Chapter 1187: Quick Joy

"No problem!" The girl blinked. "Are you alone? Would you like to sit inside or outside?"

"Alone, outside please."

"Okay!"

The girl, holding a menu in one hand, used the other to pull out a street-side stool for Ying Fu. Then, she darted into the shop, shouting loudly, "Dad! We have a customer!"

Ying Fu slowly sat down at the outdoor table and chairs by the street.

As it was late at night, there were no pedestrians or vehicles on the road. The faint starlight occasionally pierced through the hazy clouds, casting a glow on Ying Fu's back, like a layer of white frost.

Ying Fu sat there silently for a long time, his gaze fixed on the busy figures inside the shop, motionless like a statue.

Finally, the girl emerged from the shop, carrying a steaming plate of crayfish.

The crayfish was gently placed in front of Ying Fu, its rich aroma wafting into his nostrils. However, Ying Fu didn't look at the crayfish; instead, his gaze remained on the girl's face.

"What's your name?" Ying Fu suddenly asked.

The girl seemed surprised by the sudden question. She gave him a strange look, as if wondering if he was some kind of ill-intentioned person. Yet, for some reason, seeing the glimmer in Ying Fu's eyes, her heart trembled slightly, and she hesitantly replied, "You...you can just call me Jiang Jiang."

After speaking, without waiting for Ying Fu to ask anything further, she turned, pulled two bottles of beer from the fridge, and skillfully opened them with a bottle opener. "And you? What's your name?"

Ying Fu was silent for a long time. "My name is Li Fu."

"Oh~"

Jiang Jiang handed the filled glass to Ying Fu. He took it, lifted it, and took a sip. The next second, he was choked by the bubbles and began to cough violently.

It was Ying Fu's first time drinking beer from this era, and he was caught off guard. Jiang Jiang, witnessing this, became even more surprised.

"You don't drink? I thought college students nowadays could all hold their liquor..."

Ying Fu remained silent.

Ying Fu said nothing, but silently took another sip. This time, having prepared himself, he wasn't choked again. Instead, the fizzy sensation gave him an unexpected feeling of novelty.

Next, Ying Fu tried a bite of the crayfish. Although the strong spice flavor was somewhat uncomfortable for him, it tasted quite good for an occasional treat.

Dressed as he had been for the evening banquet, in a simple overcoat and modest black-rimmed glasses, he sat quietly at the street stall, drinking beer and eating crayfish. No one knew who he was, nor did anyone care where he came from. Even his own subjects would never have imagined that their Emperor would be eating and drinking so unceremoniously outside a small shop like this.

Jiang Jiang watched the young man slowly peel the crayfish with chopsticks, his movements stiff as if he had just learned to control his limbs. She found it both amusing and intriguing. "Why are you eating crayfish alone so late at night? Don't you have any friends with you?"

Ying Fu gave a faint hum.

"Are you preparing for graduate school exams? My cousin is also studying for them, and she seems really stressed every day, just like you."

"...Yes."

Jiang Jiang stared at Ying Fu for a moment, then pouted and quietly started walking back into the shop.

"Where are you going?" Ying Fu asked.

"I'm going to find somewhere to sit for a while..."

"You can sit here."

"...I thought you didn't want to be disturbed," Jiang Jiang said, hesitating. "You respond so coldly when I talk to you..."

Ying Fu was always concise in his speech, often leaving others to guess his meaning. He opened his mouth, unsure how to explain himself. After a long silence, he finally said, "Sit down. I'm not very good at talking, but I can listen to you."

"Okay... that works too."

Jiang Jiang carried a small stool and sat down at the table next to Ying Fu. Propping her head in her hands, with her elbows resting on her knees, she carefully observed Ying Fu, dressed like a college student.

"Is college fun? My dad always tells me to study hard and get into a university outside Wushan... but I just can't understand math problems or English at all," Jiang Jiang blinked. "You're a college student; can you tell me what it's like?"

Ying Fu was pondering how to answer when, at that moment, the streetlights flickered, plunging the once relatively bright street-side tables into sudden darkness!

Jiang Jiang was startled. Looking at the streetlights across the road, she couldn't help but complain, "How is it broken again? We already called the city to fix it once, they said it was a loose connection, and it hasn't been long since then... Wait for me, I'll go tap it. My dad says if something's broken, sometimes a tap can fix it."

Jiang Jiang stood up from her stool, about to cross the road. The next moment, a hand grabbed her from behind.

Jiang Jiang turned her head in confusion. She saw Ying Fu, still sitting at the small table, staring intently across the road. "...Don't go."

In the flickering, dim light by the roadside, reflected in Ying Fu's eyes behind his glasses, a ghostly figure in white, with a seemingly smiling yet unsmiling face, floated silently beneath the streetlight across the way.

His eyes were closed, their narrow slits curved like crescent moons, and between his brows, a striking vermilion mark was eerily conspicuous.

If Shen Nan were here now, he would instantly recognize the figure! It was Suxi, one of the envoys of the Ancient Treasury of the Ghost Dao.

The white-robed figure, with his enigmatic smile, stood silently under the lamp, facing the crayfish restaurant. Though his eyes were closed and his gaze indiscernible, Ying Fu instinctively felt that he was being watched.

Ying Fu slowly put down his chopsticks, rose from the table, and gazed coldly at Suxi beneath the streetlight. A pale golden imperial aura surged from the depths of his eyes!

He was the Emperor of the Human Realm; in his presence, even an envoy of the Ancient Treasury of the Ghost Dao should retreat.

Feeling the imperial pressure surging from all directions, the white-robed ghost beneath the streetlight gradually faded and disappeared. He continued to watch Ying Fu from a distance, murmuring to himself, "There's a second variable that doesn't belong to this era... truly rare."

As the white-robed ghost completely vanished, the flickering streetlight became bright again, as if everything that had just happened was indeed just a temporary loose connection.

"Huh, how did it fix itself even before I tapped it?" Jiang Jiang was puzzled.

Ying Fu released Jiang Jiang's hand, but his expression remained grim. He stared intently at the spot where Suxi had stood, his brows deeply furrowed, lost in thought.

"You just said your dad wants you to study elsewhere?" Ying Fu suddenly asked.

"...Huh? Yeah... Why are you so slow to react?"

"Don't wait."

Ying Fu turned back, his tone suddenly more serious than ever before. "You and your family should leave Wushan immediately... the sooner, the better."