Chapter 148: New Financial Backer (Part 2/2)
Translator: Strivon
Having heard Xie Junping's playboy voice, the girl who just walked out raised her head. Her gaze was rather calm. She even revealed a subtle smile.
"Head Xie, hello."
Her simple greeting destroyed Xie Junping's attempt to hit on her.
By now, Luo Nan had ascertained the identity of this person. "Senior Sister Tian?"
The girl turned to look at them, and only then did astonishment show on her face. "Junior Nan? Is your health getting better?"
This calm and collected girl was none other than Tian Si. Half a month ago, a social activity occurred with her and Third Brother Mo Qiu of the Mo Family getting together. This was also the reason why Luo Nan and the others had gone to Frost River Reality and experienced that enormous incident….
Luo Nan didn't blame her or his cousin. He was just a bit lamentful. Mo Qiu and Tian Si seemed like they’re getting along quite well, but he didn't hear much news about them after the incident. It was a few days after Luo Nan was admitted to the hospital that Tian Si dragged her unwilling younger cousin to visit him specifically. Her etiquette wasn't lacking, and Luo Nan had a good impression of her.
This was quite unfortunate from the perspective of the Mo family members.
Today, Tian Si wore a slim-fit turtleneck sweater and paired it with a velvet mini skirt. Her clothes complemented her small face well, and they made her petite figure appear long and slender. This made her seem all the more gentle, refined, and beautiful. No wonder Xie Junping was hitting on her.
In any case, the two both had office positions in the student organizations. They were familiar with forming relationships, and they far exceeded Luo Nan in this field.
"You're the head of a department. I'm the head of a department. What a coincidence."
Xie Junping still had an expression that was beaming with smiles as he jumped off the cart. He extended his hand and acted like a chauffeur. "I've always hoped to drive a cart and spur the horse for Head Tian. Today the heavens have given me this chance…. Don't decline, I know where you're going. Cloud City Water Village, right? Head Tian is attending the party as well. Fate has brought us together! Don't you think so, Nanster?"
Nanster had also gotten off the cart. He gave him a glare.
Xie Junping was still a bit scared of him. He instinctively flinched back.
Tian Si responded with a faint giggle. "I'm just there to pad out the numbers. There's no need to look at me so highly, Young Master Xie. Right, Junior Nan. I heard Tian Qi say that quite a few people have mentioned you within the Mystic Arts Research Society. Your name is becoming more and more famous."
She maintained a smile from beginning to end, as if she was talking about trivial matters, but there were some subtle meanings hidden within her words.
Luo Nan and Xie Junping were both startled, but in that moment, Xue Lei just so happened to rush out from the locker rooms. Xue Lei saw the three talking and slowed his pace.
Tian Si and Xue Lei didn't meet each other that night at Frost River Reality, but she was able to infer that the three boys had come as a group. She immediately took a step back. "Young Master Xie, Junior Nan, you all go first. I already have plans to go with some other people."
"That can't be right?" Xie Junping was completely in a picking-up-mode. He completely forgot Luo Nan's wordless warning. He acted completely surprised, like a thunderbolt had come out of the blue. "Plans? With a lady friend?"
Tian Si thought for a bit and pursed her lips to a smile. "Yep, a lady friend."
Xie Junping was unable to find a good response, and it was inappropriate of him to nag further. He could only sigh and lament in a farewell, and he drove the electric cart off into the distance. As he turned the corner, he glanced backward and chuckled mischievously.
"She's quite hard to deal with."
Luo Nan grunted in agreement. A mature and strong soul lived within Tian Si's petite body. Xie Junping's foresight was not wrong.
But this dude couldn't keep his composure. He instantly sighed and said, "I've been at the school for so many years, and Chen Weican has never been able to gain her hand. I wonder who will be able to this time at the party."
Luo Nan gave the seat in front of him a light kick. "Concentrate on driving."
Xue Lei snorted. "Chen Weican…."
His relationship with Chen Xiaolin was ruined because of his attitude towards Chen Weican back at the Limestone Water Village Pub. It was natural for Xue Lei to have a completely bad impression of this vice president of the student council. Xue Lei was particularly affected when their cart sped past Limestone Water Village Pub. He looked up at the building only to be haunted by memories. His mood turned much worse.
Luckily, this wasn't the address of the party.
Cloud City Water Village possessed many locations. There were several similar buildings where large congregations could be held.
The Pingjiang District was full of buildings that were generally low. The building complex that was Cloud City Water Village was the most prominent among them. It was also the most eye-catching one.
The main building complex was still around fifty kilometers away from Acumen College, but its derivative building areas were already built along campus borders. Business was flourishing, and it attracted countless students and teachers of the school. This was a place of amusement and consumption; a place to enjoy oneself. This was why this place was known as the large activity area of Acumen College.
In fact, Cloud City Water Village used similar methods to be situated next to the colleges and universities for their two main locations. Their buildings were in tremendous locations, because they were near the top businesses, universities, and private high schools of Xia City.
The members of this party all came from the five schools covered by Cloud City Water Village. A total of five hundred people convened together. This was quite the scale, and the party was a formal one. Before going to the venue, Luo Nan and the others had to dress in accordance to the party's requirements!
"Aren't there enough annoyances? There's also this damned thing as well?" Luo Nan was shaking as he wore the white gown that was clearly a size too large. He was in a luxurious suite that Rich Xie had booked. His expression was one of bafflement.
"Working clothes, man. Those who want to dress as doctors dress as doctors. Those who want to dress as mad scientists dress up as mad scientists. Oh, I even prepared sterile gloves. Do you want to put them on?” Xie Junping dangled the gloves before Luo Nan's eyes. He was grinning from ear to ear.
Luo Nan swatted his hand away in frustration and asked, "What kind of party is this? So gaudy!"
"Hey, I sent you the invitation e-mail. You didn't look?"
"...."
Luo Nan was left speechless. He had fully focused on cultivating the eyes orifice for the past few days, and the free time he did have was crammed with the trainings from the Society. He didn't have the mental energy to attend to other matters. The party was entirely arranged by Xie Junping. The e-mail invitation in his inbox was still unread.
Xie Junping laughed and said, "Then better start cramming before the battle. The invitation was written very clearly.... If you don't read it and end up embarrassing yourself, don't blame me."
Luo Nan rolled his eyes, but he opened the invitation letter using his wristband. Indeed, the letter was written very clearly. The party was a role-playing party. Every participant had to dress up as a social occupation. It was preferable for the participant to dress up as an occupation related to their field of study, their specialties, and so on.
There were thousands of occupations in society, but people had to dress up in occupations with distinguishing characteristics. This narrowed the options down quite a bit, and there were bound to be repeats.
The theme of today's party was 'kinship'. The invitation letter explained that those who played roles of the same profession would interact with each other. The wording on the interaction was mysterious. It wasn't quite explicit.
Luo Nan scratched his head while reading the letter. He had been a homebody for many years. He feared this sort of excitement the most, so he felt uncomfortable about the whole thing. Plus, what sort of bad taste does Xie Junping have, having him dress as a doctor/mad scientist?
Xue Lei relaxed at this time. He bellowed with laughter. "Luckily I looked at the letter a long time ago. I don't need to make any special preparations."
He was playing the role of a martial artist. This was truly a display of his inherent character. He was wearing the clothes of the Divine Yu Gym that he wore every day anyway. There was practically no change. It could be said that he was advertising for the daoguan. Habits were formed through long years and many days. Even if the daoguan wasn't recruiting new students, he didn't choose to wear a different set of clothes. He worried the least about the role-playing theme out of all of them.
As for Xie Junping, he was the 'most normal'. He wore an overly outlandish formal suit. His clothes were sewn with a layer of sequins, making him rather eye-catching.
Luo Nan was both surprised and unconvinced. "Why can you wear a suit?"
"This is also a role too! What do you think? We're dressed true to our basic characters! I am the romantic young master, living a life of pleasure!"
Xie Junping was all laughs and giggles as he pushed Luo Nan and Xue Lei out the suite. Together, they left for the venue. Luo Nan was shaking the white gown, feeling awkward no matter what he did. Then a certain someone took out a pair of gloves and dangled them before his eyes.
"Physician Luo. You really don't need this?"
"Call me Doctor Luo."
Luo Nan snapped back, but he seized the gloves at lightning speed and stuffed them in his pockets. He couldn't hold back from laughing. It had been quite a while since he was in such a relaxed mood.
They were currently in the Ocean Sky Cloud City Building. This was the fourth building among the six ring distributed secondary buildings. The first three buildings contained 'Water Village' in their names. Starting from Ocean Sky Cloud City, the rest of the buildings contained the words 'Cloud City' in their name. The heights of these buildings went up in ascending order, and so did the prices of their services.
They walked the path that led to the party's venue. Xue Lei winced at the luxurious and refined displays the along the road. The instant they entered the main venue, a crisp, cold, and gorgeous deep blue light was blasted into their faces. Xue Lei exclaimed,
"My god, is this the Crystal Palace?"
The first impression people got from the main venue was a field of rippling water. A huge amount of ocean water was sealed by translucent crystal walls. Under the illumination of light, the realism of the ocean was unveiled in an ideal and near-perfect manner.
Actually, if only this sight was considered, any modern ocean parks would showcase something similar. The world of the ocean's floor could even be seen. This wasn't that rare. But all one needed was to think and he would realize that this scene was located in an eight hundred meter tall skyscraper. There was ocean water from top to bottom. The entire thing was linked and was stored between walls. The ocean water flowed within the pillar….
Tons and tons of ocean water was displayed in this willful and structured way. Of course, there swimmed also millions of marine life, from the tiny scallops to the enormous blue whales, all living inside. Altogether, they formed a complete yet twisted food chain.
The participants of the party mingled around the main ocean display. They were atop the circular viewing platform. Several hundred people was a sizable number, but they were negligible when compared to the enormous crystal pillar that was one hundred twenty meters in diameter and as high as the building itself.
To be able to erect this water tank in this broken world, and to inject it full of water and maintain the highest level of safety and protection…. It could only be said that the success of this project was a top contender for being one of the greatest achievements in applied physics.
The Cloud City Water Village building complex was only completed in its entirety four years ago. Ocean Sky Cloud City was the last building to be made, taking longer than the main building by about a year. One could see just how difficult it was to construct.
Luo Nan had come here twice before with his aunt's family. This wasn't the first time he saw this scene, so the emotions that were stirred within him were a bit weak. However, he could never tire of the beautiful scene of the ocean life inside.
The three of them didn't utter a word for a while. The silence lasted until someone called out to them.
"Brother Ping. You didn't come early." Hu Huaying, who was in charge of advanced arrangements, got here way earlier. He seemed to come out of nowhere.
Today's party was a show of friendship jointly arranged by the student councils of five different schools. The schools were only slotted for a hundred guests each. It was a relatively high-end party.
Xie Junping was a member of the student council. He was naturally qualified to attend. On the other hand, it was quite hard to get slots for Luo Nan and Xue Lei. In the end, Hu Huaying yielded his invitation for a plus one. Four dudes came together to a party where the mainstream trend showed that men came paired with women. It was unavoidable for them to be a bit conspicuous.