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Before Su Ximu could ask, Blue 242, who stood at the door, smiled gently. He shook the vegetable basket in his hand and proactively explained his intention. “I found mushrooms in the flower bed in front of the dormitory building. I wanted to share some with you to eat together.”
Su Ximu listened as Blue 242 Leader introduced them to him. They were a type of mushroom that only grew in the Tourist Garden. Though they looked like poisonous mushrooms due to their color, they actually tasted very fresh and delicious. They could be stewed into soup or eaten raw.
His superior had picked mushrooms at the door and even thought to share some with him to try. For a moment, Su Ximu felt a kind of meticulous care that went beyond just looking after a connection.
He stepped aside to let Blue 242 Leader, who carried the basket, pass through the narrow dormitory door.
After the man entered the room, Su Ximu casually closed the door. He squatted down and curiously examined the mushrooms that had already been placed on the table.
“They really look like poisonous mushrooms. Can the soil in the Tourist Garden grow specialties too?”
In his previous understanding, specialties—especially ones that grew from the ground—required at least a whole city as the unit.
“Yes.” Blue 242, who had originally been standing, also squatted down with him. He explained to the young man beside him as if they were just chatting. “These are a special variety transplanted here by the Park Chief when the garden was first built. In this Tourist Garden, any colorful mushrooms can be eaten.”
The gray ones could not yet. They needed more time to grow.
“Gray mushrooms can slowly grow bigger and turn into colorful mushrooms.” Su Ximu repeated. He felt like he had put all his attention on getting familiar with work today. He had not noticed these magical little mushrooms growing in the park’s lawns.
“Right.” Blue 242 tilted his head. His gaze had been exceptionally gentle since entering the room. “There are the most gray mushrooms here. Some gray mushrooms die after growing a bit, but a few can continue.”
“There’s an Amusement Park and an Oceanarium next to the Tourist Garden. The rabbits in the Amusement Park are great at pleasing tourists. Tourists willing to spend money can take a ‘graduated’ rabbit from the Amusement Park as a pet.”
“‘Graduated’ rabbits?” In this late-night chat before bed, the newcomer who had seen nothing yet lacked the ability to keep up. He could only respond with questions.
He felt a bit embarrassed, but when he glanced at Blue 242 Leader, the other’s expression did not seem annoyed by him at all.
The desk lamp on the table was on. Su Ximu watched as Blue 242 Leader extended his palm. Several fingers nimbly intertwined, projecting a rabbit’s shadow onto the wall under the light.
“The Amusement Park has the most rabbits. Like people, each rabbit has a different personality. That’s why there’s a special rabbit garden in the Amusement Park. Only rabbits that pass the rabbit garden’s standards get sold as pets.”
Then, the shadow on the wall shifted. A big octopus with claws and fangs appeared on it. “This is the Oceanarium’s specialty. Guess what it is?”
Su Ximu, who finally did not have to use a question, replied, “Seafood!”
“Mm.” Blue 242 Leader praised him as if he had answered something remarkable. “You’re so smart.”
Su Ximu turned his head and met Blue 242 Leader’s eyes. He belatedly felt a bit embarrassed. “Blue 242 Leader, you’ve really troubled yourself telling me all this. I didn’t know any of it before.”
“No need to thank me.” Blue 242 stood up and extended a hand to Su Ximu, whose legs had gone numb from squatting. “I forgot to tell you—my recent work is also in the Wang Family Courtyard.”
Su Ximu looked up and pursed his lips. In the end, he borrowed the other’s strength to stand. Right after, he saw Blue 242 Leader pull out another item from under the basket in the Employee Script, which looked very familiar to him.
Su Ximu’s first reaction was one of genuine happiness.
He was a new employee. In the entire Tourist Garden, he was only somewhat familiar with the leader responsible for training him. And the leader seemed very patient and easy to get along with.
It was not that the other actor colleagues in the Wang Family Courtyard were hard to get along with. More accurately, he simply could not find colleagues to get along with.
The colleagues in the Wang Family Courtyard were probably the original residents that Blue 242 Leader had mentioned before—the ones whose homes were in the Wang Family Courtyard, or those who stayed overnight to avoid the commute.
But Su Ximu, perhaps because he was not yet used to it, always found the entire mansion oppressive and cold. So he preferred to spend extra time commuting from the employee area every day.
If Blue 242 Leader was also working in the Wang Family Courtyard recently, then they could commute together every day like today.
Childhood experiences had made Su Ximu someone who was not good at getting along with others. But that did not mean he had truly been a loner child from a young age. He still liked having friends and hoped someone would be with him.
“Blue 242 Leader, who are you playing?” The young man’s tone rose slightly.
Blue 242 opened the script for him to see.
The character introduction read: 【Wang Family Eldest Young Master】
Su Ximu recalled his own script. He was the Wang Family Little Young Master.
Blue 242 Leader was the Wang Family Eldest Young Master.
So they were playing brothers?
“Big Brother?” he tried calling.
Blue 242 corrected him. “The two brothers—calling ‘Big Brother’ feels a bit distant.”
“Bro?”
Blue 242 stood there with a smile tugging at his lips, but he still did not respond.
“Then… Brother?”
Blue 242 nodded and acknowledged it.
Night had fallen. After settling the form of address, before leaving, Blue 242 left behind that huge mushroom and told Su Ximu that he could eat it or keep growing it to watch.
After the man left, Su Ximu looked at the dark blue, little umbrella-like mushroom on the table and decided to check it tomorrow.
He muttered to himself, “I wonder if the mushroom can wait one night after being picked before being replanted. If not, tomorrow I’ll eat it together with Blue 242 Leader.”
The blue mushroom on the table seemed to understand. In the middle of the night, its half-open cap forcibly spread open a bit more.
The next day, as soon as Su Ximu got out of bed, he saw the blue mushroom in the basket. It had been full of vigor all night.
Seeing how spirited it still looked, Su Ximu judged that it could probably still be planted successfully.
He had heard that some mushrooms, when planted, could turn one into a cluster of many.
Su Ximu had always felt he had talent in planting. It was just that conditions had limited him before, with no chance to verify it.
Now, he felt he could start by trying the simplest—planting mushrooms.
Before heading to work, he spent a dozen minutes digging some soil from the greening area downstairs. He found an old basin in the dormitory, laid the soil in it, and transplanted the mushroom inside.
Twenty minutes later
Su Ximu and Blue 242 stood together in the bus stop area in front of the dormitory building, waiting for the bus.
The dormitory building had a pretty high occupancy rate. Su Ximu watched people come and go in the bus stop area. Some with closer work locations just walked there.
Among these employees, some wore gray employee chest badges on their chests like him. Others wore hats of various colors.
Blue and purple were the most common colors, with the occasional green hat.
For Blue 242 Leader, Su Ximu—who was no longer as shy—suddenly had a flash of insight. He whispered his analysis to the leader. “The colors of the employee hats in the Tourist Garden—aren’t they inspired by the specialty mushrooms from the garden?”
They were all colorful.
Blue 242 nodded in agreement with the guess. “Mm… it might be just like that.”
Because they were starting work today, Blue 242 did not wear his little blue hat anymore. Or rather, he had not worn it since last night. He also did not wear the park work uniform.
Instead, he wore a long robe in the same style as Su Ximu’s, just slightly different in color.
The two stood together, chatting quietly. When the sightseeing bus arrived, they boarded together.
Throughout the whole time, Su Ximu did not notice the veteran employees behind him staring at him with the eyes one would use for a perverted killer.
Only after the sightseeing bus drove far away did the veteran employees heave a sigh of relief. They huddled together and exchanged information in whispers.
“Who knows what number Blue that one on the windowsill is?”
“Not sure. The pattern looks like Blue 144.”
“You’re seeing things? Doesn’t look like Blue 144 to me.”
“Hmph. If he dares plant blue today, tomorrow he’ll dare plant red! Should we report it to the manager?”
“Hey? Why did he plant a corpse in a basin? Speaking of, is that even a corpse? Is it fully dead?”
“It’s a show of force! A total show of force!”
“Hanging the corpse in public display—you never heard of that?”
“Connections are awesome!”
