The afternoon's visit to the assembly workshop was forced to end early as Charlotte and Elena both complained of hunger.
It is now night, in a high-rise building along the river in Jiangcheng. This is a temporary accommodation specially provided for tour groups. The layout is similar to that of the Riverside Hotel, but the safety factor and monitoring intensity are several times higher than those of the Riverside Hotel.
The entire building was under strict military surveillance, except for the rooms of the tour group members, where surveillance was less severe.
Dinner was also eaten inside the building, where Master Winnie got to know another amazing thing about this world: the dizzying number of recipes.
"Flames burning the lion's head? Have magical beasts like lions become food in your country?"
Master Winnie was holding the translated recipe that Lu Cheng had written for him, and the name of one of the dishes caught Master Winnie's attention.
There are also creatures like lions in the other world, but most of them are powerful magical beasts. As a senior potion master, Master Winnie knows which parts of these magical beasts can be used as medicine.
Master Winnie can understand that lion meat is edible, but the problem is that lion's head looks like alchemical material no matter how you look at it.
"This is just a metaphorical description, not a real lion's head." Lu Cheng regretted translating the menu to the elderly spellcaster.
While Master Winnie was looking at the menu, dinner had already been brought up one after another.
Lu Cheng heard that the higher-ups had specially invited a very good chef to take charge of the meal today. He is proficient in Hunan cuisine and Zhejiang cuisine, two of the eight major cuisines of the Celestial Empire.
Lu Cheng wasn’t quite sure how good it was, but when the first dish, Dongpo pork, was served, the plate was cleared before Lu Cheng could even pick up his chopsticks.
Elena was really hungry.
Sitting at the dinner table this time were not only Lu Cheng, a military representative, but also two responsible leaders, both of whom Lu Cheng knew.
The favorite thing for Chinese people is to discuss things at the dinner table. Lu Cheng really likes this kind of dinner party...
Because conversations at dinner tables involve conflicts of interest as well as emotional conflicts, and it becomes even more interesting if a superior is also present at the dinner table.
For Lu Cheng, who likes to communicate with and observe humans, dinner parties are in a sense Lu Cheng's playground.
However, those two leaders were not Lu Cheng’s superiors. They were just colleagues from different departments who were assigned the same task.
Their mission is actually to make contact with the aliens and find out the intentions of the secret society.
"I heard that Miss Elena is the queen of your country?" The first leader set his target on Elena, who looked the most lively.
However, Elena ignored the leader. She was using chopsticks to fight with Miss Groundhog next to her for the glutinous rice balls that had just been served.
In Elena's eyes, the dinner table had become a battlefield rather than a place for negotiation.
"Elena, Your Majesty Elena! Someone is talking to you!"
Nancy, who was sitting next to Elena, was very observant. She realized that the two military representatives sitting at the table were the same "important people" as Lu Cheng.
“Hmm? Hmm…Hmm!!”
The first time Elena said "no", she raised her head in confusion. The second two "no"s were not an answer to the leader. The third "no" meant Charlotte snatched the glutinous rice balls from her bowl when she was not paying attention!
"this…"
The leader didn't know what to do for a moment when faced with Elena's reaction. He looked at Lu Cheng who had a smile on his face.
"She is the 28th Queen of Scarre, Elena Scarre, and this is Princess Nancy Xiu Enzhelai. The countries they belong to are both important partners of ours."
Lu Cheng briefly introduced the identities of Elena and Nancy with a smile.
"Hello."
Nancy seemed much more polite. In order to maintain politeness, she didn't even pick up her chopsticks because she knew this was a diplomatic occasion, not time for dinner.
"My name is Feng Yichun. Like Guide Li, I work in the security department. This time I am here to interact with the residents of the New World." He noticed Nancy's reserved state. "Everyone, please eat first, otherwise all the dishes will be eaten by these two ladies."
In the end, Nancy was willing to pick up her chopsticks only after Lu Cheng snatched a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs from Elena and put it in her bowl.
Her physical condition has always been poor, which resulted in her having no appetite. However, no matter how much she had no appetite... Nancy's appetite was quickly aroused by these delicious dishes.
… …
The dinner lasted for nearly an hour, mainly because Elena ate so much that the kitchen staff had to work overtime and had to purchase the ingredients separately.
There were piles of plates on the round table. The leader named Feng Yichun had no idea how to answer. The queen, who had an appetite comparable to that of a dragon, was not within the scope of his rhetoric.
Finally, Lu Cheng came to the corridor outside the restaurant and waited quietly for Elena to finish eating, and Feng Yichun followed.
"Lu Cheng...Alas, I haven't seen you for almost seven months." Feng Yichun couldn't help but sigh when he met Lu Cheng alone.
"Don't sigh every time you see me. I don't look that unlucky."
Lu Cheng walked up to the elderly man with a smile on his face.
"Unlucky? You are now the lucky star of the entire Celestial Empire. Everyone in the military who knows the inside story wants to hold a celebration to welcome you back." Feng Yichun glanced at the holy crystal on the back of Lu Cheng's hand.
Now Lu Cheng can be said to be the most important person in the Celestial Empire, without a doubt... The existence of Lu Cheng can raise the national strength and destiny of the Celestial Empire to a whole new level.
Such an important person has a different status in the Celestial Empire.
"Lu Cheng Lingling has actually always been..." Feng Yichun was about to say something here, but stopped because Lu Cheng put his hand on his shoulder and interrupted him.
"Let's just let go of what happened in the past, Uncle Feng. I own state-owned assets now, so there's no benefit in bringing up the past," Lu Cheng said.
"What I want to tell you is that she is in junior high school this year. Although you were on missions abroad before, you will be on missions in another world in the future. You may not come back once for one or two years. Please take some time to go and see her." Feng Yichun shook his head and left after saying this.
Lu Cheng watched the old man's departing back, then sat back on the sofa and looked at the ceiling.
"Eavesdropping is not a good habit." Lu Cheng said aloud, and a figure in the corner of the room was frightened and walked out quickly.
It's Noy...
Her silver-gray pupils looked at Lu Cheng with some fear. Lu Cheng rubbed his cheeks with both hands and put on a smile again.
"Is there anything you want to ask?" Lu Cheng said.
Nuoyi hesitated for a while, then walked in small steps to Lu Cheng, picked up the notebook, wrote down a short paragraph and showed it to Lu Cheng.
"What is your relationship with Uncle Feng?" Noy asked a question that was not too sensitive.
"Ordinary colleague relationship." Lu Cheng thought for a while and felt that there was nothing to hide and said, "According to the name in your world, he should be my former wise father..."
When Nuoyi heard this answer, he was completely stunned. The title of "virtuous father" means father-in-law in Chinese.
"I'm not young anymore, it's a bit sad that I'm still unmarried, isn't it?" Lu Cheng ruffled Nuoyi's short silver-gray hair with a bit of a smile. "But marriage...sometimes it can only be said to be a burden."