Chapter 109: Dragon Palace Banquet (VI)
Lu Ren didn't leave in the end.
As soon as he expressed his intention to leave, the dragons started to cry, make a fuss, and even threaten to commit suicide to keep him, and insisted on treating him to a meal.
Lu Ren still declined: "No."
The Dragon King of the East China Sea produced a rope from nowhere, tied a knot, and put it around his neck: "If you don't eat it, it means you look down on my Dragon Palace. How can my Dragon Palace bear such a great humiliation? I will die in front of you."
"Lao Dong, don't be impulsive. Young people nowadays are very caring and will not sit idly by."
"Yes, Lao Dong, if you put down the rope first, he will definitely agree."
They have finally understood the meaning of moral kidnapping.
Lu Ren looked at the several Dragon Kings in front of him who were obviously pretending, and looked at Yinglong on the side with some helplessness.
Yinglong shrugged and said, "Let's eat. The food in Dragon Palace is pretty good."
Yinglong thought about the Dragon Palace dinner he had tasted thousands of years ago, licked his lips slightly, and added to Lu Ren, "Just think of it as a seafood buffet."
But Lu Ren had just eaten king crab last week, so he didn't have such a strong obsession with eating it in a short period of time. He was afraid that the night would be too long and something might happen, so he didn't really want to stay. He planned to appease several dragon kings first before refusing.
However, before Lu Ren could refuse again, A Bing, who was in his arms, secretly opened the zipper of the teddy bear a little, then stretched out a small tentacle from the gap and wrapped it around Lu Ren's little finger without anyone noticing.
Because the zipper of the toy bear was on the back and the toy bear was facing the dragons, the dragons on the opposite side did not notice A Bing's existence.
Yinglong, who was standing next to Lu Ren, did notice it, but since the rice they were eating was not from his family, he naturally would not report it.
In the end, Lu Ren, who had no choice but to compromise, took A Bing and Ying Long to the banquet hall of the Dragon Palace.
In the banquet hall, countless luminous pearls were placed among transparent crystals. The crystals, cut in various ways, were like clusters of glowing transparent bushes, spreading the soft light of the luminous pearls to every corner of the Dragon Palace.
When the Dragon King announced the start of the banquet, beautiful mermaids filed in from outside the banquet hall. I don't know if it's because of the special barrier of the Dragon Palace, these mermaids can swim freely in the air without any support, like fish in water.
Below their necks are gorgeous fish scales, which emit a gorgeous glow under the illumination of the night pearls. Above their necks is a beautiful face. Their hair is as dense and lush as seaweed, and their ears are covered with translucent fins of the same color as the fish scales. These inhuman features set off their innocent and slightly melancholy eyes, which are simply beautiful beyond description.
I saw these docile mermaids sitting beside the Dragon Kings and the princes in turn, pouring wine obediently.
However, unlike the time in Mount Xumi, there was no mermaid sitting next to Lu Ren this time. To be more precise , there was no one sitting within a radius of three meters from Lu Ren. Because Yinglong was sitting next to Lu Ren at this time, not to mention the mermaid, even the dragons were afraid of him. This directly resulted in the seats on Lu Ren's left and right being empty.
But Yinglong seemed to be unaware of the panic he caused. He was now carelessly eating the charcoal-grilled lobster that had just been served. Although he had a gentle face, the way he ate was more like a cow chewing a peony, very rough.
Yinglong casually threw the lobster's claws into his mouth, chewing them like potato chips. The hard shells did not form any obstacles in Yinglong's mouth, but instead became a side dish for the lobster meat.
Lu Ren felt a little toothache when he saw this, but at the same time he couldn't help but wonder what Yinglong's teeth and stomach were made of.
Yinglong seemed to notice that Lu Ren was looking at him, and asked curiously: "Why are you looking at me? Aren't you going to eat?" As he spoke, Yinglong had successfully swallowed a whole lobster and was heading towards the grilled giant squid that had just been served.
The dragons not far away seemed to be urging each other to drink, but in fact, from the beginning, several of them had been secretly spying on Lu Ren and Ying Long from the corner of their eyes in between toasts.
It is not difficult to tell from Yinglong's performance that he is very satisfied with today's meal.
This realization finally put the fearful dragons at ease. They could finally swallow the wine they had been holding in their mouths and concentrate on enjoying this rare banquet.
Seeing that the atmosphere was just right, the Prince of the East China Sea Dragon King raised his hands to his ears and clapped them. A few crisp claps echoed in the banquet hall, and then several mermaids swam in one after another as if to agree.
Unlike the mermaids before, they did not sit next to the dragons, but gathered in the center of the banquet hall. Then they floated vertically in the center of the banquet hall, forming a circle facing the dragons who were having dinner.
The mermaids all crossed their hands and clenched their fists in front of their chests, as pious as girls praying. Under the moonlight-like bright light of the Night Pearl, the mermaids exuded a holy light.
I saw the mermaids began to chant. The sound was ethereal and long, like a clear spring falling in a valley and hitting jade, leaving a long-lasting echo. It felt like just listening to such singing could cleanse one's soul.
Everyone present was mesmerized by the mermaid's singing, except Lu Ren. He had no time to appreciate such wonderful music, because he was now wholeheartedly doing another thing - he was feeding Ah Bing.
Feeding Bing is actually very simple. He just needs to put the teddy bear on his legs, unzip the teddy bear, and then pour all the food he can see into the teddy bear.
But the difficulty lies in that he needs to avoid being discovered by the dragon people.
So, at this moment, Lu Ren acted like a customer who secretly packed food in a buffet restaurant, feeling guilty. Maybe because it was his first time doing such a thing, Lu Ren's expression was extremely unnatural. He sat up straight, pouring the food on the table into Ah Bing's mouth, while looking around nervously.
But fortunately, even though he behaved so obviously, no one noticed.
It wasn't because of Lu Ren's superb skills, a big part of the reason why he was not discovered was because of Yinglong. The dragons present, and even the water creatures serving on the side, didn't have enough courage to look directly at Yinglong. Except for secretly glancing at Yinglong's reaction at the beginning of the banquet, they all stopped when they saw the good results and didn't dare to do it again.
During the banquet, everyone involuntarily avoided looking in Yinglong's direction, and at the same time, they also blocked Lu Ren who was sitting next to Yinglong.
Of course, if they mustered up the courage to look in Yinglong's direction, they would find that Yinglong was picking out carrots from his plate one by one and secretly putting them on Lu Ren's plate. Perhaps because he was afraid of losing his dignity, Yinglong was very careful and vigilant when putting carrots on Lu Ren's plate, trying not to let Lu Ren notice.
How could Lord Yinglong be so picky about food? He was just providing nutrition to his human colleagues!
However, Lu Ren was so nervous while feeding A Bing that he didn't even notice that there were several extra carrots on his plate and just poured them into the teddy bear.
Yinglong, who was observing secretly, felt very satisfied when he saw that the evidence of his picky eating was destroyed. Then he happily picked up the anglerfish sashimi on the side with a fork and tasted it.
Lu Ren was not as relaxed as Ying Long. He was sweating all over because of nervousness. Even so, he still stiffened his neck and pretended to be fine. Although the veins on his neck were clearly visible, he did not stop pouring the dishes.
Just as Lu Ren was secretly thanking his luck that no one noticed him pouring food into his arms, he suddenly noticed a waiter standing in the corner of the banquet hall.
The waiter was not outstanding in appearance, and looked . There were neither dragon horns nor fish scales on his face, and it was impossible to tell what his true form was. From the appearance alone, he had short black hair and a pair of black eyes, just like any other person Lu Ren had met in life. But this ordinary person was looking at Lu Ren at the moment, and he seemed so unique among the countless people who avoided Lu Ren.
At this moment, the waiter had a smile in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows, and was looking at Lu Ren with a smile.
"Oh no, I've been discovered." Realizing this, Lu Ren felt all the blood in his body flowing back to his head. His face turned red instantly and he stopped what he was doing.
But Ah Bing in the teddy bear hadn't eaten enough, so how could he stop? So, Ah Bing, who was held in his arms, secretly wrapped his tentacles around Lu Ren's little finger.
Lu Ren felt a slight tug on his little finger, lowered his head and whispered to A Bing: "Shh - we seem to have been discovered."
When Lu Ren looked up again after comforting A Bing, he found that the corner was empty - the waiter was gone.
Lu Ren couldn't help but think nervously: "Is he going to complain?"
Lu Ren froze, not daring to move. He secretly looked towards where the Dragon Kings were, but still couldn't find the waiter.
"That's strange, didn't he go to complain?" This made Lu Ren a little confused.
The dragon kings were already drunk. They were so happy that they had invited Dao Yinglong to dinner for the first time. The Dragon King of the East Sea even threatened to perform a striptease for everyone.
The North Sea Dragon King stopped the East Sea Dragon King tightly and said, "Don't be impulsive, Old Dong! Lord Yinglong is still watching us!"
The Dragon King of the East Sea was already very drunk. He said with a big tongue: "No, no! I must dance! If I succeed today, I will use this dance to entertain my brothers; if I fail, let Lord Yinglong kill me to entertain my brothers."
Then, the mood of the Dragon King of the East Sea took a sharp turn for the worse, and he suddenly hugged the head of the Dragon King of the North Sea and cried: "It's been five thousand years, woo woo woo, Master Yinglong has finally returned, and the rise of the dragon race is saved."
As he spoke, the remaining Dragon Kings also came over, holding their heads and crying.
The scene was extremely chaotic for a while.
Lu Ren couldn't help but look at Yinglong, the "savior of the dragon clan" mentioned by the Dragon King.
At this moment, Yinglong was watching the sashimi on his table fighting - they were two shrimps of unknown species, probably some kind of monster. They had been made into sashimi, but because of their natural desire for territory, they were still unwilling to stay on the same plate and were waving their claws to attack each other.
Yinglong thought it was very exciting. He watched it carefully for a long time, and then in order to stop the fight, he sent them both into his stomach.
Lu Ren, who watched the entire process, felt from the bottom of his heart that the dragon clan might still be doomed.
