Zhang Che stood in front of the door. After confirming the unit number, he pressed the doorbell.
Ding dong, ding dong!…
Chen Lishan saw it was Zhang Che through the peephole and immediately welcomed him in. The security door was opened from inside. She smiled, saying, “You’re here, Brother Sun! Please come in!”
“Happy birthday, Lishan!” Zhang Che congratulated her with a faint smile as he walked in.
“Thank you, Brother Sun!”
After walking into the living room, Zhang Che realized there were already seven young adults inside, three men and four women. They were all sizing him up with curious gazes.
The house was well-decorated. At the side were some fresh flowers, probably brought here by these people.
Zhang Che couldn’t help but think, -Did I forget something? Right, the present!- Although he had a present prepared, it wasn’t packaged. Wouldn’t it be a little awkward to take it out directly in front of so many people?
Zhang Che finally realized what was wrong. Gift boxes, large and small, were stacked on top of the coffee table in the living room. Although Zhang Che knew his gift was valuable, wouldn’t it be a little too casual if he took it out, just like that?
-Forget it. I don’t care anymore. I’m really bad at this kind of matter…-
“Brother Sun, I’ll introduce you. They are all my colleagues at Bei Du University. This is Cai Songming, this is Yu Manli, this is Jiang Jingyi… and this is Sun Che, Big Brother Sun. He helped me a great deal back in Bei Mei.” Chen Lishan introduced the two parties warmly. Zhang Che nodded at them one by one, acknowledging them with a smile. However, they didn’t know one another, after all, and thus only exchanged greetings politely.
“Alright, Lishan. Everyone’s here! Come blow on your candles and cut the cake!”
The guests have all arrived. The girls immediately stirred up a commotion and brought out a boxed birthday cake. They quickly put on the candles and lit them up, then brought it over in front of Chen Lishan.
While the guests were celebrating the occasion and singing her a birthday song, Chen Lishan followed the standard procedure. She closed her eyes and made her wish, then blew out the candles in one breath. Afterwards, the guests presented her with their presents and let Chen Lishan unbox them.
The presents Chen Lishan’s colleague gave her were either exquisite little objects or cosmetics. None of them were anything too valuable. They had only known one another for a few months, after all, and were only colleagues that got along a little better. It was impossible for them to give something that was too out of place, even the three young men. Although they might have a thing for Chen Lishan, they didn’t gift her anything too extraordinary.
In the end, Chen Lishan looked at Zhang Che in anticipation. At the same time, the other guests also looked towards Zhang Che. If they didn’t see it wrongly, Zhang Che seemed to be empty-handed when he came in, not even preparing some flowers.
The girls had curious looks on their faces, wondering what kind of present was Zhang Che going to magically make appear.
The three men sighed in relief inwardly at the same time. From the looks of it, this Sun Che who they had never seen before wasn’t Chen Lishan’s significant other. Perhaps it was how she had put it: he was only a friend she met in the Bei Mei region!
None of them had seen Chen Lishan interacting much with other men. It seemed like every one of them still had their chance!
Seeing everyone’s gazes were on him, Zhang Che immediately felt a little awkward. Not preparing a gift box was indeed embarrassing.
Fortunately, he had trained his skin well, and it was pretty thick. He reached into his shirt pocket, and when he took it back out, a fist-sized creamy white jade bottle was in his hand.
-Hmm? This guy actually put his present in his pocket just like that?- A strange look flashed across their faces, especially that man called Cai Songming. He squinted slightly. Only he noticed that Zhang Che originally had nothing in his pocket.
-Then… this guy actually has a storage-type beast card equipment!
-A man can’t be judged by his cover, indeed!-
Zhang Che presented the jade bottle to Chen Lishan and said awkwardly, “I came here in a rush and didn’t have time to prepare a proper gift. This is for you. I hope you won’t find Brother Sun’s gift unpresentable.”
“Why would I…” Chen Lishan didn’t mind it at all. After receiving the jade bottle, she immediately sighed in admiration, “Woah, what a beautiful jade bottle! Thank you for your present, Brother Sun! I really like it!”
Zhang Che was speechless. -My present isn’t the jade bottle…-
At the side, Yu Manli looked curiously at her and said, “Lishan, quickly open the bottle and see what’s inside!”
Well, some people were more perceptive. At hearing Yu Manli’s words, everyone else came to a realization that the real present should be inside the jade bottle. On the other hand, Chen Lishan seemed to prefer the container itself.
“Ah!” Chen Lishan yelped, embarrassed. Afterwards, she twisted the bottle cap open under everyone’s anticipatory gazes. A thick fragrance wafted out from inside the jade bottle. Upon catching a whiff of it, everyone felt like they were cleansed from head to toe.
Their expressions changed simultaneously. -What is that thing, to actually contain such thick spiritual force!?-
“Ah, Brother Sun, what’s inside?” While surprised, Chen Lishan couldn’t help but be curious about what was contained inside the jade bottle, to actually emit such thick spiritual force.
The guests’ gazes toward Zhang Che changed, too.
As lecturers from Bei Du University, they were elites of the younger generation. Naturally they knew what this fragrance filled with spiritual force meant! This was definitely not a product of Mercury; it could only come from the beast world, and was definitely not something just anyone could get their hands on!
“It’s honey I found in the beast world. You can mix it with water and drink it. Its effect should be better than normal honey,” Zhang Che explained with a smile, not minding it.
The guests, however, felt waves crashing in their hearts when they heard him.
Honey from the beast world! Wasn’t that spiritual honey, then?
They had heard tales of others obtaining such things in the beast world before by chance. They were unclear on the exact effects, but the word around was that those things were worth several times more than purple-gold crystals in weight!
By now, everyone was making guesses to the identity of this man called Sun Che. He looked ordinary, but was actually able to bring out something like spiritual honey. He shouldn’t be a random unknown!
Zhang Che didn’t make a fool of himself like they had imagined. For the rest of the party, Zhang Che realized Chen Lishan’s female colleagues kept stealing looks at him, especially that short-haired girl called Yu Manli. Her bright and beautiful eyes kept sending electricity at him secretly…
-Damn, isn’t this too much..?-
Zhang Che felt complicated inside. He didn’t recall being so popular with women in his past life with this appearance. Why this all of a sudden?
Indeed, although the society looked heavily upon appearances, for men, sometimes it wasn’t that important.
Zhang Che wondered if he hadn’t shown up with this ordinary appearance, but with his new super handsome face, so much so that he had no equals, in addition to his one ninety centimeters figure, would Chen Lishan’s colleagues gobble him up on the spot?
Society had always judged one by their appearances. Sometimes, the effect of having a good-looking face was unimaginable.