Chapter 102: Negotiations (2)

At this moment, Pure Crane and the others happened to bear witness to this scene while they were walking over.

Delicate Flower had no idea what Shen Jingbin was like, so she was worried that Black Hawk, with her temper, might do something to make Shen Jingbin unhappy. So, she took a step towards Black Hawk and plucked it out of her embrace, returning it to Shen Jingbin. “Sorry about that, Black Hawk’s always had a fondness for furry animals. You don’t need to indulge her.”

“It’s fine, I was the one who let her carry Mascot anyway,” Shen Jingbin said as she waved her hand and plopped Mascot back into Black Hawk’s arms.

Seeing this, Cheshire Cat walked over to Black Hawk’s side and cautiously rubbed Mascot on the head. Mascot secretly glanced at its owner. When it found that she had no objection, it could only lie down in despair as it allowed Cheshire Cat and Black Hawk to rub its body.

“Is this the Divine Beast, White Tiger?” Cheshire Cat asked.

Mascot appeared far too docile, causing him to doubt whether he was really rubbing the head of a Divine Beast.

“What do you think about what happened in Undying City just now?” Pure Crane asked.

He wasn’t all that interested in Mascot. More accurately, he had no interest in anything he couldn’t obtain for himself. Since the Divine Beast, White Tiger had an owner, it had nothing to do with him even if it was stronger than it was currently was.

Shen Jingbin pondered for a moment before she replied, “The silhouettes we saw for a moment before we got kicked out looked like souls. I think they definitely have something to do with Undying City.”

At this point, Black Hawk cut into the conversation and mentioned what she’d heard when the silhouettes appeared.

“No matter how you look at it, Undying City should have something to do with acting. If we go in again, the first thing we should do is examine those stages,” Delicate Flower added.

“Beauties and commoners aren’t fated to be, while romance taken lightly births regrets,” Cheshire Cat repeated the phrase Black Hawk heard, looking as if he was reciting a scripture. “Based on the development team’s quest design approach, this is probably going to be some melodramatic love story. We should pay more attention to likely dating spots the next time we enter Undying City.”

“And now the problem arises. When exactly is the ‘next time’?” Pure Crane asked.

“In that case, we should put more effort into running the three Demonic Sect dungeons. We can enter once we get our hands on another teleportation scroll… Little Jing, do you want to run through the dungeons with us?” Black Hawk asked.

Shen Jingbin thought for a bit before she rejected Black Hawk’s offer, deciding that it’d be better for her to clear the dungeons with her own guild mates. “No thanks, I’ll be clearing the dungeons with my guild members.”

“But that means our progress rate might be different,” Cheshire Cat said.

“It’s alright. Let’s do it this way then: regardless of who gets their scroll first, let’s all wait for everyone to get theirs as well. Then, we’ll arrange a time and place for us to enter together,” Pure Crane said.

The three dungeons of the Demonic Sect could be entered twice a week, with the dungeons resetting every Wednesday and Sunday. Since today happened to be Wednesday, they’d have to wait till Sunday for their next chance to enter the dungeons.

Shen Jingbin was in favor of his suggestion, while the other three didn’t have any opinion on the matter, so that was how they decided to proceed. After adding each other to their friends list and agreeing to enter the Demonic Sect’s map together again, Shen Jingbin waved goodbye to them and recalled Mascot under Black Hawk’s reluctant gaze before she logged off.

The sun was setting by the time she wormed her way out of the gaming pod. Shen Jingbin sniffed the air and caught a whiff of Aunt Zhang’s fragrant cooking. As she did, she suddenly felt her own hunger boring through her stomach.

After washing up and changing into a set of home clothes, Shen Jingbin descended down the stairs to the first floor. Aunt Zhang just so happened to be carrying out a dish from the kitchen when she spotted Shen Jingbin. “Oh Little Jing, you’ve come down.”

“Mm. What did you make, Aunt Zhang? It smells so good.”

After placing the dish on the table, Aunt Zhang wiped her hands against her apron, using it to pull out a chair for her to sit on. “Beef briskets in tomato stew, along with red wine prawns. Little Chen’s been bugging me about wanting to eat prawns for the longest time, so I decided to buy some when I came across some fresh ones at the wet market today. There was also some red wine in the liquor cabinet, so I threw that in as well.”

Aunt Zhang was very close to the two siblings. Although she was only a nanny who looked after the everyday chores and prepared their meals, the siblings viewed her as an elder and gave her the respect that came with it.

Shen Jingbin grabbed a piece of brisket with her chopsticks and sampled it.

Aunt Zhang’s temperature control was just right, giving the beef briskets a very fresh and tender texture. Once it entered your mouth, the chewiness of the meat carried with it the faint sourness of tomatoes, almost as if it was there to prevent the dish from being too tasty.

“Aunt Zhang, you’re far too biased towards Shen Jingchen,” Shen Jingbin mumbled after swallowing her piece of meat.

Although their preferences in food were about the same, Shen Jingchen was more partial towards beef, and tonight’s dinner was obviously cooked with him in mind.

Aunt Zhang smiled and said, “Little Jing, why don’t you tell me what you feel like eating, and I’ll make it for you tomorrow.”

“Spare ribs stewed with potatoes,” Compared to beef, Shen Jingbin liked spare ribs even more.

“Alright then, I’ll cook that for you tomorrow,” Aunt Zhang replied as she turned around and started making her way back into the kitchen to bring the rest of the dishes out. However, she suddenly thought of something and stopped. “Little Jing, Aunt Zhang has something she wants to discuss with you.”

“Mm? What is it?”

“My daughter is coming to this city to participate in a competition. She said that staying in a hotel with her classmates would be too noisy for her to practice, so she asked if she could stay here for a few days.”

Shen Jingbin had seen Aunt Zhang’s daughter in pictures before. She looked like an obedient and smart girl, so Shen Jingbin didn’t think much about it and accepted. “Mm, I’m fine with her staying over, but Shen Jingchen is here as well, so it might be a bit inconvenient for her. Just tell your daughter not to provoke him and everything should be fine.”

A smile appeared on Aunt Zhang’s face, a smile so wide that wrinkles could be seen. “Okay, I’ve got it. Thank you Little Jing.”

Shen Jingbin picked up another piece of beef brisket and placed it into her mouth, squinting her eyes as she savored the taste. “Don’t mention it.”