Chapter 302: Chapter 302: Watermelon, You Have Terrible Taste
Almost instantly, the crooked tomato sprouts straightened up. Their tender leaves rustled softly, swaying happily in the gentle breeze that drifted in from the door. Shen Yibin and Xia Shixuan stared, dumbfounded by the sight.
"So it’s really true! Plants can appreciate music?" The tomatoes had shrunk from Bandari’s music, but now, with Wagner’s symphony playing, they perked right up. ’If Wagner knew about this in the great beyond, he’d probably be pretty happy, wouldn’t he?’
"CHIRP! CHIRP!" Seeing the tomatoes full of life again, Maphario grew excited. It dragged the phone over to Shen Yibin and pointed at the phone, then at the eggplants next to the tomatoes. It seemed to be asking them to switch to a song the eggplants would like so they could recover too.
"So, do you have any idea what music eggplants like?" Shen Yibin turned to Xia Shixuan. ’Since this was your idea, you can be the one to figure it out.’
"I’m not an eggplant, how would I know what it likes?" Xia Shixuan muttered, pulling out her phone to search. "Flowers like Bandari, tomatoes like Wagner... There doesn’t seem to be any pattern to this. I’ll just try a few random albums. Hmm, how about ’Rhapsody in Blue’?"
A moment later, a vaguely familiar piano piece reached Shen Yibin’s ears. "Huh, I think I’ve heard this song in a Disney cartoon before?"
"Yep. It was used in Disney’s ’Fantasia 2000,’ which came out in 1999," Xia Shixuan replied. Meanwhile, Maphario lay quietly on the floor, listening to the music and watching the other sprouts. After a moment, it stood up, extended its paw, and pointed at Shen Yibin’s phone, as if asking him to play the same song.
"It actually worked?" Shen Yibin looked at Xia Shixuan in surprise. ’Since when can you read the minds of plants? Do you have a talent for being a Druid, too?’ He quickly found the song on his own phone, hit play, and handed it to Maphario. But instead of dragging the phone to the eggplants, Maphario turned toward the corn.
"You have to remember who you’re dealing with..." Xia Shixuan had barely gotten halfway through her boast when she saw Maphario change direction. Things suddenly got a little awkward. It turned out the corn liked ’Rhapsody in Blue,’ not the eggplants.
Just like the tomatoes earlier, the corn sprouts gradually revived to the sound of the music. The previously stunted sprouts seemed to grow fuller. A delighted Maphario chirped wildly, nodding at Xia Shixuan again and again. Xia Shixuan gave an awkward wave in return. ’Taking credit for this feels a little weird.’
Once the corn was healthy, Maphario didn’t rush to return the phone to Shen Yibin. Instead, it dragged the phone over to the soybean sprouts and circled them. Apparently, the soybeans liked the song just as much as the corn did. Only after the soybeans had perked up did Maphario return to Xia Shixuan to ask for more help.
The tomatoes, corn, and soybeans were all healthy again, but what kind of music did the eggplants, cucumbers, and sunflowers like? Xia Shixuan frowned and continued her search on her phone. It wasn’t as easy this time. She tried several songs in a row, but Maphario didn’t budge. Clearly, the plants weren’t fans of any of them.
It wasn’t until Xia Shixuan found some music by Mozart that Maphario finally nodded in approval. Once Shen Yibin selected the right track, it dragged the phone over to the eggplants. They had stumbled upon the right answer yet again.
"Whoa, are these even plants anymore? Every single one of them has better taste than I do!" Shen Yibin felt thoroughly inadequate. The tomatoes and soybeans liked Wagner, and the eggplants listened to Mozart. Meanwhile, he usually just listened to pop music. His sense of style was miles behind theirs.
"Calm down, calm down. It’s not like they can actually understand it. Let me read you what I just looked up," Xia Shixuan said reassuringly. She waved her phone and read aloud, "Music promotes plant growth because of the stimulation from sound waves. A plant’s leaves are covered in countless tiny pores called stomata. These stomata are openings that allow the plant to exchange gases with the environment and release water vapor. When music is played, its melody travels through the air, creating rhythmic sound waves. These vibrations stimulate the stomata on the leaf’s surface, causing them to open wider. With the stomata widened, the plant absorbs more carbon dioxide, the raw material for photosynthesis. This makes photosynthesis more active, increasing the production of organic matter. At the same time, the plant’s respiration is also enhanced, providing more energy for its growth. That’s why the plant appears so full of life..."
"So, in other words, the plants don’t actually understand the music. It’s just that the sound waves vibrate, stimulating the pores on their leaves and promoting photosynthesis, which helps them grow better." Xia Shixuan patted Shen Yibin on the shoulder. This answer made him feel a lot better. ’Thank goodness. So my taste isn’t actually worse than a plant’s after all.’
Xia Shixuan then went through the music on her phone, finding suitable tracks for Maphario to test on the different plants. She would then have it drag Shen Yibin’s phone around to treat them. In just half a day, all the plants were restored to health—all except the watermelons.
The peanuts, sunflowers, cucumbers, and the rest had all been revived with the help of music, but they still hadn’t found what music the watermelons liked. Xia Shixuan tried tracks by numerous classical composers like Mendelssohn, Dvorak, and Grieg, but Maphario remained perfectly still. Apparently, these ’Mr. Watermelons’ were not fans of that kind of music.
"Just because the tomatoes and eggplants like classical music doesn’t mean the watermelons are into the same vibe. Didn’t the cinerarias and morning glories like Bandari? My guess is the watermelons just have different tastes. Why don’t we try a different genre? How about some traditional Chinese music?" Shen Yibin suggested.
However, Xia Shixuan tried everything from "High Mountains and Flowing Water" to "Moonlit Night on the Spring River," and from "Ambush from All Sides" to "The Butterfly Lovers," but Maphario remained motionless.
Just as Xia Shixuan was about to give up, a customer’s phone rang. The cheerful rhythm of "Little Apple" instantly caught Maphario’s attention. Its ears immediately perked up as it listened intently.
’What the heck, Mr. Watermelon, I really can’t compliment you on your taste!’
