Chapter Forty-Nine: Four Seasons Manor II
“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 tree. 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 red, 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 he 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-style wooden screens and a large arabesque-patterned bed, yet it also had air-conditioning, 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 on the Four Seasons Manor.
Xiao Yu was very displeased. He protested more than once, but all the 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 answers.
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 the Autumn Release Conference.
However, Xiao Yu only noticed the long October holiday because of Nannan.
Regarding the Original Jewelry 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 draw 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 manage 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 with 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 for it to 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 as well showcase his work for the original jewelry 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 of 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 drink 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 head.
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 the boring 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 unhurriedly.
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 means to say that it could not be stabilized, and it could even shake around on the road and end up falling through the gap.
Yan Jin gave a complicated look at the carefree Xiao Yu, who was watching the show from the front seat. Finally, the chairman let out a long sigh and moved the cage to the car trunk.
“Fishy, will you obediently remain in your seat?” Yan Jin asked.
“Squeakk!” No problem!
Yan Jin thought for a while, but he was still worried. He pulled over the passenger seatbelt and said to Xiao Yu: “You cannot go over the safety belt limits, understand?”
“Squeakk.” Okay, okay~
Xiao Yu pressed his little face onto the passenger seat and confidently raised his paw to promise.
Aiya, the last time I got onto Yan Jin’s Lamborghini was two months ago. The feel of this material sure is as good as before.
Yan Jin took out his phone to check on the road conditions. At last, he gritted his teeth and sat in the driver’s seat.
The Chairman Yan that had never doubted his own driving skills in his life, was finally considering hiring a driver because of a hamster.
Xiao Yu was quite obedient at the start. Yan Jin felt slightly comforted seeing how compliant he was. The chairman sped up when he was out of the city limits. Never did Yan Jin expect that Xiao Yu would only be content for that short while. The moment Xiao Yu saw that the human population in the surroundings was decreasing, he started to make a din.
For example, his position changed from the passenger seat to Yan Jin’s thighs.
Yan Jin suppressed his urge to grab the hamster and whack him while the chairman tried to persuade kindly: “Fishy, stop messing around. We’ll be there in a short while.”
“Squeakk.” That’s what you said one hour ago.
“Squeakkk?” Where are we going?
Xiao Yu tugged on Yan Jin’s dress shirt as he attempted to see if he could climb upwards. He was not worried even if he had slide off, Yan Jin would surely catch him anyway.
Yan Jin... reluctantly slowed down and freed one of his hands to entertain Xiao Yu.
The original three to four hours road trip, forcibly became a trip that lasted the entire afternoon. It was near evening when the human and hamster finally reached their destination.
On the contrary, Xiao Yu had endless snacks to munch on. He didn’t care how long the journey took, he was just bored at most. However, Yan Jin had not drunk a single drop of water for the entire trip and he even had to pay attention to see if Xiao Yu was making any dangerous movements while driving the car safely at the same time. Those factors accumulated and almost completely drained his energy.
When the Yan Jin finally got off the car with Xiao Yu in his hands, he sighed in deep relief the moment he slammed the doors shut.
Xiao Yu peeked his little head out from Yan Jin’s hand and looked around. They were surrounded by gratifying maple trees. If they had seen it in the day, the scenery should be quite a view. The pavement was slightly tilted with no stone steps, which probably meant that they were at a small unknown mountain.
Although their country’s mountains all looked the same, Xiao Yu could almost confirm that he had never come to this place before. That was because the mountains that he had climbed before were mostly famous tourist attractions. It was the 10/1 holiday right now; tourists would surely appear regardless of whether or not it was a nameless mountain.
And yet this place, putting aside its scenery, had no third person other than the one human and one hamster.
“Squeak?” Where is this place?
Xiao Yu looked at Yan Jin suspiciously.
Yan Jin lowered his head and press a kiss on Xiao Yu’s little head with no verbal response but a smile.
“Squeakk!” Tell me, tell me!
The sky had already darkened as nightfall approached. There was no source of light deep in the mountains. Plus, there was no place for them to stay in the surrounding. To be honest, Xiao Yu felt a little scared.
“Okay, we’re arriving soon. Just wait a little while more and you’ll see the big surprise.”
Surprise? There’s still a big surprise?
Xiao Yu did not dare to believe that there would be any surprises deep in the mountain, but he still chose to obediently tuck himself into Yan Jin’s embrace without moving around.
The temperature was cooling down over the past two days, and the mountains were windy. Normally, Xiao Yu would curl himself into a ball of fur to ward off the cold, but this time, Xiao Yu was wrapped in Yan Jin’s body temperature. He could only feel warm from head to toe without any hint of cold.
The feeling of being carefully wrapped in someone’s arms wasn’t bad, so Xiao Yu felt that it did not matter if the walk was longer than usual.
However, Yan Jin’s long legs may have contributed to his long strides. Yan Jin’s claim that they would reach their destination in a short while turned out to be a true statement.
Whhhhhooshhh–
A strong breeze blew past, sweeping the red leaves up to dance in the air.
As far as the eyes could see, the beautiful color spread itself before them. Pieces of large maple leaves frantically swept into the air as they danced recklessly and arrogantly in the autumn wind. It was as if they would become a blaze that would soar through the sky in the next second.
A charming painting of autumn scenery composed of light and heavy colors.
And yet, in the middle of that scene, there was something that struck a deeper chord and was even more attractive than the maple forest.
Xiao Yu’s mind blanked out. His only remaining thoughts were –
Ah, it really exists...
Four Seasons Manor.
Translator’s Note:
[1] 十一长假 – it refers to the one-week national holiday in China starting 1st May and 1st October.
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