"Alright, time to eat — Jace Rowan, Su Tingxi, stop playing and clear the table. Also wake up anyone who's still asleep."
"On it!"
The moment Auron Vale called out, Su Tingxi immediately tossed aside his controller and started clearing the dishes from the table.
"Wait, you were about to lose and you just quit like that?"
"That's not quitting, that's an emergency! This round doesn't count!"
"Fuck off!"
Jace Rowan furiously threw his controller onto the sofa and stormed off to wake Fugui and You You Liu.
Tang Yunqin giggled and headed back to wake Yin Hanling.
"Ding-ding-ding~"
"Golden tail meat fried rice, Snorlax!"
"Buii~"
Snorlax bolted upright with excitement — the nimble movements completely at odds with its round body.
It expertly took the basin and ladle from Auron Vale, waiting for Auron Vale to set out the small plates, then served each plate one ladle at a time. The movements were just like a cafeteria worker who'd been doing this for years. Each plate was filled to the brim.
Once everything was set up, Auron Vale took frozen boneless chicken feet from the fridge and pickled vegetables from the same kind of jar Lu Mom used.
Auron Vale's pickling technique had been passed down from Lu Mom — the taste was absolutely top-notch.
"Here comes the side dish~"
Lunch was kept simple — just a pot of fried rice, some iced boneless chicken feet, and pickled vegetables to whet the appetite.
At that moment, Crobat brought the two Charizard and Arcanine, who'd been playing outside, back inside.
The two Charizard really were twins — even the way they walked was identical.
The door opened, and the two Charizard strode in with the same matching gait before digging in.
"What are you guys doing this afternoon?"
"Gonna head back to the dorm and catch up on sleep. Still feel like I didn't get enough."
Jace Rowan glanced at Fugui and smirked. "Young people. Who needs that much sleep?"
He then turned to Auron Vale. "What about you?"
"Me? I'm going home."
Auron Vale had promised his grandfather yesterday — he'd go home as soon as he woke up.
"Alright then. What about you two?"
Yin Hanling's eyes lit up. She looked at Jace Rowan and said, "Yin Hanling and I are going shopping this afternoon. Want to come?"
Jace Rowan shuddered all over, waving his hands frantically. "No no no, I'm going fishing with Su Tingxi this afternoon. You You Liu, you coming?"
You You Liu was almost in tears. He nodded quickly. "Yes yes, I want to go fishing too!"
"Oh? Then it's just me and Tang Yunqin going shopping by ourselves?"
"Nothing I can do about it — I just agreed to go fishing with Jace Rowan."
"Fine then. You guys go ahead, we'll manage on our own."
As Yin Hanling finished speaking, Jace Rowan, Su Tingxi, and You You Liu all felt like they'd narrowly escaped danger.
Last time the five of them went shopping with the two girls, all five guys collapsed. The two girls, meanwhile, were still going strong with undiminished enthusiasm.
Shopping was one thing, but why not even buy anything? They went store to store, looked at everything, and ended up back at the first store they visited.
"Negotiate the price — doesn't work — don't buy — move on."
"Negotiate the price — works — buy — move on."
Who could survive that!
The meal finished amid chitchat. No dishes to wash — just put the plates in the automatic dishwasher and everyone headed out.
Those going home went home, those going shopping went shopping, and poor Fugui, who was supposed to go back to sleep, got dragged along by the fishing group.
Their excuse: young people shouldn't always live in dreams.
After everyone split up, Auron Vale walked out the school gates and boarded the subway home.
When entering the subway station, the pink Mini Dragon still drew plenty of stares — but fortunately, people in this area all knew about this Skyspire student with the rare-colored quasi-legendary. They just took covert photos and didn't come over to bother him.
"Mom, I'm home~"
"Oh, Xiaoze's back~"
Lu Mom lit up the moment she saw Auron Vale. She was directing some workers when he arrived.
"Didn't you say you'd be training in the Black Mystery Zone for a few days? Why did you come back so early?"
"There was an accident, so I came back ahead of schedule."
"An accident?" Lu Mom tensed immediately. "What accident? Are you okay?"
"What could happen to me? It's not like it had anything to do with me. Oh, what's all this about?"
Auron Vale waved it off and quickly changed the subject.
"You don't know?"
Seeing Lu Mom's surprised expression, Auron Vale was puzzled. "Uh? Should I know?"
"You guys, keep carrying those things into the warehouse."
"Sure thing."
Lu Mom didn't say more — just told them to continue and pulled Auron Vale inside.
"Your paper on Milotic's evolution method goes public tomorrow, so I stocked up on a bunch of Feebas eggs specifically for this. We're definitely gonna make big money tomorrow!"
Listening to Lu Mom finish, Auron Vale could only laugh and said to her, "We're not exactly short on money now, are we?"
"Ah~" Lu Mom gave him a look of reproach. "Who could ever have too much money?"
"I'm fine with it — don't really have big ambitions. First, that you're well. Second, that there's lots of money."
Seeing Lu Mom like this, Auron Vale laughed despite himself. "Alright then, I'll give you the recipe for the beauty-enhancing formula too. You can sell it at our store — that's way more sustainable than just selling Feebas eggs."
Before Auron Vale even finished, Lu Mom shot him a look. "You think I don't know that? Even if you didn't tell me, I was going to bring it up these couple of days."
Then Lu Mom got excited again. "All because of your dad — he's always busy with god-knows-what, otherwise the Feebas the officials provided would've evolved into Milotic long ago. I wouldn't have had to miss out on a whole month of profits, and also…"
Watching Lu Mom's gossip mode fully activate, Auron Vale couldn't get a word in edgewise. Listening to his mom trash-talk his dad was fine — he shouldn't join in anyway.
"Chirp~"
"Oh, littlebaby, I didn't even notice you just now~"
After Mini Dragon chirped, Lu Mom finally noticed the dragon on Auron Vale's shoulder. She immediately picked Mini Dragon up into her arms.
"Gained any weight?"
The moment she picked it up, Lu Mom glared at Auron Vale.
"Little Mini Dragon, you need to eat more — get nice and chubby, that's what makes you feel good to hold. Don't let him skimp on you — he's got money."
Mini Dragon bobbed its head excitedly at Lu Mom's nagging, occasionally shooting Auron Vale a provocative glance.
"Chirp~"
(Heard that? Give me big fried chicken legs — I'm authorized to get fat~)
Seeing Mini Dragon's smug face, Auron Vale pretended not to see it.
After all, with mom here to back it up, he'd let it be arrogant for now.
(This chapter is complete.)
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Author's note:
Taking a day off, muah! Taking a day off, muah!
These past few days I've been traveling for work, so my update times have been a bit unstable, and typing on my phone is too slow — so I bought a Bluetooth keyboard (●''●)
Today I went out to sign a contract, and once that's done it's basically a business trip that's also a paid vacation (*｀▽*)
Damn dog boss, if you don't raise my salary when I get back I'm quitting!
(This chapter is complete.)
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