Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
His mother, Lili, had been guiding Zhang Lisheng to blend in with the other kids in the Lavin family unintentionally so it was the same this time as well.
The young man, who knew he was soon leaving the country and that his future was still undetermined, could only agree to it. Not long after he came back, he walked out of the house again and drove towards the Blue Space Restaurant Randy said through the phone.
As implied by the name, ‘Blue Space’ was a space-themed restaurant decorated with vibrant blue colors.
The dining tables and chairs here were all made of postmodern blue-colored metal and its private rooms were decorated like a space capsule.
The waiter wore a uniform that had a style similar to a spacesuit but was much lighter and thinner in comparison. As they walked around the restaurant, it did give off a feeling of being in outer space at first glance.
Due to the reason that the government had begun to vigorously promote the ‘Space Immigration’ program, the space fever had taken the country by rage during the 1970s and at the 1980s. Now, it started to emerge once again, causing such a themed restaurant to become a new fashion trend among young people. However, to Zhang Lisheng, such a restaurant that focused more on gimmicks rather than taste and service was not interesting at all.
He walked past the long line of people and walked to the girl in front of the small front desk. “Miss, I’m Zhang Lisheng. Is there any message for me?”
“Even though you’re cute, you still need to queue up obediently, boy. Don’t play any tricks.” The sexy modern girl, wearing a headband with cat ears and a tight-fitting spacesuit, looked at the thin boy in front and said with a fake smile.
“Oh, Miss. I’m really here to look for somebody.” Zhang Lisheng froze for a moment before looking around with a wry smile. “There should be more than ten of them. Let me see, it should be… right there! Hey, Randy…”
“Hey, Lisheng! Hurry up if you’ve arrived, bro!” Upon hearing Zhang Lisheng’s greeting, Randy, who so happened to have stuck his head out of the light blue space capsule shaped like an oval goose egg in the restaurant, waved his hand and shouted, “We’re waiting for you! Hurry up now…”
“Okay.” The young man retracted his gaze and smiled at the waitress. “See! I’m really here to look for someone.”
Instead of an apology that he expected, the girl stretched her fingers out and poked Zhang Lisheng’s slightly muscular chest after his transformation before saying, “Then why don’t you go to them rather than complaining right here?”
The young man had his jaw drop down but felt he no longer had anything to say. He could only walk to the private room where Randy was in.
When he walked into the private room, the young man saw an oval metal table within the oval-shaped interior of the roo.. Other than the six Lavin siblings, there were another six to seven young men surrounding the metal table, sitting on the brightly colored low sofa.
When Randy saw Zhang Lisheng enter, he grabbed him right away. “Woohoo, bro! What did you say to that beautiful cat girl? To think you actually had such a good interaction with her… Oh, since when have you become so strong?!”
“If I hadn’t practiced the Shape-Will stance day and night in the past few days to control my strength, you’d have been more surprised by my strength,” Zhang Lisheng muttered to himself and sat next to Randy.
When Randy saw the young man sitting down all by himself, he curled his lips right away. “You’re talking to yourself again, Lisheng. People will think you have autism if you do that all the time. Forget it, let me introduce you to these friends from California. First of all, the person you should solemnly know is the love of our beloved brother Stephen, Miss Erinda Epson, and my dearest sweetheart, Fifi Manda…”
Then, he began to introduce the strangers on the table one by one to Zhang Lisheng.
Other than his and Stephen’s girlfriends, there were two more girls and three more guys in this group, all of them were students from UCLA as well. The boys were all-star athletes in the university while the girls were all cheerleaders, this was the most commonly seen playmate combination in the US.
After Randy finished introducing his friends, he pointed to Zhang Lisheng and said, “Right now, let me introduce to all of you, the youngest factory owner in New York who is usually known by the moniker of the ‘cowboy who dominates pigs’ by New York’s farmers…”
“Randy, don’t make a fool out of Lisheng like that! He’s your brother!” Upon hearing Randy making fun of the young man in front of their new friends, Michelle, who was by the side, chimed in with annoyance.
“I’m merely praising Lisheng, Michelle, just like how I praised Harry as the most blabber-mouthed middle school student in New York and how he would become the upcoming promising young rookie for the talk show next to the toilet of a five-star hotel for those rich people.” Randy chuckled.
Seeing his brother being mischievous like that, nobody could do anything to him but only Stephen who was the eldest. He stood up and slammed his brother. He planned to use the push action used on the rugby field to give him a small lesson. “This is for Lisheng.”
“Adding on to that one time for Harry’s sake, it has been twice already, my dear brother. You embarrassed me twice in front of my girlfriend, so I must let you have a taste back this time!” To their surprise, Randy resisted Stephen this time, unwilling to admit himself outdone. The two brothers started to have their limbs tangled with each other and soon, the rest of their teammates also joined in the battle.
Such a half-genuine and half-sham wrestling game was very unfamiliar to Zhang Lisheng, so he was not interested in it either way.
He was not like his half brother Harry, of whom he shared the same mother with, who was cheering excitedly with a flushed face towards Stephen. Instead, he took a can of Coke from the table and opened it before hugging his legs and sank deeper on the sofa, sipping his drink while shaking his head, nobody knew what he was thinking about.
“Hello, Lisheng.” Suddenly, a sweet voice awakened the boy from his deep thoughts. Snapping back to reality, he saw the person sitting next to him had changed to become Stephen’s girlfriend Erinda, “I’ve long heard from Stephen before that he has a very smart brother who owns his own factory in his teens. I’m very happy to meet you.”
It was apparent that the girl did not want to neglect the family member of her boyfriend, so he took the initiative to talk with the lonely Zhang Lisheng. Such a considerate personality was very rare among the girls in the US. However, to Zhang Lisheng, it was much more burdensome to deal with such an enthusiastic person.
“Hello, Miss Erinda. I’m happy to meet you as well.” The young man repeated the girl’s words politely and continued to sit there without saying a word.
“Erinda, you’ve heard Stephen mentioning Lisheng’s slaughterhouse before? It’s a good place you know! I heard that swarms of pigs, cattle, and sheep would be knocked out by the electric bar and then sent to the production line. The machine would automatically behead them and cut open their chests. The bright red blood would spray out…”
“Oh, that sounds very exciting! Have you seen it before, Randy? Have you personally seen it before?” Among the young men who came from Los Angeles, a big guy called Stille shouted and asked as he panted.
“No, Stille. Damn it. Speaking of which, I’ve never been to my dear brother’s factory for a visit before…” After the frolic wrestling, Randy also froze for a moment, panting when he heard his friend’s question. “I’ve been too cold at him. I’ve decided to make up for it and today, after we finish our lunch, let us go see how Lisheng’s slaughterhouse kills the animals… AHH…”
Suddenly, he howled loudly at Michelle as he brandished his teeth, scaring the girl so much that she screamed in shock.
And just like that, after the young people finished their lunch in the Blue Space Restaurant in laughter, while all of the boys agreed in unison while the girls were complaining it was disgusting but at the same time could not suppress their curiosity, all of them entered three cars and proceeded to head straight to Mutteslow outside of New York City.
After entering the university, Randy’s car had been changed to become his dream car, a Dodge Ram. Stephen, on the other hand, bought a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee in Los Angeles with the money of his full scholarship and the subsidy he obtained from games. However, in comparison, Zhang Lisheng’s Explorer was the most eye-catching one, not because it was the largest but because its driver was too thin in comparison.
“Lisheng, you should exercise more. If you don’t grow taller, you won’t have any chance anymore… Your car is leading the way so you better drive faster. Right now, we’re already out of New York City, so the road is already spacious. We can completely speed up now…”
Sitting at the backseat of the Explorer were Riley, Michelle, and a guy from Los Angelos called Nottingdon.
He was already doing his utmost to please Riley during lunch and, due to the reason that she got in into Zhang Lisheng’s car, he entered too in the end. Ever since then, he kept complaining non-stop.
Zhang Lisheng was annoyed throughout the journey, but he merely smiled as a reply.
However, when they were nearing Mutteslow, he saw Nottingdon beginning to get bored and started to bug Riley for her phone number, so he interrupted right away. “Mr. Nottingdon, actually, I think my car speed is very fast already, as fast as my punch in fact. For this reason, I don’t have to exercise even more, nor do I have to keep pressing down on the accelerator.
“Hey young man, just how fast your punch can be? I’m an amateur boxer and can punch three punches in a second in the training hall.” Nottingdom seized this opportunity to roll up his sleeves so he could reveal his thick arm. “You see, Riley. This is my…”
“Watch out for your cap.” As Nottingdon was talking, a low voice resonated by his ears. Then, he felt a strong gust of wind sweep across his face with a ‘whoosh’, till his face began to shudder while the cap he was wearing fell on the ground.
It took some time for the boy to snap back to reality. Seeing Zhang Lisheng moving his right fist away from beside his head, he gulped down his saliva and forced a smile. “D-Do you have a hair dryer in your sleeves?”
“Not only a hairdryer. There’s even a symphony orchestra as well. Do you wanna listen to it?” Zhang Lisheng asked and began to stretch his body. At once, the cracking sound from every joint of his bones began to fill the air.
The joints of a person who exercised regularly would make such a sound as well during stretching, but it would never be so loud to such a horrifying extent.
Recalling the strong wind produced by Zhang Lisheng’s punch, and how his exposed neck suddenly became thicker that revealed a steel-like toughness, Nottingdon answered wisely. “Looks like I’ve misjudged you, M-Mr. Lisheng. You’re a strong person, a very strong person! I guess you must have learned kung fu before… Oh sh*t! What’s that?”
“My factory, Mr. Nottingdon,” Zhang Lisheng replied and turned his car onto the winding road to the factory, crossing hundreds of trucks queuing in a long line while carrying desperately screaming livestock behind them, before stepping on the accelerator to rush to the front of the factory. “Welcome to the new LS slaughterhouse.”
