Chapter 96: Have Some Mooncakes to Settle the Shock

“That scared me half to death. Good thing the game ended that night, or my hard-earned reputation would have been ruined.”

Chen Fan thought back to what had happened in VR, and a lingering fear still clung to him. He wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. Though the activity room’s air-conditioning was running strong, the cold sweat still streamed uncontrollably, and his collar was already soaked through.

Once he steadied himself, Chen Fan checked the time. It was about time to head back, so he got up to leave.

As he passed the front desk, he happened to run into Han Youyi. Seeing Chen Fan drenched in sweat, Han Youyi asked curiously, “What happened? Can watching a match make you sweat that much?”

“I went to the racetrack and had a horse race with Tian Ji. Ran a few laps. Nearly killed me,” Chen Fan said, not daring to tell the truth. After all, no one would believe that an NPC could do something so humiliating.

Han Youyi didn’t press the matter. He nodded and said, “Oh, so that’s it. All right then, take care.”

...

“Elder, you damn fool, why didn’t you come save me?” Chen Fan shoved a hand into his pocket and gave the Elder card a hard flick.

The Elder said with a faint sigh, “Oh dear, you looked like you were enjoying yourself quite a bit. How could I have the heart to disturb you? What a pity, though. You still hadn’t even reached the unspeakable part before it was all over.”

At that, Chen Fan flared up at once. He yanked the Elder card out, rolled it up in a flash into the shape of a cigarette, then smoothed it back out again.

“Useless. I’m neither going to get osteoporosis nor cry my eyes out. Give it up.”

“At least that makes me feel a little better,” Chen Fan said with a sigh, then stuffed the Elder card back into his pocket.

“Looks like tomorrow is the fifteenth day of the eighth month,” he murmured.

Chen Fan checked the lunar calendar on his phone and looked up at the sky. The bright moon was still not round, missing a huge piece.

The Elder replied, “Yes. Tomorrow is your first attempt at merging with me. If nothing goes wrong, you’ll need to merge at least twice before you can master my power.”

Chen Fan was startled, and his pace slowed. “Didn’t you say I’d only get to you after I’d already merged with all the cards once? How did it suddenly become a phased mission?”

The Elder shrugged. “At the full moon, the cards’ magic is at its richest, even spilling over. It’s the perfect chance to test the abilities of a high-tier divine card. Besides, I’m the big boss here. Before you can conquer me, you’ll have to put in some real work.”

“What do you mean, conquer you? That sounds kind of weird.” Chen Fan paused, then finally pulled his wandering thoughts back on track. “So if I haven’t adapted to you yet, am I basically just an ordinary blank slate?”

The Elder shook his head. “That’s not quite right. I’ll at least have to give you a little sweetness to taste. Don’t worry, young man. Work hard. The organization won’t shortchange you.”

“You make it sound like one of those motivational bosses who sell you dreams and draw a pie in the air. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Chen Fan lowered his head and kept looking at his phone. He had not called home in a long time, and he was starting to miss it.

“Hey, Mom. Are you asleep? Tomorrow’s Mid-Autumn Festival, right?”

“Right, right. Your father and I already bought mooncakes. That glutton has already started eating them.”

“Ohhh.”

Chen Fan deliberately drew out the sound. He hadn’t expected that once he went off to university, the atmosphere at home would change so much. It felt like the moment he left, the three great burdens on the working folk had been hauled away.

“Are there still mooncakes left?” he asked.

“Oh, I had bought some before, but I gave them all away later and forgot to leave any for you. Is your living allowance still enough? I’ll transfer you some all at once right now. If you see any mooncakes near your school that look tasty, just buy them.”

So there hadn’t been any for him at all...

“It’s almost gone. The allowance is still the same as last month, I guess,” Chen Fan said, scratching his head. The expenses at the start of term were indeed heavy, especially in the first month when everything had to be bought. It was a real money pit, and his finances had long since fallen into the red. “Then maybe I should come home for a bit. Tomorrow’s the official Mid-Autumn holiday, after all.”

Even Chen Fan couldn’t figure out why the holiday had not been moved from Tuesday to Monday, which would have given them three days in a row. Still, quite a few people had skipped class yesterday, and the academic affairs office had caught plenty of them.

“Come back for what? Isn’t school fun? Deepfish University has beautiful mountains and clear water. Stay at school and enjoy your retirement there. If you’ve got nothing to do, go find a girlfriend while you’re at it. You’re an adult now—what are you doing running home every day?”

For a moment, Chen Fan even suspected the person on the other end of the line wasn’t his mother at all, but someone using a detective’s voice changer to impersonate her.

“Mom, you—”

“Ping, hurry up and play your tile! I’ve been waiting ages for you. Don’t forget tomorrow, and don’t stand us up. The sisters are all going out to have some fun together.”

Suddenly, the noise on the other end grew much louder, and the sounds of “pong” and “kong” rang out from time to time. Listening to the dull thud of mahjong tiles hitting the table, Chen Fan immediately understood.

“That’s enough then, son. Stay at school and enjoy your four years of college. Study hard. Bringing a girlfriend home is the important thing. We’re doing great here. Since you left, my blood pressure has even gone back to normal. I won’t talk to you anymore—hey, hey, pong, pong, pong.”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Blood pressure back to normal... what the hell does that even mean?” Chen Fan took out the Elder card again and held it in his palm. “Tell me, should I be happy, or should I be sad?”

The Elder saw through him at once. “I can tell. You little brat are worried the allowance won’t be enough. And there’s also some complicated, hard-to-put-into-words feeling in there too. I can’t quite make it out.”

“You’ve seen right through me. Is there any privacy left?” Chen Fan muttered with a glare, then kept walking.

“Eat a mooncake to calm yourself. One mooncake, one bottle of Pepsi, gazing up at the moon, lifting a cup and singing while sighing over the passing years. How fitting.”

“Should I also improvise a poem to make it sound even more impressive?” Chen Fan added, following the Elder’s lead.

“Exactly. That would be even better. But from what I can see of your level, I’m afraid you couldn’t even manage a doggerel verse.”

The Elder’s sarcasm was merciless.

“Mm, then I’d better just settle down and be a foodie,” Chen Fan admitted with rare ease, making no attempt to defend himself.

The school store had also brought in a lot of loose mooncakes, but most of them were double-yolk lotus seed paste, which couldn’t satisfy Chen Fan’s picky taste.

“Why don’t you stock more flavors? Every shelf is either double-yolk lotus seed paste or plain lotus seed paste.”

Chen Fan placed a plain lotus seed paste mooncake on the counter and casually grabbed a Snickers bar from the shelf beside it.

The cashier scanned the items skillfully and replied, “Because they sell well. Things like snowy-skin mooncakes and custard lava mooncakes do sell decently, but they’re expensive, and a lot of people can’t really accept the price. That’ll be 18 yuan, please. Card or cash?”

“Card. And give me a bag too.” Chen Fan took out his student card and completed the payment with a beep.

He also didn’t stand on ceremony, eating the mooncake like he was gnawing on a loaf of bread. He had originally planned to look online for specialty mooncakes, but he was immediately put off by the prices.

“Lobster and abalone mooncakes... Who would even eat this stuff? 998 yuan a box. It feels like my mouth would be swallowing money.”

Even Chen Fan’s favorite custard lava mooncakes started at no less than 128 yuan a box. He truly couldn’t afford them.

“Anyway, this is only to calm myself down, so then... cough, cough—”

Chen Fan failed to catch his breath and ended up choking hard.