Chapter 54 In Fact

Actually, without Hesperides saying anything, Hao Ren could guess that this girl had sneaked over – if Vivian had known this problem child was going to give her a surprise, she probably would have asked Hao Ren to fly her to Mars two weeks in advance to take refuge. Looking at the strange expression on Hesperides' face, Hao Ren couldn't help but say a few more words: "I'm not trying to stir things up, but there really is something wrong with the way you interact with Vivian. Have you ever wondered why Vivian can get along so well with everyone else, but runs away when she sees you?"

Hesperides looked up with a displeased expression: "I don't need you to lecture me."

Hao Ren spread his hands: "I'm not lecturing you, just giving you a reminder. And to be honest, I really want you and Vivian to get along well, after all, you two have such a special relationship, right?"

Hesperides shot him a questioning look from under her hair: "Really?"

"Really," Hao Ren nodded seriously, "Actually, I've never understood why you don't target anyone else, but you have such a big problem with me?"

Hesperides tossed her hair: "I can't be anxious when a man of unknown origin gets so close to Vivian-sama, I haven't even been that close to her!"

Hao Ren didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "That's jealousy, and it's completely unreasonable jealousy."

Duncan and Cassandra just watched the two of them chatting and arguing. After a long while, Duncan lowered his voice and whispered in Cassandra's ear, "There's a Chinese saying to describe this situation: 'If heaven wants it to rain, a mother wants to get married.' The mistress is in that state of mind now."

Cassandra nodded repeatedly: "That makes sense, that makes sense – but the mistress seems to have heard you, she's staring at you."

"Duncan!!" Hesperides' angry scream pierced the air, and the atmosphere within a two-meter radius around her vibrated. The people in the room felt a tingling in their ears and tinnitus. Even the cups on the table shattered with a "crack." Seeing this, Hao Ren pointed to the cups on the table: "You have to pay for these, this is a small business, two yuan and fifty cents a cup."

Hesperides slammed the table and glared at Duncan, pointing at the broken glass: "Eat it!"

Duncan finally couldn't maintain his image as a golden-haired young nobleman. His face turned green: "Eat… eat glass again?"

After a while, Nangong Wuyue came over with a tray to serve the dishes. She curiously asked, "Hey, where are the cups from this table?"

Hesperides put ten yuan on the table with a straight face and pointed to Duncan: "This bumpkin has never seen the world, he's buying your four cups to take back and collect."

Duncan nodded weakly as he lay half-dead on the table: "The mistress… is right."

Wuyue: "?"

"Why are we wasting time here?" Hesperides poked the food in her plate with her chopsticks and looked at Hao Ren suspiciously. "Wouldn't it be better to go directly to your house to meet Vivian-sama? Do you have some kind of conspiracy?"

"What conspiracy could I have," Hao Ren turned his head to look at the sky outside, estimating the time it would take Vivian and Lily to clean the room after their fight, "It's just that she was busy when I left. I don't know if she's finished yet. Let's eat first. It's rare to come here, so let's try the food here first."

And so, the group ate their fill. Except for Duncan, Hesperides and Cassandra both gave Elsa's cooking a high rating. Duncan, however, didn't taste much because of his upset stomach. Next, Hao Ren prepared to take the three guests home to give Vivian a surprise. He was quite impressed after seeing the luxurious car Hesperides had arrived in: "You really live a much better life than Vivian."

"Of course, I am the head of an entire family after all. Which of the alien families that still exist these days doesn't have a little wealth?" Hesperides raised her head proudly. "That's why I've asked Vivian-sama to come live with me several times, but she just doesn't want to – I can totally support her."

"She's afraid of bankrupting you. You should be happy that she still cares about you," Hao Ren curled his lip, thinking that if he didn't have divine support behind him, he probably wouldn't be able to support a country-destroying artifact like Vivian. "By the way, I didn't expect you to be able to come out of the Athens Sanctuary. Didn't you encounter any demon hunters chasing you along the way? Weren't you followed this time?"

Hesperides glanced at him sideways: "Who do you think I am? Or do you think the families living in the sanctuary are the kind of pathetic wretches who tremble in the gutter all day long, afraid of being wiped out? Tsk – get in the car!"

To be honest, this was the first time in Hao Ren's life that he had sat in a car of this caliber. He conservatively estimated that this car could be exchanged for any property in this area of Nanjiao – including the old shopping mall that was said to be a landmark in the district. Sitting in the passenger seat, Hao Ren curiously examined the interior and the thoughtful little devices next to the seats, while mentally commenting on them: the seat is a little narrow, the armrest doesn't have a panel that responds to the user's thoughts, there's no holographic projection in front of the seat, the space in the car isn't big enough, and more importantly, there's no place to embed a brick on the dashboard of the driver's seat. All in all, it's particularly inconvenient…

He was subconsciously comparing it to the captain's seat of the Petrified Turtle Rock.

Hesperides didn't notice what Hao Ren was doing. Her mind was completely occupied by the name Vivian. The thought of visiting Vivian's place for the first time in hundreds of years made her feel like she had a heart beating rapidly in her chest – if she actually had such an organ.

The distance of a street wasn't very far. Soon they arrived in front of the Hao family's house. Hao Ren pointed to the old building outside: "There, that's it."

Hesperides opened the door and got out of the car. She looked up at the mottled exterior walls of the two-story building and the old houses on the surrounding street. No one knew what she was thinking. They only heard her softly sigh, "Vivian-sama lives in this place."

Hao Ren came to the door, listened to the sounds inside, and waved to Hesperides after confirming that all was quiet: "Come on, Vivian should be very happy to see you."

Hesperides muttered as she approached, "You don't have to comfort me."

Hao Ren smiled and stepped forward to take out his key to open the door. However, before he could insert the key, the door opened by itself. Vivian was standing at the door: "Why did it take you so long to… ah?!"

Hesperides awkwardly came out from behind Hao Ren and greeted Vivian: "Vivian-sama, I've come to play with you!"

Vivian was stunned for a moment, then slammed the door shut.

A moment later, the door opened again, and Vivian reappeared at the door, still looking dumbfounded.

Before she could close the door a second time, Hao Ren reached out and stopped her: "Stop messing around. You're not doing anything wrong. This girl is from the Athens Sanctuary. She found a clue to that magic book and came to take credit and also get closer to you."

Hesperides finally couldn't hold back any longer. She pushed Hao Ren aside with her shoulder and threw herself at Vivian: "Vivian-sama, I missed you so much!"

Without saying a word, Vivian exploded into a cloud of bats with a "bang," scattering like smoke and disappearing into every nook and cranny in the blink of an eye – the way she hid was exactly the same as last time in Athens.

Hesperides rushed into the house in a mess, almost falling on her face. She jumped up and chased the last few bats in the air, grabbing and pouncing: "Vivian-sama, don't run away! Don't run away! I missed you so much! Oh, let me hug you, just one hug…"

Hao Ren rubbed his forehead in frustration when he saw this scene: these two were simply a match made in heaven. Their way of getting along probably wouldn't change any time soon.

He let Duncan and Cassandra into the house and looked around. Although he couldn't see her, he knew that Vivian was definitely hiding somewhere in the living room, nervously watching the situation outside. He glanced at Hesperides, who was jumping up and down, and helplessly called out to Vivian, "Come out, stop hiding. You know what Hesperides is like. She won't stop unless you come out."

With a rustling sound, a large swarm of bats flew out of every corner of the living room. The bats gathered in the center of the living room to form a human shape. Vivian looked at Hesperides with her hands on her hips: "You… you stay there! Promise me you'll talk nicely, or I'll run again!"

She was really afraid of this problem child.