Chapter 253 - 220: Kuang Biao’s Poem

Chapter 253: Chapter 220: Kuang Biao’s Poem

Huai Yu stood rooted to the spot, wearing a complicated expression as she watched Kuang Biao try to romance a sunflower.

Zhou Qian had wandered over at some point. Staring at the sunflower’s tall, straight stalk and the massive disk of its blossom, he couldn’t help but sigh. "This stalk grew incredibly straight."

The moment he spoke, Huai Yu turned her head and pressed her index finger to her lips. "Shh."

Zhou Qian stared at the top of her head. He noticed that she seemed to have grown a tiny bit taller in the few days he hadn’t seen her.

But right now...

A voice, feigning depth and adopting a bizarrely greasy, operatic tone, began to recite a sappy poem with dramatic cadence.

"You are in the far north, and I am in the deep south.

"Our longing stretches to the opposite shore, thousands of miles away.

"On that shore, Kuang Biao’s heart is intertwined with yours.

"In the center of the golden sunflower, the fragments of our love faintly glimmer..."

Huai Yu’s face scrunched up as if she had bitten into one of Uncle Zaozi’s mutated green Zaozi, and Zhou Qian’s expression also turned utterly peculiar.

A moment later, both of them shuddered simultaneously and began vigorously rubbing the goosebumps on their arms. "Oh, my god..."

Zhou Qian even asked, "If Little Kui really produces ’fragments of our love,’ are you still going to be able to snack on its sunflower seeds?"

Huai Yu’s expression grew even more dismal.

But what did human suffering mean to Kuang Biao?

It continued its affectionate monologue. "Little Kui, do you like this poem? The very first time I laid eyes on you, these verses naturally flowed through my hollow frame. It was written just for you, the ultimate culmination of my lifelong literary talent. Are you moved?

"Will you love me a little more?"

Little Kui did not answer.

Huai Yu and Zhou Qian couldn’t bear to listen to another word. She truly regretted sitting by the bamboo forest to read in her spare time! Now, looking at this large patch of motionless sunflowers in front of them, she couldn’t even bring herself to look directly at them anymore!

Zhou Qian, however, wasn’t quite ready to let it go. He attempted to sow some discord. "Kuang Biao, didn’t you say you liked serene, gentle sunflowers that could compose poetry? How come you’re the one writing the poems now?"

"What do you know?" Kuang Biao was still thoroughly immersed in its own incredible literary brilliance. Even its reply sounded languid. "It’s so beautiful and its blossom is so massive. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t serene or gentle.

"You don’t even have a partner. You wouldn’t understand.

"This is what it’s like when you meet true love. They look perfectly beautiful no matter what they’re like."

Wow!

One sentence, double kill.

Zhou Qian was completely single, and while Huai Yu was currently single, she used to have terrible taste in men.

The two couldn’t stand being there any longer. The sun was climbing higher in the sky, so they hurried back into the house to escape the heat.

Without a fan, the house was equally sweltering, but the bamboo forest tunnel was currently damp and muggy like a steamer basket. Seeking refuge from the heat out there was out of the question today. The two had no choice but to fan themselves with small hand fans they had scavenged from the junk pile.

"A bamboo with a lovestruck brain is truly terrifying," they sighed.

"The sunflower won’t actually fall in love with it, right?" Zhou Qian asked grimly. "Kuang Biao’s bamboo network functions as a single entity, but which sunflower did it choose? The tallest, biggest one?

"It can’t possibly be trying to date the entire patch."

Huai Yu nodded. "Just the tallest one. It’s the only one that mutated. The others just have high contamination levels, like the vegetables in the garden. They don’t have their own consciousness."

Thinking about this incredibly messy romance, the two of them sighed in unison.

However, their sighs had barely faded when they suddenly heard Kuang Biao shouting through the window again.

"Little Yu! Little Yu!

"Why is Little Kui ignoring me? Does it think I’m uncultured?

"Or was my poem too subtle and restrained?

"When you read that poem earlier, I distinctly felt its heart flutter!

"Little Yu, Little Yu!"

Huai Yu opened the window in exasperation. "Stop shouting and go romance your sunflower quietly." With the sweltering heat, its constant hollering was as deafening and irritating as a cicada’s drone.

But Kuang Biao wouldn’t listen. It only knew that Little Kui had grown up and bloomed, yet remained completely indifferent to its passionate confession—it wouldn’t even acknowledge it.

In the past, whenever poetry was read aloud, Little Kui had clearly shown signs of emotional fluctuation!

So it made another request. "Little Yu, how about you read a poem to it again?

"Read its favorite one."

Huai Yu remained deadpan. "No."

Kuang Biao let out a wail. "I’ll grow bamboo shoots! I’ll grow lots of bamboo shoots for you! The big, delicious kind!

"You can give them away or sell them for money, whatever you want! I’ve kept you company for so long. Even if I haven’t done anything highly meritorious, I’m at least a hardworking bamboo, right?

"Just read to it one more time! And put some emotion into it, okay?

"Just like how you usually do when you stand next to it with your book."

Huai Yu was speechless.

A person shouldn’t bow down for a mere five pecks of rice.

But Kuang Biao was offering five whole acres of bamboo shoots! It wasn’t her fault—the bribe was simply too generous, especially when she was currently so desperate to earn more points.

Huai Yu silently agreed. She picked up that cursed book, Towards the Sun, and trudged slowly to the edge of the bamboo forest.

Opening the book, the very first page featured the same poem she had recited until she was sick of it. As for Kuang Biao’s request to "put some emotion into it," she genuinely couldn’t muster an ounce of feeling for a single syllable.

Still, five acres’ worth of roasted bamboo shoots awaited her. Huai Yu opened her mouth, her heart dead inside.

"The golden, solemn sunflower..."

But miraculously, it seemed the sunflower really did only respond to this specific poem. Or perhaps Little Kui had finally sensed Kuang Biao’s sincerity. Standing beside it, Huai Yu could actually feel a faint, bubbling sense of joy radiating from the plant!

She thought, "No way? This actually works?"

Struck by this immense revelation, her voice grew considerably louder as she read.

"The sun casts its radiant, feathered arrows onto her serene, gentle blossom..."

"Ouch!" Kuang Biao suddenly shrieked.

Huai Yu’s recitation came to an abrupt halt. She looked up. "What’s wrong?"

"I don’t know," Kuang Biao said aggrievedly. "Maybe I’m just tasting the bitterness of love. For a brief second just now, my leaves felt so hot and painful.

"But I’m fine! Just keep reading! Little Kui is already moved. Its petals have been shifting constantly like waves... Do you think it’s trying to find the perfect angle to get the best possible view of me?"

Was that it? Huai Yu’s heart beat rapidly, not buying its explanation at all.

But the poem was very short. A few lines later, she was forced to start reading from the beginning all over again.

Right as she reached the middle of the poem again, Zhou Qian unexpectedly threw open the back window of the house. Squinting at the leaves near the tips of Kuang Biao’s bamboo shoots, he frowned. "Why are there suddenly so many light spots up there?"

He pondered curiously, "There’s nothing around here that could reflect light... Could this be a new direction for its mutation?"

Huai Yu lifted her head from the book. Taking a couple of steps back, she managed to spot the golden dots scattering across Kuang Biao’s surface. Confused, she asked, "Kuang Biao, are you trying to gold-plate yourself?"

Just as she said this, the golden spots on the bamboo leaves suddenly deepened into a dark yellow before rapidly turning into charred, blackish-brown points, looking exactly as if they had been severely scorched or burned!