Astral Pet Store

Also...

Is father hurt?

Tang Ruyan’s heart skipped a beat and wore a grave expression. She wondered if her father would acknowledge her, the useless girl, as his daughter at all.

Anyway, the Tang family was in distress... with the two enemy families and her father wounded!

“Ruyan, you didn’t know?”

Xia Yumeng stared at the girl who just a moment before had said that she wanted to show her around the base city. Xia Yumeng could hardly believe Tang Ruyan’s ignorance of the matter.

Xia Yumeng was unable to understand why Tang Ruyan had been kept in the dark. Tang Ruyan came back to her senses. She didn’t explain to her best friend. After a moment of silence, Tang Ruyan turned around. Su Ping was still taking notes of his customers.

Tang Ruyan made up her mind. “Xiao Meng,” she said, “Thank you for telling me this. I’m sorry but I cannot keep you company. I have to go back.”

“Don’t worry about that. But, you must be careful if you’re determined to go back.” Xiao Yumeng was worried. She would not and could not stop Tang Ruyan from going back to aid her family.

Tang Ruyan stepped to the counter.

Su Ping had just finished writing something down when he heard Tang Ruyan’s voice.

“Su.”

“Yes?”

Su Ping looked at her.

“I want to take a couple of days off,” Tang Ruyan whispered.

Su Ping was surprised. Why was she asking for a leave?

“What for?”

“Nothing. I just want to take a couple of days off,” Tang Ruyan murmured. She didn’t want to get Su Ping involved in that mess.

“What do you think this place is? I won’t grant that request if you cannot give me a rational reason!” Su Ping turned her down.

The customers waiting in line stared at Tang Ruyan in surprise. This girl worked for Su Ping?

How audacious of her! She was asking for leave without giving any reason to that legendary battle pet warrior and she sounded so bold as she did so!

Tang Ruyan was speechless. “My friend is here. I want to take some days off and show her around.”

She pointed to Xia Yumeng.

Xia Yumeng immediately put on a cute smile and waved at Su Ping.

The titled ranked old man standing behind Xia Yumeng was nervous. He forced a smile on his face and nodded to Su Ping.

Su Ping raised his eyebrows. “The spots are going to be filled soon; you can get off work by then. You don’t have to ask for any leave if you want to keep your friend company. You can just show her around after work. How long do you think you need?” Tang Ruyan answered after a second of silence. “I want to take two to three days off. I want to be with her for a longer time and I don’t want to be here all day long.”

She clenched her fingers when she said the last sentence; those familiar with her knew that was a sign of her lying.

“You don’t want to stay here?” Su Ping frowned.

He sized her up and down and he noted her clenched fingers. “Tell me the truth. What are you going to do? Why do you need three days off? Who’s going to help me with the customers if you’re not here? Never mind, I don’t want to hear it from you. You two, please come over for a second.”

Nervously and gingerly, Xia Yumeng and the old man worked up the courage and stepped closer.

“Nice to meet you, sir,” the two said with respect. They gazed at Su Ping on tenterhooks. The old man regretted not stopping his miss. He was afraid that Su Ping would also vent his anger on them because of Tang Ruyan. The Xia family could not afford to upset a legendary battle pet warrior, nor the Tang family for that matter.

“Is she asking for three days off to keep you company?” Su Ping asked. The two didn’t feel at ease under Su Ping’s stare. At this moment, Su Ping no longer looked like an average young man; his dignity made them feel reverent.

“Don’t scare them,” Tang Ruyan said in a hurry.

Xia Yumeng turned pale once she felt she was the target. She felt she would be torn apart for the slightest movement. That honest feeling of danger nearly stopped her heart. The old man was drenched in a cold sweat. Naturally, he wouldn’t want to lie to a legendary battle pet warrior. “Sir, please do not be mad at us. Lady Tang wants to go back to see her family; it has nothing to do with us. Sir, please forgive me. I’ve said what I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”

He wanted to take the blame for his miss. If Su Ping were to punish someone, he could take the fall. At the very least, the Xia family would be safe.

“Going back to see the Tang family?”

Surprised, Su Ping turned to Tang Ruyan. “Why?” he asked.

Tang Ruyan was unhappy since her lie had been detected. While fearing to look into Su Ping’s eyes, the girl lowered her head. “The Tang family is in distress. I... I have to go.” “But the Tang family has banished you. You’re no longer a person of the Tang family.” Su Ping looked into her eyes. Su Ping still remembered it vividly, as if it had merely happened the day before.

During the Supremacy League, he had met Tang Ruyan’s younger sister, the current future family head of the Tang family. She sounded so calm when she said, “If she upsets you, kill her.”

Su Ping couldn’t bring himself to forgive that girl for saying those cruel words.

Tang Ruyan raised her head. Composed, she claimed, “But I still have the Tang family’s blood in me. I know they never treated me as one of them but... I’m from the Tang family nonetheless. I don’t care if they don’t acknowledge me. Facts are facts!”

Su Ping was shaken.

Suddenly, there was a radiant glow around the

girl.

“Are you saying that you have decided?” he asked.

“Yes! I have to go!”

“What kind of distress? What can you do if you go there?”

Tang Ruyan answered with silence.

She was at the seventh rank. Even though she had qualified battle pets that could increase her strength, it was the Situ and Wang families that she had to deal with; advanced battle pet warriors meant nothing to them. She wouldn’t be of much help even if she were at the titled rank.

“If I cannot live with them, let me be buried with them.”

Finally, Tang Ruyan gave her answer.

Su Ping was touched. She was more determined than he had expected.

“Now that you’re on a suicidal mission, it gives me more reasons to stop you from going back.”

Su Ping patted her head. “You are my temporary employee. If you died, where should I go and find another? You mentioned that you didn’t want to stay here all day long. Huh, what do you know? I like forcing people to do what they don’t want to do. So, from today on, be prepared to spend all of your time here.”