"Why are you calling her big sister? As I recall, you should be older than she is." The Nancy Empress happened to come back just then.
She saw her goddaughter, before Nannan, just like an obedient puppy.
"Big sister's very clever. Big sister says the cleverer one is the big sister!" Huang Nannan spoke up for Nannan of her own accord.
Huang Min beside them had witnessed the whole thing; she covered her face.
Though her own daughter was clever too, before that little girl she did not even count as a sprig of scallion.
The gap was simply far too great.
"I've settled things with your tour group. For this while you can come with me." The Nancy Empress looked at Jiang Yumeng and Nannan.
"That's really too much trouble…" Jiang Yumeng wanted to thank the Nancy Empress, but for a moment did not know what to call her.
Should she call her Lady Empress?
Calling someone Lady Empress in front of everyone felt somewhat odd.
The Nancy Empress saw this too and said lightly, "No need to be so polite; we count as friends now. You can just call me Sister Nancy."
"All right, thank you, Sister Nancy. Then let me treat you to this meal!" Jiang Yumeng offered of her own accord to pay.
Though she did not know how much a meal here cost, with the money Nannan had given her, a meal should be no problem.
"You're still a university student; though your family is wealthy, what you spend is your parents' money. With you two along with me, there's naturally no reason to have you spend money. This time I'll pay. Once you're out working someday, then you can treat me," the Nancy Empress said.
"All right." Jiang Yumeng nodded hard. "I'll definitely treat Sister Nancy to a meal someday."
This Sister Nancy was the Nancy Empress; this counted as her having struck up a fine connection.
In the future, whether for getting things done or for finding a job,
it could solve a great many problems.
"Then let's go. It's getting late. Nannan hasn't even had her dinner, waiting for you, her godmother," Huang Min said.
The Nancy Empress glanced at the time.
On Dragon Star it was already past eight in the evening, Fierce Dragon Time.
The dinner hour had already passed.
Being in space, hardly anyone could tell morning, noon and night apart.
But here, Fierce Dragon Time was kept.
"Then let's go to the food district. We'll see whether any new places have opened lately," the Nancy Empress said with a faint smile.
The party of five hailed a maglev tram and set off for the food district.
Jiang Yumeng looked around curiously.
Entering this starport, she felt as if she had entered an enclosed city.
All around was steel structure.
"Your first time here?" Huang Min noticed the look on Jiang Yumeng's face, the look only a first-timer would have.
Jiang Yumeng nodded.
"Before, I'd only seen reports on the Dragon Palace Starport in course textbooks and some media. I knew it was very prosperous here, with a lot of unbelievable technology. But I never imagined it would be like this. It's unbelievable. If you say it's a space starport, I'd almost rather believe it's a space city!"
Huang Min nodded and said, agreeing heartily, "The first time I came here and saw all this, I thought the same. You have to know there's everything here. All the things there are on the ground, schools, hospitals, the subway, supermarkets, there are here too. There are even dedicated residential compounds. If space weren't right outside, I'd fully believe it if you said this was some underground city on Dragon Star!"
Jiang Yumeng and Huang Min got on very well.
Before long, they reached a restaurant.
This restaurant had a sign saying it was open around the clock.
"Hello, how many in your party?" A robot appeared before them.
"Five; I have a reservation." The Nancy Empress showed her identity.
"Identity confirmed; your reservation is in Private Room No. 3. Please follow me." The robot led the way in front.
The Nancy Empress followed behind with the others.
"Hello, your private room is Private Room No. 4. Please follow me."
Just then another party was shown in too.
As chance would have it, the Nancy Empress's eyes met those of someone opposite.
"Fierce…" The Nancy Empress looked at the person before her in astonishment.
"Nancy… you're here, of all places." Zhao Chen looked at the person before him, somewhat surprised.
The Nancy Empress was more astonished still.
She muttered to herself:
you're the one who's surprised?
You're the present Emperor of the Fierce Dragon Kingdom; you ought to take great care for your safety; why would you turn up in this restaurant?
"I'm dining here with my friends. You…" The Nancy Empress did not name Zhao Chen's identity.
Though Zhao Chen's image had spread to the outside world too, Zhao Chen was now wearing a cap and sunglasses.
Unless someone knew Zhao Chen very well in real life, they would not recognize him at a glance.
"I've come here to eat too," Zhao Chen said with a smile.
The corner of the Nancy Empress's mouth twitched; if you wanted something to eat, it was a matter of a word.
You could have had the chef brought straight to you.
Seeing what the Nancy Empress was thinking,
Zhao Chen said, "Sometimes the atmosphere when you eat matters a lot too; eating alone in that empty room is really dull. So I brought a few of my subordinates to eat together."
Zhao Chen pointed at the several people behind him.
Secretary Officer Barbara was not there.
But there were several secretary officers and staff officers who studied under Zhao Chen.
These people naturally recognized the Nancy Empress's identity too, and nodded in greeting.
Compared with the natural expression on Zhao Chen's face, these people's faces still bore a trace of nervousness.
"Chief Engineer Annie came too?" The Nancy Empress was surprised to find Annie following behind Zhao Chen.
"She's been rather tired lately; when she was reporting to me on her work, she mentioned she wanted something good to eat. So I came out with her while I was at it." As Zhao Chen spoke, his gaze fell on the several people behind the Nancy Empress.
None of these people's faces was very familiar.
But when his gaze fell on one of those two little girls, Zhao Chen's eyes seemed drawn to her of their own accord.
That little girl looked five or six, yet in her eyes was a trace of maturity.
It even made Zhao Chen feel something familiar.
It was as if he had seen this little girl somewhere.
But however he thought, he could not recall it.
"This is my best friend, a citizen of the Fierce Dragon Kingdom too. Later, because of her hard work, she was transferred to work at the Dragon Palace Starport. Her daughter, as her dependent, was placed in the kindergarten here. This time I've come to have a get-together meal with them as well. These two are here touring the Dragon Palace Starport. Because we got on rather well on the space elevator, I invited them to eat with us."
The Nancy Empress introduced the four beside her one by one.
Not far behind Zhao Chen, the guards in plain clothes had in fact begun investigating these people's personal details the moment they came within a few dozen meters of Zhao Chen,
to make sure these people posed no threat whatever to Zhao Chen.
Huang Min's and Huang Nannan's identities were both fine.
But when they came to Jiang Yumeng,
two sets of records appeared in the system files.
One was an heiress of the Jiang Group; the other was a university student from an ordinary family.
And then there was this little girl Nannan.
Though it said she was a young lady of the Jiang Group,
that record, however one looked at it, felt wrong.
"Investigate this Jiang Group at once. Send people to check it out in person, offline. These two sisters' records are very wrong!" the guard captain instructed at once.
Her many years of experience as a guard told her that this record before her certainly had a problem.
But since not even the big data the Fierce Dragon Kingdom had built could determine whether it was true or false, she did not dare say so outright either.
She could only first find a way to gather enough evidence and material.
"Then what do we do now? Could His Majesty be in danger!" a guard beside her said with some worry.
The guard captain thought for a while, shook her head and said, "The present evidence can't prove these two sisters have a problem. If we act rashly, we may startle the snake by beating the grass. For now, just watch them. At the same time be ready at any moment to make sure the two keep a safe distance from His Majesty!"
"Understood!"
"Mommy, I'm hungry." Huang Nannan tugged at her mother's sleeve.
"If there's nothing else, then we'll each eat our own meal. When we have a moment later, I'll drop by. I'm right in the room next to yours anyway. These two children are both rather adorable," Zhao Chen said with a smile.
His gaze swept over the two children.
It could not help making him think of his own three children out there.
For him, it had been nearly ten years since he had seen them.
In his heart he truly could not help missing them.
"Very well. In a while I'll come and toast you," the Nancy Empress said.
"Mm!"
The two parties parted and went into their own private rooms.
Huang Min leaned close to her best friend's ear and asked quietly, "Why does that man just now seem so familiar? Your manner toward him… he isn't that one, is he…"
"That's right: the biggest, biggest, biggest BOSS over you." The Nancy Empress did not hide it.
Huang Min's eyes went wide.
She had never imagined she would actually get to see such a legendary figure, and now such a figure was eating on the other side of a wall from her.
She felt her heart pounding.
"Don't be nervous, and don't think too much about it. Since that one has come out, he doesn't want his identity exposed. His business is for you and me to know now, and that's all. We're just out to eat with the children. Don't think too much about it," the Nancy Empress reminded her softly.
Huang Min nodded.
But during the meal, she still could not help glancing toward the next room.
Though she was a married woman now, this was the Fierce Dragon Emperor.
Even a married woman like her sometimes fantasized about this Fierce Dragon Emperor in her dreams.
She would even joke about it with her husband when they were together:
if the Fierce Dragon Emperor tempted her, she would kick him to the curb without a second thought.
And her husband had not been angry in the least.
Instead he had said that if there really were such a chance, could she bring him along too?
If it were the Fierce Dragon Emperor, actually he'd be up for it too.
When she heard her husband say this, his eyes going all gooey,
she had felt a chill all over.
Though it looked like a joke,
she felt her husband was certainly not joking, for her husband was a fanatical fan of the Fierce Dragon Emperor.
He did not smoke, did not drink; what he liked doing most was searching the internet for things about the Fierce Dragon Emperor.
On the wall of his study there even hung a profile photo of the Fierce Dragon Emperor.
As for her husband offering himself for the Fierce Dragon Emperor's bed, she truly believed it was possible.
At the thought of her own man making a cuckold of her for another man,
she found it somewhat unbelievable.
But then, it was that man.
"In a while could you go get an autograph?" Huang Min said quietly again.
The Nancy Empress glanced at her best friend somewhat helplessly.
But she still nodded: "If it seems right in a while, I'll go get one."
"Thank you, best friend." Huang Min smiled.
Very soon this restaurant's fine food was brought.
Everyone began enjoying the fine food, chatting now and then.
Huang Nannan, ever since accepting a big sister, had become Nannan's little follower through and through.
For every kind of question, Nannan could answer with ease.
Huang Nannan's eyes looking at this big sister were full of worship.
"There's something I wonder if I could trouble big sister with." Nannan spoke at this point, looking at the Nancy Empress.
She had come this time to find her mommy.
With her own abilities, finding her mommy here would take some time.
But now right before her was a fine helper:
the Nancy Empress.
She was, after all, an Empress, and on good terms with the Fierce Dragon royal house.
Through her connections, perhaps her mother could be found.
"What is it?" The Nancy Empress looked curiously at this clever girl.
Nannan set down her chopsticks, worked up her feelings, and then glanced at her big sister.
Jiang Yumeng was somewhat puzzled; why did this girl specially have to glance at her?
She felt the girl was working up to some big move.
"There's actually something my big sister doesn't know either. The reason I made such a fuss to come to the Dragon Palace Starport is partly curiosity about this place. And one very important reason is this. I've come to find my grandfather's illegitimate daughter."
Pfft!
Before she could disgrace herself, Jiang Yumeng hastily jerked her head to one side, and the drink in her mouth sprayed onto the wall.
Her grandfather's illegitimate daughter?
Why did that phrase sound so strange?
The eyes of the Nancy Empress and Huang Min both fell on Nannan at this moment.
Perhaps it was women's natural gift for gossip that made them very interested in this matter.
"Your grandfather's illegitimate daughter? Tell us what happened." The Nancy Empress picked up a napkin and wiped the corner of her mouth, seemingly offhand, but in truth her gossip-loving heart was already wide open.
Who says empresses don't love hearing gossip?
There is no one in this world who doesn't love hearing gossip, all right?
If there is, then the gossip just isn't melodramatic enough!