Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1553 The Stadium
He's watching you. He's been watching you the whole time.

"Hmm," Shang Luo could basically confirm it. No matter what he did, Zhu Xianxi didn't seem to be able to stop him.

As for Zhu Ling, Shang Luo felt that she was capable of anything.

These two siblings are absolutely unbelievable. I think they could eat you alive.

"That's the gist of it, but please don't say anything weird."

What I mean is, have you noticed that neither of them treats you like a human being?

"What do you mean?"

Both of them actually see you as an auspicious omen. To your senior brother, an auspicious omen is a treasure; his attitude towards you is clearly different from his attitude towards others, right?

"He seemed to treat me as someone of equal status. And..."

And Shang Luo also remembered. When the two of them sat together, Zhu Xianxi would always ask Shang Luo for his opinion on whatever decision he made, and rarely made decisions on his own in front of Shang Luo. To put it simply, this was why he would ask which foot to step out with first before leaving the house.

To put it more bluntly—

Here's the problem: He's the emperor, the supreme ruler, the pinnacle of humanity. If he treats you as an equal, it means he doesn't consider you human at all, because no one can have the same status as him.

"So what does he take me for?"

[Well, if I had to put it bluntly, he treated you like another emperor. Actually, his treatment of you is similar to his treatment of Victoria, except in this system, Victoria is half a rank below both of you. I remember him saying before that he considered you "a cousin from my second uncle's family," a guest. This system of treatment is actually understandable according to etiquette, because etiquette includes not only ruler and subject, but also guests. The Shang dynasty's successor, the Song dynasty, was a guest of the Zhou dynasty. The emperor's guest is the former emperor, so naturally, he's not a person. He's a mascot. A mascot is an auspicious omen.]

"Indeed." Thinking about it, that makes sense. "Then what about Zhu Ling?"

[Zhu Ling's situation is even simpler. Auspicious omens are abstract to your senior brother, but they're concrete to Zhu Ling. She deals with auspicious omens every day, so she'll treat you the same way he treats other auspicious omens. Of course, you are, after all, a human being.]

"???" Shang Luo was stunned for a moment. "What do you mean by 'at least a human being'?"

[This means she at least sees you as a human being, not just a lucky charm. You possess attributes of both. So, if she were to marry you, it would probably be like working overtime every day.]

"This sounds like she's going to marry a two-dimensional anime character!!"

[You know what, you see things most clearly. She actually treats you like a two-dimensional character, only you have a physical form. Does she not find any physical contact with you strange? Because you two are in different dimensions, on different levels.]

"Alright," he said helplessly, "at least I've done my duty to those two siblings. I have indeed been a good omen."

"So, Shangluo," Zhu Ling suddenly looked up, "how did your father treat you?"

Why are you suddenly bringing this up?

"You're the one who said you wanted to see the relationship between me and my father. My father usually doesn't teach me; he likes to watch me hit seven or eight shots and still not get into the sand bunker. So, what about your father?"

Shangluo was silent for a moment before asking, "What do you want to eat today?"

"Huh?" "'What are we eating today?' That's what he says to me every day. Because apart from meals, we usually don't talk to each other."

"I communicate with my colleagues more than this. Isn't the relationship between you and your father good?"

“Great, he has never been angry with me, nor has he ever hit me.”

“Come with me.” She grabbed Shang Luo’s hand.

"Huh? Aren't we playing ball?"

"Your mind isn't on the ball at all. Come on, get in the car, I'll show you something and you'll understand."

She pulled Shangluo into the car, settled him in the passenger seat, and then drove smoothly to the nearby Imperial Garden.

Although it was after get off work hours, she had a key to the panda enclosure as a staff member. She took Shangluo's hand, greeted her colleagues who were passing by, and then led Shangluo to the panda's enclosure.

Unlike Longlong's previous room, this is a parent-child room. Inside, the panda mother is with two cubs, each less than a year old. When nursing, she holds one cub in each paw, firmly pressing their heads down to prevent them from moving around while nursing.

When they arrived, the cub was almost finished with its milk. However, after finishing its milk, one of the cubs tried to climb onto its mother's head, but the mother panda slapped it down, sending it rolling three times in front of her. The cub that landed rolled over again and went to play with a rattan ball nearby. Meanwhile, the other cub was being caught by its mother and licked from head to toe.

"Ah, the scene of a loving mother and filial son is so delightful."

"So, Shangluo, have you noticed that the panda mother treats the two cubs differently?"

"They're not quite the same. One is their biological child, and the other isn't?"

"Hmm." Zhu Ling nodded. "The other cub is being fostered here because its mother only has one cub and didn't want to take care of a second one. So, she was sent to a panda mother who was willing to take care of a second cub. It was sent here when it was about four months old. So, guess which one is the biological cub?"

Shangluo was silent for a moment: "The one who got beaten up is the biological child, right?"

Zhu Ling said in a deep voice, "To be honest, based on my observation, even pandas will hit their cubs. There are two types of panda hitting: one is for training to withstand falls, and the other is for beating. The former looks like wrestling with the cub, while the latter is slapping the cub's face with a bear paw. Many panda mothers will slap their cubs when they are angry—but, for training to withstand falls, or for things like kissing, hugging, and lifting them up high, panda mothers usually only do these things to their own cubs."

"What about the one who isn't your biological child?"

"Being responsible. Feeding, licking fur, and helping with defecation are things that many panda mothers don't mind doing for other cubs. But beatings, like slapping faces with paws, are things that are usually only done to their own cubs."

"Is it because the panda mother doesn't think it's her own child, so she can't hit it?"

Zhu Ling shook her head: "If you think that way, then you're applying human ethics to it—actually, it's because: biological panda cubs often refuse to be lifted up by their mothers, and even slap them back without fear. Because they know that even if they slap their mothers back, their mothers are still their mothers. On the other hand, panda cubs separated from their biological mothers are generally more confused and helpless, so they appear quiet and obedient in front of their adoptive mothers. Because they are quiet and obedient, their adoptive mothers naturally don't need to discipline them with slaps."

Am I like that too?

"At the very least, the relationship between you and your father is very abnormal."

(End of this chapter)