Happy Birthday (Part 2)

"Liu Gaoshang brought over the gift Little Bell sent yesterday. I was thinking of giving it to Lao Xia after we had cake tonight. It's in the cabinet under the living room outside, in that SF Express package." Xiang Kun, who was in the kitchen, replied with a smile after hearing Yang Zhen'er's question.

Yang Zhen'er immediately ran out, found the package in the cabinet, took it out and said to Xia Libing, "This should be it! Shall we open it and take a look?"

"Hey, Yang the Third, this is a birthday present for Lao Xia, not for you. Why are you so excited?" Xia Tianhuo laughed.

"Lao Xia and Little Bell won't mind, right, Little Bell?" Yang Zhen'er turned the laptop she was using for a video call around so the camera was facing her, and said with a grin, holding the package, "Little Bell, can Fairy Sister help your Chicken Leg Sister open the gift?"

Tang Baona was drinking tea and almost choked. She laughed and scolded, "Zhen'er, you're so shameless! How dare you call yourself 'Fairy Sister' like that..."

Yang Zhen'er received remote "authorization" from the Little Chubby Girl and started unpacking the express delivery. As for her dear cousin, she certainly wouldn't have any objections!

After unpacking, I quickly saw the gift from the Little Chubby Girl: a rolled-up, A4-sized sheet of colored pencil drawing. What was special was that the drawing seemed to have two different painting styles. Apart from the central area, the surrounding environmental elements, including the mountains and forests below, the dark clouds above, and the lightning on the side, were all depicted in a more realistic way. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that it was not drawn directly with colored pencils but printed out.

The middle section, however, clearly shows that the artwork was done by the Little Chubby Girl.

High in the mountains, a very long-bodied female mage in a robe with a ponytail raised her right hand, thrusting her magic staff straight into the clouds, as if she were the one who had summoned the surrounding lightning.

Beside the tall, imposing female magician with a ponytail, there was a multi-winged flying object about one-tenth the size of her, carrying a little magician who was also wearing a magic robe. But because she was so small, the facial features under the hood were represented by only a few simple strokes, making her look like a ":)".

Although the drawing was quite well done for the Little Chubby Girl's skill level, especially the ponytail magician, which was a complete overachievement, Yang Zhen'er still laughed until tears almost came out when she saw the content, "Hahahaha, Little Bell, why did you draw Lao Xia like the Statue of Liberty? Hahahaha! And this thing next to him looks like a fly, oh no, like a bee, is it Egg Pie? Is the person carrying you yourself? Why is it drawn so small? Hahahaha, it's drawn very well, so cute, hahahaha, you and the Egg Pie combined aren't even as big as Lao Xia's eyeballs, hahahahaha..."

The others didn't initially feel much when they saw the painting, but after Yang Zhen'er's comment, they all burst into laughter.

Xia Tianhuo, who was helping Yang Zhen'er display her painting, paused for a moment when he saw the half-body of a giant creature with eight eyes and eight arms standing under the feet of the ponytail-haired magician in the painting. He then asked the Little Chubby Girl, who was having a video call on her laptop, with a surprised expression, "Little sister, what is this... eight-eyed, eight-armed giant you drew?"

Yang Zhen'er then noticed that there was Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster at Lao Xia's feet in the painting. She didn't react much, subconsciously assuming that the Little Chubby Girl had seen Xiang Kun's Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster wood carving.

When Xia Tianhuo asked her this question, the Little Chubby Girl almost blurted out "Barbie Warrior." Fortunately, she immediately realized that on the other side of the video, there were not only Xia Libing and Little Apple, who were also sisters from the magical world, but also many other uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters. Although they were all very, very good people, she couldn't tell them according to the bald uncle's confidentiality requirements.

So the Little Chubby Girl blinked twice and replied, "It's the crab spirit I saw on TV..."

Xia Tianhuo, "A crab spirit? How can a crab have so many eyes?"

"Huh? Then... a spider demon! Spiders have so many eyes... right?" the Little Chubby Girl changed her mind.

However, no one doubted the Little Chubby Girl's answer. Even Xia Tianhuo thought that the Little Chubby Girl might have accidentally seen the illusion of the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Giant when the news about Montamira was broadcast on TV a while ago, and it left an impression on her. She mistook it for a cartoon character like a spider demon or a crab demon. After all, many TV stations had produced 3D images or sketches drawn directly by the witnesses when broadcasting news recently.

While Tang Baona was explaining the details of the painting to Little Apple beside her, she vaguely sensed that the Little Chubby Girl seemed to have left things unsaid. Before, when they went to Star City and saw the Big Cat with four pairs of wings that Little Chubby Girl had painted at her house, they discussed why the wings were drawn that way. That girl was so enthusiastic then, unlike now when she just brushed it off with a single sentence, as if she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Moreover, like Yang Zhen'er, she felt that the giant drawn by the Little Chubby Girl was probably an impression left by Xiang Kun's "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster wood carving" that she had seen before, and that statue itself was actually quite cartoonish.

"Little Bell, did your mom make all those mountains, clouds, lightning, and other patterns on this paper? Did she use a computer to draw them? They're so beautiful!" Yang Zhen'er asked, holding up the drawing.

"Little Screw helped me with it," Liu Shiling replied. Little Screw was a nickname she gave him, so it wasn't considered a leak.

Yang Zhen'er didn't ask any further questions, assuming that "Little Screw" was Liu Shiling's friend in Star City.

Xia Libing knew that Alice had probably helped create the environmental map and then printed it out for the Little Chubby Girl. As for the specifics of how it was done, and how to get the Little Chubby Girl in Star City the printed drawing paper, Xiang Kun probably knew. For example, he could have used Xiang Kun's account to find a merchant online to print out the finished picture and then send it to Star City by express delivery.

However, Xia Libing was quite concerned about the environmental patterns of mountains, clouds, and lightning, because these patterns were not directly synthesized from online images or other ready-made pictures, but were clearly "drawn" by Alice. Although these patterns were very detailed and looked much better than the Little Chubby Girl's drawings, as if they were drawn by someone who had studied art, there were still many flaws and rough parts. In some places, one could even vaguely see the "habits" and "style" inherited from the Little Chubby Girl.

It is precisely in these places, with their distinctly humanized growth curves, that Xia Libing can intuitively see Alice's "emotional growth"—for Alice, it is very easy to draw her realistically or exquisitely, but it is much more difficult to depict her realistic "flaws" and "clumsiness".

Just like when the Little Chubby Girl first taught Alice to draw in the dream, the incredibly simple, crooked line drawing was already a groundbreaking achievement for Alice.

When Xia Libing helped the Little Chubby Girl draw this picture, Alice hadn't fully integrated into the "Super-Sensing Item System." After completing the final fusion with Little Apple's help the day before yesterday, Alice's subsequent evolution will definitely be even more rapid. Xia Libing was somewhat looking forward to seeing what Alice would look like in this state.

"Lao Xia, why are you staring at that painting? Little Bell's drawing is pretty good, isn't it!" Tang Baona noticed that Lao Xia's eyes were fixed on the painting, and the Little Chubby Girl on the video call was getting a little nervous. She gently called out to her and then said to the Little Chubby Girl, "Next time it's my birthday, Little Bell, how about you draw me a picture too?"

Liu Shiling quickly nodded in agreement. "Mmm!"

Xia Libing snapped out of her daze, took the painting from Yang Zhen'er, and said to Liu Shiling, "It's very well drawn, I'm very satisfied, thank you, Little Bell."

Yang Zhen'er said, "Little Bell, I want one too! You have to draw one for me too! But you have to draw me pretty, um, I'll find you some reference pictures later!"

Gifts are usually given after dinner, when we're about to eat cake. But since we'd already seen the Little Chubby Girl's gift and had nothing else to do, everyone just took out their own gifts.

Yang Zhen'er's gift was a pair of hiking boots. She noticed that Lao Xia and Xiang Kun often went to Chongyun Mountain for "research" and to check on the construction progress, and their previous shoes were all dirty and worn out. So she prepared a new pair of shoes for her that were more durable and suitable for the occasion. Anyway, she was Lao Xia's long-time clothing and footwear sponsor, so he always knew her size perfectly.

Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er had the same idea: to give him an outdoor watch, which was naturally much better in terms of function and brand than Lao Xia's original G-SHOCK.

In addition, after learning about Lao Xia's birthday, Zhang Qian also sent a gift, asking Tang Baona to give it to Lao Xia —a sports backpack from a luxury brand. The reason for sending this gift was that when Xiang Kun and the others went to Peng City, they saw the large and somewhat old men's backpack that Lao Xia was carrying, and thought it must have been used for a long time.

Zicheng and Chu Xiaoting only found out yesterday that Little Apple others came to Chongyun Mountain Lao Xia's birthday, so they made preparations in a hurry and gave him a small handicraft they bought in Tongshi Town.

Seeing that Xia Tianhuo had been sitting still, Yang Zhen'er asked, "Big Guy, what gift did you give Lao Xia?"

"Well, hehe, to be honest, I only found out it was Lao Xia's birthday on the 20th when you guys mentioned it on the bus. I've been staying in the village these past few days and haven't gone out, so I haven't had time to prepare a gift. Hehe, remember this gift for now, I'll make it up to you later. I have lots of local specialties from Africa and Southeast Asia at home, Lao Xia can choose whatever he likes." Xia Tianhuo wasn't embarrassed at all, and said shamelessly. He knew very well that Lao Xia definitely didn't care about whether he had a birthday gift or not.

"Wow! You're such a terrible cousin... tsk tsk tsk!" Yang Zhen'er shook her head with a look of disgust.

"Hey, Yang the Third, you didn't give me a birthday present! Oh right, I remember now, you even blew out my candles for me on my eighteenth birthday!" Xia Tianhuo glared at his cousin.

Yang Zhen'er glared at him back then. "I was just a child back then! How dare you argue with a primary school student?"

"Kid my foot! You were already in middle school back then!"

Although he knew the siblings were joking, Professor Li Yang still intervened and asked Little Apple to bring out the gift she had prepared—he knew his daughter had put a lot of effort into it.

Little Apple's gift was quite special; instead of presenting any physical item, she asked Tang Baona to open her email and play an audio file.

As soon as the audio file was played, everyone in the living room fell silent, listening with expressions of amazement.

This audio is full of bird calls, but these calls are not chaotic. The melodious chirping even has a melody. If you listen carefully, the melody is "Happy Birthday"!

You can hear that one bird's song is the loudest and clearest, while the other birdsongs mostly serve as harmonies or accompaniment.

Finally, Little Apple joined in with her soft humming, which surprisingly blended in quite harmoniously. After she finished singing, Little Apple whispered, "Happy birthday, Sister Bing."

Chu Xiaoting, who had been completely mesmerized, couldn't help but applaud. "Amazing! This is the first time I've ever heard birdsong sound so beautiful. It's absolutely fantastic! Was this edited? No, the singing is so continuous, it doesn't sound edited. Is it AI-generated sound?"

The birdsong, lasting barely a minute, felt to everyone like a full-fledged concert.

Even Tang Baona, who helped with the audio production, couldn't help but admire it when she listened to it again.

Little Apple only mentioned that the voice acting mainly relied on "Gold Glitter," but didn't elaborate on whether it was synthesized, edited, or how it was done.

She naturally couldn't tell anyone other than Lao Xia that the birds chirping along in the audio were coerced by "Gold Glitter" to sing along, and that all she needed to do was teach "Gold Glitter."

Xia Libing listened attentively to the audio. From it, she could discern Gold Glitter's learning and comprehension abilities. Furthermore, by comparing the sounds of other birds in the same video, she could clearly perceive the difference in Gold Glitter.

"It's a wonderful gift, thank you, Little Apple," Xia Libing said.

"I'm glad you like it, Sister Bing." Little Apple said happily, and "Gold Glitter" by the window also puffed out her chest slightly.

Yang Zhen'er circled the customer area and noticed that everyone had already shown their gifts. Suddenly remembering something, she jumped up from her stool. "That's right, Chef Xiang! Chef Xiang must have prepared a gift!"

So she rushed into the kitchen, then rushed out a few seconds later and ran into Xiang Kun the first floor. Half a minute later, she returned to the living room with a small wooden box, handed it to Lao Xia, and said, slightly out of breath, "A gift from Chef Xiang."

Under everyone's gaze, Xia Libing took the small wooden box and opened it, eliciting a chorus of "Eh!"

Instead of being amazed, most people were puzzled, because at first glance, they didn't understand what it was.

Yang Zhen'er picked it up and looked at it before frowning and saying, "This is... a wristband?"

Inside the wooden box was a black leather wristband, studded with many small metal pins, giving it a punk or gothic feel.

Yang Zhen'er put it on her wrist and looked at it, then said in surprise, "It really is a wristband? Did Chef Xiang make this himself? It's just... uglier than I can believe! Ugh, how could Chef Xiang make a wristband like this? It's completely out of Lao Xia's style! Lao Xia, this gift should be refused, returned! Even if Chef Xiang makes a few more wood carvings, they'd be much better than this ugly wristband!"

Tang Baona couldn't help but nod in agreement, then described the "ugly" wristband to Little Apple next to her.

Zicheng also had a wry smile on his face, "A Tu's aesthetic sense is really 'A Tu'! Super tacky straight man style! So tacky!"

However, Xia Libing took the wristband back, put it on herself, and said calmly, "I think it's fine."

What others didn't know was that this wristband was actually made by Xiang Kun and Lao Xia together. Xiang Kun had previously thought about how to make it easier for Lao Xia to carry more "Super-Linked Object" after they were connected. Before, she always carried nine Coin, which were not only heavy, but also jingled when she walked around if they weren't secured in her pocket. Although the "tungsten steel beads" were small, they were also inconvenient to carry if there were too many. After thinking it over, it was more suitable to create a "modular wearable device" that could be added to and removed at any time. Thus, the idea for this wristband came about.

The uniformly sized small iron pieces embedded on it are naturally Xiang Kun's "Super-Linked Object". After removing these iron pieces using a special method, there are still a lot of narrow spaces opened up inside the wristband, which can hold tungsten steel beads, up to a capacity of more than one hundred.

Moreover, no matter what materials or construction these decorations are made of, they won't arouse suspicion. They can be easily removed for security checks, and there's no need to worry about inspections.

Xiang Kun was in charge of the internal functions and craftsmanship of this wristband, while the appearance was actually more of Xia Libing's opinion.

"Dinner's ready! Dinner's ready!" At this moment Xiang Kun came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of dishes and asked Zi Cheng and Yang Zhen'er to come into the kitchen to help serve the dishes and set the table. "By the way, Brother Fu knows that Lao Xia's favorite food is crispy pork knuckle, so he specially went to the slaughterhouse today to get these freshest and highest quality pork knuckles. Everyone, eat as much as you want, there's plenty to go around!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Shiling, whose video call was still ongoing, craned her neck on the other side, as if trying to stick her head out of the video. Unfortunately, the camera wasn't angled towards the dining table, so she could only see the enthusiastic expressions of the other people, which made her imagine the delicious food that "Bald Uncle" was making.

Just as dinner was about to begin, You Meng's wife, Liang Yulong, also arrived from Tongshi Town, bringing some dishes that You Meng had prepared.

Liu Caifu also had several jars of local specialty fruit wine sent over.

Everyone enjoyed the sumptuous dinner, not only because Xiang Kun had gone to great lengths to prepare a lot of dishes and had good wine to accompany them, but also because it was Lao Xia's birthday, which allowed all the friends to gather together.

After they had almost finished eating, Xiang Kun and Tang Baona began preparing the cake, Xia Libing felt her phone vibrate. She picked it up and glanced at it; it was a system notification: "Come to the door."

She instantly realized it was Alice.

Xia Libing looked up at Xiang Kun, who was unwrapping a birthday cake. Xiang Kun glanced back at her and continued working. She immediately understood: Alice had not asked her on Xiang Kun's orders, but Xiang Kun knew.

Xia Libing then went to the restroom first, and then naturally crossed the yard, opened the gate, and went outside.