The King of Black Fog

"Why? Oh!" Li Qianxia had just asked when she realized, "Is it because we can't let the government know?"

Yang Qinglan nodded.

Li Changzhou also reflected, "With the confidence of the Honeycomb World, I've been careless in my actions. I must change that."

"So what do we do?" Li Qianxia asked. "Should we ask Yafeiluna or Bi for help?"

"No," Li Changzhou rejected.

Yafeiluna and the Czar Princess did not have Li Changzhou's photo, and they hadn't been told the rules of 'Photo Transmission'.

The notes on 'Photo Transmission' made it very clear that if the photo were torn during the process, irreparable things could happen.

Given Li Changzhou's distrustful nature, how could he possibly share such a matter with anyone other than his sister and Yang Qinglan?

"Then what?" Li Qianxia pondered while fiddling with her toes.

"Right!" She came up with an idea, "Bro, do you still remember Xu Mengjie from Class 2?"

"Who?" Yang Qinglan asked.

"I don't remember," Li Changzhou said, with the tone and expression of someone pretending to forget.

"She was our high school classmate!" Li Qianxia exclaimed excitedly, "She went abroad for university and is now in the United States! Last time I checked her social circle, she posted a photo of our entire senior three class, missing life back home. Bro, your handsome photo is on it!"

"How handsome?" Li Changzhou ran his hand through his hair, leaning back.

In the evening breeze, under the apricot tree, there was a hint of that old Hong Kong and Taiwan heartthrob flair.

Li Qianxia, still playing with her toes, smeared her hand across his face, even brushing his lips.

"Li Qianxia, I—ugh! Ptoo!"

"I'll chat with her!" Li Qianxia wiped her fingers on her brother's clothes and started typing on her phone, "If Xu Mengjie lives alone, once we know her class schedule, we can make our move! Invade the American Empire!"

"Li · Qian · Xia!"

"Bro, don't be annoying; I'm doing something important here, behave, oh... Qing Lan! Help!"

Yang Qinglan picked up a kettle, poured herself a cup of water, and watched the sibling rivalry unfold.

Li Changzhou, using all his might, caught Li Qianxia and stuffed her own hand into her mouth.

"Not thinking of adding a little flavor from your feet?" Yang Qinglan asked curiously.

"Mmmph mmmph! Qing Lan you... Mmm! Mmph?! Mmm—"

Too cruel.

It was now 7:03 PM in Xia Country, and in Chicago, where Xu Mengjie was, it was 6:03 AM.

After Li Qianxia sent the message, Xu Mengjie didn't reply until about 8:30.

Through chatting, Li Qianxia found out that the other party was majoring in Economics and Data Science.

$900-plus for rent is so expensive.

She recently spent $1125 on a pair of Mano-something high heels and planned to live frugally the next month.

Why buy the high heels? She joined a sorority that was attending a ball hosted by a fraternity.

By nine o'clock, Xu Mengjie finally said she was heading out and made plans to meet Li Qianxia for a meal when she returned to the country.

"You sure can talk," Li Changzhou had to admire his sister; if it were him, he would have grown impatient and said he was going to shower.

"Chatting with girls is the easiest," Li Qianxia said, enlarging the photo of the Mano-something high heels, "As long as you make her think you're on the same page as her."

"Let's go," Yang Qinglan stood up.

Li Qianxia sprang up and asked, "What's your level of English? How's your spoken English? And right, what if we don't have any money?"

"English isn't a problem; as for money, we just need to find a Xia Country student and threaten them, right?" Li Changzhou said.

"Robbery?!"

"We give them Xia Coins, they give us US Dollars. We might not have a way, but they'll definitely have a way to exchange Xia Coins for US Dollars."

"Oh oh oh!"

In the 'Honeycomb World,' Yang Qinglan had all her cash; there wasn't any need to withdraw money.

Just as Li Changzhou was about to initiate Teleportation, Li Qianxia's phone rang. A dormitory friend who had just finished showering wanted to video chat with her.

"What do we do?" She said with a drooping face.

"Why not just not answer?" Yang Qinglan couldn't see what there was to be troubled about.

"I'm the one who asked to video chat with her." Li Qianxia's tone became even sadder.

"Say you're taking a shower." Li Changzhou always used this line to brush off girls who wanted to chat with him.

After thinking seriously for two seconds, Li Qianxia sighed and said, "Forget it, you guys go."

Then she sat back down.

If her sister didn't go, wouldn't that be... a date for two?

"Make it quick, staying too long will blow our cover, and I want to get back early to sleep," Yang Qinglan said as if she had read someone's mind.

"...Okay," Little Li reached out his arm.

Yang Qinglan, the old Buddha, placed her hand on top.

"Be careful," Li Qianxia instructed, then turned to listlessly chat with her little sister.

◇

In Chicago, the sun was shining brightly, the sky was cloudless, robin-egg blue (quoted from: the chat records between Xu Mengjie and Li Qianxia).

Li Changzhou wasn't someone to be so infatuated with love that he would lose his sense of reason; he efficiently engaged in several willing transactions with a few Xia Country study abroad students from the University of Chicago.

Fortunately, the likelihood of study abroad students being wealthy was quite high, so it wasn't too much trouble.

After that, he hurried to buy one male and two female Jersey cows, which were lactating, and one cow could reportedly produce forty pounds a day.

How much is a pound? Li Changzhou didn't understand this unit.

But the seller, who was busy hunting deer with a shotgun, said that even just one of the cows could produce more milk in a day than two people could drink, necessitating a big refrigerator.

There were also one male and two female beef cattle, five piglets, a crate of chicks (including three that had started laying eggs), a crate of geese (including three laying geese), a crate of ducklings (including three laying ducks), a crate of rabbits, two pairs of goats, two deer, and three boxes of bees.

Plus the hay, fresh grass, corn, and other feed for the animals, buckets for milking, troughs, and so on.

He also bought five boxes of seeds, each containing forty types of vegetables.

Fruit tree saplings were purchased as well, including oranges, apples, pears, and strawberries.

All the goods were placed in "Honey Pot World," and since both their constitutions were good, the overall journey went smoothly, and they even got to practice their English.

"That should do it, we'll come back for building materials next time," Yang Qinglan said.

"Mhm," Li Changzhou nodded.

While shopping, Li Changzhou's photo, in an exceptionally well-sealed manner, was hidden in various places around Chicago.

"But wait for me one more second, there's something else I want to buy."

"What?"

Li Changzhou bought something by Mano, a pair of black high heels, and a pair of white sandals.

One pair of sandals was even more expensive than a cow.

When he got back and gave them to Li Qianxia, she was quite happy, but then immediately asked, "Big brother, you didn't only buy them for me and forget Qing Lan, did you?"

...

Li Changzhou rubbed the corner of his left eye with his right hand: "I didn't think of it."

"I don't wear high heels," Yang Qinglan smiled, then went off to handle the cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, seeds, and so on.

Done for!

Li Changzhou still wasn't used to it; in his past life, he was only good to Li Qianxia.

Any item that caught her eye just a bit more than usual, he would remember it, thinking that once he had money, he would buy them all for her.

It was totally fine to spoil his little sister, but with Yang Qinglan... their relationship wasn't defined yet, so giving her something as intimate as shoes, wouldn't that be inappropriate?

"Bro, it's okay, it's like this for everyone's first time!" Li Qianxia comforted him, "But don't worry, I'll talk to her tonight, and everything will be okay."

Pillow talk...

"Why would you be the one to do it?"

"Because Qing Lan only sleeps with me, isn't it obvious?"

Feeling overwhelmed, Li Changzhou jumped into the lake for some reflection (and training).