madnovel Chapter 3 Just Started Eating
Chapter 3 Just Started Eating
Evening, riverside restaurant in Linjiang New City.
As night deepened outside the window, a dusty van had been parked on the roadside for a long time, its headlights off. People would occasionally get out to look around, then smoke a cigarette before returning to the van.
Three people were sitting by the window; one was eating heartily, while the other two were arguing about something.
"I never expected that in the end it would still be like this..."
"Longyou, you've already tried your best. In the end, it's all because of me."
"It's all because of me. We already had word of it back then. If I had been strong enough..."
"I told you not to take everything on yourself..." The girl was also emotional, but she quickly realized that she had lost her composure, and her eyes lowered with a complicated expression.
Both of them lowered their heads, and the atmosphere fell silent for a moment, even becoming somewhat oppressive.
However, in the quiet atmosphere, someone nearby was not even daring to breathe, and was devouring food like a glutton.
Longyou glanced at the boy who was eating frantically. At first, he thought he was Yaoxing's friend, but it seemed that the boy did not know Shen Yaoxing.
"Speaking of Haruki, who is this...?"
"Oh, him? By the way, young man, I still don't know how to address you...?"
"Me? Lu, Lu Ren..." Lu Ren, whose mouth was full of food, could only give a mumbled answer.
It's embarrassing to admit, but after a whole day of looking for work and not finding anything, I saw an elderly person fall down on the roadside, and for some reason, I impulsively helped them up.
The scene in the novel where someone helps a benefactor doesn't happen; instead, they encounter a staged accident.
Being extorted by the old man was one thing, but the problem was that a day had passed and he was already dizzy from hunger. The old man was pulling at his clothes, and he couldn't hear anything the old man was saying.
He fell to the ground with a thud and couldn't get up.
The old man was startled, thinking he had met a fellow traveler.
As things progressed, Lu Ren became dizzy, lightheaded, and delirious from hunger.
It seems a kind-hearted young woman came to the rescue, her sharp words scaring away the old man who was trying to scam her.
After seeing him faint, they asked if they should take him to the hospital. After learning that he was just dizzy from hunger, they took him to a restaurant.
As soon as the food was served, the hungry passerby, whose stomach acid was rising, began to devour it in a frenzy, not even noticing when a handsome, sunny guy appeared next to him.
As he took a bite of a pig's trotter, it was as if two laser beams shot out of Lu Ren's eyes, piercing through the roof and reaching the sky!
These pig trotters look sizzling with oil, but they're not greasy at all when you put them in your mouth. The skin is roasted until it's slightly crispy, and the meat inside is soft and chewy, with a texture like glutinous rice cake and rich in pork fat.
I'm eating, eating, eating, eating—
Longyou looked at him and couldn't help but laugh, "So that's how it is. It's called 'insurance fraud,' right? There have been quite a few these past few years. Brother Lu, you'd better be careful next time."
"Longyou, who always seems to forget how to avoid falling down on the street and always ends up falling victim to such things, has no right to criticize others, does it?"
Faced with such mockery, Long You merely gave an awkward laugh, but then, as if remembering something, his spirits dipped again, and he asked:
"Yahoshi, are you really... going to quit?"
The girl smiled gracefully and looked at him, saying, "It's a bit shameless of you to say you don't want me to quit now."
Long You raised his head, a resolute look in his eyes: "Perhaps I can still plead with Uncle Shen to give us another chance. I will definitely prove to him that our team can..."
The boy looked at Shen Yaoxing with resentment in his eyes, but when he saw her just quietly looking at him, he couldn't say anything.
Shen Yaoxing gently shook her head: "Longyou has already helped me a lot, and my father has let me be willful for so long, but it seems... I really don't have the talent to be a professional."
"That's not true at all. Many times, if it weren't for Yaoxing, our team would have been wiped out in the Void Realm. Your talent [Lucky Star] has always saved us from danger."
"Yes, I always save everyone from danger, but don't ask how those dangers came about."
As they talked, they both burst out laughing.
"No, Yaoxing, I need to go talk to Grandpa..."
"By the way, Longyou, you confessed to Xiaoyu... and succeeded, right?"
Long You was interrupted by Shen Yaoxing before he could finish speaking.
"Cough, cough!"
Long You's expression immediately became awkward, but the joy in his eyes was undeniable: "Well... that day, she agreed, all thanks to Yao Xing!"
"Thanks to me...?"
"If it weren't for Yaoxing, I definitely wouldn't have understood my own feelings so quickly. Many misunderstandings were resolved because of Yaoxing. In fact, the reason I met Xiaoyu was also because of Yaoxing."
Shen Yaoxing's expression grew increasingly dark, and her body trembled slightly, but the other party remained completely unaware.
Long You's expression hardened, and he said earnestly, "Xiao Yu and I are extremely grateful to Yao Xing. We promised to adventure together again in the future, how could we possibly fall here? So no matter what, I have to..."
"Longyou, do you know it?"
"Huh? What?"
"You know what? I've always liked you too."
She spoke casually, her hand twirling a spoon, creating ripples on the coffee, as if time itself had frozen.
Even Lu Ren, who was trying to stuff a fist-sized guinea fowl into his mouth, couldn't help but glance at the two people opposite him for a moment.
A moment later, he stuffed the guinea fowl into his mouth.
This guinea fowl is amazing! The aroma of the glutinous rice chicken when the lotus leaf is opened is irresistible, and the savory flavor is overflowing. The glutinous rice is smooth and delicious, and the chicken flavor has completely permeated the rice. The fragrance of the lotus leaf lingers, making it an appetizing and refreshing dish!
"Distant, distant stars?"
Long You looked confused, clearly not understanding what she meant for the moment.
Shen Yaoxing didn't care and just kept talking to herself:
"It happened much, much, much earlier than Xiaoyu. I should have been the one who liked you the first..."
Shen Yaoxing smiled brightly at him, but tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.
Long You seemed a little confused. "Yao Xing, how could this happen? I..."
"So please stop saying you want us to go on adventures together again. Even if I pass Grandpa's test, I might leave the team. After all, seeing you all together is too cruel for me right now."
Although he had the typical slow-witted appearance of a Japanese man, even so, Long You suddenly understood many things.
Looking at the girl in front of him, he suddenly fell into an endless silence.
"And also..."
Shen Yaoxing said softly, "My father has already arranged a marriage for me with the eldest son of the He family in Jizhou. I heard that he is only 19 years old and is already a third-level Fire Realm Beast Tamer. He is truly a genius."
As she said this, she glanced at the other person's face out of the corner of her eye, but did not get the reaction she hoped for, and her hand holding the spoon tightened slightly.
However, just then, a cell phone rang. Long You's phone, which was on the table, lit up, and a message popped up from someone with the contact name "Little Fish," asking where he was.
Shen Yaoxing chuckled self-deprecatingly, but quickly composed herself: "The team is going to the guild gathering tonight, right? Xiaoyu has already contacted you, go on."
"But!"
"Don't worry about me, the clan will send someone to pick me up soon."
"Yahoshi, I..."
"Deduct 100 points."
Longyou wanted to speak, but was stopped.
"Girls don't like guys who are clingy and persistent. From now on, I won't be giving you advice. You'll have to learn not to make Xiaoyu angry on your own."
Just then, Longyou's cell phone rang.
It was obviously the girl from earlier who urged him.
Shen Yaoxing gestured to him, "Go quickly, or you'll lose a thousand points if you keep the girl waiting."
Seeing that the other party remained unmoved, the girl smiled nonchalantly and said:
"Don't make it sound like a final farewell. Longyou and Xiaoyu are my most important friends. If you make it so heavy now, I'll have to avoid you guys from now on. Otherwise, it'll be too embarrassing."
Seeing the encouraging look in Shen Yaoxing's eyes, Long You understood what the girl was thinking.
So that's how it is; he now understood what he needed to do.
He nodded vigorously. "I understand, Yaoxing."
I picked up the phone and prepared to leave the restaurant.
"Sorry, Brother Lu Ren, I have to go now. Please let me treat you to this meal!"
"Mmm—"
Lu Ren felt a lump in his throat and nodded his thanks hurriedly.
From the moment he sat down, there was no other possibility that he would be treated to a meal unless someone else did.
Because he doesn't have a single penny on him right now.
After the figure disappeared from the restaurant, Shen Yaoxing looked down at the dessert in her cup and whispered in a voice only she could hear:
"Idiot, at times like this... you just have to keep arguing."
Lu Ren ate all the food on the table, barely managing to eat about 70% full, but he was still quite satisfied.
Thank you, kind-hearted, oblivious Japanese handsome guy. Although I don't know you, I still wish your harem will never be in turmoil.
Alright, he's leaving now. Hopefully, he can find a job before he starves to death again.
However, just as he was thinking of leaving, suddenly, the girl opposite him said:
"You've made a fool of yourself, haven't you?"
"..." Lu Ren could clearly feel a very dark emotion brewing around him.
He glanced at her cautiously and noticed that the once poised and confident girl was now looking down, her smooth black hair falling naturally and obscuring her face.
"Longyou is my childhood sweetheart."
"..." He didn't ask.
Shen Yaoxing put down her spoon, and the black tea in her cup calmed down, the dark brown tea surface reflecting the girl's beautiful face.
She suddenly gave a self-deprecating laugh: "Saying he would marry me was all a lie. Of course, I didn't really like him that much, but it was an agreement after all, and now he's completely forgotten about it."
"..." Suddenly it feels so heavy.
"And also!"
Shen Yaoxing suddenly became agitated: "That woman, I was the one who initially recruited her into our team. I never expected it would be like letting a wolf into the house. She said she wanted to be in my team for life, that she didn't know what she would do without me. She acted pitiful in front of me while cheating on me with another man!"
Just a moment ago she was all quiet and polite, but now it seems she has suddenly changed her persona and is pouring out her troubles to a complete stranger like him.
She seemed to be surrounded by a dense, dark aura, so thick it was almost overflowing.
With that, Shen Yaoxing downed the cup of red tea in front of her in one gulp and waved her hand angrily:
"Waiter, bring tea!"
Even though it's a parallel world, no one in this era would call someone "waiter," right?
Lu Ren looked embarrassed and didn't know what to say.
But ultimately, he was only able to survive on the street thanks to this girl's rescue, so it wouldn't be appropriate to just walk away now.
He asked cautiously, "So...did he cheat on me?"
Lu Ren didn't know why he was getting involved in this mess with a heartbroken girl; he didn't even know her name.
However, she then raised a question: "But why? He didn't seem to know you liked him at all?"
Shen Yaoxing smiled smugly, snorted twice, and said in a high-pitched tone, "Love is war. How can you let the other person know you like them? You're too naive, boy!"
"..." So you lost the battle.
He interlaced his fingers under his chin and pondered, "So you two aren't a couple?"
She crossed her arms and said with a touch of pride, "We're childhood sweethearts!"
"...Does the concept of childhood friends have any legal effect in this world?"
"Did he say he wanted to marry me?"
"When did you say that?"
"When you were six? Or seven?"
Lu Ren sighed. It was no use saying anything now. He simply said, "If you like him, why don't you just confess sooner?"
Shen Yaoxing suddenly fell silent, lowering her head as she looked at the red tea that the waiter had refilled her cup: "It's no use saying anything now."
Looking at the girl's pitiful appearance with tears in her eyes, Lu Ren suddenly wondered if he had said something wrong.
Just then, the waiter brought over another steak. Lu Ren paused for a moment and looked at the waiter, saying, "I don't think I ordered this."
"I ordered it."
"Huh? I thought you didn't have an appetite."
Shen Yaoxing brushed her hair, which was hanging down in front of her chest, behind her back with one hand, picked up the utensils beside her with the other, and said, "Seeing you eat so heartily, I feel a little hungry too."
"What kind of meat is this?"
Lu Ren sniffed the air, and it seemed as if canine ears had appeared on his head.
"The meat of a beast from the Void Realm, tsk, why is it such a big portion? Cut it open for me, I'll share half with you."
Lu Ren quickly picked up the knife and fork and began to work.
Hearing the clinking of knives and forks around her, Shen Yaoxing simply looked outside.
Her bewildered expression was reflected in the glass window. The girl gazed at the night outside and murmured softly:
"My adventure has come to an end."
A thousand words were reduced to a sigh, disappearing into the summer evening.
Meanwhile, Lu Ren, after swallowing the meat, suddenly froze.
This is... the feeling of being full?
It's hard to describe, but I felt a strange warm current flowing from my stomach throughout my body, and I felt a surge of energy all over my body, like ants crawling on me!
"This meat is strong!"
He ate several more pieces.
Shen Yaoxing: "..." Just as she was feeling sad, the atmosphere was ruined.
Why is this person still here?
However, at that moment, the bread truck that had been parked on the side of the road suddenly turned on its headlights and rushed straight toward the sidewalk.
"boom--"
Lu Ren was startled by the sudden explosion. The French windows shattered into countless ice crystals. As the surroundings descended into chaos, several masked men ran off the bread truck.