The Vientiane Plaza is enormous, covering at least 100,000 square meters. It's lined with shops and boasts a dedicated food street, offering a wide variety of cuisines from all over China.
The Vietnamese restaurant Zhuang Sicong mentioned was located at the entrance of the food street, directly opposite the plaza stage, offering a panoramic view.
This Vietnamese restaurant was lavishly decorated, exuding Vietnamese style with a touch of French flair.
That's understandable; Vietnam was historically ruled by France, so some cultural overlap is inevitable. Vietnamese cuisine best exemplifies this. Vietnamese cuisine is divided into two types: a more down-to-earth, Southeast Asian style, and a more Westernized, French-influenced style.
This restaurant specializes in French-style Vietnamese cuisine.
The private rooms were luxuriously furnished, featuring floor-to-ceiling windows. Looking out, one could see the stage three or four hundred meters away, where the sound system was already being tested.
Accompanying Zhuang Sicong were several key players from the Longwei Football Team, including number 23, Kuang Zhou, the first player to be subdued by a Xuan cultivator in that thrilling match, as well as Wu Xiaoyang and Zheng Yingming.
There were four people in total.
Seeing that Lu Chen had even brought a very pretty girl, Zhuang Sicong chuckled, "Chen, you're quite the ladies' man! Coming to see a beautiful woman and bringing one along! I bet none of the models tonight can compare to your beautiful companion!"
Guo Fuyun remained silent, her face grim. Although her symptoms had improved somewhat, she still disliked being around other men. Anyway, she'd just stay close to her master.
Lu Chen chuckled and introduced, "This is my apprentice and bodyguard. She's very skilled; she just beat several level two or three martial arts guys to a pulp today!"
"Oh?" Zhuang Sicong looked at the female bodyguard with great interest, "So skilled, young lady?"
Guo Fuyun didn't speak, her head lowered. She grabbed a crossbody bag and unzipped it. She pulled out half a three-section staff and started fiddling with it. A murderous aura immediately filled the air.
Instantly, Zhuang Sicong and the others looked embarrassed.
Lu Chen was also awkward, sighing, "Hey, hey, ignore her! She's quiet and has a bad temper. Just pretend she doesn't exist."
Guo Fuyun actually nodded, saying firmly, "I only have eyes for my master!"
Zhuang Sicong's three brothers knew that Lu Chen had secretly helped them that day, and they were very grateful. But they didn't express their gratitude much; they just ate meat, drank wine, and chatted.
Lu Chen, once a wealthy young master, had tasted all sorts of food and drink, and talked a mile a minute. Before long, they were chatting animatedly, a true case of "a thousand cups are too few when drinking with a bosom friend!"
Although Guo Fuyun remained silent, she ate and drank with equal gusto, displaying the true spirit of a chivalrous woman.
Lu Chen knew that this beautiful apprentice had been practicing her staff techniques diligently these past few days, completely absorbed in it, expending a lot of energy—of course she could eat.
Several men were curious about Guo Fuyun and tried to offer her a toast, but she ignored all their suggestions. If you simply raised your glass without speaking, she would readily clink glasses with you and down it in one gulp.
Around eight o'clock, the square began to fill with singing and dancing.
Guo Fuyun shoveled a large bowl of food into her mouth, dragged a chair to the French windows, and watched the scene unfold with great interest.
Not long after, she muttered, "I saw Sister Shuixian!"
Lu Chen, hearing this, also looked out. Sure enough, he saw Song Shuixian on the stage in the distance.
Although there were more than a dozen beautiful women there, he recognized Song Shuixian at a glance. Not because he knew her, but because Song Shuixian, standing there in a striking white chiffon dress with one shoulder, was incredibly eye-catching.
Her aura was like that of a celestial being descended to earth, a feast for the eyes.
"Oh ho!" Zhuang Sicong clapped his hands and laughed, "So, Chen came all this way just to see the beauties. That's not good. If my sister finds out, that beauty will be in trouble."
As he spoke, he also looked over, saying, "Chen, which beauty have you taken a liking to? Let me admire her too. If I like her too, hehe! I'll snatch her from you..."
Then, his gaze froze, as if he had seen a great treasure.
Kuang Zhou and the others looked over and exclaimed in surprise:
"Boss, that girl in the white dress looks just like your wife!"
"Yeah, she's just like her in both temperament and appearance, only a bit taller."
"Wow, are there really such a similar couple in the world?"
...
Lu Chen whispered to Zheng Yingming sitting next to him, "So Brother Cong got married?"
Thinking about it, it made sense. Zhuang Sicong was thirty years old; he should be married by now, and probably even have kids.
Zheng Yingming whispered even more, "They were supposed to get married four years ago, but your wife had an accident...and unfortunately...passed away. Boss was heartbroken for a long time! It's really a miracle that he's met someone who looks so much like your wife."
Lu Chen nodded, scratching his head, thinking, is this really fate?
The girl in the white dress on stage is clearly Song Shuixian!
Kuang Zhou and the others were clamoring for Zhuang Sicong to go find the girl in the white dress. Zhuang, the eldest, seemed quite tempted. Just then, Guo Fuyun, sitting by the French windows, spoke in a deep voice:
"That woman in the white dress, that's Sister Shuixian, my master's woman."
A shocking statement!
A truly shocking statement!
Everyone was stunned. Lu Chen, furious, glared at Guo Fuyun and snapped, "You brat, what nonsense are you spouting?"
Guo Fuyun smiled slightly, looking out the window, and remained silent.
Zhuang Sicong's face darkened, but then he suddenly raised his voice: "So that girl is Chen's woman, huh? Not bad, Chen has good taste! No wonder he came here; he came specifically to watch his woman walk the runway. Chen, what a romantic! Alright, everyone, let's eat!"
As he spoke, he downed a glass of wine, his face revealing a deep melancholy that even a wall couldn't hide.
The other men also sighed deeply, their faces filled with melancholy, seemingly empathizing with Zhuang Sicong's loneliness.
The atmosphere was somewhat awkward.
Lu Chen was furious, glaring at the instigator, and demanded, "Guo Fuyun, explain yourself! When did Song Shuixian become my woman? We only met today!"
At this shout, Zhuang Sicong's eyes lit up again.
Guo Fuyun calmly replied, "Anyway, she's your woman. You have to help her. She's in great trouble. Whoever helps her, she's their woman."
Lu Chen was speechless with anger. Why did this girl talk so inexplicably?
Look at this twisted logic!
Zhuang Sicong's expression turned serious as he stared at Guo Fuyun: "Her name is Song Shuixian? She's in great trouble?"
Guo Fuyun looked out the window, remaining silent.
Helpless, Zhuang Sicong could only look at Lu Chen again.
Lu Chen cleared his throat: "Okay, actually, the reason I invited Brother Cong here for dinner tonight is because..."
Suddenly, he stopped talking, his expression sharpening.
Something's amiss! Suddenly, the martial god's supernatural power within his body began to surge wildly, rapidly and intensely absorbing Lu Chen's internal energy, continuously converting it into martial god energy, and transmitting it outwards through an invisible aura.
"What's wrong?" Zhuang Sicong also noticed something was amiss.
Then, everyone heard a deafening crash not far away.
Turning around in astonishment, they saw—good heavens! The entire floor-to-ceiling glass window had shattered into pieces, raining down.
It had been cleaved in two by a long metal rod.
And that rod was in Guo Fuyun's hand!
She had somehow gotten up and even reassembled the three-section staff. After all the glass shards had slid down, without a word, she jumped.
The men gasped in shock, showing intense disbelief at Guo Fuyun.
She just shattered the floor-to-ceiling glass and jumped? Even though it was only the second floor, most people wouldn't dare jump like that!
Besides, it was a girl.
Lu Chen was stunned. What was going on? But when he looked up, he understood.
A group of thugs had jumped onto the stage in the distance. They were all armed with knives and clubs, slashing and beating anything and anyone they could get their hands on. The models on stage screamed in terror.
Some of the thugs were even tearing at their clothes, including Song Shuixian's.
"Troublemakers?" Lu Chen frowned.
Meanwhile, Zhuang Sicong snorted angrily, stood up abruptly, and leaped out like a roc spreading its wings, flying out through the broken French windows.
His posture was incredibly agile and heroic, much more impressive than Guo Fuyun's jump.
That's understandable; Zhuang Sicong was a martial arts master of around level six or seven!
He wasn't much weaker than the devilish instructor, Jin Ziliang.
Kuang Zhou, Wu Xiaoyang, and Zheng Yingming also rushed out, Wu Xiaoyang yelling, "Let's fight!"
They were shouting excitedly.
Without hesitation, all three jumped from the second floor.
Lu Chen shouted, "Wait for me!" He immediately got up, ran to the French windows, looked down, and froze. Damn, there was shards of glass below, and it seemed quite high. Should he jump?
Lu Chen felt embarrassed. With his second or third level of martial arts cultivation, jumping down wouldn't necessarily cause serious injury, but twisting his ankle would be bad.
He gritted his teeth, mustered his courage, and finally decided. He turned and dashed out of the private room, running downstairs.
Damn it, this Seven Life Flowers doesn't even have any lightness skill or anything? It's supposed to be a martial god's ability, why isn't it working on me? Why isn't it improving my martial arts cultivation?
Lu Chen, cursing under his breath, finally ran out of the restaurant and headed towards the square.
At that moment, chaos erupted in the square! Screams filled the air. So many people were gathered to watch the beautiful women when suddenly a large group of troublemakers rushed onto the stage, attacking anyone in sight. Was this a terrorist attack?
Thousands of people scattered in panic, and a stampede even occurred.
The worst place, of course, was the stage itself.
Song Shuixian never expected that her hard-earned five or six hundred yuan for a fashion show would be turned into a scene by a large group of thugs. Two of them grabbed her, shoved her to the ground, and tore at her clothes.
She resisted and was slapped hard. Then, a man actually straddled her.
Just as she was struggling desperately and didn't know what to do, she suddenly heard the man on top of her scream in agony! Then, she saw a gleaming golden stick smash heavily onto his head.