Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Riley was obviously a regular customer in this restaurant. As soon as she entered, a waitress wearing a white shirt and gray skirt with her sleeves rolled up high, walking around busily holding an order menu immediately greeted her, “Riley, is it your turn to book a seat today? Can you go to table number 8? I’ll be there in a minute. ”
“Sure, Lisa!” The girl smiled and nodded at the waitress before leading Zhang Lisheng through the restaurant that was getting more and more crowded with seats. As they headed to the corner, she whispered along the way, “Most of the business in this restaurant comes from the media reporters nearby. They’re all regular customers, so the restaurant doesn’t accept any appointment. We can only come earlier to book the table if we want to eat here…”
While she was explaining, they both walked into a square table with its two sides leaning against the wall. When they sat in front of the table that could accommodate 7 to 8 people max, Riley took out her phone from the bag and made a call. “Jules, we’re lucky today. I’ve managed to get us a table. Help me tell Cathy and come right after your OT.”
“You’ve managed to get us a table? That’s great! Riley, you really have no idea just how much I crave for small red sausage from ‘The Reporter’s Home.’ I really wish to run there right now. Sigh, but my legs are killing me now that I’ve spent my entire day at work. I don’t think I can run anymore after work,” A weak female voice resonated from the end of the phone.
“Then I’ll tell you good news to give you a boost. I’m now with a special person whom you really want to meet. You better come running here if you don’t want to miss this out.”
The other side of the phone went silent for a while. A few seconds later, the voice suddenly became very loud. “Riley Lavin! D-Don’t tell me that you’re w-with Li—that person now?”
“Shhhh, Jules! You should know how hard he’s avoiding all those interviews, right? But he’s not so lucky today. He drove around the city wandering around but sent himself into the trap called ‘The Reporter’s Home’ for dinner instead,” Riley chuckled in a whisper. “Remember, it’ll just be a dinner between friends later. Don’t bring work over, okay?”
“Okay! I absolutely understand! Don’t worry. I’ll warn Pierre. Ah this damn Fevin keeps keeping me here to work overtime! Ah damn it! Damn it! I’ll finish right away, wait for me.” An anxious voice resonated from the phone and then was hung up straight after.
Riley shrugged and put away her mobile phone. Looking at the young man, she jokingly said, “Did you hear that, dear brother? You’re full of charm now! Many colleagues of mine regretted leaving you alone at the party last time. Are you interested in meeting them again? ”
“Of course, I’m not interested. I’m 100% devoted to the experimental oasis now, and I don’t have time for anything else, nor do I want to meet anybody now.”
“Experimental oasis? Oh yeah, you’ve just dug out a large wetland there, and you even wrote an excellent paper, right? This could also be a very substantial news-worthy story, but unfortunately, the heat has died down. The reporters around the world are focussing their undivided attention on Justin and Emma Watson’s wedding now instead. Well, speaking of which, your fame has died down farther than you wished.
“Around the world?” Zhang Lisheng chuckled and shook his head. “You mean the small Noah, right? Riley, the poor people in the isolated cities on Earth will not give a damn about any artists’ scandals or whatsoever at all. Well, then again, they no longer follow the news since a long time ago.”
“Well, it’s not necessarily true…” After hearing this, Riley seemed to have something to say but was interrupted by the waitress who hurried to the table, “Riley, what would you like to have today?”
“Two cans of iced Coke, three large cups of latte… two small red sausage hot dogs, three spaghetti with ribs… That’s pretty much all, Lisa. Thank you,” The girl listed the menu that had already been prepared and after sending the waitress away, she continued to say to the young man. “There’s a news saying that the campaign team of New York State Assemblyman Barbara Strand is promoting the ‘honeymoon relationship’ between the Wizard Li World and the United States in the old New York City. It’s said that she also intends to propose a motion asking the federal government to plead to Wizard Li to form a formal diplomatic relation to request them to provide humanitarian assistance to national refugees. If this bill is passed, I’m afraid you will be in the limelight again. ”
The reason why Zhang Lisheng spent a great effort and a lot of hard work to establish a friendly relationship between the Wizard Li and the US government from its initially faint hostile relationship was because he had a fundamental purpose of allowing his army of faith to enter the States’ territory one day to raid the other ‘worlds.’
This purpose was similar to snatching food from a tiger or pulling chestnuts out of the fire and could even be said as entirely whimsical, so of course, it was impossible to be achieved overnight. It must be accomplished slowly through the improvement of the relationship between Wizard Li and the United States, and the mutual dispatch of a diplomatic envoy to establish formal diplomatic relations. This could be said as one of the key breakthroughs.
Now that his coveted opportunity had already begun to emerge, Zhang Lisheng was extremely overwhelmed with joy. However, when he heard the strange wish of the federal lawmaker asking humanitarian assistance from the Wizard Li tribe, that was still a cannibal tribe not long ago, for the sake of the US refugees, he could not help but be baffled with astonishment. With his jaw dropped, he chuckled, “Humanitarian assistance? Asking Wizard Li to give humanitarian assistance to the US refugees? Oh, this is really, really a mind-blowing proposal, but I like it, I like it a lot!”
“Reporters who run the political line said that this is nothing more than the ‘drying struggle’ of MP Barbara to enter the Senate next year,” Riley shook her head. “Her prestige among the new New York residents in Noah World is very low, so she can only put her hope on those old New York refugees stranded on Earth.”
“What? Don’t tell me that those federal citizens stranded on Earth will still be able to vote during the election?”
“Of course, according to the Constitution, the citizens’ voting rights cannot be deprived in any way. The federal government unites with the state government from various states to prevent refugees from entering the Noah World, but they cannot prohibit them from voting.”
“Is it so?” Zhang Lisheng did not grow up in a western democratic country after all. Adding on to the fact that he was a dictating god himself, he could not understand the importance of the election to the United States, prompting him to remark in shock, “How is that possible?! They would need cities that have become isolated islands to collect votes and to monitor whether the voting is fair. Just how much financial material and human resources will be wasted on this? Is this even necessary?”
“No matter how expensive it is, Lisheng, it still has to be done. Otherwise, there’s no meaning for the United States to exist anymore,” The girl replied in a matter-of-fact tone without hesitation. “Besides, things are not as difficult as you think. The military and the government’s communication channel is now very smooth, and the federation government still holds the territories on Earth… ”
“It’s just abandoning tens of millions of less important lower-level citizens anyway…” The young man interrupted the girl with a sarcastic tone contemplatively. The waitress walked up serving drinks to them at this moment, so he did not continue to talk drivel.
“Riley, dear, here are your drinks first,” The waitress of average appearance but with a very sexy figure placed the drink on the table and smiled at Riley. She then pointed at Zhang Lisheng and asked, “Is this handsome, charming man your boyfriend?”
“He? Of course not. He’s my family! He’s my brother,” Riley said with a smile and a shake of her head.
“Oh? Then which one among the drinks is his?”
“Coke. He loves iced Coke the most.”
“What an interesting habit. In that case, these two cans of Coke are on me. Hi handsome, nice to meet you. I’m Lisa Marian. I work shift at this restaurant and get off work at 7 pm. If you’re interested, I’ll be happy to spend a good night with you at any time,” The waitress winked at the young man and then left to resume her busy work.
“Oh, looks like Lisa likes a bearded Asian man. No wonder Tony couldn’t get her. Ah your good luck is approaching, Lisheng. Even a girl has taken the initiative to ask you out for a date. Looks like Aunt Lili’s worry has been unnecessary…” Riley joked. At this time, she suddenly caught a glimpse of her few friends of whom she had made an appointment with and an unexpected colleague pushing open the door to enter the restaurant. immediately, she waved and greeted, “Jules, Cathy, Dubin… Miss Julie.”
“Hi Riley…” five to six young assistant producers and a fledgling reporter went up to table number 8 with a slightly strange expression and sat down. They smiled at Riley before turning to look at the young man beside her. With a slight looking somewhat hesitant, they greeted, “Good evening, Dr. Zhang.”
The newly popular anchor who came with them, on the other hand, appeared to be very natural since she entered.
“Oh, we must have met before at Riley’s party, right? It’s not a working hour, nor are you interviewing me now, so there’s no need to be so formal. Just call me Lisheng,” Upon hearing such a formal title, Zhang Lisheng chuckled and said with a shrug.
After hearing this, everyone else just smiled, but Jules’ expression relaxed right away. Like an old friend, she greeted and said, “You seem to have changed a lot compared to when I saw you at the party last time, Lisheng. Your skin looks healthier now and you even have a beard! Don’t tell me that you’ve been living in seclusion in the desert?”
“Well, something like that. I’ve written a paper on the desert and dug out a large piece of wetland according to the theory on the paper and transformed it into grassland. Now I’m trying to transform it into a farm, so I really don’t put much effort into my looks,” The young man shrugged.
“I did notice this news,” Jules’ eyes lit up as he stared at Zhang Lisheng. “Your paper was published on the front page of the journal Science. The editor-in-chief, Professor Donner, commented that ‘this is the greatest biological discovery so far in the 21st century. If the Nobel Prize continues to be given out, there’s no doubt to whom the biomedical award will go.’ This is really amazing!”
“Oh, but unfortunately, Professor Donner is not the chairman of the Nobel Prize judging committee, and Sweden has almost perished. I’m afraid the government and the royal family no longer have the mood to hold any award ceremony now.” Shrugging indifferently to the appraisal, the young man said, “There’s nothing amazing about it. In fact, compared to these empty evaluations, the impact of science on human society is more important.”
