Chapter 1124: Father w.a.n.g – Collecting Material and Adapting
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
It was initially just a district-level body technique exchange meet, which had inexplicably expanded into a national compet.i.tion. If No. 60 High placed in this compet.i.tion, w.a.n.g Ling wouldn’t be able to remain unnoticed and low-key, no matter how much he wanted to. Events now seemed to be developing in a way which contradicted the important strategy which Father w.a.n.g and Mother w.a.n.g had drawn up for him: “Live a low-key life.”
Wednesday, November 12th.
That night, w.a.n.g Ling got a parents’ notice and two tickets.
Since it had become a national compet.i.tion, Songhai city’s education commission decided to make a block booking for all parents of partic.i.p.ants from Songhai city to watch the compet.i.tion live. Father and Mother w.a.n.g were naturally invited, but after w.a.n.g Ling entered middle school, this ridiculous couple had never attended the parent-teacher conference, and had always found someone else to do it. For example, w.a.n.g Ling had gotten Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal to attend the parent-teacher conference in the first semester of Senior Grade One.
Hence, w.a.n.g Ling didn’t think Father and Mother w.a.n.g would go.
“Yo, it’s a big event this time, and there’s actually tickets for it.” When Father w.a.n.g received the parents’ notice and the two tickets, he was instantly lost in thought.
While the school had already sent out the tickets beforehand, it was up to the parents whether they went or not. No one was specially overseeing this matter, nor would there be any teachers at the venue checking which parents did or did not attend.
The problem was that Father w.a.n.g reluctantly felt that an event like this body technique exchange meet was detrimental to the prenatal training that the couple was doing these days.
Father w.a.n.g and Mother w.a.n.g had been carefully doing prenatal training during this period. Her belly sticking out, Mother w.a.n.g traveled all over the place, and Father w.a.n.g followed her. They visited all kinds of cultural museums on cultivation history, with the intent of making use of this art influence to get w.a.n.g Nuan to calm down… Generally speaking, girls tended to be more serene, but considering what happened after w.a.n.g Ling was born, Father and Mother w.a.n.g still felt that this sort of meditative prenatal training was vital!
Eyes fixed on the notice and tickets, Father w.a.n.g pondered for a moment before finally deciding to decline. “How about you ask Little Lei to go on our behalf?”
w.a.n.g Ling: “…”
He knew it!
“You’re calm now, and don’t like to talk much, but when you were born, you were actually quite rowdy. Your mom and I always wondered if it was because we didn’t do the prenatal training properly before you were born. Your mom and I have been taking your little sister to look at cultural and art exhibits these days, and we hope that she’ll be a little calmer,” said Father w.a.n.g. “An event like a body technique exchange meet doesn’t seem good for prenatal training. What if your little sister is influenced by the violence? Your mom and I are already no longer your match…”
These words dumbfounded w.a.n.g Ling. “…”
What “already no longer your match”…
They hadn’t been his match since he was born, alright?!
The critical point was that w.a.n.g Ling didn’t think this sort of calming prenatal training could curb his little sister’s strength.
w.a.n.g Nuan’s “Shadow Dao” had already caused w.a.n.g Ling plenty of trouble during the summer break; at that time, w.a.n.g Ling already knew what w.a.n.g Nuan was going to be like. Although his cute little sister had yet to be born, given how pesky Shadow Dao was, she would definitely be a troublemaker.
Seeing that Father w.a.n.g didn’t plan to go, w.a.n.g Ling took the tickets back, then had him sign the notice.
To be honest, w.a.n.g Ling was instead relieved that Father and Mother w.a.n.g weren’t going. When he thought about how his parents might watch his performance during the compet.i.tion, a part of him would always feel nervous as their kid.
…
As Mother w.a.n.g put on a face mask that night, she discussed the national compet.i.tion with Father w.a.n.g. “Actually you really want to go and watch.”
“…” Eyes on the newspaper, Father w.a.n.g kept silent.
“It just so happens that I’ve arranged to hang out with a few friends that day. You don’t have to worry about me, they’ve always taken very good care of me,” said Mother w.a.n.g.
Father w.a.n.g put the newspaper down and sat upright as he listened to Mother w.a.n.g speak. “This national compet.i.tion is a rare event. Ling Ling is usually so low-key, yet his teacher still chose him, which proves that his teacher really likes him. It would be good for you to go and watch. Usually, you hardly talk to each other, and you always use docking his allowance as a way to try and have a heart-to-heart chat with your son and get close to him. This is actually a very good chance; seeing how Ling Ling performs during the compet.i.tion will deepen your relations.h.i.+p and understanding of each other.”
“Cough… but…”
“But Ling Ling already took back the tickets, right?” Mother w.a.n.g laughed as she opened a drawer and pulled them out. “I took them back from Ling Ling.”
“…” Father w.a.n.g took the tickets, his heart trembling slightly.
“You d.a.m.n tsundere,” Mother w.a.n.g commented.
“Ai, do you think I want to be like this?” Father w.a.n.g curled his lip.
Father w.a.n.g really wanted to go and watch this body technique exchange meet. Indeed, like Mother w.a.n.g said, he wanted to see what w.a.n.g Ling’s performance was like. In addition, it was also for the sake of collecting reference material.
Father w.a.n.g didn’t have a lot of source material on body technique exchange meets. 102 high schools would be partic.i.p.ating in this national compet.i.tion this time, and Father w.a.n.g’s heart pounded at this treasure trove of source material.
Source material was derived from life; one of Father w.a.n.g’s main tasks in writing was to collect news on the people around him and on society, and integrate them into his novels to give it a sense of the times.
For example, Father w.a.n.g had already adapted something that happened between an online live streamer and a fruit farmer the day before into his story yesterday.
It started with a fruit farmer who opened an online shop, and had mistakenly typed in twenty-six yuan for 4500 jin of tangerines rather than 4500 grams. This mistake instantly drew the attention of some so-called “fleece clubs.”
A live streamer who took pride in fleecing others made this mistake known in his fan group and called for his fans to go online and order. They were sure that the seller wouldn’t be able to deliver the goods, and they would promptly complain together in order to receive ten percent of the total payment in compensation.
The poor fruit farmer received tens of thousands of orders overnight, and the shop’s capital instantly went up in smoke.
This live streamer called Pa.s.serby A was condemned by netizens, and finally apologized. His account was banned by the live stream platform, and this professional “online fleece club” which hid in the shadows officially entered the public eye.
This sort of behavior already wasn’t fleecing, but was cutting off the sheep’s head… Exploiting someone’s mistake for profit was extremely shameless.
But in considering whether the subject matter was suitable or not, Father w.a.n.g had to first decide whether it was reasonable to adapt this source material. As a writer of cultivation novels, such a modern plot device appearing in his cultivation novel would unavoidably be a little off-putting.
Hence, Father w.a.n.g revised and adapted this scam story for his own story.