Zhi is still smiling toward the older man, as the other man's gaze is trying to bore through him. “I offered to buy her dinner, and suggested this restaurant. She agreed, so now here we are. Are you here to take our orders?”

Xiulan smirks at the answer, but she still looks upset at the man's presence there. Zhi takes a sip from his tea and says, “I am not sure about the others, but I would like to have an order of pot stickers, the steamed pork buns and the fried rice special with pork belly to start. For my main course I would like spicy chicken over steamed rice and vegetables.”

The older man’s right eye twitches slightly, he casts a quick glance at Xiulan only to see her eyes sparkling with mirth at what Zhi just did. He looks back at Zhi, who is calmly staring at him. Before the man can speak, Zhi says, “Go ahead and place your order Xiulan. I didn’t eat lunch and would like to eat dinner before I waste away.”

Xiulan looks at Zhi in surprise, then quickly back at the man before speaking. “I will have the dinner special, you know the one I like Uncle Sun. Could I also have an order of crab cakes on the side with the house sauce please.”

The man's mouth twitches this time, causing his giant mustache to shake. He closes his eyes and takes a deep calming breath before speaking. “Little Lan’er, who are these two young men and what are you doing in their company?”

“Just some friends, Uncle Sun. They wanted to share a meal so I brought them here, because the food is good and you give me a discount.” Xiulan smiles sweetly at the man. Realizing he will get nowhere with her or the monk, he turns his attention to the boy who flinched when he looked at him.

“You boy, what is your name and how do you and this man know my niece?” Zhao leans back slightly at the man's fierce gaze, he looks at Zhi for help. But Zhi just shrugs his shoulders, picks up his teacup and finishes his tea. Before setting the now empty teacup down.

Zhao is fidgeting in place, not really sure how to answer the question. After a few moments of silence, Xiulan lets out a huff. She begins speaking to the man again, but this time her voice is raised. “Uncle Sun, leave Zhao alone. You are intimidating him for no reason! He is only here to eat and talk with Ming Zhi.”

The man looks a little taken back at her statement as she continues, “I can’t believe you do this every time I come here with male company. Sister Meifeng told you, didn't she? You both need to stay out of my business.”

The man flusters a bit, before replying. “What is wrong with your family worrying about the company you keep? We do not know them, who are they, what is their background, who do they associate with?”

“You are such a hypocrite! Even if you knew everything about them you would still pull this routine on them! You just don’t want me to have any male friends.” The man blushes slightly, but replies. “That is not true, Little Meifeng and I just wanna make sure you don’t hang out with the wrong type of people.”

“Oh, so this act is only to make sure I don't hang out with the wrong type of people?”

The man smiles and nods his head yes, “Of course it is. As your family we have to look out for your well being the most.”

“Then what about Tan Xianliang?”

“What about him? The boy quit on us without notice. He didn’t even come in himself to tell us, his mother was the one to do it. Just shows that the boy was unreliable and not reputable.” His smile is smug as he looks at Xiulan like he had just proved his point completely.

“Unreliable? Reputable? The same Tan Xianliang who worked here for over 3 years? The one that everyone liked because he was so polite and well mannered? The same one who ran out of here crying after you did exactly what you are trying to do right now! Of course he wouldn’t come back here after that, he was scared to death of you!” Her voice rose with each word spoken, till she was yelling at the man. Her face flushed red with anger.

The man for his part is no longer smug, his mouth is hanging open. Shock can be seen in his eyes. For the first time in his life, his adorable little niece fought back against his over protectiveness and he is not sure what to do. Normally she would just watch with a frown on her face, as he would brow beat any young man foolish enough to try and court her. He wasn’t stupid, Tan Xianliang was actually an decent young man. He just couldn’t help himself when it came to his niece.

Judging from his reaction, I think this is the first time she has ever fought back against his over protective actions to keep boys away from her. I wonder if having her sing earlier gave her a confidence boost?

[From the look on her face I think she is just as surprised as he is. By my calculations from previous data, it is most likely a combination of her singing, and your nonchalant attitude about the whole situation.]

Coughing lightly into his hand to break the silence, Zhi looks at Uncle Sun. “Could you kindly refill my tea Uncle?” The man is still in shock and doesn’t even think about it, his hands just automatically take the tea pot and refills Zhi’s teacup. “Thank you.”

Zhi takes his teacup and has a drink before setting it down to speak. “Now if we could get back on track. I am hungry and I would love to eat something in the next hour. Now I personally don’t mind if you join us as long as you can be civil and apologize to little Zhao for scaring him.”

Zhi turns to look at Xiulan, she is still flushed from her outburst. But the shock is starting to wear off and she is going back to normal. “But I think it would actually be better to let Xiulan decide if you should stay or not.” Xiulan looks back at Zhi who just nods his head towards Uncle Sun.

She looks down for a few moments, then raises her head, to look directly at the eyes of her uncle. “You can join us for dinner if you would like uncle, but you must apologize and dinner is free for my two guests.”

The old man looks defeated, but he takes a breath then looks at Zhi, and then Zhao. “I Sun Yongzheng apologize for my behaviour. It would be my honor if you would allow me to join you for dinner, my treat of course.”

Xiulan says nothing and the silence hangs in the air for almost a minute. As a little bit of sweat begins to form on Sun Yongzheng's brow, Xiulan gives her answer. “We will accept your offer Uncle sun.”

Wiping the sweat from his head he replies a little too eagerly “Great! How about we change to room one, we can have Meifeng join us and do the 12 course special?”

Xiulan looks at Zhi, he just shrugs and says, “I don’t care, I just wanna eat.”

“We accept Uncle.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A man stumbles into the Blue Jewel, followed by a woman. Her face is set in a scowl as she quickly scans the first floor. Not finding her target she pushes on the man’s back with the weapon in her hand. He winces at the touch but climbs the stairs with great effort. As they crest the landing to the second floor, a female's voice can be heard, “Welcome to the Blue Jewel, I will…”

Sun Meifeng’s mouth is open as she stares at the man. His pale yellow robes are disheveled and stained with blood. His face is a few different shades of purple, one eye is completely swollen shut. While his lips are thick like a couple of sausages and there is a lump the size of a grapefruit growing out of the top of his head.

Behind him is a stone-faced woman wielding a weapon at the man's back. The man speaks with a lisp through his swollen lips. “Sorry to intrude, we came here to find a monk and a young boy.”

The woman raises her weapon and points it at Meifeng, “I am here for my nephew, I know he came here with a girl and a man dressed as a monk with a black staff and I didn't see them on the first floor. Tell me what room they are in.”

At this moment near the end of the hall, a door opens and out walks Sun Yongzheng, followed by Xiulan, Zhao and Zhi. As they walk down the hall and get closer to the second story landing area they notice a weird sight. A man with a bruised face that looks like it came out of a cartoon show is standing next to a woman.The woman herself looks livid and is waving a frying pan threateningly at Meifeng. The woman glances over and sees the group walking over. When she spot’s Zhao in the group she yells, “Don’t worry Little Zhao, Aunty is here to help you!”