Hearing his sister’s suddenly aggravated tone, Ash Sinclair’s expression instantly shifted from lackadaisical to dead serious. He stood up straight. "Don’t worry, Rian! I won’t ever make this mistake again! I’ll go reflect on it with Old Landon as soon as I get back to school!"
Old Landon happened to be Ash’s homeroom teacher. Rian Sinclair was quite familiar with the man, as he used to be her homeroom teacher as well. Recalling her glorious past, Rian gave an uncomfortable cough.
"Just watch yourself. Don’t go bothering Mr. Lan... Mr. Landon for no reason." Rian forcibly swallowed the words "Landon the Bastard" that had almost slipped out of her mouth.
Ash looked at his sister but didn’t call her out on it. After all, Rian’s name was legendary at the affiliated high school—a presence the teachers mentioned every single day in class. Not only was she the affiliated high school’s great demon king, but she was also the teachers’ darling student. After all, she was a legendary girl who mastered everything from skipping classes to getting into fights, yet still ended up as the top scorer in the college entrance examination.
Just with the excuse that Kyoro was too far away from Ash, she ended up attending Argent University instead. Back then, Ash had been overjoyed, thinking his sister was going to study in Kyoro. But when he heard the rumors going around—"Your sister gave up studying in Kyoro just for you"—his joy instantly shattered.
It really was for him—so it would be more convenient to beat him up! Ash felt wronged, but he didn’t dare say a word. His attitude toward his sister’s words was naturally: *Rian is always right. Rian is never wrong. If she is wrong, it definitely isn’t her fault!*
Rian scrolled on her phone for a long time before finally selecting a high-end Western restaurant. Since she hadn’t eaten at one before, she definitely had to try something new now that she had the means!
They arrived at the fourth floor of the mall, which was entirely dedicated to restaurants. Following the navigation, Rian arrived at their destination.
At the restaurant’s entrance, a waitress came forward to greet them. Seeing the guests dressed in cheap street clothes, the waitress was puzzled, but her "excellent" "professionalism" kept her composed. The smile on her face was extremely fake. "Excuse me, miss, do you have a reservation?"
Rian hadn’t known that eating here required a reservation. She shook her head and asked, "If we don’t have a reservation, what do we need to do to eat here?" After all, she was sticking to the principle of "since we’re already here."
Hearing that a reservation was needed, Ash found it quite troublesome. He tugged at his sister. "Rian, let’s just go somewhere else. We can come back next time after making a reservation."
Rian gave Ash a look, telling him to relax. Hearing the guest keep asking despite not having a reservation, the waitress’s smile almost slipped, but she patiently said, "Miss, you cannot enter without a reservation. Please come back and dine with us next time after making one. Does that sound alright?"
Rian frowned. The waitress hadn’t answered her question at all. Keeping a good temper, she asked again, "How can we eat here without a reservation?"
Seeing the guest press the issue, the waitress rolled her eyes internally. However, choosing not to ignore her, she continued to reply with a smile, "Miss, you just need to become a distinguished VIP of our restaurant to dine directly without a reservation."
This waitress maintained a polite facade, though who knew what she was really thinking. Judging by how she had completely ignored Rian’s initial question, her character was likely nothing to write home about, even if she kept it concealed. Still, there were always a few exceptions who didn’t even bother to hide their true colors.
A waitress behind her walked over and said, "Miss, if you can’t afford to eat here, could you not block the way? You can choose to eat somewhere else. There’s no need to stubbornly cling to this place. Besides, looking at you, can you even afford it?"
Lily had already been harboring frustration from dealing with her manager. Seeing Rian and Ash, she outright exploded. "If you don’t have money, go eat somewhere else, okay? Can you stop blocking our business? People who know better might think you’re here to eat, but those who don’t would think you’re here begging for scraps. What rotten luck."
Hearing her colleague speak like this, the waitress who had initially greeted the two snapped back to her senses. She grabbed her colleague and whispered, "Lily, don’t talk like that. They are still customers, after all."
Lily shook off the other waitress’s hand. She scanned Rian up and down before shooting a disdainful glare at Ash. "Her and this pathetic beggar she brought? Do they deserve to be our customers? Shana, I’m telling you, these two don’t have money but are trying to act like big shots. They even want to be VIPs! Do you know how much a VIP membership costs?"
Lily raised her voice. "Five million! That’s tens of thousands of times the value of the clothes on your back! Can someone like you afford it? You’re covered head to toe in cheap knockoffs, yet you’re trying to eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Look at yourself—do you think you’re worthy?"
Hearing this, Ash lost his temper and snapped back, "Whether we can afford it or not is our business! As a waitress, your job is to serve and take care of the customers, not stand here making sarcastic remarks!"
Lily crossed her arms. Already in a fit of pique, her words grew even more unforgiving. "Oh, getting defensive, are we? Broke is broke. What are you doing pretending to be some big shot here? Puffing yourselves up to look impressive, huh? Little boy, take your shabby-looking sister and get out of here. This isn’t a place for people like you."
In all his years, Ash had never encountered such a snobbish waitress. Then again, he had probably been too poor to ever cross paths with one before. But he wasn’t a pushover either, immediately firing back, "Look here, lady. If your mouth was as clean as the uniform you’re wearing, your restaurant’s business would be booming."
Listening to her brother, Rian smiled at him without a hint of reproach in her eyes. "Ash, haven’t I taught you to be polite to people?"
Ash looked at Lily and laughed disdainfully. "You did teach me that, Rian, but there’s a prerequisite. The prerequisite is that the other party has to be human."
The two siblings played good cop and bad cop, thoroughly infuriating Lily. She rolled her eyes at them, utterly disgusted by these destitute paupers. She had certainly seen her fair share of people trying to look richer than they were, and naturally, she didn’t believe for a second that these two could afford to dine at this restaurant.
Given her age, Lily obviously caught the underlying insults in their words. Her expression turned extremely ugly. "Can you two paupers just get the hell out of our restaurant? This isn’t a place for beggars to ask for handouts."
Shana kept pulling at Lily from the side. Although she also felt that the guests couldn’t afford it, as waitresses, they still couldn’t speak to people like this.
Annoyed by the constant tugging, Lily shook off Shana’s hand and stomped back to the cash register. Shana smiled awkwardly at the siblings. Ash huffed and turned away, refusing to look at her. Left with no choice, Shana apologized to Rian. However, Rian wasn’t about to accept it. Coming out for a meal only to run into such a frustrating mess wasn’t something a simple "sorry" could fix.
Perhaps because of the commotion they were making, a middle-aged man in a sharp suit walked over. Although the siblings were dressed plainly, he still looked at them with a polite smile.
"I apologize, valued guests. This was an oversight on our part, and we are deeply sorry. As a token of our apology, you will not need a reservation to dine with us today, and your meal will be completely on the house. Furthermore, any future meals you have here will be discounted by forty percent."
In the distance, a look of worry washed over Lily’s face when she saw the manager arrive. Rian looked at the man in front of her. She wasn’t going to change restaurants just because of this incident—she was going to slap that waitress named Lily hard in the face.
She casually pulled out her black card, her voice unhurried. "Since VIPs don’t need a reservation, sign me up for a VIP membership first. Otherwise, I’m afraid I’ll be treated like a beggar again the next time I come here to eat."