Sundering Nature

Book 4 Chapter 11 - Scam

TL: Zhao

Editing: Krisaia

“You are…?” Ji Xiaoqin hid away her disappointment when an unknown woman appeared instead of who she had been hoping for. She retreated toward behind the door and tried her best to tidy her messy clothes.

“I’m Guo Ying, Guo Xiang’s cousin.” It was Ying Mei, and she looked at Ji Xiaoqin scornfully. ‘Messy clothes, red face, quick breathing, eyes watered by lust? I wouldn’t be surprised if there was another man hiding inside the apartment right now.”

“I’ve just heard my dad talk about you. He said that my cousin had a new girlfriend. I just came back from abroad, and I don’t have a lot friends in Hangzhou, so I figured I could take this opportunity to get to know you while going shopping. Is that okay?” Ying Mei walked into the room before Ji Xiaoqin could answer, and she did it with such confidence and authority that Ji Xiaoqin did not even dare to voice her opposition. She closed the door slowly and followed behind.

‘There’s no man here?’ Ying Mei circled around in the apartment and quickly realized that her first instincts were wrong. In fact, the only aura she could capture was the one from Guo Xiang, which had almost completely faded away.

“Is it okay? I called you before, but your cell phone was turned off.” Ying Mei sat down in the living room without shying herself. Instead, she acted as if she was the owner of the home, which was perfect for the heiress she purported to be.

“Ah… It’s fine, totally fine. It’s just that I just got up, sorry about that.” Ji Xiaoqin did not know what to do, and amidst her panic she did not have the attention to spare for doubting what Ying Mei said.

“So I’ll leave you some time for preparing yourself?” Ying Mei smiled and looked at Ji Xiaoqin from head to toe. ‘Revealing silk pyjamas, attractive features even without any makeup… I can see why Guo Xiang is so enthralled. Not bad, but the way she looked earlier… Is that why she came looking for Guo Xiang yesterday? Does she crave it that much?’

“Please wait for a moment.” Ji Xiaoqin knew what Ying Mei was thinking from the way the latter examined her, and it embarrassed her to the point that she sought to escape to the bathroom.

“Please take your time. It’s still early.” Ying Mei sank back into the sofa and took out a small, old-fashioned looking mirror. She pretended to use it to check her own makeup, but as soon as Ji Xiaoqin entered the bathroom, her smile faded away. She directed the mirror in Ji Xiaoqin’s direction, and it shot out a ray of silver light.

‘What?’ Ying Mei was shocked by what she saw. The mirror she used was a guardian equipment given to her by Tian Yan specifically for determining the heavenly karmas of those close to Ji Xiaoqin. She used it on Ji Xiaoqin merely out of prudence, to check whether it was working or not, only to find out that there had been an enormous change in her karma.

With trembling hands, Ying Mei took out her cell phone and sent a message to Bing Shuai. “Ji Xiaoqin’s heavenly karma is over fifty percent.”

Li Yiming did not have to wait long before Fu Bo came to answer the door; they had agreed to go eat breakfast together.

“You know, I was really afraid that you were going to forget to come.” Fu Bo smiled, visibly relieved by Li Yiming’s arrival.

“Let’s go, I’m getting hungry!” Li Yiming gave a friendly tap to Fu Bo and turned around. ‘Bai Ze was right. He really thinks of me as a friend, but I…’

Although his chest hurt a little from Li Yiming’s tap, Fu Bo was actually happy. It had been five years since he had experienced anything close to that.

“What do you want to eat?” Li Yiming tried his best to assume the figure of the big brother.

“The wheat buns from the noodle shop I ate at yesterday were really good. They only sell those before nine, so I don’t think that you’ve had a chance at tasting them yet. I think we should try those.” Fu Bo proposed with a smile, visibly happy by the fact that he could decide.

“The noodle shop from yesterday?” Li Yiming stared back at Fu Bo, unsure what his intentions were.

“What, you don’t like it?” Fu Bo asked carefully. He seemed to be very scared of upsetting Li Yiming, and this made the latter feel a little sad for his sake.

“Is it a very famous restaurant or something?” Li Yiming acted as if there was nothing in particular. ‘I’m still worried about that bowl of noodles…’

“It has a good reputation. It has been there for more than twenty years, after all.”

“Twenty years? You mean the same owner was there the whole time?” Li Yiming asked. ‘Well, if the owner is has been there for that long, then it should make sense that they’re not there for Qing He, at least. Did I do something I shouldn’t have done that offended them?’

“Who would sell such a good business. It has been renovated a few times, though.” Fu Bo was unsure why Li Yiming asked such a question, but answered nonetheless.

“Alright. Well, since it’s the first time, I’ll treat you to a meal, of course we would need to eat something better than buns. Let’s go find somewhere more expensive.” Li Yiming waved his hand and pulled Fu Bo away. ‘Regardless, I shouldn’t take the risk to complicate matters further right now.”

“Alright. You decide.” Fu Bo gave the decision to Li Yiming. He was not so worried about the meal costing a fortune, since he had quite a bit of saving. He also did not even think about letting Li Yiming pay, since it was normal to not expect a recent university graduate to have a forgiving budget; only Fu Bo did not know that Li Yiming had actually bought the apartment right above his.

After walking around for while, the two chose a restaurant that had just been newly opened. It was not located on the busiest street, but its luxurious storefront conferred to it an air of grandeur. However, when they entered the restaurant, perhaps it was due to the fact that the people of Hangzhou preferred to eat buns and fried dough sticks for breakfast, they found the shop to be empty. After Li Yiming called for someone, a waiter with unkempt hair emerged from the kitchen.

“Can I take your order?” The waiter asked with a yawn. He came to the table with a pocket notebook in his hands and seemed to be still half-asleep.

Li Yiming looked at the menu and then back at the waiter. ‘It doesn’t seem like the price fits the quality of service, at least.’

“I’m okay with anything. You decide.” Fu Bo did not seem to mind the lack of appropriateness from the waiter. He thought that Li Yiming wanted him to decide, since he stayed silent.

“I’ll have the A combo then. What about you?” Li Yiming shook his head: he was treating Fu Bo to a meal after all, so it would not be good for him to bicker with the waiter. He put the menu to the side after choosing the first thing that he saw.

“I’ll have the same thing then. Thank you.” Fu Bo smiled and said politely to the waiter. After the waiter left, he picked up the teacup to pour some tea for Li Yiming, only to realize that the water inside was cold.

“Excuse me, could I have some hot water please?” Fu Bo raised his voice.

“It’s at the front door. Help yourself.” The waiter’s impatient reply came from the kitchen.

“I’ll go.” Li Yiming frowned. ‘Really? This kind of service? I guess the reason why there are no customers here isn’t just because people want street food.’

“I’ll go, I’ll go.” Fu Bo quickly stood up and tried to take over the teacup when he saw Li Yiming stand up. He was thinking of Li Yiming as being the most important person in his life right now, so there was no way he would let Li Yiming go get the water for him.

In his hurry, Fu Bo pulled a little too hard on the teacup. The container fell from Li Yiming’s hands, and shattered against the ground. It would have been easy to Li Yiming to dodge Fu Bo’s grasp, but he did not want to upset him. Li Yiming could have stopped the teacup midair, but after meeting Li Huaibei, Li Yiming learned to conceal his faculties and lower the risks of exposing himself. After all, it was just an ordinary teacup.

The teacup shattered with a loud crack that barely produced a reaction from Li Yiming. Fu Bo seemed embarrassed by his mistake, whereas the waiter from earlier appeared with a cold expression and looked at the pieces of the teacup with a frown.

“Could you clean this up please?” Li Yiming was quite annoyed by the attitude of the waiter. ‘It was an accident, and you show up looking like this?’

“You need to pay for compensation first. The teacup costs five hundred yuan. Please pay.” The waiter answered in a cold voice.

“What?” Li Yiming could not hold it in anymore. He had yet to see any food, but he already had plenty of anger.

“Are you serious? Five hundred for a ceramic teapot?” Fu Bo asked. He seemed a little embarrassed by his own mistake.

“I’m saying it’s five hundred. Are you not going to pay?” The waiter answered in a harsh tone. He rolled up his sleeves and stared at Fu Bo menacingly.

“I want to see the owner of the restaurant.” Li Yiming took a deep breath to calm himself down once again. ‘No, I will not lash out at an insignificant character.’

“Alright, you asked for it.” The waiter turned around and disappeared into the kitchen.

“It’s fine. We should just give him five hundred. We’ll go somewhere else to eat.” Fu Bo could see that Li Yiming was irritated, and he did not want for this small amount of money to ruin their pleasant mood.

“It's not just about the money.” Li Yiming waved his hand and licked his lips.

It did not take very long before the waiter came back out with a fat man from the kitchen. The latter still had yellow crusts in the corner of his eyes. Five or six other people followed him, one shirtless and two others with cigarettes. All of them looked like they have not slept for the entire night. The shirtless guy, in particular, walked away from the group, pulled a chair to the front of the restaurant, and lit up a cigarette after looking around in his pockets for a while.

“Your employee said that we need to pay five hundred yuan for breaking the teacup.” When Li Yiming’s saw the way the people at the restaurant looked, his anger died down. Instead, he asked the fat man in a calm voice.

“Bullshit! Five hundred? What are you thinking, you imbecile!” The fat man suddenly roared in anger at the waiter.

“Uh, we broke the teacup, so I think we should pay something for it…” Fu Bo pitied the waiter who was being blamed by his boss, so he offered some compensation, but what the fat man said next made his swallow his words back.

“Who told you that this teacup costs five hundred? This is celadon from Jing De. You wouldn’t be able to buy it even with five thousand! Are you going to pay the rest?”

‘Exactly what I thought.’ Li Yiming smiled, somewhat amused by the way things were unfolding.

At this point, even Fu Bo knew what was going on. He was only regretting the mistake that put Li Yiming and himself into such trouble.

“Well, you’ve said it right. Five thousand. Cash or card?” The fat guy stared at Fu Bo; it seemed he was quite angry at having his sleep disturbed.

Fishy restaurant with no people inside. "Hey let's pick that one because why not". xD

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