Rebel Demon King

Chapter 1082 Jun travels east to east, east to east, and An De flies to the west wind

At the end of January, major colleges and universities began to have winter vacation one after another, and Athena's tour lectures in the capital's colleges and universities also stopped.As the end of the year approaches, both Cheng Mo and Athena have nothing to do, except that Cheng Mo needs to occasionally communicate with Xi Shi and pay attention to the situation in Syria, basically there is not much business to do.

So Cheng Mo and Athena started the mode of getting along day and night again, and the situation was a little bit back to the time when they were drifting in the calm sea on the dilapidated cargo ship of "Mediterranean Overture".

If anything, it's very different
At least on the boat, Cheng Mo doesn't have to face the embarrassment of eating hot pot three times a day.Eating hot pot every meal is not so unbearable.For Cheng Mo, what is unbearable is that every time after eating hot pot, his mouth will be full of garlic, but Athena does not have it at all. Even after eating hot pot, Athena's ambergris is still fragrant and sweet.But he has, even brushing his teeth and eating chewing gum can't solve it in a short time.But if there is no garlic in the dipping sauce, is that still a dipping sauce?
Because of Athena's almost paranoid love for hot pot, Cheng Mo sincerely hopes that someone will invent garlic without garlic.

Otherwise it would be too much of a hindrance to kissing.

Cheng Mo never imagined that the biggest obstacle on the road to success between him and Athena would be hot pot and garlic.

This is really a bit unbelievably absurd.

But in fact. But in fact, Cheng Mo is not as resistant to hot pot as he imagined. He is just not so enthusiastic on the surface. In his heart, it is a good thing not to eat other dishes, at least he will not touch the scene. It reminds me of the warm meal he never forgets.

Meals made by Mr. Shen himself.

On January 31st, Shen Youyi rushed to the capital from Xingcheng, and then went to Harbin. Because the cold current from Siberia reached the capital, the entire Gyeonggi area began to snow in the middle of the night.While Shen Youyi was waiting bitterly in the freezing weather of Harbinger, Cheng Mo was also watching the overwhelming snowfall in the warm spring-like room of Aman in the Summer Palace.

Cheng Mo stood in front of the wooden lattice window and looked out of the window. The whiteness in the yard reflected the warm light. Not far away, the golden glazed tiles were covered with white snow, and there were crabapple and cherry blossom trees in the yard. The soft snow seemed to be in full bloom, and Cheng Mo couldn't help but think of a poem like "Suddenly like a spring breeze overnight, thousands of trees and pear blossoms bloom".

The cheap voice of "Crayon Shin-chan" echoed in the room, Athena played the cartoon of "Crayon Shin-chan" on her laptop, and read a book on the bed wrapped in a quilt, as if "Crayon Shin-chan" was her own Background music.

Cheng Mo walked to the bedroom and asked, "What do you want for breakfast?"

Athena said without raising her head, "Hot pot."

"There is no hot pot restaurant open in the morning."

"You lied to me, Haidilao is open 24 hours a day."

"It's snowing so much today, you can have lunch when you get to Haidilao."

"Isn't that just right?"

"Do you want to go out even under such heavy snow?"

"You don't have to go out. Haidilao has takeaways. Let's order takeaways now. I want to eat double pepper beef, beef rolls, shrimp slippery, tofu, potato chips, and lo mein."

Cheng Mo, who was watching "Are You Hungry" with his mobile phone, raised his head and asked, "Lo mein?"

"That waiter who plays music and dances next to you"

"Then you have to call a waiter?"

"Is there a problem?"

"If there is no problem and money, most of the problems in this world are not problems." Cheng Mo, who had already ordered more than ten servings of beef, replied.It's just that he closed his eyes and thought about it. After ordering so many things, the small box of the food delivery boy should not fit it, right?It's snowing heavily, and you have to bring a waiter here?It was hard work, not to mention the distance.Even if he gave a lot of money, if it was Xie Minyun, he would definitely not want him to do this, so he put down his phone, sighed and said, "Let's go out to eat!"

Hearing that she could go out to eat hot pot, Athena immediately threw off the quilt and jumped off the bed, "Oh! Then I'll brush my teeth and wash my face."

The long golden hair and the light nightgown swelled in the warm air at the same time, exposing Athena's slender neck and legs to the air. She landed lightly on the floor, just for a moment, but beautiful, like Snow-white dandelions are falling.Barefoot and without slippers, she stepped on the wooden floor with floor heating and walked towards the bathroom. The loose silk pajamas slipped very low, and the pure white waves swayed.

The breathtaking scenery reminded Cheng Mo of mountains covered with snow, and it had a visual experience of ice cream, which made people want to stop.Another poem appeared in Cheng Mo's mind: "Go for alms before the bells and drums ring, and the snow peaks become raps on the ground."Thinking of eating ice cream at night, Cheng Mo's mood is filled with sweet joy, the happiness of adults is sometimes so simple.

Cheng Mo walked to the bedside and began to dress. He looked down and saw "Ouroboros-West of Time Series" on the bedside, and he said to himself: "Having Athena is very happy, and you still want to hug left and right? One cannot be too greedy"

When passing through the lobby, Manager Huang, Aman’s personal butler, told Cheng Mo that he had already helped Athena receive several packages. Cheng Mo glanced at the large and small packages piled up at the concierge, and helplessly asked Manager Xiao Huang to deliver them at night. to their room.

Walking out of the lobby, Jiang Jun had already parked the car at the door.After getting in the car, Rolls-Royce drove Cheng Mo and Athena slowly to Xizhimen Fenglan International Shopping Center where they visited last time.

Looking out through the window when passing the Summer Palace, the white garden has a special taste. The pagoda tree, ginkgo, and paulownia in the garden are all white, and the layers of white roofs and red palace walls form a sharp contrast.Kunming Lake has been frozen, and it is also covered with a layer of snow, like a fairyland.Entering the street, overnight, the entire capital city was covered with snow. If it wasn't for the dense vehicles blocking the road, Cheng Mo felt that the snow scene in the capital city was worth savoring carefully.

There are several universities along the way from Aman in the Summer Palace to Fenglan International Shopping Center.First, she passed Peking University and University of Science and Technology. Athena is familiar with these two universities. She has given lectures, and every lecture can cause quite a stir. It is said that her poster is still hanging at the entrance of the auditorium.

Then came the famous Nortel, Cheng Mo told Athena that this school is the best film and television school in China, and Yan Yitong studied here.

Then there was the Capital Normal University, and Athena naturally didn't know that this was Shen Youyi's alma mater, so she chanted: "The Capital Normal University." She turned to look at Cheng Mo, "So this is the best teacher school in China?"

Across the flying snow, Cheng Mo stared at the huge door and the red name, he couldn't help being silent, and after a long time, he whispered: "Yes, of course, the students who come here are the best in China. teacher."

After passing the Beijing Normal University, we arrived at Fenglan International Shopping Center. Cheng Mo and Athena went up to the third floor with ease. At ten o'clock, there was no one in Haidilao, so Cheng Mo and Athena chose a place near the dipping table. Started to eat, in order to enjoy the ice cream in the evening, Cheng Mo decided not to add a little garlic to today's dipping sauce.

Because eating hot pot with Athena is a long-term war of resistance, Cheng Mo also brought books, and he ate hot pot while reading. Athena used the small stand she bought on Taobao to prop up the IPAD, and ate while watching "Crayon Shin-chan" hot pot.Ah~ the joy of eating hot pot, plus the joy of watching "Crayon Shin-chan", that is double the Coke, and another bottle of iced Coke, for Athena, it is three times the joy.

Seeing Athena enjoying her face, Cheng Mo felt that as long as he agreed, Athena would probably be willing to live in the hot pot restaurant.As if spying into Cheng Mo's mind, Athena held up her chopsticks and said, "Why don't we open a hot pot restaurant?"

"Open a hot pot restaurant?"

"That's right!" Athena nodded, "I also raise a panda to catch mice."

"Pandas can't catch mice."

"I teach it! Make it a real Kung Fu Panda."

Cheng Mo shook his head: "The IQ of pandas is not enough."

"It's okay." Athena said seriously, "I can transform it"

"Remodeling a national treasure? Breaking the law."

"Your boss said, I can apply for research projects and funding. I've made up my mind. The research project is "Using Gene Editing Technology to Improve the Intelligence of Animals."

"Just so that pandas can catch mice?"

Athena thought for a while and said: "If possible, let it know how to make noodles. Do you think our hot pot restaurant is super lazy?"

Cheng Mo covered his forehead, he felt that Athena's unrestrained thinking was a waste of talent, but he wanted to see, there is a hot pot restaurant with pandas who only know how to pull noodles, it's hard not to think it's popular.It’s just that what they should be talking about is particle physics and particle astrophysics and nuclear physics, string theory, gravitational theory and cosmology, or condensed matter physics and quantum physics. How could they talk about opening a hot pot restaurant?But this is actually not boring, talking about anything with Athena is not boring.

Speaking of Athena, he had already started to design the experimental ideas. Cheng Mo's research on biotechnology was not in-depth, but he could understand it. Soon Cheng Mo found out from Athena's narration that this was not a joke.Enhanced animal intelligence isn't far off, it's so real.

Cheng Mo's expression became serious, and he thought of those semi-mechanized lizardmen in the Hydera Building who still needed to be charged.He ate a piece of beef and said: "You can't do this, if you elevate the animal life form, you will face serious consequences, especially those conservatives, they will accuse you of using the 'creator' without authorization. rights', and those on the environmentalist left may approve, may attack you, and those who attack you will say: they will think that other animals have their own way of life, when you force them to come to the hot pot restaurant with intelligence To work for you, that would be a form of slavery."

"Slavery? Isn't it slavery not to enhance their intelligence? From all the research I've done, I conclude that cetaceans, primates, corvids, parrots, pinnipeds (such as Sea lions) and some other species on Earth, they seem to be trapped under a glass ceiling," Athena said, "about the same level of thinking, problem solving, language ability and evolution are not enough to make them break through this bottleneck. ...they will never be able to produce intelligence without the help of humans."

"Many human beings on the earth can't survive now. If even animals are intelligent, it will only cause more problems. Especially ethical and moral issues."

"Your idea is boring. Imagine that when you are sailing on the ocean, you can find a dolphin guide who is also a philosopher. When you go to the primitive jungle, you can find a chimpanzee bodyguard, and at the same time it How fun it is to be a part-time chef."

"Part-time chef? Eat banana termite salad?" Cheng Mo shook his head, "Impossible. This is not a boring and interesting question. Because selfishness is the nature of human beings, they will not be happy to see animals jumping out to snatch resources. And..." He Staring at Athena, she stopped talking, as if thinking of something horrifying, her eyes showed a hint of fear, "I thought of it. The Garden of Eden."

"That's right," Athena said unsurprisingly, "There are indeed many such studies in the Garden of Eden, and intelligent individuals have been born, but intelligent groups with social structures have not yet been produced."

Cheng Mo didn't continue to ask, he felt that he had touched the edge of the restricted area, and if he continued to move forward, there would be an endless abyss.

"Maybe we should talk about something else." Cheng Mo took a deep breath and said, he didn't think this was a good place to talk about this kind of thing, God knows how many eyes are staring at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"What are you going to do in the afternoon?"

"We ate a strong Sichuan-style hot pot for lunch, and we can go to the side stove in the afternoon"

Cheng Mo felt that he had to find a way to escape the sanctions of hot pot, at least today, he thought for a while and said, "I think we should go and see my uncle and aunt, as well as my cousin and cousin." He doesn't have much affection for his relatives, but at this stage of his life, he has let go a lot, and sometimes misses them occasionally. Regardless of whether he will come and go in the future, he feels that he should go and see.This kind of feeling and emotion is quite complicated for Cheng Mo, he never thought that he would take the initiative to visit his uncle and aunt.

"Uncle, aunt, cousin, cousin?"

"Correct."

"Are they in the capital?"

"Yes." Cheng Mo said, "After seeing them, we can go to Star City. Don't you want to go to Star City a long time ago? You said you want to eat rice noodles and braised pork."

"Ah."

Although Athena has always listened to Cheng Mo's arrangements, Cheng Mo still added with a smile: "Don't worry! I can guarantee that the hot pot in Xingcheng may not be better than that in Shangsichuan and Chongqing, but it must be better than that in Beijing. And Hunan cuisine is also one of the eight major cuisines in China.”

"I know." Athena raised her head, her eyes were full of longing, but she said, "I'm looking forward to it, I've seen the Hunan cuisine described by Nanxi, it must be very suitable my appetite."

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The two ate hot pot until after two o'clock in the afternoon, and then found a rice noodle shop opened by uncle and aunt in Yuefu Jiangnan near Dinghui Bridge according to the address given by Fu Yuanzhuo.This neighborhood near the Fifth Ring Road is naturally not considered a high-end neighborhood. From a distance, in the heavy snow under the hazy sky, it is a residential building that can be seen everywhere in the fourth and fifth ring roads of the capital. Four or fifty-one square meters, even though this figure is just a drizzle for Cheng Mo now, he still thinks it's not worth it.

The rice noodle shop opened by my uncle and aunt is called "Qiaoyun Wuling Beef Rice Noodle Shop", and the rice noodle shop with the signboard in red on a black background is in the middle of Daoxiang Village and "Old Township Pancake".When Jiang Jun drove the car onto the sidewalk and parked in front of the rice noodle shop, it also attracted a lot of curious eyes.

Cheng Mo got out of the car, and walked to the rice noodle shop with Athena, who was wearing a celine camel coat and black velvet culottes. She was wearing a pair of black low-top short boots, half a head taller than Cheng Mo.Because of her, the humble street seems to have become the most western runway in Paris.At this moment, the heavy snow seemed to have stagnated for a moment.

Red "Welcome" and "Open for cold (warm) air" are pasted on the foggy glass door, as well as the Wuling Beef Noodle shop menu that Cheng Mo is very familiar with.Inexplicably, some strange emotions arose in Cheng Mo's heart. He was somewhat indescribable, as if he had opened a book that he had read for a long time but was familiar with the content. He should have no interest in reading it again, but when the words jumped When it came into view, he still wanted to read along the plot, even though he knew exactly what was going to happen next.

This makes Cheng Mo find it strange that books can be read over and over again, but memory rarely brings this feeling.He guessed that it might be because he has not yet reached that age, and he has more expectations for the future than the past.

Cheng Mo took a breath of cold air and opened the glass door.As he expected, there were no customers in the rice noodle shop with only four or five small tables. Only the uncle and aunt wearing sleeves were playing with their mobile phones boredly.Uncle is watching short videos, and aunt is chatting on WeChat.

When Cheng Mo walked in, the uncle put down the phone quickly, stood up swiftly, put the phone in his pocket smoothly, got up and walked to the kitchen with hot water.And my aunt said in a not so authentic Beijing accent: "Welcome, what do you want to eat?"

"Uncle, aunt, it's me." Cheng Mo said.

Aunt Huang Qiaoyun opened her eyes wide and stared at Cheng Mo and Athena beside him without blinking with her mouth open, speechless.The uncle with a somewhat stooped back stopped in his tracks, and turned around after a while.

Cheng Mo saw that his uncle Cheng Jidong's lips were trembling. He looked at himself for a long time, until tears welled up in the corner of his eyes, and then he said, "Cheng Mo? Are you really Cheng Mo?"

"It's me, uncle." Cheng Mo smiled.

Uncle walked over quickly, wanting to hold Cheng Mo's hand, but staring at Cheng Mo who was dressed in a black dress, the big rough hand he raised froze in mid-air, and he changed it to please, in a little embarrassment. Gestures, Chinese language coherent said: "Sit first! Sit first!" He turned his head to look at his aunt, "Wife, wife, go to the side and buy something, pastries and drinks. By the way, young people like to drink milk tea now." Two cups of milk tea."

My aunt secretly looked at the blond-haired Athena, while carefully answering "Yes".

Cheng Mo stopped his aunt and said, "Auntie doesn't need to buy it. We just had dinner."

My aunt switched to Wuling dialect without hindrance, and said, "It doesn't matter if you have eaten, just buy something to drink."

Cheng Mo did not continue to reject this simple enthusiasm, but turned his head and introduced to Athena: "This is my uncle, this is my aunt"

"Uncle, aunt." Athena followed and shouted, she was always well-behaved by Cheng Mo's side, and she couldn't tell that she was the devil who would chop off people's heads if she didn't agree with each other.

Uncle didn't dare to look at the unusually noble Athena, looked at Cheng Mo and asked timidly: "This is..."

"My wife, Athena." Cheng Mo paused, "You can call her by her Chinese name, Cheng Ya, or Xiao Ya, it doesn't matter."

"Are you married?" Uncle's eyes widened.

Cheng Mo nodded, "But I haven't received the marriage certificate yet, and I will get the certificate this time when I come back."

"Just got married??" Uncle still didn't believe it, and turned to look at Athena, as if asking this foreigner?
Cheng Mo smiled and nodded.

The aunt pushed the uncle, "Let them sit down first! I'm going to buy drinks, you call Yangyang now and ask him to find the most expensive restaurant, at least a five-star restaurant, and reserve a seat In the evening, we invite Cheng Mo and his wife to dinner."

"Yes! Yes!" Uncle said, he picked up the roll paper from the table, and wiped the clean seat repeatedly, until Cheng Mo raised his hand to stop him, and then let Cheng Mo and Athena sit down.

My aunt said hello to Cheng Mo and Athena, and hurried out of the rice noodle shop.The three of them sat on the small table, probably Athena brought a strong sense of oppression, making the uncle look at a loss, sitting in front of Cheng Mo like a schoolboy being scolded, he didn't know what to say for a while.It was Cheng Mo who first spoke about his situation in the past two years, of course it was all fabricated.Feeling that Cheng Mo's attitude is much more kind than before, uncle speaks quickly.Tell Cheng Mo that the school informed them that Cheng Mo disappeared in the Paris terrorist attack when he was participating in the Europa academic activities, and compensated them 1000 million for this, and later gave Cheng Haoyang a recommended place, and their family moved to Come to Beijing.At this time, the aunt who happened to be carrying milk tea and snacks came in, relieved of the hot milk tea and snacks, her face full of hesitation.

Cheng Mo naturally knew what his aunt was thinking, but he was no longer what he used to be, so he immediately told his uncle and aunt that the money would not be taken back, nor would he want it.

The uncle shook his head quickly, and said seriously: "How can we do that? The money hasn't been touched at all. Since you came back, I should give it to you. How can we take it?"

Cheng Mo was a little surprised, "If the money is still there, how did you buy the house in the capital?"

My aunt coughed, but my uncle ignored it and replied: "In the second year after you disappeared, when Yang Yang was admitted to Tsinghua University in 21 years, an intermediary came to the door and said that your old house was auspicious, and two people went up in a row. From Tsinghua University, there is also a double champion. If you want to buy that house, you can pay as much as you want. We thought you were just missing, so of course we couldn’t make decisions for you, but the other party was so sincere. He came to the door several times and said he would take it A house in the capital is exchanged."

My aunt interrupted my uncle, "But we can't agree! But the other party is really sincere, so we turned into a rent exchange. I don't charge their rent, and he doesn't charge our rent. So the house is still Yours is only temporarily rented to someone else."

"It doesn't matter even if the house is sold." Cheng Mo said, "It's just that I want to get some of my things and my father's things back. I wonder if uncle and aunt have thrown away those old things?"

"No, no," said the uncle.

The aunt interrupted the uncle again, "We told them not to throw things away! They also promised that they would not change any structures, nor would they throw anything away. You can take them whenever you want."

"Yes, I'm afraid of destroying Feng Shui for them."

"That's good." Cheng Mo nodded, "Then after I celebrate the new year, I'll go there sometime. Please uncle and aunt to help you get in touch."

"No problem." After the uncle agreed, he asked again, "Where do you live now? Where do you spend the New Year? We still have a room at home. Hotels in Beijing are very expensive, why don't you move to your home!?"

The aunt rolled her eyes at the uncle and said, "Do you think Cheng Mo can't afford to live in a hotel now?"

Cheng Mo smiled and said, "I plan to go back to Star City tomorrow instead of staying in the capital."

"Go back to Xingcheng?" Uncle said, "Why do you go back to Xingcheng? You don't have any relatives there, so it would be nice for our family to celebrate the New Year in the capital!"

"I'm mainly taking Athena back to have a look. I also want to visit an elder by the way, and visit my father's grave. I don't think there will be many opportunities to go back in the future."

The uncle sighed and said, "Alright, every year we go to Yangmingshan to burn paper for your father. Your sister and brother cry every time they see you and your father's cemetery. Now you can come back," said the uncle with a smile , "Your father must be very happy to bring back such a beautiful foreign daughter-in-law."

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In the evening, Cheng Mo took Athena and her uncle's family to have a meal at the most luxurious Shangri-La Hotel nearby.Cousin Cheng Xiuyan and cousin Cheng Haoyang both came.My cousin, Cheng Xiuyan, is still the same, I don't think there has been any change, but she is much more talkative than before.Cheng Haoyang still looks like a fashionable boy, but his speech has matured a lot.During the dinner, the whole family praised Athena all the time, and once rose to the height of becoming silent and winning glory for the country.

In the end, the whole family, including the aunt, drank a little too much. Uncle and Cheng Haoyang were already drunk when they left. When Cheng Mo helped Cheng Haoyang go to the bathroom to throw up, Cheng Haoyang was still holding Cheng Mo and crying, saying brother while crying It's great to have you back, you know you're the one I admire the most
Cheng Mo remembered that he was not good to Cheng Haoyang, so he said: "Cheng Haoyang, you drank too much."

Cheng Haoyang probably didn't hear what Cheng Mo said clearly, but just asked: "Brother, why didn't you marry Senior Sister Xie Minyun!" He vomited, and said to himself, "Of course I didn't mean that my sister-in-law didn't marry me!" Good. My sister-in-law is also very good. But it would be even better if my brother could marry senior sister Xie Minyun!"

Cheng Mo patted Cheng Haoyang's back, looked at himself in the mirror and said softly, "I was married, I was married! It's a pity you can't see it anymore"

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On February 2024, 2, Cheng Mo and Athena went to Star City.Shen Youyi also happened to be on this day. From Beijing to Xingcheng, one departed from Daxing Airport, and the other took the high-speed rail.

On February 2th, Shen Youyi completed the recording of "Extraordinary Talks" in Star City. When she walked out of Changya, Chi Xia asked solemnly: "Mr. Nanxi, are you really sure you want to do this?"

Shen Youyi smiled and nodded, "I'm sure."

"Do you know what you're going to face?"

"I know." Shen Youyi looked at Yuelu Mountain not far away and said, "There are not many things worth doing in a person's life. For everyone, there are too many things they want. But there are rewards. There must be losses, this sentence is very simple, but no one really cares. I have hesitated, asked myself what I am holding on to, what I am waiting for, and whether it is worth bearing all this. I did not understand until just now that in fact, many times We don't have a choice. Sometimes, even if you don't want to go on, you have to go on"

"It can be given up. Many things can be given up." Chi Xia shook her head and said.

Shen Youyi smiled, and she pointed to her heart, "My heart has fallen into a black hole, and it hasn't landed yet. Some things, once started, can only end when they die."

(End of this chapter)