"Haha, Champagne Inn? Old Tian, you like staying at Champagne Inn too? I never expected an old man like you to be interested in champagne."
Old Tian quickly shook his head: "Don't joke around, I'm not that kind of young punk. I just really miss that braised pork rice from that restaurant."
"Haha! You'd better go early, or there might not be any rooms left."
The liaison officer made a face at Lao Tian.
Chen Xiao was initially confused, but after arriving at the destination, he quickly understood why the people at the liaison office had such strange expressions.
Champagne Inn.
The name is strange, but in fact, this is an inn—an inn that looks like the kind of inn described in Chinese martial arts novels.
The restaurant is located in the lobby on the first floor. Two waiters are busy working in the lobby, while the guest rooms are upstairs.
To Chen Xiao's surprise, the lobby of the inn was completely full when he entered! This piqued his curiosity. Having traveled through many places in the town, he noticed that this place was quiet and sparsely populated.
But he soon understood why the place was so popular: most of the customers were young men who looked to be in their twenties or thirties. They included Asians, Westerners, and even Black men.
The problem is that all the furnishings in this inn are very oriental: an eight-immortal table, a long wooden bench, a wooden chopstick holder on the table, and a small white porcelain wine pot...
Seeing a group of blond-haired, blue-eyed, and dark-skinned foreigners sitting in a scene that should be the setting for many martial arts stories... it really gives you a feeling of time travel.
It was obvious that all these young people were focused on the girl sitting behind the counter.
This was a girl with red hair—that was what intrigued Chen Xiao.
The girl looked to be no more than twenty years old. Judging from her skin tone, eye color, and facial features, she was clearly of East Asian descent.
It must be said that this girl was extremely beautiful. She was wearing a floral dress and her long hair was styled in a large braid—an outfit that could be considered quite rustic. Yet, on her, it seemed to blend almost perfectly with her surroundings.
Especially when she was looking down as if she were looking at something intently. Her eyes were calm as water, her facial features were soft, and her eyelashes trembled slightly.
Upon seeing this girl, Chen Xiao immediately thought of a line of poetry: "The gentleness of that lowered head is the most captivating!"
When Lao Tian walked in, only a handful of people stood up to greet him—not because most people didn't know him, but because everyone's attention was focused on the young woman behind the counter.
She is indeed very beautiful and very attractive to the opposite sex.
When he reached the counter, Lao Tian extended two fingers and tapped them lightly twice on the counter.
The girl looked up at Old Tian, her big eyes sparkling with a smile: "Huh? Uncle Tian, you're back on the island? How many days are you staying this time?"
"I don't know, maybe two or three days."
The girl's Chinese was a little stiff, and Chen Xiao was slightly taken aback. He immediately recognized that the girl's Chinese accent was very similar to that of people from Hong Kong and Taiwan that he had seen at Kidd School.
But then he saw the thing the girl had been so engrossed in holding in her hands... and froze.
Such a classically beautiful woman, adorned in retro attire. Sitting quietly in this classic inn, what she's looking at is...
Fashion magazine?!
On the magazine's cover, a model wearing the latest Versace spring collection is striking a pose...
This is so bad! It's such a mood killer...
The girl simply smiled, then took out a set of keys from under the counter: "Upstairs, your old room."
Then, as if unwilling to speak any further, she lowered her head and continued flipping through her fashion magazine with a gaze filled with fervor and envy.
Old Tian seemed unfazed by this, and he tapped the table again.
"What? Is there anything else?"
"I need to exchange some currency." Old Tian smiled sheepishly. "I came in a hurry, and... you know I've been retired for a long time, I don't have much savings on the island..."
The girl finally smiled... but alas. While her smile was undeniably beautiful, a hint of cunning flickered in her eyes—she looked every bit the shrewd little merchant. This completely ruined her otherwise fresh and innocent beauty.
"How much?" the girl asked, squinting like a little fox.
Old Tian pulled a VISA card out of his pocket and pushed it over: "There's a million dollars in there."
The girl glanced at it, thought for a moment, then rummaged under the counter and took out several colorful things that looked like banknotes, placing them on the table.
Chen Xiao glanced at them quickly: these did indeed look like some kind of banknote. However, they were not the currency of any country he recognized.
Because the top banknote has seven or eight languages printed on it, including Chinese, English, French, and Russian! No other country in the world has its currency printed with so many languages!
The face value of the banknotes also surprised Chen Xiao.
The top one clearly shows "500".
Based on the fact that there are no more than ten banknotes on this counter, the total amount here wouldn't exceed five thousand yuan...
A million US dollars! And this is all you get? What kind of currency is this? Is it "Martian dollars"?
Old Tian glanced at it and looked troubled: "This... seems like the number is a little too low."
The girl sighed softly, but her eyes held a smile: "I'm sorry, Uncle Tian, this is the going rate now. I've already given you the most. If you don't believe me, you can go check other places; they can only offer you up to 90% of what I'm offering. I'm only doing this because we're old acquaintances..."
Old Tian sighed helplessly, and could only reach out and take the few banknotes. He thought for a moment, "But these are not enough for what I need. If possible, can I exchange them for something else?"
The girl smiled apologetically: "Uncle Tian, you know I run an inn, so I don't need those kinds of equipment."
Old Tian scratched his head, about to pull Chen Xiao away.
"etc!"