Chapter 937: Can’t Keep a Good Girl Down!
*Bing-Bong!*
As a reminder, this entire chapter is in Tide Tongue.
…
Have you ever thought of using a less intrusive notification for these language changes?
|Well…I did get a new button…|
*Bing-Bong*
________________________________________
While Zhen Liu was (covertly) listening to the kaijin regale him with the tale on how they managed to explore and escape from the Abyssal Lands with…most of their limbs attached…his grandfather and uncle were still having an “etiquette-off” with his distant grand uncle.
To quickly address that, “mostly” comment, there was a moment where Kit ended up losing an arm because a Fallen Clan warrior had managed to launch a sword-based aether art in their direction, but then they remembered that they were technically made of candy and managed to repair the damage with a lot of sugar, butter and water.
Regardless, after about fifteen minutes straight of “furious debating”, the patriarch of the branch clan and the Hero Elder of the main clan finally came to a conclusion.
“Alright, fine! We’ll stick around for dinner and a possible visitation if Matriarch-”
“Auntie.”
“Auntie…is in good health.”
“Good.”
It should be noted that most of this debate was between the patriarch and the Hero Elder, meaning that Zhen Long was more or less left in a corner with nothing better to do other than twiddle their thumbs. There was a brief interluding moment where a servant came in to inform him and the others that the rest of the branch clan had arrived, but that didn’t stop Zhen Long from zoning out due to sheer boredom. Zhen Long may be considered a figure of leadership, but even they get bored of all of the bureaucratic meetings they have to attend on a day-to-day basis.
Especially last minute ones that were more or less just a formality.
“Xiao Long. Xiao Liu. We’ll be going now. We have to meet up with the rest of the family and tell them the plans for the evening.”
“Of course, father.”
“As you wish, grandfather.”
Zhen Long and Zhen Liu quickly stood up from their seats in preparation of joining Patriarch Zhen Shi.
However, just as Zhen Shi was about to open the door to leave…
“Heya kiddos!”
“Auntie?”
“Mother?!”
“Of course…”
…the aformentioned Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian opened the door herself in order to enter.
“Mother, your wounds! You need to be-”
“Oh it’s fine, Xiao Po,” Zhen Xun Tian dismissed the concern with a wave of her hand. “I’ve been through way worse, remember? At least I don’t have to reattach any limbs this time.”
“Still though!”
In fairness to Zhen Xun Po’s concern though, they were rather warranted.
The entirety of Zhen Xun Tian’s torso was covered in bandages, with bits of exposed flesh showing signs of rather intense bruising.
From what Zhen Xun Tian said in regards to exactly how she got injured, she told Zhen Liu that, to quote, “That one armed whale fucker managed to sucker-punch in the chest with that stolen arm of his. I managed to repel most of the damage, but it still stung like a bitch.”
She also briefly regaled that she managed to launch a kick into his “family jewels” in retaliation.
Was it graphic?
Yes.
Was it oddly funny seeing her retell this exact same story to the stunned faces of his grandfather and uncles?
Also yes.
“…after that little encounter, Kit and Amazona managed to drag my barley conscious ass out of the Abyssal Lands and back to Willow Scale,” Zhen Xun Tian finished her story. “Anyways, you and your family is staying over for dinner, right?”
“Uh…yes?”
“Perfect! I’ll notify the chefs to make a feast for tonight and include something that goes well with alcohol. Actually…I should do that in person. See y’all later!”
“Wait, mother, no! You can’t drink while you’re still healing!”
“Psh! It’s fine!”
Zhen Xun Tian left as quickly as she came, with her son chasing after with a worried expression on his face.
As this was occurring, Zhen Shi, Zhen Long and Zhen Liu were more or less go smacked as they sat in their chairs to try and figure out what had just happened in such a short amount of time.
To be more precise, Zhen Long and Zhen Shi were still trying to process what had happened, Zhen Liu had been poker facing so hard that he mildly disassociated from the moment.
After a few minutes though, they managed to recover mentally enough to get out of the sitting room and go and inform the rest of the clan about their plans for the evening. As they were walking through, Zhen Long remembered something rather important.
“Wait a minute…father?”
“Yes, Xiao Long?”
“Didn’t we have plans for the Corradas, the Ecaredies and the Goldshire families to come and visit for the week?”
“Uh…did we schedule anything for tonight?”
“Miss Aranea did have an itinerary planned for this evening since this was the first time in a while that we had formal meetings with any of them. Your role in these meetings would’ve been relegated to a minor appearance due to the nature of the visits.”
“Ah…well, I guess we’re going to have to-”
“Wait a minute,” Zhen Liu interjected. “Did Aranea by any chance give you or grandfather a written version of this itinerary?
“Uh…”
Zhen Long paused as he looked over his person and extracted a piece of paper that listed off everything that Aranea(Arcahnidame) had planned for the evening.
Zhen Liu only had to take a quick glance at it to know what to do.
“At the very bottom of the paper should be a contingency plan if we were ever forced to participate in activities involving the main clan.”
“How do you-oh shit, there is.”
And with the discovery made, the Zhen Clan and their allies from the Stampeding Bison continent were about to meet for an impromptu evening feast.
…
*Beep*
You know the drill.
Tide Tongue: <<>>
Hoof Speech: “”
*Beep*
…
‘Alright, Archanidame, how the fuck did you know that this evening was going to happen?’
[I didn’t. I just wrote up an alternative schedule based on the data in regards to your great grand aunt. Always be prepared, especially when relatives are involved.
‘Huh…’
…
“So you’re the formal frimigos of my nephew’s branch clan? It’s so good to finally meet you all! Apologies if my wurds sound off, I haven’t had to use Hoof Speech for yurs.”
“The pleasure is ours, Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian.”
“And it’s no big deal. I’m not still practicing Tide Tongue myself.”
“Hahaha! We should compare notes over drinks!”
<
“Oh, live a little!”
In a moment that the Zhen Clan was sure wasn’t going to happen until after a wedding or town had occurred, the Zhen Clan main clan was formally introduced to the Corrada, Goldshire and Ecaredies families.
More specifically, she was introduced to Matriarch Telana, Alexander Goldshire, Prince Carlos Ecaredies, and their respective families.
Zhen Xun Tian was also formerly introduced to the respective fiancees of all the scions, and she was actually relatively pleased at the tastes in partners.
“Ah, to be young and in love… reminds me on how I secured this one’s father. Had to fight a crazy woman who could clone herself with a magic mirror.”
“Wait, seriously?”
“Oh yeah. We became friends afterwards, even helped her hook up with another friend of mine.”
“Huh…”
On a more interesting note, this was also the first time that Zhen Liu’s other fiancees finally got to meet Princess Jinju Ren…alongside the rest of the scions and their relationships.
…
“Xiao Liu…I hope you know…I will never forgive you for this,” Zhen Hai whispered.
“It’s cool… I’d be pissed at me too.”
“Huh…you girls were right, doing this is weirdly cathartic.”
“Right?”*2
“Darling…please don’t do that to me in the future.”
“Not promises.”
At this moment in time, Zhen Liu and Zhen Hai were currently dealing with the fact that their respective romantic partners were tugging at their cheeks in that way lovers do when they’re annoyed at recent decisions.
To be more precise, Alicia Goldshire and Bellona Ecaredies had opted to tug at Zhen Liu’s cheeks, not only due to him somehow ending up with a third fiancee despite having not officially tie the knot get, but because Jinju Ren had informed them how he almost got himself killed again fighting a demonic mantis and a demonic mantis in a back-to-back manner.
Gianna Corrada, Zhen Hai’s fiancee, had saw them perform this little action and proceeded to follow suit.
The reason being is that he had promised to take her for a romantic night out on the town this evening, but couldn’t due to familial obligations.
On the plus side, he did promise to take her around Roaring Tide.
While this was happening though, Jinju Ren was doing her absolute best, and failing, to suppress her laughter at the situation.
She may have loved it when Zhen Liu was being cool and badass, she also loved to see him squirm in embarrassment.
“Pfft! I can see you have a type, darling! Can’t say I disapprove.”
