Chapter 444: Girl, Come and Play When You Have Time
"Ah, so close," Mayor Wu exclaimed.
None of them bet on the winning dragon boats, so no one won this small bet where the stake was only 100-yuan.
The people on the bridge started to leave by walking toward the end of the bridge. The police who were in uniforms made sure there was order in the process.
"Academician Hao, I need to go into the city for a meeting this afternoon. If possible, can Luoxue go with you guy? I'll come to pick her up after my meeting and then take her to her piano lesson," Mayor Wu said.
"Yeah. No problem," Hao Zhonghua nodded and said.
The people who had sons generally liked girls, and Hao Zhonghua was no exception. He didn't stay in East Ocean City that much before and thus didn't have a close relationship with the mayor. However, after the landslide incident and when Mayor Wu came to visit him in person, their relationship became closer drastically.
Especially since Zhen Congming and Wu Luoxue both went to LingZhao Elementary School, Zhao Zhonghua sometimes bumped into Mayor Wu when they drove the kids to school. Their relationship became a lot closer even more.
"What time is the piano lesson?" Yue Yang asked.
"Two in the afternoon at the Youth Palace," Mayor Wu responded.
"How about this? I'll drive Luoxue over, and you could pick her up when she finishes her lesson," Yue Yang said.
"Thank you so much," Mayor Wu said with a grateful smile. He turned around and told Wu Luoxue to behave and quickly walked toward the west side of the bridge.
Hao Zhonghua's car was parked on the east side of the bridge. In the light rain, Hao Zhonghua held Wu Luoxue's little hand and walked toward the parking lot across the bridge.
Wu Luoxue dressed extremely cute today; she was wearing a light colored one piece with strips on it. There was a light pink ribbon tied around her waist, and she also had on a large white ribbon on her dress as decoration; it was fluffy like marshmallows.
She was calm and quiet when Zhao Zhonghua held her hand; she had good manners.
Zhen Congming followed Wu Luoxue closely. He wanted to impress her badly, and that intention was not at all a secret.
Wu Luoxue was one of the most popular LingZhao Elementary School. Although she tried not to attract a lot of attention to herself, and most didn't know she was the mayor's daughter, many boys were still drawn to her beauty.
The boys in the elementary school didn't know that crushes were supposed to be bittersweet, and they were direct. Since Zhao Luoxue was pretty, they tried everything to attract her attention.
When Zhen Congming entered the school, he attracted a lot of attention with his wits and haughty personality.
He scored full marks in math, Chinese, P.E, music, art... It was just English that he didn't score full marks on, but it was still good enough. Zhen Congming was basically the idol of the girls in his class.
There were many girls around Zhen Congming, and they would bring him delicious food and snacks every day to the extent that his desk couldn't fit all of them.
However, Zhen Congming liked Wu Luoxue, who was in the class next to his.
Zhen Congming couldn't explicitly state how he felt.
Little White, who was abandoned by Zhen Congming, walked in the puddles that were created by the rain, next to Hao Ren's feet.
"You little thing! Only now do you follow me!" Hao Ren rubbed Little White's neck which was extremely soft and furry before picking it up.
Its four paws were all wet, and it looked innocent.
"Hey, don't bully Little White anymore." Xie Yujia took out a few tissues and rubbed Little Whites feet dry. Then she took it over and hugged it.
Premier Xia and Elder Sun, who waited nearby, were about to walk toward them. Zhao Guang waved at them, and Premier Xia and Elder Sun hurried over.
It was the perfect timing as Premier Xia wanted to look around the city. He could take advantage of the opportunity and have Elder Sun take him around.
"Where's your little brother?" Zhao Zhonghua asked Zhao Guang.
"Don't need to mind him," Zhao Guang looked around and said, "Let's go find a place to sit down."
"Yeah, it's been a while since we've seen each other. We need to catch up!" Grandma said happily.
"I know there's a nice tea room around. It's not far ahead." Zhao Hongyu linked arms with Grandma, carefully guiding her around. "Let's go."
"Sounds good!" Grandma said happily and held Su Han's hand immediately. "Girl, come and join us!"
When Hao Ren saw how close Grandma was acting with Su Han, sweated poured down his forehead. He thought, "Su Han isn't Xie Yujia and isn't Zhao Yanzi; she's the regional inspector of the East Ocean City."
"I still have work to do, so I won't be able to join you." Su Han gently lifted her hand away from Grandma and said.
"Oh..." Grandma sounded a bit disappointed but quickly said, "Come by our place for a visit some time! We live by the sea, so the view's great!"
Hao Ren sweated even more. He was screaming inside, "Grandma, can you not do this to me..."
"Of course," Su Han said with a gentle smile; she actually said yes to it.
"Bring the umbrella with you. Don't catch a cold." Grandma gave the umbrella she was holding to Su Han.
Su Han hesitated for a second but still accepted Grandma's umbrella.
"If only my son Zhonghua had kids earlier. Then maybe I'd have a granddaughter like you," Grandma said.
Hao Ren was driven crazy when he heard that. "Why does this have any relation to that?"
"Bye." Su Han held the umbrella and walked towards the crowd.
She actually didn't need to use an umbrella since the rain couldn't touch her anyways. However, the picture of her holding the umbrella and disappearing into the crowd created an elegant scene.
"This girl doesn't like to talk, but she's still really sweet." Grandma praised her and then looked at Zhao Hongyu and said, "Where is the tea room?"
"Just ahead," Zhao Hongyu responded.
Moments later, they were sitting in a rotating restaurant located in the Eastern Business Tower at Eastern Plaza. They sat by the glass windows.
The restaurant slowly rotated, enabling them to watch the whole scenery of the city. Especially this weather with light showers, the busy city now looked more quiet and peaceful.
"This place isn't cheap. Thanks for the treat, Hongyu," Grandma held the delicate cup and said in an apologetic tone.
"It's not a big deal. It's such a good opportunity to sit down and chat with each other," Zhao Hongyu said with a bright smile. She then looked outside and said, "In this rain, there aren't many places we can go to anyways."
Hao Ren looked outside the glass windows. From the high heights of the buildings, he was able to see vaguely the red energy sphere set up by Elder Lu high up in the sky.
This rainfall was set up by Elder Lu. What Grandma said about how the good fortunes of the East Ocean City were owed to the East Ocean Dragon Palace wasn't completely inaccurate.
Hao Ren looked even further and saw Oldman Zeng's ship-like dharma treasure soar through the clouds. When Hao Ren officially replaced Qin Shaoyang as the regional inspector, the West Ocean Dragon Palace had lost its opportunity to influence the East Ocean City.
What the West Ocean Dragon Palace did wrong was that it underestimated the power of the East Ocean Dragon Palace, and this caused them to lose the whole battle.
Hao Ren could understand why Oldman Zeng was full of anger and why he still hoped to turn the situation around. However, everything was futile.
After he returned to the West Ocean Dragon Palace from the Dragon God Shrine, he confirmed that the weapon Hao Ren used was the Black Dragon Spike that made Zhao Haoran famous. He had his hopes up and thought that Zhao Haoran was dead for real. However, after he saw Zhao Kuo at today's event, he thought that the rumor couldn't possibly be true. The last hope of the West Ocean Dragon Palace was destroyed.
Zhao Guang and Zhao Hongyu also looked at that soaring ship-like dharma treasure and exchanged looks with each other.
After this last trial, the West Ocean Dragon Palace wouldn't step foot in the East Ocean City for a while. Now, the East Ocean Dragon Palace and Mingri Group would be able to grow without interference.
"Hongyu, are you busy these days?" Grandma asked.
"Haha, it's not bad," Zhao Hongyu said with a smile. She wore a pair of silver earrings, and she looked pretty.
Yue Yang looked carefully at Zhao Hongyu. She thought that Zhao Yanzi would grow up looking as beautiful as her mother, and her love for Zhao Yanzi intensified.
Zhao Zhonghua looked opposite of them; he looked at how Hao Ren and Xie Yujia were together and smiled gratefully. Hao Ren became more handsome and manlier these days, while Xie Yujia turned prettier and gentler. The two were a great match for each other, both in appearance and personality.
Hao Ren sat next to Xie Yujia. He leaned closer to her and quietly took out a technique. "Old Grandma gave you this..."
"Old Grandma?" Xie Yujia was confused.
Her hair was still a bit wet, but it made her look sexier than usual.
"Yeah. Old Grandma came to the dragon palace in the morning today. She told me to give this scroll to you..." He said.
Xie Yujia looked down and took the technique immediately. On the cover were five words: Spells' Origin Note Scroll.
When Zhao Yanzi had reached Foundation Establishment Realm, she received a sword technique, and its powers were incredible.
Even though Xie Yujia didn't mention it, she was still jealous when she saw how each morning Zhao Yanzi would practice her sword technique at the Ethereal Summit.
Although old Grandma had given her of Life-Death Notes, she couldn't use them easily, and they had minimal variations, despite their powers being immense and requiring only little energy.
Xie Yujia had looked at the techniques Zhao Yanzi collected on Fifth Heaven, but none of them were like the five-elemental Life-Death Notes. Old Grandma had only taught her how to use both the gold and silver notes, and she had not given her the training technique.
Just now, old Grandma had asked Hao Ren to pass on to her a scroll, and it was just the right time to help her.
"Old Grandma..." Xie Yujia held onto this thin scroll that was embroidered with gold lining. She was extremely grateful.
She thought old Grandma didn't care about her anymore. However, old Grandma still cared about her deeply. Now that she had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, old Grandma had rushed from afar to treat her with a great gift.
"Grandma said she's going to go into seclusion cultivation, and she doesn't know when she's going to come out. However, she hopes that you'll work hard." Hao Ren relayed Old Grandma's message to Xie Yujia.
"I will..." Xie Yujia put this technique into her storage space.
The technique Big Dipper Constellation Scroll that Zhao Yanzi was cultivating was from Seventh Heaven. The Spells' Origin Note Scroll that Xie Yujia got was actually from Eighth Heaven!
Hao Ren didn't know that this Spells' Origin Note Scroll could counter his Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll! The reason why old Grandma gave this technique to Xie Yujia was not hoping that she'd continue with her cultivation, but also hoped that she could manage Hao Ren!
Men needed to be managed by women!
Hao Ren had given away his life and freedom by giving Xie Yujia that technique.
"Gongzi..." Lu Linlin and Lu Lili came over. "You really don't want the Seven-Core Five-Color Lotus?"
They were really unwilling for Hao Ren after he gave the Seven-Core Five-Color Lotus to Zhao Kuo.
If Hao Ren had any signs of regret, they would go take back the Seven-Core Five-Color Lotus as long as Zhao Kuo hadn't used it.
"Don't play any tricks, you tow. Third Kuo needs the mystic crystal more than I do. Also..." Hao Ren turned the conversation around and said, "I kept these for myself."
Hao Ren opened his palm, and there were three round little black pearls on it.