That look seemed to say, "My dad is awesome, isn’t he? What about your dad?"
Xu Yiyi pouted her lips and remained silent.
Qian Xiao was much more decisive. "Liu Mengmeng, how many times have I told you? If you keep picking on Big Sister, I won’t play with you anymore!"
Liu Mengmeng stamped her feet in frustration. Ever since Xu Yiyi arrived at Galaxy Kindergarten, Qian Xiao was always talking about "Sister Yiyi" this and "Big Sister" that, making her feel completely invisible!
Liu Mengmeng glared at Xu Yiyi and shouted, "Daddy, I want barbecue!"
Liu Chengyin agreed readily. His first entrepreneurial venture as a young man was a barbecue business. Although he didn’t make much money, he had traveled far and wide to learn the craft, so his skills were naturally superb.
"Everyone, let’s skewer the meat and wash the vegetables. I’ll handle the grilling," Liu Chengyin said with a smile.
"Oh, wouldn’t that be an imposition?"
"Looks like we’re mooching a meal, then! Boss Liu is truly generous."
Liu Chengyin reveled in the stream of compliments.
Soon, except for a few families that planned to cook for themselves or couldn’t stand Liu Chengyin’s arrogant demeanor, most of the parents had gathered around him. Eating was secondary; the main goal was to network.
From five or six meters away, Liu Mengmeng stuck out her tongue and whispered, "I’m not giving you any. You can just be jealous!"
"Daddy, I want barbecue too," Xu Yiyi whispered.
Xu Lai had a good temper and was always ready to indulge his daughter.
"Yiyi, Qian Xiao, what do you want to eat? I can conjure up anything for you!"
At Xu Lai’s words, both Qian Xiao and Xu Yiyi’s eyes widened, and they exclaimed in unison, "Meat!"
From a distance, Liu Mengmeng’s eyes darted around slyly, and she yelled, "Look, Yiyi’s dad is going to do a magic trick!"
Liu Chengyin and the other parents looked on curiously. Out here in the wilderness, without any magic props, he planned to conjure things out of thin air? He had to be dreaming!
Under the sneering and mocking gazes of the crowd, Xu Lai made a grasping motion in the empty air, and a skinned lamb appeared in his palm.
The area fell silent for a moment.
Liu Chengyin’s eyes were wide with shock. How did he do that?
"What else do you want to eat?" Xu Lai asked with a smile.
Xu Lai wasn’t sure why the two little ones were so fixated on meat, but he waved his hand and retrieved a variety of meats from his Storage Space.
There was Dragon Meat.
There was also Sea Deer meat.
They had tried Black Dragon meat once, but this Sea Deer meat was something else entirely. It came from the Sea Deer that lived deep in the ocean. They were rare, with each one possessing the Cultivation Level of the Venerable Realm. Ferociously wild, they were extremely difficult to catch. A single piece of Sea Deer meat could sell for a heavenly price of a million Spirit Stones on the Immortal Domain’s black market, making it even more expensive than Black Dragon meat.
"What’s a barbecue without a grill?" Liu Chengyin said sarcastically, shocked by Xu Lai’s abilities but also annoyed that his limelight had been stolen.
Several parents who wanted to curry favor with Liu Chengyin to expand their own business ventures nodded in agreement. They didn’t know how Xu Lai had done it, but after conjuring so much food, surely he couldn’t produce a grill out of thin air, right?
Yet no sooner had Liu Chengyin finished speaking, a high-legged grill appeared in front of Xu Lai, complete with an assortment of sauces.
The other parents looked at Liu Chengyin with peculiar expressions. He felt as if he had been slapped hard across the face, a burning pain spreading across his cheek.
"Let’s get some seafood. We can’t forget the garlic oysters," Xu Lai muttered. Instantly, a pile of wriggling seafood appeared before him—fish, shrimp, and various kinds of crabs and sea snails.
However, this wasn’t the kind of seafood everyone was used to seeing. The oysters alone were as large as washbasins, shining with a crystalline light under the sun as the scent of the ocean wafted over them.
Someone in the crowd was already swallowing hard.
In stark contrast to Xu Lai’s spread, which was as diverse as a roadside food stall’s, Liu Chengyin’s barbecue was quite simple, offering only meat and vegetables.
"How did you do that?" Ruan Tang gently tapped Xu Lai’s arm, her face filled with astonishment. But then she remembered how he had teleported her over twenty kilometers just a few days ago. How could a human possibly do something like that?
"Uncle Xu is the greatest magician in the world!" His number one lackey, Qian Xiao, was already in position, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Uncle Xu is awesome!"
"Can your dad do magic?" Xu Yiyi’s beautiful eyes curved into smiling crescents as she looked sweetly at Liu Mengmeng.
"Of course my dad can! He’s a magician too!" Liu Mengmeng refused to admit defeat. "Dad, you do it too."
I wish I could, but the problem is, I don’t know how. Liu Chengyin’s face twitched. He forced a smile and said, "Mengmeng, Dad will do a trick for you another day."
"No! I want you to do it now!" Liu Mengmeng whined, on the verge of tears. "Xu Yiyi’s dad can do it, why can’t you?"
Liu Chengyin’s expression turned ugly. It wasn’t appropriate for him to get angry, so he and his wife could only try to comfort their daughter, though he felt like he was about to explode with rage.
"What’s there to show off? It’s just a few magic tricks," Liu Chengyin’s wife scoffed. "You can’t make a living with magic these days. It’s just a lowly craft."
No one seconded her. A silence fell, as the parents who could send their children to Galaxy Kindergarten generally had a certain level of worldliness and tact. They all knew that based on the magic Xu Lai had just performed, he could easily outclass any other magician. Dominating the world might be an exaggeration, but becoming number one in Hua Country was definitely possible.
"I don’t know if it’s lowly or not, but you certainly lack manners," a hearty laugh rang out. The speaker was a burly man.
Ignoring the resentful glare from Liu Chengyin’s wife, the burly man displayed the classic forthrightness of The North, raising a jar of wine. "You must be Mr. Xu Lai? My name is Mao Gaoshan, Mao Dou’s father. You’ve got the meat, and I’ve brought the wine. Care to share a drink? Your magic was incredible, and it’s certainly no lowly craft."
"Welcome," Xu Lai said with a laugh.
Although her question had been interrupted by Qian Xiao, Ruan Tang was in a good mood. She began inviting the families who were off by themselves to join their feast. After all, they had far too much food, and wasting it was a terrible habit. As for the parents who had previously flocked to Liu Chengyin, they didn’t have the nerve to come over now, no matter how much their children wanted to.
Xu Lai also took the opportunity to make several new friends. He had a splendid time, taking big bites of meat and hearty gulps of wine.
Even Ruan Tang drank a large bowl of the mare’s milk wine from Mao Gaoshan’s hometown, her lovely face flushing with an intoxicating red. Every smile and gesture was full of charm, and many of the fathers found it impossible to look away.
Then, a collective gasp swept through the area—as they were all pinched by their wives!
Only Mao Gaoshan continued to shout loudly, "Xu Lai, you are truly a fortunate man to have married such a beautiful wife."
Mao Gaoshan’s wife gave him a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. Feeling the murderous intent, his body stiffened and he quickly added, "But I’m even luckier than you are—my wife is more beautiful!"
"A toast to Sister-in-law," Ruan Tang said with a playful smile.
Xu Lai also raised his cup, laughing heartily. "To Sister-in-law! I’ll work hard so in my next life, I can be like Big Brother Mao and marry..."
Xu Lai paused for a long moment before finally finishing, "...a wife as beautiful as yours!"