Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by RED
-So, this chubby chick has been working hard on her own for the sake of my mother’s illness!-
Looking at Huang Tielan again, Zhang Che noticed that her face seemed to be a little slimmer than usual, with hints of dark circles under her eyes showing.
Relating this to what she had just said about trying a few dozen times before successfully cultivating a beast card, she must have been working so hard that she had foregone rest and meals, dedicating all she had into the study of beast card cultivating.
“Thank you, Tielan!” Zhang Che raised his glass in gratitude, looking at her seriously..
– Ah! Zhang Xiaoche actually called my name directly, without using the ‘classmate’ suffix!¹-
Huang Tielan felt a surge of happiness rising from the bottom of her heart. She also noticed a hint of an unfamiliar emotion in Zhang Che’s eyes, leaving her blushing. She lowered her head and said shyly in a soft voice, “It’s nothing. It’s what I should be doing.”
Zhang Che sighed inwardly. -Silly miss, which part of this are you supposed to be doing? I should be the one doing all of this.- He suddenly realized that Tienan (Iron Man) was actually really not bad!
After hearing what Huang Tielan said, Sun Lan was also moved beyond words. She stood up, her eyes reddening, and raised her wine glass, saying gratefully, “Miss Xiaohuang, thank you so much, really! Auntie offers you a toast!”
After saying that, Sun Lan raised her head and emptied her glass in one shot.
Huang Tielan suddenly found herself a little flustered. She hurriedly stood up and waved both her hands helplessly, “Auntie, please sit down!”
“Alright, alright. Let’s all sit down and start eating, or the dishes will get cold.” Sun Lan’s face was full of smiles as she started filling Huang Tielan’s bowl with food, saying, “Here, here, Miss Xiaohuang, eat more. Don’t be polite, treat it like you’re home.”
——
The sky started to darken as they enjoyed their joyous meal. When Huang Tielan mentioned excusing herself for the night, Sun Lan hurriedly stood up and told Zhang Che to send her out.
The two walked to the common corridor with one leading the other, and entered the elevator. When they arrived at the ground floor, they walked out to the corridor again, also one ahead of the other, without exchanging a word, yet an inexplicable atmosphere was slowly spreading between the two.
When they walked out of the district, just as Zhang Che was flagging down a taxi, Huang Tielan suddenly turned around and looked at him with a burning gaze. “Zhang Xiaoche!”
“Hmm?” Zhang Che looked up at Huang Tielan and nodded, “Go on, remember not to work too hard. It’s nothing even if you didn’t manage to enroll into Bei Du. I’ll surely find some other way.” As he spoke, Zhang Che helped open the door for Huang Tielan, but was stopped by her.
“Why don’t you take a short walk with me? I ate a little too much earlier; I want to walk a bit to help burn it off.”
Zhang Che was a little taken aback. He recovered quickly and nodded with a slight smile afterwards, “Okay.”
The two turned to leave. The taxi driver almost hurled out curses at them. -Freaking waste of my time. Are you going to compensate me?-
~~~~~~
“Eh? It’s already so late. Is that girl still at the research base? Why isn’t she back yet?”
Zhong Yuqing saw the cold dinner on the table. Just as she was about to make a call with her personal terminal, she heard rushed footsteps from below, followed by Huang Tielan’s loud voice, “Mom, I’m back! I want to lose weight!”
In the next moment, Huang Tielan came jogging in, her forehead sweating. She ignored the weird looks from her mother and dragged her up, saying, “Mom, I want to lose weight. Teach me about the gym equipments!”
Zhong Yuqing was filled with questions. She stood on the spot, observing Huang Tielan and asked doubtfully, “You’re acting really strange. Why do you want to lose weight all of a sudden?”
Huang Tielan’s cheeks were burning up from her mother’s gaze. She couldn’t help but replied shyly, “Aiya, aren’t you always saying that I’m too fat? Is it bad that I’m taking the initiative to lose weight? Come on, come on, teach me…”
“Not right; you must be hiding something from me. Is it related to that kid called Zhang Che?”
“Aiya, mom, why are you so talkative…”
——
After accompanying Huang Tielan for a short walk and seeing her off on a taxi, Zhang Che returned home. He saw Sun Lan walking out of the kitchen the moment he pushed the door open.
“You’re back, Xiaoche.”
Zhang Che nodded, sensing that his mother had something to talk about.
As expected, Sun Lan sat down in the living room and beckoned for him to sit opposite him. She looked at him with a serious face and said, “Xiaoche, Miss Xiaohuang is really not bad. I feel that you have to make things clear with her if you really don’t like her, or you’ll hurt her feelings in the future. If you do like her, then you must treasure her. It’s rare to find such a good lady now.”
Zhang Che was stunned for a moment. Afterwards, he nodded heavily, “Mom, I know what to do.”
—
Late into the night, Zhang Che sat by his study desk in the room, looking at information on all kinds of exotic herbs from the beast world on the computer screen, his brow creased into a bunch.
“Why don’t I have a photographic memory? It seems like it’s really difficult to develop in the area of beast card cultivation; it’s impossible in a short time. Just these ingredients is blurring my eyes and making me giddy!” Zhang Che let out a long sigh, finally giving up on his short-sighted thoughts.
Originally, he thought that with his ‘data eyes’ being able to see the required cultivating ingredients, he could easily develop towards being a beast card cultivator, and perhaps even take on the entrance exam for Bei Du University’s beast card cultivator major.
From the looks of things now, he was thinking too much. It was impossible for him to familiarize himself with so many exotic herbs in such a short time, not to mention the practical examination portion.
Even if he knew what ingredients were needed to concoct a cultivating fluid for a specific beast card, how would he ensure that he could successfully concoct the fluid?
Moreover, if others were to ask about the characteristics of the herbs, and the reasoning behind choosing the herbs, Zhang Che wouldn’t be able to answer them, and it would be troublesome afterwards.
He couldn’t possibly say that he just knew what ingredients were needed, and ignore the reasoning behind the mixing of the herbs in question, could he?
“Forget it. This matter can’t be rushed. Working on my beastmaster tier is the right path to take. Mmm, looks like I have to ‘break through’ to Tier Three before the beastmaster exam half a month from now. Otherwise, how do I ensure my enrollment into Bei Du University?”
Originally, Zhang Che just wanted to enroll into any university in a big city. He didn’t care what he could learn in school. It was mainly for networking purposes.
However, from the looks of it now, it was necessary to get into Bei Du University!
If Huang Tielan failed to get into Bei Du University’s beast card cultivator major, then he had to make sure he got into Bei Du University first and work hard towards beast card cultivation to have a chance to request for a favor from that Professor Sun Qilong, who was rumored to be slightly eccentric.
If he wanted to distinguish himself among the secondary schooler beastmasters in the entire Hua Xia region and be accepted into Bei Du University, the Tier Two beastmaster strength he was originally displaying didn’t seem enough.
To make sure things went according to his plans, he had to ‘break through’ to Tier Three before the exams, and it would be great if he had a few decent three-star subdued beasts.
Of course, if Zhang Che were to show off his strength as a Tier Four beastmaster when the time came, then the various universities would be fighting for him without a doubt; he didn’t have to worry about failing the exam.
{Translator’s Note: He’s not T4 yet, but plans to break through before the exam.}
However, was it really wise to show off the fact that a pauper with no background to speak of had risen from Tier One to Tier Four within the short span of two months?
Definitely not!
Zhang Che was sure that if he really displayed the strength of a Tier Four beastmaster, what awaited him was not the praise of others. Instead, all kinds of snakes and devils would notice him and investigate how he could possibly rise to Tier Four in such a short time.
Thus, it would be a huge problem if Zhang Che dared to display the strength of a Tier Four beastmaster!
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Translator’s Note:
1 – The novel had been using suffixes when addressing one another. Some of which just don’t make sense when translated into English, and have been omitted thus far, like addressing a schoolmate like Student XYZ, Classmate ABC. Only those that actually make sense in English have been included, like titles (Teacher, Professor), or elders (Auntie) etc. In the case of Ding Feng Corp’s Zhang Yujie, people have been addressing him as Zhang-shao or Zhang-dashao, which isn’t as formal as Young Master, and was left in that form.
