Chapter 299: Chapter 299: Plants Can Listen to Music Too?
"Hey, do you have something against me? Just the other day you dug up all my succulents, and now you’re trying to steal my phone?" As she got closer, she saw that Maphario wasn’t just lying on the front counter in a daze. He was hugging Xia Shixuan’s phone and refusing to let go. But his strength wasn’t quite enough; the moment he lifted the phone, its weight pulled him flat onto the desk.
But Maphario refused to give up. After resting for a moment, he grabbed the phone charm with his two front paws and began to drag it toward the edge. Terrified, Xia Shixuan rushed to stop him. If he dragged it any further, it would surely fall off. It wouldn’t matter much if the phone broke—worst-case scenario, she could just buy a new one. But if Maphario got hurt, that would be a catastrophe.
"Hah’Er, come get your godson!" Having no other choice, Xia Shixuan called for Hah’Er’s help. ’If you want the phone, just say so! It’s not like I’m not willing to give it to you. What’s the deal with just trying to drag it away like this?’
"What did you do to draw him over here?" Shen Yibin asked curiously. ’What on earth could have lured Maphario away from those wilting sprouts? Don’t tell me Xia Shixuan has some way to revive them?’
"I... I saw the store was empty, so I listened to some music on my phone for a bit," Xia Shixuan said, lowering her head in embarrassment. According to store policy, she wasn’t supposed to do other things while working the front counter.
"You and your rule-breaking... That’ll be a fifty-yuan fine. Later, you can use it to go out and buy ice cream for everyone!" Shen Yibin said, shaking his head in resignation. Of all the girls working there, she was the one who broke the rules the most, so he had no choice but to enforce the prescribed penalty.
"Hey, wait, don’t go just yet. Tell me, what song were you playing?" Shen Yibin had a hunch that Maphario’s strange behavior was related to the music Xia Shixuan had been playing. ’If noise can make these plant sprouts wilt, then beautiful music must be able to bring them back to life, right?’
"It’s Bandari’s ’Spring Night’." Xia Shixuan picked up her phone from the desk and hit the play button. A light, ethereal, and soothing instrumental melody drifted into Shen Yibin’s ears, making him feel as if he could smell the fragrance of flowers on the breeze. It evoked such a free-spirited, natural scene. Listening to this music felt like standing in a field in spring, looking out at an endless expanse of flowers, grass, and trees all growing with vigor.
’No wonder Maphario was so excited,’ Shen Yibin thought. ’So it was because he heard this kind of music.’ Bandari was a musical project founded by a group of Swiss musicians. They used advanced digital sampling technology to perfectly record the sounds of the natural world and share them with listeners across the globe. Many of the sounds in that very track were sampled from an actual Swiss spring field.
"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!" Hearing the music start again, Maphario became even more excited. He kept jumping up, trying to reach the phone in Xia Shixuan’s hand.
"Alright, alright, I know what you want. Here, you can have my phone!" Shen Yibin quickly comforted him. He took out his own phone, opened his usual music app, found the album *Spring Field*, and hit play, instantly capturing Maphario’s attention.
"Here, do you want to take the phone to your farm? Let me take you!" Shen Yibin held the phone in his left hand and rested his right arm on the front counter. In a flash, Maphario scurried up his arm and onto his shoulder. Shen Yibin carried him back to the farm, crouched down slightly, and angled his left arm down to the soil. Maphario slid down his arm again and landed steadily on the patch of dirt.
"Here you go. The phone is all yours." Shen Yibin placed the phone in front of him and crouched down, curious to see what Maphario would do next.
"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!" Maphario squeaked at Shen Yibin twice, as if thanking him, then grabbed the phone charm and began dragging the phone at a steady pace in circles around the young sprouts.
’Huh? What’s he doing now? Is he trying to make sure every sprout can feel the music’s magic up close?’ Shen Yibin couldn’t make heads or tails of it. ’Does he really need to be this thorough? My poor phone! I bought it less than two years ago, and now it’s getting dragged around and scuffed up like this. The case is all scratched! Looks like it’s time for a new phone... I guess I’ll just let Maphario have this one to play with!’ Shen Yibin stared at his phone, his heart aching.
At the same time, he felt a wave of relief. ’Thank goodness I use a Huawei and not one of those exploding brands. Otherwise, if it blew up while Maphario was dragging it... even if Maphario himself wasn’t hurt, he’d probably be heartbroken if all these little plants got damaged, right?’
After all, Maphario was tiny. After dragging the phone for a little while, he was already exhausted. He flopped onto his back, limbs splayed, panting heavily. Feeling sorry for him, Shen Yibin quickly poured a glass of water from his miniature cup and held it to his mouth. Hah’Er, however, just lay nearby without moving, occasionally letting out a soft "hmm, hmm," as if he were cheering Maphario on.
’You’re a strict parent, aren’t you? "You have to finish the work you start." Is that the lesson?’ Shen Yibin thought. ’He really is treating Maphario like his own son!’ He could already picture how Hah’Er would discipline the cubs that Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn would eventually have at the Giant Panda Base. Those poor babies probably wouldn’t have the easy, carefree life of other panda cubs.
To his credit, Maphario drank the water and struggled back to his feet. He slung the phone charm over his shoulder again and continued to drag the phone forward, one little tug at a time. The sound of Bandari’s music flowed from the phone’s speaker, drifting among the rows of tender leaves. The sprouts swayed rhythmically in the breeze, as if they truly understood the melody.
’Man, I’m suddenly getting nostalgic for those old knockoff phones that had four speakers,’ Shen Yibin thought as he watched Maphario’s arduous trek. ’Even at max volume, the sound from my phone can’t reach every corner. If Maphario were dragging one of those, he wouldn’t be having this problem, right?’
’Hm? Why did the sound suddenly stop?’ The music cut out abruptly, pulling Shen Yibin from his thoughts. Maphario also began to circle the phone anxiously, but of course, he had no way of knowing what the problem was.
"Don’t worry, let me take a look." Shen Yibin hurried over, looked down, and saw the phone’s battery was nearly dead. "Uh, Maphario, how about I go charge it for a while, and then you can keep playing it?"
"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!" But Maphario refused, pointing his paw insistently at the sprouts in the distance that had not yet received their musical blessing. ’Now what am I supposed to do?’
