Chapter Forty-Nine: Four Seasons Manor II (1/2)
“You like it?” Yan Jin asked.
“Squeakkkkk—” Xiao Yu desperately expressed how much he loved the present despite not knowing whether Yan Jin would understand him.
“You like it… That’s good.” Yan Jin thought of something and showed a very nostalgic expression: “It’s called the Four Seasons Manor.”
The villa was covered in layers of maple trees. Instead of calling it Four Seasons Manor, Xiao Yu thought that it was more suitable to be called Maple Leaf Manor.
This was the second time that Xiao Yu had seen a work of art in this style. It was not as breathtaking as the first time he saw the mini hamster town, but it still made him feel extremely happy.
The manor was roughly presented in a long rectangular shape. The entrance was composed of nine twisting and winding corridors that were full of poetic grace with white stones as barriers. Interestingly, beside the veranda was not a courtyard pond paved with stones, but a large pool of water. At first glance, the entire manor looked as if it was built on top of water.
The manor was surrounded by layers upon layers of maple trees arranged into a forest. The purple-red maple leaves were gorgeous and cool; every leaf looked genuinely vivid. They were painted with different shades of red – light red, orange red, scarlet red, deep red, and purplish red – It was an obtrusively bright and showy display of reds, making Xiao Yu gasp in surprise. The highest spot of the manor was like a palace, with some forking tree branches occasionally sticking over the window lattice of the high building, stretching all the way inside. The sharp, pointy red leaves on the tree branches contrasted with the red maple screens and they danced in the air like snowflakes, making them look lively and interesting.
Compared to the mini hamster town that only existed in fairy tales, the interesting and appealing Four Seasons Manor was filled with more liveliness. From the exterior, the twisted corridors and the waterside pavilion were arranged in a crisscross pattern that could make a person feel like they had traveled back in time to the ancient past. However, the interior would bring back their senses, reminding them that they were still in the twenty-first century. The room was decorated with ancient-styled wooden screens and a large arabesque-patterned bed, yet it also had air-conditioning, a television, computer and a smart sanitary area. The contrast was what made Xiao Yu so fond of this resort-like manor. It was far from a completed art piece, yet it made him feel like it was filled with interesting livelihood.
Too bad this was just a miniature artifact. If there was such a resort in real life, how awesome would that be?
Xiao Yu couldn’t help but feel that it was a great pity.
This was the second month after he was adopted by Yan Jin. Xiao Yu had received a giant golden melon seed and a Four Seasons Manor model, as well as half a week’s worth of time set aside to view the mini hamster town.
Why was the time cut in half? Hm, that was because the other half was spent in the Four Seasons Manor.
Xiao Yu was very displeased. He protested more than once, but all his complaints were ignored by Yan Jin’s cruel oppression. One time, Xiao Yu forgot to come out from the mini hamster town within the promised time. In the end, Yan Jin inhumanely cancelled the time meant for exploring the Four Seasons Manor. That made Xiao Yu so angry that he ate an extra portion of melon seeds.
Xiao Yu was then forced to run half an hour on the running wheel.
It was a vicious cycle that had no solutions.
From September to the end of the month, almost everyone was anticipating the long October holiday. This was especially true for YL’s employees. After all, once mid-October was over, they would officially enter the anxious preparation period to face off at the Autumn Release Conference.
However, Xiao Yu only noticed the long October holiday because of Nannan.
Regarding the original jewelry design competition for the Autumn Release Conference, the drafts that Lin Zhou provided served their purpose. After he received the draft from Lin Zhou and cross referenced it with Xiao Yu’s written explanation, Nannan was finally able to successfully complete the final drawing for the preliminary round and the draft for the final round after being lost and uninspired for a whole month. All that in just ten odd days.
Xiao Yu was very satisfied with Nannan’s achievement. The draft for the final round was prepared by Nannan, which could be used after some slight amendments. Victory was within their reach. Then, Xiao Yu mentioned that if Nannan could finish the final completed drawing within the next two days, they would have sufficient time to draw the exhibition products meant for the Autumn Release Conference (if they managed to get a booth).
During this time, Xiao Yu tried his utmost to recall which works he could use from his previous life and what to make do for the conference. After all, it was an individual exhibition booth. Displaying too many exhibits wouldn’t be too suitable. Hence, Xiao Yu could only think of an item or two that would work. But an item or two was not that easy to come up with. First, he had to make sure that it was not any work that SI was planning to present in this conference release. Even lookalikes would not work. Secondly, he must not attract the human Xiao Yu’s attention as much as possible.
As for how to keep ‘his’ own eyes in the dark, that question was too incomprehensible for Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu had prepared for the worst-case scenario that he might have to showcase his work for the original jewelry design competition. But at this point, he would still prefer to bide his time, in case he had some surprising suitable inspirations and they would still make it in time.
Little did Xiao Yu know that Nannan, who was cooperative all along, would raise an objection at this point in time.
[Nannan]: Guru~ I’m fine with doing overtime on the weekends, but you can’t take away the national holidays just like that!
[Nannan]: weepingbittertears.jpg
[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: What national holidays?
[Nannan]: The 10/1 vacation¹, Guru. Did you not have any plans? I even have my airplane tickets booked already.
Xiao Yu paused for a moment.
After Xiao Yu had become a hamster, his sensitivity towards holidays had been decreasing exponentially. After all, his daily life was more luxurious than holidays – early to bed, early to rise, no worries about food or drinks and he even had electronic devices to play with. It was almost like an early retirement life – the tycoon version.
That said, even if he didn’t care about the holidays, that did not mean that others would be as mindless about it as he was.
[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Uh, my bad. I forgot about that.
[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: I’m really sorry. You go ahead and enjoy the 10/1 holiday. You can settle these when you’re back.
[Nannan]: Okay (toodeepfortears.jpg)
The guilty Xiao Yu sent a few more apologetic messages before throwing this matter to the back of his mind.
The drawings were settled for now. Xiao Yu became even more idle. The bored hamster decided to log into Toxic.
At this point, Xiao Yu could utilize his hamster body freely at will, especially when he played Toxic. He even thought that he had been performing better than when he was a human.
In fact, Xiao Yu won several times and gained levels rapidly. He had watched a few professional players live stream recently and prepared himself to train four to five powerful heroes to reach the King segment in one breath.
Xiao Yu even specifically calculated the duration needed – as long as his teammates weren’t too lousy, the entire holiday was more than enough.
That’s right, Xiao Yu originally thought that he would be spending all of his time gaming away during theboring long holiday, until he was carried together with the cage into the car by Yan Jin.
That was the first day of the long holiday.
Xiao Yu watched in confusion as Yan Jin rushed about. The hamster hugged his melon seeds as he squatted on the passenger seat, munching away leisurely.
Yan Jin tried for a long time before he finally confirmed that Xiao Yu’s cage was a little wider than the back seat, but at the same time, not wide enough to reach the front seats. Which meant that it could not be stabilized, and it could even shake around on the road and end up falling through the gap.