Night before the Date

*RING RING RING*

It was late in the afternoon and the school bell finally rang. During the entire day Tie Zhu, Tao Keke and Bing Meifeng had been the center of attention of the entire school, and where ever Tie Zhu went he could hear people speaking behind his back.

During the school day Wang Yazhu had actually informed Tie Zhu that Bing Meifeng had actually managed to cultivate to peak of the 9th step of Qi Condensation. While Tie Zhu had expected Bing Meifeng's cultivation to rise slightly he had never expected her growth to be so quick.

After discussing with Wang Yazhu, they decided that Tie Zhu should remain more discrete with what to cook as he could still not completely trust Bing Meifeng and her mother, and unless he made Bing Meifeng his woman he should continue doing so.

Straight after class, Tie Zhu and Bing Meifeng hurriedly met up with Tao Keke once again before driving back to Bing Meifeng's place to cook dinner, however before they went to her apartment they stopped by a supermarket to purchase some green vegetables, prawns, chicken, pork and a few other ingredients he planned on using.

Just as expected, when they finally arrived, Xiao Ling was already eagerly awaiting their arrival as if she were a starving child, completely lacking the aura of a fierce CEO of a huge real estate company that she usually was. After greeting each other Tie Zhu explained that he was not going to be able to cook for them tomorrow because of his date with Tao Keke, much to the disappointment of Bing Meifeng who remained silent and her mother who was visibly pouting.

To make up for it, Tie Zhu prepared a large feast with a large variety of dishes that he was familiar with. Although all the main ingredients were out of the ordinary, he carefully added small amounts of precious seasoning from the spatial stone. This, in conjunction with his overall cooking techniques were far above average resulting once again in an unforgettable meal.

Although these dishes could not be compared with the previous dishes it did not bother Bing Meifeng and her mother at all as it was what they expected. The first two dishes were too extraordinary that if Tie Zhu continued to produce such high quality cultivation resources they would not know what to think. Furthermore, although these dishes were not as special as the previous meals, they still far exceeded anything they had ever tasted before, and could still sense that these dishes were still beneficial to their cultivation.

Because Tie Zhu had prepared almost an entire banquet, the four people managed to take the time to talk to each other more, rather than mindlessly devour their food like in the morning. After getting to know each other more over dinner, hours had unknowingly passed by and was already 10 PM. After storing away the left overs in the fridge, Tie Zhu and Tao Keke finally made their farewells, before Tie Zhu agreed to come back Sunday morning.

* * *

*Knock, knock, knock*

After leaving Bing Meifeng's apartment, Tie Zhu immediately drove Tao Keke back to her home. A However after knocking several times on the front door, there was still no response from inside.

"That's strange, my mom should be back by now." Tao Keke said before searching her bag for her own keys. However, just as she was about to take the keys out of her bag, she suddenly saw her mom off in the distance.

"Why are you kids home so late?" Tao Xuefeng asked in exhaustion when she saw Tie Zhu and her daughter walk up to her.

"We just came back from a friend's house, where were you?" Tao Keke replied in confusion as her mother was usually always home by 8PM and rarely went out this late at night.

"Oh, so that how it is, I hope you had a good time. I was just very busy with work today. I just released a new food item and somehow word spread around extremely quick. The restaurant was completely filled the entire day, and I haven't had a moment to rest." Tao Xuefeng managed to say with some enthusiasm, despite her exhaustion. In fact it had been the busiest day she had ever recalled and it all had to do with that tonic that Tie Zhu had given her in the morning, so that she couldn't help but look at Tie Zhu with a hint of curiosity.

When she had tried the tonic in the morning she did not expect much at all, however she almost could not believe her eyes when a indescribably refreshing feeling penetrated her body completely wiping away her exhaustion. Not only that, but it had also improved her skin and completion as she noticed that her fine wrinkles around her eyes had completely disappeared, giving her the appearance of a mature teenager.

When she saw that such a small amount of tonic provided such benefits she immediately thought about how to incorporate it into her restaurant menu. She eventually created a dish called the rejuvenating chicken soup, where she only used a tenth of a teaspoon for each serving, however even that had caused its reputation to spread like wildfire as customers formed huge lines in the span of hours to try it.

In fact, while the dish was being cooked, it released a mouthwatering aroma that was hard to describe. However, the aroma alone could not be compared to the actual taste, as many those who had managed to get a bowl had actually cried when they were not able to get second servings. She had only taken a liter of the tonic to her restaurant to use in the chicken soup, so by the end of the day she had completely run out, not having enough left for herself.

Knowing that she still had a lot more tonic at home, she planned to prepare some soup for herself and her daughter. During the day she had also thought about how to pay Tie Zhu back for giving her something so special almost forgetting about the embarrassing situation that happened not long ago and her "nightmarish" dreams.

"Tie Zhu, thanks for the tonic in the morning, it was a great help. If there's anything auntie can do for you just let me know. Do you want to come in for some soup?" She asked sincerely. She had tried to use this as an opportunity to give him more favor's as she remembered that he had rejected her kind gestures in the past.

"No thanks, it's alright. I just had a lot to eat, I'm glad the tonic was helpful though." Tie Zhu replied with a slight embarrassment. Although he was full, the main reason why he rejected her invitation was that he was still embarrassed about what had happened in the park a couple of days ago.

After saying his final goodbyes, and agreeing to pick Tao Keke up in the morning, Tie Zhu finally made his way back home as he prepared for his date tomorrow with Tao Keke.