Striving for Science C28 pt1

Dao Nian's house was brightly lit. As soon as Shen Chang'an pushed Dao Nian inside, he saw the people who usually lived in this house smiling at him.

"Happy birthday, Mr. Shen." Liu Mao placed a gift box in Shen Chang'an's hands.

"Thank you." Shen Chang'an felt a little embarrassed. He hadn't expected Liu Mao to prepare a gift for him.

"Happy birthday, Mr. Shen. May you be free from illness and disaster."

"Happy birthday, Mr. Shen. May you be filled with good fortune."

One gift after another was placed in his arms, so many that he almost couldn't hold them all: "Thank you for your blessings and your gifts, but..."

"Just accept them." Dao Nian saw that the gifts in his arms were about to fall to the ground, so he reached out to help him place them on his knees. Turning to the others, he said, "All of you go back. Chang'an needs to sleep."

"Yes, sir." Liu Mao led everyone out. When he turned to look at Shen Chang'an, Shen Chang'an was smiling back at him. He was slightly taken aback and returned a kind smile.

As one gets older, one can't help but feel a fondness for these pure and lovely souls.

"That..." After everyone left, Shen Chang'an pushed Dao Nian into the elevator. "Dao Nian, did everyone prepare these gifts for me because of you?" He felt like he was a terrible person who relied on connections. The employees must have felt obligated to prepare gifts to curry favor with their boss.

"They all like you." Dao Nian pressed the up button. "Don't think too much about it."

"Alright, half because they like me, half because of you." Shen Chang'an pushed Dao Nian back to his room, placed the gifts on the carpet, sat down cross-legged, and began to open them.

He opened the first gift. Nice, a diamond watch.

He opened the second gift. A designer wallet.

He opened the third gift. A car key. The luxury car logo on the key made him a little scared.

Before he could open half of them, Shen Chang'an was a little afraid to continue. He looked at Dao Nian with trembling hands: "Dao Nian, are your employees' benefits really this good?"

"They're all useless things to entertain a child." Dao Nian glanced over the pile of gifts and pointed to an orange box: "Open this one."

Shen Chang'an opened it as instructed. Inside the box was a delicate sugar figurine wrapped in rice paper, emitting a faint sweet aroma.

Not bad, eat it.

Shen Chang'an remembered that this was a gift from the older man who usually cooked in the kitchen. He looked at the sugar figurine, put it back in the box, got up to wash his hands in the bathroom, and broke the sugar figurine in half through the rice paper, giving half to Dao Nian: "I'll share half with you."

"This is useless to me." Dao Nian didn't take it.

"As long as it's delicious and harmless, who cares if it's useful or not." Shen Chang'an stuffed half of the sugar figurine into Dao Nian's mouth, then continued to open the gifts, biting on the sugar figurine. He found a gemstone tie clip, a jade pendant, and other precious items.

He sat there dumbfounded, looking at the expensive items scattered on the floor. He turned to look at Dao Nian, then pinched his arm, feeling the pain.

"Dao Nian, I once read a story." Shen Chang'an finished the sugar figurine and put the precious gifts back into the gift boxes one by one. "There was a man who had a dream. In this dream, he entered a utopian village. The villagers welcomed him with many precious gifts. He was happy for a long time, but when he woke up, he realized it was just a dream."

The faint sweet aroma had already melted on his tongue. Dao Nian looked at Shen Chang'an silently, his eyes filled with confusion.

"I really like the gifts everyone gave me." Shen Chang'an neatly stacked the gift boxes together. He looked up at Dao Nian with a smile. "But my apartment building is quite old and the security isn't very strict. I'll keep these here with you. Can you keep them for me?"

He had already accepted these things, and if he were to find someone to return them one by one, it would not only make the atmosphere awkward, but it would also likely make Dao Nian lose face. So, after much thought, he decided that leaving the things with Dao Nian was the most suitable choice.

"Good." Dao Nian hesitated for a few seconds, "My gift, you wear it."

"I'm wearing it." Shen Chang'an took the warm necklace from his neck and showed it to Dao Nian, sitting cross-legged facing him. "Dao Nian, if I were a woman and you were the king, wouldn't this scene tonight be like a court official flattering a demonic concubine?"

Dao Nian: "..."

Humans, are they all so good at self-deprecation?

Dao Nian: "Don't think about it, go to sleep." Pointing to the door, Dao Nian refused to discuss this nonsensical topic with Shen Chang'an. Talking would tire him out.

"Hehe." Shen Chang'an got up from the rug, placed the gift box on the nearby cabinet, retreated to the door, and waved to Dao Nian. "Good night."

Dao Nian curled his fingers twice, indicating that he had heard. Suddenly, he thought of something and pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, throwing them to Shen Chang'an.

"What's this?" Shen Chang'an caught the keys and flipped through the few keys on the ring.

"Keys for the front door, the house, and the car." Dao Nian said, "There are many cars, and they're gathering dust. Take them and drive." He had noticed earlier that Shen Chang'an had put the luxury car keys in the gift box he had stored with him, so he had to prepare another car for him.

To avoid him sweating profusely from cycling back in the middle of the night.

Shen Chang'an held the keys tightly and smiled at Dao Nian: "Dao Nian, thank you for my three birthday gifts."

Dao Nian was stunned. Hadn't he only given him a necklace?

***

The next morning when he woke up, Shen Chang'an heard a lot of commotion downstairs. He changed his clothes and went downstairs, finding many strangers in the house. These strangers all smiled warmly at Shen Chang'an when they saw him.

Shen Chang'an searched the living room but couldn't find Dao Nian. He asked Liu Mao: "Mr. Liu, where's Dao Nian?"

"The master is in the flower room outside." Liu Mao pointed to the flower room outside. "Go find him there."

"Okay." Shen Chang'an nodded, smiled politely at the strangers, and quickly walked towards the door.

"Mr. Shen..." Someone wanted to call out to Shen Chang'an, but Liu Mao gave him a smiling glare, and he quickly swallowed his words.

Shen Chang'an felt inexplicably strange about these people. Pretending not to hear the call, he strode to the flower room to find Dao Nian. When he returned with Dao Nian, all the strangers in the living room had disappeared, and there were mountains of gift boxes piled on the table.

"Mr. Liu, what were those people doing here?" Shen Chang'an noticed that the house had been cleaned again, and even the flowers in the vase had been replaced.

"They are all people who want to curry favor with the master. They heard about your birthday and shamelessly came knocking." Liu Mao smiled. "Don't mind them. I've checked all the gifts they brought, and there's nothing wrong with them. If you like any of them, take them. If you don't, you can give them to friends or throw them away."

Shen Chang'an: "..."

It's over. That feeling of being a demonic concubine seems even stronger now.

***

The fact that Dao Nian had celebrated Shen Chang'an's birthday wasn't much of a secret, so it quickly spread.

"Lord Dao Nian actually celebrated the birthday of that human he keeps by his side?" The bird-like yao cultivator who had just heard the news could hardly believe his ears.

The great Lord had long since ceased to interfere in human affairs a thousand years ago, nor did he show any favoritism towards any race. Now, he suddenly allowed a human to stay with him, which had already attracted attention from all sides. But to think he was even celebrating his birthday?

It was as absurd as humans celebrating the birthdays of mayflies and ants, making all the gods and yao races ponder the implications.

In recent millennia, with the rise of the human race, they had long since grown weary of them. Now, a human was actually favored by the great Lord. How could they possibly sit still?

Those races with more initiative sent people to inquire about the details under the guise of offering birthday greetings. Because the bird race's Kong Ying had seen the human's appearance with an elder, some people also went to the bird race to inquire.

Kong Ying, having just been punished, sat in a chair with a pale complexion. No matter how others questioned him, he wouldn't speak. The bird race elder was very cunning. He seemed to have said everything, but in reality, he had said nothing.

After sending away all the gods and yaos who came to inquire, the bird race elders gathered together to consider how they should treat this human.

"Since humans can win the Lord's favor, why can't our bird race do the same?" A bird elder suddenly said, "Are human appearances really better than those of the Peacock clan's younger generation?"

The elders suddenly realized that since humans could win the favor of the Lord, it meant that the Lord was not yet devoid of all emotions. This gave them hope for their own races as well.

If they could gain even a fraction of the Lord's favor, how could their race not prosper?

Those humans are the most shameless. They started using beauty tricks so early, getting ahead of them.