New Times, New Hell

Chapter 114 - Senior Fans

The moment Shang Que opened his mouth, Yu Zhengdu could practically feel the surrounding air suddenly fall silent.

Even that dauntless woman froze for a moment. However, she very quickly regained her wits. This time, she had finally gotten ahold of a hilarious opportunity. She started mocking them even more relentlessly. “How exceedingly impressive. Uncultured people truly do dare to say anything. Even a goose knows how to do ballet now. If you’re so capable, make your goose give us a live performance……”

The surrounding people had originally only been watching because that woman had been too aggressive. Now, they couldn’t help muttering among themselves either. Their expressions were all slightly amused. Most of them felt that Shang Que had been too impulsive in his attempt to redeem himself and had gone too far.

The Yu parents felt a bit embarrassed. Though Peppa liked to follow along to music and could complete some simple movements like waddle her butt and flap her wings, saying she could do ballet was too exaggerated. Father Yu secretly tugged at Shang Que. “Xiao Shang, nevermind. There’s no need……”

Upon noticing this, the woman appeared even cockier. “What, you don’t dare to admit your own words anymore? I’m still waiting for your goose’s performance……”

Just as she was in the midst of her rant, the big goose suddenly angrily quacked twice. Then, she forcefully flapped her wings. She was big, so her voice was loud. She sounded quite frightening. The woman’s spoiled child had previously been pecked by Peppa. As such, the child was slightly traumatized by her. Upon seeing Peppa’s outraged look, the child instantly started crying once more.

The woman quickly shielded her child behind her body. She pointed at Peppa and started yelling, “Look at this goose. This is truly a dangerous animal——”

Before she could finish speaking, she saw the white goose spread her wings and lift them high into the air by her sides. Her goose feet went on tiptoe too. Her thin, long goose legs crossed over one another—— She was actually making a common ballet pose.

Someone burst into laughter from among the crowd. He joked, “Wow, this goose isn’t really about to do ballet, right?”

Just as he finished speaking, the goose started dancing under everyone’s gazes. Only to see her wide, snow white wings gently flap. Her tiptoed feet occasionally crossed as she turned around in circles. Her raised head sometimes shifted to the left and sometimes shifted to the right in time with her dance moves. This entire dance was complete and smooth.

The onlookers immediately became shocked. That woman who had originally been cussing nonstop had blanked out too. The spoiled kid hiding behind her peeked her head out, eyes wide and mouth open with surprise.

Someone who was slightly familiar with ballet exclaimed, “Holy shit. It’s dancing《Swan Lake》!”

The person next to her sputtered, “Really?”

“Really. Also, it’s quite accurate. If you don’t trust me, you can download a video from online and compare……However, geese can’t really lift their feet. Otherwise, it might be able to do a leg extension……”

“Wow, then isn’t this the real “Swan Lake?!!”

“It really is a ‘swan’……My goodness. I’ve watched lots of kids before and they might not even be as well practiced as this goose……”

How could Yu Zhengdu not be surprised too? He looked at Shang Que. “When did Peppa learn ballet?”

Shang Que nonchalantly answered: “She got a tutoring lesson.”

Yu Zhengdu lamented, “Kids these days truly have a lot of pressure while growing up.”

He glanced at Peppa who was dancing smoothly and felt even more like lamenting: not only did she have a lot of pressure, she had also inherited her father’s determination to win. Peppa was a goose who refused to admit defeat.

Just as he was pondering, he saw the goose freeze in place. Her big, fluffy wings lifted high into the air. One of her goose legs was struggling to lift up…… Because of biological restraints, the height she could lift her leg up to was limited. However, this was still an acceptable finish to her short performance.

Passionate applause sounded out from all around. Several people still hadn’t seen enough. They consecutively shouted, “Encore, encore!”

Why would Peppa pay attention to them? If not for the fact that the woman had bullied Mother and Father Yu, she wouldn’t have performed at all. She arrogantly waddled her goose butt and ran over to Yu Zhengdu. Her little eyes stared straight at him. Her expression clearly read: feeling wronged, begging for praise.

Yu Zhengdu stroked her goose head and gently said, “Peppa’s amazing. I’ll buy you little dresses when we get back.”

The big goose happily flapped her wings.

Mother and Father Yu had originally known that Peppa was smart. Yet, they hadn’t known that she was this smart. She actually knew how to do ballet. Mother Yu’s heart felt like it was going to melt. She incessantly rubbed Peppa’s goose back and massaged her while glaring at that woman. “See that? Our Peppa is a smart and obedient goose. Don’t wrong her again.”

That woman who had previously been cussing nonstop hadn’t expected that this goose would actually know how to do ballet. Her whole face instantly flushed red. After hearing Mother Yu’s words, she finally regained her wits. Unimpressed, she continued to argue back, “Lunatic. Who would teach a goose ballet……”

But at this time, no one was on her side anymore. It was much harder to teach a goose to do ballet than to teach a kid to do ballet. At the very least, this proved that this goose honestly wasn’t an uncultured goose.

That woman realized that nobody around them was going to speak up for her. That goose was truly strange. She understood that she wouldn’t win anything this time, so yanked her kid and made to leave in embarrassment.

At this time, the goose suddenly released a long “ga——”. This loud sound scared everyone. Then, the goose abruptly jumped up, spread her wide wings, and ferociously charged into the crowd.

Peppa was tall and sturdily built; she was really and truly an enormous goose. Additionally, she was very strong. With her goose head lowered and with a fierce gaze, she charged forward. It looked like she was unstoppable. She moved quickly and aggressively. This temporarily frightened the crowd into running away while screaming.

The goose didn’t care at all about the horror she had caused. Instead, she diligently followed her target, a skinny man. Upon realizing this, the man started sprinting. However, there were too many people around them. It was truly inconvenient to run. Peppa caught up to him in an instant.

“Ga ga——ga ga——” Only to see enormous white wings furiously flapping. At the same time, she ferociously pecked at the back of that man’s knees.

“Aah——ao——go away!” That man shrieked while fighting back. He was thin, so in this moment, he actually wasn’t a match for a big goose. He and Peppa became locked in combat. Very quickly, he tripped over the enormous goose because he couldn’t see clearly and fell to the ground.

“Ga ga——” Peppa could finally properly show off all of her talents. Her big wings rapidly slapped against that person’s face, causing tiny little feathers to go flying.

The surrounding onlookers had been taken by surprise. Out of the blue, they watched the previously cute and elegant ballet “swan” suddenly start to furiously peck someone. It was extremely terrifying when a goose chased someone down, especially because that man’s shrieks were exceptionally tragic. Temporarily, all the onlookers trembled in fear. They turned their horrified gazes onto that big goose. The more cowardly ones had even started quietly screaming.

Given these circumstances, that woman instantly felt ecstatic. She immediately yelled, “Look, everyone. Look. This goose is a dangerous animal. It’s harming someone for no reason. Hurry and call the police, everyone——”

Peppa was honestly acting too aggressive. With this shout, a lot of people revealed expressions of agreement.

Upon seeing this, Mother Yu nervously yelled, “Hurry and come back, Peppa——”

But Peppa refused to listen. She continued to slap that man. The woman became even more confident. “What are you all waiting for? Hurry and call the police——”

Yu Zhengdu felt confused in his heart. He glanced at Shang Que. Shang Que nodded. “Un, call the police.”

Just as he finished speaking, that man could no longer handle Peppa’s slapping. He accidentally loosened his grip as he held a hand out to protect himself. A phone covered in a pink phone case fell out.

A girl nearby yelled, “That’s my phone——”

Peppa finally stopped slapping after noticing that the phone had fallen out. She shook her butt as she waddled back to Yu Zhengdu’s side.

The others finally understood. “That person is a thief!”

Upon realizing that he had been exposed, the thief tried to escape. He immediately got stopped by that girl’s friend. The thief’s breathing was irregular because of Peppa’s slapping. In addition to the fact that everyone around them was staring at him, he instantly deflated. He could only hang his head and admit his wrongdoings.

That girl retrieved her phone and hurriedly came over to thank Yu Zhengdu and them. “Thank you guys so much!”

Yu Zhengdu waved his hands. “No problem.”

By now, this girl no longer found geese scary. While looking at the enormous, fluffy, white goose, she praised from the bottom of her heart, “Your goose is really amazing.”

Peppa shyly hid her head under her wing and lowly made a sound of “ga——”. She seemed to be a completely different goose from the one that had just been so ferocious.

The surrounding people were amazed too. They complimented incessantly, “This goose is so amazing!”

“Isn’t that so? In the past, some people in my village kept geese to guard their houses. They’re honestly really good.”

“Makes me want to raise one too.”

“Forget about it. Can you teach a goose ballet?”

In only the blink of an eye, the tides had turned. Peppa had transformed from a dangerous animal into a brave and righteous goose heroine. That woman hadn’t expected that this goose would be so intelligent. Upon noticing that everyone else was praising the goose, she didn’t dare to say anything anymore. While nobody was paying attention, she hurriedly tugged her husband and kid along and ran off in embarrassment.

Because Yu Zhengdu was living alone in a one bedroom apartment, he didn’t have extra space for his parents now that they were in Fu City. He had originally wanted to book a hotel for his parents, but after Shang Que found out about this, he resolutely told the two older individuals to temporarily stay at his home for a few days.

The reasoning was very simple. He owned a house. How could he let his mother and father in law stay elsewhere? Also, his mother and father in law would only feel confident about handing their son over to him if they knew their son in law had a house.

After listening to Shang Que’s explanation, Yu Zhengdu coldly exposed him. “What are the additional conditions?”

Shang Que confidently answered, “Mother and father in law are both staying at my house. You can’t not tag along, right? That’d be too unfilial!”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” When had Boss learned to perform moral kidnapping?

After picking up the Yu parents, everyone prepared to take a car back to Shang Que’s house. Only now did Yu Zhengdu remember that he had never asked about what Shang Que’s house was like. Thus, he secretly looked over and made an educated guess based on what he knew about Shang Que. “Boss, does your house……have two bedrooms?”

Shang Que’s expression seemed a bit dismal. “Right now, I sincerely wish that my house only has two bedrooms.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” Boss was very dedicated to being able to tell his stories.

He fell silent for a moment. “So the actual circumstances are?”

Shang Que sighed regretfully. “It’s a loft apartment……”

Yu Zhengdu: ??? Wait, why are you sighing about a loft apartment?

Wait no. Shang Que could actually afford to live in a loft apartment?

Yu Zhengdu tentatively continued to question, “Is it in the suburbs?”

Shang Que glanced at him, then turned to give the taxi driver the name of his neighborhood. Yu Zhengdu fell silent for a moment. He calmly asked the other, “Did you just name the most expensive neighborhood in this city? Or just a neighborhood that happens to have the same name?”

Shang Que: “I don’t think there are any neighborhoods with the same name?”

Yu Zhengdu continued to calmly inquire, “You can actually afford to buy a house there?”

Shang Que made a sound of realization. “Because at the time, I didn’t have much money. That was the only area that had just been demolished. The surroundings were still only villages; there weren’t any constructed roads either. The houses weren’t getting sold, so the developers lowered the prices. Thus, I bought a house there……”

Who could’ve known that that area would end up becoming one of the most expensive areas to live in the entire city?

Which is why it’s important to buy houses earlier.

Yu Zhengdu: “You had no money, so you bought a loft apartment?”

“No. At first, I bought a little place with two bedrooms. Coincidentally, the neighborhood was getting haunted. I helped out a bit.” Shang Que held out his palms. “And then the developers transferred me into a loft apartment.”

At this time, he couldn’t help lamenting, “If I had known in advance, I would’ve kept the two bedroom place at the time……”

Yu Zhengdu: “Oh, hurry and shut up.”

Non-homeowner friends who had previously agreed to buy takeout and fight for red envelopes together. Unexpectedly, someone acted like they had no money to spend in games on the surface, but in private, owned antiques and lived in a loft apartment in the most expensive neighborhood in the city.

As expected, even the poorest bourgeois were exploiters!

In the sour atmosphere of lemons, the taxi drove into the neighborhood.

High-end neighborhoods had very tight security. The cars entering and exiting all around them were all luxury cars. When their cheap little taxi drove in, they naturally got stopped. However, after Shang Que rolled down the car window and showed his handsome face, the security guard very familiarly allowed them to enter.

It was easy to tell that Shang Que was one of this neighborhood’s few property owners who didn’t own a car. Yu Zhengdu finally felt a bit balanced in his heart.

This was also Father and Mother Yu’s first time entering such a high-end neighborhood. For a moment, they couldn’t help feeling awed. While staring at the luxury cars entering and exiting around them, Father Yu curiously asked, “How come Xiao Shang doesn’t drive?”

This was only an offhanded question, but Shang Que was slightly nervous. He seriously replied, “I’ve already saved some money. If a car is necessary, I can go buy one.”

Father Yu: “Ah?”

He was a bit bewildered and couldn’t really understand the logic behind Shang Que’s response. Why did it sound like he was the one requiring Shang Que to buy a car?

Yu Zhengdu elbowed Shang Que. “You actually saved that much money?”

Shang Que lowly said, “I’m the boss in games now. I don’t need to spend money anymore, so I’ve saved a bit……”

Yu Zhengdu observed the way Shang Que was sincerely explaining himself. His heart faintly twinged with pain. Shang Que was such a big boss, but still knew very clearly how much money he spent with each transaction.

He secretly held onto Shang Que’s hand. “Nevermind. I’ll pay for the ride. Save your money to spend on yourself.”

This year, their company was probably going to have lots of dividends. His salary was high too. Buying a small house and car wouldn’t be a big problem.

Shang Que happily agreed. He pondered for a bit before adding, “Then I’ll save my money to remodel my house for you……”

Yu Zhengdu: ……Boss had read too many gossip posts about premarital property, right? How come he’s so good at allocation?

On the day of Sagittarius Band’s concert, Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que brought the Yu parents along to the Fu City Opera House.

The venue had already been decided upon prior to the release of Sagittarius Band’s album. Originally, the management company had been planning on hosting a small-scale fanmeeting as a simple means of promotion and fan interaction. Because they hadn’t expected that Sagittarius Band would get popular so quickly, they hadn’t had enough money in their budget. In the beginning, they had only rented out a small theater in the Fu City Opera House. Later on, the tickets honestly sold out too fast. Halfway through, they emergency-transferred to a bigger venue. After this, they sold several more rounds of tickets, but these still weren’t enough for the fans.

Yu Zhengdu had received the news from Star Path Management that they were already preparing for the production of the second album. Their official large-scale concert would be placed on the itinerary as well.

He could practically already see huge sum after huge sums of dividends flowing into their company’s bank account. These days, he was truly capable of even waking up laughing.

Originally, given Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que’s identities, they could absolutely get in contact with the main event organizers and enter through the VIP entrance. However, Father and Mother Yu excitedly shared that they had already made plans with the other fans of Sagittarius Band. They were going to take a picture together outside the venue. Thus, they gave up on the VIP experience and got in line to enter the venue like normal fans.

However, Yu Zhengdu was still very surprised. Not to mention the fact that his parents were being fans at such old ages, but they had actually gotten in contact with other fans too?

Upon asking, Father Yu excitedly pulled up WeChat for him to see. “Us Jupiters have a special fan groupchat. It’s very convenient to contact one another.”

Jupiter was the name of Sagittarius Band’s fans. Apparently, this was because Jupiter was the guardian star of Sagittarius.

Dazed, Yu Zhengdu glanced at the fan groupchat in Father Yu’s WeChat. The groupchat was named “Jupiter 506070.”

Yu Zhengdu asked, confused, “What does the 506070 mean?”

Mother Yu answered from nearby, “Fans born after 1950, 1960, and 1970, of course.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” That group had hundreds of people. Additionally, it probably wasn’t the only elderly fan groupchat.

Mother Yu stated in disdain, “We can’t hold a conversation with those Jupiters born after 1980 and 1990. Those kids are so weird. One moment they’re talking about making a call or something, and the next they’re talking about rainbow farts. Our groupchat is much more normal.”

While chatting, they had already reached the opera house.

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que led the two elders to get in line and wait to enter the venue. Mother and Father Yu couldn’t stay still, though. They continuously sent voice messages over WeChat: “We’re on the north side, in the line that’s closest to the edge. I’m wearing a black collared shirt and my wife is wearing a dress. There are two little ones too……”

“Hahaha, yes yes yes. We’re lucky and have four tickets, so we’re here with the kids.”

“Banner? What’s a banner?”

“What are LED signs? I do know about lightsticks, but we didn’t think to bring them.”

“Oh oh, you inherited it from your child? Aiyou, my kid didn’t prepare one for me……”

Inherited from your child……

While listening to the contents of his parents’ voice messages, Yu Zhengdu felt rather speechless. He observed the crowd around them. It could be said that Sagittarius Band’s fan demographics were quite badass: there were older people, middle-aged people, young people, etc. Additionally, the ratios were even. However, the majority of the people holding onto the tickets and waiting in line were the older people. The reason was obvious too…… The youths were all here to drop off their parents. There were quite a few who still refused to give up even though they were already here. They continued to bargain with their parents, “Dad, give your ticket to me, please. I’ll sign you and Mom up for a complete tour of the capital.”

“Mom, didn’t you used to hate it the most when I was a fan of my idols? How come you’ve become this way too? Give the ticket back to me, I’m begging you!”

“Grandpa, you’re already so old. Don’t listen to rock anymore, okay? It’s too dangerous!”

“Grandma……”

The most badass were a group of people not far off from Yu Zhengdu and them. A middle-aged man pushed a wheelchair while saying, “Excuse me, excuse me. This is my dad, an elderly Jupiter……”

Yu Zhengdu tsk’d while shaking his head. “Regardless of age, fans are always so crazy.”