Saturday.
Despite the events that had transpired, Er Ya had meticulously noted the grand meal that had been agreed upon.
Today was the day she would eat king crab!
She had never tried it before, but she heard it was delicious.
Professor Tang, engrossed in his experiments day and night, looked a little weathered.
If anyone dared to disturb him at this time, he would surely lash out and chase them away in a fit of temper.
However, facing Da Ya and Er Ya, Professor Tang merely curled his lips in annoyance. "All you think about is eating! Foodies! Just like that old fogey! You'll be as fat as that old fogey in the future!"
"It's your business if you want to be an immortal, but we need to eat and sleep," Er Ya scoffed. "You promised king crab, and at your age, you're not going to go back on your word, are you?"
"Such a grown person, and you still don't keep your promises?" Da Ya shook her head and tutted.
"Exactly, you said we'd have king crab for lunch... now it's almost dark!" Er Ya chimed in with Da Ya. "I thought someone would be more considerate, tsk tsk tsk..."
"No way, no way, no one thinks that after noon and evening has passed, they won't have to treat anymore?" Da Ya blinked, covering her mouth with one hand in mock surprise.
"No way, no way, no one at this age still goes back on their word, right?" Er Ya mirrored Da Ya's expression and actions.
The sisters tilted their heads simultaneously, like a copy-paste.
"Who said I'm not keeping my word! I will not go back on my word!" Professor Tang slammed the table. "It's just king crab! What's the big deal! Call those two foodie girls over! I'll treat you!"
"Yay!" Er Ya and Da Ya excitedly hugged each other. "We're having king crab!"
As guests who were there to freeload, Li Xiaoxiao and Xia Qingtian were quite restrained.
They didn't chatter incessantly like Er Ya and Da Ya, but faced with such a large crab, the springy crab claw meat, and the flavorful crab leg meat, Xia Qingtian and Li Xiaoxiao fully showed their respect for the food: heads down and devoured!
By the time they finished, it was completely dark. Da Ya knew that Gou Wen had wounds and couldn't eat seafood, so she specially packed some other food for her and Tang Ruiyang.
"Current prices are really outrageous..." Professor Tang kept staring at his phone and smacking his lips after paying. They hadn't eaten much, but ten thousand yuan was gone.
"Maybe I'll treat next time..." Li Xiaoxiao felt a little embarrassed. She was now a legitimate intern with a contract at Gu Shi Entertainment and had a salary.
"We'll see, I'm very busy lately," Professor Tang replied grumpily, putting away his phone.
If it weren't for Da Ya and Er Ya working together, he would definitely not have left the laboratory today.
However, he had indeed been quite tired these past two days, and relaxing tonight wouldn't cause his nerves to be too taut.
Xia Qingtian asked the driver to send Professor Tang and Da Ya and Er Ya back to Z University first.
Da Ya and Er Ya, looking like they hadn't had enough fun, bought two bottles of wine from a small shop at the university gate and secretly brought them back to the laboratory. However, before they could drink them sneakily, Professor Tang confiscated them.
"Stingy!" Er Ya stuck out her tongue in a grimace and slipped away.
"Stingy—" Da Ya's grimace was halfway done when her gaze flickered, as if she had suddenly changed into someone else, and then she awkwardly lowered her hand.
Da Ya had really learned badly from Er Ya. She had never done anything so childish before.
Seeing Da Ya like this, Professor Tang knew that the person before him had once again become Tang Youxi, the head of the Tang family's main branch, and he let out a cold snort, "You sure are quick to slip away."
It was unclear whether he was referring to Er Ya or Da Ya.
"Uncle, get some rest early." Tang Youxi coughed lightly and prepared to turn away.
"Wait a moment." Professor Tang stopped Tang Youxi and hesitated before asking, "Did that old fogey really not erect a grave?"
"Grandfather did not erect a grave. Before he passed away, he only asked me to scatter his ashes into the sea. He said he had promised someone that in the next life, he would be a fisherman by the sea with that person, and they could go tide pooling and chase the moon, and pursue the stars and tread on the snow."
Upon hearing Da Ya's words, Professor Tang was stunned. After a long silence, he asked in a low voice, "Did he... did he say anything else before he passed away?"
"He didn't say much, just..." Tang Youxi paused before replying, "Grandfather asked me if there really could be a next life."
"You go back and rest," Professor Tang dismissed Tang Youxi and sat there alone,傻坐 for a very, very long time.
Only then did he pick up the wine he had confiscated from Er Ya, uncork the bottle, and drink it down.
Afterward, he continued to sit there傻坐, his gaze shifting slightly, as if a dusty memory had been blown open by the wind, unfettered, and appeared before his eyes.
"Where did you used to live?" The chubby young master, holding a cotton candy, looked curiously at the thin boy in front of him.
"Me? I used to live very far away. There was a famine there, and many people died." The thin boy, with grass in his mouth, sat on a low wall, gazing into the distance.
"How far is very far?" The chubby young master blinked. "I've never left Kyoto..."
"Oh?" The thin boy's eyes rolled, and he casually lied, "I used to live by the sea. Do you know the sea? The boundless sea. We'd go tide pooling during the day, picking up fish, shrimp, and crabs. The conch shells were bigger than your head!"
"Oh my goodness! That big!" The chubby young master's eyes were filled with surprise and curiosity.
"Yes, at night, we'd chase the moon, running and running until dawn. When we were tired, we'd rest on the rocks, and when we were hungry, we'd eat seafood!" Seeing the little chubby boy's reaction, the thin boy lied with even more vigor. "In the summer, there were fireflies everywhere. You wouldn't know which was a star and which was a firefly. Only when chasing them could you tell. The snow in winter was white, whiter than your cotton candy!"
"Really!" The chubby young master exclaimed excitedly. "That's great! I want to go to the seaside too, and I want to be a fisherman!"
"You? Can you do it?" The thin boy looked at the young master's short, stout figure with doubt. "Fishermen need a lot of strength. Tide pooling is very tiring, and you have to know how to swim."
"I... I probably can't... be a fisherman." The chubby young master's fleshy face suddenly fell, as if he had remembered something. "They all say I'm the future head of the Tang family, and I have to stay with the Tang family my whole life. Also, I don't know how to swim... I'm too fat, I'll probably never learn to swim. Am I... not meant to be a fisherman?"