Free Web NovelChapter 194: Chapter 194
In front of the waiter, Yan Huoshui lazily rested his head on Shi Lan’s shoulder. His breath tickled her ear as he asked in a soft, raspy voice, "See anything you like?"
Shi Lan leaned away from the waiter and whispered, "Isn’t everything a bit too expensive?"
She felt it wasn’t a very good value.
Yan Huoshui gently tucked a strand of hair behind Shi Lan’s ear, the pad of his finger playfully twisting the end. "Lanlan, you don’t need to save money for my sake. I have plenty. Spend whatever you want."
He let out a doting chuckle near her ear. The thought that the female he liked had to worry about value just to get a bite to eat made his heart ache. He pulled her into a brief hug and sighed. "From now on, Lanlan, the very last thing you should have to worry about is money. Order whatever you want. Don’t even look at the prices."
Since he put it that way, and they had finally gotten a chance to go out, Shi Lan didn’t want to spoil the mood. She recalled the dishes she had enjoyed at lunch and began ordering them without further hesitation.
Yan Huoshui, thinking she hadn’t ordered enough, started to pick a few more house specialties. Shi Lan quickly placed her hand on the back of his to stop him, her voice even lower this time. "Shh, don’t order those. They aren’t any good."
’So that was the reason...’
The smile in Yan Huoshui’s eyes deepened. Instead, he ordered a second helping of the dishes she had picked out initially.
After taking their order, the young waiter prepared to stand by. Yan Huoshui shot him a displeased glance. "We won’t be needing service here."
The waiter looked to Shi Lan for confirmation, and she nodded as well.
’I don’t like being stared at by a stranger while I eat, either.’
Seeing this, the waiter left, but not before reminding them, "There’s a service bell on the wall. Just call if you need anything."
Shi Lan nodded.
Once the waiter had gone, Yan Huoshui took the initiative to clean Shi Lan’s utensils for her, then folded her napkin and placed it on her lap.
Shi Lan felt rather embarrassed watching him, a man with an injured leg, fussing over her like this. "I can do that myself."
She raised a hand to stop him, but Yan Huoshui simply shook his head, refusing to listen. Even when the food arrived, he carefully prepared any dishes that were difficult for Shi Lan to handle, waiting for her to eat.
By the end of the meal, Shi Lan had eaten to her heart’s content.
These kinds of female-oriented restaurants generally specialized in desserts and various vegetables. They served meat too, but with little variety—basically just two types, "Gugu meat" and "Gaga meat."
Males generally preferred chewier meats, so very few male Beastmen ate these two types.
However, from his time as an interstellar pirate, Yan Huoshui was used to not knowing where his next meal would come from, so he wasn’t picky at all. He polished off everything Shi Lan couldn’t finish.
After dinner, Yan Huoshui had planned to take Shi Lan for a walk around the area, but she was worried about his leg, so the plan was eventually dropped.
Left with no other choice, he could only buy a gift for Shi Lan at a nearby mall before taking her back to the Interstellar Mansion.
Yan Huoshui realized that his broken leg was indeed making many things inconvenient. He also didn’t want Shi Lan to think he was a casual sort of male, so he didn’t ask her to stay the night at his place.
After she got out of the car, the security guard saw that Shi Lan had brought another unfamiliar male with her. Seeing how close they acted, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut and blurted out, "Miss, does this fiancé need to be registered as well?"
Yan Huoshui gave her a confused look. ’Fiancé?’
’Have the others already progressed to the fiancé stage behind my back?’
As the thought crossed his mind, his expression unconsciously darkened. Shi Lan quickly explained the situation to him. And so, another name—Yan Huoshui—was added to the security guard’s log.
After they registered and left, the guard watched Yan Huoshui’s departing Hovercar. Recognizing the private license plate, he stroked his chin with emotion. "The Eldest Prince has it so rough. He finally likes a female, and suddenly there are so many rivals. And none of them look like ordinary people."
"Sigh. At least it’s a miracle the Eldest Prince is finally in love. Admiral He is well into his thirties and still a single male. I wonder what kind of female he even likes."
For the sake of his idol’s happiness, the security guard went to a charity website and silently donated another 100 Star Coins, praying that his idol would soon find a partner.
—
Perhaps because it had been too long since she’d returned to the Capital Star, Shi Lan lay on the soft, five-meter, auto-sensing bed in the Interstellar Mansion that night. She rolled over four or five times and found she still hadn’t reached the edge.
She didn’t know why, but most beds in this world were incredibly wide. Even her bed back on Yaoxing was three meters across.
However, the benefits of such a large bed were also obvious: no matter how she slept, she would never fall onto the floor.
Of course, she was a pretty still sleeper most of the time.
Lying on the bed bored, Shi Lan suddenly remembered she hadn’t spoken with He Hanshi yet today. Seeing that it wasn’t yet eleven, she couldn’t resist calling him.
This time, however, she waited for a minute or two and no one answered. ’He must be busy or went to bed early,’ she thought, and ended the call.
But half an hour later, He Hanshi called her back.
Shi Lan was watching TV and immediately answered.
They looked at each other through the communication screen.
"Sorry, Lanlan. I was in a meeting and didn’t notice the notification on my chip."
"It’s okay."
Shi Lan blinked, a hint of a twinkling smile in her eyes. "Oh, right. I came back to the Capital Star today."
Although He Hanshi hadn’t called her, they had exchanged several messages, so he already knew she was back.
He glanced at her surroundings. "Where are you staying?"
"The Interstellar Mansion. It’s Ye Ming’s place. He let me stay here for now. I plan to stay for a few days while I look for a suitable place of my own."
"Ye Ming?"
He chuckled lowly. "That’s good."
Ye Ming was different from the others; his presence was more reassuring. Besides, he had heard about the Interstellar Mansion—unmarried males were forbidden from entering. It was indeed an excellent place for her.
"It’s good that you have a place to stay. The Interstellar Mansion is very nice. If you find you don’t like it there, you can stay at my place. I’m rarely home anyway, so it could use someone to warm it up."
Shi Lan’s eyes showed a flicker of interest. After all, she and He Hanshi had already confessed their feelings for each other. They communicated more often and were closer than the others. Staying at his house would actually be fine.
As for Ye Ming, she didn’t feel right about staying at his place indefinitely.
"Where is your house?"
When He Hanshi heard her ask, he knew she was probably willing. The smile in his eyes deepened, and his expression grew even more tender. "It’s not far from the Interstellar Mansion. It’s also in a neighborhood of detached villas, but it’s downtown. The security is excellent."
"I’ll send you the address in a bit. I’ll grant you access permissions tonight, so you can go over whenever you want."
Shi Lan nodded. "Okay."
They chatted a little longer over the call. Noticing the weariness in his eyes, Shi Lan couldn’t bear to keep him up. "You should hurry and get washed up for bed. Rest early. You’re so handsome; if you ruin that face from lack of sleep, my heart will ache."
"Haha..."
His pleased, low laughter traveled through the screen to Shi Lan’s ears, sounding as if it were right beside her. "So Lanlan only likes me for my face..."
He sighed in mock resignation and touched his own face. "As you command. I’ll protect it well. From now on, it’s Lanlan’s private property."
"How does that sound?"
