Father Wang knew of Loopy Toad’s existence and also knew about Wang Ling bringing it home. Nowadays, communication and whatnot via WeChat was very convenient. At the start of the semester, the school had created a parents group, and Teacher Pan would post on matters big and small in it. After Loopy Toad had decided to follow Wang Ling home, Teacher Pan had straightaway sent Father Wang a message to let him know. Furthermore, she had repeatedly asked if Wang Ling needed to bring some dog food back, which had embarrassed Father Wang a little.

　　It should be noted that nowadays, whether it was cat food or dog food, they were all likely to be more expensive than human food. It wasn’t a secret in No. 60 High School that Wang Ling’s family wasn’t well off. While Teacher Pan was asking Father Wang about the dog food, she was still planning to arrange a home visit.

　　Although she looked a little fierce and cold and didn’t seem easygoing, Teacher Pan was still warmhearted. She felt that education was one thing, and the students’ spiritual development another.

　　Teacher Pan felt that children who grew up in poor families would naturally feel a little inferior in their hearts. Combined with Wang Ling’s taciturn image, she had always thought that he actually had an inferiority complex… she thus was very careful in school to not mention anything to do with family circumstances in front of Wang Ling in order to not hurt his self-esteem. In addition, she also frequently urged her students to not compare themselves with other people in anything else apart from their academic grades.

　　Generally speaking…

　　Wang Ling felt that Teacher Pan’s misunderstanding of him was already too big to be washed away by Huangpu River ¹ .

　　An inferiority complex or whatnot… didn’t exist for him at all.

　　For the rest of his life, he would never forget going to the washroom with other guys for the first time and seeing the stupefied expressions on their faces when they saw his Tower of Babel ² .

　　To avoid making the other boys feel inferior…

　　All these years, Wang Ling had tried as much as possible to go to the washroom only when there was no one else around.

　　…

　　Wang Ling changed into his slippers and put Loopy Toad down on the floor, but it was as if this guy had turned to stone; without subsequent instruction from Wang Ling, this lord demon king didn’t even dare to so much as move. It wasn’t until Wang Ling gently kicked it in the butt that it came back to its senses and shook itself before obediently lying down at Father Wang’s feet.

　　Father Wang had heard from Wang Ling about Loopy Toad’s origin and knew that it used to be a demon king. He had thought it would be extremely feral, and hadn’t expected that it would be so obedient in front of Wang Ling.

　　Huh… it looked like it had been trained well enough.

　　Father Wang nodded with satisfaction and stroked Loopy Toad’s fur. At No. 60 High School, there were students who now and then would use purifying talismans to clean Loopy Toad, so its fur felt particularly soft. It felt very nice under Father Wang’s hand ― the only thing wrong was that the color of its fur was a little strange.

　　“Why is this fur green?” Thinking it strange, Father Wang stroked Loopy Toad’s fur and pinched its small, fat face as he asked the question.

　　Wang Ling didn’t reply.

　　Father Wang quickly started to make up a scenario himself ― this was an occupational disease which all online writers shared.

　　He couldn’t help but sigh in his heart; just by looking at the color of its fur, it wasn’t difficult to guess that this was definitely a dog with a story. It must have experienced many emotional setbacks, right? Who would have thought that nowadays, it wasn’t just difficult to be a person, it also wasn’t easy to be a dog!

　　Wang Ling: “…”

　　At this point, Mother Wang and the old man were still busy in the kitchen. Usually he wouldn’t allow anyone to help him when he was cooking. But after Lie Mengmeng’s visit, the old man’s psychological barriers had crumbled a little. In the end, he had decided to allow Mother Wang to help him, but mainly he wanted her to check whether he had added salt or not…

　　Generally speaking, the time just before dinner was usually when the Wang family’s father and son had a heart-to-heart. However, the way they communicated was a little strange as Wang Ling never spoke throughout, and instead directly communicated with Father Wang through his thoughts.

　　Consequently, the scene this created looked a little strange.

　　This time, the matter that Father Wang wanted to talk about mainly had to do with the two men in suits.

　　Landscape Manor was a massive group on par with Huaguo Water Curtain Group. Among other things, it was famous for its wine trade. For hundreds of years, almost every TV station had been broadcasting the wine commercials which Landscape Manor had invested heavily in, and it was now a household name. Wang Ling remembered that when he had still been in his stroller, he had heard these ads over and over until his ears went rotten. However, only twenty percent of the Landscape Group’s total annual profits in fact were from wine. The remaining eighty percent was from Landscape Manor’s side business in antiques.

　　Of course, the vast majority of the common people were unaware of Landscape Manor’s antiques business. Father Wang knew about it because of his occupation. Online writers were a mysterious group, usually staying home to type and seldom attending offline gatherings. But Father Wang had never missed a single online activity, which enabled him to encounter a lot of different types of people.

　　After all, most online writers didn’t do it full-time and had other jobs. Through them, Father Wang could meet people from all walks of life and come to know and absorb different anecdotes… as well as gossip.

　　As for Landscape Manor’s side business, Father Wang had heard of it from a writer who ran an antiques shop. Perhaps some parts were exaggerated, but he felt that seventy percent of what he had learned was credible.

　　Therefore, given the Wang family’s philosophy of a low-key lifestyle, he felt that this was quite a serious matter. It really wasn’t a good thing that they had come to the attention of such a giant company. At the very least, it had already caused a small bump in the Wang family’s pace of life.

　　“I don’t think I need to tell you how serious this is.”

　　Wang Ling nodded and cupped his chin as he thought for a bit before he seemed to say something to his father. Father Wang’s expression turned suspicious. “Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with the mask? Don’t tell me you can’t ever be wrong? Have you considered that you might not be able to detect any special traits the mask might have through ordinary means?”

　　Father Wang’s questions stumped Wang Ling. True, previously he had only tried wearing the stone ghost mask for a bit and hadn’t proceeded with further testing. It was indeed a little early to rashly say there was nothing wrong with it.

　　Lying on the floor and wagging its tail, Loopy Toad goggled at this mystical father and son pair.

　　This was probably the loneliest communication between a father and son in all of history, with Father Wang’s voice the only one that could be heard during this scene.

　　“Looking at the current situation, there’s probably something off about this mask. Otherwise, this bunch of people wouldn’t be so stupid as to offer two million to buy a mask that was bought off the internet for five yuan, don’t you think?”

　　Wang Ling was lost in thought. “…”