Owen was oozing with the aura of a successful young person. His mannerisms were also refined in a way that a VR veteran like me couldn’t hope to achieve, but that was okay. It was too pretentious for my tastes anyway.

Owen looked at me next and said, "This handsome man is… ah! You’re Lin Yixin’s boyfriend, right? The two of you are quite the couple. Nice to meet you, my name is Owen."

I shook his hand and greeted back, "Nice to meet you too, Mr. O. My name is Lu Chen."

He replied a bit confusedly, "Er, my surname isn’t O. Owen is my English name."

I apologized, "Oh, I’m so sorry. I thought it natural for us Chinese to greet each other using their Chinese names…"

Lin Yixin complained beside me, "You’re doing this on purpose…"

Lin Xiao looked clearly annoyed, but auntie burst into a chuckle and said, "This boy is as interesting as ever."

Owen looked a bit humiliated, but he quickly got a hold of himself and replied, "I see now you’re a joker, Lu Chen. It is an interesting trait though. I understand now why Lin Yixin loves you so much."

I shrugged. "I just got lucky. To be honest, I don’t know what Yiyi like about me myself."

Lin Yixin pulled my arm and chided me, "Take a seat. Also, when did I say I like anything about you? Stop praising yourself!"

I took a seat obediently before asking Lin Xiao and auntie, "Have you ordered lunch yet, uncle, auntie?"

"Mn."

Auntie added, "Feel free to order your own meals!"

"Okay!"

……

"Waiter! Menu, please!" I shouted.

A beautiful waitress walked up to me and passed over a dark brown file. The menu looked very refined, but the problem was that I had no idea what it was saying. It was fully in English!

"Excuse me, but do you have a Chinese-translated menu or something?" I asked.

The beautiful waitress replied apologetically, "I’m sorry, but we only have 5 Chinese-translated menus, and they’re all being used right now. How about you describe to me what you want to eat, and I’ll tell you if we have a dish like that?"

Lin Yixin giggled heartlessly at the side and didn’t try to help me at all.

On the other hand, Owen took a menu and listed a couple of dishes in perfect English to the waitress, "Feel free to introduce these dishes to Sister Lin Yixin and Lu Chen. They should enjoy it."

I might not understand what he was saying, but I knew that he was flaunting his English!

So, I fished out my smartphone, called a number and said, "Blackie, can you bring me Di San Xian and Gaifan? Yes. Yes. I’m on the second floor of the British western-style restaurant on the opposite side of your shop. I want it ready in ten minutes, okay?"

"No problem, Brother Chen!"

For a time, Owen, Lin Xiao and auntie looked like they couldn’t believe what just happened. Auntie burst into laughter again before commenting, "That’s incredible, Lu Chen. I guess there really is a first for everything."

I shrugged. "It’s nothing. I know a lot of people around here because I’ve worked here before. I’ve even been a floor manager!"

"I see…"

……

It didn’t take long before the dishes were served. Lin Yixin also ordered me a medium rare steak so that the lunch would actually be fulfilling. Finally, she also ordered two bottles of red wine.

Lin Xiao raised his glass and said, "It’s been a while since I’ve seen Yiyi, so let’s toast to that, shall we?"

Owen and I clinked glasses with Lin Xiao before draining our glasses in one gulp.

After that, he said, "I’m really happy to be able to cooperate with Murphy International regarding this commercial square. Owen is only 27 years old, but he’s already a CEO with a good amount of experience interacting with various major companies. You’ll take over eventually, Yiyi, so I would like you to learn as much as you can from Owen during our time of cooperation. Just treat him like a senior brother or something. I’m sure you’ll find it to be a rewarding experience!"

Owen replied with a slightly drunken smile on his face, "Oh? Sister Lin Yixin is going to become my junior sister in the future? That’s an honor for sure…"

I asked suddenly, "How much is your yearly salary, senior brother Owen?"

He looked surprised. "Around 7 million or so. What’s wrong?"

I pointed at Lin Yixin and said, "This gal here is the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya, a guild in Heavenblessed. She’s also a member of Apple’s e-sports main roster, so her yearly salary amounts to 30 million or so…"

Lin Yixin hid a snicker while thinking to herself "Here he goes again…"

Owen tried to rescue himself from the hole I had dug him into. "Ahem, income can’t be the only metric to evaluate all successes and failures. In-game income is but temporary, and it’s just a game in the end. It can’t be the theme of one’s entire life, don’t you agree?"

I nodded. "Makes sense. In fact, I am planning to start up a company that focuses on power-leveling other gamers after I retire from professional gaming. At a rough estimate, I think I’ll be able to earn a couple million per year…"

For the first time, Owen looked at me seriously and said, "If I may be so bold, how much do you earn from Heavenblessed, Lu Chen? It’ll take tens of millions at least to establish a proper gaming company."

Lin Yixin was the one who answered him, "Him? Assuming that he retires in 5 years, he should have 300 million or more in his personal bank account. If you count the 10% share he holds in the Raincube Corporation as well, his assets are worth around 2 billion USD…"

"That’s…"

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Owen’s world was flipped upside down. He certainly looked like it.

It was at this moment Lin Xiao let out a cough and said, "So… I think Owen is correct. Heavenblessed is just an MMORPG created by Eternal Moon Corporation, and even if it lasts forever—which it won’t—it cannot be the theme of one’s whole life. Plus, Eternal Moon Corporation is the one who’s ultimately profiting from your successes. Both of you should consider what you want to do after you retire. Anyway, why don’t you exchange numbers with Owen, Yiyi? When you are free, feel free visit the company here and acquire some experience."

Lin Yixin pouted. "You know I’m still a university student, right? A second-year university student who should be enjoying her youth to her fullest before facing the graveyard that is adulthood? How can you end my wonderful life prematurely, father?"

Lin Xiao rolled his eyes at her dramatic choice of words. "Whatever, you do what you want. I’m just saying that Owen is a good lad, and it won’t hurt you to get to know him."

Lin Yixin sighed. "Fine. Senior brother, my phone number is 1351727****. Did you catch it all?"

Owen replied, "Got it. I’ll send you a message:"

"Mn."

……

Meanwhile, I had drained another glass of wine in one gulp.

Lin Yixin whispered affectionately into my ear, "Little Cheat, you look real cute when you’re jealous!"

I huffed back. "What are you talking about? I’m not jealous!"

"You totally are!"

"Hmph!"

……

Lin Yixin stopped speaking, but she held my hand firmly underneath the table. Her meaning was as clear as day.

No matter how much Lin Xiao wished for her to get to know Owen, and no matter how outstanding of a man Owen was, he could never replace all the experiences Lin Yixin and I had gone through together. I would remember the purple-eyed girl who slowly pulled down her cloak beneath the pine trees of Frost Mound for as long as I loved Lin Yixin… and that would be forever.

After we finished lunch, Owen rose to his feet and said politely, "Uncle, auntie, Sister Lin Yixin, Lu Chen, if you have nothing to do for the afternoon, would you like to explore the commercial square? We’re going to have to remake the entire commercial district anyway. I’m sure uncle can give me some advice."

Lin Xiao nodded. "Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. Let’s go!"

I had no choice but to follow them. Consciously or not, Owen tried to walk side-by-side with Lin Yixin and put himself closer to her, but Lin Yixin defiantly ignored Lin Xiao’s harsh gaze, held my arm in a way that could only suggest one thing, and beamed like she could melt an iceberg with her smile alone. Best of all, there was nothing Lin Xiao could do to stop her. We were way past the age where arranged marriages were a popular thing, not to mention that Lin Yixin’s current business was a match of his these days. Moreover, auntie made eyes at him repeatedly to stop him from being more forceful about things. It was obvious that auntie had a great impression of me. Back when she was still in a coma, I had visited her multiple times with Lin Yixin. That, to her, was more important than anything Owen could offer.

As we entered the commercial square’s administrative district, employees kept nodding their heads to Owen and greeting him respectfully. No wonder Lin Xiao was regarding him so highly. He might be my love rival, but even I had to admit that he knew what he was doing. Unfortunately, it also meant that I was about as important as a background prop right now; the dancers who were only meant to prop up Wang Leehom at the center. Shit! Shit!!

However, the gods hadn’t abandoned me yet. A group of people wearing business uniforms walked out of a meeting room and headed toward our direction. A middle-aged man wearing a work badge that identified him as an operations manager smiled at Owen and said, "Sir, we just finished negotiating with the person-in-charge for Huafeng Real Estate and signing a contract with them. In summary, we will be renting this lot for 10 years. This beauty here is the vice president of Huafeng Real Estate…"

The operations manager stepped aside to reveal the beautiful woman standing behind him, also the vice president of Huafeng Real Estate. But why does she look so familiar?

When the woman saw me, she broke into a smile and greeted me, "Lu Chen! You’re here too?"

I exclaimed in surprise, "It really is you, Yujia! Is Raincube getting involved in real estate now?"

Lin Yujia nodded. "Yep. We confirmed the proposal about a week ago. It’s why I was moved to Huafeng, to oversee this. I wasn’t expecting to run into you here!"

Surprised, Owen asked, "You know him, vice president Lin?"

Lin Yujia replied politely, "Of course! He’s a major shareholder in Raincube after all. He holds 10% of Raincube’s shares, and Huafeng holds 35% of this commercial square’s shares. In that sense, you could say that he holds 3.5% of this commercial square’s shares! Anyway, you both know each other?"

Owen couldn’t help but stare at me with slack-jawed shock.

As for me, I nearly broke character and gave Lin Yujia a kiss there and then. Speak of the angel, and the angel shall appear!

……

Du du!

Suddenly, my phone rang. It was He Yi.

"Hi Eve! Did you conquer Silver City already?"

"Of course not! It’s only 12:50 pm."

"I see. What is it? I just finished eating lunch with Yiyi, and we’re just wandering around the area right now. I don’t think I’ll be coming online today. Does it look like things are going well for us?"

She replied, "It’s too soon to tell. If Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and Purgatory Mad Dragon continue to focus their efforts on Gold City, then yes, we’ll be able to conquer Silver City without trouble. Otherwise, it’s hard to say. Purgatory Mad Dragon especially is going to be trouble because they’re almost 3 million players strong. Even if they’re all noobs, it’s still going to take a while to kill them all…"

"Do we have the coordinates of all the Cities of Heaven in the China server yet?"

"Mostly. We have the coordinates of Gold City, Silver City and Bronze City, but not Dark Steel City."

"It's fine, do your best! I may come back tonight or tomorrow morning. If the territory war isn’t over by then, I’ll jump in and do whatever I can…"

"Okay!"