Yingxing was exhausted in both body and mind. Facing Dan Feng, he couldn't bring himself to feel any negative emotions at all.
His heart was like the forging hammer Jingliu had crushed, shattered into tiny pieces.
Even after the ordered dishes were served, they couldn't patch up Yingxing's fragmented heart.
Whether it was the colleagues Yingxing had met at the Artisanship Commission, or the four people including Dan Feng whom he drank with together, among everyone he knew who was in a romantic relationship, there was only Jingliu.
At the beginning, when he learned from Dan Feng that the gift money needed to be seven figures, he was only shocked for a moment before quickly accepting it.
Yingxing knew nothing about Xianzhou wedding customs, but… the one saying this was the well-informed Dan Feng! Dan Feng definitely wouldn't lie to him!
Besides, the vast majority of Xianzhou people were non-marriage advocates, either traveling on planets directly under the Xianzhou, or roaming the sea of stars as wandering heroes.
For the newlyweds, a wedding was the most important event of their lives, and for friends and family on both sides, it was even rarer.
Xianzhou people were long-lived; living long meant saving more money… giving seven figures as wedding gift money seemed normal enough.
But now there was a problem, Dan Feng said Zero wouldn't accept gift money.
So why had Yingxing been working overtime? Why had he taken Zero's order?
Tracing it back to the source, wasn't it just to scrape together those seven figures? Wasn't it because of that one sentence from Dan Feng?
Yingxing quickly sorted out his thoughts. He looked at the culprit responsible for his overtime, the Dragon Lord of Imbibitor Lunae, and couldn't help feeling a bit of displaced resentment.
With a blank face, he shoveled a mouthful of rice, swallowed it, and questioned Dan Feng, "Dan Feng, you were the one who said it. You said that when Xianzhou people get married, you have to give seven figures as gift money."
Dan Feng knew nothing about Yingxing's mental journey, and even less that it was precisely that one sentence of his that had plunged Yingxing into an overtime hell.
He knew he was somewhat at fault, but would the proud Dragon Lord admit to such a trivial, tiny mistake? Of course not.
The Dragon Lord smoothed his sleeve with one hand while picking up food with his chopsticks with the other, calmly changing the subject without altering his expression,
"Zero won't accept gift money. He'll only give patrol tokens to the guests who attend."
Yingxing slowly typed out a question mark in his head.
'Huh? Don't people usually have to give gift money at weddings? How is there someone who gives money to the guests instead?'
Just as Dan Feng expected, Yingxing's attention was quickly diverted.
Watching his friend's expression, shock mixed with confusion, the Dragon Lord dug up memories of previous Xianzhou annual banquets and very conservatively removed a zero from the participation prizes he'd received many times before.
"It's not really giving out patrol tokens. Most likely it'll be a lottery. As for the participation prize… it should be eight figures?"
Aside from the four of them, there were very few people qualified to attend the former marshal's wedding.
How could that group of subordinates possibly slight their marshal? A mere eight figures in patrol tokens was just small change. To most of the guests able to attend this banquet, that amount of money was basically the same as the wedding candies on the table.
Yingxing didn't understand, but he was deeply shaken.
Dan Feng, as if reminiscing, lightly embellished the prizes like vacation planets and star-destroying ships from the annual banquet and said to Yingxing, "Besides patrol tokens, there'll also be real estate and star skiffs. But those are just third prize and second prize."
Yingxing, "..."
'Damn evil rich people! I... I'll fight you all!'
Wait, he had just received 1.1 billion today. He was rich too? Then never mind.
Yingxing brought the topic back again, "So what can we do? What kind of dowry should we prepare for Jingliu?"
Dan Feng had long since made up his mind to give more gifts to the former marshal under Yingxing's name, why would he need Yingxing's help?
Besides, even if the current marshal came to Yingxing and offered generous compensation…
In Dan Feng's eyes, no matter how generous it was, it still wouldn't be enough to spend.
He didn't even need to ask to know that Yingxing would go buy materials the moment he got the money, and only after buying them would he suggest treating everyone to a meal.
With the way Yingxing spent money… by the time Jingliu got married, there probably wouldn't be much left.
Thinking this, Dan Feng glanced at Yingxing and said, "You're of the same generation as Jing Yuan. Just wait to attend the banquet."
Yingxing was utterly shocked.
Who would have thought that with this one question, his generation would drop?
Yingxing said in disbelief, "Huh? What did you say? You're saying I'm the same generation as Jing Yuan, who's not even twenty yet? Come on, even if you convert my age into a long-lived species, I've been an adult for ages, round it up and I'm almost four hundred years old, okay?"
Yingxing was extremely unconvinced.
Who wanted to be in the same generation as Jing Yuan, who couldn't even drink alcohol.
Yingxing was extremely unconvinced, "How can you calculate it like that! I've already got one foot in the coffin, why can't I add to Jingliu's dowry!"
After he finished speaking, Dan Feng stared at him and said something completely off-topic, "You won't. You'll live a long time."
Yingxing was momentarily confused and just wanted to ask Dan Feng, 'Was that the point?'
His wording really had been a bit exaggerated, but wasn't Dan Feng taking it way too seriously?
Yingxing sighed helplessly, "Then I'll borrow your good words…"
Hopefully live to a hundred.
After saying that, he suddenly realized their conversation had gone off the rails again and had no choice but to ask once more, "So what exactly should we give?"
Seeing Yingxing ask again and again, looking like he wanted to immediately rush back to the Artisanship Commission to work, Dan Feng promptly advised him, "No need to rush. By the time the two of them get married… at the earliest, it'll probably still be more than ten years away."
Yingxing let out a sigh, "…You're saying we'll have to wait at least another ten-plus years? Fine."
Yingxing thought, hopefully, when that day came, he would be able to personally present a congratulatory gift to his friend.
But for short-lived species, how many ten-plus years were there really?
The man and the dragon fell silent for a moment. Then Dan Feng spoke, "Usually you prepare paired items with good symbolic meaning."
Yingxing nodded thoughtfully.
He recalled the wrist guards Dan Feng had given him before, and an idea quickly formed.
Yingxing immediately ruled out rings.
Since gifts were given in pairs, then wrist guards? Other than that, there didn't seem to be many paired items…
Before Yingxing could finish listing materials in his head, he heard Dan Feng click his tongue impatiently.
Yingxing pulled his thoughts back and asked hesitantly, "What's wrong? Did the dragon elders in your clan make you angry again?"
Dan Feng put down his jade communicator and shook his head. "Not the dragon elders. A psychological test. Don't you have to take it?"
While picking up food, Yingxing replied, "Nope. We're logistics. I heard from colleagues that everyone who's been to the battlefield has to do it except the Artisanship Commission. Isn't that pretty good?"
Dan Feng said coldly, "A waste of time."
Yingxing didn't understand, "Don't we have time right now?"
Dan Feng's gaze flickered, his tone inexplicable, "Forget it. We'll talk about it when we get back."
Yingxing didn't think much of it and continued eating with his head down. Before he could even finish the meal, a server came over to Dan Feng and handed him the bill.
Yingxing frowned. "We agreed this meal was on me."
Dan Feng didn't even look at the bill and gestured for the server to leave.
He replied, "I've topped up patrol tokens at this restaurant."
The corner of Yingxing's mouth twitched. "...In Luofu, is there even a single restaurant you haven't put money into?"
Dan Feng replied seriously, "There are lots. For example, restaurants where the average spending per person is under ten thousand patrol tokens, I haven't topped up at any of those."
Yingxing, "..."
Looking indignant, he buried his head and shoveled rice.
'I really hate rich people like you and Zero!'
———
The rich person Yingxing hated, Zero, was still hard at work cramming psychology.
This book was simple and easy to understand. Besides psychology knowledge, it also included research reports about the brain in the last few pages.
The reports were obscure and difficult, making one's head ache just from reading them.
Yet those professional terms that should have felt unfamiliar to him, after reading them once, he quickly sorted out the logic.
Zero slowly closed the book.
He really hated the sciences. Whether in his previous life or this one, he would never waste time on subjects he wasn't interested in or good at.
Therefore, Zero was very certain that in his previous life, he would never have voluntarily flipped through any research materials. Only when Marty came to him to talk about work would he listen a bit.
A guess formed in Zero's mind.
Could it be that he had… been more than just a Xianzhou marshal?