Ersan stretched out his hands and yelled out loudly, "After f****** five years of my life, I'm finally free! !"

"Not really, don't you have a few more years of internship?" asked Ju De.

Ersan gave out an exasperated groan and then chugged down the remaining beer before calling the restaurant owner to bring out more. He needed to drown out the thought that he still needed hundreds of hours of working experience before he could even take an exam. Testing for an architecture license was often more stringent than a medical license. The reason? A surgical mistake may cause one death, but an architectural mistake may cause hundreds and thousands of deaths.

"Way to ruin my mood," Ersan glared at Ju De. "Old Bu and Bi bro coming?"

"Mention Cao Cao, and he will arrive," Bufu gave Bu Tao a beer as he approached their seat.

"Yeah, hey you two, congratulations," Bu Tao gave Ersan and Ju De their red envelopes before sitting down.

"Thank you Old Bu! This will go to paying off the debts to my parents," Ersan thanked with a ceremonial warrior bow.

"You guys are skipping the graduation ceremony?" Bu Tao asked.

"I'm going to Beibei's graduation, so I'm skipping mine," Ersan responded.

"Graduations are for show offs," Ju De sneered.

"That's the point, showing off to your parents," Bufu remarked.

Li Yun arrived last and sat on the remaining seat between Ersan and Bu Tao, "Hey."

The table rowdily greeted Li Yun whom they haven't seen in awhile. Ersan was already hugging and squeezing Li Yun's neck.

"Why are you guys acting like I'm never on Ourchat?" Li Yun shoved Ersan away, who faltered back a bit on his chair.

"We miss your face up close,” Bufu sarcastically commented. “What have you been up to lately?”

"I bought a shop, so I've been busy managing it on the weekend,” Li Yun replied. “And why are you asking about me? Isn't this a dinner party for Ersan and Ju De?"

"Yeah, where're our envelopes?" Ersan asked.

Li Yun gave them each a red box. They opened the lid to see a carved stone lei ting and red envelope.

"Ooh, this looks different from the talisman, what is it for?" Ersan asked.

"Doesn't every lei ting charm ward off evil?" Li Yun asked.

Ju De and Ersan both placed the item in their bags. Ju De didn’t believe in anything supernatural. Whereas Ersan believed in them, but pretended that he didn’t.

The table started talking about more random things. Suddenly, Ersan's cellphone rang with a poppy idol girl tune.

"Ah! There's a live broadcast today!" Ersan sounded excited as he picked up his phone.

"You can't be serious? When did you start watching those?" Bufu found live streaming to be a waste of time.

"I have to watch this, it's going to be Meimei and Little Ling's last broadcast before summer break," Ersan said as he excitedly turned it on.

Li Yun felt like cringing. "You know that's my cousin," he said, leaving out the "and girlfriend."

"Everyone knows your cousin," Ersan responded.

Bufu took a glimpse at Ersan's phone, displaying two girls who were introducing the restaurant and the menu to everyone.

"You have a girlfriend, why are you even watching this crap?" asked Bufu.

"Don't be judgmental, Beibei introduced me to this broadcast," Ersan defended. "Despite it looking like two cute girls just eating out, they are quite sharp with their reviews. Meimei would explain the recipes and techniques involved, the history behind the cuisine, and how she would make it at home to suit her taste. Little Ling would then rate the food according to 1 lingling to 10 lingling. Little Ling is known to be more critical, and if she likes it, more people are inclined to go." 

A female voice came up from the speaker phone and introduced the table. Ersan then saw a familiar face as the camera panned around the table. 

"Oh hey, Ju De, your girlfriend is also there!" Ersan cried out in astonishment.

"I know," said Ju De. He was also invited, but he refused to be a part of the broadcast. The so-called special guests were basically everyone from the detective club.

"Ah! Meimei, thank you so much for picking my restaurant!" Pao Lie's loud voice could be heard through Ersan's phone. "You don't have to worry about today's meal, it's on the house."

"Mr. Pao! Thank you!" A woman's voice replied.

"No, thank you! Doctor Li is a lifesaver. I think I've been cured of my sinus. It's for real. I managed to cut off all the artificial sugar, and look for me, I think I've even lost 10 pounds."

"And you look fabulous!"

"Oh hey, there's a Doctor Li," Ersan pointed out.

Bufu looked curiously at the girl next to Wu Ling, and then it dawned on him, it was the woman Li Yun was looking for.

"Li Yun! It's her!" Bufu stood up suddenly like someone had twisted his ass.

Everyone aside from Ju De was a bit shocked. 

"The girl that drugged you?" Was everyone's response.

Li Yun nodded and pulled Bufu to sit down, “I know.”

"She’s friend with Little Ling? Was it like a prank from the two of them?" Asked Fatty Fang.

“They are friends, but little Ling doesn’t know about it,” Li Yun wondered if he should tell them that he had been dating for almost six months? 

Bufu surveyed Li Yun’s face carefully. “So you confronted her?”

"Something like that."

"You're a ****, you're obviously dating," Bufu pointed out. "I can't believe you didn't tell your friends!"

****

In the meanwhile, at the Pao Authentic Restaurant, the girls were finishing up their broadcast. After the broadcast, Wu Ling also stared curiously at Rouxi.

"Who's Doctor Li?" Wu Ling curiously asked.

"I work for this TCM doctor on Caoben street," Rouxi responded casually as she scrolled through her phone to read the missed comments.

"Oh? Is that why you haven't been in your dorm on the weekend? Don't you get paid enough with your live stream?"

"I don't get paid, but I get free room and board," Rouxi responded. "The place is pretty nice."

Wu Ling looked at her friend in disbelief. "This doctor isn't taking advantage of you or anything?"

Everyone at the table started cracking up.

"Really Little Ling, out of all the people, do you think she's not capable of taking advantage of other people?" Zhu Ah Nin thought that Wu Ling could be naive at times.

"Hey! I'm serious," Wu Ling didn't consider herself a busy body, but once she became friends with someone, she would take care of them.

"Don't worry, he's only taking advantage of my cooking."

Little Ling let out a sigh of relief. "Is he a relative or something?"

"Something, more like a boyfriend."

Wu Ling looked curiously at Rouxi. "He's the boyfriend you have been seeing? How old is he?"

"He doesn't know a single thing about the ZZ live and memes, so he's pretty old. Why are you so concerned?"

"Why shouldn't I be concerned? But this sounds so much like my cousin! He's old and he doesn't know a thing about memes!"

Rouxi and the table burst out laughing. 

***

Meanwhile, in Imperial City, a man in his mid-sixties turned off his screen as the girls of Binchu University waved goodbye on ZZ Live.

Anyone who seen the man would see him as a charismatic grandpa type person. He was blessed with eight grandchildren, well, nine if he counted Rouxi. He looked at his secretary, a tall and sleek man dressed in a dark Armini suit and framed glasses.

"So, who is this Doctor Li?" the elder asked.

"A trauma surgeon from Qinbei," Secretary Liang responded respectfully with one hand to his lower chest and the other hand turning over a dossier that was over 10 cm thick.

Song Taiji smiled, and a very warm and welcoming aura radiated from him as he looked at the photograph of the young man in a white coat.

End of Volume 2.

Volume 3 - Shennong