Chapter 21

The hat was actually a very ordinary baseball cap, and it’s also the most common style worn by men in Rong Gui’s time. Common style would forever be à la mode, not to mention that Xiao Mei had a pair of dexterous hands, so that with merely a glance at the pattern given by Rong Gui, he could knit it quite decently. Overall, the shape of the cap was very standard and good-looking, save one point.

“Xiao Mei, I don’t mind if you have a green carpet, but I do mind that you used the green carpet…to make a green cap…*” Looking at Xiao Mei who was wearing the green cap, and fully aware that himself was wearing a cap of the same style and color, Rong Gui’s heart was full of internal struggles.

*See note in Chapter 17 for the meaning of “green hat” in Chinese culture – cuckolded.

Xiao Mei turned away loftily, only leaving him with the back of the head to see – all capped in green.

This was Xiao Mei’s way of showing his non-violent resistance attitude.

While watching Xiao Mei who started working again, Rong Gui hurriedly pitter-pattered a few steps closer, so that he could continue to express his opinion: “In our country, there’s a special meaning attached to ‘wearing a green hat’, so even girls wouldn’t easily wear it, let alone men.”

Seeing that Xiao Mei still ignored him, Rong Gui sighed: “There’s still a little red dye left. How about I dye both our caps red? Little red riding hood – although it sounds like something for girls to wear, it still sounds better than a green hat~”

Xiao Mei responded –

By firmly pulling his cap down on his head.

It meant that he was determined to defend his own cap, and would not allow Rong Gui to touch it.

“Alright, then I could only go dye my own cap.” Sighing again, Rong Gui went to get the dye on his own to paint the cap red. Meanwhile, he also didn’t forget to remind Xiao Mei: “Green hat is not a good sign after all. You have to be careful when you find a date in the future – who knows, maybe it’ll be the type that flirts around. You’d better watch closely in case you are really cuckolded…”

Xiao Mei, the former majesty who had stayed virgin for tens of thousands of years in his previous life that he eventually turned himself into a robot completely devoid of any human desire, was rather indifferent to this. Ignoring Rong Gui’s nagging, he continued to do his remodeling work.

The day that the charger embedded in the wall was taken out and installed in the car, there’s finally no more new energy flowing into the energy pipes.

In Rong Gui’s words: They have completely run out of power.

Fortunately, they had Xiao Mei.

Xiao Mei had already made all kinds of preparations beforehand.

Last evening, both robots fully charged themselves, and stored in the freezing cabin an amount of energy enough to use for ten days. After giving the two bodies a final massage, Rong Gui and Xiao Mei put the bodies into the freezing cabin together.

It’s unknown how long they would have to go. In order to maximize the utility of energy, they had to place the bodies in the freezing cabin as long as possible.

Therefore, when the bodies were put into the cabin, Rong Gui especially spent twenty minutes adjusting the postures of the two bodies. Only after he made sure that both bodies were in a comfortable position did he agree to let Xiao Mei drop down the lid of the freezing cabin.

Xiao Mei had got used to such make-a-fuss-about-nothing behavior from Rong Gui. He would rather stand aside for twenty minutes than refute his companion.

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At least, just standing aside would save more energy.

After putting the freezing cabin in the previously reserved place on the car, they had to put in the rest of the luggage next.

Xiao Mei didn’t even know how they could have so much “luggage”.

He indeed collected a lot of materials earlier, but these materials were now basically all used up to make the car. As for the remaining scraps, he only kept some good ones which, even when adding up together, were merely of the size of a suitcase ← yes, he made a small suitcase which was just right to contain all tools, materials, and the component extractor. He only needed to place it under the car seat, and it wouldn’t take much space at all.

All the things that took up space were packed up by Rong Gui.

Two baskets of earth beans were definitely necessary, and it made sense to pack some earth beans with the flower pots, but why did he also bring the washbasin and the foot bath basin? He even folded the two handkerchiefs made from underpants and brought them onto the car. Apart from all these, there were also the comb, the stools, the ladder… Rong Gui even took the tattered quilt on Xiao Mei’s bed with him!

“Why do you have to bring these pieces of garbage?” At last, Xiao Mei couldn’t stand it anymore.

“How can you call them garbage? They were all made by your hard work, Xiao Mei!” Rong Gui immediately retorted. And then, seeing Xiao Mei, he waved his hand: “Since you’ve come out, don’t just stand still. This box is very heavy, come and give me a hand!”

Xiao Mei: ……

In the end, he went over and lent a hand after all.

The car was so fully packed with all the stuff that some could barely fit in. Fortunately, they had Xiao Mei who, just by glancing in turn at each of the things that Rong Gui wanted to load, could quickly sketch out an assembly drawing in his mind. He passed a copy of the drawing to Rong Gui, and the two robots filled up the car with everything according to the instructions thereof. Surprisingly, there was still a lot of available space after they used the drawing to finish packing.

“That’s amazing!” Clapping his hands, Rong Gui exclaimed passionately.

“Xiao Mei, you are really a good companion needed for both homestay and travel!”

Ignoring Rong Gui’s praise, Xiao Mei got into the car again. He tuned up the car and reprogrammed the energy consumption rate according to the weight of the newly loaded luggage. But even after everything was done, he still didn’t see Rong Gui come over. He turned back only to find that Rong Gui was trying hard to close the door of his house.

“What are you doing? We are leaving.” On the car, the little robot wearing a green baseball cap asked in a flat, monotonous voice.

“I’m locking the door! Xiao Mei, how come your house doesn’t even have a lock?”

“There’s no need to lock it. Come, get on the car.” Xiao Mei said, turning back again.

“How is it unnecessary? You have to lock the door carefully when you are going to travel far away – it’s common sense.” Rong Gui just wouldn’t relent.

“Why do you need to? Apparently you’ve taken away whatever you could take with you, and even a burglar won’t be able to find anything left in the house, right?” Xiao Mei said coldly.

“Er…” Rong Gui choked – it’s rare to see him being rendered speechless. Yet he soon scratched his head and laughed: “Indeed I’ve evacuated the house too thoroughly, but the door still has to be locked. Whenever you leave your home, you should lock it.”

Xiao Mei had long been tired of Rong Gui’s various whimsical ideas that he had never heard of, so he gave up arguing over the question with the other. Eventually he got off the car, and made a padlock using scrap metals. He also made a chain attached to it.

The chain tied the two door leaves together. A padlock was placed on the chain. The door was locked.

Rong Gui was finally satisfied.

Xiao Mei couldn’t understand why he was satisfied with this.

It’s obviously the simplest kind of lock set, and the chain could obviously be ripped off with just a little more force, weren’t they?

Yet, Rong Gui locked the door with them very cheerfully.

“See you.” He even said goodbye to the empty house.

Only then did he walked in the direction of the car, humming little tunes.

Before the car was started, Rong Gui placed an object in Xiao Mei’s palm.

“Here, Xiao Mei, it’s the key to your home. Keep it safe~”

Gazing at the thin piece of metal key in his hand, Xiao Mei ultimately didn’t say anything. In the end, he accepted the key and put it into the suitcase under his seat.

The cottage behind was getting further and further away, and the lock – now on the cottage – was getting further and further away from its key on the other end. Suddenly, a strange feeling arose in Xiao Mei’s heart.

It’s something he had never felt before – something that others would call the melancholy of parting from home.