454: I thought you were dead.

Abalone swan pastries, olive kernel Sachima, Iberian black pig char siu, lemongrass baked pigeon...

One old man and one young man, two people dining, Ye Su ordered a full six dishes and a pot of Golden Bud black tea.

Including the fifteen percent service charge and tea fee, the meal cost Ye Su over eight hundred.

Seeing that Ye Su had ordered so many dishes, Ye Kaijun asked worriedly:

"With just the two of us, ordering this much, can we even finish it? Why don't we cancel a few dishes?"

"It's fine." Ye Su smiled and reassured him: "It's rare for us to come here for a meal, so we definitely have to taste a bit of everything. If we really can't finish it, we can just pack it up to take home."

"Alright then."

Hearing Ye Su say this, Ye Kaijun no longer insisted.

Given his current bank savings and his physical condition, spending a few hundred more on a meal didn't make much of a difference.

It was rare to have Ye Su accompany him for a meal, so if they wasted a little, it was fine.

Ye Kaijun stopped worrying about whether they had ordered too much food.

At this moment, Ye Su was struggling with how to complete the [hidden task - Caring for the empty-nester].

[Ye Kaijun's current mood happiness value is: 79 points!]

"It's just one point short of the final mood happiness value, how can I raise it?"

He had accompanied Ye Kaijun to the Ander Building, taken a walk with him outside, and even joined him for lunch at the White Swan Hotel.

Ye Su racked his brain but couldn't think of anything else he could do with Ye Kaijun.

"I can't possibly introduce an old partner for the old man, right?"

"Sigh..."

Ye Su sighed in his heart:

"If it can't be completed, so be it. I'll just treat it as keeping the old man company. Anyway, I had planned to visit Uncle Jun this morning, and I didn't expect a hidden task to be temporarily activated."

After realizing this, Ye Su stopped fretting about not being able to complete the task, picked up the teapot, and poured Ye Kaijun a cup of tea.

"Hmm..."

Taking a sip of the Golden Bud black tea, Ye Kaijun shook his head:

"This tea isn't as good as the one at home. If I had known, I would have brought a bag of tea from home to brew."

Ye Su smiled and took a sip of tea: "Then next time we come here to eat, I'll remind you to bring a bag of tea from home."

"Hahaha—" Ye Kaijun laughed heartily: "Alright."

[Ding!]

At the same time as Ye Kaijun laughed, a system prompt unexpectedly sounded in Ye Su's mind.

[Ye Kaijun's mood happiness value successfully reached 80 points. Congratulations to the Host for completing [hidden task - Caring for the empty-nester]!]

[The following task rewards are now being issued to the Host: 880,000 in cash, 8 points of Health attribute, one Mysterious Surprise Item - upgrade voucher. Please check, Host!]

"Huh?"

Looking at the task completion notification that popped up along with the system sound, Ye Su was a bit confused:

"It's completed just like that?"

Just a moment ago, when he was struggling because the task was almost complete, it just wouldn't finish no matter what.

Now that he wasn't worrying about completing the task, it had finished on its own.

Regarding this, Ye Su could only shake his head and chuckle:

"It really is a case of 'flowers planted with intention fail to bloom, while a willow slip planted unintentionally grows into a tree'!"

With nothing to do, he came to accompany Ye Kaijun for a meal and unexpectedly gained 880,000 in cash, 8 points of Health attribute, and a Mysterious Surprise Item - upgrade voucher.

Ye Su's current mood happiness value was probably even higher than Ye Kaijun's.

Feeling secretly pleased, Ye Su drank tea while listening to Ye Kaijun tell stories from the past, occasionally chiming in.

After the waiter brought the dishes one after another, Ye Su greeted Ye Kaijun and let him eat while he talked.

By the end of the meal, the two of them finished eating at nearly one in the afternoon.

Although six dishes were quite a lot, thanks to Ye Su's efforts, they successfully completed the "clean plate" operation, saving the trouble of asking the waiter to pack it up.

After eating, he rushed to pay the bill, and then Ye Su took Ye Kaijun back to the downstairs of his residential complex.

"Uncle Jun, I'll head back now. I'll come visit you again next time."

"Alright." Ye Kaijun felt a bit reluctant to let him go, but still smiled and waved at Ye Su:

"Go on back. Whenever you have time, if you want to come over, just come. If you don't have time, you don't need to make a special trip to see me."

"Alright, I understand."

Ye Su replied casually, waved at Ye Kaijun again, and then drove away from the residential complex.

"I still need to find Miss Li, ask her to help process the lucky stones into a pendant, and by the way, see if I can also complete the [hidden task - Insomnia Terminator]."

No sooner said than done.

It was too hot outside, and worried that the dried tangerine peel would spoil in the car, Ye Su first brought the dried tangerine peel back to the Apartment Complex to store it, then sent a message to Li Mengyao to see where she was.

[Miss, what have you been up to lately?]

Li Mengyao, who was in the Poyun Group office reviewing the group's second-quarter financial reports, saw the message from Ye Su. The corners of her mouth subconsciously curled up, but then she pouted angrily.

"Hmph!"

"Dog of a man, you finally know to send me a message!"

Li Mengyao calculated the days; the last time she was in contact with Ye Su was two weeks ago, when they were having afternoon tea at the Rosewood Hotel.

At that time, to help her drive away Lin Youde, Ye Su had made a bet with him, winning five million from Lin Youde right in front of her, helping her vent some frustration.

Afterwards, Ye Su had promised repeatedly that he would use the five million he won to buy a gift for her.

Then Ye Su disappeared without a trace. No matter how many times she asked for it, Ye Su brushed her off by saying he hadn't found a suitable gift.

It made Li Mengyao gnash her teeth in anger every time she thought about it, wishing she could take a bite out of Ye Su.

But in the blink of an eye, Li Mengyao's expression changed from angry to cheerful:

"He's suddenly looking for me, could it be that he has something to give me?"

Thinking this, Li Mengyao's mood became happy again. She quickly tapped on her phone screen and replied to Ye Su:

[Li Mengyao: Yo, you big busybody, you actually know to look for me, that's truly rare.]

[Li Mengyao: It's been so long without a single message, I thought you were dead.]

"Heh—"

Seeing the message Li Mengyao sent back, Ye Su couldn't help but complain:

"They say 'flat and fierce, busty and kind', why is this Miss Li still like a tigress?"

Immediately, the image of Yan Ran appeared in Ye Su's mind, along with her exaggerated proportions:

"Does one have to be like Sister Ran to be considered 'busty and kind', and those with Miss Li's dimensions can only be considered 'flat and fierce'?"

While wickedly complaining about Li Mengyao, Ye Su retorted on his phone:

[What do you mean it's been so long without any messages? Last Saturday, didn't you ask me for the gift we agreed on?]

[What's wrong? Could it be that you're at that age where your memory is starting to fail?]

"Dog of a man!"

In the office, Li Mengyao, who had been precisely hit in her minefield by Ye Su's words, instantly flew into a rage and replied to Ye Su indignantly.

[Li Mengyao: Say that again!]

[Li Mengyao: Next time I catch you, see if I don't beat you to death!]

Feeling the murderous intent coming through the screen, Ye Su stopped while he was ahead and didn't continue to court death:

[I was originally going to bring you the gift we agreed on last time, but since you said you want to beat me to death, let's just forget it.]