hotmtlnovel 108 Koi
108 Koi
"What would you like to drink? There won't be any drinks once you go inside." After politely declining the staff member who offered to provide a full guided tour, Zero walked to the vending machine next to the garden entrance and put in some change.
"Pocari Sweat," Lu Mingfei said subconsciously. Vending machines in Third New Tokyo City sell this electrolyte drink. Whether it's Misato needing to sober up after drinking too much, or Lu Mingfei working in the logistics department, this drink is indispensable.
If you stand on tiptoe and look around, all you'll find here is Coca-Cola, Sprite, Dasani bottled water, and Powerade sports drinks.
"Is Powerade the only option? Is that what you want to drink?"
"I'm fine with anything." Lu Mingfei walked over and pressed the button for the top bottle of Dasani water for Ling.
With a click, Lu Mingfei's drink fell down as the machine spun. He was about to squat down to pick it up when Ling's bottled water got stuck between the shelf and the glass.
Lu Mingfei suddenly reacted and dodged backward.
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"Garbage, garbage! Everything made in Japan is garbage!" Asuka roared angrily, slamming her fist into the vending machine. With a loud thud, the stuck oolong tea didn't budge, but the more expensive hot oden soup fell out.
"Yay, I hit the jackpot!" Asuka's eyes lit up, and she couldn't wait to open the can of oden and start drinking it...
"Pah! Pah! Pah!" Asuka roared, "You idiot, Asuka, are you deliberately trying to make a fool of me?"
"No, I thought you liked this flavor, Asuka..." Lu Mingfei quickly waved his hand.
"Who would like this damn drink? Why do Japanese vending machines sell such weird stuff?!" Asuka exclaimed indignantly.
It was another ordinary day. The four of them strolled slowly toward the NERV base. They didn't know what was going on today. Perhaps it was because of the solar flare, but many things seemed unreliable.
Shinji Ikari was on the phone with his father, asking him to attend a college entrance exam seminar at the school. The two of them could only exchange a few words before the call was suddenly cut off.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Riku, my father can't come to the college entrance exam seminar. He said he'll leave this to you and Ms. Misato..." Shinji Ikari said, head down, looking dejected.
"What are you, the son of a NERV commander, worried about for college admission?" Lu Mingfei was speechless. "A recommendation letter would solve everything. Are you really planning to take the entrance exam with everyone else?"
"No, it's just that I haven't spent much time with my father in a long time..."
"How pretentious!" Asuka said dismissively. "That's because Commander Ikari is really busy."
"Really? I don't think the call was disconnected," Shinji Ikari said. "There must have been some kind of malfunction."
"Seriously, you're a grown man, stop worrying about these details!" Asuka said impatiently. "Why can't you learn from Mingfei? He has such a good attitude. You're both men, how come there's such a big difference between you?"
"Thank you, Asuka." Lu Mingfei felt a little embarrassed after hearing Asuka's praise.
"Tch, men, they get all smug just from a compliment."
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With a "thud," Zero's bottle of Dasani water fell to the ground.
"Here you go." She handed the sports drink to Lu Mingfei, then unscrewed the water bottle, intending to drink her own water.
"Wait a minute!" Lu Mingfei called out subconsciously. Zero stopped what she was doing and looked at him.
Lu Mingfei glanced at the water in Ling's hand, then checked the vending machine's inventory again. There was no salty watermelon soda, no hot miso soup, and no Indian liquid curry. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I was just worried that maybe I'd be unlucky and get some weird drink."
"There are no strange drinks here," Zero said, taking a sip to confirm. "The water is normal."
"I was overthinking it."
The two walked along the stone path deeper into the garden, turning left and right intermittently, their steps unsteady and awkward.
"How was this road paved? It's so twisty and convoluted!" Lu Mingfei complained.
"The stepping stones in Japanese gardens are traditionally laid out in an irregular pattern," Zero explained, holding his hand. "This is a zigzag arrangement."
"To extend the walking distance?"
"Because of a folk legend, ghosts can only walk in a straight line," Zero said. "When it's chasing you, if you turn along this road, it will fall into the water."
Wow, Zero, you really know that much.
The two walked to the center of the garden, where an arched wooden bridge spanned a pond. They leaned against the railing and looked down. Several koi carp sank to the bottom of the pond, unresponsive to the movement on the surface. Clearly, they had plenty of food and were too lazy to pay attention to the tourists.
"So fat, so big, so carefree," Lu Mingfei exclaimed.
Looking at the koi, Zero suddenly said, "The breeding cycle for koi is very long. Establishing a stable pedigree requires at least four to six generations of targeted breeding. For classic breeds like 'Showa Sanshoku,' which can be stably inherited, it often requires more than twenty years of continuous breeding."
"You can even breed animals?" Lu Mingfei laughed. "Is there anything you can't do?"
"Maternal genes have a greater impact on pattern expression, so the real focus should be on strict selection of female fish, encouraging them to lay more eggs and selecting the offspring."
"You mean, choosing a wife is more important than choosing a husband?"
I was talking about fish.
"The world of fish is truly chaotic."
After crossing the bridge, the stone path leads to a wide lawn deep within the garden. In the center stands a metal device with 12 petals arranged in a ring, resembling a giant steel lotus.
"The legendary woman who broke up the Beatles," Lu Mingfei walked up and looked at the plaque: Fallen from the Sky, Yoko Ono. "Lennon is dead, but she's still alive and kicking, with time to create installation art. She even put up an auction for letters Lennon's son wrote to his father, forcing Julian to personally pay for his own stuff."
"So, you must carefully observe any woman who comes up to you," Zero said behind him. "Don't become the one who gets plundered and consumed."
"Are you still talking about Nuonuo?" Lu Mingfei said helplessly.
"Because you're daydreaming, thinking about her," Zero said. "If you like her, go for it. Don't torture yourself like this."
Lu Mingfei stared blankly at Ling. She didn't care about anyone else, nor about Nuonuo. She just couldn't bear to see herself so conflicted.
"Make a wish?" Zero pointed to the wishing tree next to them. "The wishes from there will be sent to the 'Imagination Peace Tower' in Iceland."
"No, you can't force people to do that. You have to work hard to achieve your wishes," Lu Mingfei said.
Zero didn't say anything and followed Lu Mingfei out of Osaka Garden.
When they came out, it was already dusk. Lu Mingfei hadn't expected that the two of them had been wandering around inside for so long.
"Shall we go back?" Zero said, holding his arm.
Lu Mingfei readily agreed and walked towards the Hayes parking lot. The Bugatti sped along the highway, and the two remained silent the entire way.