Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“I knew Boss Yuan will create trouble. Boss Yuan is really awesome”, “I saw Boss Yuan on the Internet again”, “It really is splendid and magnificent. By the way, expert, can you come up with an estimation for its price?”, “I initially thought that regardless of how great Boss Yuan is at ice sculpting, he is still not a professional. But after I watched it in anxiety… I was proven wrong”
As for those who were only saying the word “awesome” online, they were not worth mentioning. There was simply no comparing the Nine Dragon Sculpture and the Double Dragon Head Image. Therefore, the impact was quite large. Many “armchair generals” and “internet analysts” started their analysis. But fortunately, the poor video quality and the incomplete filming angle helped protect Yuan Zhou’s secret.
Yuan Zhou was a person who frequently went viral on the Internet, a person that was more popular on the Internet than Internet celebrities. A certain person with the username Novice of Qianmen gave an apt description for Yuan Zhou.
“I feel like Boss Yuan has a quirk. Most people enjoy keeping a trick hidden as a trump card, while Boss Yuan enjoys showing only a trick and keeps everything else hidden. When you believed Boss Yuan is only a chef, he suddenly became a master in cooked wheaten food. When I finally accepted that truth, he became a master ice sculptor instead. Let me tell you that I am not surprised at all. Even if one day, someone suddenly tells me Boss Yuan is actually a master basketball player, I won’t be surprised.”
People who did not have the technical know-how would only see the superficial aspect of things, while those with the technical know-how would be able to see the crucial aspects of things. Due to the difficulty of sculpting a Nine Dragon Sculpture, the attention of nearly the entire ice sculpting field was attracted.
Sun Xiaoyi was also a master in the ice sculpting field. After he finished watching the video of Yang Shuxin and Yuan Zhou, he immediately posted his opinion on his Weibo.
[The Nine Dragon Sculpture is the summit of the world of ice sculpting. I remember the last time I saw one was when I was a child when I witnessed a piece completed by Master Yu Menglong. As one master after another leaves this world to the afterlife, slowly but surely, the Nine Dragon Sculpture has become nothing but a legend. One could also say that it has become a target for modern sculptors to strive for. If someone asks me who in the present age is the most likely to complete one, I will say it’s Yang Shuxin. He is skilled enough and also has the energy for it.]
To complete a Nine Dragon Sculpture, skills and experience played a huge role. But the premise of all that was energy. For example, Sun Xiaoyi had sufficient experience and skills to complete one, but unfortunately, he was 67 years old and did not have the energy for such high-intensity sculpting.
[And the video proved me right. Yang Shuxin has indeed succeeded. From the video, his skills are solid, almost textbook perfect. But what’s truly surprising for me is that young master competing against Yang Shuxin. Although his sculpting posture is still rough and crude, his control is the most precise I have ever seen. I find it hard to believe.]
Compared to calligraphy, ice sculpting was much less popular. An art piece was not something that would admire itself. Therefore, with the Ice Sculpting Association pushing for it, nearly all master ice sculptors had their own Weibo or other social media accounts. The purpose of this was to further spread ice sculpting to the masses.
This was a good idea, but unfortunately, it was rather unrealistic. Just think about it. Those qualified as a master in the ice sculpting word were all elderly people, even Yang Shuxin was already the youngest master. But now, they had a new addition to the ranks of masters.
Yuan Zhou, the newly acknowledged master of ice sculpting.
With the average age of ice sculpting masters being 50 years old, how much time would they actually dedicate to Weibo and other social media? Often times, those viral news weren’t even created by these masters. Rather, they went viral because of the masses who were feeling kind and helpful.
A great example would be Sun Xiaoyi. Including the post he had just made, he only had two posts on his Weibo account, with the first post being the default post by the system during account creation.
Apart from him, many other masters had made their voices heard as well. A certain master with a rather fiery temper immediately tagged the Association of Chefs on Weibo and said, “You people of the cooking field, please don’t hinder the path of the future tower of the ice sculpting world.”
Zhou Shijie did not have a Weibo account, but Zhong Lili had one. When Zhou Shijie found out about this post, he was so furious he nearly had a heart attack. He immediately called the person in charge of the Association of Chefs Weibo account in anger. And thus began the first Internet war between the cooking field and the ice sculpting field that had always been amicable in the past, with Yuan Zhou being the reason for this war.
Although the Weibo accounts of the ice sculpting and cooking accounts had fewer followers than celebrities and many rather big social media influencers, the influence they had in the real world was still something that could not be neglected. It was understandable that the system had judged this as a completion of a hidden mission.
Meanwhile, Yuan Zhou who had caused a huge war was busy bickering with the system.
“No means no. Why are you giving so many excuses?” Yuan Zhou deliberately provoked the system, “You can’t even provide healing yet still dared call yourself a system? You are totally an embarrassment to all systems!”
However, after the initial reply, the system had sunk into total silence. No matter how Yuan Zhou provoked it, the system remained silent.
When Yuan Zhou saw that the system was not going to reply, he decided not to waste his breath speaking. After applying an ice pack on his wrist, he carried a bowl of broth and headed outside. Naturally, this broth was for Broth.
When he opened the door, he found that the light rain had already stopped. As usual, Broth ran towards the back door after hearing the sound there and looked up at Yuan Zhou.
“Here, your broth,” Yuan Zhou said as he prepared to pour the broth into Broth’s bowl.
“Woof!” Broth suddenly barked when Yuan Zhou was about to pour the broth in. The bark sounded rather high pitched.
“What’s the matter?” Yuan Zhou looked at Broth curiously.
Just like that, Broth stared at Yuan Zhou with his dark eyes. Suddenly, he took several steps forward and licked Yuan Zhou’s wrist.
Broth’s tongue was pink in color. It was tiny, damp, and warm.
Just like that, the man and the dog stood there in silence for a bit. Yuan Zhou placed the bowl down. He did not rub Broth’s head. Rather, he muttered something gently before returning into the restaurant.
The night passed peacefully. As usual, Yuan Zhou woke up at six in the morning. He then cleaned himself before he prepared to go out on a jog.
But today, Yuan Zhou stayed indoors for 10 extra minutes doing some wrist exercise.
“Hu, it feels quite good,” Yuan Zhou said in satisfaction as he stared at his swollen wrist.
Slightly sweaty, Yuan Zhou left and started his jog. He did not forget to greet Broth on his way as well.
“Broth, you are getting fat due to your daily suppers. Do you want to exercise with me?” Yuan Zhou asked.
He was completely ignored by Broth.
“What a lazy dog,” Yuan Zhou said and left.
At this time, Broth raised his head and gave Yuan Zhou a glance before he shifted his posture and continued sleeping.
After Yuan Zhou left the back alley, he started seeing pedestrians. Some of them were rushing to their early shifts, while some were elderlies buying breakfast home, also some who were cleaning the street.
As usual, many of them greeted Yuan Zhou.
“Good morning, Boss Yuan.”
“Morning.”
“Morning,” Yuan Zhou replied to everyone with a nod.
