these grapes?”

Puyang Xia: “When unripe, they are green, then they turn yellow, then red, and when fully mature they are purple.”

Zhan Yan: “I want this type of grape.”

“Let’s sign a copyright contract. How about we propagate and sell this grape, and you take a share of the profits?”

Puyang Xia didn’t understand: “These grapes aren’t tasty and they’re hard to pick, what are you selling them for?”

The person in charge was the first to realize.

Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple; during the maturation process of these grapes, except for blue, they could go through all the other colors. A large difference in maturation speed meant that many different colors could appear on the same bunch of grapes.

If Puyang Xia wasn’t lying, although this grape didn’t taste good, it was an absolutely excellent new ornamental variety!

To pick a stock with such potential with just one choice, how did the little boss do it?

The person in charge, full of energy, went off to negotiate the contract with Puyang Xia. Zhan Yan casually started scrolling through the remaining grape pictures.

He found quite a few interesting grape varieties and noted them all down; they might be useful later.

Zhan Yan suddenly noticed a special variety description:

[This is the most delicious grape variety, condensing Puyang Xia’s obsession and painstaking effort.]

What kind of grape could be praised as the most delicious grape?

Zhan Yan: “[Picture]”

“Can I taste this grape?”

Puyang Xia: “This grape…”

“Let’s chat privately.”

Person in charge: ???

How did I suddenly become redundant?

In private chat.

Puyang Xia: “Why did you choose it?”

Zhan Yan: “Looking at it, I just felt it must be very delicious.”

Puyang Xia: “I knew you had taste!”

Old Senior Puyang had a matter pent up inside him for over four hundred years with no one to tell. Today, moved by Zhan Yan who had proactively invested, he couldn’t help but start pouring it out.

Over four hundred years ago, Puyang Xia passed his tribulation to take human form with Teng Yuan’s help. Later, because his benefactor insisted on eating lychees, Puyang Xia entered a fierce rivalry with lychee-flavored grapes. Sending them year after year, and being told they weren’t alike year after year, Puyang Xia was extremely angry.

But being angry was useless. This was his benefactor who helped him pass his tribulation to take human form. What fault did his benefactor have? His benefactor just wanted to eat lychees.

Puyang Xia sent grapes to Teng Yuan from when he was seventeen all the way until he was eighty-seven, and Teng Yuan hadn’t nodded in approval once.

Mortals have limited lifespans. On the day Teng Yuan’s life was coming to an end, Puyang Xia stood by his bed and sent him another bunch of grapes.

Teng Yuan groggily opened his eyes in exhaustion. It took a while for the white-haired old man with a weathered face to successfully focus his gaze.

The young man in purple clothes before him was still as handsome and elegant as when they first met.

Puyang Xia popped a grape into his mouth and asked him: “Is it delicious?”

The most delicious grape. No Muscat flavor, no lychee flavor, no fragrance of any other plant, just the original flavor of a grape. Rich, fragrant, moist sweetness, balanced tartness, abundant juice, like drinking sweet nectar.

It was more delicious than all the lychees Puyang Xia had ever eaten, and more delicious than all the lychees Teng Yuan had ever eaten.

“This is the most delicious grape,” Puyang Xia said, “but what you want to eat is a lychee.”

…

Puyang Xia: “Seventy years! He just insisted on eating lychees!”

“He wouldn’t even agree to change to another wish!”

Puyang Xia couldn’t transport fresh lychees from thousands of miles away, nor could he bear lychee-flavored grapes, stubbornly failing to fulfill his benefactor’s wish for a lifetime.

He couldn’t blame his benefactor for this either, yet Puyang Xia was extremely unwilling to accept it, thus developing a deep resentment towards lychees.

What was so great about lychees anyway!

Zhan Yan suddenly remembered where he had heard the name “Teng Yuan”; it was in an extracurricular supplementary reading list in elementary school.

He opened a search engine and typed in “Teng Yuan”. Sure enough, Teng Yuan was a pretty good poet. Although his level didn’t make the first tier of textbooks, he was in the second tier of extracurricular supplementary reading lists.

Besides being a poet, Teng Yuan was also a gourmand. In his free time, he researched various delicacies and wrote food-related poems. He especially loved lychees, writing over seventy poems praising lychees in his lifetime.

…Eating the meticulously cultivated big grapes sent by Puyang Xia every day, yet constantly thinking about lychees, no wonder the other party was so unwilling to accept it and remained unwilling for over four hundred years.

He looked at Teng Yuan’s life story again.

Teng Yuan only lived in Lingnan with his family for a period when he was fifteen. After returning to the north at seventeen, he never went to Lingnan again in his life. In ancient times, transporting lychees from Lingnan to the north, over three thousand kilometers away, was incredibly difficult; Teng Yuan didn’t have the capital for that.

In other words, he had only tasted the flavor of lychees for two years when he was young, and then wrote dozens of poems reminiscing about it for the rest of his life.

How much must he have loved lychees!

Zhan Yan felt something wasn’t quite right.

He continued scrolling through Teng Yuan’s life story and suddenly read an anecdote.

Teng Yuan’s friend once modeled for someone skilled in painting. The friend disliked the painting, so the skilled painter sought him out every day to modify it, annoying the friend endlessly.

Teng Yuan joked with his friend: “If you just said you liked it, he wouldn’t come anymore.”

Zhan Yan savored the meaning of these words.

Oh my…