Shopping at the Supermarket (Daily Life)

"Are you preparing to cook New Year's Eve dinner?" Xia Libing asked.

"Yes, but I bought quite a lot. If you don't have enough ingredients when you 'treat' in a few days, I can share some with you," Xiang Kun said.

Xia Libing didn't stand on ceremony and nodded, "Okay."

She glanced at Xiang Kun's shopping cart again and asked, "Are you buying spare ribs?"

"Yes, but not many were bought."

Where are the shrimp?

"Yes, we do. Fresh ones too. If you want to eat them when you're 'treating' guests, it's better to buy them on the spot."

Where's the chicken thigh meat?

Yes, yes.

"What kind of meat is that?" Xia Libing asked, pointing to a bag in the shopping cart.

"Beef, get ready to make dumplings. Although we don't have the custom of eating dumplings during the Lunar New Year here, it's still nice to have some. Didn't I say I'd bring you some late-night snacks yesterday? I'll make some for you to try then. Dumplings, if kept warm, won't taste too bad. But fried or roasted things like crispy pork knuckles, if they can't be eaten quickly after cooking, the taste will be much worse," Xiang Kun said with a smile.

Xia Libing nodded and then asked, "What dishes do you want to make tonight?"

"You can tell what the other dishes are by looking at the ingredients. The ones you haven't tried before are salted egg yolk spring rolls, mushroom soup, oyster omelet, cold pig's ear salad, oh, and the dumplings I just mentioned, you probably haven't tried those either." Xiang Kun said "haven't tried before," he naturally meant he hadn't tried the ones he made.

Today, Lao Xia's focus was a bit strange. It's not that she hasn't been talkative before, but she rarely focuses on the dishes Xiang Kun is going to cook. That's usually Yang Zhen'er's concern. Lao Xia and Nana just eat whatever they cook, at most discussing how the dishes taste.

However, Xiang Kun showed no impatience and answered patiently. He knew that Lao Xia was not the type to speak or act on a whim or on a whim. There must be a reason for everything she did or said, and for any sudden changes in her usual behavior.

So while talking to her, Xiang Kun was also observing Lao Xia's state, trying to figure out how to subtly probe about her dream last night.

But to his surprise, without him having to figure out how to probe, Lao Xia took the initiative and started the conversation himself:

I had a dream last night.

"Oh?" Xiang Kun asked with feigned curiosity, "Didn't you say before that you almost never dream? What did you dream about last night? Was it related to encountering those two... thugs?"

Xia Libing said, "It's still related to food. I dreamt that I was eating at your house. I used to live next to you, and the little girl from room 706 was there too. She was eating rabbit meat, and I was eating pork knuckle. You made it all."

"Oh? You dreamed about Liu Shiling? I didn't expect that. I don't recall you ever speaking to her, or even meeting her more than twice in total," Xiang Kun said.

Actually, he was more interested in Lao Xia's first dream in that closed room, but it was expected that Lao Xia wouldn't bring it up.

Xiang Kun could sense that when Lao Xia was talking about dreams, his gaze was fixed on his face, and he was very focused. Clearly, he was trying to figure something out through the conversation.

Xiang Kun quickly realized that Lao Xia thought her dream was strange and suspected that it was related to him.

He couldn't fully understand Lao Xia's reasoning, but given Lao Xia's consistent way of thinking, it was normal for him to think that the dream was related to him. After all, he had just asked Lao Xia about dreams back in Tongshi Town, and Lao Xia had said that he hadn't dreamed for a very long time. Only a few days later, on the night after meeting Xiang Kun, he suddenly had a dream in which Xiang Kun appeared. It would be strange not to suspect him.

Xia Libing said, "I saw a video of that little girl playing with Coin when we were in Tongshi Town."

"Zhen'er showed it to you, right? I only realized how good she was at flipping Coin after seeing that video," Xiang Kun said. He knew that Lao Xia was referring to the video of Yang Zhen'er and Tang Baona accidentally finding Coin- Coin videos online, and the video of Liu Shiling being filmed by someone else.

Xia Libing then asked, "Was that Coin she received also from you?"

"I did give her a Coin," Xiang Kun replied readily.

Normally, after seeing the video of Liu Shiling playing with Coin, and considering that her skill in flipping them might be related to Xiang Kun, the usual question would be, "Did you teach her how to flip Coin?" But Lao Xia directly asked about the Coin themselves, confirming that she realized the Coin Xiang Kun gave her were different and had the characteristic of being easier to learn to Coin, or rather, easier to control.

Back in Tongshi Town, Lao Xia had asked "Little Apple" if the Coin was a gift from him, and even asked him for one herself. She had already realized this at that time.

Clearly, she was already able to sense the characteristics of the Coin Xiang Kun, and she even associated the Little Chubby Girl in her dream with the Coin he gave Little Chubby Girl.

Although it doesn't perfectly match the facts, the direction is basically correct.

Xiang Kun wasn't worried that Lao Xia could see anything from the Coin; on the contrary, he was looking forward to seeing something from her.

The two pushed their shopping cart to a corner of the supermarket to chat, so as not to block the aisle, since there were still many customers in the supermarket.

Xia Libing continued, "Is there anything special about the Coin you give away?"

Xiang Kun laughed and said, "Didn't I mention last time that besides the 'Lucky Coin,' I also have a 'wild Coin '? Yours is one of those..."

But before he could finish speaking, Xia Libing interrupted him, saying, "I could feel this Coin in my dream last night."

Xiang Kun paused for a moment, recalling the scene in Xia Libing's second dream last night when she suddenly woke up.

She looked down at the back of her hand and saw the Coin Xiang Kun had given her appear between her fingers. Then the Coin began to flip rapidly and even floated into the air.

Xiang Kun naturally noticed the Coin, but didn't feel anything particularly special about it. After all, his attention was focused on the dream where Lao Xia suddenly became that extremely rational and indifferent emotional state.

"You felt it? How did you feel it?" Xiang Kun asked.

Xia Libing reached into her coat pocket, pulled out the seemingly ordinary one-yuan Coin, and skillfully pinched Coin between her thumb and forefinger's second joint, flipping it onto the back of her hand and letting Coin tumble between her fingers.

She looked at Xiang Kun and said, "I was awake for a while in my dream, and the first thing I felt was a Coin in my hand. The feeling of it in my dream was different from everything else. No matter how realistic the details of other things were, it was like there was a layer between them, and I could tell it was a dream. But it was different. I wonder if it's related to the fact that I was holding a Coin in my hand when I was asleep."

Xiang Kun frowned as he listened, pondering the connection. He knew that given Xia Libing's personality and habits, if she said that, then it was certain that her feeling about the Coin in her dream was not a hallucination.

At the beginning, Xiang Kun knew that the characteristics of "Emotional Injection" items and "Super-Sensory Link" items were incompatible and could not coexist.

However, as time went on, especially after Little Apple and Liu Shiling also established some kind of connection with some "Super-Sensory Link" items and "Emotional Injection" items, and helped him "develop" multiple extended abilities, it became clear that there is indeed a connection between "Emotional Injection" and "Super-Sensory Link" items, and it is possible to establish a connection.

Or, in essence, the root causes of "Super-Sensory Link" and "Emotional Injection" may be the same, only the forms of expression are different.

He recalled the special dream he had with the Little Chubby Girl Liu Shiling on the bullet train back—that dream wasn't triggered by the "Emotional Injection" object he sensed, but rather a dream "created" by Liu Shiling herself. He "intervened" halfway through, and not in the first person to share Liu Shiling's subjective feelings, but from the perspective of the "Emotional Injection" chopsticks in the dream.

Considering that Liu Shiling has always had a deeper connection with Coin and paper related to "Super-Sensory Link," and that the abilities she previously "developed" were all related to items related to "Super-Sensory Link," Xiang Kun felt that the occurrence of that "active dream" was likely also related to her connection with "Super-Linked Object."

Perhaps Lao Xia's perception of the Coin in his dream last night was somewhat similar?

Perhaps worried that Xiang Kun hadn't understood her meaning, Xia Libing continued to explain, "... In the dream, even when you wake up and realize you're dreaming, you still feel like you're floating in the air, without a sense of 'being grounded.' But as soon as you sense the presence of that Coin, it's as if that Coin is a landmass connecting to reality..."

Xiang Kun nodded. "I didn't know this Coin was so special. But Lao Xia, it's quite amazing that you could wake up in your dream. How did you do that?"

"I don't know either, but I woke up quickly after realizing I was dreaming," Xia Libing said.

"I see... So next time you dream about Coin and realize you're dreaming, you can try a few things before you wake up. For example, create a few more Coin in your dream and see if there's any difference, or make the Coin bigger or something," Xiang Kun suggested.

Xia Libing said, "Give me a few more."

"Okay, I'll give you two more later." Xiang Kun didn't hesitate; he also really wanted to get the specific characteristics of the Coin in the dream from Lao Xia.

Xia Libing then asked, "How many do you have in total?"

"Well, I won't tell you. Anyway, there aren't many left, and each one is hard-earned..." Xiang Kun chuckled.

"What did you make it with?" Xia Libing asked.

Xiang Kun tapped his forehead with his index finger and said, seemingly jokingly, "Use your mind."

"Could you turn these Coin into 'universal Coin's for me?" Xia Libing said, reaching into her pocket and rummaging around for a while before taking out a few Coin and showing them to Xiang Kun.

Xiang Kun glanced at her; there were several Coin of different sizes lying in her palm, including 50-cent Coin, cent Coin, and even a coin that looked like it belonged to a game machine.

Xiang Kun couldn't help but chuckle. Lao Xia had obviously prepared all of this in advance, probably getting it from her third uncle and aunt.

Lao Xia... you're deliberately making things difficult for me...

It seems that even if they hadn't bumped into each other at the supermarket, he would have faced the same problem when he delivered late-night snacks to Lao Xia. Everything they just talked about must have been "planned" by Lao Xia. Oh, the questions about food probably weren't part of it.

"No." Xiang Kun gave a very simple refusal.

"Oh." Xia Libing showed no disappointment, nor did she dwell on it any longer. Instead, she simply stuffed the Coin back into her pocket.

"Did you buy enoki mushrooms?" Xia Libing changed the subject very "naturally".

"No, do you want to eat enoki mushrooms?"

So the two of them, pushing a cart and handcart, bought a few more ingredients, following Xia Libing's suggestion.

Having bought almost everything, Xiang Kun glanced at his phone and casually asked, "You're only starting your shift at the hospital this afternoon? If you're free at noon, how about coming over for lunch?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Libing readily agreed, "Okay."

Xiang Kun was taken aback. Looking at Lao Xia's expression, he immediately realized why she had agreed so quickly—she wanted to go to his home to observe his upbringing and also to meet his parents in order to uncover his secrets.

Compared to Xiang Kun, his parents were definitely more likely to "gather" information.

Xiang Kun chuckled inwardly, but Lao Xia's expectations were destined to be dashed. Neither his family nor his parents had any direct connection to his special circumstances, and it was basically impossible to discern anything from them.

Actually, if it were him, he would have the same thought. He also wanted to find an opportunity to get in touch with Xia Libing's parents. If Xia Libing's "secret" started in her early childhood, then her parents would definitely know a lot of information.

Just as they were pushing the shopping cart, preparing to pay, Xiang Kun suddenly frowned, pulled Xia Libing's hand onto the handle of his shopping cart, and quickly ran towards the supermarket entrance, disappearing at the exit in no time.

Inside the supermarket, Xia Libing squinted at Xiang Kun's disappearing figure. She didn't chase after him, but calmly pushed their shopping cart and continued to queue to pay. After paying, she pushed the cart out of the supermarket and saw Xiang Kun talking to a young couple holding a child.

She pushed the cart to the side and stood a distance away.

Then, through Xiang Kun's conversation with the young couple, she learned that Xiang Kun and they knew each other, perhaps as classmates? Moreover, they were thanking Xiang Kun, though she didn't know the specific reason.

Although they were some distance apart, Xia Libing's tall and beautiful figure was so conspicuous that the young couple noticed something was off as she stared at them blankly, so they turned to look at her as well.

Xiang Kun then waved to Xia Libing, and said to the couple, "This is my friend; we were just shopping together at the supermarket."

Then he said to Xia Libing, "They were both my classmates in middle school."