Time flew by, and Edward Lewis had already mastered all the magic the old gentleman had taught him. He realized that the time for parting was approaching once again. Finally, one day when he returned to the old gentleman’s villa, the door was already locked. He flew in through the window and found a letter and a bunch of keys on the coffee table in the living room. The old gentleman was gone. The two elders who had the greatest influence on Edward Lewis’s vampire life—Brian Lane and Earl Hopkinson—were no longer by his side. The letter contained the password to the old gentleman’s bedroom safe; after all, in today’s society, there are still some things one must have—old vampires are very considerate of him. Edward Lewis understood that the old gentleman had come to China alone, searching for the life he longed for. If it weren’t for waiting for him, he would have left five years ago. He had long since written his phone number and email address in the old gentleman’s contacts, hoping that one day he might call.

Having gained some understanding of both spells and magic, Edward Lewis began to explore the connection between the two. He was far more interested in studying spells than in cultivation, but recently, something had been giving Edward Lewis a headache: his parents had started arranging blind dates for him!

“You’re almost thirty!” Mrs. Lewis scolded her son. Edward Lewis was stunned. Thinking it over, it was true—without realizing it, he had reached the age of thirty! But it didn’t matter; for a vampire at thirty, he was still a child and could play around for another couple of years—though there was no way to explain that to his mother. As soon as he came down from the mountain, Mrs. Lewis started nagging in his ear nonstop, but Edward Lewis was in a good mood those days, so he just let her talk and pretended not to hear. In the blink of an eye, another half year passed, and he still hadn’t made a move. Mrs. Lewis couldn’t sit still any longer. The night before last, she called and told Edward Lewis to come home for dinner. When Edward Lewis got home, he saw his mother cooking, his father watching a ball game, and a young woman sitting properly in the living room.

Chapter Five

What could Edward Lewis do? He couldn’t exactly tell his parents that the girl’s neck was more attractive to him than her chest, could he? If he found a girl to sleep in the same room with every day, wouldn’t everything be exposed? Sometimes he thought about telling his parents that he was already a vampire, but he didn’t dare take that risk. He didn’t know if his parents could accept it. Would they see him as a monster?

Dinner was eaten in silence. Mrs. Lewis kept trying to start conversations. At first, the girl responded a few times, but Edward Lewis just sat there like a block of wood, shoveling food into his mouth. Even when his mother asked him questions, he just grunted in reply. Gradually, the girl stopped talking too, and Mrs. Lewis was so angry she wanted to pinch her son a few times. After dinner, they sat for a while, and then the girl got up to leave. Mrs. Lewis quickly told Edward Lewis to see her out. Edward Lewis stood up, walked the girl downstairs, said goodbye, and turned back home.

As soon as he got home, Mrs. Lewis hurriedly asked, “Well, what do you think?” Before Edward Lewis could answer, Mr. Lewis chimed in, “What’s there to ask? He didn’t say a single word to the girl during dinner. What do you expect?” Mrs. Lewis ignored her husband and kept asking Edward Lewis, “Son, how do you feel?” Edward Lewis hung his head and mumbled, “Not much.” “Not much? The girl is quite pretty! Why are you being picky? Son, you’re not that handsome yourself, you should be content…” Edward Lewis couldn’t help but laugh and cry, “Mom, do you have to talk about your own son like that?” “What? You really aren’t that handsome.” Mrs. Lewis held a mirror up to her son. Edward Lewis gave a wry smile and said, “If I’m not handsome, whose fault is that? Yours and Dad’s. I haven’t even blamed you, and you’re already lecturing me.” Mrs. Lewis immediately shouted, “How is it my fault? I was the prettiest girl in my class in high school. It’s your dad’s ugly genes you inherited…” “How is it my fault? Daughters take after their fathers, sons after their mothers, so it’s obviously your fault…” “…” “…” “…”

Edward Lewis could only smile wryly: Don’t they worry about hurting my self-confidence? If he really became so self-conscious that he didn’t dare date, whose fault would that be?

The first blind date ended in failure, but Mrs. Lewis was undeterred, convinced that her son was just shy. From then on, whenever she heard of a single girl in a family she knew, she would take her son to visit, and then ask him how he felt afterward, hoping that by casting a wide net, her son would find someone he liked.

“Son, how do you feel?”

“Mom, wouldn’t it be better to just watch ‘Jurassic Park’ at home? Why go so far?”

“Son, this one’s not bad, right?”

“Mom, who’s that man standing next to her, always glaring at me?”

“…How should I know her husband just happened to come back from a business trip…”

“Son, how about this time?”

“Mom, her spouse just died. Let’s wait a bit.”

“Son, this one… never mind, she’s only in eighth grade. By the time she graduates college, you’ll be an old man!”

“…”

From then on, what the vampire zombie king feared most was not righteous Taoist priests, nor demon hunters, but one thing—blind dates.