GRMFBS CH135

Zhan Yan had just finished searching the “gua strips” when he immediately received a mission invitation from Wanyan. The reward points were still a pitiful 20, but the other rewards were very generous.

Zhan Yan looked at the words “holding a grudge” in the “gua strips,” then at the generous mission reward Wanyan was offering. For a moment, he didn’t know whether to consider this a stroke of bad luck or a windfall.

Although he would rather have points to exchange for a thunder charm to put on his boyfriend, having the protection of the Ghost King Wanyan as a transition was not bad either.

But this mission was also difficult to do. Wanyan was a bit of a psychopath, but he wasn’t a fool. He wouldn’t believe a story was his past just by hearing it. What if someone was making up stories to deceive him?

Wanyan had to remember it himself after hearing it, confirming that it was his past, before he would acknowledge it.

Zhan Yan searched the Gossip System for a bit and roughly had an idea.

Zoujin Kexue: “I don’t want those.”

“One Ghost King’s Seal of Protection, and I’ll give you a clue. How much you can find depends on you.”

Wanyan the cat’s vigilance went online.

Wanyan: “You’re not going to trick me, are you?”

Zoujin Kexue: “You can try it once first, pay after you’re satisfied.”

Wanyan: “Deal.”

Zoujin Kexue: “The black iron fish pendant lowered by the Mountain-Sea Guest had no eyes dotted.”

No eyes dotted?

Wanyan looked down at the black iron fish pendant between his paws. At the pointed fish head, there were two small indentations on each side, like the pupils of a fish.

Wanyan tried hard to remember the moment he fell from the tree holding the black iron fish pendant. At that time, the eye positions on this pendant were indeed empty.

So did he dot these pupils himself? Wanyan had no memory of it. He extended his claw tip to hook the indented part of the pupil, but then retracted it for fear of scratching the mark.

Now all he had to do was wait for Wanyan to remember the memory of dotting the eyes of the black iron fish. Zhan Yan logged out of the forum, preparing to check on the grape investment.

The grape investment was stuck.

The person sent by Shoude Company was currently conducting a field investigation in Mentong County. He had also tasted the tree-ripened large grapes and praised the taste. For business reasons, he proposed a suggestion: to give the Mentong County large grapes a commercial name that sounded delicious, could reflect the characteristics of the grapes, and made people curious, such as “Lychee Fragrance Grape” or “Lychee Honey Grape.”

Puyang Xia exploded upon hearing this, refusing to agree no matter what. He said naming it was fine, but the name could not include the word “lychee.”

The person from Shoude Company complained in the business group chat: “Their breeder is too bizarre.”

“The biggest characteristic and competitive edge of his grape is its lychee aroma. Why can’t the name include ‘lychee’?”

“Didn’t he breed this himself?”

The investment was stuck on the name. This type of grape was bred by Puyang Xia, and the patent was in his hands. Mentong County was currently growing his grapes as a conditional gift. If he didn’t agree, these grapes could not be renamed and sold.

Zhan Yan skimmed through the “gua strips.” The local people of Mentong County were very eager for this investment and had also become dissatisfied with Puyang Xia. Someone secretly approached the person from Shoude Company, suggesting they should just ditch Puyang Xia and go it alone. The grapes were grown and managed by them. If they wanted to sell, why couldn’t they change the name?

This was not legally compliant, but there was room for maneuvering.

Zhan Yan downloaded the electronic version of the original donation contract from the group chat. Seeing the words “Mentong County Large Grape” written on it, he felt a bit of sadness for Puyang Xia.

But he couldn’t entirely blame the people of Mentong County. They had been poor for too long. They had been growing grapes for so many years without being able to monetize them. Now that there was finally an opportunity, they couldn’t understand why this strange old man, Puyang Xia, was so insistent on the name.

Zhan Yan thought for a moment and @-ed the person in charge in the group chat with a message: “Ask him if the name ‘Li Bu Ru’ is acceptable.”

The person in charge went to ask.

Puyang Xia had been fuming about the name for the past two days. He didn’t want to reply when he saw the message from the person in charge, but grudgingly opened it.

Seeing the three words “Li Bu Ru,” Puyang Xia savored them, and his eyes lit up. “Brilliant!”

“‘Li bu ru’ grape, lychee is not as good as grape, hehehe, ‘li bu ru’…” Puyang Xia stood up, stroking his beard and pacing around the room. “Too brilliant, too brilliant! This should be the name!”

He was delighted for a long time, stroking his beard and clapping his hands, before he remembered to reply to the person in charge.

“This name is great! Let’s call it this!”

“How did you think of it? What a talent! This name fits my grape the best!”

The person in charge saw that he hadn’t replied for a long time and originally thought the strange old man still didn’t like the name. He was just thinking about how to appease his own young boss when he received a series of praises from Puyang Xia.

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

Person in charge: “You flatter me.”

“I didn’t come up with this name. Our young boss did.”

Puyang Xia deleted the four words “you flatter me” and retyped: “You didn’t come up with it, what are you being flattered for?”

Person in charge: …

Strange old man!

Puyang Xia: “Your young boss is a person of taste!”

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

The person in charge thought to himself, we’re about to build a factory in your area. If the young boss wants to eat grapes, would he need you to send them?

He forwarded the series of praises from Puyang Xia to his own young boss and conveyed Puyang Xia’s strong desire to send grapes.

Zhan Yan: “Okay.”

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

Of course, he wanted them! Zhan Yan had seen all sorts of strange grapes bred by Puyang Xia in the Gossip System.

The person in charge created a group chat.

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

Knowing it was Zhan Yan, Puyang Xia was very moved. Zhan Yan knew their grapes were hard to sell, so he brought his own company to invest. What a good kid!

Thus, when Zhan Yan asked if he could send grape seedlings, and that he would choose the variety, Puyang Xia generously agreed.

Puyang Xia said it was possible, but there were too many grape varieties to introduce one by one in text, so he just took a bunch of photos of grapevines and sent them over.

The person in charge looked at this large pile of grapevines and thought they all looked the same.

Are you letting our young boss open a random blind box?

Zhan Yan was fearless. He opened the item description function and started swiping through the pictures.

As he was swiping, Zhan Yan came across the variety he wanted.

[This is a grape vine that can bear seven-colored berries but tastes very sour and astringent.]

Zhan Yan: “[Image] This one.”

Puyang Xia: “Why don’t you pick another one? The fruit from this one doesn’t taste good. It’s sour and astringent, and the berries don’t ripen at the same rate.”

On a single bunch of grapes, some would ripen before others, but the overall ripening speed of a single bunch was more or less the same, so one could wait for the whole bunch to ripen before picking. However, for this type of grape, the ripening speed of each berry on the same bunch varied greatly. By the time the first berries were fully ripe, the ones behind them might still be green and unripe. This meant this grape could not be picked by the bunch, but had to be picked berry by berry, which was very inconvenient.

Zhan Yan: “What color is this grape?”

Puyang Xia: “It’s greenish-green when unripe, then turns yellow, then red, and when fully ripe, it’s purple.”

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

“Let’s sign a copyright contract. We will propagate and sell this grape, and you’ll get a share of the profits. How about that?”

Puyang Xia didn’t understand. “This grape doesn’t taste good and is hard to pick. What are you going to sell it for?”

The person in charge was the first to react.

Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet. In the process of ripening, this grape could go through all the colors except blue. The large difference in ripening 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 excellent new ornamental variety!

To pick out a potential winner with just one choice, how did the young boss do it?

The person in charge, full of vigor, went to negotiate the contract with Puyang Xia. Zhan Yan casually started swiping through the rest of the grape pictures.

He found many interesting grape varieties and noted them down. They might be useful in the future.

Zhan Yan suddenly noticed a special variety description:

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

What kind of grape could be called the most delicious grape?

Zhan Yan: “[Image]”

“Can I try this grape?”

Puyang Xia: “This grape…”

“Let’s talk privately.”

Person in charge: ???

How did I suddenly become the third wheel?

In private chat.

Puyang Xia: “Why did you choose it?”

Zhan Yan: “I just had a feeling it would be delicious when I saw it.”

Puyang Xia: “I knew you had taste!”

Old Senior Puyang had something bottled up for over four hundred years with no one to talk to. Today, moved by Zhan Yan’s proactive investment, he couldn’t help but start pouring his heart out.

More than four hundred years ago, Puyang Xia was helped by Teng Yuan to overcome his transformation tribulation. Later, because his benefactor insisted on eating lychees, Puyang Xia became obsessed with lychee-flavored grapes. Every year he sent them, and every year he was told they didn’t taste like lychee. Puyang Xia was very angry.

But there was nothing he could do. This was his benefactor, who had helped him through his transformation tribulation. What wrong could his benefactor have done? His benefactor just wanted to eat lychees.

Puyang Xia sent grapes to Teng Yuan from the age of seventeen to eighty-seven, and Teng Yuan never once nodded in approval.

Mortals have a limited lifespan. On the day Teng Yuan’s life was about to end, Puyang Xia stood by his bed and gave him another bunch of grapes.

Teng Yuan, drowsy, opened his eyes hazily. It took a while for the old man’s pale and white-haired gaze to focus.

The youth in purple robes before him was as beautiful as when they first met.

Puyang Xia put a grape in his mouth and asked him, “Is it delicious?”

The most delicious grape, with no scent of rose, no scent of lychee, no scent of any other plant, only the original flavor of the grape. A rich, fragrant, luscious sweetness, a harmonious acidity, with abundant juice, like drinking sweet dew.

It was more delicious than any lychee Puyang Xia had ever eaten, and also more delicious than any lychee Teng Yuan had ever eaten.

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

…

Puyang Xia: “Seventy years! He just wanted to eat lychees!”

“He wouldn’t even change his wish!”

Puyang Xia couldn’t transport fresh lychees from thousands of miles away, nor could he grow lychee-flavored grapes. He couldn’t fulfill his benefactor’s wish his entire life.

He couldn’t blame his benefactor, but Puyang Xia was very unwilling to accept it, so he harbored a deep resentment towards lychees.

What’s so great about lychees anyway!

Zhan Yan suddenly remembered where he had heard the name “Teng Yuan”—it was in a supplementary reading book from elementary school.

He typed “Teng Yuan” into the search engine, and sure enough, Teng Yuan was a decent poet. Although his level didn’t make it to the first tier of textbooks, he was in the second tier of supplementary reading materials.

Besides being a poet, Teng Yuan was also a gourmet. When he had nothing to do, he would study various delicacies and write poems about food. He especially loved lychees and wrote more than seventy poems praising them in his lifetime.

…Eating the large, carefully cultivated grapes sent by Puyang Xia every day, and still longing for lychees. No wonder the man held a grudge for over four hundred years.

He looked at Teng Yuan’s biography again.

Teng Yuan had only lived with his family in Lingnan for a while when he was fifteen. After returning to the north at seventeen, he never went to Lingnan again in his life. In ancient times, it was unusually difficult to transport lychees from Lingnan to the north, over three thousand kilometers away. Teng Yuan didn’t have the means.

So, he had only tasted lychees for two years in his youth, and then spent the rest of his life writing dozens of poems in remembrance.

How much must he have loved lychees!

Zhan Yan felt something was not right.

He continued to browse Teng Yuan’s biography and suddenly read a note.

A friend of Teng Yuan’s had once modeled for a talented painter. The friend was not pleased with the painting, so the talented painter came to find him every day to revise it. The friend was greatly annoyed.

Teng Yuan quipped to his friend: “If you had said you liked it, he would not have come.”

Zhan Yan pondered the meaning of this sentence.

Oh my…

Support me on Ko-fi