“Brother? What are you here for?”
Lu Yu Chen sat himself down, panting. When he heard Xuan Mo’s question, he became particularly crestfallen: “My dad said y’all don’t really have anyone over so he told me to come over and look after you guys… who would have known… humph!”
“Oh, we do have people over, you can leave now.” Xuan Mo saved him no face as she joked. Things were getting prickly, and now she had another busybody sticking his nose in.
“What did you say?! You’re telling me to leave, not them?!” Lu Yu Chen almost jumped up.
Xuan Mo nodded consecutively: “This guy, and this guy, they have nowhere to go.”
“I, I, I was chased out by my dad too, I have nowhere else to go too, and c’mon I’m your brother, who are they to you? How can I leave you with a guy alone, no two guys alone in the middle of the night, did Aunt Xuan not say anything about this?”
“Then sit down.” After instructing, Xuan Mo’s expression fell, “and watch the gala!”
After Lu Yu Chen sat down, and he saw the shoehorn face appearing on the screen, he turned away painfully. Ling Yun had woken up. He looked around the room, asking in a daze: “What’s going on.” Suddenly he came to, his gaze bright, he exclaimed: “Aye! A— another one!?” He glared at Xuan Mo: “Is this the HQ or something?!”
Lu Yu Chen looked at him in confusion: “What?”
Xuan Mo and Ai Er Ge immediately figured out what this guy was thinking about, he probably thought another alien came! Ai Er Ge’s lips twitched, before drawling: “He’s not.”
“What do you mean he’s not?” Lu Yu Chen asked, unresigned.
Ling Yun instantly got it. At that, he laid back down on the sofa: “I mean, now we have enough people to play mahjong.”
“Ah?”
“Then let’s play!” Ai Er Ge immediately replied.
Xuan Mo rolled her eyes: “Grab it from the storeroom yourself.”
As a mundane middle-aged lady, Xuan Mo’s mother had her own hobbies, and so Xuan Mo knew where the mahjong table was kept in the house.
And so, the four young people gathered together at the table. The moment they sat down, Xuan Mo communicated with Ai Er Ge mentally via short-distance frequencies: “You know how to play?”
Ai Er Ge picked up a mahjong tile as though he’d been playing it for very long, and replied seriously: “No.”
“And you still went with it.”
“Given our intelligence, I don’t believe that I can’t pick it up.”
Xuan Mo minced her lips, and spoke honestly: “By the way, I don’t know how to play.”
“It’s fine, I can teach you!” Lu Yu Chen volunteered himself.
Ling Yun was silent, but he seemed as though he was a very skilled player. He asked: “We’re playing City H-style mahjong?”
“Of course!”
The three of them looked at Ai Er Ge: “Do you know how to play?”
Ai Er Ge clenched his teeth and forced out: “Yes!”
And so, the four of them started.
The night passed as they played away; everyone at the table had won and lost. Among the four, three of them were perfectly fine, only Ai Er Ge was incredibly pale. Even his hands were trembling: “I, I, I…”
Xuan Mo had been incredibly amused at his situation throughout the entire night. Served him right for trying to act smart. When he finally figured out how to win the game, it dawned on him later that there were many ways to win. He racked his brains trying to figure everything out but his efforts were futile; he suddenly realised that the world of mahjong was indeed profound and endless.
Xuan Mo had told them that she didn’t know how to play from the start, she had no interest in figuring out the gameplay herself either. And so, Lu Yu Chen would move over and give her some directions at every turn. As a result, Xuan Mo didn’t make any particularly tragic losses that night. Lu Yu Chen was a seasoned player that had a number of strategies up his sleeves, meanwhile Ling Yun was smart and incredibly observant. It was just the two of them winning money the entire night, meanwhile Ai Er Ge was the only one that was losing money.
“Aye, I thought I won’t be getting any lucky money during CNY, who would have known that I’d be able to receive some on CNY’s eve, haha!” Ling Yun produced the several red notes and made a gleeful effort to count the money. The scene pissed Ai Er Ge off so much the latter was slamming on the tables.
Lu Yu Chen wanted to add fuel to the fire, so he immediately quipped in too: “What’s there to be angry about, this is probably just the amount you earn in a single night. Since you can’t finish it, we’re here to help you spend it, ahahah!”
“One night, what nonsense! This is the amount of money I’d earn in a month! And I didn’t even manage to work for an entire month!” Ai Er Ge grumbled.
“Ah?! Fool’s Quay looks really high-end, didn’t know the pay was this low?”
“The heck, I’m working as a LAN shop manager right now, and even that is only two grand a month!”
“LAN shop?” After returning, Lu Yu Chen had not been to Thunder. At his reply, Lu Yu Chen was a bit confused, “I spoke to Ah La Lei recently, he told me that he hired a new and incredibly manager… it can’t be you can it?”
“It’s me!”
“…” Lu Yu Chen silently slid the money into his pocket, muttering: “What a tragedy, poor Ah La Lei, how in the world did he find himself such a noob in games, how exactly was this guy incredible, I sure ain’t seein’ it.”
Ai Er Ge snorted, not bothering to talk to him.
If Ai Er Ge revealed that he was actually EGG, he might just give Lu Yu Chen quite a shock. It was a pity though that Ai Er Ge took after Xuan Mo, when they were in a game, they’d take it seriously, but when they’re out of the game, their gaming achievements didn’t come to mind. In the civilisations that they were from, even if the software was just a game, it had to have some sort of mental energy activation or development benefits, or combat improvement benefits, it wouldn’t be approved for release otherwise.
Xuan Mo’s mother walked in. When she saw a roomful of youth, she paused for a moment before she broke into a smile: “Aye aye, it’s CNY today but it’s much livelier than normal! Come, what do you want to eat for breakfast, tell Aunt and I can prepare!”
Before Xuan Mo spoke, the three guys replied in unison: “Aunt, what do you want to eat! We can go out to buy!”
Xuan Mo’s mother was smiling so much her eyes were squinted into a fine line. She glanced at Xuan Mo meaningfully: “What are y’all planning to buy, it’s the first day of CNY today. What about this, maybe someone who can cook rice cake, glutinous rice balls and whatnot… Xiao Ling you’re a northerner right, you guys usually eat dumplings yes, go take a look in the fridge, there’s quite a bit in the freezer…”
“Alright!” After receiving instructions, Ling Yun headed off first, opened the fridge and started looking through the fridge. Lu Yu Chen’s father was usually not in, and they had no helper in the house, so he was pretty independent. At that, the latter went off into the kitchen too.
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