Chapter 35: Playing a rhythm game got us all fired up!
Honestly, she cleaned up immediately after eating, but the sauce packet's flavor lingered so long that you can still smell the braised beef in the air.
Fortunately, Lu Yusheng reacted quickly. Upon hearing this, he immediately started rummaging through the fast food options available in the store.
Fortunately, several of the top three instant noodle brands that consistently rank in the top three were available here, so Lu Yusheng decisively redeemed a few packs of each.
The others looked on with anticipation as they saw him start a fire and set off the stove.
The pot she uses in her kitchen is of medium size, enough to cook about seven packets at a time; any more and the lid won't stay on.
But there were more than a dozen people in the group, and the strong men who did physical labor often had big appetites. So Lu Yu lit a pot, boiled water, cooked noodles and cracked eggs, and worked three times before they could all eat.
This was because a few people couldn't resist the aroma and, at Lu Yusheng's suggestion, scooped some boiling water from her pot and soaked the instant noodles directly in it.
She rubbed her aching back and thought to herself that this business was really not easy. This was her first time trying it and she didn't know how hard it was. Next time there were more people, she would provide bowls and chopsticks and let them make their own food.
However, seeing the bodyguards giving him a thumbs-up while eating noodles still brought him some comfort.
I don't know if I'm pleased that instant noodles are selling so well here, or if I'm pleased that my cooking skills are recognized by so many people.
After finishing his meal, Lin Pingzhi wiped his mouth with his handkerchief and drank a couple more sips of the remaining tea to cleanse his palate. For a moment, he felt that the fatigue from traveling for the past few days had dissipated somewhat.
So he readily took out another silver ingot from his pocket and handed it to Lu Yusheng, saying, "Thank you for your hospitality."
Now Lu Yusheng, who already felt she had overpaid, felt even more embarrassed. She wasn't very good at judging the value of these silver ingots, but seeing how intact it was, she figured it was probably worth about ten taels.
The cost of instant noodles and herbal tea combined is probably less than an ounce, and even including her labor, it wouldn't be worth that much. She quickly explained that this was included in the previous silver ingot.
If she hadn't heard from these high-quality customers that they were just passing through from a very far place, she probably would have had to give them even more to maintain the relationship.
Lin Pingzhi shook his head knowingly.
He doesn't like taking advantage of others, and he also felt some sympathy for the other party for opening their shop in such a remote place, so naturally he wouldn't agree to eat for free.
"The agreed-upon tea fee cannot be disregarded; the meal fee must be paid separately."
Such behavior does indeed have the free-spiritedness of a chivalrous person, and although he is not very old, he has learned it quite maturely.
His uncles and elders, of course, knew his character, and apart from a few who were stingy with money, they did not object to his behavior.
After all, he's not a biological nephew, and it's his own money being spent. As the employee, he naturally hopes that his future boss will be as generous as possible.
However, some of the more loyal ones were concerned about reminding the young master not to flaunt his wealth after leaving. Although there were more than a dozen experts in the escort agency, they were probably the only ones willing to risk their lives when real danger struck.
Meanwhile, Sikong Zhaixing, who had just finished a game, was perhaps also infected by their lively dining atmosphere.
He gently pinched the bridge of his nose, relaxed his eyes for a moment, and then briskly got up and walked behind the bar.
He then stopped precisely in front of a drawer, pulled it open, took something out, and returned.
That was a reserve of food that Lu Yusheng had prepared for them two days before they checked in, telling them they could take whatever they wanted.
Then, I returned to my seat, skillfully tore open the packaging, grabbed two potato chips, and threw them into my mouth, thoroughly enjoying myself.
He didn't like snacks before, it's all Xiaolu's fault... yes, it's all her fault for eating too much food.
Lu Yusheng was stunned by the smooth movements.
Just as he doesn't like to be disturbed when he's working, he rarely bothers Lu Yusheng when he's doing business. After getting the potato chips, he just quietly went back to his seat and started showing off.
His sudden movement silenced the hall for a moment, but the noise returned with the crunching sounds of chewing.
After receiving the money, Lu Yusheng served everyone some alcoholic beverages to liven things up. No one complained; they could drink without getting drunk and still enjoy the taste. Even the youngest member of the family, the young master, drank some.
Lin Pingzhi was laughing and joking with the others when his attention was inadvertently drawn to a screen that seemed to be flashing light in the distance.
He subconsciously walked over and first looked behind the silent man who seemed very focused for a while. However, the man was only focused on some words and images on the glowing white wall. Out of curiosity, he followed along and looked, but he just couldn't read them.
He was certainly educated, but the materials Zhu Ting consulted were too advanced. It would take time to automatically translate the text into traditional Chinese characters, and he eventually couldn't keep up and gave up.
Then, naturally, one's gaze shifted away.
Sikong Zhaixing and Zhu Ting were sitting facing each other. Their table was made up of two rectangular computer desks put together, with two computers placed back to back in the middle. Since they were sitting facing the computers, they were naturally facing each other.
Fortunately, the chairs were set low, and Lu Yusheng had raised the computer a bit, which prevented the two of them from facing each other awkwardly when they looked up.
Lin Pingzhi became curious about what the other person, who was looking down and constantly moving his fingers, was doing, so he took a few steps and circled around to Sikong Zhaixing's back.
The small, square metal plate was covered in vibrant colors, unlike the screen on the previous person's screen.
Patterns of various colors flashed and fell across the screen, and Sikong Zhaixing's fingers moved in rhythm with the falling patterns, almost like a dance.
Lin Pingzhi was somewhat stunned. After all, he was only 16 years old, a time when his parents doted on him and he hadn't experienced much hardship. He was still full of curiosity about these new things.
He had never seen anything like it that could change patterns on its own and respond to its owner's movements.
The gaze gradually settled on the image in Sikong Zhaixing's palm, unable to move an inch.
Because of his profession, the latter was particularly sensitive to the attention of others and discovered his spying immediately.
But Sikong Zhaixing, being an adult, was naturally too lazy to argue with such a novice in the martial arts world, especially since he was Xiao Lu's guest. In the end, he could only frown slightly in annoyance.
"Great! Do you want to play?"
Upon noticing his actions, Lu Yusheng, fearing that he might disturb Zhu Ting and Sikong Zhaixing's rest, immediately followed. However, this sensible child did not disappoint her; aside from glancing at the screen a couple of times, he did nothing else that crossed the line.
So her attention fell on his eyes, which seemed to have some interest in video games, and she took the initiative to invite him, her tone full of anticipation.
Lin Pingzhi glanced back at his elders, and although he was curious and eager, he still maturely refused, saying, "We're on our way. Let's do it another time."
The escort mission was a serious matter, and his father and mother were far away, missing him dearly. Taking a short break to eat was acceptable, but doing other unnecessary things would be a waste of time.
Lu Yusheng, who was rejected, didn't try to persuade her any further. She had already earned quite a bit of money from the boy, and she was already very content.
Just before the group left, they gave them an extra box of instant noodles as provisions, and Lin Pingzhi smiled and waved his thanks upon receiving the gift.
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After everyone left, it was almost afternoon.
Based on Lu Yusheng's usual experience, the probability of another customer coming was already very small, so he didn't wait foolishly at the door any longer.
She slowly walked back to where Lin Pingzhi had just stood, and observed Sikong Zhaixing's actions in the same way he did.
But as she watched, she couldn't help but get a little itchy to play. Rhythm games were one of the game modes that Lu Yusheng was familiar with. Seeing him skillfully switching between tap gestures to achieve combos, she couldn't help but feel a strange confidence that "I could do that too."
So she took out her own phone, sat down next to Sikong Zhaixing, and interrupted him during a break when he finished a game.
Because of another "perfect combo", Sikong Zhaixing wanted to take this opportunity to relax her fingers, so she stopped using her phone and let her operate it.
Lu Yusheng silently accepted it. She wasn't planning to do anything; she just wanted to try out the same item.
She was worried that Sikong Zhaixing would find the rhythm games too monotonous and had downloaded too many for him. Unfortunately, the UIs and art styles of those games were all similar. After watching one game, she couldn't remember the game's name and could only go back to the main interface to look at it.
After returning it to the other party, she quickly updated her phone to the latest version and opened it, then looked at Sikong Zhaixing with eager anticipation.
The latter took the small tin box and prepared to continue, but noticing her expression and the image on the screen, she asked uncertainly, "Xiao Lu, you... want to compete with me in rhythm games?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Yusheng immediately nodded emphatically: "To be precise, it's a contest of hand speed."
Sikong Zhaixing was delighted. She might not be entirely confident in terms of gaming skills, but when it came to hand speed, she had rarely seen anyone other than Lu Xiaofeng who could confidently challenge her in all her years of practicing hand skills.
So he readily agreed.
To be fair, the two of them should choose the same pieces and difficulty level.
Before the first game started, Lu Yusheng hadn't tried rhythm games in a long time, so she had to get a feel for the game first. Sikong Zhaixing watched her practice with great enthusiasm.
She imitated the other person by not turning on the sound, which caused her to pause for a moment when the first note appeared before remembering to press it. However, it hit the center of the red circle perfectly, achieving the "perfect" condition.
The experiment turned out to be much better than she had imagined. Even when she saw the pattern and her brain didn't immediately know whether to press and hold or tap, her fingers had already completed the operation.
However, having not practiced for so long, his reaction time had decreased significantly. Even though he was very focused, he still missed a long note and was forced to break the full sequence.
Despite the mistake, Lu Yusheng still achieved an S-level rating with his high accuracy, and his score was also quite impressive.
Sikong Zhaixing was not worried at all. Even though, due to the accumulation of games, he was now able to understand the meaning of those foreign words and numerical scores quite naturally.
"Shall we try again?" he asked Lu Yusheng patiently. After a slight hesitation, the latter shook his head.
“I see…” Sikong Zhaixing changed the subject: “Then wait for me a little longer.”
"Huh? What are you going to do?"
When Lu Yusheng remembered to ask, the other party just smiled and didn't answer, but instead found the song she had used to practice in the game's music library.
What's going on here? Why are you comparing things first?
S rating, can he beat me in seconds?
Just as doubts began to form in her mind, her train of thought was interrupted by a peculiar action of the other party, leaving her only able to stare blankly as Sikong Zhaixing effortlessly finished the entire song.
"God gave us two hands, would He be happy to see you only have one?!"
Seemingly deeply hurt by his one-handed operation, Lu Yusheng looked disappointed and his face was already flushed.
Sikong Zhaixing remained silent, only displaying a score several hundred points higher than hers on the results page.
He had practiced this piece many times before, and to his surprise, he got a high score on his first attempt at playing it with one hand.
“...I couldn’t take it anymore. Remember, it was you who released the demon sealed in my heart.”
Lu Yusheng's tone was deep, and she seemed to have lost all composure. Only her clenched fists revealed a trace of resentment deep within her heart.
"What? You have inner demons?" Sikong Zhaixing was stunned for a moment by her words, seemingly not understanding how things had suddenly escalated to this level.
"No need for further words, Hagi Star, let's begin." Lu Yusheng simply shook his head: "This time, even tenosynovitis can't stop my determination to defeat you."
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