Early in the morning, the sun was already blazing.

Chen Xi came out of the house to see Chen Mei had arrived and was sitting under the grape arbor, ladling the fermented vegetable water she had made recently into plastic bottles.

“Aunt, what are you doing with all this fermented water?”

Chen Xi walked over and picked up a piece of celery from the fermented water to eat.

Chen Mei screwed the cap on a bottle filled with fermented water and looked up at Chen Xi.

“Your uncle is going to Xi’an to deliver goods and take some fermented water to your dad. This is all he craves.”

Chen Xi nodded, pulled over a stool to sit down, and helped Chen Mei steady the plastic bottles.

Chen Mei sighed softly, “Your dad’s birthday is coming up soon. He won’t be able to come back again this year, will he?”

Chen Xi made an acknowledging sound. After finishing the restoration work at the Tiantishan Caves last time, he could have come back and stayed for a while.

Who knew that the East Yue Temple in Xi’an had an urgent job for him?

He had just finished the Tiantishan work and rushed to Xi’an without stopping.

Chen Hesheng was away all year round. Chen Xi was used to it.

Chen Mei unconsciously sighed again, “At his age, still working so hard.”

Chen Xi smiled, “As long as he’s happy.”

After breakfast, Chen Xi was about to go to the shop when someone suddenly jumped onto the back seat of her motorcycle.

Chen Xi turned around to see Sensen sitting on the back seat with his big backpack, looking up at Chen Xi with a sheepish smile.

Chen Xi: “Get down. Stay home and do your homework properly.”

Sensen shook his head. “I want to find Brother Qin Lie.”

Several black lines appeared on Chen Xi’s forehead as she asked coldly, “What do you want with him?”

Sensen: “I haven’t seen him for several days. I miss him.”

Chen Xi looked at the mushy little brat with disgust and said with a mix of crying and laughing, “Are you nuts? What’s there to miss about him?”

Sensen: “If you don’t miss him, I miss him. Anyway, I’m going.”

As he spoke, he hugged the seat tightly.

Chen Xi started the motorcycle with a speechless expression.

When they arrived at the shop, the little brat came up empty—Qin Lie wasn’t there. Only Xiao Min was at the VR arcade.

Sensen wandered around the VR arcade a few times, waiting eagerly for Qin Lie for a while.

When it was almost ten o’clock and he still hadn’t come, Sensen returned to Chen Xi’s side dejectedly.

The sun was blazing outside. Chen Xi turned the shop’s air conditioning to maximum, but staying under a car for even a short while would still make her break out in sweat.

While working, Qin Zhan handed her a popsicle.

Chen Xi took off her gloves, accepted the popsicle, and leaned against the car hood to eat and rest.

Sensen sat on the sofa holding his popsicle and called out to Chen Xi, “Sister, I don’t know how to do this problem.”

Chen Xi walked over and sat next to Sensen, looking down at the exercise book. It was an advanced version of the chicken and rabbit cage problem.

Chen Xi buried her head in scribbling on scratch paper, her brow furrowing deeper the more she drew.

“What the hell is this?”

She took a bite of her popsicle and muttered under her breath.

“What kind of problem is it?”

Qin Zhan came over and boasted shamelessly, “How hard can a problem for elementary students be?”

Chen Xi handed him the pen and tapped the scratch paper on the coffee table.

Qin Zhan crouched down to work on the problem, muttering as he went.

Chen Xi finished her popsicle, but Qin Zhan still hadn’t solved it.

“How’s it going?”

She asked Qin Zhan with a smile.

Qin Zhan’s brow was almost twisted into a knot, and he said with amazement, “What the hell? How are elementary students supposed to solve such difficult math problems?”

He waved to Liu Boyang.

“Boyang, isn’t your girlfriend a graduate student? Come take a look at this problem.”

Liu Boyang stopped his work and looked at Qin Zhan speechlessly.

“My girlfriend is a doctoral student. Does that mean I can go be a teacher?”

He took off his gloves and ambled over. Three heads gathered around the exercise book, calculating until their heads were practically smoking.

Sensen couldn’t bear it anymore and cleared his throat, “Well, forget it.”

Just then, a tall figure emerged from the corner door. Sensen’s eyes immediately lit up like light bulbs.

“Bro.”

The little one had a tender voice, calling “bro” to someone whose build was incomparably different from his own.

The contrast was so striking it made Qin Lie couldn’t help but curve his lips.

“You were looking for me?”

Qin Lie walked to the sofa and asked.

Sensen nodded eagerly.

Qin Lie: “Is there something wrong?”

He had been busy with post-production on the PV at home and hadn’t come to the VR arcade for several days.

Xiao Min had just sent him a message saying the kid from next door had been waiting for him at the arcade for quite a while.

Qin Lie inexplicably dropped what he was doing and drove to the VR arcade.

Sensen scratched his head, too embarrassed to voice his longing from these past few days.

Qin Lie glanced at the three people buried in calculations and asked casually, “What are you doing?”

Chen Xi looked up, her long hair disheveled from pulling at it, looking utterly hopeless.

Qin Zhan: “Working on a problem. What kind of perverted question is this? Is this really for elementary students?”

Qin Lie glanced at the big problem left blank in the exercise book and said casually, “First, think of the rabbits as having two legs.”

Sensen’s eyes lit up. He squeezed past Chen Xi and the others and solved the difficult problem in no time.

Qin Zhan still couldn’t understand, hissing as he sucked in air, “How, how did you calculate that?”

Qin Lie patted the back of his head. “Go fix your cars.”

Qin Zhan covered the back of his head and glared at his brother irritably, “What if you made me stupid?”

Qin Lie smiled, “How much stupider could you get?”

Chen Xi and Liu Boyang dropped their pens, and the three scattered.

Chen Xi glanced at Qin Lie indifferently without saying anything and crawled under a car to continue working.

Sensen looked at Qin Lie eagerly, his face red, finally mustering the courage to say, “Bro, I have two more problems I don’t understand.”

Qin Lie sat down next to Sensen and looked down at the exercise book. “Which ones?”

Sensen hurriedly fumbled through the exercise book, his little heart so happy it could barely take it.

After Qin Lie finished explaining the problems to Sensen, he glanced toward Chen Xi.

Seeing that she was still under the car and hadn’t made a sound for a long time.

He withdrew his gaze, got up, and returned to his side.

Sensen didn’t take long to abandon his books and cheerfully followed after him.

Soon after, a black Mercedes drove into the parking area.

Qin Zhan and Liu Boyang, seeing the car model, gathered around together.

Chen Xi had just finished her work and crawled out from under the chassis, immediately recognizing the familiar Mercedes S450.

She walked to the car and asked the man getting out of the driver’s seat with some surprise, “Don’t tell me something’s wrong with it again?”

The man shook his head and pointed to the VR arcade next door, “The kid didn’t get to play enough last time. He wants to play again.”

“Oh.”

Chen Xi nodded with a smile.

The man pointed to his car, “While we’re here, how about giving the car a wax?”

Chen Xi nodded, watching the couple take their son’s hands and walk toward the corner door leading to the VR arcade.

A moment later, she turned around to see that Qin Zhan and Liu Boyang had already gotten into the car.

Their eyes were shining as they examined every detail inside the car.

Chen Xi smiled, “You two handle it.”

She walked to another car and continued working.

After a while, the little boy who had gone to play at the VR arcade ran back through the corner door, heading straight to the tea station and looking around as if searching for something.

Chen Xi walked over and asked with a smile, “Do you want some water?”

The child nodded and asked in a childish voice, “Auntie, do you still have that juice from last time?”

Chen Xi was stunned for a moment before remembering that last time this family was waiting for car repairs, there happened to be a pitcher of iced watermelon juice on the tea station, mixed with half a cantaloupe, sweet and refreshing.

Chen Xi asked him with a smile, “The watermelon juice?”

The child nodded and smiled shyly, “It was so sweet.”

Chen Xi walked to the refrigerator, opened the door, and took out half a chilled watermelon and half a cantaloupe.

She placed the watermelon on the counter and removed the plastic wrap. “You’ll have to wait a bit before you can drink it.”

The child nodded and stood by Chen Xi’s legs. After waiting a while, he couldn’t wait anymore.

“Auntie, I’ll go play for a bit first.”

Chen Xi nodded, “Go ahead, I’ll bring it over to you in a while.”

“Thank you, Auntie.”

The child happily ran back to the VR arcade.

Chen Xi finished making the juice, put several glasses on a tray, passed through the corner door, and walked into the VR arcade.

Looking up, she saw Sensen and that little boy playing racing games.

Both wearing VR headsets, their little bodies swaying left and right on the motorcycles, shouting excitedly.

Chen Xi placed the juice on the coffee table and handed a glass to the child’s mother.

“Have some, it’ll cool you down.”

The woman accepted the juice and said thank you with a smile.

The shop clerk Xiao Min saw Chen Xi and quickly waved her over, “Sister Xi, come help me look at something.”

Chen Xi walked to Xiao Min’s side. “What’s the matter?”

Xiao Min handed her phone to Chen Xi.

“Look, my boyfriend wants to buy a motorcycle. Look at these few he picked out and give me some advice.”

Chen Xi looked down at several motorcycle pictures on Xiao Min’s phone and pointed to one, “This one’s okay. The others aren’t so good.”

Xiao Min: “What should you mainly look at when buying a motorcycle?”

Chen Xi thought for a moment and explained the important points to her.

“First, look at displacement and power. Motorcycles have wildness. Some have large displacement but aren’t as aggressive in power, suitable for beginners. After breaking them in, the large displacement will be sufficient.”

“Also, the body frame. How tall is your boyfriend?”

Xiao Min: “175 cm.”

Chen Xi: “Buy a medium-high one. Don’t get one that’s too big—it’s hard to ride.”

“Also consider fuel consumption, handling, brakes—all need to be considered.”

I’ll recommend some good brands for you. You should go test drive on-site.”

Xiao Min listened in confusion and hurriedly found a pen and a notebook.

“Sister Xi, please help write down those points you just mentioned. It’s too technical—I can’t remember.”

Chen Xi took the pen and, using the glass cabinet displaying VR goggles as a writing surface, began writing.

Not far away, Qin Lie glanced at Chen Xi indifferently, then turned back to continue chatting with the child’s father.

Chen Xi had written a few strokes when she heard Qin Lie’s deep voice.

“It’s okay.”

The man beside him smiled, “Okay? That’s too modest.”

From the corner of her eye, Chen Xi saw the child’s father raise his hand and point to the dome screen in the center of the exhibition hall.

She heard the man’s not-quite-calm voice.

“This dome screen, I just experienced it. It’s not ordinary 4D. You can’t find a second one in Beijing right now.”

Chen Xi kept writing without hearing Qin Lie speak.

The child’s father casually picked up a VR headset and read the English letters on it, “FW.”

He said thoughtfully, “I see all the VR equipment here is the FW brand.”

“I know this brand. They do VR equipment R&D, focusing on virtual reality hardware products.”

Qin Lie made a light, acknowledging sound.

The man continued, “This R&D team is relatively young, but they have strong momentum.”

“This dome screen of yours should be their conceptual product, not yet on the market, right?”

Hearing this, Qin Lie turned to look at the man, his voice showing a hint of interest.

“You understand this field well?”

The man smiled, “I work at a tech company and have access to cutting-edge information.”

He changed the subject and suddenly asked, “I’m very curious about your relationship with FW?”

Qin Lie looked at the man beside him, whose face couldn’t hide his curiosity, and didn’t immediately answer his question.

The man smiled somewhat awkwardly, “I was being presumptuous asking that.”

The two looked at the two children screaming wildly on the racing simulators, neither speaking for a moment.

After a while, the man couldn’t help but open up again.

“FW’s product update speed has been amazing these past two years. Three years ago, it was still an unknown small team.”

He suddenly said thoughtfully, “FW should stand for Future World, right?”

He looked at Qin Lie and smiled, “This team’s goal seems to be more than just virtual reality hardware equipment—they want the entire future world.”

Qin Lie also smiled, looking at the endless Gobi Desert beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, a barely detectable ripple in his gaze.

Chen Xi had stopped writing at some point and looked up at Qin Lie.

He stood under the huge glass wall, the blazing sunlight shining on his hard-lined face.

For a moment, Chen Xi saw a flash of unusual light in his gaze.

Just for an instant, but more dazzling than the blazing sun under the clear sky.

She silently lowered her eyes and continued writing a few more words.

The man also looked at the endless desert outside the window and said with some emotion, “People probably haven’t realized yet what kind of changes are happening to our way of life.”

He glanced at Qin Lie and asked, “Do you follow news about the metaverse?”

Qin Lie nodded and made an acknowledging sound.

The man continued, “At the beginning of this year, Qualcomm and Microsoft announced cooperation to develop the metaverse. Facebook opened its first metaverse physical store in May.”

“They’ve put the most core focus on virtual reality hardware equipment—in other words, VR.”

Qin Lie finally spoke, “If domestic companies realize how important hardware equipment is, it’s not too late.”

The man nodded with a smile.

“Without the support of VR and similar hardware equipment, the metaverse can only be a hyped concept.”

Qin Lie glanced at the man, his gaze no longer as bored as before.

The man suddenly let out a long sigh.

“Two years ago, someone in China had already keenly sensed the trend.”

Qin Lie made a light “oh” sound, the ending tone carrying a hint of inquiry.

The man nodded, “It was a company that made online games—Dawn. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.”

Chen Xi suddenly stopped writing and looked up, her gaze falling on Qin Lie.

Qin Lie turned to glance at the man beside him, his eyebrow slightly raised, his expression unreadable.

The man continued on his own, “Dawn’s CEO at the time, when their game Tunnel was at its peak, insisted on investing in VR equipment R&D against everyone’s wishes. Everyone thought he was crazy.”

He said with emotion, “With Dawn’s financing capabilities at the time, if the decision-makers had listened to him, by today, Dawn probably could have monopolized the virtual reality market.”

“How the future is defined would probably be up to Dawn to decide.”

Qin Lie remained silent.

The man shook his head with regret.

“Unfortunately, no one understood him at the time. Now, while foreign companies are thriving, we’re just getting started.”

Qin Lie was silent. After a long while, he said quietly, “It’s not too late.”