Chapter 78

Time passed.

It didn't take long before all the members, including Kaycee and the two new team members, arrived.

Seeing everyone's presence, Edward greeted each person with a friendly hello and engaged in brief conversations.

Soon, the editing process began as before, and the entire editing phase didn't take long. At around eleven in the morning, the entire 24-minute-long video was finally completed.

After reviewing it several times, everyone nodded, content with the final result and then proceeded to upload it to their YouTube account.

"That's it, everyone. Let's begin the preparation for later's event," Edward declared, then engaged in a few more chats with others before heading back home.

Reaching his parents' place, he first took a shower since he hadn't done so after his morning run. Even though he didn't stink much, Edward felt a general discomfort.

A while later, he wore comfortable clothes and went out of his parents place to join the others to kickstart their preparations for the upcoming event.

After finalizing the plans, the group sprang into action. Others went to buy ingredients, while others went to rent tables and other equipment. As for Edward and Alfred, they headed towards the BBQ restaurant they planned to hire for catering service.

The restaurant had already been informed about their plans several days ago, so after reaching the place, the two were immediately invited inside to talk to the restaurant owner.

"Hi, Melissa, I'm the owner of this place." The owner did not let them wait for too long, came soon and introduced herself briely, then extended her hand for a handshake.

"Hi, I'm Edward." Edward's eyes lit up upon seeing her, and he couldn't help but discreetly check her out, appreciating her presence and grace.

He didn't expect the owner of the restaurant to be female, to be honest. What's more, her unexpectedly smooth and tender skin, along with her athletic figure, small, round face, and perfectly shaped lips, took him by surprise.

Looking at her, she was undoubtedly a 7/10 in his opinion, and don't get him wrong... If you consider that Edward's standard for 10 points were those supermodels, female idols, and female hollywood stars, seven is definitely not a low.

As a matter of fact, she might be the most attractive woman he has met at this point in this life... well, 'at this point', because most women he's in contact with at this time aren't in their prime yet.

As for his previous life, he had seen a lot, but during that time, he could only glance at them from far away and then turn away, knowing that he had no qualification to get to know them.

"I didn't expect the owner to be a young woman; it's really a surprise," Edward praised as he accepted her handshake, playfully scratching her palm a few times before letting go.

"Am I young? I'm already 25. I'm almost an auntie," the woman said, a hint of amusement in her eyes as she processed his actions.

Such action obviously caught her off guard for a momment, but encounters were not uncommon for her, she easoly regain her composure.

Turning to look at the young man who attempted to flirt with her, her lips curled into a smile as Instead of feeling offended or defensive, she felt a sense of happiness and thought that she might've still attractive despite her age.

"Eh, you're 25? No way, you don't look like 25 at all."

"Really? How old do you think I am?"

"19? You're not that much taller than me, and your figure is great. Are you into exercising?"

"19 is a bit exagerated, but yes, I exercise regularly. I do yoga."

"Cool..." Edward's eyes lit up, and he continued to ask her a few more questions.

Perhaps it's because it's been a while since he talked to a mature woman, or maybe it has always been like this, but at this moment, Edward really felt that mature women are a lot simpler to talk to compared to young girls.

Likewise, Melissa didn't notice that he was a young boy at all, and she didn't even notice her smiles getting wider. Without caring about the people around her, she also enjoyed talking with him.

Looking at the two people conversing and laughing, disregarding their age gap and conversing like old friends, Alfred and the others exchanged strange glances, feeling a bit bewildered by the unexpected turn of events.

"By the way, how have you become a restaurant owner? I mean, don't get me wrong, you're so beautiful, I feel like you should work in the entertainment industry or something."

"Really~! I once was a member of a girl dance group, and we often performed at local festivals and parties. As for why I became a restaurant owner, it's because I'm getting older, and sadly, older women like me aren't as attractive as those young women."

"The talent fees kept decreasing over time, and seeing that there was no future for me in the industry, I decided to leave the group in advance. I chose to invest all the money I had saved over my years of performing in this small restaurant."

"That's cool..." Edward responded, genuinely impressed by her backstory.

Edward kept asking about her experience until it was her turn to ask, and to answer her question, he simply showed her his YouTube account.

"That... so you're really famous?"

"Hehe, not too much. I only have 30,000 subscribers."

"That's still better than us! You know, our dance group also has a YouTube account, but we only have over four thousand subscribers, and the views of our videos are only about dozens of thousands."

"That's not bad either.."

"What's not bad? Compared to yours, they were a lot worse."

"Have you uploaded videos frequently? Are the qualities of your videos good?"

"Eh.. no.. We only upload videos when we feel like it, and the quality is not good, it's blurry, and usually it was a live performance from our shows."

"See, I bet you could do better if you consider the quality aspects."

"Really? It's pity though; we don't take it seriously; otherwise, we could get a better rate than usual."

"Oh, is fame also a basis for talent fees?"

"Obviously, the more famous you are, the higher the talent fees. For example, based on your fame alone, you could get over 20,000 to 30,000 for each performance."

"20,000!" Edward's eyes widened in surprise and interest.

"Yes, are you interested? Usually, our group has an agent who has lots of contacts; it was him who arranged our shows, and in exchange, he only cuts 5% from our talent fees."

"5% is not too much..."

The two chatted for a while, and then, as he glanced at the time, he couldn't help but remember their real goal. With an embarrassed smile, he suggested, "Let's discuss our business, shall we?"

"Sure." Mellissa nodded in embarrassment as she realized that the two of them had been talking to each other for a while now.

"Anyway, our requirement for catering service was only cooking, serving, etc., As for equipment rentals and ingredients, it will be covered by us. How much do you think it will cost?"

"It depends on the scale and time, like how much work will be done and how long the event will last..."

"The event was only about five to six hours long.. As for the scale, it's a bit bigger..." Edward simply explained the scale and then pause.

"T-that's indeed bigger... however, it wasn't that hard...  considering that the crew was only five, the catering fees that were going to be asked for were only 9,000. What do you think?"

"5,000, and we have a deal." Edward shook his head, and with a smile, he offered the price.

Not wanting to be outdone, Melissa offered another price, much lower than her initial offer but higher than Edward's offer.

The two bargained for a while until they finally agreed on a price of around 6,500. Satisfied with the negotiated price, both parties wore a smile and shook hands to seal the deal.

They chatted briefly and laughed friendly before heading to the venue to begin their preparations.

This time, since all the work had to be done by others and there was no need to ask the neighbors for cooperation, Edward decided to host the boodle fight on his and his parents' street.

Upon reaching the place, Edward found that the group was already gathered and had begun arranging several tables and chairs, along with ingredients and other raw materials.

Together with the cooperation of the catering team that Mellisa brought and the few members of group who decided to help because they were so bored, it didn't take long before the feast began.

He called it feast rather because he thinks that it's not a boodle fight anymore... It's more like a BBQ party since all the dishes are basically BBQ, and the number of guests was also fewer.