Chapter 309: An Awkward Moment

In the living room of the dormitory building, even the warm morning sunlight could not dispel the atmosphere that had suddenly frozen in place, and Li Luo stared blankly at the two girls at the door, momentarily a little dazed.

Being seen by his fiancée holding a sleeping beautiful girl in his arms—what do I do?

Am I going to be in mortal danger?

After a moment of wild thoughts, Li Luo suddenly came to his senses. Why am I panicking? I just saw my companion had fallen asleep, and she had helped me so much, so I simply helped her back to her room along the way.

Thinking this way, Li Luo's courage swelled, and he took the lead in smiling at the two girls at the door: "Why are you here?"

His voice broke the frozen atmosphere. Jiang Jiang Qinge and Lu Qing'er likewise came back to themselves from the scene before their eyes, but the two girls reacted differently. Jiang Jiang Qinge's willow-leaf brows lifted slightly, and the corners of her lips seemed to curl with a playful smile, while Lu Qing'er bit her red lip with her pearly teeth, glaring at Li Luo with some resentment.

Jiang Jiang Qinge was the first to walk into the living room. Her gaze flicked to Bai Bai Mengmeng in Li Luo's arms, and she said calmly, "She's asleep?"

"Take her to her room first."

Li Luo nodded, then turned and carried Bai Bai Mengmeng upstairs. On the staircase he met Student Xin Fu, who tugged his hood down slightly and said in a low voice, "Captain, the back of your clothes is a little wet."

Li Luo said expressionlessly, "Shut up."

Do I need you to remind me?

Lu Qing'er also walked into the living room and sat down at the table. Her gaze swept over Li Luo's figure going upstairs, and she said, as if to herself, "Does House Luolan Mansion have a lot of rooms?"

Her voice was not loud, but it happened to be heard by Jiang Jiang Qinge beside her.

Jiang Jiang Qinge's eyes flashed. Of course she remembered that those were the fierce words she had used to defeat Lu Qing'er the last time they had met, and now this little girl was using that same line to sow discord against her?

Was she planning to remind her to keep Li Luo in line?

Jiang Jiang Qinge smiled, also sat down at the table, and said casually, "One room is a lot, two rooms is also a lot—seems like there's not much difference."

Lu Qing'er's pretty little face alternated between pale and flushed, then she gritted her teeth and said, "You're ruthless, Senior Jiang. You'll regret this!"

Jiang Jiang Qinge rested her elbow on the table, her fair jade-like hand propping up her cheek, tilted her head slightly, and her gaze seemed to sweep over Lu Qing'er with a hint of looking down: "I'll be waiting."

During this brief exchange between the two girls, Li Luo, who had settled Bai Bai Mengmeng in, hurried back downstairs. He came to the table and sat down, smiling as he explained, "Bai Mengmeng pulled an all-nighter last night researching a Spiritual Water Wonder Light formula, so she burned through too much energy and fell asleep right there in the refining room."

Jiang Jiang Qinge could see a lingering excitement and thrill in Li Luo's eyes, so she said thoughtfully, "You got results?"

Li Luo smiled and pulled out that Four-Star formula from his chest, handing it over: "A Four-Star, Third Rank Spiritual Water formula."

Hearing this, both Jiang Jiang Qinge and Lu Qing'er could not help but be moved, because they were both people who knew the value of things, with extremely broad experience, so they both understood very clearly just what astonishing value a Four-Star formula held in the Great Xia.

Especially for the current Xiyang House, this was simply a life-saving remedy.

"What impressive research ability," Jiang Jiang Qinge sighed in admiration. Although she had never been involved in material refinement, she at least managed House Luolan Mansion, so she also paid a lot of attention to Xiyang House. Xiyang House had invested enormous funds over the past years, with so many material refiners researching day and night, yet in the end none of them had managed to develop a Four-Star formula. For Bai Bai Mengmeng to achieve this at her age showed just how extraordinary her research ability was.

Lu Qing'er's expression also turned somewhat complicated, and she said, "She just gave you this Four-Star formula?"

As the Young Lady of the Gold Dragon Treasure House, she understood the value of this Four-Star formula even more clearly. If it were really put out there, it would probably be worth tens of millions of Sky Gold coins.

Li Luo said somewhat sheepishly, "In the future, when Xiyang House sells this Spiritual Water, there will be a share given to Bai Mengmeng, but strictly speaking, it's still me who got the big bargain."

As for helping Bai Bai Mengmeng restore her sense of taste, he did not mention it, after all that was her private matter.

"With this Four-Star formula, at the Material Refinement Institute's invitation gathering, Xiyang House will at least have something worth seeing," Lu Qing'er said.

"Still not enough." Li Luo shook his head. Although a Four-Star formula could make up for Xiyang House's shortcomings, if Xiyang House truly wanted to make a stunning debut at the invitation gathering and attract those outstanding material refiners to join, a Four-Star formula alone was clearly not enough.

"Qing'e-Zhong Jie, did Sister Cai Wei deliver the Spiritual Water Wonder Light I needed?" he asked Jiang Jiang Qinge.

Jiang Jiang Qinge said, "You really drove Sister Cai Wei frantic this time. Just the other day she had just mobilized a large batch of funds to expand some of House Luolan Mansion's industries, and then you suddenly needed to buy so much Spiritual Water Wonder Light. In just one day she couldn't gather it all. If she had three days, it would have been much easier."

Li Luo gave a bitter laugh. He had indeed been too urgent this time, but the invitation gathering was right before his eyes, and he didn't have much time left.

"Still, to satisfy your needs, Sister Cai Wei still did her utmost. She went to the Gold Dragon Treasure House, planning to temporarily get them to extend you credit on a batch of Spiritual Water Wonder Light."

Jiang Jiang Qinge smiled and said, "For your sake, Sister Cai Wei even set her pride aside."

Li Luo said shamefacedly, "Going to the Gold Dragon Treasure House to buy on credit—will that even work? They're the ones who care most about rules."

"Originally, it wouldn't have."

Jiang Jiang Qinge glanced at Lu Qing'er, who sat quietly like a lotus beside her, and said, "But isn't the Young Lady of the Gold Dragon Treasure House here to put in a word for you? President Yu couldn't withstand her pestering, so he made an exception this once."

Hearing this, Li Luo thanked Lu Qing'er profusely: "Thank you so much, Qing'er!"

Lu Qing'er smiled and shook her head, then lifted a silver case from beside her and said, "All the Spiritual Water Wonder Light you wanted is in here. I didn't really help much anyway. The Gold Dragon Treasure House is a place that sells things to begin with. House Luolan Mansion has its reputation, so delaying the balance payment by a few days isn't anything serious."

In fact, over a million Sky Gold coins—she had enough from her own private savings—but she was clever enough not to step in and cover it herself, because if she had paid out, the nature of it would have been a little different. Others might have mocked Li Luo for it, attacking House Luolan Mansion for being at the end of its rope.

"But my mother asked me to remind you—if you have the time, go to the Gold Dragon Treasure House. She wants to discuss the matter of the 'Gold Dragon Arena' with you next." Lu Qing'er also brought along a message from Yu Yu Hongxi.

"The Gold Dragon Arena, huh..."

Li Luo nodded. Of course he hadn't forgotten about this matter. After all, he was extremely curious about the legendary Gold Dragon Arena, and if he could enter it and obtain some opportunities, it would also strengthen his power.

For him right now, time was short, and what he needed most was exactly this kind of opportunity from a sacred cultivation ground.

"Once I'm done with the invitation gathering, I'll go find President Yu," Li Luo said with a smile.

A smile bloomed on Lu Qing'er's beautiful, moving face, and she said, "Then I'll throw in one more piece of intel. It's said that at this Material Refinement Institute invitation gathering, the Dze Marsh House side should be sending Han Zhi to take charge."

Han Zhi...

Hearing this name, Li Luo's eyes instantly turned cold. Wasn't this the defected former president of Xiyang House?

Toward this person, Li Luo could be said to harbor deep hatred. He didn't mind the other party jumping ship, but if you're going to jump, just jump—yet he also had to drag away so many of Xiyang House's material refiners. Most importantly, that beast even set fire to Xiyang House's research room and burned it down, and all the data inside was the product of Xiyang House's many years of hard work.

"Dze Marsh House is deliberately sending him out to appear—killing by wounding the heart," Jiang Jiang Qinge said calmly.

Li Luo nodded. When Han Zhi showed his face, it would surely cause an uproar, and those top talents of the Material Refinement Institute would hear about it and think—wait, isn't this Xiyang House's former president?

And if even Xiyang House's president had run off to Dze Marsh House, then what appeal could Xiyang House possibly have left?

At that time, many of those top talents who already had a dim view of Xiyang House would probably sweep it into the trash heap in their hearts even more.

Li Luo let out a breath. It seemed that for this invitation gathering, the difficulty of Xiyang House wanting to make a stunning debut was about to rise again.

He patted the case filled with Spiritual Water Wonder Light.

But then again, that's fine... the more desperate the comeback, the more attention it draws.

The rise of Xiyang House will begin with this invitation gathering.