The day after Zhen Liu’s date with Bellona, Zhen Xing was now forced to go after missing the day he was supposed to have gone. A hangover as an excuse to not do anything is only good the one time.
Needless to say though, it didn’t go well.
Zhen Xing came back from the date after a whopping... thirty two minutes and five seconds, and proceeded to lay on the ground like a dying trout for what should have been the third time in a row. (Un) surprisingly, Zhen Xing’s cousins were there to provide emotional support.
When asked about what went wrong, Zhen Xing regaled that, ahem, "that woman has a tongue like an acid spitting Cobra Dragon. I’m not sure how Zhen Liu managed to get along with her, but he must have the patience of a saint or the aloofness of a demonic warlord."
This was a pretty standard term and turn of events, but then Zhen Xing said something that made Zhen Liu’s skin crawl.
"Before she ditched me, she said I was ’fucking cringe.’ I don’t even know what that means, but I get the feeling it wasn’t a compliment!"
The moment the word, "cringe", left Zhen Xing’s mouth, Zhen Liu went into internal interrogation mode...
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’Alright, who taught Bellona how to use slang?,’ Zhen Liu asked his current mental compatriots. The Razor Maiden had yet to learn how to simultaneously use "carry mode" with the mental link, so she had been excluded from the interrogation. Her ability to talk was also low, so she was crossed off the list.
[It wasn’t me, milord.]
[Surprisingly, wasn’t me.]
Thanks to his connection to the kaijin, Zhen Liu could tell that none of them were lying in this moment, he just needed some verbal confirmation. This meant the only culprit was...
’Okay, but why though and, more importantly, how?’
After this little conversation, Zhen Liu began to his rub his temples, mildly hoping that this was the only instance of his companions exchanging information for their amusement.
’I mean... they’re not big secrets, but...I really don’t want to see how this planet handles musicals...’
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This pattern of being rejected and the participatn coming back like a dead fish held up with Zhen Feng, who had managed to have a date last an hour before getting rejected, but it surprisingly broke with Zhen Tai.
Nobody was sure why or how, but Zhen Tai had managed to go on a date that lasted as long as Zhen Liu’s and had come back not looking like a dying fish.
When the others asked about how it went, he just said, "It went fine...she also called me ’based’? Not sure what that means but it sounded like a compliment."
Zhen Liu made a mental note to ask about that later and see if Zhen Tai had his own secrets abilities...that or he had surprising amount of depth that Bellona appreciated.
’Would it have killed you to be more sociable, past me?’
Regardless of the results however, the week had now come and gone and it was going to be Zhen Yue’s turn to pay the piper...well, at least it was now her turn to meet with the member of the Ecaredies household.
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Early morning, the day after Zhen Tai’s date, Zhen Yue was waiting in a sitting room by the front courtyard, accompanied by Zhen Liu. As for the rest, they were still sleeping.
"You know you don’t have to wait here with me right? I’m just going on a date," Zhen Yue said while tapping her foot.
"I know, I’m just curious about how big of a difference there is between this guy and Bellona in terms of personality," Zhen Liu replied, "since there seemed to have been such a dramatic one between her and her father."
’That and I am also aware that you’re probably more nervous than the rest of us combined when we went on our dates.’
From what Zhen Liu could remember (read:extract from the previous guy’s memory), Zhen Yue had long focused a majority of her attention to cultivation, training and... literally everything other than boys and/or marriage prospects.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested in the opposite sex, it was just incredibly hard to find someone worth dating when one lives in the frontier, surrounded by factions that make it a point to not be associated with you and have family members that regularly fight/tame rhinos and mini-van sized wolves for fun and profit. Combined that with the "ice queen" persona people thinks she had, basically added up to thisbmoment being Zhen Yue’s first date...ever(?) Zhen Liu vaguely recalled a prior guy, but never knew what happened to him.
The two cousins chatted for a bit, before they were interrupted by the arrival of one of the family maids.
"Oh! You’re both here, that makes my job easier."
"Miss Zhen Yue," the maid said with a bow of her head, "the Prince and his children have arrived. Please follow me to the courtyard. You too as well, Master Zhen Liu."
"Hold up, me too?," Zhen Liu asked while pointing to himself. To which, the maid simply nodded yes before standing by the door.
Zhen Yue and Zhen Liu looked at each other in confusion before shrugging and following the maid out the door and towards the courtyard.
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At the aforementioned Zhen Clan courtyard, Prince Carlos and his children were awaiting for the arrival of their hosts. Granted, not in a gracious and patient way, the prince’s son was currently trying to get some sand out of his hair.
"Father, I don’t mean to complain, but couldn’t your friend have lived somewhere colder and less dusty? I think I’m melting under all of these coats, and I’m pretty sure I have enough dust in my hair to recreate a desert back home," Santiago complained while quite literally patting and shaking the sand out of his hair. Let it be known that curly, wool-like hair doesn’t play well with dust and sand.
"Oh you’re fine, brother. And besides, this place and it’s people are quite charming once you get used to," Bellona commented.
"Charming like that Zhen Liu boy you told me about?," Santiago teased. Prior to arriving at the Zhen Clan’s doorstep, Bellona told her brother about the matchmaking dates she participated in/was subjected to. Among which, only two were conveyed positively.
"My dear brother! I have no idea what you are insinuating," Bellona said in mock offense, "I am merely sharing my own experience."
Prince Carlos was just about to lightly chide both of his children for not waiting patiently, but was interrupted when a maid in the employ of their hosts arrived, accompanied by the people they were waiting to see.
"Apologies for the wait, Prince Carlos. May I present to you, Miss Zhen Yue and Master Zhen Liu."