The Door to a New World (Part 1)

On October 3, Tang Baona went back to her parents' home in Shenhai.

On one hand, she was coming back to attend a relative's wedding, and on the other hand, tomorrow, October 4th, her parents, sister, and brother-in-law wanted to celebrate her birthday and have a meal together.

Back in late September, Xiang Kun put on a "grand show" in Chongyun Village under the guise of celebrating her birthday in advance. The surprise was indeed quite delightful, but it also left me with a lot of questions.

Unfortunately, she never saw Xiang Kun again after that day!

She was eagerly waiting for Xiang Kun to return that evening or the next day so she could ask him about the lightning storm in the mountains, how the fireworks were made, and whether he had secretly developed some new technology, like glasses-free 3D or something.

As it turned out, Xiang Kun didn't come back! He just sent a message in the group saying that he suddenly had to go on a business trip!

What business trip? Isn't Yang the Third keeping an eye on things in Peng City?

However, Tang Baona was too embarrassed to keep asking questions like Yang the Third did, but this time Yang the Third didn't raise any objections to the Xiang Kun posted in the group.

Before returning to Shenhai this time, Yang the Third had already brought Liu Shiling, a newly enrolled primary school student who was on holiday for the National Day, to Chongyun Village.

Tang Baona originally wanted to ask Yang the Third go back with her, or maybe bring Little Bell, Little Apple, and Lao Xia along, so that everyone could have a lively time together. After she attended the wedding, everyone could play together in Shenhai for a few more days, since the Little Chubby Girl wouldn't be back in school until the 9th of the long holiday.

But to her surprise, Yang the Third, whom she thought would definitely go back with her, was the first to say he wanted to stay. Then Little Apple, Little Bell, and Lao Xia also didn't want to go to Shenhai.

If it weren't for the fact that everyone had specially prepared a birthday party for her that evening to celebrate her birthday early, she would have felt a bit lonely and isolated.

However, without a head Chef Xiang, the Chongyun Village cooking team, led by Yang the Third and Lao Xia, and assisted by Little Chubby Girl and Little Apple, produced some truly unappetizing dishes. If it weren't for a few dishes delivered by "Youlong Restaurant," they probably wouldn't have had a full "dinner."

But the cooking process was still quite fun. Little Chubby Girl and Little Apple smeared flour all over each other's faces, and Yang Zhen'er and Lao Xia were engrossed in researching their own culinary creations, even making a bet that whoever could finish their dish first would win.

Even Tang Baona herself made several "turtle dumplings," "puppy dumplings," "tiger dumplings," and even "Gold Glitter dumplings" and "Egg Pie dumplings." Of course, in the end, they all turned out to be strangely shaped. But the ones she cooked herself weren't too hard to swallow.

However, the four of them managed to put together some barely edible dishes, unlike last Christmas Eve when everyone gathered for dinner. Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er originally planned to go all out and prepare a table full of delicacies to entertain everyone, but in the end, the ingredients ran away and they didn't even know how to cook them. It was Xiang Kun who took over and saved the day.

Although Xiang Kun wasn't here today, his birthday gift had been prepared in advance: a wooden bracelet. If you looked closely, each ebony bead was engraved with intricate patterns. Each pattern featured a chibi version of Tang Baona, dressed in armor, wielding a greatsword, wearing round-framed glasses, with pigtails and chubby cheeks.

Some are chibi versions of Tang Baona fighting Monster; some are chibi versions of Tang Baona dozing off, with a big bubble on her nose and wrapped in a thick blanket; some are chibi versions of Tang Baona teaching chibi Little Chubby Girl to draw; some are chibi versions of Tang Baona munching on a big meat bun; and some are chibi versions of Tang Baona singing engrossed in a microphone with her eyes closed...

Although the surface space of each wooden bead is not large, and it is round with holes for threading rope, Xiang Kun still carved the story of each bead very fully and smoothly, with great attention to detail. However, it is quite tiring to the eyes to look at without a magnifying glass.

Tang Baona really liked this bracelet. She would wear it on her wrist, gently turning the wooden beads, squinting her eyes as she slowly looked at the pictures on it. She could look at them for half an hour at a time with great interest, and when she saw something funny, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself.

The Little Chubby Girl was also incredibly envious of the bracelet. When Tang Baona opened the gift, she stood by the table and saw the patterns carved on the wooden beads of the bracelet. Her eyes were filled with the words "I want it too." Of course, she knew that this was a birthday gift from Uncle Baldy to the pretty older sister, and she couldn't accept it. However, she had already decided that when it was her birthday, she would ask Uncle Baldy for a similar birthday gift!

What surprised Tang Baona even more was that when she boarded the flight back to Shenhai, she closed her eyes and played with the wooden beads on her wrist. Suddenly, she felt a sensation and regained that ability to sense the melody represented by other people's emotions. She could clearly identify who was next to her, how far away they were, and what they looked like.

This feeling was slightly weaker than when she was with Xiang Kun, but it was still very clear and certain. Moreover, she could even decide for herself whether to perceive the Emotional Melody of other people or the rhythm of the surrounding objects, as if something was mixed in with the surroundings, helping her to locate the Item Melody.

In addition to discussing the details of various melodies with Little Apple these past few days and analyzing how Little Apple judges the meaning of these melodies, Tang Baona's understanding and control of the Item Melody has become more and more natural. She no longer finds the various Item Melody mixed together to be a headache or noisy. Instead, she can actively mix them together and then use different instruments in her mind to perform and play them together, as if she is conducting a super large-scale symphony performance, which is very exciting.

When this comprehensive interpretation was combined, she discovered that her melodies were no longer expressions of a single object, but rather expressions of an entire space. There was the environment of an airplane cabin, advertisements on various electronic screens, sleeping passengers, couples whispering and flirting while wearing the same pair of headphones, flight attendants pushing carts, clouds outside the window, wind outside the window, the joy of some people, and the sorrow of others. She could simply close her eyes and rely on her senses to "fill in" and recreate the surrounding environment in her mind through these melodies.

She could even imagine herself transforming into an entire airplane, soaring through the air, flying against the wind and clouds, feeling incredibly happy.

As the plane landed, she had already arranged a symphony in her mind. When she opened her eyes, she immediately looked at the ebony bracelet on her wrist.

She was certain that her sudden return to the ability to perceive the melody on the plane was not because Xiang Kun was hiding on the plane, but because of the bracelet that Xiang Kun had given her!

This bracelet is like a miniature Xiang Kun, or rather, an antenna... No, it can't be called an antenna. An antenna passively receives signals, but she can actively explore and perceive various melodies around her. She can choose to perceive the emotions of others, or the emotions of a specific person, or she can choose to perceive the Item Melody, or the melodies of objects in a specific location.

Well, it's more like a radio; it can receive signals and tune frequencies.

As Tang Baona walked out of the airport, she played with the beaded bracelet on her wrist, pondering the meaning Xiang Kun's birthday gift to her.

If the "function" of this beaded string is due to Xiang Kun's deliberate arrangement, then it proves that Xiang Kun already knew about her ability to perceive emotions and objects through melody—and it's even possible that this ability also came from Xiang Kun's arrangement!

Thinking back to the night before, Xiang Kun wished her a happy birthday amidst a lightning storm in the deep mountains and a dazzling fireworks display, Tang Baona suddenly realized that Xiang Kun was holding her hand, leading her into a brand new, colorful world, and that the curtain covering this New World was about to be lifted.

Tang Baona was a little nervous and expectant. On the surface, she remained quite reserved and calm, but the chuunibyou girl with pigtails hidden in her heart was already cheering with joy.

"Nana, how does the roast chicken Mom made taste?"

At the dinner table, after watching her daughter finish a piece of roast chicken leg, Tang Baona's mother quickly asked, "I've improved the recipe and cooking method. Your father and Tingting have both tried it and think it tastes much better than what I used to make!"

Tang Baona nodded repeatedly, "Mmm, it's delicious!"

"Then... how does it compare to what Xiang Kun did?" Tang's mother continued to ask.

"Huh?" Tang Baona was taken aback, not expecting her mother to ask such a question. Although her mother's roast chicken did taste much better than before, it still seemed quite inferior to "Chef Xiang's " dishes. After all, "Chef Xiang"... he is "Chef Xiang," after all.

"I always hear you, Tingting, Little Gao, and Yang's daughter say that Xiang Kun's cooking is incredibly delicious. You guys often eat at his place. I just wanted to see if my amazing roast chicken, which I've spent sixty years developing, could outdo Xiang Kun's!" Tang's mother couldn't help but laugh halfway through her sentence.

Tang Baoting immediately chimed in, "Of course! Mom, your roast chicken has reached a level where it's better than chicken without any real chicken, the chicken meat tastes like beef, one bite is fragrant, two bites are sweet, and three bites are absolutely heavenly! It's definitely much better than Xiang Kun's!"

Tang's mother chuckled and patted her eldest daughter on the shoulder, "Where did you learn so many rhymes? You even know them all! Go away, I was asking Nana, not you."

Tang Baoting clutched her shoulder, her face filled with sorrow, and said, "Mom! You don't love me anymore! You're biased! You only love Nana!"

"Why are you suddenly acting like a drama queen again? Enough already! Today is Nana's birthday, of course I have to ask Nana." Tang's mother was both amused and exasperated.

Tang Baona was also amused by her sister and kept laughing, then nodded repeatedly. "Mom's cooking is definitely delicious, definitely, absolutely! If you don't believe me, ask your brother-in-law, he's the most honest man, he never lies!"

Gao Yao, who was happily eating chicken Zhengyi School watching his fiancée's antics and the "Tang family civil war," was startled to find that the eyes of the other four people at the table were focused on him. He almost choked and coughed a few times before hearing his future mother-in-law's gentle voice. "Little Gao, you've eaten Xiang Kun's cooking before, right? Come on, tell me, how does this roast chicken compare to Xiang Kun's?"

"Well... Xiang Kun doesn't seem to have made roast chicken before. He mainly uses rabbit meat as an ingredient..." Gao Yao's words suddenly became rapid halfway through. "But even his specialty, rabbit meat, can't compare to Mom's roast chicken. Roast chicken is so delicious! Much more delicious!"

Tang Baoting immediately said, "Mom, look, Gao Yao said the same thing, so it proves he's right! He's an honest man, he never lies!"

Mrs. Tang laughed, "Alright, alright, you're all teaming up to make me happy." But even though she said that, she was actually quite happy inside.

As they continued eating, Tang Baona frequently picked up the serving chopsticks to put food on her father's, mother's, sister's, and brother-in-law's plates. She suddenly realized that she could accurately judge her family's state and what they wanted to do next, such as what dishes they wanted to eat, based on the Emotional Melody she sensed.

So whenever someone takes a few bites of food from their bowl or plate, and just as they look up before even picking up their own chopsticks, Tang Baona immediately anticipates their intention and accurately reaches for the serving chopsticks to pick up food for them. Bao Ting is thirsty and wants to pour herself more drinks, Tang Baona can always fill her cup a moment earlier.

Tang Baona herself became very interested in this predictive ability and started playing with it enthusiastically.

But the other four people at the table clearly noticed the unusual situation. Tang Baoting couldn't help but say, "Nana, you've been hanging out with Lao Xia a lot lately. Have you learned some psychological tricks from him? Like micro-expressions or micro-movements? Can you tell which dish I want to pick up and what I want to eat?"

"Huh?" Tang Baona realized that she had become a little too complacent about her experimental predictive abilities, so she chuckled twice and then passed the buck to Lao Xia: "Yeah, yeah, I learned it from Lao Xia."

Gao Yao couldn't help but ask curiously, "How exactly did you determine that? You just put that piece of fish on my plate, and it happened to be the one I wanted most, but I remember I wasn't looking at the plate at the time."

Tang Baona was taken aback. She couldn't very well say that the melody she was playing just now had guided her to pick up that piece of meat, could she? She could only say, "This is Lao Xia's secret technique, a closely guarded secret, and cannot be revealed casually!"

"That's good, that's good. A girl who knows how to read people won't be taken advantage of, and she can also be seen as considerate, gentle, and understanding. Hehe, you should also make a good impression when you meet your in-laws. By the way, Nana, how are things going between you and Xiang Kun?" Tang's mother, however, suddenly steered the conversation to a topic that made Tang Baona a little uneasy.

"Huh? Mom, why are you asking this all of a sudden? Xiang Kun and I are doing great. Our company is really awesome now. Didn't I share a game in the group chat last time? We made that game, it's super fun! Mom, have you played it?" Tang Baona swerved the steering wheel to change the subject.

"Your sister often raves about Xiang Kun to me, and your grandfather has also mentioned him, saying he's a pretty good young man." Tang's mother, however, remained unfazed, looking at Tang Baona's left wrist. "By the way, this was a gift from Xiang Kun, wasn't it? He made it himself?"

Tang Baona, who had been unconsciously playing with the beaded bracelet on her wrist, suddenly stopped. "Mom, how did you know?" Xiang Kun gave her this bracelet; apart from Yang the Third, Little Bell, Little Apple, and Lao Xia, no one else should know. She hadn't mentioned it to her family yet.