Just as Bulma had said, her home wasn't far from where the motorcycle accident had occurred. After walking for about half an hour, John finally brought Bulma home.
Looking at the enormous dome-shaped building before him, John realized that seeing things in real life was always more impressive than watching them on TV.
Seeing John's expression of amazement as he looked at her home, Bulma felt immensely satisfied.
As a gesture of gratitude, Bulma invited John to visit her home. Since it was already evening, she wanted to invite him for a sumptuous dinner.
John hesitated at this point, thinking it wasn't appropriate to have dinner at someone's house on their first meeting.
"Bulma, dinner isn't necessary. Besides, I don't know your family, it would be awkward to have dinner together," John said.
When Bulma heard John's words, she suddenly remembered her eccentric mother, and realized John had a point. If her mother met John, there was no telling what kind of scene she might create.
So she quickly changed her tune and said, "You're right. How about this: when I'm off on the weekend, I'll take you out for a feast. Having dinner at home wouldn't be formal enough."
John thought Bulma had misunderstood that he was looking down on home-cooked meals, so he quickly shook his head and said, "No, no, no, Bulma, I didn't mean to look down on your home cooking. I just came here without any preparation, it would be too impolite to suddenly show up."
Hearing John's words, Bulma realized that he had misunderstood her meaning. Just as she was about to explain to John...
A car stopped beside John and Bulma, and Bulma's mother stepped out, followed by a butler carrying many shopping bags - clearly having just finished a shopping spree.
Seeing Bulma standing at their doorstep with a boy, Bulma's mother immediately approached them with gleaming eyes.
When Bulma saw her mother getting out of the car, she immediately covered her face with her hand, thinking to herself: "This is bad!"
Though Bulma's mother hadn't reached John yet, her laughter had already carried over as she said cheerfully, "Ah, you must be Bulma's boyfriend! This is wonderful! Her father and I have been worried that with her bad temper, she might never find a husband."
"Now that I see this young man, I can rest easy."
"Hello, auntie. I'm John, I'm Bulma's friend, not her boyfriend," John said. Upon seeing Bulma's mother, he immediately recalled her behavior from the Dragon Ball storyline he knew in his previous life, and felt his scalp tingle.
When Bulma heard her mother describing her as bad-tempered and possibly unable to find a boyfriend in front of John, she immediately became upset and argued, "Who has a bad temper? My temper is just fine! And as for a boyfriend, I'll definitely find one who's super, super handsome, and make you jealous, hmph!"
Hearing her daughter's complaints, Bulma's mother wasn't upset at all and said to John, "See? If this isn't a bad temper, what is!"
John felt too awkward to say anything.
Bulma's mother continued, "John, since my daughter doesn't fancy you, how about this: come on a date with me instead? Let me think... tomorrow we can go eat at that restaurant I've been wanting to try for so long."
Hearing Bulma's mother's words, John broke into a cold sweat and quickly said to Bulma, "Bulma, I should get going now. I'll come play with you another time."
Then John said to Bulma's mother, "Goodbye, auntie!" After saying this, he turned and ran.
Bulma's mother was still smiling as she said, "John, let's have our date next time."
Hearing Bulma's mother's words, John ran even faster, disappearing down the street in a flash.
Bulma said to her mother, "You've scared away another one of my friends."
Bulma's mother maintained her smiling expression and said to Bulma, "You need to learn to judge people's hearts. I was just helping you test this young man."
"This John isn't bad. Although he's quite ordinary-looking and a bit shrewd, I can tell he's not a bad person. He could be someone worth getting to know, you could give it a try."
It turned out that all of her previous behavior was just an act by Bulma's mother to test Bulma's friend's reactions.
Since Bulma was the daughter of the Capsule Corporation, many people with ulterior motives had appeared around her since she was young. That's why Bulma's mother always acted this way to test Bulma's friends.
Of course, it was also because this was Bulma's mother's natural personality, so it could be considered a genuine performance, just more exaggerated than how she behaved with family.
Bulma scoffed and said, "Hmph, you're thinking too much. Apart from having some money, your daughter doesn't have anything worth deceiving for. Besides, our family's money couldn't be spent in hundreds or thousands of lifetimes, so what does it matter if someone deceives us of a little?"
At this, Bulma's mother didn't know whether to laugh or cry, thinking to herself, "My foolish daughter! If they were only after money, that wouldn't matter. What I'm afraid of is that some bad person might want to steal both your money and your heart!"
That evening, at Bulma's home, the family of three enjoyed a sumptuous dinner prepared by the kitchen robot.
Thinking about how her father was the president of Capsule Corporation and how many people would try to curry favor with him, possibly telling him about the Dragon Balls, Bulma asked Dr. Brief, "Dad, do you know about the legend of the Dragon Balls?"
Dr. Brief was a middle-aged man who wore glasses and always dressed in a white lab coat, with an unkempt appearance.
Dr. Brief said, "Dragon Balls? I have heard about them. Someone told me that if you gather all seven Dragon Balls, you can summon Shenron and make any wish."
"Hmph, that's too fake. I'm a scientist, how could I fall for such tricks?"
Hearing that her father didn't believe in the Dragon Balls legend, Bulma felt somewhat discouraged, realizing it would be difficult to get her father's help.
Just as Bulma was thinking about how to start searching for the Dragon Balls, she suddenly heard Dr. Brief say, "Oh right, that person who tried to deceive me back then, to make me believe, even gave me a glass ball with two stars, saying it was a Dragon Ball. I threw him out..."
"What? You have a Dragon Ball!" When Bulma heard her father say he had a Two-Star Dragon Ball, she immediately interrupted him, standing up and asking loudly.