"Why did I have to wear Zhu Bajie?" Baili Pangpang drooped his head. Beneath the grinning pig-face mask, his chubby face was filled with resentment.
Cao Yuan, wearing a Sandy Mask, patted him on the shoulder and consoled him. "Be grateful they didn't give you Li Kui!"
Beside them, Jialan's body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
"Ahem." Baili Pangpang scratched his head. "Now that you mention it, Zhu Bajie doesn't seem too bad... at least he's a little whiter than Li Kui."
At that moment, the three of them were traveling down a road entirely opposite to the one Lin Qiye and the other had taken. They moved along a path beside the enormous lake in the center of Gusu City, shaped like a Golden Rooster, heading deeper into the mist. Not far away, the Ferris wheel by the lakeshore glittered with dazzling lights, yet its cabins were completely empty.
"Old Cao, tell me... my dad's birthday is in a few days. What gift should I get him?" Baili Pangpang seemed to have remembered something and spoke with some hesitation.
"What does he like?"
"Seems like there's nothing he likes... He's the sort who keeps a straight face all day, only thinking about the corporation and prohibited artifacts. He's a workaholic who doesn't seem interested in anything else. I've never seen him smile in all my life."
"Never smiled? Not even at you?"
"No." Baili Pangpang sighed. "I figure my existence was just a beautiful accident from his youth..."
Cao Yuan carefully looked Baili Pangpang over. "Mm, an accident was definitely an accident. As for whether it was beautiful..."
"..."
"I'm guessing that with your dad's status, anything money can buy probably isn't suitable. After all, he's the richest man in all of Great Xia." Cao Yuan spoke after some thought.
"What