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Chapter 189: A Gathering Of Enemies
writer:Early Cloud      update:2022-07-15 17:36
  Crying Fish cast an affectionate gaze in their direction, almost as if she were looking at her boyfriend.

  Shen Jingbin followed her gaze, and, as expected, she was looking straight at Zhao Chengning. The man beside her really was a lady killer.

  Unfortunately, for Crying Fish, it was an unrequited love. During this time, Zhao Chengning didn’t even spare her a single glance. This caused Crying Fish to be so ticked off that, after getting off the stage, she shot a vicious glare at Shen Jingbin as she passed by their group.

  Truth be told, Shen Jingbin found this really strange. Crying Fish had seemed normal when she saw her and Zhao Chengning together in the lift. But now, after finding out that the man she’d met was Zhao Chengning, her attitude immediately took a 180. This led her to wonder: Did Crying Fish like Quiet And Steadfast as a person, or was she only attracted to the name ’Quiet And Steadfast’? In that case, did that mean she didn’t care who he was, as long as he bore that name?

  Due to the number of awards that had to be presented to players, the award ceremony was a little drawn out. Of course, the game’s officials wouldn’t just let the players dumbly sit there and watch. As the award ceremony went on, a performance was held in conjunction to help alleviate boredom. Surprisingly, the performance was actually a skit held by COSER, one of the more famous celebrities, and the cosplay society.

  Currently, 2D culture was becoming increasingly popular in the world, which also meant that their target audience grew proportionately. Although <>’s player base consisted of youths, a fair number of them loved 2D culture as well. As such, the entire ballroom broke into an uproar when COSER made an appearance.

  Thanks to Huajuan, Shen Jingbin had a superficial understanding of 2D culture and knew a bit about these celebrities. She didn’t notice it when she was at the hotel’s entrance before, but now, she realised that she recognised some of them. This gave her a great deal of consolation and piqued her interest at the same time. On the other hand, this was unknown territory for Zhao Chengning. When he saw how everyone around him - including his wifey - was looking on with keen interest, he felt a little bewildered as he couldn’t figure out what was so exciting about it.

  In an attempt to recapture his wifey’s attention, Zhao Chengning leaned over to her ear and asked, "Where do you want to go when we’re done with the activities on this side?"

  "Mm? Let’s head over to the other two ballrooms and have a look…… Oh, that’s right. Let’s call, Qi Mu, Pure Crane, and The Winds Of Ximen along with us."

  Zhao Chengning was of the same mind, so he nodded. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and noticed that the guest performers were coming down the stage. Just as he thought that it was finally over and that the event could continue, another group of people got on stage. At this moment, Shen Jingbin’s body stiffened.

  "What’s wrong?" he asked, confused.

  \r \r \r

  "Look at the girl who’s dressed up as a Nymph, that’s Morning Glory Chime."

  "Eh?" Zhao Chengning looked over and found that they did indeed look familiar. "They do look kind of familiar. How do you know that she’s Morning Glory Chime? Do you know her in real life?"

  Looks like he didn’t remember.

  Shen Jingbin kindly helped to jog his memory. "She’s from my school. You saw her when you went to my school to give a speech."

  Zhao Chengning finally managed to recall who she was, and he adopted a look of interest. "It looks like apart from Nine Ballads, all of your enemies are gathered here now."

  Shen Jingbin glared at him. "Really? 90% of the people I’m enemies with came after me first!"

  Zhao Chengning innocently laughed, nearly blinding the countless women who were staring at him in secret with its brilliance.

  By the time all of the activities were over, it was nearly 1 pm. No wonder she was feeling so hungry.

  After they exited the ballroom and finally had some time to talk, The Winds Of Ximen asked with a look of disbelief on his face, "Hey, are you really Nutjob and not just some actor?"

  Shen Jingbin, who found it ridiculous, looked at him and asked, "What kind of joke would that be?"

  The Winds Of Ximen looked at her seriously and said, "It’s like the kind of story you read in novels, where a person who doesn’t look that good but doesn’t want to lose face, hires an actor to stand in for them at these kinds of offline meetups."

  A kind looking man stood up from behind The Winds Of Ximen and said with a smile, "Ximen, you’ve read too many novels. No one would do such a thing in real life."

  Zhao Chengning shook the other man’s hand. There was hardly any difference in the two men’s expressions. "Quiet And Steadfast."

  Qi Mu feebly got up from her seat and said in a whisper, "Ah, I’m Qi Mu."

  "Boss, where to next? Next Week Is Unlikely said to tag along with you," asked I’m Not A Monster. He and the other members of Jade Sea Pavilion, who were seated in the back row, had also gotten up and walked over to them. Upon seeing Pure Crane, he froze for a moment before happily skipping over. "Eh? Are you Pure Crane? I never expected you to be just as handsome in person as you were in-game."

  Pure Crane eyed the group and asked, "Jade Sea Pavilion has the most number of people attending this event, right?"

  I’m Not A Monster puffed up his chest. "Of course, we’re the cream of the…… Hey, you guys are The Winds Of Ximen and Qi Mu, right? Did you come on your own, or did you come with friends?"

  "I live near B City, so I came on my own," The Winds Of Ximen said.

  "I came on my own too," replied Qi Mu.

  I’m Really Not A Monster slapped his thigh and said, "That’s great, why don’t you come along with us and have some fun then. It’s fine since we know each other in the game, right?"

  Actually, I Am A Monster cut in. "Hey bro, even though the Boss said that he’d be footing the bill for today, don’t you think it’s a little rude if you don’t ask for his opinion?"

  "Don’t bother about him Boss, we’ll help you take care of him!" declared Actually, I Am A Monster.

  Zhao Chengning ignored their buffoonery and said to Pure Crane and company, "It’s a rare opportunity for us to meet together like this, so let’s have a meal together. Are you guys free?"

  Pure Crane’s group exchanged looks with one another before nodding.

  Players who’d received an invitation from Yiju would have breakfast, lunch, and dinner provided by the hotel. However, the food’s quality was nothing to write home about.

  As such, Zhao Chengning decided to switch to a high-end restaurant instead and ordered two tables worth of food for them before bringing the group over.

  Panlong Kaiyuan Intercontinental Hotel was situated in a pretty good location, with several restaurants unique to B City near it. In fact, one could even walk to a restaurant without worry.

  The moment they stepped out of the hotel’s lounge, the group saw a beautiful woman in red. Upon seeing them, the woman in red walked up to greet them. In particular, the woman’s joy-filled eyes were focused on Zhao Chengning who was in the middle of the group.

  "Long time no see, Chengning." The woman in red comfortably walked up to Zhao Chengning, intent on planting a kiss on his cheek. But, her attempt was thwarted by Zhao Chengning dodging to the side.

  "Long time no see, Senior Sister." In contrast to the woman in red’s passionate greeting, Zhao Chengning’s attitude was much colder.

  "Hey, Chengning, Weiwei and I will head off with the rest of the group first. Make sure you catch up soon." As expected of someone who’s been Zhao Chengning bro for years now; he was able to detect the subtle change in Zhao Chengning’s expression and knew what he was thinking. He immediately stepped forward to speak before leading the rest of the group off, giving the pair space to talk in private.

  "I thought you weren’t going to come, but it looks like you decided to show up in the end. I remember you disliking these kinds of events, where both shady and upright people would mix." As she spoke, the woman in red’s gaze drifted over to Shen Jingbin who was standing by his side.

  Zhao Chengning looked at his wifey with eyes filled with adoration and said, "She wanted to have a look at the event, so I decided to accompany her."

  The woman in red’s smile immediately froze. A short while later, she regained her composure and asked, "I saw the two of you on stage just now. Aren’t you going to introduce me?"

  Hundred Daybreaks’ real name was Zhang Lu. She came from an average family and got to know Zhao Chengning in university during one of the university’s social events. Since she wasn’t a part of his daily interactions, she wasn’t aware that Shen Jingbin was his fiancee. As for the news about the couple being together that was revealed just now, she just treated it as a sex scandal that was used to hype up the game. She knew a bit about how illustrious families with daughters liked to do things. Nowadays, didn’t rich people like marrying off their daughters to raise their company’s stock price?

  In Zhang Lu’s mind, she firmly believed that the relationship between Zhao Chengning and this flower vase definitely wasn’t true love. As for their status as husband and wife in the game, well, that was definitely fake as well.

  If she were going to put on an act, she’d follow through with it all the way. It looked like the daughters of wealthy families were all very cunning.

  \r \r \r

  Zhao Chengning said, "This is my fiancee, Shen Jingbin. Little Jing, this is my senior from university, Zhang Lu." Zhao Chengning had a casual look in his eye, but he actually took the job of introducing them very seriously.

  "Hello, Senior Sister." Shen Jingbin blinked her eyes before taking the initiative to stretch out her hand.

  Zhang Lu tilted her chin upwards ever so slightly and shot a glance at Shen Jingbin’s hand before she unwillingly shook it. "Oh, so you’re Nutjob. I’m Hundred Daybreaks."

  She didn’t mind being called Nutjob by someone she was familiar with, but she’d really have been a Nutjob if she actually responded to a love rival; especially one who was clearly trying to make fun of her by referring to her as ’Nutjob’. Since that was the case, Shen Jingbin didn’t bother being polite any longer. "Senior Sister, my name is Shen Jingbin, not Nutjob."

  "You know that’s not what I meant; why do you have to pick at what I say?" Zhang Lu said helplessly. She then looked to Zhao Chengning, as if to say, ’Look, your girlfriend can’t even take a joke.’

  However, Zhao Chengning acted as if he hadn’t seen the look she was giving him, and said, "Senior Sister, my friends are waiting for us, so we can’t stay to talk any longer. We’ll be taking our leave first. Let’s meet again if time permits."

  "Hey, are you meeting up with the rest of the members of Jade Sea Pavilion? In that case, I’ll tag along so I can meet them too. We don’t normally have gatherings like this, and we don’t know when the next time an event like this is going to come around. I want to meet them while I still have the chance." Zhang Lu wasn’t the least bit polite and interjected immediately after Zhao Chengning spoke.

  Truth be told, Zhang Lu did interact quite a bit with the members of Jade Sea Pavilion in the game. That being the case, Zhao Chengning couldn’t find a reason to reject her.

  When Zhao Chengning didn’t reply, she turned to Shen Jingbin and said, "You don’t mind if I join in on your gathering, right?"

  Shen Jingbin shrugged. "Senior Sister can join us if that’s what you want. I don’t mind."

  "Uh huh, in that case, please lead the way, Chengning."

  Zhao Chengning had a bad feeling about this. He glanced at his girlfriend, but to his surprise, she didn’t look the least bit unhappy about this. He couldn’t figure out what she was thinking, so he didn’t say anything else and just held her hand as he led the way.

  Zhang Lu, who lagged behind the couple, glanced at their interlocked hands and her expression darkened.

  The food had already been served by the time the three of them reached the restaurant. Everyone else was waiting for them while sipping on some water. Upon seeing the couple, they acted as if they’d met their saviour, only to find out that there was someone following behind the pair shortly after. At that moment, the lively atmosphere that had just sprouted immediately fizzled out.

  As a woman who came from a wealthy family, Jiang Weiwei could immediately sense Zhang Lu’s hostility and that she was scheming something. Jiang Weiwei dropped back into her seat and haughtily asked, "You’re Hundred Daybreaks? Why’d you come to Jade Sea Pavilion’s gathering?"

  Zhang Lu froze. She probably wasn’t expecting someone to just call her out like that.

  "I thought that since we’re quite familiar with each other in-game, I should take the opportunity to join in on your gathering and meet everyone. Oh right, you are?"

  "Who I am doesn’t matter. All you have to know is that you and I aren’t on close terms with one another," Jiang Weiwei said as she rolled her eyes at Zhang Lu.