"Yes. There are mages from other guilds who came to us asking to learn Heart of the Holy Mages, and we can’t turn them down because, you know…"

He Yi pouted a little. "Yesterday afternoon, Momo showed up with 27 Blazing Hot Lips mages and offered us 20 Luck. During the night, Yiyi showed up with 70+ Snowy Cathaya mages such as Shadow Chanel, and I trained them all for free. Even later, Luo River God of the Capital showed up with 30+ players and offered us 17 Luck. You get the idea…"

I smiled and put an arm across her shoulders. "We didn’t lose anything, so it’s fine. We’re all allies after all, it’s only right that we reciprocate their favor from time to time…"

He Yi snorted. "You really want to say ‘reciprocate their feelings’, don’t you?"

"What? That’s complete slander…"

"Slander? If that is slander, then Bao Zheng isn’t pitch black…"

I smiled awkwardly. "Let’s talk about something else, shall we? Dad and third uncle said that they’d be arriving at around 3 pm or so, so I suggest we don’t go online after lunch. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them, so I want to make sure that everything is ready…"

He Yi nodded smilingly. "Mn! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen third uncle as well. We’ll receive him together this afternoon, and… I’ll book a room at a restaurant so we can all eat dinner there. Beiming, do you want to come over after you finish lunch at your university? It’s also been a long time since we met each other in real life, right?"

Beiming Xue nodded eagerly. "Of course! I’ll drive over right after I finish lunch!"[1]

"Wonderful. What are we going to do for the morning though?"

"I got an idea! Carry us through the S4 instance, big bro!"

"What the heck? Volunteer duty again?"

"How can you say that when Sister Eve has already given you a kiss? Or do you want me to give you a kiss too?"

I blushed. "That will be unnecessary. You can kiss me when you arrive at Suzhou later…"

"O-okay…" Beiming turned even redder.

He Yi covered her forehead with her palm. "Please have some shame…"

……

The S4 instance, Ancient Battlefield, was the fourth of the god-tier instances It produced the Archean Immortal-grade equipment set, the Skysong set. Unfortunately, its item drop rate was unusually terrible. Even with my Luck, I only managed to drop Skysong Iron Fists for Lin Yixin during our previous grind. Moreover, the S4 equipment was about 20% stronger than your standard Archean Immortal-grade equipment if you gathered the full set, but about 20% weaker as individual pieces. Long story short, you always wanted to gather a full set as soon as possible.

I called Lin Yixin to join us. At the end of the grind, I got the S4 Skysong helmet[2] for Lin Yixin and S4 Skysong leather chest armor for Beiming Xue. That was it. At least the mobs and bosses recharged all of our Divine Energy Points to 200. The last boss especially gave me 70 Divine Energy Points outright after I scored the last hit. It was the difference between a boss and a normal mob.

Lin Yixin asked me while standing next to the boss's dead body, "Let’s challenge the S5 instance this afternoon, Little Cheat!"

I shook my head. "Nah, my dad and third uncle are coming this afternoon…"

"What? Uncle’s coming over to visit?" Lin Yixin blinked. "Why didn’t you tell me…"

I quickly let out a cough. "Why don’t you join us for dinner? My dad may want to meet you…"

The invitation instantly dispelled the swirling tears in her eyes and put a smile on her face. "Okay! I’ll head out with Lexi and Qingqing and buy good-looking spring clothes in the afternoon. Sister Eve, can I have your opinion? What do you think would suit me best?"

He Yi was distributing the enhancement gems. She paused to think for a moment before replying, "My style is the office woman, but you’re not the same. You’re a university student, so I think you should buy a set of clothes that fit the profile and pretend to be young and innocent. Who knows, uncle might like it, heehee…"

"What if he likes it so much that he chooses Sister Yiyi to become Lu Chen’s wife?" Lian Xin interrupted almost rudely.

Judging from the surprised expression on He Yi’s face, she hadn’t even considered the possibility. "Er, I didn’t think that far…"

Lin Yixin said, "It’s way too early to think about these things. I’m not even going to consider marriage until I’m 25 years old…"

I asked, "What if I run out of time?"

"Bullshit. You have plenty of time!"

"Fine…"

……

As mentioned earlier, we didn’t go online during the afternoon because we were receiving my father and third uncle. Murong Mingyue put on some light makeup and a corset-style uniform, but somehow managed to pull off an especially refreshing appearance. Right now, she was standing in front of a mirror and adjusting her shirt. For whatever reason, she looked troubled by the amount of cleavage she was showing, more specifically, the lack thereof. She pulled down the shirt zipper until it looked like her breasts were about to spill out of her top, and she still seemed dissatisfied for some reason.

Lian Xin had put on a black knee-length dress for the occasion. She looked at Murong Mingyue with her head tilted to one side and said, "Sister Mingyue, why are you dressed like this? It’s not like you’re not going on a date. You’re making me feel really inferior right now…"

Murong Mingyue lectured patiently, "Every smart woman must know how to curry favor with an excellent man’s dad because you never know if they’ll become your father-in-law one day. Of course, I’m not asking you to suck up to him, but leaving a good impression is the least you can do. Just look at Eve. If you think my attire is pretty, then hers is out of this world…"

I turned around and felt my eyes widened. For her top half, He Yi wore a white-and-blue plaid shirt on the inside and a black coat on the outside. For her lower half, she wore a mini skirt and a pair of leather boots. It was eye-opening. It was a less mature look compared to her usual attire, but that was exactly the point. Combined with the bangs she purposely left hanging in front of her forehead, she looked stunning in a way that I had never seen before.

"You…" I stammered dumbly.

"Why? Do I not look good?" He Yi made a little spin on her feet and bedazzled me even more than she already had.

I swallowed with difficulty before saying, "You look really pretty today, Eve. Why don’t you dress like this more every day? It should be obvious, but I really, REALLY love this look."

He Yi burst into a giggle. "That’s because I have to go to the office, silly. Who would obey me if I dressed like the girl next door?"

That was true. "Alright. Is everyone ready? Dad and third uncle are almost at the bus and coach station now."

"Mn!"

He Yi picked up her handbag, slipped her arm between mine, and we walked out of the apartment together. The moment the elevator door shut tight, she immediately tiptoed and pecked me once on my face. After I hugged her and returned the gesture, we looked up and saw that the elevator camera was pointed straight at us.

Shit...

……

We drove my X12 instead of the more extravagant cars. My phone rang the moment we reached the station, and I immediately saw dad and third uncle walking over with a huge bag each in their hands. Third uncle was even carrying a huge, C-shaped snake gourd on his shoulder. It was home-grown, of course.

"Dad!"

I walked up to them while holding He Yi’s hand. When I took the bag dad was holding, I exclaimed in surprise, "Heavens, this bag is heavy! What is it?"

"It’s the pork ribs you asked for, of course. I told your third aunt to prepare some surplus…"

"Surplus? There must be half a pig’s worth of ribs in this bag!"

"You’re exaggerating. We can’t afford that much anyway."

After I placed the bag in the car, I looked at third uncle and greeted him, "Long time no see, third uncle. That melon on your shoulder…?"

He answered, "It was grown in the large shed, and I guarantee that it’s fresh. Once we get back to your place, I’ll cook you my stir-fried melon with green pepper!"

He Yi blinked in confusion. "Melon? Isn’t that a snake gourd?"

I explained, "That’s just the way we call it in our village. No one really knows what its proper name is, so we call it the next closest thing. These snake gourds grow outside the earth just like melons, so we just call them melons[3]..."

"I see…"

After I helped dad into the car, and both He Yi and third uncle had gotten into the car as well, I started the engine and asked, "Dad, Eve has booked a room at the restaurant. Should we have dinner there?"

Dad replied while massaging his lame leg, "No, no, that’s too wasteful. You know how restaurants love to serve you an entire table of dishes even though you can’t finish them. Let’s just have dinner at your apartment…"

He Yi replied before I could even say a word, "Okay! We’ll eat at the apartment then!"

The corner of my lips curled upward as I thought to myself: Damn, He Yi is such a good wife!

……

The second the car came to a stop at the parking lot, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue immediately came over to greet us. This time, it was He Yi who supported dad out of the car while I carried third uncle’s snake gourd—I swear it weighed at least 5 kg—and opened the door for him. Right after that, a Porsche parked next to my X12, and Lin Yixin jumped out of the car wearing a black-colored student attire exactly as He Yi had suggested. Brimming with youthfulness and confidence, Lin Yixin shot my dad a sweet smile. "Hello, uncle! Do you still remember me?"

My dad looked at her before exclaiming in realization, "Oh, you’re Lin Yixin, right? I remember you. Lu Chen often talks about you when he comes home. You must be pretty close with him, right?"

Murong Mingyue joked—or did she? "Close? She may very well become your daughter-in-law in the future!"

My dad smiled wider, and my third uncle clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You’re one lucky man, Old Lu. Look at all the girls surrounding Lu Chen. Both Manager He Yi and that Lin Yixin girl are incredible!"

"That’s very true…"

After we led dad and third went upstairs, we left the rest of the girls while Lin Yixin, He Yi and I went to the market together to buy some ingredients. After all, we would be cooking dinner in the apartment tonight.

……

Crossing my arms in front of me and glaring at the market across the street like it was my mortal enemy, I broke the silence, asking in a serious tone, “Does anyone here know how to cook?"

Lin Yixin raised an arm and answered, "I can cook egg fried rice!"

My mouth twitched. "Anything else?"

"Stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs!"

Me: "..."

He Yi answered, "I know how to cook fish head with chopped chili, braised pork trotters, stir-fried pork kidney and the like, but I’m still very new at this. All I can say is that they taste okay…"

"Thank the heavens! We’ll buy the ingredients Eve needs to make her dishes, and for Yiyi to make her stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs!"

"What about you?"

"Me? I’ll handle the eating!"

"So shameless…"

Me: "..."

……

Thankfully, dinner didn’t turn out nearly as horrible as our imagination suggested it could. He Yi had cooked most of the dishes except one. Frankly I was embarrassed that I had made the CEO of Raincube, heck, my CEO, cook dinner for me, so I made sure to give her a proper massage later as compensation. That night, dad and third uncle slept in my room, and I slept on He Yi’s sofa. The two old men spent a long time chatting with each other before they finally fell asleep.

Despite our protestations, they both insisted on returning home in the afternoon. So, I stuffed my dad’s wallet full of cash before seeing him off. He had been adamantly refusing to use a single mao in the debit card I had given him, but he wouldn’t just leave all that cash sitting in his wallet… right?

When all was said and done, and I was just about to drive back to the workshop, I received a phone call from Gui Guzi.

"Boss Broken Halberd, a lot of people are planning to conquer Bloody Shield Domain right now. Is the Frost Cloud workshop going to join in the race? I heard that Bloody Shield Domain’s boss is a super boss that is definitely going to drop a Divine Armament upon death!"

1. T/N: and we never see her again… E/N: Considering Lu Chen bought her a tank that goes 200 mph, really probable…

2. T/N: the wristguard was called Iron Fist, meaning that "Skysong helmet" probably isn’t the actual equipment name, hence lower case

3. T/N: I improvised the above translation slightly. In the raw, He Yi was asking why they’re calling it a "hanging melon" or Trichosanthes kirilowii when it clearly isn’t, and Lu Chen answers mostly as per translated above