When it was almost dusk, dark clouds spread from the sea to here, then followed by a rainstorm.
When it came to dinner time, everybody gathered at the refurbished dining hall that used to be the living room.
There were merely 3 round tables separated by little screens. The dining hall that was painted grey seemed pretty simple and crude. But the delicious cuisine had bottled Ren Ziling and Lizi’s mouths.
However, no matter how much tasty food there was, it couldn’t completely stop them from talking… because You Ye was not there.
Ren Ziling who hadn’t had a good talk for the whole day wanted to have a thorough understanding of You Ye at the dining table!
"She’s under the weather, resting in the room now," Luo Qiu said.
"Under the weather?" Ren Ziling looked at Luo Qiu doubtfully with concern, "Did she get sunstroke? Is it serious? Let’s check on her."
"No need. Let her take a nap." Luo Qiu shook his head.
The true reason was that You Ye didn’t have the ability to eat… And it’d be a ha.s.sle to clean out what she ate.
Lui Yiyun who was serving the final dish overheard the conversation and said without realizing, "Is that lady tired? After all, she just cooked a lot of food."
How much?
At the place rich in seafood, the dining table was filled with sas.h.i.+mi, seafood soup, shrimp, steamed basa, sea snail, and home-made pan-fried mountain delicacies---Besides that, she worked hard on garnis.h.i.+ng.
This table full of dishes that could be seen in a Michelin-starred restaurant appeared in the simple dining room, Lui Yiyun felt that it was too surreal.
She could more or less understand her father’s sense of powerlessness.
"What? All of these are made by You Ye alone?" Ren Ziling revealed a stupefied look!
The girl smiled, "Yeah! We shouldn’t let the guests to cook by themselves but that lady insisted to do it by herself."
Ren Ziling’s eyes kindled with excitement. She used chopsticks to pick up a bar of sas.h.i.+mi and put it into her mouth. It turned out well with mashed white turnip even without dipping in soybean sauce or wasabi.
The layers of fats and flesh of the sas.h.i.+mi were evenly spread as if being measured. One could taste the sweetness of fats mixed with the freshness of the fish, along with a hint of spiciness and coolness from the white turnip like snow thawed in the mouth.
Ren Ziling couldn’t help shutting her eyes, revealing a fascinated look.
She suddenly opened eyes widely, "This daughter-in-law, I’ll marry her for sure…Oh, no, you must marry her!"
Apparently, she was bribed by a table of dishes.
Luo Qiu looked at the r.e.t.a.r.ded Ren Ziling, throwing a peeled shrimp into her bowl.
Ren Ziling got used to his behavior since long ago. She rolled her eyes, "Do you want to bottle my mouth?"
Luo Qiu pretended as if he didn’t hear it, turning attention to Lui Yiyun, "Where are the boss and his wife? We can’t finish it all, let’s eat together… Oh, and that old man."
Lui Yiyun shook her head, "My father went out… and my mum is tired and having rest in her room. As to my grandpa, he isn’t used to eating with other people."
She couldn’t say that they just finished quarrelling. She sighed and definitely wished that her family could enjoy the dinner together.
"Is anyone there? Is there anyone home?"
Suddenly, someone called from outside.
…
A man about 28 came in. His clothes were wet and was carrying a black leather case.
He had a hasty appearance.
"Alas, fortunately, I found a hotel in such an isolated place."
Lui Yiyun took the youth to the dining hall, letting him seat at the next table so that he could greet the others since the helper had finished work and gone back home before the rain started to pour down.
"Sir, this is a resort, not a hotel," Lui Yiyun said cautiously.
The young man had dyed his hair blonde, wearing a waistcoat. There was a Kylin tattoo on his left arm--- and an earstud.
Such appearance gave the girl living in this peaceful place a shock. Lui Yiyun dared not to get close to him.
That youth waved his hand, "Whatever, I’ll stay here tonight. Get some food for me, please… Oh, those dishes look good, give me a portion of it!"
That man eyes ran down Luo Qiu’s table, squinting his eyes.
It stumped the girl, "Ah… sir, those are cooked by the guest. We… we are not able to cook those."
"What the h.e.l.l is this place? Do customers have to cook for themselves?" The young man frowned.
"This is… is…" Lui Yiyun couldn’t match the words.
The young guy was discontented with her, "Then what can you cook?"
Lui Yiyun had to tell him, "My dad went out, he’s the chef… If you don’t mind, I can cook some simple dishes…"
The girl lowered her head. Perhaps she was unconfident with her cooking skill.
That man turned his gaze, walking to Luo Qiu’s table. He took a seat without greeting them.
He put both of his hands on the table, smiling while squinting his eyes, "Guys, since you can’t finish them all and I’m starving, can I pay some money and share the food?"
Ren Ziling didn’t talk. She first ate the shrimp in her bowl solely, then wiped her mouth and gave him a smile.
The man thought that that was a sign of agreement. So he smiled and was about to pick up another pair of chopsticks. But Ren Ziling said coolly, "Sorry, we aren’t selling it."
Sell what?
This table of dishes was made by the future daughter-in-law of the mother-in-law in presence! Subeditor Ren was reluctant to share it with a stranger!
‘Granted that this mother is stuffed, I’ll eat it up!’
That man squinted his eyes more while smiling contemptuously, "The full table looks nice… 5000, I can pay 5000 to eat a portion!"
"5000… What a nice price!" Ren Ziling answered with a shocking face before giving a fishy reply, "No, we won’t sell it. Can you go away? Don’t interrupt our dinner!"
The man shrugged, standing up suddenly.
He stood up, his eyes looking down--at Luo Qiu, Ren Ziling, and Lizi. He whistled and smiled scornfully. "It’s quite a pity to waste this table of nice dishes…"
His face suddenly sank, "Don’t eat then!"
Both of his hands grabbed the table, intending to flip the table like a rascal.
But unexpectedly, his face turned red but still couldn’t flip it.
His gaze became astonished… looking at the trio. The two ladies were holding bowls, throwing a stunned look at him.
Only the young man who was silent pressed the table with one hand.
The youth withdrew both his hands quickly as if being stabbed by something.
As he was panicking, Luo Qiu picked up some food for him.
"Have some food if you’re hungry." He pushed the bowl filled with food to him, "It’s free of charge, enjoy it."
The youth swallowed his saliva, trying to lift up the bowl unwittingly. When he held the bowls in his hands, he could only feel it was too heavy to be lifted!
It seemed impossible to lift this bowl no matter how hard he tried.
The young man who had a special ident.i.ty understood that he met some skillful man. His back was covered with cold sweat after being shocked.
"What’s wrong? You don’t want it?" Luo Qiu threw a glance at him, smiling, "It tastes quite good."
The man got up anxiously. Looking at Luo Qiu, his heart beat faster… ‘I’ll eat it if I could lift it up!’
"So, sorry, I lost my temper because I was too hungry."
He swallowed his saliva, taking two steps back and waving his hand, "I can eat what that girl cooks for me… Sorry, I’m so sorry!"
Watching his blonde hair, the tattoo on his arm, his ears tub, and the funny look when he stepped back and apologized, Ren Ziling gaped and whispered, "This fellow...is he r.e.t.a.r.ded?"
But Lizi seemed to give a thought about it, "Sister Ren, I think Luo Qiu’s calm att.i.tude has scared him off. He must think that Luo Qiu comes from some influential family, so he dared not to create trouble!"
"Well… that makes a little sense." Ren Ziling sized Luo Qiu up "This guy looks quite scary when he’s not talking."
‘He must be difficult to get along with…’ Lizi added in her heart… actually she dared not to look at Luo Qiu in the face.
Luo Qiu said, "Eat quickly and I’ll bring some of the leftovers to the room later. Everyone’s tired today, rest early."
"I have to finish the ma.n.u.script." Ren Ziling said while gobbling the rice, "Brat, she doesn’t feel well. Stop tormenting her!"
"…"
‘It was probably a good idea to let that guy flip the table.’
Ren Ziling added, "Be careful at night, lock the door… that guy looks ferocious. Scream loudly if something happens."
Lizi nodded.
…
…
Soon after, Ren Ziling and Lizi went back to the room, and Luo Qiu pretended to pack the food.
Lui Yiyun dared not to walk out after going into the kitchen.
That young man looked at him, saying after a moment of hesitation, "Senior… sorry for being rude to you just now."
"No, you didn’t do anything wrong." Luo Qiu said calmly.
The youth continued, "I felt that there was a hint of a monster’s aura coming over from here, so I wanted to check it out…I didn’t expect to meet such a skillful person like senior in this place. I’m so embarra.s.sed to teach a fish how to swim."
Luo Qiu didn’t answer… the reason the bowl and table couldn’t be lifted was that it was from 2 different powers.
A total of 4 different powers.
Two were from himself, and the other two were from… Lizi.
She first held the table, then Luo Qiu exerted his power.
The food in the bowl was the same… 2 powers were exerted on it, one from the club boss or else the youth wouldn’t be so confounded.
That man knew that talented people were supercilious. So he had to continue, "The monster who was with senior… must be your servant right?"
Luo Qiu didn’t want to talk to him, thus throwing a ‘you-are-annoying’ gaze at him.
The youth didn’t get it, voicing lowly, "Senior, you came here for that legend too… right?"
"What legend?" Luo Qiu stopped working.
The youth smiled, "Senior, let’s get straight to the point. Several decades ago, a sea monster haunted this area and disappeared after that. However, it seems like it’ll appear again, right?"
While talking, he stood up and put his hands together, facing Luo Qiu and wors.h.i.+ping him, "To be honest, junior came here to seek for the sea monster this time. I hope senior can join me to wipe off the sea monster!"
"I’m not interested." Luo Qiu said coolly, "I didn’t come for this."
"Alas… Senior! Senior! Hold on please!" The young man called, "Junior Momo is the successor of Dragon Tiger Mountain, seeking advice from se…"
Luo Qiu had already left the dining hall.
Momo frowned, sitting down and talking to himself, "I heard that this area is of Xian Xuan Huan Zhen Dao… is he the successor of this mysterious sect? Not coming for this… then for what?"
Momo tapped his fingers on the table, calculating in his heart, ‘Master said that I’m more sensitive than the common ones, and more skillful than what he was like at my age… I didn’t meet a counterpart throughout the journey except that skillful person. Should I go and have a try? I suffered losses because of inadequate preparation… I can’t denigrate the prestige of Dragon Tiger Mountain."
"Guest… guest… your food…"
Lui Yiyun was holding the plate, walking out carefully.
Momo smiled.
He tidied up his wet hair by pulling them backwards, receiving the plate with both hands and saying softly. "Sorry, girl, did I frighten you?"
Lui Yiyun was stunned after seeing a totally different att.i.tude from Momo… this man, was actually, handsome.
"No, I’m fine…"