Heero sat before a counter and the woman he just saved was currently making food for him. Not only him, the little girl, and the bulky man are also right beside him.
The mature woman he saved was called Han Ying. She was the owner of a noodles shop. Miao Miao Noodles Shop.
As for the bulky man, he was the owner of the butcher shop across Miao Miao Noodle Shop, Wang Ping Cai, or Butcher Wang. The little girl was Butcher Wang's daughter, Wang Qing Lan or Lan Lan in short.
Lan Lan boasted her father was strong and it was not without reason. Butcher Wang was indeed famous in this district. He hunted the beasts outside the city and sold them at his shop. Usually, it was Butcher Wang who helped Han Ying. This was not the first time for a group of thugs to harass Han Ying.
However, today Butcher Wang could not help Han Ying. This time It was not just some ordinary thugs but thugs with the backing from the middle city.
As the biggest city with the most population, Star City is divided into four parts. Outer City, Middle City, Inner City, and Core City. Outer City which was also the biggest part of Star City was a place for ordinary citizens.
Middle City or people here usually called this place as Commerce City is the place where every business gathered, from the biggest market to the smallest shop are located. Usually, the rich, Iron Class and Silver Class Hero lived here. As long as one had the money, it was not a problem to live in the middle part of the city.
As for Inner City and Core City, not just anyone could live here. Usually, only people with status lived here. Even a Hero could not live here with their status unless one was at least a Silver Class Hero/Ranker at upper ranks.
The core city, people usually called it the Emperor Palace. Why did people call it so? It was because this place was where the Emperor Class Hero lived in. Not only Emperor Class Hero, but Legendary Ranker and the top government officials also resided in the core city, a sacred place of Star City.
Meanwhile, the thug that Heero drove away was part of Iron Fist Martial House. It was quite famous in the middle city with the Silver Class Ranker "Yan Tie" to oversee it. Of course, Yan Tie could not rely on just his identity as Silver Class Ranker to get famous, he also had Ming Group on his back.
Iron Fist Martial House was the part of Ming group. Ming Group was quite an influential organization with its HQ located in the inner city. It also had a Crown Class ranker and 13 Gold Class ranker as its main force.
Because of this Butcher Wang could not help Han Ying this time. He still had a daughter and a wife; he did not want to get onto Yan Tie's nerve. This was the main reason Butcher Wang asked Heero to get away as soon as possible. But somehow, not only Heero left this place. They were inside Han Ying's shop and had her treat them to a bowl of noodles.
Han Ying was currently making the noodles for Heero and the other two people. Heero's eyes were glued to Han Ying's hand. Forming a big dough, Han Ying slowly pulled it with her hand and divided the dough. In less than ten minutes, the big dough turned into small noodles.
Afterward, Han Ying put the noodles in boiling water and left to take four bowls. She then scooped the broth, put it in the bowl, and placed the bowl before Heero, Butcher Wang, and Lan Lan.
Heero looked at the bowl was filled with muddy water. Even though the water inside the bowl was muddy, it released a pleasant aroma. This was the first time Heero ate noodles, so he did not know the muddy water was a broth for noodles.
Just as Heero wanted to taste the muddy water with the spoon, Han Ying was back with noodles. She put the noodles inside the bowl with muddy water and sprinkled something green on the top of the noodles.
Han Ying repeated the same action for another three bowls. And then, the noodles were ready to be devoured.
An embarrassed smile formed on Han Ying's face as she spoke, "This is what I can do for helping me earlier!"
With his eyes glued to his bowl, Heero replied, "It's okay, this is enough!"
Butcher Wang and Han Ying looked at each other. They could tell that hero was excited.
Heero himself did not care about the other two and said, "Can I eat it now?"
Han Ying nodded her head while Heero started his feast.
Heero tried to scope the noodles with the spoon but failed. He only got the muddy water in his spoon. At first, he did not care and tried to taste the muddy water first.
Sssppp!
When the muddy water entered his mouth, Heero's eyes brighten. It was tasty. He scoped another spoonful of muddy water. In his fifth scope, Heero was somewhat annoyed. He could not get the noodles that resided inside his bowl with the spoon.
He wanted to use his hand directly to get the noodles. But he canceled his intention and looked at Butcher Wang. He wanted to see how Butcher Wang ate the noodles.
Heero looked up and noticed Butcher Wang was looking at him weirdly. Not only Butcher Wang, Lan Lan, and Han Ying also gazed at him weirdly.
"What?" Heero blurted in confusion.
"Uncle, you can't eat the noodles with the spoon. You have to use this, chopsticks."
Lan Lan was the first to explain while showing chopsticks in her hands.
Heero looked at the two small sticks in Lan Lan's hand. Then, Heero found the same stick beside his bowl. He picked it, he was gripped the chopsticks with his palm, not putting it between his fingers.
As he held the chopsticks, Heero wondered how to take the noodles out of the bowl with the two small sticks. He looked at Lan Lan yet he found everyone around him staring at him weirdly, again.
"What?" Heero was somewhat flustered now.
"Aren't you Japanese? How come you don't know how to use chopsticks?!" Butcher Wang formed an unbelievable look.
Moreover, it was rare to find people who could not use chopsticks to this day.
"Ja-Japanese?" Heero now got even more confused.
What was the relationship between the Japanese and him? As he learned Japanese, he knew Butcher Wang was mistaking him as a Japanese person, but he was not.
"You are not Japanese?" Butcher Wang frowned.
He thought Heero was Japanese with the clothes Heero currently had with him. It was similar to Kimono, but there was indeed a difference between the Kimono and the clothes Heero wore. However, the clothes were indeed similar to Kimono.
"No, I am not! I am not Japanese; I came from outside! Before coming here, I lived in a mountain with my Master and usually, I ate with my bare hands. This is the first time I am seeing chopsticks!"
Heero poured truthfully. He was indeed living at the mountain, Nebraska Mountain. In Dramonia, whether it was Nebraska City or Morabaka City, Heero never encountered the thing called chopsticks. This was even the first time Heero ate the food called noodles.
"Living in a mountain?!"
Han Ying and Butcher Wang were surprised. If it was before the disaster, Butcher Wang would have found it normal for people to live in the mountain. If it was now, it was rather unbelievable. Now mountain became a nest for the mutated beast, how could someone be living in the mountain?
Furthermore, the mutated beasts that resided in the mountain were usually fiercer than the mutated beast on land. Butcher Wang often went out to hunt, he was clear about the situation outside.
However, Butcher Wang also found Heero seemed to be not lying.
"Big Brother, if you can't use chopsticks, you can also use a fork. It's easier!" Lan Lan handed a fork to Heero.
Lan Lan's words snapped Butcher Wang out of his thoughts. Now Butcher Wang is somewhat suspicious toward Heero.
Heero did not care. He received the fork and dipped it inside his bow and fished some noodles out. Finally, Heero managed to scope the noodles out of the bowl.
He bowed his head and put the noodles into his mouth.
Slurp~
Nyam! Nyam! Nyam!
Gulp!
"Delicious!" Heero let out an exclamation which made Han Ying smile. Witnessing the food, she made could make the person who ate it happy was a kind of bliss for her.
Heero was more like a child who had his meal. He kept slurping the noodles with a fork and scoped out the muddy water with the spoon. Heero devoured the noodles in less than a minute.
The noodles were gone as he already slurped them into his belly and was only left with the muddy water. He picked up the bowl to his mouth and emptied it.
"Ahhhhh!" Heero let out a satisfied exclamation.
Han Ying, Butcher Wang, and Lan Lan were staring at Heero in a daze. Heero devoured the food it was as if he had not eaten for many days.
Looking at the empty bowl, Heero began eyeing the other bowls with noodles. A bowl of noodles was too little for Heero, but he was embarrassed to ask more. He did not have money with him and he also found Han Ying was also having a hard time with her shop.
Lan Lan found Heero was eyeing her bowl. She immediately held her bowl and began eating her portion.
"You can eat mine! I already have my lunch at home!" Butcher Wang kindly offered his portion to Heero, but Heero shook his head.
"It's okay, I have enough!" Heero was embarrassed to take Butcher Wang's portion.
'You have enough, but you are eyeing my daughter's noodles, '
Though Heero was looking at Lan Lan eating her noodles he was not looking for the noodles, he was looking at how Lan Lan used the chopsticks.
After a while, Heero nodded his head and picked the chopsticks beside his bowl. He copied how Lan Lan used the chopsticks. Putting the chopsticks between his finger and imagined there were noodles in his bowl.
"I see…" Heero muttered as he finally understood how to use chopsticks. It was a pity though his bowl was empty, he could not practice what he just learned with an empty bowl.
Tak!
Then, a bowl filled with noodles was placed beside his empty bowl. Heero was surprised and looked up.
Han Ying smiled gently and said, "There's leftover, you can have another bowl."
Heero's eyes shone. He picked the chopsticks and put into practice what he just learned.
Slurp!
Slurp!
The noodles shop was filled with the slurping noise as Heero devoured another bowl of noodles.
…
"So, what will you do next?"
After everyone finished their noodles, Butcher Wang got to the main topic.
"Working!" Heero replied instantly
And got another bowl of noodles when I had my pay. Of course, he did not say this aloud.
"Ah…" Heero let out an exclamation as he remembered something.
"Tomorrow, I have to go to work, but they said I have to come before 7 AM. Can't tell what 7 AM mean?"
Heero knew 7 AM was a time, but he did not know when 7 AM was. Morning, Noon, or night, he did not know the exact time of 7 AM.
Hearing Heero's question, Han Ying and Butcher had a dumbfounded look on their face. Especially, Butcher Wang. Not only the young man before him did not know how to use chopsticks, but he also did not know about the clock.
A wild thought appeared in Butcher Wang's mind.
'Don't tell me this kid really lived at the mountain before?'