Volume 9: The Days Can’t Be Lived Anymore
Golden Thread Rabbit1
Eating Hot Pot
Shen Maomao froze for a second before she caught up with her change in topic.
She understood that Lou Jingmo didn’t want to dwell on this issue, nor did she want to hear words of pity or sympathy, so she went along with her and replied: “Buy some lotus root slices! And bok choy! Crown daisy! Mushrooms! Fried tofu puffs! Tofu skin! Duck blood! Meatballs! Crab sticks! Dipping sauces! Scallions and cilantro! And my osmanthus sweet dumplings!2“
There was no sound from Lou Jingmo’s end for a long while.
Shen Maomao said, dissatisfied, “Are you even listening? Did you remember all that?”
Lou Jingmo told the truth: “I didn’t. You’re asking for too much.”
Shen Maomao: “Forget it, I overestimated your IQ.”
Lou Jingmo: “??”
Shen Maomao: “I’ll type it out and send it to you on WeChat. I’m going to go soak some dried wood ear mushrooms!3 Do we still have any at home?”
Lou Jingmo: “We do. Go ahead.”
Shen Maomao cheerfully ran down from upstairs, took out the dried wood ear mushrooms from the kitchen cabinet to soak in water, and then took two bones from the freezer, also placing them in water to thaw.
After finishing all this, she pulled out a chair in the dining room and sat down, muttering to herself as she sent Lou Jingmo a WeChat message: “Bok choy, lotus root slices… oh right, and shrimp paste4 and fatty lamb noodles!5“
Lou Jingmo said helplessly, “Do you think I can carry all that?”
Shen Maomao hesitated and suggested, “How about I come pick you up?”
Lou Jingmo refused: “No need. Have faith in your girlfriend’s abilities. You just stay home and be good. Don’t take a single step outside without my permission.”
Shen Maomao inexplicably made a connection to a little black room plot6: “Are you trying to imprison me?”
Lou Jingmo: “Can’t I?”
“Eee! How exciting!”
Lou Jingmo: “…”
Shen Maomao couldn’t stop laughing: “I’m now the golden silk canary you’ve locked up, eagerly waiting every day for you to come back and favor me with your presence…”
Lou Jingmo: “If you keep being an idiot, I’m hanging up.”
Shen Maomao quickly stopped her: “No, no, no! Did you get my sweet dumplings? And can you help me grab a bag of pickled chili chicken feet?7 Please, Lou-jie!”
Thanks to her, Lou Jingmo ended up carrying two large bags back by herself. Fortunately, the supermarket was just downstairs, and she could go straight up via the elevator, so it wasn’t particularly difficult.
The signal in the elevator was poor. She told Shen Maomao before she went in and hung up the voice chat directly.
In the elevator, she ran into a few familiar neighbors. They were extremely surprised to see the two large bags at her feet. One of the older aunties struck up a conversation with her: “Xiao Lou went shopping at the supermarket?”
Lou Jingmo took off one of her earbuds and hummed a soft “mhm.” “Bought it for my girlfriend.”
The auntie was stunned for a moment, then smiled: “Aiyo? You actually found a girlfriend? It’s over, my son’s heart is going to be broken.”
Lou Jingmo said: “You’re too kind.”
The elevator stopped. The auntie waved her hand and said politely, “This is my stop, I’m off. Bring your girlfriend over to Auntie Wang’s for dinner when you have the chance.”
Lou Jingmo replied: “If there’s a chance.”
Auntie Wang smiled and walked out of the elevator.
When you get old, your eyesight really starts to go. Why did it feel like the kid’s expression was a little sad when she was being polite with me? It’s just a meal, what’s there to be sad about? Looks like I’ll have to get another pair of reading glasses when I get back.
…
Meanwhile, Lou Jingmo arrived at her front door. She placed the bags on the doormat that read “Peace and safety upon entering and leaving”8 but hesitated to take out her keys.
She didn’t know what scene would be waiting for her behind the door, nor did she know if the things she bought still had any meaning. She even felt a sense of escapism.
It was as if, so long as she didn’t open this door, she could believe that Shen Maomao was still alive.
However, this thought didn’t last long, because a ringtone suddenly shattered the silence, startling the voice-activated lights in the dim hallway into turning on and startling the indecisive Lou Jingmo awake.
She took out her phone. Seeing the caller ID, which had been forcibly changed by someone to “Wifey”, she couldn’t help but curl the corners of her lips. Her finger tapped the screen, and she answered the call.
“What were you doing behind my back? Why did it take so long to ride the elevator? How has it been eight hundred years and you’re still not up? Is it because you have another dog outside? Do you not love me anymore? Can we even be together anymore?”
Lou Jingmo’s smile gradually faded. “I’m at the door. If you’re calling me, what am I supposed to use to open the door? My head?”
Shen Maomao bolted from her chair to the door, yanked the lock open, and said with a smile while holding her phone, “You’re back? Thanks for your hard work!”
The voice in front of her overlapped with the voice in her ear. Such a cheerful tone eased Lou Jingmo’s heavy heart considerably. She nudged the grocery bags with the tip of her foot. “I’m tired. If you would be so kind?”
Shen Maomao rolled up her sleeves. “Alright! Let me show you what a natural-born chef looks like!” With that, she picked up the two large bags and headed for the kitchen.
Lou Jingmo followed closely behind, closing the door behind her and shutting all the darkness outside. Only the warm, yellow light of the living room and kitchen remained, making her feel for a moment as if something in the bottom of her heart was about to overflow.
At this very moment, she stopped thinking about the bewildering future. She only wanted to watch Shen Maomao closely, to cherish every single second she had with her now, so that when Shen Maomao left, she wouldn’t have any regrets.
…
Shen Maomao blanched the meat in hot water, then marinated it with cooking wine and oyster sauce to remove any gamey smell. Then, she put a pot on the stove again and boiled water to prepare the soup base.
After washing her hands, Lou Jingmo proactively crouched in front of the trash can to sort the vegetables. Her actions created a strong sense of dissonance with her face, so much so that Shen Maomao felt too embarrassed to let her continue.
But that was just a thought. The work still had to be done. Otherwise, if she had to do it all by herself, they probably wouldn’t be eating even after dark.
Soon, the meat broth was ready, bubbling and releasing a fragrant aroma. For the sake of her own life and safety, Shen Maomao ordered Lou Jingmo to carry the pot of soup while she herself picked up the induction cooker. She scurried into the dining room, then directed Lou Jingmo to place the soup pot on the induction cooker and simultaneously find an outlet to plug it in.
With a “beep,” the induction cooker awakened, and the meat broth began to bubble again. She melted the hot pot base into the broth, then dumped all the ingredients, which had been sorted and arranged by Lou Jingmo on the table, into the pot.
At first, they both reached in with their chopsticks at the same time. As they ate, it gradually became Lou Jingmo cooking the food and Shen Maomao eating. Shen Maomao ate until her mouth was slick with oil; she would probably gain two jin9 by the next morning.
After dinner, the two of them cleaned up the dishes and then snuggled up on the sofa to play on their phones.
Originally, the post-dinner exercise should have been driving a car10, but Shen Maomao was too full. She was afraid that after strenuous exercise, she would throw up in the car. If that happened, Lou Jingmo would probably never let her drive a car again, so the activity was changed to them doing their own things.
The sky turned completely dark. Below the living room’s floor-to-ceiling window was a sea of lights like a starry sky, but not a single star would stop for them.
It was clearly past their bedtime, but neither of them had any intention of sleeping, continuing to chat idly.
Shen Maomao asked, “What did you go through in the last instance? You’re so powerful, yet you still died. If it were anyone else, wouldn’t it have been certain death without a doubt?”
Lou Jingmo’s eyes didn’t leave her phone screen. “To be honest, I’m not that powerful.”
Shen Maomao clicked her tongue. “Excessive modesty is just another form of pride.”11
Lou Jingmo glanced at her expressionlessly. “Fine. I’m the number one player in the game right now. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”
Shen Maomao was very accepting. “Even if I did, it’s not my place to say. I’m your most loyal story co-editor.”
Lou Jingmo smiled and briefly recounted what had happened in the last hour of the previous instance. “At that time, I was blocked at the door by Huo Dongdong and couldn’t get out. After the clock struck eleven, I regained my memories and immediately used an item on that ball of light, but the item had no effect.”
Shen Maomao: “Was it a bug?”
Lou Jingmo shook her head. “Not a bug. The item was usable, it could even blast Huo Dongdong away, but it couldn’t break down the door, nor could it do any damage to the ball of light. After the door was sealed shut, Huo Dongdong threw himself into the ball of light like a sacrifice, and then I was the only one left outside the door.”
“I could hear your conversation with Shang Zhou outside, and I tried the method you used to leave, but unfortunately, that door seemed to only work when used from inside the maze. I was trapped outside the maze, unable to leave. After absorbing Huo Dongdong, that ball of light grew several times larger and quickly pushed me into a corner. I thought of many methods, you could say I wrung my brains dry12, but I still couldn’t escape from there.”
Shen Maomao was a little disappointed. “I thought you had gone through a heaven-startling, earth-moving battle of life and death. I didn’t expect you to die in such an aggrieved way, just being suffocated to death.”
Lou Jingmo picked up a teacup from the coffee table and took a sip of hot water to soothe her throat, then continued, “It was indeed a bit aggrieved. I feel the same way. I used almost all of my cards, but they were completely useless. Maybe Shang Zhou was right; I was probably targeted by the creators.”
“What do you mean?”
“It should be linked to the 12 cards. I can ask Shang Zhou about it right now, it might prove my theory.” As she spoke, she picked up her phone and sent Shang Zhou a private message on the forum, asking him how many cards he brought into the last instance.
It was so late, but Shang Zhou was surprisingly online. A moment later, he replied with a “5,” followed by another sentence: “Why? Did you discover something?”
Lou Jingmo put down her phone, ignoring him, and turned to raise her eyebrows at Shen Maomao. “It seems my guess was correct. In the last game, I brought all seven of my cards.”
It wasn’t that she subjectively wanted to bring all seven cards. For example, Jacob—after forming a contract with Shen Maomao, the Jacob card was completely useless, just taking up space in her inventory. But because she had never meticulously organized her item storage and hadn’t filled the newly regulated ten item slots in time, the game automatically selected the ten strongest items for her—so counting the duplicates, the stupid-ass game brought ten cards for her.
“In addition to the normal difficulty increase, the game seems to have a hidden mechanic—the more cards you carry with you, the more likely you are to be targeted. It seems my ten cards have made some existence behind the game anxious, so they were willing to risk exposing the horse’s feet13 to get rid of me.” As she spoke, Lou Jingmo frowned again and looked at Shen Maomao. “No… perhaps the one they want to get rid of is you.”
The author has something to say:
Lou-jie’s actions in the previous chapter were indeed not the most appropriate. The reason she could do that is because this is a novel, and she was bound to succeed. But in real life, you must never use yourself as bait! I saw something before, it can be placed inside a girl’s body, and if someone forces the girl to have relations, the moment they enter, it seems like the tool for the crime will be bitten off. It’s truly a great invention.
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