Simon had a moment where he really wanted to laugh, not a sneer, but genuinely amused as if hearing a joke.
He heard Qiu Qiongzh say that whatever'Shi Puqi' thing was going to die. No, that's a bit disrespectful to someone's hard work, but he truly couldn't understand why such a funny, noisy guy could captivate a little girl's heart.
"How could you... just, well, like this Shi Puqi so much?"
Qiu Qiongzh was confused by Simon's hesitant tone, so she paused to think before stammering out a long explanation.
Shi Puqi was an orphan. Simon was nonchalant; indeed, few characters with lines in cyber machine love had happy upbringings, and orphaned parents were standard procedure.
Shi Puqi once saved some child-shaped sapient machines, but he later destroyed them all with his own hands. Simon nodded, which episode's plot was this again?
Shi Puqi loved a girl and learned rock music for her, but the girl died at the hands of rebels, and he was forced to join the enemy's ranks. Simon had a headache, which episode was this now?
Shi Puqi had countless grand pronouncements, but he never fulfilled a single one. That's quite normal; funny characters are all like that.
Shi Puqi raised a dog, also named Shi Puqi, and he would also feed the stray cats hiding in the ruins. This must be the standard process for a villain's whitewash, right? Showing a compassionate side, cats and dogs especially can melt girls' hearts.
And so, Qiu Qiongzh talked on and on, as if recounting family treasures, until they got off at the shopping mall station.
Someone was already waiting for them at the station, none other than their math teacher, Zhou Pingchu. The 81st-grade kindergarten students had moved from junior to senior class, and familiar teachers followed them to teach the senior class, so the children wouldn't feel strange and teaching would have better synergy. And Zhou Pingchu was indeed teaching the preparatory class.
Simon, holding Qiu Qiongzh's hand, stood hesitantly in front of Teacher Zhou.
"Hello, Teacher," Simon said with a serious face, while Qiu Qiongzh spoke in a hushed tone.
Zhou Pingchu smiled warmly and patted the little girl's head, "Shi Puqi, you mean?"
Qiu Qiongzh looked up, immediately as if she had found her kindred spirit, "Yes, yes, yes! Teacher, do you like Shi Puqi too?"
"Teacher prefers Calius Mirador a bit more."
"Oh, really? Then, Teacher, do you know that Shi Puqi is dying?"
Zhou Pingchu dramatically widened her eyes, feigning shock, "Really? Is that true?"
Simon watched, arms crossed, as two female humans, one adult and one child, discussed the intrinsic extended text of an entertainment-oriented audio-visual resource file based on an information network, at the bus stop of a department store on November 3, 2082.
Zhou Pingchu tried every trick in the book but ultimately failed to persuade Qiu Qiongzh to change her hairstyle; she wouldn't even wear a wig.
However, Simon did take the opportunity to inquire about many of Teacher Zhou's hobbies, which he could secretly send to Teacher Wang Shuonian... No, that's not the point, for now, he needed to quickly coax the little girl into a good mood.
Simon looked at the bustling street, crowded with pedestrians. He held up his phone and ran in front of a passerby.
"Big brother, Shi Puqi from cyber machine love is about to die. Could you please say, 'Thank you, Shi Puqi, I know you're a good person'?"
One by one, the passersby, mostly men and women in their twenties and thirties, during what was roughly rush hour, Simon sincerely asked repeatedly, and after collecting blessings from ten strangers, he returned to Qiu Qiongzh's side.
The boy handed over his phone, "Here, look, a lot of people like Shi Puqi."
Qiu Qiongzh looked at the faces of the adults on the screen; some were sincere, some perfunctory, but they all said, "Shi Puqi, I know you're a good person."
The little girl suddenly burst into tears.
Simon learned three days later that Shi Puqi's voice actor was Qiu Qiongzh's cousin, and Shi Puqi's death was because her cousin had passed away.
Qiu Qiongzh said that her cousin had been married but divorced, with custody with his mother. Her cousin had a golden retriever named Shi Puqi, but it had died of old age last year. Her cousin was very good to Qiu Qiongzh, but they didn't see each other often.
Even with end-of-century medicine, there were still incurable diseases, like premature aging. Her cousin looked older than everyone else in the family, but in his heart, he was always the rock-loving teenager.
...So, that day, Qiu Qiongzh still went to school wearing a wig.
Simon didn't tell the details to his other friends because he was clumsy with words and couldn't describe it.
There was a boy in class who particularly disliked Shi Puqi. He argued with Qiu Qiongzh for a while, seeming to be on the verge of a physical altercation, but Simon directly suppressed him. From then on, he was forced to become a fan of Shi Puqi.
The 7th was Saturday, and Wang Shuonian invited Simon to his home for tea, because Simon, the little spy, had collected many of Ms. Zhou Pingchu's interests and hobbies, and his superior, Wang Shuonian, felt it necessary to reward him.
The preparatory class had homework, so Simon planned to finish it at Teacher Wang's house. Saturday morning was very leisurely. Wang Shuonian prepared nut kernels, walnut shortbread, and sweet milk for him. Although Simon himself would prefer something hot and spicy in such autumn weather, he shouldn't complain when there's food.
The Chinese Language homework was copying. Simon negotiated with his teacher, "Teacher, look how well I write, why don't I just not write it? This homework is so boring."
Wang Shuonian was aware of Simon's study habits, "Your characters are all correct, but they're not neat; you still need to practice."
"We won't need calligraphy in the future anyway; everyone uses computers for work."
"Calligraphy isn't just about making your writing look good; the important thing is to cultivate your character, understand?"
"I just feel like it's a waste of life," Simon stubbornly said, "If I want to cultivate my character, I can practice brush calligraphy."
"Alright, then from now on, for this kind of copying homework, you'll use a brush to write it," Wang Shuonian said playfully, isn't it every adult's instinct to tease a child?
Simon recoiled, "No, hard-pen calligraphy is also calligraphy. You're right, cultivate character, cultivate character."
"You rascal!" Teacher Wang collected the empty plates, "Are you full?"
"No," Simon wrote stroke by stroke on the rice-grid paper, "Oh, right, Teacher Wang, when are you going to ask Teacher Zhou out?"
"Children shouldn't ask such questions."
"Gee, you're not in a hurry at all."
"The time is not right, the time is not right yet--" Wang Shuonian shook his head, sighing with emotion.
"Opportunity always favors the prepared, Teacher. Are you perhaps scared?"
Wang Shuonian's face tightened. He didn't know how to explain to the child that Zhou Pingchu was a quiet but fashionable girl who liked new things, while he was a bit old-fashioned, liking traditional culture. Without common interests, how could they interact? Their daily conversations were only about work, and he truly saw no possibility of success.
Thinking of this, the young man felt a little weary, the faint youthful restlessness in his heart extinguished by the cold, foreseeable reality. It was truly uninteresting, and for a moment, he felt disheartened.
"Then I'll ask her out! I'll say you're taking me for ice cream and want her to come along. With a child there, the atmosphere definitely won't be awkward," Simon raised his hand.
"You little genius!"
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