Brazen
Ron had become slightly naggy with old age.
They got into the SUV prepared for them. It was provided with the intention of touring in mind. Ron sat at the front passenger seat and continued to talk about what Yang Chen had missed while he was gone.
“Madam Persephone, the wedding is scheduled for tomorrow. Please follow me to my room after lunch so that we can proceed with the dress fitting. You must be curious about how I managed to obtain your measurements. I actually possess a skill which allows me to ascertain measurements just from looking at photos…”
Lin Ruoxi listened to him attentively as he shared his work progress. Wang Ma and Guo Xuehua exchanged looks with each other and smiled. It was fun watching him talk so animatedly about work.
“Give it a rest, Ron,” Yang Chen interjected. “Stop trying time pretend you’re still young and not suffer from farsightedness. I bet your assistant told you the measurements.”
Ron waved his hands. “Your Majesty Pluto, you’re too outdated.”
“What?”
“Contact lenses are wonderful little things, aren’t they?” Ron pointed at his eyes. “Look, I even got grey ones.”
Yang Chen looked closely, his eyes were actually grey!
Everyone laughed. They were all able to participate due to Ron’s fluent mandarin.
Lin Ruoxi said, “Mr. Ron, can you not call me that? It feels weird.”
No matter how many times she heard it, it was difficult for her to be called something straight out of a Greek myth.
“Of course, Miss Lin.” Ron grinned. “Where was I? Oh, yes, I was talking about your wedding dress. I am sure you won’t doubt my skills but it’s still my first time designing a wedding dress so I still have much to learn. I went to New York to seek out the advice of a personal friend of mine, Madam Vera Wang…”
Lin Ruoxi was thrilled to hear that. “You mean the queen of wedding dresses, Madam Wang Weiwei?”
“That’s right. She’s an expert at wedding dresses but still fall short on some aspects. I just asked for help to take care of a few details, the rest was all done by me.”
Yang Chen sulked. “Ron, you better not have embedded all the jewels and diamonds onto the dress. It is only going to be used once.”
Lin Ruoxi rolled her eyes at him angrily when she heard him. “Stingy.”
Ron smiled warmly, “Don’t worry, Your Majesty Pluto. To be honest I had too many to choose from. I wanted to design a wedding dress using pure materials from nature so that it’s more comfortable and matching with the wedding theme.”
Yang Chen nodded in contentment. He turned around to face Lin Ruoxi. “Why did you roll your eyes? Everyone uses diamonds, it’s poor taste. Haven’t I given you HENRYGRAVES from Patek Philippe already? That’s much better than diamonds.”
“It’s different. Women like me like sparkly items. Obviously, the more the better. Besides, didn’t you say you prepared a gift for me?” Lin Ruoxi reminded him.
Yang Chen chuckled. “My dear Ruoxi, it seems you have become more demanding as of late.”
“If I don’t act like this, I might lose my spot to your lovers,” Lin Ruoxi retorted.
It seemed like she was determined to keep all the good stuff to herself. He smiled sheepishly and said, “I’ll give it to you but you have to wait till the wedding starts.”
“You’re still hiding it from me.” Lin Ruoxi puffed but she stopped prodding further.
As the car continued to drive further out, they could now see a clearer view of the island.
Smoke arose from the active volcano and underneath it was a tropical forest.
Colorful water towers and steep mountains were seen at the furthest point of the island.
Around that area were houses with white walls and red roofs. They looked like pieces straight out o a fairytale.
White sand beaches extended forward, connecting with the sea. They could see groups of people enjoying their time on the beach, either sunbathing or surfing.
Guo Xuehua asked curiously, “Mr Ron, how many inhabitants does this island house?”
Ron answered, “Madam, there are around one thousand aboriginal people on the island. As for the ones under Your Majesty Pluto’s reign, there are about two thousand of them.”
“Are they all on the island?”
“Not all of them,” Ron explained. “Private ships and adventurers tend to get close to the Forgotten Realms, so we have around five hundred adults patrolling on twelve destroyers. There are usually around two thousand people on the island at any given time.”
Guo Xuehua and Wang Ma enjoyed listening to him. This island seemed like a walled garden. The scenery here was much more gorgeous than other tourism hotspots.
A winding stone covered path uncovered in front of them as the car drove into the forest.
Stone was used when building the path instead of asphalt and cement to preserve the environment.
They soon arrived in an area with Mediterranean style wooden houses. Each of them was decorated with plants and flowers. There were also symbols on the door and windows.
In the middle of it was an Ancient Roman-style fountain with children playing around it.
Smoke was rising out of the houses and they could smell food fragrant seeping out of the houses as if calling out to them.
The residents were glad to see Ron with Yang Chen and others. They immediately stopped what they were doing and bowed to Yang Chen.
“Welcome back, Your Majesty Pluto.” A woman beamed.
“Congratulations on your wedding.” Few men congratulated them with warm smiles.
Yang Chen greeted them too in their respective languages. He then began engaging in pleasantries. Lin Ruoxi and Guo Xuehua couldn’t understand Portuguese, Russian and German so they could only talk to Ron. “Mr Ron, are they the aboriginal people?”
Ron explained with a smile, “Miss Lin, the aboriginal people stay at the west side. Those who seek refuge from Your Majesty Pluto stay here. There are five villages here and most of those who live in this village have known Your Majesty Pluto for a long time. The woman earlier is Schachenleer. She’s the leader of a wanted terrorist organization. Her husband, Saab, is the ex-leader of Iraq’s terrorist organization. They are here to hide from the US army.”
Lin Ruoxi and Guo Xuehua were shocked to know that the people he’d introduced were not good people!