Chapter 200
Chapter 200
Cheng Miao rubbed the cat’s head. “Him? He used to be. Now he’s our teammate.”
Seeing Qiao Jin’s conflicted expression, as if she wanted to speak but did not know what to say, Cheng Miao laughed. “We’ve cleared several instances together. We work well as a team.”
This indirectly addressed whatever misgivings Qiao Jin might have had.
“But…”
“Would it be inconvenient if we joined you for dinner?” For the first time, Qian Ming interrupted Qiao Jin and smiled at Cheng Miao.
Cheng Miao privately sighed at how clever Qian Ming was.
The fact that Cheng Miao’s group had become high-level players and was flourishing made one thing clear. Becoming friends with receptionists might or might not offer benefits, but it certainly did no harm.
In that case, why shouldn’t they follow Cheng Miao’s lead and make contact?
Qian Ming did not intend to use Cheng Miao, but he wanted to open another path for Qiao Jin and himself. That was what mattered most.
Cheng Miao’s group did not mind. Looking out for yourself was only human, and there was nothing wrong with it.
More importantly, Qian Ming laid his thinking out in the open. Cheng Miao greatly appreciated that.
It showed that Qian Ming still regarded them as friends and would not resort to underhanded schemes behind their backs.
“That’s no problem. I’ll let them know, and you can come with us.”
Cheng Miao took out her phone and sent a message in the Receptionists and Players Are Family group chat.
Cheng Miao: We ran into two friends on the way. I’m bringing them to dinner with us.
Ah Zhang: Sure, but hurry up! Brother Parrot is so awful. He keeps threatening to eat us (๑ १д१)
Ah Lang: Mm.
Brother Parrot: I was only joking.
Huayu: He was serious.
Brother Parrot: …
Cheng Miao: We’ll be right there!
By the time she put away her phone, Lin Zhu had already bought tea, and Qi Jiajia was carrying a basket of fresh fish.
Qin Musong carried two fresh deer legs, one for Kaba and the other for Baizhou, the receptionist at White Wolf Grand Hotel.
Baizhou was a beautiful white wolf king, tall and powerfully built, with a sleek, glossy coat.
Cheng Miao had always admired wolves, so Baizhou received more petting from her than anyone else.
“Let’s go. I saw a shop selling shawls on the way here. We’ll stop and buy one for Huayu.” Cheng Miao paid and led everyone out of the candy store.
Qiao Jin and Qian Ming were inevitably nervous. Cheng Miao had not told them who would be there, but they did some quick calculations.
Cheng Miao was now a Grand Hotel player, and the receptionist from her Hotel had directly joined her team. Even counting the Dormitory and Guesthouse receptionists, surely not all of them would come. There would be one or two at most.
So when they entered a traditional Huaxia restaurant filled with an elegant Zen atmosphere and two red-crowned cranes led them to the private room, both fell into a daze.
One, two, three…
Why were there seven?!
No, counting the one around Cheng Miao’s neck, there were eight.
Qiao Jin and Qian Ming stood frozen in place.
Cheng Miao gave the candy to the cockroach brothers and handed the tea to Brother Parrot.
The shawl earned Huayu’s approval, while the two deer legs delighted Kaba and Baizhou enough that they offered her their enormous heads.
The polar bear hugged a basket of fish and smiled happily. Xuebao rubbed against Qi Jiajia, only to be shoved away in disgust.
“Why are you called Xuebao when you’re such a huge bear?!”
Xuebao sounded like a little girl who had never grown up and loved nothing more than playing with Qi Jiajia, who did not like her.
“Because I’m cute!”
“You’re not cute!”
“I am cute!”
Lin Zhu pulled Qi Jiajia over and soothed her for a long time. Only then did Qi Jiajia reluctantly nod. “Fine. You’re a tiny bit cute.”
Xuebao was satisfied.
Cheng Miao brought Qiao Jin and Qian Ming over and introduced everyone one by one.
“These are the receptionists Qi Jiajia and I had at the Dormitory, Ah Zhang and Ah Lang.”
“Hello.” Ah Zhang raised a slender foreleg in greeting. Ah Lang maintained his cool-guy image and gave the pair a slight nod.
Qiao Jin did not dare show her fear, but her grip on Qian Ming’s hand visibly tightened.
“It’s all right. Don’t worry. It’s normal to be afraid of them at first.” Cheng Miao saw that Qiao Jin was afraid of insects and comforted her from personal experience.
“Exactly! Who isn’t afraid of cockroaches?” After insulting the cockroach brothers, Brother Parrot familiarly flew onto Qian Ming’s curly hair and greeted Qiao Jin.
“Pretty miss, I’m the receptionist from Cheng Miao’s old Guesthouse. Just call me Brother Parrot. You’re so beautiful, and your dress is beautiful too. You have such a gift for coordinating colors…”
Huayu interrupted Brother Parrot’s chatter and introduced herself elegantly.
“These three are receptionists from different Grand Hotels. They know one another because they visit each other often.” Cheng Miao’s group sat around the dining table. Thoughtfully, they placed Qiao Jin and Qian Ming in the middle, away from the receptionists.
Dish after dish arrived, each elegantly presented and delicious.
Qiao Jin finally recovered enough to taste her food. She covertly studied the receptionists across the table, curiosity and fear mingling in her eyes.
All the receptionists, including the cockroach brothers, accepted her reaction without showing anything.
In truth, Qiao Jin and Qian Ming’s wariness was very common. They were all used to it.
Without Cheng Miao, they would never have known that players truly could become friends with receptionists.
“Miaomiao, when are you entering your next instance?” Brother Parrot was small and became full after only two bites. He sat inside a clean bowl, swinging his little feet.
Cheng Miao calculated the time. “The day after tomorrow. We’ll enter then.”
“Would you like to stay at my place for two days after you get out this time?” Baizhou ate meat but did so with refined manners, leaving Qiao Jin with the strange impression that this wolf was very polite.
“Stealing my guests right in front of me?” Huayu teased with a smile as she drank sweet lily-bulb soup.
Baizhou’s voice belonged to a young man. He smiled and said he would not dare. “I just finished constructing a new building with guest rooms. I think Cheng Miao will like it.”
“Huh? Can we? But don’t we have to pay to switch Grand Hotels?” Lin Zhu still remembered how, back when he had little money, moving from Myna Guesthouse to Brother Parrot’s place had cost him a large sum.
His heart still ached whenever he thought about it.
“Given our relationship, how could we charge you?” Amused, Huayu patted Lin Zhu’s head with a wing. “It’ll be good for you to visit. Seeing more is always beneficial.”
Cheng Miao felt the same way. Before clearing the Game, she wanted to see as much of Survival Inn as possible.
It was true that this place contained man-eating instances, but Survival Inn had also given her a group of extremely important friends.
Only after eating for a while did Cheng Miao turn to Qiao Jin. “What about you? Where are you staying? Come visit when you have time.”
Qiao Jin smiled. Half a meal had passed, and she had relaxed considerably.
After asking Xuebao to serve her a bowl of soup, she even seized the chance to stroke Xuebao’s furry paw.
“We’re staying at Penguin Hotel. The problematic instance back then was issued by our Hotel.”
Cheng Miao scooped up a spoonful of crab-roe tofu and fed it to Qiudong. Watching him eat the tofu unhurriedly, she asked curiously, “You’re both so capable. Why are you still staying in Hotel-grade rooms?”
At the question, Qiao Jin rubbed her chopsticks with one finger and lowered her head.