My God Raising Game

Chapter 22 I, an extraordinary being, will avoid his sharp edge?

Although Fanshi Ancient Town is heavily commercialized, its cultural landscape is genuine and not a modern construction used to deceive people.

As soon as Tang Lei entered the City God Temple on the west side of the ancient town, he felt a chill as he was enveloped by the dense shade of the trees. When he saw the statues of the gods enshrined in the temple, his spine began to tingle.

Especially the City God statue in the main hall, the passage of time has made its gold paint mottled, but this does not make it look dilapidated. On the contrary, it has a sense of transcendence after experiencing the vicissitudes of life.

When it glares down at the world with its eyes wide open, it seems that no matter what kind of demons or monsters they are, as long as they are stared at by it, they will have nowhere to hide and turn into dust.

Click!Click!
Tang Lei took two photos of the City God statue.

"This statue is so majestic, it feels like it could be used to ward off evil spirits!"

After taking the photos, Tang Lei bowed to the City God again, muttering, "I hope the gods will bless me and let me get into a university in Jinghai!"

Tang Lei's requirements were not high. As long as he could go to Jinghai and leave the Rust Belt, he didn't care even if he had to study his least favorite major.

"Haha, if you want to wish for success in the imperial examination, you have to go to the Confucian Temple!"

Lu Jiuling was amused.

"There's nothing wrong with worshipping more gods!"

Tang Lei bowed three times sincerely and made a vow that he would come back to fulfill his vow once he was admitted to a university in Jinghai.

The ancient town of Fanshi prospered because of the imperial examination system. It may lack many things, but it will never lack a Confucian temple.

A few days ago, Lu Jiuling would definitely have gone to the Confucian Temple to offer incense, but now that he has joined the Divine Council and completed the promotion ceremony to become an extraordinary being, he no longer needs to compete in the college entrance examination, so Lu Jiuling's desire to offer incense has faded.

However, Lu Jiuling still accompanied Tang Lei on the trip. By the time they finished visiting the Confucian Temple, it was almost noon.

"What to eat for lunch?"

Tang Lei was scrolling through his phone, looking up travel guides.

Top Scholar's Noodles with Sauce, Master's Crab Roe Buns, Spring Water Fried Dough...

There are quite a few local snacks in Fanshi Ancient Town.

Lu Jiuling looked around and found that the closest and most popular place to the Confucian Temple was a noodle shop.

"How about we go eat Zhuangyuan Saozi Noodles?"

Tang Lei is the kind of person who can eat instant noodles for a week straight without getting tired of them. He doesn't care what he eats, and he chose this place simply for good luck.

The two of them arrived at the noodle shop in seven minutes and managed to grab the last table.

"What luck!"

Tang Lei was delighted, picked up the menu, glanced at it, and exclaimed in surprise, "So expensive!"

"Isn't it common to get ripped off when eating in tourist areas? At least this place didn't give you a double menu!"

Lu Jiuling's gaze swept over the dishes.

A waitress in her thirties approached and asked, "What would you two like to eat?"

"Give me a bowl of their signature 'Top Scholar' noodles, a plate of vegetarian appetizers, a plate of cold beef salad, and two cans of Coke."

When it comes to food, Lu Jiuling is also very simple and unpretentious: "Just tell me what you want to eat, this meal is on me!"

"Beef is too expensive, don't order it!"

Tang Lei knew that Lu Jiuling's family background was similar to his own; they weren't wealthy.

Both of them were students from rural areas who were admitted to the No. 2 High School. In addition to living expenses, they had to pay extra rent every month compared to their classmates who lived in the city.

"When you're out having fun, eat well!"

Lu Jiuling gave a perfunctory answer, but in essence, it was still because he was going to enter the God's Game next month, and if he died, leaving behind a lot of money would be useless.

Instead, we should use the money to improve our meals.

Seeing that Tang Lei was about to try to persuade him, Lu Jiuling interrupted him directly: "Alright, stop talking nonsense!"

The tables and benches are all made of wood, and a flag with the character "面" (mian, meaning noodles) hangs outside the gate, fluttering in the wind, creating an antique atmosphere that makes you feel like you are dining in an ancient teahouse or tavern.

The vegetarian platter and cold beef salad were served very quickly.

"Began to eat!"

Lu Jiuling had just picked up a peanut when Tang Lei lightly kicked her under the table.

"Look, it's Jiang Shan and Xu Shaowei!"

Tang Lei gestured towards the door with his lip.

Lu Jiuling turned her head.

At the restaurant entrance, people were already queuing up for a table. Jiang Shan, baby-faced Li Jiayao, Xu Shaowei, and her best friend Feng Xiu were talking to the waiter.

When Jiang Shan learned that there were seven tables to wait, she was about to leave, but Xu Shaowei called her back.

"I saw 690 and Tang Lei, we can share a table with them!"

Xu Shaowei is outgoing and never shy.

Jiang Shan shook her head, while Li Jiayao next to her had a bright look in her eyes, looking eager to try.

"It's lunchtime now, and any restaurant that's popular will have a wait. Let's go!"

Xu Shaowei pulled Jiang Shan into the noodle shop.

"They're coming!"

Tang Lei immediately straightened up, sat up straight, and became nervous.

"690, can we share a table?"

Xu Shaowei's fair chin was slightly raised, exuding the unique arrogance of a city girl.

"Please sit wherever you like!"

Tang Lei and Lu Jiuling were originally sitting on separate benches, but upon seeing this, Tang Lei quickly got up to give up his seat and sat down with Lu Jiuling.

This is dinner with Jiang Shan and Xu Shaowei!
That's cool!

Unfortunately, Tang Lei was too timid; he glanced at Jiang Shan and quickly lowered his head.

He was racking his brains trying to figure out what to say to liven up the atmosphere.

Many diners looked over.

Xu Shaowei is quite large, a size rarely seen, while Jiang Shan is beautiful and serene, sitting there like a lily, easily reminding people of their ideal woman from their student days.

The waitress came over to take our order.

Jiang Shan and the other three ordered the signature "Top Scholar Noodles".

"Make it extra spicy!"

Seeing that Jiang Shan was still looking at the menu and seemed to be ordering hot dishes, Xu Shaowei snatched the menu from her hand and said, "Noodles will do!"

Xu Shaowei and Jiang Shan are not best friends, but girls often gossip, so Xu Shaowei knows Jiang Shan's personality.

Jiang Shan must have felt bad about sharing a table and was planning to treat everyone to dinner, but the problem is, would a girl like Lu Jiuling, a guy, really let her pay for dinner?

In the end, Lu Jiuling had to pay for it.

His family isn't wealthy!
Xu Shaowei didn't want to see Lu Jiuling eating instant noodles for a month just because of this one meal.

Jiang Shan glanced at Xu Shaowei and noticed that the female classmate was subtly glancing at Lu Jiuling. With her keen intellect, she understood.

"Ok!"

Jiang Shan responded and took out her phone to look at the downloaded "Song Dynasty Poetry". The baby-faced, shy girl finally managed to sit next to Lu Jiuling, wanting to speak but unsure how to start. Feng Xiu, indifferent to Lu Jiuling, began scrolling through her phone while waiting for her turn.

"You four have been shopping all morning, are you hungry? Have some cold dishes to tide you over!"

Lu Jiuling greeted them.

It's not that he's a sycophant, it's a matter of manners.

"Yes, yes, let's eat together!"

Tang Lei took disposable chopsticks from the chopstick holder and distributed them to Xu Shaowei and the others.

The four girls said thank you, but none of them moved.

"We're all classmates, is it really necessary to be so polite?"

Lu Jiuling recalled his middle school days, when he was just as shy and embarrassed to talk to female classmates. By the time he graduated from university, he had lost contact with everyone except for two close friends.

"Yes, don't be shy!"

Tang Lei scratched his head, trying to liven up the atmosphere, when he noticed Lu Jiuling bump him with her knee.

"what happened?"

Tang Lei looked at his friend.

Lu Jiuling glanced at the freezer.

Tang Lei blinked and followed Lu Jiuling's gaze...

What do you mean?
Tang Lei was completely bewildered.

Xu Shaowei and Jiang Shan noticed this detail and immediately understood.

Lu Jiuling asked Tang Lei to get the drinks.

did not expect,
Lu Jiuling is quite a warm guy, but why don't you go?
Are we unworthy?

"..."

Lu Jiuling was speechless. Didn't you like Jiang Shan?
You're not going to seize this opportunity to curry favor?

As for yourself?

Sorry, Xu Shaowei and Jiang Shan are not my type.

For no apparent reason, Lu Jiuling thought of the girl he had seen in the Divine Council Hall. She looked pitiful, like an abandoned stray cat, but her eyes held a stubborn coldness.

Jiang Shan is pretty, but compared to that girl, she's completely overshadowed.

Xu Shaowei ran to the freezer and brought back six bottles of drinks. Even though Lu Jiuling and Tang Lei already had cola, Xu Shaowei still gave them two bottles of herbal tea.

"You...you're planning to apply to universities in Jinghai or Beijing?"

Tang Lei finally found a topic to talk about.

Although the chances are slim, what if I perform exceptionally well and get into the same university as Jiang Shan?
"I'll go wherever my score is high enough, as long as I can leave Anzhou!"

Xu Shaowei wants to go to a big city.

Anju, a city located in the Rust Belt, has no future and its economy will continue to decline.

"Me too!"

After Feng Xiu finished speaking, the baby-faced man nodded.

Everyone is like this, studying hard to escape their current living environment, not wanting to rot away in this place for the rest of their lives.

"And you, Jiang?"

Tang Lei stared longingly at Jiang Shan.

"Go to Beijing!"

Jiang Shan did not hide anything.

"Oh!"

Tang Lei felt a little regretful because he would have preferred to go to Jinghai.

"690, why did you have to offend Commander Zhang for no reason?"

Xu Shaowei was speechless when she thought about the conflict this morning: "You only have three months left to graduate, can't you just be more patient?"

Xu Shuo is a petty person with no ability. Even if he dislikes Lu Jiuling, he wouldn't do anything too bad. But Zhang Shuai is different; he's a school bully!

If someone wants to mess with Lu Jiuling's mentality, for example, on the morning of the college entrance exam, they could have someone beat him up, and 690 would definitely suffer a loss.

Fight back?

Stop dreaming, unless you also have a district chief as your father.

"Yeah, it's just a few sarcastic remarks from Zhang Shuai, nothing serious, why did you have to retaliate?"

Feng Xiu felt that Lu Jiuling was being irrational.

But that's how guys are; they all try to put on a brave face in front of pretty girls.

Lu Jiuling really wanted to say something...

I, an extraordinary being, will avoid his sharp edge?

However, I found the lines too awkward, so I just laughed.

"Thank you for your concern, please have some meat!"

Lu Jiuling used serving chopsticks to put a piece of beef on Xu Shaowei's plate, and then added another piece for the baby-faced girl.

He realized that the girls wouldn't pick up food if he didn't do it himself.

"Thank you!"

The baby-faced girl quickly thanked him, looking very nervous.

With a social butterfly like Xu Shaowei around, there was never a dull moment at the dinner table. She thought Lu Jiuling liked Jiang Shan, which was why he rejected her confession, but now that she saw it, Lu Jiuling wasn't interested in Jiang Shan either, which made her feel much better.

and many more,

Girls like me and Jiang Shan wouldn't even be interested in someone with a score of 690. Is he too picky? Or does he just like guys?

Lu Jiuling and Tang Lei's noodles were served first. The two of them quickly finished eating, left the table early, and paid the bill as well.

"690 is such a warm guy!"

Xu Shaowei saw Lu Jiuling go to pay the bill: "He probably left first because he was worried we'd feel uncomfortable!"

"He didn't eat the beef either!"

The baby-faced man noticed that Lu Jiuling only ate some cold dishes and didn't touch the beef at all, which was obviously left for the four girls.

"Jiang Shan, you have to help 690!"

Xu Shaowei stared at Jiang Shan: "Only you can keep Zhang Shuai from causing him trouble!"

"You underestimate Lu!"

Jiang Shan ate her noodles slowly and carefully.

When everyone mentioned Zhang Shuai just now, Lu Jiuling remained calm and showed no emotional fluctuations, which shows that he didn't take that school bully seriously at all.

However, Zhang Shuai is a notorious villain, so where does Lu Jiuling get his confidence?
I'm a little curious!
(End of this chapter)