Qiu Ling took a deep breath and made his way over to the teahouse. It’s alright, he told himself while his heart beat wildly. If his beloved didn’t like him with this appearance he could still change to another one in the future. Even if everything else failed, his beloved wouldn’t dislike his original appearance. After all, his Jing He had fallen for him once. It would certainly work a second time in the mortal realm. There was no doubt about it.

He stepped into the teahouse and was assaulted by an excited Mister Zhong.

"Dear customer, please come in and have —" Mister Zhong stopped and his eyes went wide. "Ah! Benefactor! So it’s you! Please come in and have a seat. Tell me what you’d like! The teahouse only opened today. You’re our first customer. But don’t worry, our tea is really good and we have a lot of tasty snacks too! You’ll definitely love it! Have you decided where you’d like to sit? See, you can choose any of the tables here on the lower floor. There are rooms on the upper floor too. Maybe you’d rather take a room? Ah, but you seem to be traveling alone. It might be a bit lonely taking a room for yourself? How about —"

"Please have a seat first." Madam Zhong decisively pulled her husband to the side and smiled at Qiu Ling who still hadn’t gotten the time to even greet Mister Zhong much less answer any of the questions.

"Thank you." Qiu Ling smiled relieved and went to a table at the side. From there, he’d be able to see the whole room. Wherever his beloved went he’d be able to watch him and make sure that nothing happened to him.

Speaking of which … Where was his beloved?

Qiu Ling tilted his head and looked around but he couldn’t see him anywhere. He really wanted to get up and search for him on the upper floor or in the other rooms down here but he had already dropped the spell that was hiding him! If he just got up, people would ask questions and he wouldn’t know how to answer them. Damn this! He had prepared for so long to leave a good first impression and now his beloved hadn’t even seen him enter the teahouse. How could fate be so cruel to him?!

Depressed, Qiu Ling waved at Madam Zhong. "Just get me whatever you think is good."

"Alright. Please wait a moment." She hurried into the kitchen and came back with some snacks. "Have these first. I’ll go and get your tea."

"Mn." Qiu Ling didn’t really care but he still grabbed one of the little cakes. He bit into it while grumpily staring at the plate. He hadn’t imagined things like this.

What he had imagined … Ah, well, he knew it couldn’t happen. My love, please grow up faster! I want to experience our touching, romantic reunion!

Madam Zhong came out of the preparation room with a tray in hand. She wanted to carry the tea over but stopped right at the door when she saw Qiu Ling’s expression. The dragon king wasn’t wrong: That human face seemed to be made to frown. And right now, he was heavily frowning at the plate with the snacks while munching on his cake. Everyone who observed this would think that he was dissatisfied with the quality of the snacks. In fact, it looked like these were the worst snacks he had ever eaten.

Madam Zhong’s heart throbbed. This was the first day the teahouse had opened. If people saw their first customer look like this … Zhong Gang could forget making any money like this. She couldn’t let that happen. But just bringing him another plate of snacks might not be enough. No, special countermeasures were needed here.

Madam Zhong went back into the preparation room and smiled at her son. "Jing’er, the first customer has come to the teahouse. Would you like to go and bring him his tea? You can try smiling at him. I’m sure he’d like that!"

"Mn, alright, mommy!"

Madam Zhong carefully handed her son the tray and patted his head. "Alright. Be careful while walking."

"Mn!" Jing Yi nodded and skipped into the hall.

Madam Zhong smiled. "Let’s see if he still manages to look so grumpy with Jing’er smiling at him."

Jing Yi hurried to Qiu Ling, put the tray onto the table and pushed it toward him. He also didn’t forget to show him a brilliant smile, exposing two small dimples.

Qiu Ling looked up. The cake fell out of his hand but he didn’t even notice. He only stared at Jing Yi.

So … cute! Ah!

He unconsciously extended his hands and pinched Jing Yi’s cheeks, smiling back at him until his eyes formed small crescents.

Ah … Spending so much time on his appearance and coming here had been worth it! Luck was on his side! Fate meant well with him! In his happy mood, Qiu Ling stopped pinching Jing Yi’s cheeks and instead patted his head, tussling that soft black hair, his fingers itching to just remain there. Well, his beloved certainly wouldn’t mind, would he?

"Such a good boy!"

Jing Yi stared at the customer in front of him, ignoring the hand on top of his head. I have to smile!, he reminded himself. Mommy wants me to smile at the customers. I can’t stop.

But this uncle is really strange.