Birthday Gift (Bonus Chapter for Alliance Leader Lan Yin)

Tang Baona took out a large black bag and handed it to Xiang Kun, saying, "This is a birthday gift that the three of us bought together. Anyway, whether you like it or not, you're not allowed to complain!" However, judging from her confident expression, she was clearly certain that Xiang Kun would like it.

Xiang Kun took the bag but didn't open it, still wondering why they thought tomorrow was his birthday.

My birthday is in July, just a few days before I mutated after getting drunk.

Fortunately, his memory is quite good now. After quickly searching his mind, a picture flashed through his mind—it was when he went to the archery range with Tang Baona and the others. When the new members were filling out their forms as usual, he casually wrote September 14th in the birthday section.

This wasn't a special number or a special day; he just filled in random numbers randomly because he didn't want to fill in the real information at the time. That's why he hadn't realized for half a day what September 14th, which Tang Baona mentioned, meant.

Did they specifically remember his birthday after seeing the information card he filled out at the archery range?

Looking at the black bag in his hand, Xiang Kun was honestly a little confused but also quite touched. This was the first time in his life, apart from his mother, that a woman had given him a gift, especially a birthday present.

With a sigh, Xiang Kun decided he should tell them the "truth" first. "Um... actually, tomorrow isn't my birthday. My birthday is July 2nd..."

Tang Baona was taken aback and asked in confusion, "That's not right. When you went to the archery range with us before, the birthday on the information card you filled out wasn't September 14th... Uh, did you just write it down randomly?"

Xiang Kun chuckled somewhat awkwardly, "Yeah, I just wrote it randomly..." However, he keenly noticed that when he said tomorrow wasn't his birthday, Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er were both quite surprised and astonished. Only Xia Libing showed no obvious change in expression, heartbeat, or breathing, as if she already knew? If she already knew, why didn't she remind her cousin and Tang Baona?

He then placed the bag back at Tang Baona's feet and said, "I'm so sorry to have wasted your feelings... but I appreciate your kindness."

Tang Baona smiled and handed the bag to him again, "Consider this your reward for cooking tonight! Show the Chef Xiang your best skills! Anyway, this gift was bought for you, so if you don't want it, none of us can use it, and we can't return it."

Xiang Kun opened the bag and found a compound bow inside, which looked like Mathews's. Clearly, they had overheard him and other archery range members discussing compound bows at the archery range and assumed he was interested in them—a guess they weren't wrong about.

"This... is a bit too expensive." Xiang Kun didn't know the exact price of the bow, but after visiting the archery range, he had done some research online and found that Mathews' compound bows were all quite expensive, starting at several thousand.

"Actually, it's secondhand. We bought it from the archery instructor, but he's hardly ever used it. Oh dear, a grown man shouldn't be so fussy!" Tang Baona said.

Yang Zhen'er added, "Yes, the coach already sold it to us cheaply, so there's no point in returning it to him. Besides, none of us need this bow anymore."

Xiang Kun thought for a moment and swallowed back the words he was about to say, "How about I transfer the price of this bow to you?" He knew that for Tang Baona and the other two, the money spent on the bow was nothing; the sentiment was more important. If he said that, it would be as if he was deliberately measuring the gift by money, which would make them uncomfortable.

"Then I'll... shamelessly accept it," Xiang Kun said with a smile, then put the quiver aside and went to the kitchen to prepare the ingredients.

Although tomorrow isn't his birthday, Xiang Kun was still quite happy to receive such a thoughtful "birthday gift." However, he also knew that favors are always reciprocal.

He skillfully cut, processed, and marinated the ingredients, prepared some seasonings, and then returned to the living room to chat with the three women.

He suddenly realized that if tomorrow really was his birthday, the fact that they gave him the gift as soon as he arrived at Xia Libing's house, before he even started cooking, meant they probably expected him to be touched by the gift and would definitely put in a lot of effort to prepare a delicious dinner. However, this little thought didn't upset him at all; on the contrary, it proved their high expectations for his cooking skills.

The main topic of their conversation was Xia Libing, who was about to go to Haixi Province. Although Yang Zhen'er always complained about her cousin whenever they were together, she actually cared about her a lot.

"Lao Xia, now that you're in Haixi Province, without your older sister watching over you, you're not going to be wearing three different outfits again, sweatpants, jeans, and cargo pants until they're worn out, are you? At least go out shopping with your colleagues once in a while, don't waste your model figure! Oh my, if only I had 10 centimeters of your body."

"And after you start working, don't spend all your time glued to your tablet or staring at books. Go out and have fun whenever you have free time. Go scout out places, find some good restaurants, and so on. When we come to visit you in the future, you can be our guide, right? We don't need to come to you; we need to take you soaring and flying with you!"

"Lao Xia, if you encounter any grievances, remember to talk to your aunt. She's a leader in the hospital and can directly solve your problems. Don't resort to violence so easily; if you injure someone, you'll probably be sent back home..."

Yang Zhen'er gave a long list of instructions, half complaining and half earnestly advising.

Hearing this, Tang Baona couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh, "Zhen'er, is she your cousin or your godmother?"

Yang Zhen'er rolled her eyes at her and said, "I really raised my Lao Xia from a baby, feeding him and changing his diapers... Wow! You really hit me! This is incredibly disrespectful, I'm telling you..."

Watching the two sisters playfully bickering, Xiang Kun felt a rare sense of relaxation. Suddenly remembering something, he said to Tang Baona beside him, "By the way, I saw those videos you posted on Bilibili before."

Tang Baona was stunned at first, then realized that it must have been Yang Zhen'er who revealed it. She glared at her friend, who had just been easily pinned down on the sofa by Lao Xia and tickled, and then said somewhat embarrassedly, "I was just singing for fun..."

"I think you sang very well, really impressive. Did you study singing before?"

"I probably learned it when I was little, uh, actually my singing was just so-so. What you heard on Bilibili has already been edited in post-production," Tang Baona said modestly.

"I'm planning to create a speech synthesis tool and I need some voice samples. Could you record some for me when you have some free time?" Xiang Kun said cautiously.

When he was working on the voice function for the "AI assistant," he considered the voices he had heard—only female voices, of course. In reality, Tang Baona's voice seemed to be the most pleasant to listen to. Actually, Xia Libing's voice was also good, but it was relatively calm and aloof, not the voice he wanted for the AI assistant.

"Okay," Tang Baona agreed without much thought.