“Du du…”
My phone suddenly rang, so I hurriedly found a quiet corner and accepted the call. “h.e.l.lo, Eve. What"s wrong?”
“Where are you guys? We didn"t see you at the workshop.”
“Oh nothing, just killing some players for Gui Guzi and the gang…”
“...”
“So, why did you call me, Eve?” I asked again.
He Yi let out a chuckle before replying, “It"s nothing big, really. I just want to tell you some good news.”
“Oh? Tell me.”
“Our Mingyue has finally become a Famous General!”
“Ah, really? Haha! What did she learn? It must be pretty powerful, isn"t it?”
“Yes, she learned a skill called Bright Mirror. It increases the healing effectiveness of all party members by 35%, and removes all forms of debuffs instantly…”
I exclaimed in shock, “Holy s.h.i.+t, that is amazing! I thought she would learn something called "Breast G.o.d" or something, but subpar name aside the effects are seriously amazing. Speaking of which, can Bright Mirror remove Candlelight Shadow"s Ghost G.o.d Prophecy?”
He Yi giggled. “Do you even need to ask? From today onwad, Mingyue will be Candlelight Shadow"s biggest nightmare! Bright Moon is the perfect counter to his Ghost G.o.d Prophecy!”
“Haha! That"s so awesome!”
“Mn mn!”
He Yi continued. “Oh right, are you and Beiming coming back this afternoon? If you are then let"s eat lunch together! My second uncle just came back from America, and he wants to meet the both of you!”
“Oh? And your second uncle is…?”
“He"s the vice president of the GGS parent company…”
“f.u.c.k…”
“f.u.c.k, what?”
“I understand now why you"re the vice president of the Asia region. Your backer is beyond imagination…”
He Yi replied in a dumbfounded tone, “What are you talking about? I got to where I am through my own skill and hard work, okay? My achievements have nothing to do with my second uncle. Sigh, if even you don"t believe me, then no one will believe me anymore…”
I smiled. “Okay, okay, please forget what I said earlier. Sure, Beiming Xue and I will head home before noon. And please give sis my congratulations. I know she"s been expecting this for a long time.”
“Mn, I know. Come back soon.”
……
I hung up and watched the people of the ASUS e-sports team celebrating their opening day from afar. Just like that, another giant s.h.i.+p of VR gaming had set sail toward the unknown. If a big compet.i.tion good enough to attract the best teams to appear in the future, the ASUS e-sports team most definitely would be a hot contender for the champion spot!
I was level 140 inside the game, and I couldn"t think of anything that I needed to do urgently at the moment. Therefore, I decided to stay behind for a bit and celebrate together with my friends. Beiming Xue and my attendance actually attracted a small crowd of ourselves, although I supposed that it wasn"t really too surprising. I was a former CGL ranker, and I had plenty of fans even to this day. In fact, many Suzhou players departed to the venue immediately after hearing my appearance at the ASUS e-sports club opening ceremony.
We busied ourselves until noon before we hailed a taxi and left for the university. When I went back to my car, I counted a total of 7 parking tickets on the front mirror. Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue before laughing, “Big bro, it looks like you got the s.h.i.+t penalized out of you…”
I curled my lips unhappily, “Motherf.u.c.ker, what a world we live in these days. When an international guest shows up in our country, they"re allowed to break the traffic rules however they want and even escorted by the police themselves. My car is just sitting here and troubling no one for one night, and it got 7 parking tickets for its silence? This really is a strong-eats-weak world…”
Beiming Xue giggled. “What do you want to do then?”
I thought for a moment before answering, “I"m going to summon Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits and wreck the motor vehicle administration at the end of the year…”
Beiming Xue snorted. “Li Chengfeng himself works for the Ministry of Public Security, and you"re expecting him to wreck the motor vehicle administration with you? Really?”
“Hahaha!”
I was too lazy to remove the parking tickets, so I just left them where they were placed. After that, we got into the car and went back to the workshop.
……
When we arrived at the bottom of the apartment, it was over 11 am already. Beiming Xue and I went up the stairs together.
However, when the elevator door opened, we immediately saw a man in a western suit standing at the entrance to our workshop. He was probably 50 years old or so, but he looked very healthy. He wore a pair of gla.s.ses with black frames that gave him a cultured appearance, but long, shapely eyebrows and peachy lips didn"t looked very good on him.
Creak!
The door opened, and we saw He Yi dressed in a beautiful coffee-colored uniform dress. She looked back and forth between the middle-aged man and us before muttering in confusion, “Second uncle? Lu Chen? Why have you come together?”
I was stunned to say the least. Was this middle-aged man He Yi, the legendary second uncle of He Yi and vice president of the GGS parent company?
I still remembered the day a drunken Gui Guzi asked He Yi a stupid question, “Boss, your name is He Yi, right? Is General He Jin of the Han Dynasty related to you or something?” At the time, He Yi had worn a weird look on her face, and today I finally understood why she looked like that. One, it was because Gui Guzi had asked an insanely stupid question as usual. Two, it was because she actually had an uncle named He Jin.
He Yi"s second uncle, He Jin immediately looked at me and Beiming Xue and gave us a friendly smile. “Oh? Are you that Lu Chen He Yi always speaks of? We finally meet, hehe. You really are as handsome as she says…”
He Yi"s second uncle had a very unusual voice. I could almost believe that he was mocking us if he wasn"t He Yi"s uncle. Even Beiming Xue was feeling gooseb.u.mps on her skin and staring blankly at the guy. After I shook He Jin"s hand, Beiming Xue pulled me to a side and whispered beside my ears, “Big bro, don"t you think that second uncle"s voice is really girlish?”
It took everything I had not to burst out in laughter on the spot. He Jin was He Yi"s second uncle, and it was only right I gave him the respect he deserved. It would be incredibly rude to laugh at him.
“Let"s eat lunch at Longxiang Hotel, shall we? It"s my treat!” Her second uncle offered courteously.
I have heard of Longxiang Hotel. It was built just not long ago, and it was known far and wide for its amazing service. The food it served was rumored to be extremely expensive—a simple plate of shredded pork with green bell peppers could sell for over 2000 RMB—and the waitresses were all women who were disqualified from beauty contests. Apparently, even the water they used to wash their food and dishes were s.h.i.+pped from foreign countries by air, or at least that was what Xu Yang claimed when he was boasting the h.e.l.l out of the hotel. Regardless, everyone who heard it couldn"t help but want to see the place with our own eyes.
He Yi had never asked us to take her out to Longxiang Hotel because the workshop was well off, but not that well off. None of us were expecting He Jin to be so generous as to invite us to lunch at Longxiang Hotel the first time he visited He Yi at Suzhou. In fact, he had booked a table before he came here.
There was no reason for us to turn down such an excellent offer, and even Murong Mingyue looked plenty excited. Apparently, the poor vice president a.s.sistant had never gone to such a high cla.s.s place in her life, and every time He Yi was away Murong Mingyue would criticize her stinginess non-stop. It was to the point where both Beiming Xue and I had gotten used to it.
……
We all went downstairs and saw a luxurious business car parked at the bottom of the apartment. There was even a driver waiting inside. So, we all entered the car and let ourselves be driven to our destination.
He Jin was sitting next to He Yi, and he kicked off the conversation after the car took off. “Little Yi, it"s been almost half a year since you came back to China, haven"t you? The shareholders of the parent company all think that you"ve stayed away from the project plannings for too long. As the top planner of the Asia region, you of all people shouldn"t slack off at work, don"t you agree?”
He Yi pursed her lips. “Second uncle, I"ve been doing that for many years already. I"m very tired, and I feel like resting for a bit, that"s all. It"s not like the parent company would die without me. Is a year off really too much to ask? Plus, haven"t I sent you all the project proposals I"ve been doing?”
Second uncle frowned. “Even still, you"re still the vice president of the company. You can"t avoid your responsibilities forever, can you? Also, I heard that you"ve sunk all your energy in Eternal Moon Company"s new game after you came back. It"s been so many years, can"t you let go of that already?”
A bit of sorrow entered He Yi"s eyes as she looked outside. “As long as I"m still alive, I will not break my promise! Please don"t try to change my mind any longer, second uncle. I will do everything in my power to make Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls the number one guild in the world!”
“You…”
He Jin shook his head a bit helplessly before relenting, “Forget it, we can talk about this later. It"s been a long time since I last saw you, and I don"t want our first meeting in a while to be an argument.”
He Yi smiled and grabbed He Jin"s arm. “Second uncle, you"re such a good boy…”
“I"m a good boy?” The second uncle was stunned by her logic.
……
We reached Longxiang Hotel a while later. The hotel was built at the lakeside of Taihu, and it looked like it was floating above the lakewater. The lifelike building was designed to look like a Chinese dragon rising to the sky, and its “body” was jampacked with hotel rooms and dining halls. The floating carpark at the bottom of the hotel was adorned with lotus petal designs, and the sheer amount of luxury cars parked on it dazzled everyone"s eyes. I must admit that the designer put an incredible amount of effort into designing this hotel.
We rode the elevator to the top floor and walked into a side room with a window view. We were served by two beautiful waitresses wearing identical uniforms and high heels. The women"s b.r.e.a.s.t.s were at least 34D and looked like they might burst out of their clothing, and their b.u.t.t was covered tightly by a black mini skirt. They waited patiently at the side for us to make an order.
I swallowed visibly before muttering under my breath, “Rich people are so blessed…”
Murong Mingyue and He Yi glared at me in unison. “We"re still here, you know?”
“Haha, what are you talking about? Anyway, let"s start ordering…”
However, I nearly fainted from just one look at the menu list. At the lowest, I estimated that this lunch would cost 50k at least. The simplest dish cost at least several thousand, and those with slightly more meat in them cost eight to nine thousand. I wasn"t exaggerating when I said that I was s.h.i.+vering in fear. This place is a money trap, not a restaurant!
However, He Yi"s second uncle didn"t look fazed by the prices at the slightest. Together with He Yi, he ordered around eight dishes or so and a bottle of red wine whose name I couldn"t make head or tails of. But I could make heads or tails of its price, and it was one to die for, literally.
Even Murong Mingyue looked surprised by the prices, so I decided to keep my mouth shut. What could I say or do when even the general manager herself looked a little out of her element?
……
When the first dish was served, He Jin raised his gla.s.s and toasted, “This one"s for Little Yi and her three companions, hehe. Murong Mingyue, Lu Chen, Beiming Xue, thank you for brightening Little Yi"s life for so long.”