Qiu Ling ignored him and instead turned to Jing Yi. “Any preferences as to which place you’d like to go to?”

Jing Yi looked around, feeling overwhelmed. “Honestly, I don’t know anything about either of these. We might as well choose one at random. What does your gut say which one has the best chances of offering good food, a room for us for the next week, and a room big enough for the gathering?”

Qiu Ling gave a hum and looked around, his gaze traveling over all of the buildings on the side of the street. Finally, he pulled at Jing Yi’s hand, walking further toward the north before finally stopping in front of what could probably be called the most distinguished building on the street. “Well, I would say this one doesn’t look too bad.”

Jing Yi looked at the building and then turned to Qiu Ling, not quite sure what to say. Well, he probably shouldn’t be surprised. “Alright, if you think this one isn’t bad, then we’ll try here.” He motioned ahead, clearly wanting Qiu Ling to take charge. Anyway, he himself wouldn’t feel comfortable doing this kind of thing and might just look odd to the people of the establishment. If Qiu Ling did it, they wouldn’t have such problems. Even if he wasn’t wearing splendid robes, he would still have the air of a distinguished guest about him.

Qiu Ling naturally didn’t need to be asked twice. He stepped into the building, bringing Jing Yi along, and casually raised his brows at one of the servants standing to the side.

Maybe he was oozing the charm of the dragon king, but the man immediately came running, clearly expecting them to be customers who would bring them quite a bit of money. Well, maybe this also had to do with the robes they were wearing. “Dear guests, what may do for you?”

Qiu Ling gave a hum and glanced around. “How many people can your largest room hold?” In any case, the most difficult place to find should be the one for the gathering next week. And while finding a room for the two of them for the next few days was also important, it would be best to stay wherever the gathering would be held. Thus, he’d rather find that place first.

The servant was surprised but immediately caught himself again. “We have a larger room for banquets that can accommodate up to thirty people.”

Qiu Ling nodded with satisfaction but then remembered that they probably weren’t the only people who might want to do something like this. “Well, is it still unoccupied a week from now?”

The servant looked a bit uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, I don’t know that. I will have to ask. Would you mind waiting for a moment?”

Qiu Ling put on a bored expression and turned in the other direction, motioning over to what looked like a small restaurant. “I don’t mind waiting. But in that case, get us some food first.”

The servant hurriedly bowed, promising to do so, and led them over to a table before rushing away with their order.

Jing Yi looked at his fiance with awe. “It’s not like I haven’t seen things like this in the past but whenever it happens, I’m still stunned.” Yes, to be honest, it had been quite some time since he had seen this side of Qiu Ling. To now suddenly have it right in front of his eyes again … Well, he didn’t quite know what to do with that.

Qiu Ling simply smiled. “Well, when I … got my position, I didn’t know too much. But I had seen how Jinde acted and I had also seen my father’s behavior. So in the end, I adopted what I liked from the two of them and what I thought would fit me best and ran with that. This is what came of it. Usually, people seem to find it believable.”

Jing Yi hurriedly nodded. He couldn’t compare even though he had met at least Jinde but he did feel that Qiu Ling had done a good job at finding a way to show the behavior a king should likely have.

Wu Ya was looking at Qiu Ling with a stunned expression though. He took a moment but finally, he raised his brows and nodded in something that looked like acknowledgment. “You know, even without you saying it, I would’ve been able to see it. That kind of arrogance, Chun Yin always had it.”

The corners of Qiu Ling’s lips curled up and he leaned back. “I believe the core of my father being able to act like this was that he actually believed himself to be … infallible. I happen to hold myself in high regard as well so that isn’t difficult to immolate.

“The more difficult part is copying Jinde, actually. He just had that kind of special bearing. I’m afraid he was born with it. And even though I believe myself to be handsome as well, I guess I am still not like him who believed that everyone would kiss the earth that he walked on. That’s something only a true beauty could do.”

Wu Ya wasn’t sure if you would agree with that statement but considering that he had only known Jinde when he was young, he didn’t say anything. Back then, Jinde had actually seemed a bit … subdued, definitely not like the kind of ravishing beauty that Qiu Ling was describing. But then, there was a good chance that Jinde had grown into that type of person later on. Just looks-wise, he had had the capital to do so.

While the three of them had been talking, the people working in the restaurant had gotten busy and soon enough, the dishes were brought over.

Qiu Ling glanced at them and nodded, picking up his chopsticks. It wasn’t like they needed to eat but this was still something that should be done when you went to a mortal city. After all, what he had said before to Jing Yi was true: They didn’t know how cultivators were currently regarded. Thus, it was better to be careful for the time being and pretend that they were regular mortals. They could still ignore these things later on when they knew better.

And anyway, it wasn’t like eating the food would hurt. As long as it was tasty, he had nothing to complain about. On the contrary, it could even lend itself to the atmosphere and make this trip more special. Also for that, he first had to see just what they were offering him and his lover.

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