After Being Hopeless at Singing and Dancing, I Exploded in Popularity Due to My Appetite - Chapter 71

The moment Lin Qianman replied to her, Tao Nian no longer wanted to talk to her master.

Her master knew nothing, and she had to explain it to her again and again, but she didn’t understand it much herself either.

Lin Qianman told Tao Nian about a dance drama she watched that day.

Tao Nian had never encountered anything like it before. Listening to Lin Qianman describe it, she was startled repeatedly, slowly constructing the image of a dancer in her little mind.

But Feng Jun’s messages kept coming, one after another. She typed very slowly, but each time, her message arrived perfectly a second after Lin Qianman’s, covering Lin Qianman’s notification.

A few days ago, Feng Jun read a magazine about cutting-edge research in the aerospace field. She understood the concepts but didn’t quite grasp them. Now, hearing Tao Nian say she had taken a plane, she couldn’t help but be a little curious, wanting to know the difference between human airplanes and “wind riding” (her own magical flight).

But her questions were all in the realm of science. Tao Nian only knew that looking out of the plane window, the clouds looked like cotton candy. How would she know anything about relative airflow, flow velocity, or pressure? She felt it was bad enough that she couldn’t understand what Lin Qianman was saying, but now she couldn’t even understand what her master was saying.

However, even though she couldn’t understand what Lin Qianman was saying, Lin Qianman herself knew what she was talking about and would explain it to her. She would tell her the appealing points of the dance drama, promise to take her to see it if she wanted, and even mentioned that there was a little girl in the front row who fell asleep while watching the dance drama today. In short, everything was interesting. Tao Nian really wanted to hear her continue talking, and even wanted to be by her side right now to listen.

But what Feng Jun was talking about was the principle of flight, which Feng Jun herself didn’t understand. She thought that since Tao Nian had been on a plane, she might know, so she expressed her confusion, hoping Tao Nian could explain it to her.

Those questions were to a degree that Tao Nian simply couldn’t understand. Even if she couldn’t understand, Tao Nian had now learned to give perfunctory answers. But Feng Jun wouldn’t let her brush it off and kept pushing for an answer. So Tao Nian looked at Feng Jun’s messages, filled with anguish.

She finally couldn’t stand Feng Jun’s constant questioning anymore. She exited the chat with Lin Qianman and told Feng Jun: “I don’t know either. I’ll go ask Lin Qianman.”

Feng Jun: “Alright.”

Tao Nian frowned, looked at the message Feng Jun sent her, and tried to read it: “What exactly is the continuity equation that an airplane’s flight relies on?”

Zhang Jingyue was always by her side, constantly watching her chat with others out of the corner of her eye. Now, she accidentally overheard a theorem and looked at Tao Nian somewhat confused.

Tao Nian held up her phone again to show her.

Zhang Jingyue glanced at it: “Is your master a science student?”

Tao Nian: “…What’s that?”

Zhang Jingyue sighed wearily: “So no matter what you see, you’ll think of this master, right? At first, you even constantly quoted your master’s sayings. You actually like your master, don’t you?”

Looking at Tao Nian’s chat history with that master again, she secretly thought, this is the science student version of discussing everything from poetry and prose to life philosophy.

So, did my ‘QianNian’ CP still end up as a ‘bad ending’ (BE)?! Sister Lin was still betrayed!

Tao Nian didn’t get an answer and didn’t know what Zhang Jingyue had just rambled on about. So she first copied and pasted Feng Jun’s question to Lin Qianman, then asked: “What’s a science student?”

Lin Qianman, who was relishing the dance drama she watched today, suddenly saw these two messages and couldn’t help but laugh.

She vaguely knew what a science student was, but the former question, she didn’t understand either.

She honestly said: “I don’t know what the continuity equation is either? How did you think to ask about this?”

This was the first time Tao Nian heard Lin Qianman say she didn’t know something.

Ever since she came down the mountain and met Lin Qianman, Lin Qianman seemed to be incredibly versatile. Now, suddenly hearing her say “I don’t know,” Tao Nian felt a thrill of discovering a treasure.

So it’s not just me who doesn’t know! Even someone as amazing as Lin Qianman doesn’t know!

So she happily said: “I don’t know either.”

Lin Qianman comforted her: “It’s okay, everyone has things they don’t know. You’re already amazing.”

Tao Nian then said: “Yes! You’re amazing too!”

After happily saying this, she turned and told her master: “Lin Qianman said she doesn’t know either.”

Feng Jun: “Why doesn’t she know?”

Tao Nian countered: “Then why don’t you know?”

Tao Nian’s initial understanding and imagination of the human world were all told to her by her master, Feng Jun. From the time she could remember, her master told her to help others, to be grateful, to keep promises, to learn to be self-reliant, and to work hard and be dedicated.

During the period immediately after she came down the mountain, she indeed followed these principles. Every time something happened, she would think about what her master told her.

In her heart, her master was also omnipotent, knew everything, even more amazing than Lin Qianman. Now, finding that her master had so many unknowns, she was somewhat confused: “Master, don’t you know everything?”

Feng Jun: “Regarding the world down the mountain now, I don’t know any more than you do.”

The nanny van had arrived home. Tao Nian looked at the familiar house outside the car window, wanting to quickly go back to her room and rest. So she eagerly told her master: “But you clearly knew everything before, all those things you told me were very useful.”

After saying that, she put her phone back in her pocket and got out of the car with her hand bag.

Only after returning to her room did she realize that she had received many messages in the few minutes since she came up.

Lin Qianman sent her several voice messages, saying that if she really wanted to know, she could find some books to read, and if Xiao Nan didn’t understand, she could tell Fang Wen. Having curiosity and a thirst for knowledge was a rare thing, and she should continue to study hard in the future. If she was interested in this, she could go and learn professional knowledge in this area.

She also told her that in the future, she should read more books and study more, go to school, get certifications, and she could also take civil service exams with Fang Wen, so she would have a secure job.

Tao Nian didn’t understand what any of these things were. She sent Lin Qianman a question mark, then explained that it was her master who wanted to know.

After doing all this, she clicked on Feng Jun’s chat box.

Feng Jun evidently hadn’t realized her image in Tao Nian’s heart was so grand. She very honestly said: “Those were all things Lin Qianman told me.”

Tao Nian: “What did Lin Qianman tell you?”

Feng Jun: “Patriotic, dedicated, trustworthy, friendly, prosperous, democratic, civilized, and harmonious.”

Expanding on these, aren’t they just about knowing how to help others, being grateful, keeping promises, learning to be self-reliant, and working hard and diligently?

Tao Nian felt a bolt from the blue: “Lin Qianman told you this?!”

Feng Jun: “Yes.”

When Lin Qianman went to Qingnan Mountain, Feng Jun had only been off the mountain for a few decades and had no idea how fast the world below had changed. These were all things Lin Qianman told her.

Tao Nian felt uncomfortable: “Why didn’t she tell me directly?!”

Why did she have to tell Master, and then have Master tell me? Wouldn’t it be better to tell me directly?!

Feng Jun was silent for a moment, then reminded Tao Nian: “You would bite her as soon as you saw her, she had no chance to speak.”

Tao Nian: “…”

She was also silent for a moment. Her heart, which had been full of depression, suddenly became confused. She tried hard to recall, and finally found a few relevant memories. Lin Qianman seemed to always try to reason with her back then, but she had been on the mountain, and these principles were useless to her. So she only felt that this Qilin (Lin Qianman) was annoying, unwilling to listen to her, and only wanted to gnaw on the little fleshy ball on her horn.

••••

She had originally wanted to question Lin Qianman, but now she didn’t know how to start.

Tao Nian looked at her phone and sent a message to Feng Jun. She had been using her phone for five months and could type very quickly, but this time, for some reason, she slowly, one key at a time, typed out a line: “So Lin Qianman is actually my master, right?”

Feng Jun looked at this line of text. After a long while, she turned off her phone and put it away.

Tao Nian was unsalvageable.

Less than half a year after coming down the mountain, she even wanted to abandon her master.

She had raised her for several hundred years, starting from knowing nothing but eating, finally raising her to adulthood. Just because she encountered Lin Qianman when she began to shapeshift and gained memories, she wanted to change masters.

She hadn’t been down the mountain for a hundred years, and the world below had become increasingly degenerate!

A phone lay silently on the stone table. A woman sat beside the table, looking coldly at the phone, as if trying to stare it into blooming.

Just then, the phone rang.

Feng Jun didn’t want to look, but still picked it up.

She wanted to see what kind of excuses that ungrateful Taotie would make.

But it wasn’t Tao Nian; it was Tao Nian’s “master,” Lin Qianman.

Lin Qianman’s attitude was as respectful as ever: “Feng Jun, I heard from Nian Nian that you’re very interested in knowledge about flight.”

Feng Jun kept a straight face, not wanting to speak.

Lin Qianman’s phone kept ringing; Tao Nian was constantly sending messages.

But she was on the phone with Feng Jun, and it was impolite for it to keep ringing. So she muted her phone, and while talking to Feng Jun, she opened Tao Nian’s messages.

“I don’t know much about this knowledge either. Science is developing rapidly, and I’m too slow-witted. I don’t really understand these things. If you really want to know, you can come down the mountain, and I’ll help you find a school. You can…”

The unfinished words caught in her throat. Lin Qianman inferred what outrageous things Tao Nian had said to Feng Jun from the messages Tao Nian sent her.

She seemed to have just realized Feng Jun’s silence. She paused, then continued: “You can study this knowledge in depth.”

Feng Jun simply said “Mm” indifferently.

Lin Qianman had originally wanted to give Feng Jun a detailed introduction to the world down the mountain, inviting her to come down and see the city’s prosperity, experience the busy but fulfilling life of mortals, and also observe Tao Nian’s work with Tao Nian, so that even if she returned to the mountain, she wouldn’t have to worry about Tao Nian anymore. But now, she didn’t dare to say anything. She didn’t even dare to mention Tao Nian’s name in front of Feng Jun.

She quickly cut to the chase: “Please consider it. If you’re interested, I’ll contact the school immediately.”

After hanging up the phone, Lin Qianman immediately called Tao Nian.

Tao Nian was rolling back and forth on the bed with her phone, like a beached fish that had lost its tail. She couldn’t describe what she was feeling inside.

Before, she thought her master was Feng Jun, and when Zhang Jingyue said she liked her master, she didn’t think much of it. Now that she thought Lin Qianman was her master, she couldn’t help but start recalling what Zhang Jingyue had said then.

Zhang Jingyue said that if you think of one person no matter what you do, that’s liking them.

At first, she constantly quoted what Lin Qianman taught her (what Lin Qianman had her master teach her). After she met Lin Qianman, no matter what she saw or didn’t know, she wanted to tell Lin Qianman. She only thought of her.

So, is this… liking?