Chapter 58 Drunkenness "Little Red is being naughty today."
“I came here on my own initiative,” Jiu Su said to the camera, deliberately slowing her speech by thirty percent. “Also, that ‘Supercognitive Gecko’ really wants to make an appearance.”
He spoke slowly and clearly, giving the impression that he had only recently begun learning human language and was not yet fluent. In just two sentences, he definitively identified himself as a "little monster just starting to learn how to be human" through his tone alone, earning a string of "I feel sorry for him" comments on the screen.
That wasn't all. When he said his second sentence, he raised his hand, trying to show the people in front of the camera the little gecko clinging to the back of his hand.
But his hand was stretched too far forward, and the camera couldn't focus. A group of people in the live chat reminded him that "it's blurry and I can't see it." Jiu Su noticed the comments, looked a little confused, and subconsciously glanced out of the camera's view.
There was supposed to be a scene for her in the script. Shu Qing resigned herself to it and silently reached out to adjust the camera angle for him.
"Ashu was right there, hahaha."
What does "it's a bit hard to bump into" mean?
"Judging from this instinctive dependence, what can those who said Ashu forced him to appear on camera say now?"
Someone else asked, "What is a Super Gecko?"
“That’s its official name,” Jiu Su corrected. “It’s the ‘jue’ in ‘juecha’ (awareness). That’s the little monster that got stressed in Ashu’s studio.”
The little gecko has recovered quite well. It doesn't know there are people behind the camera. It just stares at the dense barrage of comments on the screen, occasionally arching its back or swishing its tail, and sometimes even trying to stick out its tongue to lick them.
Even without Jiu Su's explanation, someone who had owned exotic pets translated in the comments: "When a gecko arches its back, it means it's on guard; wagging its tail means it's seen something interesting; and licking it means it's friendly."
"So cute!"
"Is it responding to the comments?"
"Holy crap, does it even know how to read?"
"Hilarious, he's better than my son!"
Jiu Su pretended to be engrossed in watching the comments, and then explained, "No. This kind of monster has exceptionally keen senses. It can sense your attitude when you speak, and it can respond even if it doesn't know how to read."
He paused, then added, "The world seen by monsters is different from that seen by humans."
"Oh, no wonder it's called 'Super Awareness,' meaning super perception."
What is the world like through Xiaohong's eyes?
"Then it's hard to hurt someone like that. If they sense the other party has ill intentions, they'll definitely run away."
“The world as I see it,” Jiu Su’s gaze fell on one of the comments, she tilted her head like a snake, and tried to speak for a moment without expression, but failed, so she could only say, “I don’t know how to describe it.”
It's actually inconvenient to describe, but in the eyes of this naturally intelligent creature, as the live stream progressed, a clear, spiritual light filled the entire room. Tiny specks of this light gradually converged on the little gecko. It had been staring at the comments section all this time, showing no signs of its senses being overwhelmed by information; it remained quite energetic.
But Jiu Su was afraid of the live stream going wrong, so she showed the little gecko to the camera from all angles, then gently covered its senses with a cloud of mist and put it back into her sleeve.
“But I know it has seen too much already,” he explained. “Its senses are too acute, and if it looks any longer it will become stressed. I can only let it play with you for a little while.”
"What do you mean? Does that mean it was stressed last time too?"
"Wasn't it said that he was injured by a customer who went to the studio?"
"Ah, I understand what Xiaohong means now. Actually, no one hurt it. It was just that its senses were too sensitive, and it wasn't used to being in contact with so many people all at once, so it was overstimulated."
To maintain his persona as a "monster just starting to become human," Jiu Su couldn't be too explicit, so he had to subtly hint and guide her. Finally, he saw a comment on the screen offering an explanation, and immediately read it aloud, confirming, "That's right."
He then revealed a hint of sullenness, saying, "If we had discovered its special features earlier, we wouldn't have let it appear in the studio."
The comments were indeed much more tolerant of the monster than of a studio—perhaps it was because Jiu Su was good-looking and had superb acting skills. In any case, she received a screen full of comforting messages like "It's okay, it's okay" and "Oh well, it's good that everything was alright in the end." The few words that were still somewhat doubtful were quickly scrolled over by others.
Seeing that she had set the pace well, Jiu Su played around with the audience for a while longer, answering questions like "Do you still live with Ashu?" and "How are you adapting to human society?" She subtly showed off her affection, eliciting a string of "Eh~~".
Then he turned off the live stream, and as he turned around, the youthful innocence vanished. He lazily raised an eyebrow at Shu Qing, deliberately trying to seduce her.
Shu Qing thought she was immune to him, but when she was suddenly attacked, she was still dizzy for a moment and subconsciously couldn't suppress the corner of her mouth.
She quickly snapped out of it, glanced at Qi Yun's expression next to her, which was clearly overwhelmed by the sweet smell of romance, and quickly composed herself, saying, "I'll post this live stream replay on our official account."
Qi Yun nodded, then asked Jiu Su hesitantly, "Could I borrow this little gecko? Isn't it said that it has very keen senses? I want to borrow it to investigate the truth, is that alright?"
“Okay,” Jiu Su said nonchalantly. “Go and report it to the Supermarket Management Bureau.”
Jiu Su's appearance as a demon to explain was far more effective than the articles written by the Qi Group's PR team. In the following days, the studio's customer traffic rebounded immediately. Shu Qing checked the accounts several times, breathed a sigh of relief, and felt that at least she wouldn't have to drag her luggage and snakes to live under a bridge.
She had initially lamented how unreliable the professional PR was, and how the problem was ultimately solved thanks to her and Jiu Su's quick thinking. But when Qi Yun called her over for drinks late at night, she finally understood.
"I really didn't expect it would be my own brother who's messing with me," Qi Yun said, already quite drunk when Shu Qing arrived at the bar at one in the morning. She pulled Shu Qing aside and complained, "For the past twenty-odd years, I've been a good-for-nothing, only good at squandering money, not at making any. I'm a complete failure. When I was useless, he would criticize me, and now that I'm making money, he's trying to mess with me?"
Shu Qing had no knowledge of such internal conflicts within a large family and didn't know where to begin, so she could only sit down and have a drink with him.
Jiu Su sat beside her with a cold expression. Shu Qing was willing to come to the studio in the middle of the night for her good friend, but Qi Yun was not her friend. He was peacefully sleeping on his girlfriend's lap when he was suddenly dragged out of bed by a phone call and forced to come and receive negative energy. Who would be happy about that?
Shu felt the snake beside her emanating a chilling aura, and stroked his face with her knuckles. "Why don't you go back first? I'm fine here by myself, I won't drink much."
"No." Jiu Su refused decisively. Who could feel at ease leaving their girlfriend alone in a bar room in the middle of the night?
Shu Qing understood his feelings, drank a glass of wine with Qi Yun, and gently nudged his leg under the table, meaning that she was sorry for him and that she would make time for him later.
Jiu Su received her comfort, and his cold expression finally softened a little. He didn't want to drink at this time, so he picked at the snacks on the table while listening to Qi Yun's complaints in a daze.
The story of this modern-day wealthy family isn't anything new—it's nothing more than an older brother who's always been seen as the heir, and a younger sister who's been spoiled since childhood and only knows how to play and not do anything serious. The sister has been a waste of time for most of her life, but finally manages to make a name for herself in her chosen field, which makes her the target of her brother's jealousy and suppression.
Similar things have happened thousands of years ago, and Ashu has experienced them before... However, Ashu's situation is a bit more complicated than hers.
He looked down at his phone and typed, then showed it to Shu Qing. The screen simply displayed: "Useless."
Shu Qing frowned and gave him a stern look.
Jiu Su looked down and continued typing on her phone: "You've encountered the same thing. Back then, the person who was wary of you was even your mentor. You've never been so dependent on others."
This time, Shu Qing didn't even glance at him, her attention was all on Qi Yun. She only nudged him with her elbow, indicating that she was there to accompany her best friend and that he could talk about it when they got home.
Jiu Su started to feel sour again. He could ignore Shu Qing discussing serious matters and work with others, but he couldn't accept her "special treatment" given to others. Besides, this whole thing was caused by Qi Yun's family, and he was the one who resolved it. In the end, the person who caused the trouble received her concern, while the person who solved the problem didn't. Was this her so-called "workplace fairness"?
He felt very unbalanced, but he also knew that continuing to struggle would only anger Shu Qing and bring her no other benefit, so he had no choice but to endure it and frantically drink vinegar on the side.
Just when he suspected he had almost exhausted all the jealousy he had ever felt in his life, Qi Yun finally finished her drink and lay on the table, completely drunk and unconscious.
Shu Qing had been drinking with her and wasn't exactly sober either. Even in her drunken state, she still managed to scold him, turning her head and saying, "Xiao Hong wasn't being good today."
Jiu Su: "..."
This is unbelievable! He felt that he had been so reasonable today that he had suppressed his nature. He had been jealous for a long time, only to receive a comment of "disobedience". This was intolerable!
He gritted his teeth, snapped his fingers, and cast a spell on the heavily drunk Qi Yun to ensure she wouldn't suddenly open her eyes.
Then, he turned around and pounced on Shu Qing, lying on her chest, and said resentfully, "I didn't scold her to her face, I've already been very obedient to you."
"Don't get jealous over nothing. I finally found a suitable business partner." Shu Qing leaned back on the leather sofa, the two of them very close. She was drunk and not as sober as usual. She fiddled with the necklace pendant around his neck and smiled at him with her eyes crinkled. "Miss is a friend, but you're different. What's there to be jealous about, you silly snake?"
Jiu Su touched noses with her, smelling the faint scent of alcohol on her, and asked in a low voice, "She's a friend, so what am I?"
Shu Qing chuckled. "What do you think?"
"I want to hear what you have to say."
"Okay, I'll coax you." Shu Qing laughed again, and suddenly pecked him on the lips, cupped his face in her hands, and murmured, "You are my one and only Little Red."
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