Meng Fei got up much earlier that morning and thought of preparing something different for Li Jiong, as a farewell. Maybe they could activate the matrix and he would never see him again. He made the pancake batter and served it with butter and honey.

Li Jiong couldn't imagine how there could be anything as good in the world as that sweet fluffy dough.

"This really tastes good! What is it?"

"They are pancakes, but these are an adaptation of the ones that exist in the United States. They are thicker than the American ones." Meng Fei didn't want to say that he had done something special on purpose as it might signal a farewell and he didn't want to talk about it too soon. Although the hour was approaching...

He watched the cultivator devour the pancakes, although even though he was elegant and polite at the table, you could tell he enjoyed it.

Li Jiong felt comforted by this warm meal, and he also didn't want to think about goodbyes at the moment. In his world there were also many delicious things to eat, but none like those pancakes. He mused that Meng Fei would not trade this comfortable life for the world's, even if a big war broke out like he said there could be. There would need to be something very attractive to convince him to leave. And there was also the piano, how was he going to take it?

Li Jiong was wondering if it was too difficult to build a piano like that. It was a big box, what was inside? He was going to ask that, but instead, another idea occurred to him: "You said you weren't working today, how are you going to get back there?"

"As I am one of those responsible for the work, I have free access." Meng Fei shrugged. That was the perk of being the boss.

Both got ready and went down to get the car. Meng Fei drove in silence, feeling anxious inside. He also concluded that Li Jiong was no different from him. In a few minutes they arrived at the construction site. Empty, the place looked much bigger than they'd seen it before.

"You're going to have a lot of work to finish this..." Li Jiong commented.

"The deadline for me to finish this work is one year."

"ONE YEAR?" The cultivator looked at the skeleton of the building already erected. Wasn't that time too short to build something so big???

They arrived at the so-called 3rd ward, where Li Jiong appeared. Again Meng Fei worked hard on the matrix design, copying all the details from the rough draft onto the paper. Meanwhile, Li Jiong made a small cut on his hand with his sword. He summoned her as he pleased and Meng Fei still wasn't used to seeing this kind of practicality.

Li Jiong chanted the first verse and the first phase of the matrix activated. Then he thought of the second verse. Nothing happened. Meng Fei wanted to cry. Heavens! Where was he going wrong? Even so he kept calm, he had written several possible combinations in case the first one failed. "Let's try the reverse order of the verses."

In the end, they spent the entire morning testing possibilities. Even Meng Fei tried to chant the verses and now he was so tired that he felt his soul leaking out of his mouth.

"I told you not to try! That kind of matrix consumes a lot of qi!" Li Jiong shook him and patted his face. Then with the palm of his hand on the back he directed some of his own qi. Meng Fei slowly regained consciousness, feeling the warm flow of energy invade his chest...

"What a strange feeling. I thought I was going to pass out." He nodded his head nonchalantly. "Well, shall we get something to eat? Then we'll continue."

Li Jiong "..............."

How can he recover so fast? Meng Fei was indeed well and ready for another one. He took Li Jiong to a stall selling wonton soup [1] and ate an extra portion with lots of chives.

"You better not try to chant the matrix verses or you'll burn out again. You don't even have a spiritual core to supply that!"

"Sorry". He replied after swallowing a generous portion of food. "It just occurred to me that maybe the evil Meng Fei had to say the verses, so I took his turn. But if that's somehow necessary, it's better to have food nearby. It seems like I haven't eaten in ages. I don't remember starving like that to more than... well, that's beside the point."

Color returned to her cheeks after eating both bowls. They went back to work and this time Li Jiong didn't allow him to recite anything. An ordinary person could very well die if all of his qi was used up, and in that case the matrix took more than half of the other's energy. He wasn't aware of it, and he didn't notice the worried looks that Li Jiong threw at him at all times.

He had given him the qi needed to bring him back from the gates of death but he wasn't sure if it was enough.

Meng Fei made other variations of the matrix, he took the notebook from the construction office and used simulation software to try to calculate home possible new formations. By the end of the afternoon, despondency was so thick in his chest that he seriously thought about what he should do if Li Jiong couldn't be sent home.

If that's not possible, he can stay with me, there's plenty of room in the apartment. Maybe he'll get used to it, but I shouldn't say that now, he'd be hopeless... No! I can't give up now, there are people who need him!

"Uh, let's go back. I'll think of another alternative." Meng Fei tried his best encouraging smile, yet Li Jiong could see the haggard and tired expression in his eyes. He nodded and followed him to where the car was parked. He wished he could say something to comfort him and racked his brains thinking about it to the point where he fell behind a little. He stared at Meng Fei's back, his build was smaller than his but no less strong. He remembered the blows he had taken and thought that the other Meng Fei was not capable of martial arts.

This was... Li Jiong then realized that he was watching him too much and missing the point of saying a word of support. And thanks too. Then he saw someone run and hug Meng Fei's shoulders when he was already close to the car.

"BOSS! How lucky for me to find you here! Don't tell me you're working overtime?"

"Uh, it sure isn't what YOU are doing, Huo Bai?"

"Ah! Isn't this that guy?"

Meng Fei turned white at that question. What did this bastard have to show up right now??

"Well, you won't believe it, but his name is Li Jiong, and that was a prank call..."

He made up a story on the spot and Li Jiong has now become a university student who was the victim of a prank call. Besides, he wanted to know Meng Fei's work and that's why he was confused when they met. And today he found time to bring it for a visit to the construction site.

"Ahhhh. You're always so thoughtful, boss. You don't spare a day of rest." Huo Bai patted him mischievously on the back.

Meng Fei preferred that a matrix opened under his feet at that moment and he was sent to another world as well.

"Hmm, but since I found them around here, me and a group of friends are going to that karaoke we used to go to during university. Let's go out and drink, it's Sunday after all!"

"No." Meng Fei put the key to open the car door.

"Boss, you're so mean... this time the karaoke will even reward the team that gets the highest score... you sing so well, for sure we would beat us, even the foreigners..."

"Bye Huo Bai, make sure you don't be late tomorrow for drinking too much. Otherwise I'll kick your ass from your house to work."

Huo Bai didn't give up: "Li Jiong, right? Don't you think he should go? The boss only knows how to work, work... relaxing a little won't hurt! Don't you want to come too? He sings like a bird and plays any instrument."

Li Jiong thought for a while. Of course, that man had some interest in it, but wouldn't it be nice if Meng Fei had some fun too? He spent two whole days just dealing with a problem that wasn't even his!

He thoughtfully looked at Meng Fei sitting in the car, waiting for him.

Suddenly, Meng Fei hesitantly asked, "Li Jiong, would you like to see karaoke? It's a bit... hectic place."

"Um, I thought it would be good… relax a bit, ease your mind like you said that last time."

"There you see Boss! Even Li Jiong wants to have fun! You need to vary your hobbies, you can't just play The Goldberg Variations every night..."

"I don't just play The Goldberg Variations!" Meng Fei replied irritably, he hated it when Huo Bai teased him about the piano. He then agreed to go to the karaoke, as long as it didn't go past ten at night. They followed Huo Bai by car.

"Sorry, didn't you want to go to this place?" Li Jiong noticed a slight wrinkle on Meng Fei's forehead.

"Ah, it's not like that. Huo Bai and I studied together at the university. We used to go to this karaoke a lot since university days, but later, I met Zou Chin there and after we broke up, I didn't go out again."

"Oh, we can go back then. You don't have to force yourself to go."

"Well, I can't hide for the rest of my life. Huo Bai is a nice guy, but don't take him too seriously." Meng Fei explained in detail what karaoke was like, however, not even in his dreams could Li Jiong imagine such a place. The lighting in the entrance hall was so intense that their eyes watered, then they proceeded to a room that was in complete darkness!

Huo Bai had gathered a mixed group of seven classmates, of which three were women, all of whom were very noisy and cheerful. They had ordered snacks accompanied by a lot of drinks and didn't even wait for Huo Bai to arrive to drink. Some were known to Meng Fei.

"Haha, only Huo Bai can pull the rabbit out of the hole!"

"Now the prize is guaranteed!"

That night karaoke was on picking the room whose group had the highest grades.

Meng Fei poured himself a portion of Baiju [2] and offered it to Li Jiong.

"Meng Fei! Won't get drunk before singing huh?" One of the known occupants chuckled.

"Ah, I bet even Huo Bai drunk sings better than you! Who called you here Lu Hao? Didn't you guys want to win the prize?" Meng Fei laughed and Li Jiong realized that he had done the right thing. Meng Fei looked much lighter and more relaxed.

"Huo Bai said he would find you at any cost, that's why I came." Lu Hao replied as he stuffed himself with snacks.

"Well then, let's get this over with, Huo Bai will arrive tomorrow at six o'clock sharp at work, right Huo Bai?" Meng Fei scoffed.

"Only if the boss gets the highest score in the first place." The other chuckled, lifting his chin in defiance. Meng Fei took his drink and went to choose the song on the panel. Meanwhile the girls were interested in the handsome long-haired visitor, peppering him with questions. "Are you a student?", "Which course?", "How old are you?", "Do you know what you're going to sing?"

Luckily, Meng Fei had created a pretty solid plot for Li Jiong to follow in the car, and he repeated it word for word. He had several shimei in the sect, so he wasn't intimidated by the girls, treating them with courtesy.

"Are you single?" one of them asked.

"Oh yes." He replied thinking that the girls of this world were quite bold and not shy at all. He was busy with that when Meng Fei started to sing and the conversation dropped to a low rumble.

"What is he singing?" He asked Huo Bai, who was sitting nearby. He found this person easier to talk to.

"Don't you know? It's Counting Stars, it's by an American band. This karaoke comes with a lot of foreigners, so there's a big repertoire of international songs."

Li Jiong understood that it was a song sung in that strange language that Meng Fei spoke with Marcus.

"And what does the song say, do you know?" He insisted.

Huo Bai laughed, he knew that he was only able to bring Meng Fei thanks to Li Jiong, so he wouldn't pressure him to sing, but apparently the boy didn't understand English well, so it wasn't a big loss.

"The translation is like this:

Li Jiong tried to pay attention to the translation but his mind was being completely filled by Meng Fei's voice. There was no doubt that this person was born to music. When the song ended, the points were tallied. No one was surprised when the maximum score came out on the screen.

"Haha, see you tomorrow at 6 o'clock Huo Bai!"

"That's beginner's luck, boss. I bet you can't do it again!" Huo Bai laughed casually.

Meng Fei narrowed his eyes irritably and started another song to sing.

Huo Bai crossed his arms in satisfaction.

"To tell you the truth, I want to thank you, Li Jiong."

"Whereby?" The cultivator was surprised.

"I've been trying to get the boss to go out and have fun for a while. Since his ex cheated on him, he's closed himself in a cocoon and only knows how to work and play the piano in that penthouse. This is the first time in a month that he's been out at night."

"Besides..." he added, "He's nice and courteous but people are a little scared by his abilities. So it's hard for him to make friends, maybe you'll only find him with some eccentric types who are on a similar level , like Peng Niu, you must not know her..."

"I know, it's the woman from the bookstore."

"Haha, you know that little mouse? Haha, what a small world! Well, maybe you're on the eccentric types list too."

"Uh, it's possible." Li Jiong laughed. "So can you translate this song for me too?"

Huo Bai laughed heartily. "Of course, my dear."

Poor Meng Fei using qi he didn't even have. If I can, I'll make an illustration of this scene kkkkkkkk.

Huo Bai teasing Meng Fei: You should try playing modern songs on the piano.

Meng Fei: For the thousandth time! I also play modern music!

Li Jiong doesn't understand the difference between classical and modern music, so he's out of the question.

[1] Wontons Soup: typical food from the Canton region, consisting of fried or steamed stuffed dumplings, made with thin dough, and can be served with vegetable soup, and can also be spicy.

[2] Baijiu: Chinese white liquor, can be made with grains of sorghum, rice, wheat or barley.