Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
During those two days, whenever Lu Feng logged out of the game, he continued to observe Lin Jiao and the brawny man, Xu Bin, through the images in his mind.
He knew nothing about the game world, so even after hiring the two, he remained extremely cautious.
However, after two days of observation, he had relaxed a little.
The county hospital.
Early in the morning, Lu Feng helped the doctors move his mom out of the ICU, getting her settled into a bed in a regular ward.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Moving back to a regular ward meant her condition had stabilized, and she would be discharged soon.
Lu Feng spent some more time with his mom before leaving the hospital.
He had to make a trip to the tea house this morning.
The new sign was up, and today was the grand opening, complete with firecrackers.
His cousin had already informed all his men, and they would be bringing their own friends to show support. As the owner, Lu Feng naturally had to be there.
But as soon as he left the hospital, he shifted his focus to the game world. He didn't see Lin Jiao or Xu Bin inside the Qingfeng Tea House.
They had obviously gone to scout the Department Store.
After hiring them, Lu Feng had given them a mission: to find out if there were any gold shops left in the Department Store.
Clearly, these two weren't the type to take money for nothing.
With that in mind, Lu Feng stopped by a fruit stand and bought a few pounds of bananas and apples before heading back to his apartment.
Once inside his apartment, he locked the door, entered the game with the fruit, and placed it on the tea table. Then, with another thought, he logged out and headed for the real-world Qingfeng Tea House.
In the game world.
Lin Jiao and the brawny Xu Bin returned to the Qingfeng Tea House a short while later.
"Damn it, we nearly ran into that Mutant Beast!" Xu Bin muttered curses the moment he stepped inside. It seemed the encounter had left its mark; he still didn't dare speak loudly.
"At least we found a large jewelry store. The mysterious boss should be pleased," Lin Jiao chimed in, then frowned. "The only problem is that the Mutant Beast is near the store. It's going to be a huge hassle."
As they went further inside, they immediately spotted the bananas and apples on the tea table.
Surprised, they stepped forward to take a closer look. Fresh fruit like this was a rare sight indeed.
The two of them exchanged a look.
Working for a boss like this seemed to be a pretty good choice.
Lin Jiao picked up a bunch of bananas, broke one off, peeled it, and started eating.
Xu Bin did the same, grabbing a piece of fruit and biting right into it.
…
Lu Feng hailed a taxi to Zhongmin Square. As he got out, he took a peek into the game world and saw Lin Jiao and Xu Bin unabashedly devouring the fruit.
He smiled and walked straight toward the tea house.
The Qingfeng Tea House was drawing a lot of attention today. A 10,000-shot string of firecrackers stretched a long way from the storefront, snaking around a large section of the square. They were all the large, loud kind, too.
Just seeing a firecracker roll that massive would be enough to make any timid person take a detour.
Of course, that wasn't the main attraction. The Qingfeng Tea House was packed with people, every single one of them covered in tattoos.
Seeing such a dense crowd of them together gave off a real "strangers keep out" vibe. They didn't look like good people, and anyone fainthearted would definitely give them a wide berth.
When Lu Feng arrived, even he was a little surprised to see the dark sea of people. There were way more of them than he'd expected.
As he got closer, he spotted his cousin Yang Ming, Brother Lin, Ah Pao, Da Fei, and other familiar faces. He also saw Boss Chen—Chen Bo—who had clearly brought quite a few of his own men today.
Chen Bo had a sharp eye and spotted Lu Feng immediately. He came forward to offer his congratulations. "Young Master Feng, congratulations! Wishing you a prosperous opening!"
Lu Feng accepted with a smile, not forgetting to add, "Boss Chen, we should have tea and talk business in a few days. A new shipment should be in by then."
The man had shown him respect, so Lu Feng didn't mind dropping a little hint.
With Lin Jiao and Xu Bin helping him search for gold shops in the Department Store, he was sure he'd have news soon.
Chen Bo knew exactly what kind of "shipment" Lu Feng was talking about. A broad grin spread across his face, and he immediately turned and shouted to the men he'd brought, "What are you waiting for? Come and meet Young Master Feng!"
Yang Ming, Da Fei, and the others also realized Lu Feng had arrived and hurried over to greet him.
"Xiaofeng, you're here!"
"Young Master Feng, we were just waiting for you."
At that, the entire sea of tattooed men turned to look at Lu Feng, their gazes a mixture of astonishment and awe.
They had long heard of Young Master Feng's reputation—how both Brother Ming and Boss Chen were now working under him—but they had never imagined he would be so young.
Yang Ming and Chen Bo introduced Lu Feng to a few people, all of them high-ranking members with significant prestige and reputation among the crews.
Each of them greeted him respectfully, calling him "Young Master Feng."
"Xiaofeng, let's go. We'll head inside for some tea first," Yang Ming said to Lu Feng, not forgetting to shout at Da Fei, "And hurry up and light the firecrackers! A 10,000-shot string... what were you thinking? Are you trying to deafen us all?"
"Brother Ming, this way it's loud and impressive, isn't it?" Da Fei just grinned, pulled out a lighter, and walked straight toward the massive roll of firecrackers. The moment he lit the fuse, however, he scrambled away as if fleeing for his life.
Getting hit by one of those large firecrackers would really hurt.
Naturally, the continuous, deafening explosions drew the attention of all the surrounding shops in the square. Everyone turned to look, and passersby hastily steered clear.
The women, in particular, were all covering their ears and hurrying away.
Yang Qingxue was one of them, running forward with her ears covered, dragged along by her best friend.
"God damn it! How long is that thing? Is it ever going to end? It's making me want to cuss somebody out," Lin Jiajia complained, pulling Yang Qingxue to a stop a short distance away. She then glared furiously in the direction of the firecrackers.
She was about to let loose with a few curses but stopped when she saw the dense crowd of tattooed thugs. They were clearly not people you wanted to mess with.
Yang Qingxue quickly tugged on her friend's arm. "Jiajia, forget it. You can tell they're bad news."
Seeing that it was a newly opened tea house, Lin Jiajia nodded. "Yeah, it must be another tea house opened by some triad boss."
She had heard about these kinds of tea houses; they were definitely not for people like them to get involved with.
Then, as if remembering something, she said to Yang Qingxue, "Qingxue, I'm really not trying to pick on Lu Feng, but you'll have such a hard life with him. Honestly, as long as you can live well, I wouldn't even object if you were with a triad boss like that one."
"I don't want some triad boss!" Yang Qingxue said, shaking her head. She then declared, "Besides, Lu Feng is a really good person."
Lin Jiajia sighed. "I think Lu Feng has completely brainwashed you. But it's okay. When you meet my boyfriend's friend later, you'll see what a truly outstanding man is like. You'll change your mind. And you're not allowed to back out—your mom personally gave me this order."
Hearing this, a helpless expression crossed Yang Qingxue's face as Lin Jiajia dragged her into a coffee shop inside the mall.
The moment they entered, a man waved at them. It was Jiajia's boyfriend, and sitting next to him was another man with meticulously combed hair.
Yang Qingxue felt even more helpless. She knew her mom and Jiajia had arranged this on purpose. It was basically a blind date.
All she could do was pull out her phone and send Lu Feng an SOS message on WeChat.
She had zero interest in her friend's boyfriend's friend. Her only option was to have Lu Feng come and make things clear to the guy.
From a distance, Lin Jiajia said to Yang Qingxue, "Qingxue, that's Chen Yong, the one I told you about. He owns his own shop, makes twenty to thirty thousand a month, has a BMW 325i M Sport, and owns a house worth over a million, fully paid off. Just think, how many years would it take Lu Feng to get all that?"