Chapter 27: Online Dating and In-Person Meeting in Progress! The Talkative Golden Retriever is Online! ...
On Planet PL, a blond, blue-eyed boy dragged a huge suitcase and walked out of the starship station with the crowded flow of people.
He was drenched in sweat, and with great effort, he freed one hand to open the terminal. "A-Qian, where are you? I should be outside by now. Where should I wait for you?"
When Pei Qing received Ye Ling's message, she was still slumped on the sofa, lost in thought. The sudden message made her think it was another fake harassment call; she had received several of those calls in the past few days.
They're always sending messages like, "So-and-so, you've won a grand prize of X million Star Coins! Please enter the verification code to claim your prize."
Or it might be something like, "You have a sum of money stored next to [someone's name], which will be cleared if you don't claim it," and so on.
Each one sounded strange and obviously a scammer, so Pei Qing hung up on them without hesitation.
Ha, you think you can fool her with such a childish trick? Are you kidding me?
It wasn't until she saw dozens of missed calls on her terminal that she realized Ye Ling must have arrived.
Since she hadn't blacklisted him yet, he could still call. Pei Qian hurriedly dialed back. This was terrible; she hoped the young master hadn't gotten lost.
Ye Ling stood by the bustling street. In the ten minutes he stood there, several groups of people had come to him, offering him the best price to take him away.
Looking at their fierce and menacing appearances, Ye Ling wisely chose to refuse.
One of them even tried to pull him away, but Ye Ling nimbly dodged to the side. The man fell flat on his face, getting bruised and swollen. Before leaving, he pointed at Ye Ling's nose and cursed, saying he should never see him again, or he would knock out all his teeth.
Ye Ling only saw him babbling on and on, but didn't take it to heart at all. What a joke, he, the young master of the Ye family, wasn't raised to be scared, okay?
He was trained from a young age; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to travel all that way alone to find Pei Qing.
Some people who saw the young master's extraordinary clothes and innocent face, with clear eyes that seemed like they were there to take advantage of him, temporarily stepped aside.
This person doesn't seem as friendly as they appear. They're not someone to mess with. I'd better find another easy target.
The people of Planet PL have an instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm; they will naturally steer clear of people they find troublesome.
When Pei Qing rushed over, the young master was already squatting on the ground drawing circles out of boredom.
"Is this the person?"
Pei Qing frowned, looking at the selfie on the terminal showing his big teeth, and couldn't connect it with the calm and handsome young man in front of her.
He approached the blond boy uncertainly, "Are you Ye Ling?"
The young master squatted there listlessly, half-asleep, thinking he had misheard. It wasn't until Pei Qing called him a few more times that he suddenly stood up and excitedly hugged her, "That's right, it's me! Ah Qing, you're finally here! I've missed you so much!"
Pei Qingsheng let him hold her with a lifeless expression, her body being shaken. Okay, judging from this reaction, it must be Ye Ling without a doubt.
They really are the same online and offline, so enthusiastic and talkative.
Pei Qing sat in the car, a fist's distance between her and Ye Ling. It wasn't that she didn't want to be separated from him, but Ye Ling insisted on sitting in the same seat as her.
She moved closer to the window, and Ye Ling pressed herself against it. Finally, when she had no choice but to stop, Ye Ling finally gave up when she was pressed against the window.
That wasn't all; he kept babbling in Pei Qing's ear, telling her about everything he had seen and heard along the way.
"Ah-Qian, let me tell you, I saw such a huge meteorite, and so much space debris, and so much more..."
"Seriously, bro? You're telling me you just saw some cosmic junk?" Pei Qing initially tried to appease him with a few perfunctory replies, but eventually she fell silent, leaning against the window as Ye Ling kept nagging in her ear.
How could someone be so long-winded? They kept talking the whole way, but Pei Qing let it go in one ear and out the other, not taking it to heart at all.
She thought Ye Ling was already quite talkative online, and she thought she could handle it. But she later realized that Pei Qing had overestimated her. This was unacceptable, and it was on a completely different level from the online version.
"..."
“Let me tell you, Achen, you have no idea how awful that food was. I ordered the most luxurious set meal in the entire astral realm, and it was still so bad, it’s unbelievable. You have no idea how bad it was…”
He found even the most luxurious meal on the starship unpalatable; if he were to eat some kind of nutrient solution that looked like snot, he would surely vomit.
Pei Qing shook her head with amusement. As expected of a young master, he had been pampered since childhood. If she continued talking, she would probably knock him unconscious.
"Gurgle!"
Ye Ling's stomach started growling. The food along the way had been so bad that he hadn't eaten much, and he had been talking until now, so it was inevitable that he was hungry.
"I'm hungry," Ye Ling said pitifully to Pei Qing, rubbing her stomach awkwardly.
"Are you hungry? Okay, I'll take you to eat in a bit."
"Yay! A-Qian is the best!" Ye Ling exclaimed excitedly, waving her arms and legs.
Pei Qing looked at him like he was a monkey. If he knew what he was going to eat later, he probably wouldn't be so happy.
Pei Qing didn't plan to take Ye Ling home; that place was too small. After all, Ye Ling had come to visit her, so she should arrange for her to stay somewhere nicer.
So Pei Qing booked the only decent hotel closest to her home.
The exorbitant hotel cost left her pale and sickly; 3000 a night—why didn't he just rob her?!
The key issue is that the hotel requires full payment before check-in, and Pei Qing didn't know how long Ye Ling would stay, so she could only book a week's stay first.
Seven days should be enough, right? If he doesn't leave after a week, I'll really have to kick him out.
"Let's go to the hotel to drop off our luggage first, and then we'll eat."
“Okay,” Ye Ling said obediently, carrying the suitcase and following behind Pei Qing.
Upon arriving at the hotel, Ye Ling immediately collapsed onto the bed. "I'm so exhausted from this journey. Even though I bought a first-class ticket, my bed is so small. The food was terrible, and the accommodations were awful. It was so awful."
Pei Qing threw a pillow at him. "You're so annoying, why did you have to come looking for me? Why don't you just stay home?"
Ye Ling rolled over and sat up, hugging her pillow to her chest. "Oh dear, it's so boring being home all alone. You're never online either. We used to play games together to kill time, but now that you're not online, there's no one to play with. I even offered you something, but you wouldn't take it..."
"Alright, alright," Pei Qing quickly stopped Ye Ling, seeing that she was about to start chattering again. "Aren't you hungry? I'll take you to get something to eat."
"Okay! I'll do whatever you say, A-Qian." Ye Ling tossed the pillow aside, jumped up, and followed Pei Qing out the door.
It was lunchtime at the hotel, and when the two of them arrived at the restaurant, it wasn't too crowded. As soon as they sat down, a waiter came over with a menu and a smile, asking, "What would you two like to order?"
"Let this lady see what you have here." Pei Qing pointed at the Ye family's menu with her chin raised, and Ye Ling took it with a smile without any hesitation.
He stopped smiling after reading just the first page. "Seriously, what kind of junk is this? Isn't there anything of any decent quality? Is this even fit for human consumption?"
He pointed at the menu and started chattering away again, "Is this steak from Caihu Farm? Is it freshly slaughtered every day? Why don't you even label the quality of the steak? These are the most basic things you should know, okay?"
"And these vegetables, were they grown using purely natural and traditional methods? I don't want any grown with hormones, and..."
"Stop, stop, stop," Pei Qian quickly reached out to stop him and took the menu. "Let me look at it. If you pick things like that, none of this will be edible; it'll all be junk."
Ye Ling pouted, "But this is what I eat at home. Besides, isn't this the kind of service a hotel should provide?"
Seeing that the waiter's expression was getting worse, Pei Qian was afraid that he might spit into the food if he was unhappy, so she quickly pushed the water glass over to him, "After talking so much, aren't you thirsty? Have some water."
"Ah-Qian is the best, she really cares about me." Ye Ling picked up her water glass with a happy smile.
She really has the temper of a young master. She sent two away, and now another one is coming. Is she destined to never get along with these young masters?
"Two basic steaks, a tuna salad platter, and two juices, please. That's all."
Pei Qian felt a pang of regret looking at the prices on the menu, but she still ordered a few things to treat him and make sure he left quickly. She really couldn't afford to let the young master squander his money.
Soon, two steaks were served, along with juice. "Eat up, weren't you hungry?"
Seeing that Ye Ling was still not moving, Pei Qian reminded him.
"This smell is unbearable. It's so stale. It must have been dead for at least a week. If this cow had died any earlier, it would have become zombie meat."
Ye Ling used her fork to make the cow look miserable, but it didn't touch a single bite. It barely managed to eat two bites of vegetable leaves before putting down the fork and taking a sip of juice. "And this juice, this fruit isn't fresh at all. How long has it been frozen? How dare you serve it to guests? Are you trying to kill me?"
He pursed his lips and pushed the juice aside.
Why are you whining and dawdling over your food? Why can't you eat? Pei Qing is enjoying it. She rolled her eyes at Ye Ling, dragged his plate over, and skewered the steak without a word.
"Hey, hey, Pei Qing, how could you eat this? Waiter, call your manager out here!" Ye Ling quickly moved the plate away. Pei Qing's mouth was still open; what was this person going to do now?
Soon, the restaurant manager arrived. "May I ask what's wrong? Is there anything about our service that has left you dissatisfied?"
"The food at your restaurant is terrible. I don't like it at all. I think it's an insult to my precious taste buds."
Who would have thought? Ye Ling's little mouth is also a master at spewing venom!
Pei Qing watched with great interest, wanting to see what Ye Ling could come up with.
The restaurant manager initially harbored resentment, believing that Ye Ling was simply looking for trouble.
But he was a discerning person. After seeing Ye Ling's clothes, he changed his mind. People who didn't know much about fashion would think he was dressed very plainly, but he knew that this outfit must have cost at least several hundred dollars.
Upon seeing the accessories the young man was wearing, his attitude became even more respectful, guessing that some important figure had happened to come here.
Their food is certainly good enough to fool ordinary people, but it might not be enough for some picky noblemen.
Ye Ling spoke at length, but her points were very clear. Throughout the entire conversation, she completely belittled the restaurant manager, covering everything from service attitude to menu research and even plating.
Pei Qing watched as the restaurant manager's face turned red, then white, then yellow, then red again—it was impossible to describe it simply as unpredictable.
Even so, the restaurant manager didn't get angry, because the more he listened, the more he felt that many of what Ye Ling said were indeed the shortcomings that their restaurant had always had.
The more he listened, the more alarmed he became, and the more respectful he became. He invited Ye Ling to a private room inside, and Pei Qing also benefited from the treatment, enjoying SS-level VIP service.
"Thank you, young master. These words are truly insightful and enlightening," the manager exclaimed repeatedly.
Ye Ling's attitude softened a bit. He didn't necessarily want to cause trouble; it was just that he had never eaten anything so unpalatable before.
It's one thing for the starship to provide everything, but to come to the restaurant and eat such terrible food is a bit unreasonable.
"Where is your kitchen? Take me there, and bring out all your best ingredients. Put all the costs on my tab." Ye Ling rolled up her sleeves.
What's going on? Why does it look like they're about to launch a major attack?
Pei Qing, who had been listlessly drinking juice, perked up at the sight of this scene. Had the conversation gone wrong? Judging from the manager's attitude, that didn't seem to be the case.
"Okay, okay, the kitchen is over here. Let me tell you, we really brought in a lot of top-quality ingredients today. Come and see, there's no need to spend any money. Consider it my way of apologizing to you."
The manager led the two towards the kitchen.
It seems that this young master of the Ye family is indeed worthy of the Ye family's reputation. The Ye family's education is quite effective. No wonder the Ye family is so wealthy. Even the youngest young master is not just a show-off who only knows how to spend money.
Pei Qing followed behind with her hands behind her back, looking quite composed. She wanted to see what Ye Ling was up to.
The young master squatted in the vegetable storage room, looking at these so-called top-quality ingredients. He pouted, as if about to spew some poisonous venom. "They don't even have rose salt. Yellow salt, barely enough."
"The steak that was delivered this morning was quite good. Why didn't you use it in the main dishes? Are you reluctant to use it? Are you trying to save it until it becomes 'zombie meat' for customers? You'll go bankrupt sooner or later if you do that."
The manager, acting like a sycophant, followed behind with a forced smile, "How could that be? It just arrived, and we didn't have time to prepare it. Besides, don't steaks need to be marinated?"
"Fresh ingredients naturally have their own way of being prepared, and it's not always necessary to marinate steak; there's more than one way to do it."
Ye Ling skillfully selected a medium-sized steak, expertly sucked out the blood, sprinkled salt, rubbed it on the surface, put butter into the pan, tested the temperature with the back of her hand, and put the steak in. The steak sizzled and released its aroma.
"The ingredients must be as fresh as possible, and at most, they should not be more than two days old. If they are more than two days old, the original flavor of the ingredients will be completely lost."
"The quality of fresh vegetables must be guaranteed," Ye Ling said as she skillfully seared the steak, creating a beautiful marbling pattern on its surface.
He ladled it out and handed it to Pei Qing, his eyes shining with anticipation, his attitude completely different from how he treated the manager. "Qian, try it quickly, it's definitely better than what they make."
Pei Qing picked up a piece of steak with a hint of disbelief. Although Ye Ling's movements were very skilled, she was still a little skeptical. How could a young master who seemed to never lift a finger cook? And it looked pretty good. Surely it wasn't undercooked? She didn't want to get an upset stomach.
She opened her mouth and put a small piece of steak in. The steak was juicy and very tender, but with a slight chewiness. It tasted great. The perfect amount of butter added a layer of milky and caramelized flavor to the surface. Delicious!
Ye Ling smiled with satisfaction.
On the way back to the hotel room, Pei Qing was still incredulous. "I never expected you could cook! I thought..."
"You think a rich young master like me, who plays games online all day, can't do anything, right?" Ye Ling skipped and hopped beside her, her tone very cheerful.
"By the way, how did you learn to cook? Surely your family has a chef?"
"Yes, but I didn't like his cooking, so I fired him. I basically cook for myself now. I'm a very picky person; if it doesn't suit my taste, I won't eat it at all."
“My parents are very busy, and I have always lived on my own. I have been able to handle my own affairs since I was a child. My parents did provide me with a good education and financial assistance, and they adopted a hands-off approach to raising me.”
It seems she's not much different from her time in the orphanage. At least in the orphanage, she had people to play with, Pei Qing thought to herself.
Then she looked at the brand-new holographic gaming pod in the room and was speechless. How could she compare to them? They had endless money, while she had nothing!
The gaming pod is amazing! She takes back her previous statement about wanting to get rid of the homeowner; she wants to be best friends with Ye Ling for life!
The game pod has a two-player mode, and the two of them played in the game world for several hours.
As soon as they came out of the game pod, they found it was dark. This time, the restaurant manager had learned his lesson and served food that was barely to Ye Ling's liking. After all, it was fresh and much better than what was served at noon.
Ye Ling stretched, revealing a section of her fair and firm waist to Pei Qing. "Phew, playing games with Qing is definitely the most fun! Playing alone or with others is no fun at all."
"By the way, Ah-Qian, are you going to take a shower first, or should I?"
"Or we could go together, I wouldn't mind either."
Ye Ling slumped on the bed, propped her chin up, and looked at Pei Qing with her eyes curved.
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