Good afternoon, distinguished guests. Do you have a reservation?
Gu Zifang sensed something was wrong as soon as she heard that. She glanced through the doorway and saw that the room was indeed crowded. She asked disappointedly, "Are there no seats left?"
Seeing the waiter's apologetic expression, Ouyang Fei shook his head and said, "I was just trying my luck anyway, why don't we just go to another restaurant?"
"I'm fine with either."
It doesn't matter if it sinks.
Gu Zifang originally wanted to wait for a table, but seeing that the two of them said so, she gave up the idea. Just as everyone turned around to leave, the sound of rapid high heels hitting the ground suddenly rang out behind them.
Before they could react, a fragrant breeze wafted by, and a woman in a business suit with a mature and charming face appeared before them.
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Chen Qian?"
The woman, panting heavily from walking quickly, smiled as she looked at Chen Qian.
"It's me, and who are you?" Shen Qian asked, puzzled.
"Hello Mr. Shen, I am the manager of Jiutiange Restaurant. You can call me Yunlan. If you are here for a meal, Jiutiange has reserved seats for Black Card members. Please follow me."
After the woman finished speaking, she bowed and extended her hand.
Black Card Member?
Gu Zifang and the others looked at Shen Qian with strange eyes, and Shen Qian himself was also taken aback, but then he seemed to realize something and nodded without making a sound.
Never mind, let's sit down first.
The interior decoration of Jiutian Pavilion could only be described as moderately flashy, but it was indeed packed with people. Shen Qian glanced at the dishes on other people's tables and found that none of them were dishes he had ever seen before.
Yunlan led the group across the small bridge and flowing water, then up a flight of stairs to the second floor.
The second floor has a corridor-style structure with only ten tables on all four sides. The decoration is even more exquisite, and at a glance, most of it is still empty.
This must be the exclusive area that Manager Yunlan was referring to.
After leading everyone to a perfect spot by the window overlooking the hall, Yunlan went to prepare tea and snacks. Ouyang Fei and Gu Zifang, who had been holding back for a long time, finally got their chance to vent.
"Shen Qian, since you're a black card member of Jiutian Pavilion, why didn't you say so earlier? Were you just trying to make a fool of me?" Gu Zifang complained.
"I'm more curious about how someone like you, who's never even been to the provincial capital, could have a black card from the Nine Heavens Pavilion?" Ouyang Fei retorted.
Chen Peng and the others also looked on out of curiosity.
"I didn't know beforehand, maybe that's why?"
After thinking for a moment, Chen Qian took out his Kyushu Martial Arts Hall Black Diamond Membership Card.
“It’s definitely not because of that.” Chen Peng shook his head immediately. “We basically have all of these membership cards that come with a top-up bonus. Besides, although Kyushu Martial Arts Hall and Jiutian Pavilion are theoretically part of the same group, their businesses don’t overlap.”
"Then I don't know." Shen Qian shook his head.
At this moment, Yunlan returned. After she finished serving the exquisite pastries, Gu Zifang, who was still puzzled, asked before ordering, "Where did Shen Qian get the black card?"
"Sorry, that's a matter of client privacy," Yun Lan said with a smile and a shake of her head.
"Then tell me, okay?" Shen Qian couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Please wait a moment." Yun Lan nodded as expected. After checking her Pad, she smiled and said, "Mr. Shen, your Jiutian Group Black Card membership was processed two months ago. It was a 'special invitation,' and I don't know the specific reasons."
Two months ago...
After pondering it for a moment, he immediately understood.
Wasn't that when Marquis Jingcheng accepted him into the family?
Although this matter was kept secret, it was not without clues; at least Zhu Deyong had guessed some of it.
"You mean, this black card in front of Shen Qian doesn't belong to Jiutian Pavilion, but to your entire Jiutian Group?" The perceptive Ouyang Fei was startled.
Jiutian Pavilion is just one of the subsidiaries of Jiutian Group, which is the real behemoth.
The two were more knowledgeable, and if Ouyang Fei and Gu Zifang were only surprised before, they were now somewhat horrified.
“Shen Qian, it seems you’re still hiding something from us,” Gu Zifang said with a half-smile.
When questioned by Ouyang Fei and Gu Zifang, Shen Qian chose to give a vague response.
It wasn't that he wanted to hide it, but he had heard his third senior brother say that although their teacher didn't shy away from anything, he didn't like his disciples acting under his name. This could be seen from his third senior brother's low-key style.
Liu Changqing was an outlier, but even after causing a ruckus at the Martial Arts Bureau, he was still imprisoned at the bottom of the tower for ten days. It is said that it was even more extreme in the past; of the seven years he had been a disciple, the sixth senior brother had probably spent four of them at the bottom of the tower...
Gu Zifang and Ouyang Fei didn't hesitate for long before picking up the menu and ordering.
As one of the signature dishes from Jiutian Pavilion was served after another, Shen Qian's eyes were opened wide.
"Dragon in Water" uses the meat of a mutated deep-sea shark.
"A harmonious blend of music and poetry," referring to just two mantis shrimp, but each one is as big as the eight-pack abs of a shrimp.
"The Twelve Palaces" refers to the meat chops of twelve zodiac animal spirits, each with a strength comparable to that of a beginner martial artist.
As for what Gu Zifang said was beneficial for the willpower test, it was a signature dish of Jiutian Pavilion called "Immortal Points the Way," which was actually just a soup dish with a price tag.
Gu Zifang laughed and said that if it weren't for splitting the bill, she was afraid no one could afford to drink.
When the "Immortal's Guidance" was served, Shen Qian couldn't help but gasp when he saw that each person had just received a small bowl.
"That's all?"
"What do you think?" Gu Zifang blinked. "You don't even know what ingredients it's made with. It's a limited edition. If it weren't for your black card, even if we got in today, we might not have been able to get any."
Shen Qian picked up the menu and looked at it carefully, then exclaimed in surprise, "Dragon rhinoceros tendon? Mountain and Sea Realm?"
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