Pressing Down Part 1

Kong Xuan felt a slender hand caress the back of his head, followed by a clear breath approaching. Whispered words disappeared into a touch of softness: "Should I say... as you wish."

The spirit shaman has agreed, these words should resound to the heavens, never to be taken back.

Kong Xuan hurriedly opened his eyes.

The spirit shaman's eyelashes drooped slightly, eyes glimmering. As their gazes met, their hearts became even more certain. As if ancient golden bells chimed, mysterious incantations echoed heavily in the air. Amidst the murmurs, Kong Xuan's heart plummeted from the nine heavens, falling into a soft embrace--

A faint orange juice scent spread, sweet and refreshing.

How delightful, how could such a wonderful thing exist in the human world.

Lin Yang looked down from the three-story rooftop, only able to see Kong Xuan's tall back blocking Tan Xiao, with just Tan Xiao's legs and a bit of hair visible.

Tan Xiao seemed to be sitting on the table, not coming down for some reason. Kong Xuan seemed to take a step forward, and Tan Xiao's legs also hooked up...

The tree shadows swayed, his view hazy. "Tan Xiao, Kong Xuan, are you coming up?"

Kong Xuan's figure stiffened. After a while, Tan Xiao said: "...Right away."

While Kong Xuan stepped aside, head lowered, his expression unclear.

Tan Xiao gathered the gifts, needing to first put them in the room on the first floor before going upstairs with Kong Xuan. Turning around, he found Kong Xuan still touching his lips in a daze.

Noticing Tan Xiao's gaze, Kong Xuan quickly resumed his usual domineering pose with hands behind his back. But his slightly tense voice still betrayed his tumultuous emotions, trying to remain calm. "...So, you knew long ago?"

Tan Xiao: "How could I not know when it was so obvious?"

Kong Xuan: "!!!"

How could this be!!

Seeing Kong Xuan's face instantly flush red, Tan Xiao laughed: "I wasn't planning to say it originally, wanting you to focus on studying and do well on the exam, but..."

Mm, watching Kong Xuan's little actions was quite interesting. But waiting a bit more, he might end up pulling out all the grass on the lawn this year.

Kong Xuan secretly felt smug. Although he knew early on, Tan Xiao clearly didn't point it out for his own good. Now that he's willing to say it, he must super love me. He even kissed me.

The two went upstairs much later. Everyone was nestled on the rooftop lounge chairs stargazing quietly.

"Any more meteors?" Tan Xiao distributed the drinks he brought up and also sat down. Kong Xuan sat in the chair next to him, thought for a bit, then moved his own chair a little closer.

He originally had no interest in the colas and orange juice that human children liked to drink, even mocking the rice guardian before. Now picking up a glass of orange juice, he put it to his mouth.

Tan Xiao watched him drink the orange juice on and off, guessing what was on his mind, making him feel a bit embarrassed for a moment.

"No more, just that one. But that fireball meteor was really big. Many people in the friends circle saw it." Yu Zhenzhen held her phone muttering. Some people had a much better view than them, taking pictures from the mountain, extremely clear.

"It has a lot of likes on short video platforms too. Someone said they thought it was a plane crash when they first saw it."

"Is there radiation?"

"What radiation, you should drop out!"

Amidst the gossip, Tan Xiao's hand inadvertently dropped down the armrest of the lounge chair.

After a while, he felt a hand capture the hint, sneakily reaching over to pinch his fingers. Glancing over, Kong Xuan seemed to be focused on counting how many fingers he had. It made him feel as if his fingertips were slightly burning.

Tan Xiao interlocked their fingers in return, holding on. Then his other hand also picked up his phone as if nothing happened, even calling out: "Class monitor, let me see."

Kong Xuan leaned against the lounge chair, feeling like his heart had melted, his whole body warm and cozy, like soaking in a hot spring.

Now everything he saw was pleasing to the eye - the glittering starry river, the rough concrete rooftop, the metal lounge chairs, and the cool night breeze, all naturally perfect.

Suddenly he thought:

Ah. He even kissed me.

......

It was very late when everyone returned to their own rooms. Kong Xuan lay on one of the beds in the double room, even feeling a bit unreal.

Why was he the happiest bird when it was clearly Tan Xiao's birthday?

In unspeakable delight, Kong Xuan even closed his eyes and rested for a few hours. Until early the next morning, he was awakened by the sound of gongs and drums.

Gongs and drums were not quite accurate. The rhythm and timbre were right, but the volume wasn't that loud or noisy. Accompanying it was singing at a similarly moderate volume.

Tan Xiao also sat up from his bed, blankly staring at the table across from the bed. Rows of sugar sprites were neatly dancing, wrapped in candy wrapper dresses, their laser wrappers reflecting colorful light as they twirled. A few sugar sprites beat toy-like gongs and drums, trying their best to create a lively festive atmosphere.

The sugar sprites formed the shape of a flower, holding up cards that read "Happy Birthday Shaman by sugar sprites".

Tan Xiao recognized this handwriting, it was Mu Fei's... Sister Mu helped them write it?

Tan Xiao reacted a few seconds after the ending pose, getting out of bed to applaud: "Beautiful, beautiful, thank you!"

The sugar sprites cheered. The shaman liked it, that's great. They didn't earn much from their part-time jobs. Knowing it was Tan Xiao's birthday today, they could only organize and rehearse a performance, warbling on a small scale to express their feelings.

Hilarious, not as good as my gift. Kong Xuan naturally couldn't reveal that he was actually comparing himself with the little sugar sprites, but solemnly clapped: "Good work."

He'll consider it a complimentary gift for them.

The sugar sprites whispered to each other, then pushed out a representative to tell Tan Xiao: "We also represent a rat, presenting you a birthday gift. Its personal freedom is restricted, so it can't deliver it in person."

The sugar sprites presented a bracelet, all natural gemstones. "This is a treasure bracelet it found and made itself, with the effect of attracting wealth... what else did it say?"

Whispering to each other again, they remembered. "It said thank you for saving its life."

Rat? Tan Xiao realized, it's Big Beard Zhong.

This spirit rat also contributed. He laughed, taking the bracelet with a bit of icing sugar. Rats have the ability to find treasure, these gemstones must be genuine. "Alright, thank it for the gift on my behalf."

Mm, even the sugar sprites came. Big Beard Zhong also had them bring a gift. Tan Xiao suddenly thought of an old friend...

"Hiss hiss hiss."

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

Tan Xiao pulled open the curtains, and outside the glass door was a snake staring at him with its eyes wide open, pressing its face against the glass to look at him. It was so intelligent. After all, it came for his birthday. Tan Xiao pushed open the glass door and politely said, "Teacher Xiong is also here to offer blessings?"

Xiong Hui's other head appeared, still holding a huge lingzhi mushroom in its mouth, as big as a cloud.

"We come to present auspicious gifts, may the spirit realm and the land endure forever, for thousands of autumns and ten thousand years."

Tan Xiao: "..."

Okay, okay, it had to be you guys.

Truth be told, if Xiong Hui didn't pull this stunt, Tan Xiao would feel like something was missing.

With Xiong Hui's enthusiasm, coming even later than the sugar sprites was probably because he went to find the lingzhi. Tan Xiao accepted the lingzhi, "Thank you too."

"Xiong Hui has worked hard." Kong Xuan secretly laughed in his heart again.

Lingzhi was just a lower-grade auspicious gift. Auspicious gifts were divided into five grades, with lingzhi only being the fifth grade. As for the first-grade best gifts, heh, naturally they would be things like dragons, phoenixes, and qilins.

Was there even a need for Xiong Hui to present auspicious gifts? It would be better to learn from me and cook, stir-frying some mushrooms.

"You're welcome," Xiong Hui suspiciously glanced at Kong Xuan, then enthusiastically said, "Today I will stay in this temporary palace. The spirit master is celebrating his birthday today, there will definitely be quite a few gifts presented. I will register and catalog them for the spirit master."

Tan Xiao: "...No need to trouble yourself!"

......

What Xiong Hui said was indeed true. Tan Xiao didn't expect that even without announcing it publicly, there were still quite a few people sending gifts. It seemed the world of metaphysics really had its own way of information flow, everyone even knew his address.

Today was an auspicious day, express deliveries and takeout kept arriving one after another, all birthday gifts for Tan Xiao.

Moreover, unlike Tan Xiao's classmates who sent things like pens and sneakers, the gifts sent today were all sorts of strange things...

Fang Zhu sent a large lacquered inlaid screen, using various colored gems, shells, turquoise, ox bones and such to inlay a picture of a toad in the moon palace picking osmanthus, the craftsmanship was exquisite.

Others like Elder Baoping, Liu Qingquan and other cooperating masters sent things with auspicious meanings like tea caddies, brush washers, etc. Pan Longxiang sent medicine pouches he made himself. The couple Tan Xiao had arranged a ghost marriage for even exchanged some ancient coins from other ghosts that weren't illegal and made them into a coin sword to send over.

Younger ones like Mu Fei sent a keyboard, Ah Jin sent a high-memory hard drive he saved up to buy, Aperture sent a self-printed photo album. Even the boat girl who only had a brief acquaintance with Tan Xiao sent her cherished red wrapping as a gift.

Tan Xiao originally wanted to put them all away before anyone saw, but was caught by the farm owner who exclaimed, "Oh my, Little Tan, you have great interpersonal relationships!"

This surprised Tan Xiao's classmates and even Tan Chunying. Tan Xiao gave everyone the impression of being quite aloof at first, not very sociable at school and busy with his family business during the holidays.

When celebrating his birthday, he only invited a handful of current classmates. It seemed he didn't even have much contact with his junior high classmates. Who knew that turning around, there were so many express delivery gifts. Could it be that all his friends were online friends?