Chapter 370: Dog Gamer
Translator: Min_Lee Editor: Tennesh
After attending the Corale Film Festival, Fang Zhao returned to HuangArt at the urging of Prof. Carter.
HuangArt appeared to be the same after an absence of 10 or so days. The only difference was that students were discussing Fang Zhao in private more frequently. Fang Zhao heard his name mentioned more than a few times the day he returned, even though the students thought they were speaking with discretion.
But HuangArt was HuangArt, after all. Even idol worship took on a much more subtle form.
The day Fang Zhao returned, Will was walking Curly Hair in one of the on-campus gardens in a bid to light a creative spark. Lo and behold, Curly Hair, who was relieving himself in a shrub, suddenly made for the dorm complex. Caught unawares, Will let the dog leash slip from his hands.
The leash in tow, Curly Hair dashed toward Fang Zhao's dorm room and leaped at his owner. He wagged his tail vigorously and whined.
Curly Hair's enthusiastic welcome caught Fang Zhao off guard. He never would have guessed from the surveillance footage last night. Last night, the little fella had been engrossed in his game. Thankfully, Curly Hair wasn't going online; otherwise, he would be even more obsessed.
Will, who was in hot pursuit, breathed a sigh of relief when he laid eyes on Fang Zhao. He was terrified of losing Curly Hair. He had heard that many dogs had been lost in a momentary lapse of attention. The dog manual he consulted said that he had to hold the dog's leash tight no matter what. Curly Hair had been on his best behavior, never causing any trouble under Will's watch, so Will had let down his guard.
While the sight of Fang Zhao relaxed him, Will also dreaded the moment. I haven't found any inspiration and my dogsitting gig is over already?
The utter disappointment on Will's face didn't escape Fang Zhao, who said hello and entered his dorm room.
After sending Nanfeng, Zuo Yu, and Yan Biao home, Fang Zhao returned his "rabbit" tank to its place and tossed in a fresh batch of feed. Then he gave Curly Hair a quick checkup. Because of Curly Hair's unique DNA makeup, Fang Zhao had to use special tools.
But it turned out that Curly Hair was the same. He hadn't even gained or lost much weight.
Fang Zhao knelt by Curly Hair and fondled his head. "I may have to head out in another two days. I need to tag along with Prof. Carter on one of his projects in Mazhou. Why don't you hang with Will for another few weeks?"
Curly Hair's ears drooped and he tumbled at Fang Zhao's feet, whining nonstop. His tiny paws tugged at the cuffs of Fang Zhao's pants.
Fang Zhao observed his dog briefly before saying, "I'll buy you a new video game."
Curly Hair got up instantly, glanced at Fang Zhao's gaming console, and started wagging his tail again.
He was a bona fide gamer dog all right.
Laughing, Fang Zhao shook his head. He turned on the console and looked up the user data. Curly Hair had already gone through all the single-player games Fang Zhao had bought for him—with flying colors. Now, the gamer dog was going for record high scores. He had to have been excited last night because he'd broken a record. If these scores were posted online, they would cause quite a stir.
Fang Zhao deleted the data and all the existing games.
He bought a new game released by Fiery Bird. It was a physics-themed educational game that got harder with each level. The higher the level, the bigger and more complex the structures the player had to navigate. Fang Zhao stuck to single-player mode.
Fang Zhao picked the game not only because of its innovative design, unique color scheme, and neat special effects. The game also incorporated knowledge about structural engineering and so on and the score was decent. The background music blended with the game seamlessly to make for a tasteful atmosphere.
An ecstatic Curly Hair barked several times. If Fang Zhao hadn't been holding him back, he would have made for his gaming helmet and started playing immediately.
After tidying up his dorm room. Fang Zhao was summoned by Mo Lang. Mo Lang wanted to give him a lecture about the finer points of professional musicianship and career development. Mo Lang said that he would lecture by videoconference from now on if they couldn't meet in person. He said he would be personally responsible for Fang Zhao's theoretical training.
After returning from Mo Lang's place, Fang Zhao heard from Carter, who wanted him to deal with some paperwork.
Carter sent Fang Zhao a few forms to fill out. "I'm about to head out to the Spartacus Cup Games in Mazhou to help score the opening ceremony. You're with me. A few of your senior fellow disciples will be there too."
Just as Mo Lang had instructed, Carter had planned Fang Zhao's schedule for the next few days the day his new disciple had returned to campus. Carter had even finalized the itinerary two days earlier than expected so Fang Zhao wouldn't have the chance to make contact with folks in the entertainment industry.
Fang Zhao was planning on spending two or three days on campus before heading out again. He hadn't expected Prof. Carter to keep him on such a tight leash.
But there were also pros to becoming a master musician's disciple. If he were going solo, it would be very difficult to gain access to a project like the Spartacus Cup in Mazhou, especially for a young musician in his 20s.
After finishing the paperwork, Fang Zhao returned to his dorm room, where he found Will standing at the entrance.
"Can I have a word?" Will asked.
"Sure, let's head in first."
After entering the room, Will's gaze lingered on Curly Hair for some time before he spoke up. "When are you heading out again?"
Will had really pampered Curly Hair while Fang Zhao had been at the Corale Film Festival, lest he lose a single hair.
Yet the creativity hadn't been forthcoming.
Will had felt like he was on the verge of something on several occasions. He felt that he was on the right track but simply lacked the final spark. There had to be something he wasn't doing right.
After pondering the matter, Will concluded that the root of the problem was that he hadn't spent enough time with Curly Hair. Man and dog weren't close enough, so the inspiration hadn't been cultivated. If he had more time, he might have a breakthrough. That was why Will approached Fang Zhao again to see if he could look after Curly Hair for a longer period of time.
Fang Zhao smiled. "What a coincidence. I was about to look you up. I've been summoned by Prof. Carter to join him on a project on Mars Continent. I'll be gone for 10 days to two weeks or so."
Will's eyes sparkled. "Really? That's great!" He proceeded to assure Fang Zhao, "Don't you worry. I will become an even more meticulous caregiver. I feel like I'm close to achieving my goal."
Fang Zhao believed Will. For now, Curly Hair was Will's top priority. Will's claim that he was close to his goal had to have also been made in good faith.
After seeing his own portrait, Fang Zhao was looking forward to seeing how Will painted Curly Hair.
Will and Fang Zhao agreed to the same routine. Curly Hair would hang out with Will during the day and return to Fang Zhao's dorm room in the evening. The little fella would be obsessed with gaming. He wouldn't go wandering around campus at night.
After Will left, Fang Zhao called Great-Grandfather Fang and Great-Grandmother Fang.
Carter had gotten on his case immediately after the film festival ended, so Fang Zhao hadn't been able to spare the time to visit the two elders in Yanzhou in person, but they were staying in touch.
During the call, Great-Grandfather Fang was same old same old, but Great-Grandmother Fang seemed to have something on her mind. She hesitated on the phone before telling Fang Zhao about Great-Grandfather Fang's recent mishap—he had gotten so carried away bragging about his grandson that he had nearly choked on his own saliva.
Great-Grandmother Fang was quite old and couldn't deal with the shock. The old fella survived this time, but what about next time?
The old fella had brought it upon himself when he'd choked. None of the other residents at the retirement liked to talk as much as he did. The older he got, the more impulsive Great-Grandfather Fang got, yapping away like a little kid.
Great-Grandmother Fang lamented, "He won't listen to what anyone else has to say. When I told him off, he thought I was blowing things out of proportion. Xiao Zhao, he'll definitely listen to you. Can you ask him to calm down? At this age, he needs to take it easy—not regress to a child."
This was unexpected, but Great-Grandmother Fang had a point.
"Got it. Let me see what I can do."
After ending the call, Fang Zhao reflected on the matter. He decided that talk was cheap in terms of calming Great-Grandfather Fang down. The best solution was to find the old man something to do, to help him develop a new hobby.
Fang Zhao clicked his address book and called someone in Muzhou.
At the retirement home for former officials in Yanbei.
Great-Grandfather Fang started sulking after he found out that his wife had told Fang Zhao about him choking on his own saliva.
"Why did have to tell Xiao Zhao about such a trivial matter? It was nothing, an accident. He's so busy. You're just adding to his burden," Great-Grandfather Fang said.
Great-Grandmother Fang gave him a sideways glance. "You should control that restless soul of yours. If you have so much energy, go farm. Rent a few more plots to farm so you stay out of trouble."
"How am I restless? Why are you picking a fight? All I did was brag about our Xiao Zhao. Also, I can't possibly farm every day. If this old geezer does hard labor, he'll collapse and die." Great-Grandfather Fang censored his final thought: How is farming more fun than bragging about my great-grandson?
Great-Grandfather Fang started ignoring his wife. He wore a stern expression on his face, but deep down, he was worried. What would Xiao Zhao say when he called? Would he be upset?
Great-Grandfather Fang lost his appetite and didn't sleep well. The next day, he was a zombie.
Fang Zhao finally called to say that he had sent them a package. It would arrive later in the day.
The package contained a small box of walnuts.
Many species of walnut had gone extinct after the Period of Destruction. The species that were available now were mostly new species developed by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
There were only a handful of walnuts in the box. It wasn't that Fang Zhao couldn't afford more but that there were few walnuts to begin with. These had been plucked from extra samples discarded by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. They had been sent to Yanzhou immediately after some basic processing.
Soon, Great-Grandfather Fang received the delivery. The box also contained a manual and an instructional video.
"So these are the walnuts that Xiao Zhao spoke of?"
Great-Grandfather Fang emptied an even nicer box and relocated the walnuts there carefully.
Great-Grandmother Fang donned her reading glasses and examined the manual. "Fitness walnuts?"
Great-Grandfather Fang followed the instructions in the manual and grasped two walnuts. "You don't say—I feel more at peace right away."
Great-Grandmother Fang: "..." Such bullshi*t!
Great-Grandfather Fang kept talking, an intoxicated expression on his face. "This is good stuff. I can kill time with it. It's good for my health and it looks cool!"
In blunter terms, this toy was good for his health while allowing the old man to keep being a poser at the same time.
Great-Grandmother Fang's face went blank. She felt her husband had somehow managed to cultivate yet another new skill.
After fiddling with the walnuts the same way they were used in the instructional video, Great-Grandfather Fang felt he had learned the ropes. He tossed his walking stick and carefully picked two of the prettiest walnuts from his box. He headed out to brag again, one hand behind his back and the other playing with the walnuts.
Yup, this was what they called Zen posing.