Chapter 617 - Web Comic Volume (17): Boss’s Gift

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

At the restaurant.

Qin Ran arrived a little earlier today.

Cheng Juan was afraid that Cheng Mu would speed and hence accommodated for some buffer time.

Qin Ran entered the reserved private room at about 11.

The private room was large and spacious and furnished in an Old Shanghai style. The lights were dim and it was quiet, almost like an abandoned train station from the past.

Four attendants were inside, and they began serving tea the moment Cheng Mu and Qin Ran entered.

Cheng Mu took over the teaware from the attendants and waved them away. “You’re not needed here anymore.”

It was a high-class restaurant and customers typically paid a lot for the food and service. Hence, it was rare to see customers who preferred preparing their own tea. But seeing that Cheng Mu seemed rather familiar with it, they did not say much.

They simply took their leave politely.

Qin Ran sat on the stool by the window and placed Cheng Juan’s gift for Mu Nan on the table. She then checked her WeChat.

Cheng Juan and Qin Ran each prepared a gift for Mu Nan.

She opened Chang Ning’s chat and sent a message—

[Have you found out?]

Chang Ning did not reply. Instead, he called her.

“Boss Chang.” Qin Ran took her earphones out and put them on.

“This force hasn’t made an appearance in years.” Chang Ning sounded pretty leisurely on his end. He was sitting in Kenneth’s villa and even had his butler serve him tea. “They’re not at their peak now. You know that the larger transactions and interactions in the global arena have been between Giant Crocodile’s family and Cheng Jin.”

Chang Ning took a sip of tea and thanked the butler before continuing, “The transactions in the recent years have been in the underground auction area in Continent M and mostly involve defense weaponry. Among the few transactions I found, I think you’d know two of them.”

“I do. The aircraft parking ground of Continent M as well as Gu Xichi’s base,” Qin Ran said.

Chang Ning smiled. “That’s right. The power you’ve been investigating isn’t in the best shape now. They don’t have that many people left in the group. But all we know now is that there’s an important item being auctioned next month in Beijing. You can ask Cheng Jin more about it.”

The underground auction area in Beijing was Cheng Jin’s.

Qin Ran tapped her fingers on the table. “I got it.”

“Kenneth’s gone to Shanghai too.” Chang Ning reminded her.

Qin Ran remembered Cheng Juan mentioning this.

They ended the call. Qin Ran was going to have a look at her game when she received a few WeChat messages.

They were from Editor Liu—

[Magic Lamp, what’s the estimated date of your next release? It can be out by the 10th of next month, right? It’d best be before that.]n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Editor Shen had always been the one in charge of the comics.

Qin Ran frowned as she read Editor Liu’s reply again. She’d already found it strange when Editor Shen got her to add Editor Liu on WeChat the previous night.

...

The windchime sounded outside the private room, signaling that a guest was here. It should be Mu Nan and Old Master. Qin Ran hurriedly replied “Won’t be in time” to Editor Liu and then left the app.

She placed her cell phone on the table and looked up.

Cheng Mu went to get the door.

Old Master Mu, Mu Nan, and Butler Mu entered.

Old Master Mu caught sight of Cheng Mu first.

Cheng Mu’s expression was rather cold, and one might think he looked fierce at first glance.

Although he wasn’t a black belt holder, his martial arts skills weren’t to be underestimated. His aura said just as much.

Old Master Mu was a little taken aback when he saw Cheng Mu. He hadn’t expected Mu Nan’s cousin to have such a person around her.

When Old Master Mu discovered that Mu Nan had other relatives, he hadn’t actually paid much attention to them. All that mattered to him was Mu Nan himself.

And he knew enough about Mu Nan.

Old Master Mu knew that Mu Nan had surely inherited his father’s intelligence.

When Old Master Mu first received information of Mu Nan, he had already begun to favor him.

But when Mu Nan arrived in Shanghai, Old Master Mu found that Mu Nan was even more outstanding than what he’d seen in the documents.

He was just a little solitary as a person.

Hence, when Old Master Mu found out that Mu Nan was especially nice and close to his cousin, Old Master Mu felt that he had to meet this girl.

Old Master Mu had already asked Butler Mu about Qin Ran before he came today. Butler Mu simply said that Qin Ran was a little “unusual”.

However, he didn’t elaborate on what he meant by that.

But as he saw Cheng Mu, and then Qin Ran in the private room, Old Master Mu had some idea what Butler Mu meant by “unusual”.

Qin Ran’s charisma was already out of the ordinary.

“Elder Mu.” Qin Ran got up and greeted Old Master Mu the moment she saw him. She seemed and sounded respectful.

Mu Nan’s expression softened the moment he saw Qin Ran. “You’re here so early?”

He had thought that Qin Ran would be arriving on the dot as usual.

“This place was on the way,” Qin Ran said casually.

Having greeted Old Master Mu, Qin Ran handed Mu Nan’s gift.

The packaging was rather simple.

“What’s this?” Mu Nan was shocked to receive it.

Standing beside Qin Ran, Cheng Mu replied on her behalf, “Master Juan’s gift for you, for doing well on your college entrance examination.”

“Brother-in-law?” Mu Nan seemed surprised.

Old Master Mu, who had just taken his seat, had no idea what was going on. He was confused by what Cheng Mu had just said. “A gift for his college entrance examination?”

“Yup.” Cheng Mu didn’t feel too pressurized, since this was Mu Nan’s grandfather that he was talking to. He wasn’t as uncomfortable as when he was in front of Chang Ning. “Young Master Mu Nan is the top scholar in the nation.”

“Top scholar in the nation?” Old Master Mu turned to Mu Nan. “D-Didn’t you say... you didn’t do well?”

Old Master Mu knew that Mu Nan had taken his college entrance examination.

He also knew that Mu Nan’s results had always been good.

On the 23rd, he even made it a point to ask Mu Nan about his results. But Mu Nan had simply shrugged and said he hadn’t done well.

He sounded so serious that Old Master Mu thought that was the truth. As such, he dared not even breathe a word about the college entrance examination over the next few days.

How was this... not doing well?!

“I really didn’t do well.” Mu Nan’s expression was cold again, and he sounded dead serious.

Butler Mu asked, “I’m sorry to ask, but... Young Master Mu Nan, what’s your score?”

Any student who had taken the college entrance examination this year would’ve known that this guy scored a perversely high score of 739. But Old Master Mu and Butler Mu hadn’t paid attention to the top scholar for the year.

“739.” Mu Nan furrowed his brows a little.

The test questions this year were harder. After the papers, he’d sent the questions over to Song Luting.

Song Luting had told him that besides a deduction of a couple of marks in the Language paper, Qin Ran could score full marks in all the other papers.

When he was doing the paper, Mu Nan had already guessed that he’d be scoring about 740 marks in all.

But Song Luting told him not to think too much, nor to compare himself with an examination genius like Qin Ran.

But Mu Nan still felt that he hadn’t done well enough.

Qin Ran had several other matters to attend to while she was studying. As for him, the only thing he did besides his school work was translation, and the translation questions were picked by Song Luting to boost his English skills.

Mu Nan spoke the truth. At this point, Butler Mu was glancing at him expressionlessly.

That glance seemed to say—

I can’t believe I trusted you!

Old Master Mu was shocked throughout the meal.

“Hurry, open it up and see what Master Juan got you!” Having hung around with Cheng Juan and Qin Ran, he was no longer shocked by the strangest of things people would say. He ignored Mu Nan’s previous response and was curious to find out what was in the box.

Cheng Juan was Mu Nan’s brother-in-law now. Cheng Mu felt that his gift must mean something.

Mu Nan turned to look at Qin Ran. He thought about the red packet Cheng Juan had given him at their wedding and didn’t quite feel like unpacking the gift in front of the Mu family members.

“Take a look,” Qin Ran said easily.

She didn’t see what Cheng Juan had gotten for Mu Nan, but she guessed that it was probably a diamond or something along those lines. She wasn’t so interested in that.

Mu Nan began unwrapping it slowly.

Cheng Mu moved closer to him.

The box was light. When he opened it, he saw a layer of cushion and a black remote key lying on it.

Bam—

Mu Nan took a look at it and immediately closed the box.

Butler Mu had a look of disbelief on his face. “This is...”