The guild territory was going to refresh, so I returned to Sky City with the gang before going away to repair my equipment. Then, I distributed the loot we got during the territory war to everyone.
Beep!
It was around this time Lin Yixin sent me a thank you message. “We sincerely thank you for helping us getting the territory, friends from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I won"t forget this…”
I reposted the thank you message in the guild channel, and everyone started making questionable comments at once. High Fighting Spirits started, “She wants to thank us, but we already have everything except her. Should we ask her to join us and become our mistress of the fort?”
Me: “Dude, WTF…”
Murong Mingyue: “Ceh! Mistress of the fort? Are you dreaming? Do you really think you can tame someone like her even if she does join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?”
High Fighting Spirits: “I can"t, but Lu Chen can!”
Me: “...”
Pure Love: “Quiet, big brother Lu Chen has me already…”
Everyone puked blood when they saw this.
……
It was at this moment He Yi suddenly came back online and teleported back to Sky City. The moment she saw me, she rushed over to me with a smile and asked, “Lu Chen, are you setting up a stall?”
I nodded before replying, “Yeah. I missed lunch, so I have nothing to do right now. Speaking of which let"s eat dinner together later!”
He Yi smiled again. “Dinner? Perfect. I have to attend a dinner tonight, so why don"t you come with me?”
“Oh? What kind of dinner is it?”
“Er…” For some reason He Yi was hesitating. She looked at me, the sky, and then at the ground beneath our feet.
Her weird reaction puzzled me. “Seriously, what"s wrong?”
“My mom asked me to eat dinner with her tonight…”
“And?”
“And she"s going to introduce me to a man…”
“c.r.a.p!”
“c.r.a.p indeed!”
He Yi sat down beside me and held my arm, begging, “Come with me tonight, please? I hate dealing with this type of situation alone, especially since her so-called handsome, accomplished elites are really just men with an excess amount of confidence and stupidity. It"s just unbearable!”
I nodded. “Fine, this one promises to do everything he can to help his guild leader. Speaking of which, can you choose a good restaurant for the night? I"m so hungry I can eat a horse right now…”
“I know, I promise. Well, I"m logging off first. See you in a bit!”
“See you!”
……
I checked the time after He Yi logged off. Dinner was still a long time away since it wasn"t even 4 pm yet. So I leaned against the wall and hollered for customers while thinking about that “elite” I was going to meet later. “Top-tier equipment for sale! I"m selling a Purple Gold-grade leather armor wristguard that gives +17 Tactics, a level 115 two-star Outstanding Purple Gold-grade chest armor, rank four and five Encourage! All Tacticians are welcomed to buy them, and first come first serve! Oh right, I"m also selling a level 120 Magic Knight legguard that I just got from Dominating Knight G.o.d"s dead body for cheap! I promise it"s still warm to touch!”
A guy stopped in front of my stall, and he was none other than Dominating Knight G.o.d himself. He glared at me like he wanted nothing more than to eat me alive.
“You"re such a terrible person, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Why are you calling my name when you"re selling your s.h.i.+t? Are you trying to pick a fight with me? Our honor won"t stand for this!”
“Well, do you want to fight me? I happen to be free, so…”
“Never heard of the idiom "wealth is earned through amiability"? Why the h.e.l.l would I want to fight you?”
Dominating Knight G.o.d shot me one last glare before summoning a thin, weak horse and escaping from my sight. He actually was afraid that I would go after him.
I silently shook my head before hollering for business again.
……
A torturous couple of hours later, He Yi finally sent me a message. “I made the reservations already, so you can log off now. It"s located at the industrial park area, so if we go now we"ll be just on time!”
“Got it!”
I immediately logged off and checked the time. It was five pm sharp, and it would take a hour to reach the restaurant He Yi mentioned, so that was just perfect.
After we got into the car, I tightened my collar a bit and said, “Eve, I"m a bit nervous…”
He Yi c.o.c.ked her head and stared at me. “Excuse me? I"m the one who"s getting introduced to a man by my mom, so why are you the one who"s nervous?”
“Well, this"ll be the first time I meet your mom…”
He Yi couldn"t help but break into a laugh. “Alright alright, just calm down. You need to leave a good first impression, or else it would be troublesome if we got—”
He Yi suddenly cut herself short when she realized what she was about to say. Her face instantly turned as red as an apple, and she turned to stare at the Lamborghini logo above the steering wheel like she was trying to drill holes with her gaze. Even from my seat, I could see that her ear was completely red.
I didn"t continue that line of conversation because it would only embarra.s.s her even more. Smiling, I changed the topic and asked, “Er, about that man auntie wants to introduce to you… who is he exactly?”
“I heard he"s a young elite who just returned from overseas. Apparently he"s an executive in a large American company, and the reason he came back at this specific timing is to talk business with a domestic company.”
“Oh, I see…”
He Yi nodded before complaining, “What a headache, all these years and my mom still hasn"t given up on playing matchmaker. Sigh, what should I do?”
I patted the windscreen once before saying, “Whatever do you mean? We"re going to eat dinner, right? I"m heading over to eat dinner at the very least!”
He Yi broke into a giggle before rolling her eyes at me. Her eyes seemed to be saying, “Food is all you know, you heartless b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
……
We went up the highway in no time and got stuck in a traffic jam for a very long time. Eventually, we arrived at a Juyuan Hotel at the industrial park area. After He Yi straightened out her attire for a bit, she said to me, “Alright, let"s go. My mom"s already waiting inside!”
“Mn!”
I got off the car and followed He Yi into the restaurant. It wasn"t long before we spotted a middle-aged woman at a corner of the first floor. Despite being over 50 years old, He Yi"s mom did an amazing job maintaining her appearance. Then again, only a woman like her could give birth to a beautiful daughter like He Yi.
“Mom, you sure are early…” He Yi nodded and gave her mom a smile.
I also walked up to her and greeted her smilingly, “h.e.l.lo, auntie!”
“Oh? Who is this?” He Yi"s mom stared at me in surprise.
He Yi walked up to me and grabbed my arm. “Don"t you know him? He"s Lu Chen, my best a.s.sistant besides Mingyue.”
“Oh, so you"re Lu Chen…”
He Yi"s mom examined from head to toe literally before smiling at me. “Not bad, not bad. It"s not easy to find someone your age whom Yiyi will praise all day and night!”
He Yi looked around and asked, “So mom, where"s that sea turtle?”
“Sea turtle…” Auntie chided her slightly. “You"re 26 years old, and you still act like a kid. How can I not worry about you? That"s why I gotta find you a man who"ll watch over you and keep you responsible…”
He Yi hurriedly grabbed her mom"s arm and shook it back and forth. “Mooooom, what are you talking about? I am a responsible woman! I work hard, I love my family, I love my country…”
This was the first time ever I saw He Yi acting cutesy like this. Despite my best efforts, I couldn"t stop myself from bursting into laughter.
He Yi immediately glared at me. “Don"t laugh!”
While I was controlling myself, auntie said, “That boy is called Richard, and he"s in the washroom. He"ll be coming out very soon. Speaking of which, don"t you have better clothes than this? You look like you haven"t gotten changed…”
He Yi replied, “This is a good outfit, mom. It"s over 17k RMB! It"s worth at least a month of that sea turtle"s salary…”
Auntie had nothing to say to that. She simply pulled He Yi to her seat and sat down.
It was a four-seated, rectangular table. Since He Yi and auntie were sitting on the opposite side, I had no choice but to sit together with Mr. Sea Turtle. Tsk, how annoying!
I took my seat and asked, “Auntie, have you made an order yet?”
“I don"t think so?”
“Let"s call the waiter then!”
“Mn, sure!”
I stood up, called over a waiter. I was going to order some food when a youngster clad in a western suit appeared from the direction of the washroom and called out, “Sorry, sorry, I should"ve returned sooner!”
Then, he saw He Yi and suddenly froze up like a statue. It took him a long while before he managed to spit the words, “Are… are you He Yi?”
While pouring her mom some tea, He Yi asked, “What"s wrong? Were you expecting someone else?”
“Haha, of course not! I… my name is Richard. I just came back from the US, and the air feels so much fresher after I came back! It"s always nice to come back to my home country!”
Then, Richard looked at me in surprise and asked, “And you are?”
I stood up and gave him a grin. “My name is Lu Chen. I"m He Yi"s friend.”
“Friend?”
Looking a bit puzzled, Richard sat next to me before forcing a tiny smile on his face. “You look very young, Lu Chen? Are you still studying or working?”
“Oh, I"m working already.”
“How much is your monthly salary?”
“About 3000, the tax-exempted kind…”
“Hahaha!”
Richard didn"t question me further, but his laugh betrayed his disdain completely. Well, it was to be expected. He was the type of person who felt superior to a “poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d” who earned tax-exempted money after all.
……
I asked, “So, Mr. Richard, you are a Chinaman, so why are you still calling yourself by an English name after you came back to your home country? You"re not going to tell me that your forename is Ri, and your surname is Chard, are you?”
“Hehe, well…” Richard replied a bit awkwardly, “I lived in the US for over five years, and I"ve gotten used to being called Richard. That"s why I didn"t change it after I came back.”
I smiled. “You haven"t forgotten how to use chopsticks, have you?”
“Of course.”
“Good. I don"t want to be the one to feed you, you see…”
It was needle versus pin warring against each other atop the Forbidden City. The clash between Richard and I had taken over the theme of the dinner completely.
“Lu Chen, how much money do you have left after you paid your rent with your income? It can"t possibly be much, can it?” Richard began his counterattack.
I nodded. “Yeah, it was a p.i.s.s poor amount of income, to be honest. It"s not even enough to treat sister He Yi to a meal.”
“Does that mean you have to ride in a public transport everyday? It must be hard knowing how hot the weather is…”
“Thank you for your concern, but I drive an X12 to work, so I don"t have to worry about that. I must admit that I feel like robbing the gas station every time it needs refilling though. Oh right, you came back from overseas, right? How much do you earn per month?”
“It"s okay. I earned 40k USD per month, so that"s around 300k in RMB.”
I exclaimed in surprise. “Not bad! It"s almost as much as my daily income in Heavenblessed! It"s rare to come by a young, capable talent like you these days…”
Richard: “...”
……
Auntie finally had enough of our cold war and said, “Alright enough. Shall we order some food now?”
But Richard didn"t accept the out auntie gave him. Instead, he took out an exquisite-looking box from his bag and smiled. “I"ve prepared a small gift for sister He Yi since this is our first meeting. I hope you"ll accept it.”
He opened the box to reveal a dazzling diamond necklace. Not only was it a big diamond, he hadn"t torn away the price tag that was stuck to the box. It said: 127000 RMB.
A diamond necklace that"s worth 120k? He"s clearly taunting me in public!