Supporting his lower back, Sobek stood there and took seven or eight deep breaths. He felt more exhausted than he had after enduring a whole month of the War God's Festival. Leaning on the crest mech beside him, he spent half a minute getting his breathing back under control. Only then did he notice the other man's scrutinizing gaze. He quickly straightened up and nodded with a perfectly composed expression.
However, his show of strength was so unconvincing that Yu Lian could not help looking at him with pity. "Brother Jaeger, you can't keep going like this! A man can fail at anything, but he absolutely can't fail at mahjong. How are you going to find yourself an amazing father-in-law like this—ah, no, how are you going to make your life happy? Of course, I have some experience in this area. Our Rongxia Restaurant's fifteen-hundred-year culinary tradition includes some very effective medicinal dishes. If you want the recipe, I can write one up for you. It'll only cost a million golden dragons."
"A million golden dragons could buy a hundred of your restaurants! Do you think I'm an idiot? I'm perfectly healthy!"
"Of course you are. You've even become Duke Satouran's disciple, so naturally you've been training and getting all buff. But those are two completely different kinds of health. And you actually went and looked up my file!" Yu Lian said.
Sobek quickly puffed out his chest and straightened his back, then solemnly declared, "With bandits still at large, how can I think of starting a family? All my thoughts are focused on defeating the marauders. I have no time for such worldly desires!"
Yu Lian raised an eyebrow, as if he were seeing the other man for the first time, then grinned. "Even without worldly desires, a young