Volume 6: Summer Chapter 26: Dragon Slaying
"I hope it can come back," Jiang You took off his glasses. He pulled out a few tissues, wiped the sweat and lenses off his face, and put them back on. After his vision cleared, he noticed that Liu Boyang's expression had become depressed. He said, "Even if it comes back, it may not be your Jiujiu. It may be an ordinary coal tit or a Tyrannosaurus Rex."
"Tyrannosaurus Rex?" Lin Yu's voice interrupted.
"There is a school of thought that says that hundreds of thousands of years ago, some small dinosaurs were forced to climb trees and learned to fly, and that's how birds came into being," Jiang You felt his stomach was empty, "so eating chicken is the same as eating dragons. I ate a dragon last night."
After saying that, he stood up, took out a large bag of beef jerky from the kitchen and scattered it on the table.
"As for the Tyrannosaurus Rex, it would be sent to a special place for research, right?" Liu Boyang asked
"Of course, it will be sliced," Jiang You tore open the small package and ate the beef, "I have always wanted to raise a bird, even a sparrow, but my son won't let me."
"Meow~"
Jiang You turned his head and saw Jiang Mo holding Zhao Cai and walking down the stairs.
Jiang Mo staggered out of the store, walked down the steps, squatted beside the skateboard, put Zhaocai on the skateboard, and then looked at Zhaocai.
After a few seconds, Zhao lowered his head, grabbed the skateboard with his claws, and slid back a short distance.
Jiang Mo continued to stare at it.
It slid back a little further.
"This cat is very smart," said Liu Boyang.
"I plan to train it to go through a fire circle to attract customers." Jiang You stood up after feeling the heat on his body dissipate a little. "Let's go take a look at the camphor tree, and then go out for lunch. What do you think of the Chu Restaurant we went to last time?"
"I'm fine with either." Lin Yu said.
"Me too." Liu Boyang followed.
As they were talking, the three of them walked up to the camphor tree.
The camphor tree had grown very tall. Standing next to the tree, the fragrance filled the air around them.
"What's wrong with the tree?" Liu Boyang asked.
Jiang You stretched out his hand and placed his palm on the tree trunk.
Some points of light floated out from the trunk and leaves of the camphor tree.
Liu Boyang stretched out his hand, and the light fell on his palm and merged into his body.
"If Jiujiu comes back," Jiang You looked at him, "will your parents agree to let you raise her?"
"Don't worry about them." Liu Boyang's voice was a little dry.
"What's wrong?" Jiang You asked.
Lin Yu felt someone was looking at him. He turned his head and saw Jiang Mo stood up, slowly walked to the swing, sat down, and looked at him again.
He raised his leg and walked behind Jiang Mo and started pushing the swing.
"I feel like I've died once, and it was Jiujiu who brought me back to life. My mentality feels different now," he looked up at the tree. The treetops were very symmetrical, except that the leaves on one side were a little bald. "My parents think that the reason I've ended up like this, with my girlfriend running away and my job gone, and having to rely on friends for odd jobs, is because I didn't follow their ideas. So as long as I realize my mistakes , and do whatever they say from now on, all problems can be solved."
"That makes sense." Jiang You commented.
"So I can't control it anymore. Wenjun also talked to me a lot. Maybe I am more open-minded now, so I have made breakthroughs in design. In the past, I was too stubborn in many aspects. In a few years, when I have some achievements to show for myself, maybe my parents will listen to me," Liu Boyang smiled bitterly. "I was too obedient when I was a child. If I could be more rebellious during my rebellious period, I wouldn't be like this now."
"When your wings are strong enough, you should fly."
"I think so now. Wenjun said that I still want to get my parents' approval."
“I think of both.”
"How is Yang Xuan doing recently ?" Liu Boyang asked.
"There's a play going on in the summer, right? Are you in touch with her?"
"I admire her a little bit," Liu Boyang said with emotion, "She has experienced so much at such a young age, with ups and downs. Compared with her parents, the things that happened in my family are really..."
"Do you still remember the fragment of space where you and Jiujiu met?" Jiang You interrupted Liu Boyang. He pulled a leaf down from the side of the tree canopy that was not bald and put it under his nose to smell it.
“Yes.”
"Two or three months ago, I accidentally got the core of a relatively complete small world, and I fed it to this tree. I originally thought that it would take decades, or even hundreds or thousands of years, for the tree to fully absorb the energy inside, but..."
"But what?"
Jiang You sighed slightly, "The reason why Shu sent Jiujiu away was because the world they were in was about to disappear completely. Now that we have energy to replenish it..."
“Is it thinking about Chuchu too?”
"Maybe, it's just a young branch of the original tree. The original tree's obsession has affected it, so it keeps absorbing and transforming the core energy day and night, but its world no longer exists," Jiang You looked at the half of the tree crown that was torn bald. He worked hard to weave and crushed the leaves in his hands. "It has no intelligence, and I can't communicate with it. I can only release some energy to it from time to time. If it continues like this, I'm afraid it will be attacked by the energy."
"What will happen if there is a backlash?" Liu Boyang was a little nervous.
"Maybe it's gone?" Jiang You sighed, "Turned into gray smoke and fell into the dust."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"Found Jiujiu." Jiang You said.
"Me? Can I?"
"You gave it its name, and only you can find it."
" How find it?"
"Go to where it is, call its name, and after getting its response, bring it back to this world," Jiang You looked at Liu Boyang. "It's not dangerous. It can be said that there is almost no danger, but you have to be patient. It may be done in one go, or it may take one or two months for it to respond. It may also take one or two years for nothing to happen."
"When do we start?"
"Don't worry. I know someone who is very good at divination. He can give us some direction and save us some time." Jiang You patted Liu Boyang on the shoulder. "If you agree, I will start preparing."
"Okay, okay."
"There's one more thing I want to ask you for help with ."
"What's up?"
"I'm going to hold an art exhibition for my son on Children's Day," Jiang You turned around and looked at Jiang Mo sitting on the swing, swinging up into the air and then falling down. "Can you help me think about how to decorate this yard or the store? I bought a lot of balloons on Taobao."
Liu Boyang felt a headache and said, "Let me think about it. The exhibition hall layout needs to have a focus. Do you still want to change the gate?"
"Change it, and use plan one," Jiang You said angrily, "I don't believe that my sales volume won't increase."
