NOVEL NEXT 112: A Strange Lunch…
Lin Songmei woke up the next morning groggy and sore. Somehow, she had fallen asleep in the worst possible sleeping position—contorted like a starfish trying to show off its dancing skills. Yawning, Songmei looked over to Yan Mingqing who was gripping a pillow like her life depended on it.
Slumping back onto the pillows, Songmei rubbed her eye with one hand as she fumbled and groped around for her terminal with the other. Watching it flash to life with blank eyes, Songmei blinked a couple of times before bolting up.
[Sender: Liu Xueli]
What... What now?
Still-half asleep, Songmei stumbled her way through the navigation as she tried to open the urgent message from Xueli. Cracking the message open like a two-century old safe after a couple of seconds, Songmei’s heart settled as the message was filled with the smileys, hearts, and excitement of Xueli’s normal messages.
It had been a while since they got back from the whole murderous plant situation, and Xueli was just sending a message to let Mingqing and Songmei know she wanted to meet later in the day if the two didn’t have plans already.
With a keen gaze—as keen as it could be while she was half-awake—Songmei read through the message. Xueli wanted to catch up a bit, share a little information she found about doing well in the city, and wanted to give Songmei the information gathered through her personal investigation about the whole eye situation and talk about some future steps. Otherwise, Songmei squinted as Xueli also mentioned she wanted to talk about a... mystery, surprise topic as well.
Taking a moment to think through her plans for the day, Songmei came up with... nothing. Shooting a reply to Xueli to ask if lunch would be an okay time to meet, Songmei rolled over and threw her terminal onto the nightstand.
With a long yawn, Songmei snuggled under the covers, retreating back to the warmth of the bed. Another moment of consideration later, Songmei decided to replace the pillow Mingqing was clinging onto before closing her own eyes and dozing off.
-----
Getting nudged awake a few hours later, Songmei shook her head in confusion. She was... not in bed. With water running beside her, Songmei felt a warm towel being pressed against her face as Mingqing laughed. “Good morning, good morning!”
“Good morning...” Songmei mumbled as she suffocated herself with the warm towel. “Why are we in the bathroom?”
“Because I carried you!” Mingqing cheered, a morning brightness radiating off of her—a trait Songmei longed to have as well. “I felt pretty pumped and rested in the morning! I also had a lot of fun with our date so... you know, a little extra romantic-ness never hurt anyone.”
Nodding along as her eyes felt heavier than a truck, Songmei murmured her agreement while imagining how hard it’d be to lift Mingqing. It couldn’t be too hard, she was a five meridian cultivator after all...
“Here, have the towel back,” Songmei offered while pushing herself off the chair. “What time is it? Also, did you see the reply I sent to Xueli’s message this morning?”
Moving Mingqing out of the sink’s way with a slight hip bump and smug smile, Songmei began brushing her teeth as Mingqing bumped her back while laughing. “It’s about eleven in the morning right now, so we have about two hours since Xueli, apparently, has a couple of annoying morning meetings to attend.”
Slipping away to the back of the bathroom, Mingqing added, “Also, I did see your ‘Sounds goose, see you then!’ Truly a masterful message if you ask me.”
With a faint pink tinge appearing on her cheeks, Songmei’s teeth brushing became a touch more aggressive as she used the mirror to glare at Mingqing who was dying from laughter.
Following her and Mingqing’s early morning shenanigans, Songmei elected to not get into the shower at the same time as Mingqing. Instead—though a little lonely—Songmei took a bath after Mingqing was done. Ready for the day (that admittedly didn’t have much) Songmei and Mingqing cooked a light, half-brunch in the kitchen to pass the time before the actual meal they’d share with Xueli.
----
To Songmei’s surprise, the streets were quite empty. Walking around with Mingqing to look for the restaurant that Xueli had told them to go to, Songmei had expected the streets would be PACKED.
Nah. There was no one in sight. Not a single footstep, idle conversation, or engine sound.
Checking the date on her phone, Songmei raised an eyebrow and shrugged—maybe Tuesdays were just extra busy. It was a commercial district and people’s lunch hour was over too...
With the most upscale part of the commercial district in view, Songmei and Mingqing felt their eardrums get stabbed as they heard a loud “LIN SONGMEI AND YAN MINGQING” radiate from a distant store.
Jogging their way over, Songmei and Mingqing came to a skidding stop. Mingqing’s eyebrows raised and Songmei’s jaw clattered to the ground while her eyes popped out of their sockets.
The entire restaurant was empty as well. Except for the waiting staff, there was only one occupant who was sitting in the central, raised booth. Stumbling over her thoughts and her feet, Songmei was dragged over to the table by a much calmer Mingqing.
“So... so... erm... yeah... why is it so deserted...?” Songmei inquired with an incredulous look around as the entire waiting staff swarmed the table to fix the cloth, set out the plates and utensils, and pass out menus.
“I missed you two! Why wouldn’t I go all out when meeting my dear disciples again?” Xueli grinned with an exuberant laugh, “And I’ve helped the city so much! As a thank you for ‘alerting them of their stupidity,’ I have permission to do this!”
Pausing for a second, Xueli winked as she added “and I’m rich,” with a bit of a teasing grin.
“I assumed so,” Mingqing murmured while looking out the window. “My parents like doing this type of stuff whenever we go out to eat...”
Coughing as she felt an invisible dagger plunge into her stomach, Songmei shook her head, totally unable to relate. Growing up, she had gone out to eat maybe... thrice. Even now, a little demon of insecurity shook its arms every time their little friend group went out to eat.
With a stream of quiet apologies tumbling out of her mouth as a waitress bumped into her, Songmei took a moment to reorient herself before jumping into the conversation.
The seating was... nice to say the least. Xueli was on the other side of the gargantuan round table. It could’ve sat at least twenty people, but here they were, deciding to only use three seats. Hanging above the table was a gorgeous chandelier, each light draping from its own thin string to form a coiling dragon, soaring above the table.
Not to mention, the table itself was situated atop a raised platform, not to allow the occupants to spy on others—there was a wall to form a cozy and quiet atmosphere surrounding two thirds of the raised platform—but to instead allow them to just... feel better than others.
Watching the waiting staff disappear down the steps, Songmei zoned back into the conversation to listen to Mingqing’s summary of important events since the last time they had seen each other.
