New Year's Eve
Guardian points x100, Low-level mind-soothing potion x1 Please continue your hard work for better rewards.> Yang Jingshen stared at this notification, which had appeared under a section named 'Special notifications' in the statistics section of the panel, and started thinking. Originally, in the statistics option in the main menu, in addition to the satisfaction value data, there was only one other section named as 'notifications'. But, on the day the photos of his modeling job had been published in 'Insurgent fashions', he had woken up to a 'ding' sound, only to find this new special notifications section had appeared. 'I was right. This means that I won't be getting a quest for every job I'm taking. Maybe, I'll get them for jobs that are like milestones? But, it seems like I'd get a reward of some sort for working the other jobs.' Not only that, on the very same day, he had received some positive satisfaction value points from that stingy woman, Feng Xi. Well, it was some measly 9 points, just 2 higher than the value that was deducted when he accepted this job. But, Yang Jingshen thought that it was still better than nothing. It was because this was the second time he got an increase in satisfaction value– the first time being at the very beginning when it was raised by thirteen points. However, the best thing was that it kept increasing once in a while during the last few days after the blog publicized his photos. Of course, it was also only by a few single-digit values -once again evidence of that shitty ghost's stinginess- but Yang Jingshen didn't bother to complain. '... I feel like I'm suffering from a variation of Stockholm syndrome.' Even so, he still felt quite pleased with the way things turned out after the photos were made public. The response can be considered quite good, despite the occasional insulting and discriminative remarks thrown by some people in the middle. The comment section under his personal account on the company's website was still very much deserted, except for its data showing some new visitors who viewed it. In contrast, his Weibo got a handful of new fans and some viewers, along with a certain number of discriminative remarks, but Yang Jingshen was quite happy with this result. After all, it was an improvement from the time when his profile only had a few zombie fans(1) hired by the company to it. It might not be much, but for someone who had practically no exposure, this was more valuable than could be explained by simple words. *** Yang Jingshen looked at the delicacies set on the makeshift altar table at a side of the living room and gulped, maybe for the fiftieth time. It was the table set aside for ancestors during New Year's Eve (2) dinner, and the whole setup gave an abundant and prosperous feeling. Let's not forget about the delicious mix of scents that had been wafting about for many hours now. Earlier in the day, he had holed himself up inside his bedroom after Feng Xue chased him out of the kitchen, so he had only managed to get a whiff or two of the appetizing scent. In addition, he had also been focused on analyzing the response to his newest modeling work as well as thinking about how to further achieve his mission goals. But, once Feng Xue called him to set the table and he saw the tiny kitchen counter teeming with all sorts of pots and pans full of various delicious foods– well, let's just say that his stomach had chosen that particular moment to produce one of the loudest growls he had ever had the misfortune of coming upon. The other woman of course laughed at him and he actually felt embarrassed, well maybe for a minute– but in front of such mouth-watering food, who would really bother about some useless dignity? Can he eat it? So, Yang Jingshen joined the activities with much enthusiasm, only to realize that they couldn't eat by just setting up the table. They still needed to give offerings to the ancestors ah! Well, this little set back of course didn't dampen his eagerness much– after all, it's not like these dead people would actually eat this, and not like it would reduce his share either. He- he can wait a bit more! Yang Jingshen watched as Feng Xue poured the rice wine(3) into the tiny glasses set on the sacrificial table and then joined her in burning some joss sticks(4). Finally, both of them kowtowed in respect to the ancestors. In his past life, Yang Jingshen had never bothered with these formalities at the New Year period, and the last time he celebrated this particular holiday with a family member in that world had been when he was even younger than ten years. Of course, he had celebrated the New Year during his teenage years as well, but those had been very formal and dreary affairs. And by the time he had become an independent adult, and one with millions of money in his bank account to boot, he had long since forgotten how to properly celebrate the New Year. And, the new year for him meant going to all sorts of celebrations held by various media outlets, and coming home nearing midnight, drinking some champagne while contemplating life, maybe eating something if he was feeling hungry, and then directly going to sleep. Aaaand… that's it! … Well, you just thought that it sounded extraordinarily pitiful and lonely, right? Well, our hero would beg to differ. Because, to Yang Jingshen, New Year also meant another thing– something more important than observing some outdated traditions and eating some food with some troublesome relatives. It meant money! Loads and loads of money! What? Did you think he was doing it for charity when he participated in all those New Year celebrations on different TV channels and whatnot, eh? Delusional! Anyway, Yang Jingshen didn't bother too much when paying respect to Feng Xi's ancestors, not just because they were not his own. Even if they were his own ancestors, he wouldn't have paid much heed anyway. Just going through the motion was already good enough. But he didn't exactly mind experiencing the New Year in this manner either. He had long forgotten what he did with that person during the New Year period back then– it was such a long time ago, and he tended to forget about miscellaneous things. But now that he was in the body of Feng Xi, spending a new life and all, it was not such a bad thing. The flavor was also quite… different. "Little Xi, let's eat." "Ok." Yang Jingshen sat down at the table together with Feng Xue and his pale, amber eyes glittered seeing the way it was overflowing with all types of dishes. There was braised chicken and pig trotters stewed in a savory sauce and another dish made with fat choy (5), braised mushroom, dried scallops, and lettuce, which was giving off an enticing smell. Tiger prawns stir-fried in soy sauce, dumplings with pork and vegetable fillings, spring rolls, longevity noodles– the scene was indeed prosperous and abundant. A plate of glutenous rice cakes and a bowl full of bright orange-colored tangerines sat together with some other traditional sweets on a sideboard near the table, glistening enticingly. 'Today, I'm gonna pig out– short of having indigestion.' Yang Jingshen swallowed down a mouthful of saliva as he reached out to snatch yet another dumpling and started to munch away in delight. Anyway, it wasn't like he would get too fat after this one meal, especially since this body was the type that won't easily put on weight. So, why should he refrain from indulging himself this time? ##### Glossary: 01) Zombie fans - This is a slang word used to identify fake followers lurking on Chinese social media. Usually, a talent agency might employ some of these zombie fans as followers for a new artist's account, so that it would have a little bit of presence, instead of appearing totally empty. 02) New Year's Eve- This is the day before the New Year in China. It's signified by a New Year's Eve dinner, where all family members gather together and give offerings of food and burn joss sticks to honor their ancestors. This is the tradition observed by Feng Xue and Yang Jingshen in this chapter. 03) Feng Xue poured the rice wine - When setting the sacrificial table for the ancestors, it's the eldest member of the family who'd pour the wine for the deceased. And among the two of them, Feng Xue is the eldest. 04) Joss sticks - An incense stick, that gives off a fragrant smell while burning. 05) Fat choy - This literally means 'hair vegetable' in Chinese. It's a sort of black hair-like algae and is usually used in many New year dishes because its name sounds similar to the word 'prosperity' in Chinese. ##### A/N: Guys, there're actually many other terms here that I would like to explain. But I'm afraid that it would be too long and you guys would get bored. So, gonna stop for now. If you need more terms explained, just drop me a message in the comment section. Have a fun read!