Chapter 73 Roses

Mu An had just finished taking out the trash and buying seasonings before heading upstairs.

He heard intense arguing coming from Lu Xiaoqiao's home.

It wasn't that he was eavesdropping on purpose; it was just that his attributes were too powerful, his senses too sharp, and he was forced to hear a few things.

"Old woman, by what right do you have to freeze my bank card? That's all money my old man left for me!"

"What do you mean by 'for my own good'? If you really wanted what was best for me, you wouldn't have sold the company immediately after my father passed away. That was the result of his hard work for most of his life!"

"Don't you dare try to force me to go back. Let me tell you, old woman, I've already joined the Superpower Administration Bureau, and I won't be needing your measly money anymore!"

"Running away from home? So what if I ran away from home?"

"Not only am I running away, but I'm also going to live with those unsavory punks you're always complaining about!"

"I'm not afraid to tell you, we do it more than ten times every night. Maybe one day you'll suddenly see your own biological grandson appear!"

"Of course, I definitely won't let him acknowledge you as his grandmother, so just give up!"

"Hmph! Damn old woman!!"

The call seemed to have been hung up, and the arguing ended there.

Mu An was left speechless.

This was an explosive amount of information!

If the young girl found out he was 'eavesdropping', wouldn't he be chopped into minced meat?

Unfortunately, just as he wanted to open his own door as if nothing had happened...

Lu Xiaoqiao opened her door first.

For a moment, the two stared at each other, wide-eyed and speechless.

The young girl's eyes were red, and seeing Mu An staring at her...

She felt a bit embarrassed and sniffled, pretending not to care.

"Did you hear everything?"

"Hear what?"

Mu An feigned ignorance while glancing at the door behind her.

He was trying to catch a glimpse of the 'punk' she had mentioned.

He also wanted to see the powerhouse who was drained more than ten times a day.

Lu Xiaoqiao was silent for a moment, then suddenly apologized first.

"Sorry, I... ran into some issues on my end, and I couldn't buy the ingredients I promised you."

"It's fine, it's just a casual meal. Regardless of how many dishes there are, there will definitely be enough rice!"

Mu An waved his hand.

The two parted ways for the time being, and Mu An went back to continue cooking.

Lu Xiaoqiao went back to take a shower, adjust her mindset, and would come over later.

An hour later.

The hot meal was served on the table.

Everything was ready.

However, Mu An discovered a 'new face' among the women.

He almost had a mental question mark above his head.

Wait, sister, who are you?

"Hey, why are you looking at this Young Miss like that? Don't you recognize who I am?"

"You said I was ugly when I wore makeup before, so how is my bare face now? Speak!!"

Lu Xiaoqiao, who had already hit it off with the other women, stood there with her hands on her hips, looking triumphant.

It was the same short hair with purple highlights, but her appearance was worlds apart.

If she had only been a 60 before on the subway, barely touching the passing threshold.

Then now she was definitely a 95 or higher, absolutely a great beauty!

"You're Lu Xiaoqiao? Did you swap heads with someone else, or did you just take the time to go to the Kimchi Country for plastic surgery?"

Mu An expressed his shock.

He didn't expect that he had misjudged her and had even learned to 'judge people by their appearance'.

Lu Xiaoqiao glared at him angrily.

"Hey friend, your words are a bit offensive!"

"Is there a possibility that this is this Young Miss's true appearance!"

The man shrugged.

He said indifferently.

"Then your punk is indeed lucky."

"What punk? This Young Miss is still a pure maiden, okay!"

Lu Xiaoqiao seemed to suddenly realize something, her finger trembling as she pointed at Mu An, gritting her teeth.

"Wait... you really did eavesdrop on my phone call earlier!"

"It wasn't eavesdropping, it was just happening to hear it. Don't go framing an innocent person!"

Mu An corrected her seriously.

Ding-dong—

At this moment, the doorbell rang.

Mu An escaped the battlefield first and ran to open the door.

Outside the door was Bai Ningyu, who had just 'returned from afar'.

Seeing who it was, the young girl opened her arms and hugged Mu An voluntarily.

Facing such closeness, Mu An's body couldn't help but stiffen for a moment.

Behind him were the complex gazes of the women, whether shocked, envious, or jealous.

"Surprise!"

Seeming to have replenished enough 'Mu An energy', Bai Ningyu pulled away slightly.

Then, she produced a rose as bright as a blazing fire from who knows where.

Mu An was left between laughter and tears.

Logically speaking, shouldn't it be the boy giving the girl a rose?

Why is it reversed now?

It felt like he had become the one being pursued?

But he still silently accepted the flower.

It was as if he were accepting the girl's most pure and flawless feelings.

...

When dinner started.

Bai Ningyu sat on Mu An's left, and Ning Xinyu sat on his right.

The rest of the beauties sat in a circle around the dining table.

Fortunately, the dining table that Bai Ningfu had equipped for this house was large enough.

Otherwise, they really might not have been able to sit.

"Xinyu, this is the meat from the fish belly. I've picked out some of the bones, so eat carefully."

Mu An picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks and gave it to the young girl.

Ning Xinyu nodded slightly.

She enjoyed this gentleness from Mu An very much.

Or rather, she was greedy for it.

But at the same time, she was also very distressed. As a 'blind person', she couldn't see anything and could only accept being fed; she couldn't pick food for Mu An.

Regarding this, she felt a little regretful in her heart.

Bai Ningyu was seriously peeling shrimp, not finding it troublesome or dirty—one, two, three...

Then she dipped them in the prepared sauce before placing them in Mu An's bowl.

"Eat the shrimp."

Mu An was between laughter and tears.

He picked up a shrimp from his own bowl and placed it by her mouth.

"Okay, you eat too."

Bai Ningyu didn't hesitate and swallowed it in one bite.

The fresh, sweet, and bouncy shrimp meat danced on her taste buds.

Just like the joyful heart hidden beneath the young girl's cold exterior.

Such a scene left the others with complex thoughts.

"That's enough, just watching you two showing off your affection is making me full!"

Shangguan Yafei couldn't help but complain.

She immediately picked up her beer...

Glug, glug, glug—

She was the only one drinking alcohol; everyone else was having fruit juice.

Of course, Mu An had also specially simmered a pot of slow-cooked soup for everyone to choose from.

But the most shocked person had to be Lu Xiaoqiao.

She had gone to the Superpower Administration Bureau to register today. Although she still needed to pass assessments to become an official member, she already knew quite a lot about the Bureau.

For example, the expressionless and harmless-looking girl in the white dress before her was the 'Hero' heavily promoted by the Bureau!

That's right, a hero!

At twenty-three years old, she had reached the pinnacle of the world's strongest.

In other words, Bai Ningyu was the youngest nine-star Transcendent of the current age!

The number of crises she had resolved was countless, and she had secretly solved who knows how many problems for the country.

The Bureau told all their new recruits to look up to this 'Lady Anyu'!

Lu Xiaoqiao naturally regarded her as her idol and goal.

But she never expected that she would have the honor of meeting her tonight.

And it looked like she was very close to this guy Mu An. Could they be... a couple?

The young girl couldn't help but think as she shoveled rice into her mouth.

By the way.

This guy Mu An really had a knack for cooking.

The ingredients were simple, but the food he made was quite delicious.

Dinner ended, and everyone chatted for a while longer.

It was past nine at night.

After Mu An's repeated urgings, Ning Xinyu reluctantly left.

Chen Nuonuo also patted her chest, promising to safely return Ning Xinyu to the dormitory.

Because she had been drinking, Shangguan Yafei called a private car to take the two girls back.

Lu Xiaoqiao said goodbye and slipped back to her own home next door.

This time, it was the familiar script again.

Bai Ningyu didn't stay long before her sister Bai Ningfu came to the door to personally 'invite' her back.

Nina was earnestly washing dishes in the kitchen.

As for that silly elf Renée, who knows if her brain had a short circuit, but she had a sudden whim and tried a sip of beer.

Then she got drunk into 'a lump', her alcohol tolerance truly touching.

Her cheeks were flushed, she was hugging a pillow and giggling from time to time, and she was saying some gibberish that others couldn't understand.

Mu An shook his head helplessly and carried her back to her room.

...

"Stinky man, kiss~ I want a kiss, okay~"

"Alright, alright, alright!"

Seeing the young girl clutching his clothes tightly and unwilling to let go, Mu An was helpless.

After hesitating for a moment, he could only gently tap her forehead.

Renée closed her eyes, grinning and giggling.

It was unknown if she was really drunk or faking it.

After getting what she wanted, a steady sound of breathing soon followed.

"Good night."

Mu An smiled, shook his head, and gently closed the door.

When it was near bedtime, Mu An's door was gently knocked on.

He opened the door to see Nina wearing cute pajamas, holding her own pillow and a thin quilt in her arms.

"Boss..."

The young girl looked up, wanting to say something but stopping.

Mu An felt slightly puzzled.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just... I want to sleep with you tonight..."

After saying that, Nina quickly promised.

"Just like before. I'll just sleep by the bed; I definitely won't get on the bed, I promise!"

"Is there something on your mind?"

Mu An seemed to have seen through the young girl's little thoughts at a glance.

Nina was silent for a moment, then nodded honestly.

"Yeah."

[Sigh—]

Mu An hesitated for a moment, then stepped aside to let her into his room.

As a qualified boss, he felt it was necessary to help ease his employee's emotional state.

There was a blanket by the bed, and since it was summer, sleeping on the floor wouldn't make her catch a cold.

After turning off the lights, in the darkness.

After some inner struggle, Nina suddenly called out softly.

"Boss, are you... asleep?"

"Not yet. What's wrong? Missing home?"

"Yeah, a little."

After a pause, Nina began to pour out her heart.

"It's mainly because I saw those children who lost their families at the orphanage today, and I... I missed my mom a little too..."

As she spoke, the young girl's mood became much lower.

Mu An had previously told Nina and Renée that they couldn't transmigrate back to the Magic World for the time being.

The two girls didn't have much resistance to this.

Nina almost had no family left there; she was all alone, so it didn't matter if she went back or not.

As for Renée, her heart was dead.

After that heros sword fell, the 'Renée' in the Magic World had already died.

It was equivalent to repaying all the upbringing grace of the Elven Race and severing all ties with them.

The only one alive now was the 'Chu Li'er' of the real world.

Mu An sighed inwardly.

To change the current dull atmosphere, he deliberately teased her.

"Can you tell me about your mom? After all, I'm the one who kidnapped her daughter!"

"Yeah. My mom was a very ordinary Cat-Ear Race demi-human. Because she had no talent for combat, she never had the chance to reach a very high Rank in her life, maybe just around level ten, but in my heart, she will always be the most beautiful and amazing mom!"

Speaking of her mom, Nina had a lot more to say.

"Mom always understood many, many principles, and I have always kept these principles in my heart."

"One must act uprightly and not take crooked paths."

"One must protect one's dignity like one's own life; sometimes, dignity is even more important than life itself..."

"But Mom herself didn't live by that last sentence."

"That year, the winter was very cold, and there was a shortage of food."

"As demi-humans, we were already heavily discriminated against and had almost no job opportunities, so naturally, we had no money to buy food."

"I was still young then and couldn't stand the hunger, so I kept crying for food."

"Mom had no choice but to go out and look for food."

"From morning until night, Mom finally came back with one and a half black breads."

"It's just that she was covered in injuries at the time, and she didn't explain why, but her smile was still so gentle."

"I wolfed down the food and asked Mom to eat too, but she just patted my head and said she wasn't hungry."

"After that, Mom soon fell ill."

"To make Mom get better as soon as possible, I prayed countless times for the gods to bless her, but I received no response."

"Every day, I tried hard to go out and pick up trash, wanting to find some leftovers that others didn't want."

"That day, I finally managed to snatch half a black bread from a bunch of bad guys fighting over trash."

"I went home happily, thinking that I could finally let Mom fill her stomach a little."

"But... but by that time, Mom was already dying."

"Before she passed away, that reluctant gaze in Mom's eyes... I will remember it for the rest of my life!"

"Later I learned that at that time, Mom had used her body to trade for food from those bad men..."

"I've always wondered if I indirectly killed Mom."

"If only I hadn't been crying and making a fuss about wanting food back then."

"If that were the case, Mom wouldn't have had to demean herself by doing those undignified things, and in the end, die of illness that winter..."

Nina was very depressed, sitting on the floor with her hands hugging her knees, sobbing slightly.

This sound was so resonant in the quiet darkness.

Mu An was silent for a moment.

He got up and then gently pulled the young girl's delicate body into his arms.

"Boss, I don't have a mom or any family anymore. Will you look down on me for being... a prostitute's daughter?"

Nina was tearful, her delicate body trembling slightly, her small hands tightly gripping Mu An's lapels.

It was as if she were grabbing the only straw she could hold onto in this life.

Mu An shook his head.

He held Nina tightly, his tone extremely serious.

"In my eyes, Nina's mom is not some prostitute."

"She is Nina's favorite mom, and also the greatest mom in the world!"

"It's not you who are wrong, but that man-eating world!"

"Besides, who said you don't have any family? From now on, I am your family!"

Nina hugged the man's back in return.

Her tears could no longer be held back, and she wailed loudly.

"Then... Boss, don't lie to me. I... I'm taking it seriously!"

"Let's pinky swear! Pinky swear, one hundred years, no changing!"

"Yeah, pinky swear, one hundred years, no changing!"

Their thumbs pressed tightly together, as if stamping a seal on their promise to each other.

Even a hundred years after a hundred years... it will never change!