"d.a.m.n you"re a savage man," Dan said with a wry smile on his face. Michael who casually sat before him revealed a small smile of his own before saying, "What else should I do at that time? Should I just let him go without paying for anything?"
Dan stared at Michael and found that the latter looked nonchalant as if nothing happened. He even ordered numerous expensive dishes and when they arrived, Dan remembered a certain matter and turned pensive.
"Comrade, how many jadeslips do you have about that young woman that you displayed to me earlier..." Dan clasped his hands together and an air of a businessman enveloped his body. Michael"s figure shook for a moment before crossing his arms together and proudly announcing,
"I still have at least a hundred jadeslips of the Lightning Empress, Natalie Longinus." With a flick of his wrist, an ensemble of jadeslip manifested above the table. Michael moved his body closer and whispered, "You have some fine tastes, Comrade, according to my informants, the Lightning Empress, Natalie Longinus actually has a child, so she"s a mother and quite a fine one at that..."
Dan saw Michael"s lecherous smirk and suppressed the urge to smack him down on the ground. Darting his gaze on the jadeslips, Dan"s hands blurred and safely recovered everything. "Are you sure that this is everything? There should be some top-secret jadeslips, right?"
Michael"s expression flickered for a moment before he lifted both of his arms in defeat, "Why do you look like you"ve been doing this for a while, Comrade? To think that you actually knew about the existence of the top-secret jadeslips." He inserted his hand inside his robe and revealed three jadeslips that looked ordinary and average.
If not for the faint trace of deep-sea gold on its body, one would find it hard to differentiate from the average jadeslips.
"Are you sure that you"re gonna take these top-secret jadeslips? They"re quite expensive, you know?" Michael revealed a sly smile, his eyes flashed in resplendent lights as he stared at Dan as if staring at a fat piece of lamb.
Michael allowed him to scan a jadeslip as a preview of its contents and when Dan infused his Spiritual Qi inside the jadeslip. A high-definition image of Natalie sleeping clad with nothing but her nightgown carved itself inside Dan"s mind.
Dan"s expression changed, if the preview image actually had such a juicy picture, what about the contents of the entire jadeslip? And what"s more, there existed three of them!
Dan sharply exhaled and offered his price, at this moment, a fierce battle of haggling between a merchant and a buyer has commenced!
"You"re a tough nut to crack, aren"t you?" Dan sipped his tea and stared at Michael who scratched his head in awkwardness, "Comrade, as a diehard fan of the Lightning Empress, you should know about the difficulty of entering the Fragrant Peak Pavilion, the price that I offered you is the lowest that I can go..."
Dan clicked his tongue and returned his cup of tea on the saucer, "Fine, however, let me reserve all the images that you have for the Lightning Empress, everything, all images from the past and the future should be given to me!" Dan declared and Michael stared at Dan with admiration inside his eyes.
It was the first time that he saw such a fan that was willing to sacrifice a part of his wealth just to acquire exclusive rights for the images of their idols. Dan"s position inside Michael"s heart soared towards the peak. Such a man, he"s definitely worth befriending. Michael thought in his mind.
On the other hand, Dan maintained his calm and thought to himself, "Hmmph! How could I let anyone ogle my wife"s body?" He simulated a plan on how he could reinforce the defenses around the Fragrant Peak Pavilion.
The transaction went through and both sides reached an agreement. Dan paid the price of two hundred offensive talismans and a hundred defensive talismans along with ten thousand gold coins. As for the exclusive rights for Natalie"s images, he bought it for fifty thousand gold coins.
It was the first time that Michael had such a prodigal customer like Dan. His courtesy soared through the skies and he acted as if Dan was his grandfather. His face revealed a constant refres.h.i.+ng smile. However, when Dan saw his actions, he suppressed the urge to smack him down on the ground, thinking to himself that Michael could become his bridge when it comes to building his own influence in the Academy.
The two ate together and spoke cordially with each other, after finis.h.i.+ng their meals. Michael promised Dan that he would deliver more images at the end of the month and retired back to his home. Little did Michael knew that after this transaction, he wouldn"t be able to infiltrate the Fragrant Peak Pavilion anymore.
Walking down the street, Dan walked at a constant pace and he reached the Fragrant Peak Pavilion after several hours of walking. Behind the gates, Dan could see Natalie, Grace and his daughter, Juliet training with each other with sweat dotted on their foreheads.
Grace"s expression looked refreshed and didn"t have the nervousness and tenseness that he had when she first arrived in the pavilion. Her quick adjustments with the environment indicated Natalie"s skills in reception.
Dan"s expression softened when he saw how hard working his daughter was. In this world, people normally cultivated at the age of ten and Juliet started her journey while she was just nine years old. One could see her advantage because of her early start.
Dan took his authority token and a creaking sound resonated. The sound garnered the attention of the three figures and when they noticed Dan"s figure. The first one who leaped in his arms was Juliet who tightly latched on his neck,
"Welcome back, Papa!" The little girl didn"t seem to notice that she was rubbing her sweaty body on Dan"s robe. The latter didn"t mind it and rubbed her back. Natalie also approached him from the side, "Dear, how was the training with Senior George, did everything went well?" She expressed her concern with her tone and Dan lifted his lips in a smile.
"Yep, I"ll tell you more about it later," Dan"s nose twitched, "How about the three of you take a shower first?" He suggested and Grace"s expression flushed red before das.h.i.+ng back inside the Pavilion. Natalie puffed her cheeks and took Juliet from his neck as she said, "Okay, we"re gonna take a shower, it"ll be quick..."
Dan couldn"t help but chuckle upon witnessing Natalie"s embarra.s.sed and retreating figure. Dan didn"t want to criticize them for smelling bad. He forced them to take a shower so that he could surprise them when they return.
Entering the Pavilion, Dan found Natalie"s residence and entered the kitchen. Staring at the familiar utensils, a small smile lifted on Dan"s lips as he loosened his robe and entered into cooking mode.
Fetching numerous ingredients, Dan only took three breaths and sliced them cleanly. Soon, the fragrant smell of meat and the wholesome aroma of vegetables wafted out in the air. Back in his previous life, Dan was a lonely man who lived by himself.
To save some money, he taught himself some recipes that he never expected that it would become this handy once he had his own family. Thinking about how a failure he was in his previous life, Dan couldn"t help but shake his head, "The past is past, why should I keep dwelling on it instead of moving on. Now that I have my family here and I am living well, I should cherish such moments and spend more time with them, together..."
He couldn"t help but become somewhat teary when he felt the love and warmth that the two women in his life bestowed upon him.
Wrapping up everything in the kitchen, Dan lined the dishes above the jade table and when Natalie, Grace, and Juliet returned from their bath. The scene of witnessing numerous glamorous and delicious looking dishes astounded them.
"Dear, you prepared all of these in such a short amount of time?" Natalie commented amidst her widened eyes.
Dan chuckled and said, "Yep, these dishes are original recipes of mine that I frequently used when the time is tight, especially when there are in-game events that I don"t want to miss..."
"In-game events?" Natalie mumbled in confusion and Dan shook his head with a chuckle, "Forget about it, just take a seat and let"s just eat," Grace bowed her head in respect before taking her seat and Juliet ran towards her father and leaped on his lap.
"Juliet, don"t sit there, you"re disturbing your Papa..." Natalie said with a frown and Dan rubbed Juliet"s back as he said, "It"s fine, it"s fine, it"s not like I can do this every day, you know? I"ll just indulge her just this time..." His words silenced her and the three figures started their meal, smiling to each other, the three finally entered a comfortable mood as Dan kept on bragging about his endurance and willpower when he faced George"s terrifying training.
"Ah! Now that I think about it!" Natalie clapped her hands together before taking a jadeslip, "Natalie Longinus is requesting a three day leave for familial reasons..." Dan saw her actions and asked, "A three day leave? Why would you do such a thing?"
Natalie turned speechless before mumbling amidst her reddened countenance, "I"m taking a three day leave because I don"t think that you will let me go for at least three days..." Hearing this, Dan almost choked in his tea and Grace who understood the underlying meaning couldn"t help but blush in return.
Only Juliet remained joyful and kept on stuffing her mouth with the dishes that her beloved Papa, made.