The group enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Grandma Yuan’s place before all of them returned to their abode with the exception of Jin. He stayed back for a while longer to settle the details for the cultivation zoo and the advanced training centre.
Obviously, Grandma Yuan was complaining about Jin making her do work on the first day of the New Year. It felt an unending rant, but Jin kept quiet and tolerated it, knowing that she was doing so much for him behind his back. Nevertheless, she assisted Jin with some parts of the current proposal since she knew that time was rather precious for the dungeon supplier.
Claire, on the other hand, decided to wash her hands off that proposal after having worked overtime to get it done. She did not want to even think about it for the next few days and would rather relax on a holiday break. To her, the meal was so satisfying that she decided to nap once more at Grandma Yuan’s massage chair. (She had been the one who bought it anyway.)
The wisdom of the elderly woman allowed Jin to make some necessary adjustments, but at least he finally knew what to do for both projects to make them successful. (Though he would still like some opinion from Qiu Yue especially from an infrastructure point of view.) At that point, he decided to make a move before he got thrown out for staying too long. While Grandma Yuan usually wore a non-caring face, she still took the effort to smile at the dungeon supplier’s progress and even sent him off.
As for Jin, instead of returning back to rest, he teleported to the Panda Street Instance and checked the progress of his store. Compared to earlier in the day, the night scene was teeming with people. Most of them were here for the experience since they heard Jin’s store had undergone another revamp, but the majority stayed for the food and to do some window shopping.
“Hmm, I should start thinking of making an event for Valentine’s Day too…” Jin thought as he watched families and couples walk through the bamboo forests, checking out the various sculptures of different zodiacs along the path. This was part of the New Year Event where the twelve zodiac sculptures had horoscopes and Feng Shui advice inscribed at the side. It was a side attraction since people loved to check how their luck would be for the year, and there were interesting tidbits on what to take note of with regards to love, work and health.
Of course, being part of the Royal Zodiac Panda Clan, Jin did not miss the opportunity to put a Panda Sculpture out while placing the System’s self-generated Feng Shui and horoscope advice on it. Most of the Pandarens thought it was a nice touch to put a Panda Sculpture in the Store Instance and even took photos of that very same Yawning Panda which Jin had used for the Royal Zodiac Duel Challenge.
And as Jin was admiring the Panda Sculpture and thought back to the things that had happened earlier in the day, he heard a voice shouting for his name with lots of heavy panting involved in it. (And people are letting way to let him move through.)
“JINNNNNNNNNNN! I had no idea how to find this place! Couldn’t we just meet at the starting point of the Panda Street Instance?!” Ke Loong questioned as he tried to catch his breath as hard as he could.
“But then you would not have had the chance to see the new Panda Streets, would you?” Jin replied with a small smile on his face. “Besides, do you think this place has a starting point?”
“True. However, I ended up getting so distracted because I wanted to go into each and every store. Even the street food smells so good! I would have loved to buy something to eat, but the queues were really long, not to mention your the allocated time!”
“Honestly, you could have just bought something. I’ve time to spare now and wouldn’t have minded waiting a bit for you.”
“Oh no, I was not about to take any chances! I’m the CEO of a modestly large company, and yet I have trouble contacting you, much less MEETING you!” Ke Loong made a fuss while Jin merely chuckled and beckoned him to the very same Bamboozled Bar that he brought Kong Rong to. This time, the path to the Bar Instance had been allocated right beside the Panda Sculpture, and after Jin walked outside the normal path, onlookers were watching him and checking if there was some sort of hidden course.
Some tried to follow, but their attempts failed since Jin made a turn near a large rock and disappeared along with his friend. It made those onlookers try to see if they could find the remainder of the hidden path. Almost everyone gave up and returned to where they set foot after failing to find it.
“Now this is more like it!” Ke Loong was astounded by the cosy bar with jazz music in the background played by the baby penguins and pandas at the side. The customers within the bar instantly took a look at the entrance since Ke Loong shouted. The Panda Bartender immediately gave a calm stare, and Ke Loong realised his mistake and nodded his head apologetically before walking in with Jin to an empty table further away from most of the customers.
As if that was not enough, bamboo shoots started to grow around their table and created a barrier to prevent from people hearing what they were about to say, giving Jin and Ke Loong the privacy needed.
“Since you told me you did not get the chance to eat anything, feel free to order anything you want here. It shall be my treat.” Jin graciously offered as he pressed on the remote table bell and another Panda Waiter came in, holding onto a tray with a bottle of sparkling water and two glasses.
“Hmm… for a bar, you do serve quite the variety of finger food. Alright, I shall be so shameless to accept your offer. I’d like some steak fries and some fish nuggets then.” Ke Loong said, and the Panda Waiter nodded his head while filling the glasses. It looked towards Jin, who just shook his head.
“Water will be fine with me. I am still full from dinner. Thanks.” Jin patted his tummy, and as soon as the Panda Waiter had left, the Bamboo Shoots grew back from the ground.
“So, I heard from Kong Rong that you had started some business association thingy….and the fact that you are the mysterious thirteenth Zodiac Clan Master is already making the rounds. No wonder that guy kept asking me to take care of you… But in the end, I can’t feel that it was the other way around and you took care of me.” Ke Loong sighed before he gulped down the glass of water. Feeling even more thirsty upon drinking, he took the bottle of sparkling water and poured more of it into his glass. Ke Loong had not expected that water could be this satisfying.
Was it because he had been running around trying to find Jin? Or was this water could be simply this tasty?!
“Ah, so you heard of it.” Jin was surprised how fast the news had spread despite today being a holiday.
“In this modern era, information is of utmost importance, especially when making big decisions. This is certainly one of them.” Ke Loong spoke in a tone, a good-natured tone like a wise senior giving advise to a junior. He slowly placed the glass down and wiped his sweat away, and Jin could feel that he was still rather anxious.
“Could you please calm down? You are making me nervous just looking at you. Please. Treat me normally as you would a simple boss of a Dungeon Supplier store. There is no need to make such a big fuss even if my secret identity is out.” Jin sighed in exasperation, but somehow that prompted Ke Loong to stand up and subsequently kneel right in front of him. Despite his size and slightly unsteady gait, he placed two knees down and prostrated right in front of him.
“Young Master of the Royal Zodiac Panda Clan. As unofficial as that name is or even if you do not acknowledge it, I wish to pledge my eternal allegiance to you. Should you ever accept, Sea Mesh and its other entities will belong to you and the clan.” Ke Loong swore solemnly.
