Translator: ChuRen/ YuQiChen
Su Shaobai didn’t stay long in the room. He just took a quick look around to see what was missing and planned to get those things later. Then he went out to the open-air balcony.
Besides various kinds of flowers, the balcony had a swing, a large wooden table for eight people, wooden chairs, and simple decorations. There was also a small storage room mainly used for miscellaneous items. It looked much like the rooftops of ordinary homes in the 21st century. If Su Shaobai hadn’t come from Aro Star by spaceship to Shishi Star, and was standing here, he wouldn’t have realized he was already living in the future.
Beneath the balcony was the backyard—very large, about two acres, planted with fruit trees. There was no brick wall, only a simple fence enclosing the area.
“Su-gege, Su-gege, we have to go!” Tang Xingchen ran out from the building, wearing somewhat new clothes and smiling as he rushed over. “Let’s go, let’s go! If we’re late, the last vehicle will be gone.”
They lived in the suburbs. In the interstellar age, physical stores had become sparse. To buy clothes, the only option was the city shopping mall, though it wasn’t too far.
“Slow down, slow down, don’t fall.” Su Shaobai staggered a few steps as Tang Xingchen pulled him, quickly trying to keep up.
The little kitten sitting on the swing tilted its head, watching the two running figures coldly before turning away with indifference. Seeing it unwilling to move, Su Shaobai didn’t call it along.
Following Tang Xingchen, Su Shaobai arrived at the station just as a hovercar pulled up. The two boarded and found window seats. Soon the hovercar lifted off and quickly flew away. Su Shaobai secretly sighed, thinking about how people in the 21st century dreamed of cars flying in the air—now the dream had become reality.
The trip took only about ten minutes before they reached the city center. Tang Xingchen led Su Shaobai to a large shopping mall. At the entrance, they swiped their terminals—just tapping their wrist devices on the reader.
Inside, Su Shaobai realized it was a cashier-less store, with only one or two robots restocking shelves. He tried to keep his expression from showing too much surprise and followed Tang Xingchen as they browsed.
Su Shaobai’s shopping list wasn’t long: clothes, shoes, and cat food.
When Tang Xingchen heard “cat food”, he almost burst out laughing, rolling his eyes. “Su-gege, is this your first time raising a cat?”
“Yes!” Su Shaobai nodded honestly.
“We have plenty of cat food at home, no need to buy.” Tang Xingchen grinned slyly.
Since the family already had plenty, Su Shaobai decided not to buy any cat food, just a special bowl for the kitten. The bowl’s material was unique—not porcelain, not plastic, and not the eco-friendly materials that had just become popular in the 21st century. It looked quite exquisite and was inexpensive.
After finishing their shopping, the two went to checkout. Su Shaobai noticed there was no clerk at the counter—just an automated loading dock—making him nervous. He was thinking how to ask Tang Xingchen without seeming awkward when, passing through the security gate, the terminal on his wrist beeped. Looking down, he saw a message:
“Total checkout: 1,312 credit points. For receipt, please swipe your terminal at the loading dock.”
This perfectly resolved Su Shaobai’s worries. But the remaining balance caught his attention—only a little over 3,000 credit points left.
The two packed their purchases into two large bags and boarded the last hovercar heading back to the suburbs. Just outside the iron gate, Su Shaobai heard unfamiliar voices coming from the front yard. However, the climbing plants growing along one side of the gate blocked the view both inside and outside, so he couldn’t see who was speaking.
“Xinghe, mania is frequently flaring up on the front line. Special medicine is in short supply and prices have gone up again. This time, the subsidy and savings are all gone. There isn’t a single credit point left at home. I still have a few days before I get more credits… this…” The speaker hesitated, then continued, “Today is Xiao1little. It’s a way for elders to call those younger Su’s first day here. We got the subsidy, but we can’t have him eating only vegetables and eggs with us. Why don’t you and Xingchen go pick some fruit from the backyard and sell it? Maybe we can scrape together enough to buy some meat?”
“Mom, we’re in the suburbs. Who doesn’t grow some fruit at home? No one’s going to buy it,” Tang Xinghe’s voice responded.
“Sigh, if only I hadn’t quit my last job. Then we’d just be getting paid now…”
“Mom, stop joking. That person is only hitting and cursing you because he’s taking advantage of the fact that you’re broke and don’t dare to quit. I haven’t reported him only because I’m patient enough.”
“That’s nonsense.”
“Don’t worry, my scholarship has been approved. It just hasn’t been disbursed yet. I’ll talk to my teacher to see if it can be given early.”
“Oh, okay. That could work.”
“I’m going to change into my school uniform now.”
After the voices stopped, footsteps were heard going inside.
Su Shaobai turned to see Tang Xingchen, who had kept smiling all along but now was secretly wiping away tears. Thinking for a moment, Su Shaobai grabbed Tang Xingchen’s hand and headed out.
“Su-gege, where are we going?” Tang Xingchen sniffled, asking.
“To buy groceries. Today is my first day in your home. If I’m trouble for you, I should at least show some goodwill.” Su Shaobai smiled, speaking with a relaxed tone.
Tang Xingchen looked surprised, tilting his head against the sunlight and staring at the young man’s pure smile as his tears flowed harder.
“Yeah, I wasn’t being kind to you just because you provided a subsidy… wah…” Tang Xingchen suddenly broke down, throwing his head back and crying loudly and freely.
Su Shaobai found it both funny and awkward. Searching for a tissue, he only found a square sweat towel, something he always carried in his pocket from working at the distillery to wipe his sweat. Now it would have to do for wiping the boy’s tears.
“So what now?” Su Shaobai asked while gently wiping.
“Wuwu~ Whether or not you provide subsidies in the future, I’ll treat you well. *Hic*!” Tang Xingchen hiccupped through his tears.
“Alright, that’s enough crying.”
“Okay.”
Tang Xingchen finally stopped crying, and the two of them headed toward the vegetable market.
“Xingchen, is the special medicine very expensive?” Su Shaobai felt he had to understand this family better before deciding what to do next. Having just arrived in this world, everything was unfamiliar. After briefly getting to know the Tang family, he quite liked their personalities. Unless something unexpected happened, he probably would stay here a long time.
Since he was living here, he wanted to do something for the family.
“It’s expensive. One pill costs ten thousand credit points, and that’s the weakest medicine. The more effective ones cost between tens of thousands to a hundred thousand credit points. Grandpa needs to take one pill every week,” Tang Xingchen said sadly.
Su Shaobai was very surprised. He had spent only a bit over two thousand credit points on two sets of pajamas, two sets of clothes, a pair of sneakers, slippers, a bath towel, and other items. Now knowing that one pill could cost between ten thousand and a hundred thousand credit points, he realized just how valuable the medicine was.
“Xingchen, what kinds of jobs do you all have around here?” Su Shaobai asked anxiously. He had just graduated from high school and, besides having some talent in brewing, hadn’t done much work. He sensed that labor-intensive jobs were probably rare in this era, which presented a difficulty.
“Ge2You don’t need to be related to call someone ge, did you forget something? You’re not an adult yet,” Tang Xingchen reminded him. Before Su Shaobai came to live with them, the military had sent over some basic information. One of the items was his age—he had just turned eighteen. Employing underage workers in the empire was a very serious criminal offense.
Su Shaobai said, “I’m eighteen.”
Tang Xingchen replied, “The empire considers adulthood to be at 25. Maybe your star is different from ours?”
Su Shaobai: …
Tang Xingchen said, “Ge, right now Aro Star is still unstable. When things settle down, you’ll definitely have to go back to study.”
Su Shaobai: “I don’t like studying.”
When filling in his information earlier, fearing mistakes, he wrote “none” under family, copied the address from someone else nearby but changed the house number slightly, hoping it wasn’t noticed.
“Ge, you’re just like me—I don’t like studying either.” Tang Xingchen’s eyes lit up with admiration as he looked at Su Shaobai.
“You can’t afford not to. You have to study,” Su Shaobai said, then asked, “So what kind of jobs do you have around here?”
“Live streaming!” Tang Xingchen thought it over and decided that was it.
“Streaming what?”
“What can you do?”
“Brewing.”
Tang Xingchen: “…”
The two arrived at the vegetable market. They didn’t need to buy vegetables since the family already had some, so they only purchased meat. The meat was very expensive and came from terrifyingly large creatures whose names Su Shaobai only half recognized: terror birds, pus oxen, and porcupines. Each stall displayed pictures of the meats, and Su Shaobai stared at the images, confirming they were indeed alien creatures, several times larger than anything on Earth.
Together they bought a piece of lean meat and a slab of pork belly, then headed home carrying the bags. On the way, they met Tang Xinghe returning from school. Her disheartened expression revealed she had not received her scholarship. However, when she saw the two carrying bags of meat, she was so surprised she almost couldn’t believe it. She didn’t ask questions, and the three returned home together.
Dinner was prepared by Mother Tang, using relatively traditional methods: pan-fried pork chops, pork belly stir-fried with greens—an interesting blend of Eastern and Western styles.
Before eating, Su Shaobai asked Tang Xingchen for some cat food. When he poured it into the cat’s bowl and offered it to the little kitten, it kicked the bowl over.
Su Shaobai: “…”
“Tuanzi, you can’t do that! You’re a cat, so you have to eat cat food. Eating too much salt isn’t good for you,” Su Shaobai said meaningfully, holding the kitten in his palm and trying to persuade it.
The empire’s emperor sneered internally: This is fish food. You actually dare to feed zhen3the way an emperor says I/me fish food?
“Ah!”
A scream pierced the balcony. On the first floor, the mother and daughter setting the table exchanged concerned glances.
A moment later, Su Shaobai came downstairs holding the little kitten, fuming. “If you bite me again, I will… I will…”
“Shave its fur off!” Tang Xingchen was also angry. How dare this cat bite Su-gege? That was too much.
The little kitten curled up in Su Shaobai’s palm raised its fur in response to the threat of shaving. Its dark eyes looked up with chilly disdain.
Tang Xinghe happened to see this and hurried over, covering Tang Xingchen’s mouth. “No, he’s joking. Don’t mind him, don’t mind him.”
“That’s okay, I know Xingchen is joking,” Su Shaobai thought Tang Xinghe was speaking to him. Then he looked at the kitten and warned, “Hear that? If you don’t eat cat food, the shaving’s coming.”
Tang Xinghe caught the key point: “Cat food? Where are you getting cat food?”
“Xingchen gave it to me!”
“Tang Xingchen, you’re asking for trouble!” Tang Xinghe was furious. She grabbed Tang Xingchen’s ear and dragged him into the room.
“Don’t mind them; those two are always like this,” Mother Tang apologized to Su Shaobai with a smile, glancing cautiously at the kitten. When their eyes accidentally met the kitten’s cold stare, she quickly lowered her head.
Her daughter Tang Xinghe inherited her grandfather’s psychic ability, rated 2S. Though not officially tested yet, Grandpa Tang had already confirmed it was almost certain. Tang Xinghe said the kitten’s psychic power surpassed hers and definitely was no ordinary creature; she warned Mother Tang to be cautious.
After the siblings had their quarrel inside for a while, they came back out. Tang Xingchen, under Tang Xinghe’s control, apologized to the little kitten.
When dinner was served, Grandpa Tang’s portion was brought to him. Su Shaobai wanted to go in and see him but was stopped by Tang Xinghe.
“Grandpa’s psychic power hasn’t stabilized yet. You have no psychic power, so going in might hurt you.” Tang Xinghe did not dare let Su Shaobai enter. If anything happened, she was sure the kitten would tear into her.
Su Shaobai didn’t insist, but the term “psychic power” caught his attention again—he was determined to figure it out.
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