Zhang Mingyu nodded: "Okay, I'll let you know when the time comes."
"good."
————
Cheng Anlang returned to the dormitory and placed Cheng Dahua next to the fish tank on the table: "Keep pretending. You need to give it to Zhang Mingyu in a few days."
Cheng Dahua knew that the wealthy man who treated her to dinner was named Zhang Mingyu, and she happily began drooling over the fish tank.
Cheng Anlang opened the ranked match interface and started calculating his redeemable points.
Before he changed his mech, he couldn't participate in ranked matches. The basic mechs are divided into low-end, mid-end, and high-end, while the mid-end mechs only have one model without different levels. His mech is a low-end basic mech, and he only won against that crazy mid-end mech by using tricks. Now his points have skyrocketed, and the opponents he's matched with are even more skilled. One wrong move and he'll be eliminated. He can't take that risk.
Cheng Anlang opened the school's mecha shop, calculated his money, and found that after deducting the percentage that could be offset...
Even at fifty percent of the price, he still couldn't afford a mid-level mecha...
Cheng Anlang thought for a moment. The mutated beast competition was in a few days. The students who had registered could skip class in the afternoons and have plenty of time to use. He could try to make some money then...
Cheng Anlang's gaze slowly drifted toward Cheng Dahua.
Cheng Dahua, oblivious to everything, stared intently at the fish tank, drooling uncontrollably.
————
Advanced combat room, area A.
Shen Rui did a sit-up on his chair, and the duck flapped its wings and flew up, bumping into Luo Sifen's head: "Xiao Ya is inviting Cheng Anlang to dinner?"
"Gah!"
"hiss--"
Yu Ya separated the ducklings and radish powder that were making a mess, looking bewildered: "I didn't..."
Zhang Mingyu flicked the small parts he had taken apart into the parts box with his finger and said casually, "If that's how you put it, I'll pay for it."
Yu Ya asked in confusion, "Money doesn't matter, so why are you..."
"I couldn't think of a suitable reason, so I can only say that you treated him. Besides, haven't you always wanted to get together with him?"
"That's true, but it's you... why did you go through all this trouble..."
Zhang Mingyu: If I hadn't gone through all this trouble, he would have gotten away...
Zhang Mingyu coughed softly, walked to a chair and sat down. He took out a small piece of crystal he always carried with him and fed it to the lizard perched on his shoulder: "Just say that when he asks."
Yu Ya nodded: "Okay."
Shen Rui felt something was off no matter how he thought about it. He grabbed the leg of the duck that was trying to fly around and said, "Why do you insist on eating with him?"
Zhang Mingyu said with a serious face: "Maintain a good relationship, lest he be pulled away by someone else."
Shen Rui: You don't even need to maintain relationships, do you? If you give the order, people will flock over in droves. Besides, he's a poor student under my name, where could he run off to?
Speaking of impoverished students, Shen Rui suddenly remembered: "By the way, what did you say last time about opening up a quota for sponsoring impoverished students? Do you really need to sponsor impoverished students? My and Yu Ya's are enough."
Zhang Mingyu: "It's just opening a location, transferring someone else's location to my name."
As she spoke, she glanced at Chen Rui almost imperceptibly.
Shen Rui immediately understood: "You wouldn't be thinking of..."
Zhang Mingyu didn't reply. He turned to Yu Ya and said, "Do you have time? Set a time and I'll let him know."
Yu Ya glanced at her schedule: "The day after tomorrow!"
Zhang Mingyu nodded, preparing to inform Cheng Anlang.
Shen Rui shouted, "Why didn't you ask me? I want to go too!"
"quack!"
Zhang Mingyu glanced at him: "Keep an eye on the ducks, lest they fall into Big Flower's mouth again."
————
Cheng Anlang pulled Cheng Dahua off the flowerpot, put it in the steaming bathtub, and squeezed toothpaste onto it: "Don't swallow the whole plate in one bite when you eat later."
"Ooh." Cheng Dahua blew a big bubble without caring at all.
Cheng Anlang reached out and popped the bubble: "The duck and snake you saw last time will be there too. If the duck falls into your mouth again, you must spit it out immediately, understand?"
"Ouch." Cheng Dahua persistently spat out another...
A big bubble.
Cheng Anlang exposed it again: "Be more elegant when you eat, okay? Don't try to do a high-altitude double act, okay?"
"Gurgle gurgle..."
Bubbles lined up like a long dragon as they poured out of Cheng Dahua's mouth. Cheng Anlang picked up the showerhead and rinsed the toothpaste out of Cheng Dahua's mouth.
"Ouch." Cheng Dahua swallowed a bellyful of bathwater and couldn't spit out the bubbles.
Cheng Anlang closed Cheng Dahua's mouth and rinsed it from head to toe. Finally, he picked up a thin steel rod and cleaned the soil hidden in the crevices of the roots: "If everyone else feeds their mutated beasts, then I'll feed you too. If they don't, then I won't either. You can eat by yourself, and don't drool everywhere."
Cheng Anlang placed the gleaming Cheng Dahua on his bed, picked up the golden flowerpot in one hand and the polishing tool that the flower shop owner had given him in the other.