Chapter 7 - Tense
"Hold on," Lei said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That's not right."
"What's not right, Lei Lei?" Little Mei said.
"Look at his eyes," Little Chao muttered. "They are glowing."
"He's really the Heavenly Cook, I told you!" Snake swept them with an excited gaze, then turned to Lei and bowed deeply. "You must feel exhausted after cooking those miraculous dishes, Big Brother Lei. Why don't you rest here? We can go clean your house if you want."
"My house? Ah, yes…" Lei said as he stared at the other children. A shiver ran down his spine when he checked them one by one.
[Yuan Mei: Mortal, 1st Step of Body Tempering Stage.]
[Zhong Chao: Mortal, 1st Step of Body Tempering Stage.]
[Haou Bolin: Mortal.]
…
…
He breathed a sigh of relief when it became clear that not all of them had become cultivators overnight. Only Little Mei, Little Chao, and Snake had stepped into the ranks of the Body Tempering Stage, but they didn't look different.
Most of them are still mortals… But what about these three? How did they become cultivators with just a simple dish?
It wasn't quite clear to him how many minor circles he'd completed before blacking out, but he reckoned it must be around three or four. So he couldn't be considered a real cultivator, not before he'd managed to complete nine minor circles.
Something about the roots, perhaps? Maybe unlike me, these kids have a real talent for cultivation.
That sounded like a sensible explanation. Some medicinal pills worked in a similar fashion, after all. Once eaten, they dissolved into waves of Qi that slowly expanded one's meridians, basically working as a replacement for the Qi that'd normally be absorbed through simple meditation.
"Did you all try that fried rice?" Lei asked. If there was one thing he'd learned from the last night's episode, it was that his fried rice was leaps and bounds above that normal enhanced rice in spirituality.
"Mm!" Little Mei nodded as she scratched the black cat's fur with her nails. "It was delicious! We all tried it!"
Then it's not the fried rice alone. These three are really something else.
"Do you feel any difference?" Lei asked. He didn't know what he should do in this situation. He was by no means an expert on the topic of cultivation and certainly didn't have the experience to guide these little devils toward the right path.
But let alone answering him, they didn't even seem to know they'd become more than mere mortals after eating those dishes. Granted, the Body Tempering Stage wasn't a stage that turned simple human beings into mountain-punching, river-crushing forces of nature, but it did boost one's psychical abilities.
"Snake, lift that rock for me," Lei said, pointing at a rock that was thrice the size of a normal brick. It must've weighed at least thirty or forty pounds. Nothing too crazy, but a twelve-year-old kid should find it hard to lift such a rock.
"Rock?" Snake raised an eyebrow at him. "I can easily lift it, but what will I get in return? If you let me eat more of those dishes, then I can lift all the rocks here!"
"Fine." Lei nodded, waving his words off.
There was an almost crazed glint about his eyes as Snake stepped near the rock, and tapped a finger on it.
Is this the first sign of a would-be cultivation maniac? Am I witnessing a rare genius?
Lei chuckled at the thought. This whole thing was so ridiculous that a part of him still thought he was in the middle of a bad trip. Overdosing on spiritual energy couldn't have been as simple a matter as dozing off.
But when Snake raised the rock with two hands, barely straining, smiling up at him as though he'd lifted a nail-sized pebble, Lei understood that everything was way too real.
"That's nothing!" Little Chao said, staring him down. He huffed and puffed his way through the ruins of the house, found a bigger rock, dusted off its surface in the manner of a true weightlifter, and hauled the damned thing. "See?" he said, his smile straining behind the big rock. "I can do it better!"
The two released the rocks, and they thumped on the ground, rolling sideways, sending little clouds of dust up the walls.
"Were you two…" Lei said, gulping nervously. "Always this strong?"
Little Chao and Snake exchanged glances before shrugging. Snake then gave him a confident shake of his head. "I've never tried to lift a rock this big, Big Brother Lei. But can't say I'm surprised."
"I've tried once," Little Chao said, eyes down at that big rock. "But it is my first time succeeding."
Lei nodded. This sudden increase in their strength wasn't anything groundbreaking but was expected from a first-step Body Tempering Stage cultivator. At the ninth step, cultivators could lift four to five hundred pounds with ease, the amount changing depending on the manuals and practices they'd use in the process.
What am I going to do with these brats?
He sighed out a long breath.
There is the annual assessment of the Empire's Own, but that's still months away and only happens in big cities like Lanzhou.
Every year the Eastern Chu Empire sent its guards and officers to the big cities to unearth the potential of the masses. The few children who had been blessed with talent and opportunity would get recruited either into the Empire's Own, academies, or righteous sects.
But those spots were usually reserved for the children of the high-born folk and prominent figures of the cities. Lei didn't know if he could slip these little devils into the mix.
His head throbbed with a budding headache as he considered all the possibilities. Though he didn't want to admit it, there was nothing he could do right now. He lacked the means and money to even find a house for these children, let alone sketching a real future for them.
"I'll try to think of something," he muttered, more to himself than to the children. The only thing he could rely on was the system, and for that, he needed more spiritual ingredients.
He turned and regarded each kid with a heavy gaze.
"You don't worry yourself about us, Big Brother Lei," said Snake, his chin high. "You can count on me!"
Lei gave him a strict nod. "Take care of yourselves, and stay away from trouble while I think this through."
Then he trudged back to his house.
…..
Just when Lei stepped inside the house, a strong hand grabbed him by the collar, yanked him closer, and flattened his back on the cold wall, an elbow pressing tight into his chest. "Who are you?!" Fatty Lou growled, his eyes burning with cold fury.
"W-What are you doing?" Lei said, caught backhanded against the sudden assault, flailing against the strong hold. "Put me down!"
Fatty Lou swept him a fierce gaze and stepped back, but didn't lower his hand as though he was ready to strike at any moment. The fat under his chin wriggled impatiently as he regarded Lei with blatant suspicion.
"Are you insane?" Lei said as he shook his head to gather himself. He already had enough shit to deal with, and now this fatty was trying to kill him.
"When we first met, what was the first thing I'd told you?" Fatty Lou frowned at him.
"What did—"
"Answer me!" Fatty Lou raised his hand, glaring out into his eyes. "What did I tell you the first time we met?"
"Y-You've told me that I've not enough meat in my bones!" Lei sputtered, the man's eyes almost drilling painful holes around his body.
All the tension left Fatty Lou as he breathed a long sigh. "Good. You're really you, then. For a second I'd feared some demonic bastard seized your soul." Then he turned to the empty plates. "Now, can you tell me how in the heavens did you cook something like that?"
"That's the thing I wanted to show you," Lei said, rubbing his neck. He'd figured showing Fatty Lou would be the easiest and most effective way for him to understand, but seemed he hadn't thought it through.
Should've known I'd get a strong reaction. It's not like the place has dozens of chefs cooking spiritual dishes.
"I thought I was going to die," Fatty Lou said, wincing a step back and leaning to the table, his face easing into a questioning frown. "Five minor-circles… Do you know what that means?"
"I know—"
"Five fucking circles, Brother Lei!" Fatty Lou said. "Four more, then I would've stepped into the ranks of the Body Tempering Stage cultivators. I've spent years trying to sense the Qi around me, but I have never been able to get a single whiff of it! Then suddenly, you tell me you've something to say, then fry some rice that happens to be packed with all the fucking Qi in the world! How's that possible?"
"You have to trust me on this one," Lei said, scratching the back of his neck. The system and its screens were as alien as phones and planes for these people. Hell, even he didn't know what to make of it.
"Where and how… These questions are not important," Lei said. There was no point talking about the reasons where the result was what really mattered. "This gift of mine can do that… I mean, can influence the spiritual ingredients used in a dish. If we can find more—"
"So that's what happened the other day when you'd clutched your chest and crushed down at the stall?" Fatty Lou asked. "That's when this… boon of yours appeared." He snapped his fingers. "Just like that, eh?"
"More or less," Lei said and smiled slightly. "I think I've been struck with a sudden enlightenment. You know like those legends that have all the lights and a far-away voice of some higher being, whispering the grand truth into one's ears."
On some level, this was exactly what happened to him. Though he knew he'd get something after completing that first mission, it'd still been way beyond his wildest dreams.
"That makes sense," Fatty Lou mumbled as he started pacing around the room. "You must've been blessed by Heavens in some shape or form. I've heard such things happen to people. What did they call it? A fortuitous encounter, was it?"
Yes, that's true. This is a damned xianxia world, after all.
"Exactly!" Lei pressed right away. "Must be something like that. We can use this, Brother Lou! We just need to find a way to get more spiritual ingredients, that's all."
Fatty Lou shook his head, "You heard Uncle Zhang. Those people won't sell their precious spirit rice to us. Even if they agreed to sell, we don't have the money for it."
"If you can convince Master Li to give us a loan, then…"
"Forget it. That old man's stubborn as a goat. He won't give a single coin to us, that stingy bastard. If we're going to do this, we'll do it on our own."
A tense silence followed their conversation. Lei racked his brains for possible solutions, but the ones he thought of were mostly about money or might. With enough money, they could venture deep inside the Empire, perhaps to an Immortal City where everything was more or less spiritual in origin.
But even if they could somehow make the journey without encountering monstrous beasts or stray cultivators, such a venture would cost them dozens of Imperial gold.
I've never seen a golden coin in my new life.
The same was true for the Alchemists' Guild. In theory, everyone could buy a medicinal pill from the Empire's Alchemists' Guild. The former Emperor himself had declared some years ago that the Eastern Chu Empire shall provide all its people the means to buy and trade such important sources.
Though he'd probably done that to prevent the monopoly of certain cultivation clans and sects.
That didn't mean the pills would be cheap, however. They were, in all things considered, heavenly treasures in the eyes of the mortal folk, things that they couldn't hope to ever buy even if they spent their lifetime earnings. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but a single Body Tempering Pill cost about three imperial gold. Considering Lei earned about thirty to fifty copper coins in a good day, he would have to work for weeks to even afford a single pill, as the value of an imperial gold coin was about a thousand copper coins.
And this was on the account that such pills would be available in the Alchemists' Guild, as they were often reserved for people with deep pockets and deeper connections in the right places.
On the other hand, if they could find enough ingredients to boost their cultivation to the Body Tempering Stage, then they could go straight inside the Adventurer's Guild and become adventurers.
There were all sorts of missions in the guild that didn't involve a dangerous fight, or a life-or-dead battle against the monstrous beasts, as even city folk could put up their own missions with providing proper rewards.
Hold on...
Lei glanced at Fatty Lou. "What if we post missions in the Adventurer's Guild?"
"Missions? What sort of a reward— Wait!" Fatty Lou's eyes glinted. "Don't tell me you're thinking of giving a spiritual dish as a reward?"
Lei nodded smugly. "That's some generous reward if you'd asked me. We let the bastards do all that hard work, gathering the ingredients for us, and then we'll give them a portion as a reward."
"Ingredients…" Fatty Lou frowned in thought. "It's a good plan, but I don't think they'd find any spirit rice growing in a forest. And how does one cultivate spirit rice, anyway? What, you just blow your breath into the seeds, or spit on them?"
"It doesn't have to be rice, anything spiritual would do the job just fine," Lei said, scratching his chin. "I mean, I can even work with some spiritual weed. Nothing too crazy, just simple weed with an extra touch of the Heavens. You think they don't have those?"
Fatty Lou shrugged. "Yeah, no… I'm sure there are plenty of spiritual things in the Darkloom Forest for people mad enough to brave its dangers. But still, we must keep your boon a secret if we don't want some bastard to know how spiritual your dishes can get."
"You're right. We need a middleman that'll post the missions for us," Lei said, staring at Fatty Lou.
When his brother-in-arms didn't take the hint, the strange eye contest stretched for a couple of seconds before, finally, Fatty Lou jerked a thumb back at his chest.
"You want me to be the middleman?" Fatty Lou's eyes were wide as saucers. "You know I'm a rather famous butcher around this part of the town, right? You can ask all those ladies. They often say I give the strongest impressions if you know what I mean."
Lei almost rolled his eyes at that. "I didn't mean you. Just find someone. You've enough shady friends in the town, no? Fetch one of those. Tell them we'll pay in coppers."
"Yeah, right…" Fatty Lou scratched the back of his neck before nodding. "Give me some time to think. I'll pay a visit to your stall tomorrow, then we'll talk about the details."
With that, Lei sent him off and threw himself over to the bed. He'd fallen asleep after getting high on spiritual energy but didn't feel rested at all, and he had to be in good shape if he wanted to keep grinding the system with his dishes.
Chapter 8 - Honest Work
The sun beamed through the clouds, and it seemed brighter today than it ever was as people sauntered about the Eastern Square. Each one had their own story, regrets, and plans, but the only stories worth lending an ear to, Lei was thinking, belonged to the ones who had the courtesy to grant him a coin or two on this bloody hot day.
He worked with brutal efficiency, hardly breathing, hardly aware of the noises that surrounded him. He let the coins pile in the corner as he delivered one bread after another, flashing that half-smile that had long since become a natural thing for him after all the years he'd spent keeping a front against faces he'd cared little to remember.
But behind that front wasn't the usual fury or the cold emptiness gnawing at his heart, but rather some warmth, and a good deal of nervous excitement that kept him away from focusing too much beyond the reach of his hands.
Fatty Lou had visited him earlier today and told him that he'd bring a guy who they could trust the mission with after sundown. They were to meet at Swirling Frog, for Fatty Lou thought making the deal in a crowded place would let them keep away from curious eyes.
Not like we're starting a drug business. Some honest work, that's all.
But so long the matter went smoothly, Lei didn't mind meeting at a teahouse or a dark shed by the lake. Though he must say, the tea here was rather strong and had a nasty kick about it. Perhaps that old, mute guy added more than just leaves to the pot before serving it to his regulars.
"Six coppers, Sir," Lei said as he smiled up at a wrinkled old man, who gave him a cash coin with the word 'one' engraved upon it. The man fumbled with the coin, seemed embarrassed for a second, and fished for some time in the depths of his pocket before flashing an additional glinting, five cash piece with a trembling hand.
Lei gave him a single copper after taking the five-copper coin, and a portion from the freshly cooked menemen, smoke curling beautifully over it.
Now that they were taking the matter of cultivation seriously, he'd become painfully aware of how lacking his little stall business was. The whole morning had gone without him gaining a single tier or a level in the [Essence Enchanhement] skill, and the coin pile started looking awfully short in height even though it was growing at each passing minute.
Three handfuls of spirit rice had cost them about one hundred fifty coppers. That was half the average wage of the masons and the carpenters in the city. The lucky few who owned their craft could make between five to six hundred in a month, but that sum depended highly on the Governor's Office's unreliable tax practices.
When Lei rented this little stall for the flat sum of fifty coppers for a single month, Master Li, Fatty Lou's Father, had told him that rent would be the least of his worries should he keep this practice In the long run.
And it was true, kind of. While the fifty-coppers rent was not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, the flat %20 tax part was rather cruel to Lei's thinking. He didn't know who'd been the genius behind this flat income tax idea, but he certainly hadn't the best interest of the normal folk while coming up with it. To make matters worse, the Governor's Office could jerk this rate up to %40 should they see a need for it.
At least there's no VAT or something like that.
Just then, a cold sensation pricked Lei's skin. Felt like a mother's touch to him now that he knew what was really causing it. A look around the scattered crowd told him that the business hadn't been the same as when Fatty Lou worked his magic the other day, but he still had about a dozen people chewing on the loaves round the square.
"I'll be taking a little break," he said when another man came up to the stall, who gave him a nod before trudging away. Lei stepped back and sat on the ground, bracing himself for the pain that could come poking through his chest at any moment now.
Eh?
Seconds crawled past, but the pain didn't come. In fact, he felt better than ever before, probably because of the little breather he took from the constant cooking and sweating.
The strange thing was, he could still feel the cold sensation. So there had to be something causing it. He used the Yellow Maiden's Eyes to take a glance around him, and then saw, much to his surprise, a flash of light coming off from the ladle that rested by the wok.
Your [Common Ladle: Poor Quality] has been upgraded to [Spiritual Ladle: Mortal-rank, low-grade - Poor Quality.]
What?
Lei sprung forward, heart thumping in his chest, and took the ladle in hand. He turned and twisted the worn metal. At first, he couldn't see anything different about it, but then slowly felt that cold sensation trickling down from the ladle to his fingers, making them itch.
A spiritual tool? Are you serious?
He gave it a swing. It whistled through the air, producing a ringing sound. His fingers hurt from how hard he had to clench them around the handle just to stop the ladle from slipping out through his hold. He didn't want to bloody his hands after a good morning run, not with a ladle, at least.
Lei stepped back and slammed the ladle down on the stall, which made the poor wooden logs groan and creak under its weight. A web of cracks spread from the curving edge of the damned thing, nearly breaking his lifeline in two and leaving him jobless.
As usual, the system barely provided any information about his new tool. Mortal-rank, sure, low-grade, yeah, that was some help alright. Thankfully, his soul brother's education at the Liang Clan had come with basic knowledge about spiritual tools.
A Mortal-rank, low-grade spiritual tool was barely worth anything in the eyes of most cultivators. An average sect disciple could get a Mortal-rank, middle-grade tool as a welcome present from whatever sect they decided to join.
But it was still a spiritual tool, and anything spiritual was better than decisively mortal in Lei's eyes. For a second he wondered if this would be how he'd rise to new heights. A ladle-swinging, soul-cooking chef who would defy the already twisted common sense of this world.
That made him laugh right before it dawned on him the real implications of this function. This could mean that in time, and with great care, he could produce heavenly ladles and immortal woks with which he could truly ascend higher into the heavens to become one of the old monsters he'd often read in those novels.
I'm getting ahead of myself.
He shook his head as he kept pondering on the matter.
It didn't slip past his notice that this upgraded tool was the same ladle he'd used cooking that Spirited Fried Rice the other day. So it was either charmed by the spirituality brimmed inside that glorious dish or suddenly struck with enlightenment that it could, by all means, transform into a better version of itself by simply willing it.
When Lei stared intently at the ladle, he didn't see anything quite resembling a will about it. It was a ladle through and through.
So it was because of that dish.
A strange thought popped into his mind. What if he cooked those spiritual dishes with a sword? Would it become a spiritual weapon that could hack through cultivators and monstrous beasts like a real treasure? If so, then it meant he could be a rich man far quicker than he'd thought.
But I'm a chef. I don't think this system would have such a glaring loophole.
Though it was stingy in its explanations, Lei never taught it as a broken thing he could take advantage of. Still, he made a mental note to try a sword when he'd have the chance.
There's no harm in trying, right? Trial and error, simple as that.
Straining to lift the ladle, which had become heavier like a twenty-pound rock, Lei cooked the last batch of menemen before calling it a day. The afternoon sun slowly eased back to the west, its crimson light bouncing off of the coin pile that rested on the stall.
Lei secured his tools and put the ladle under the counter before counting the coppers one by one. His right eye twitched when the total came up with a grand sum of forty-eight coppers.
Not bad, I guess. But it's time I take advantage of the drunk crowds of the night. It's getting too hot for me to work my ass off for the whole morning.
For that, though, he needed a new recipe. He'd chosen menemen because of its low cost. It was also a touch familiar in taste for these ancient folk. Lei found that cooking completely alien food was a wasted effort, as these people weren't that open to trying new things.
On the other hand, he wasn't planning to go with the usual noodles or fried seafood like most of his competetion often sold. He didn't want to lose his edge, but he had to take account of the cost before coming up with a new dish.
Something with meat, maybe? The last time I'd checked the prices weren't that bad.
Locking the stall, Lei wiped his face with a towel and stared up at the sky. He had a good hour or two before the meeting with Fatty Lou and his shady friend, enough time for him to do a little market search.
He gave a last look over the shoulder to the stall. Somehow he didn't feel right leaving the ladle in there. It was a spiritual tool, after all, even though it didn't look like it.
I'll take you with me after the meeting.
....
There were many things these ancient folk lacked. Refrigerators, your everyday tools, even a simple sink and a flush. In the month he spent here Lei came to greatly miss those things he took for granted back on Earth. Even finding a soap could be a hurdle sometimes.
But if there was one thing this ancient world had over modern times, it was the quality of basic ingredients. Everything was too organic to the point that you could almost taste the hard effort behind these ingredients which were cultivated by great care and honest sweat.
That was why he found solace in the East Market. This was his heaven on earth, a place that displayed the simplicity and authenticity of this ancient world. There were no packed foods, or fluorescent lights that drilled into his soul, nor there were the tired, lifeless faces of people who hated every second they wasted in some giant building that lacked any warmth.
As Lei strolled from between the stalls that stretched across the market, he couldn't help the wide smile creasing his lips. Tomatoes flashed red and green from under the thin veils, beckoning him for a taste. Beside them stood eggplants, peppers, bok choys, and broccolis, painting the stalls with a cacophony of colors.
Hard faces would turn mellow whenever people inched a step closer to one of these stalls, often followed by the gentle voice of a farmer asking them if they would be interested in trying one of the ripe melons that they'd cut open, displaying the gorgeous play of colors between red and green.
A single piece from that juicy wonderfulness would be enough to hook most of the customers into a heated bargain where they didn't stand a chance against these grizzly workers. More often than not these customers would leave the stall with sacks filled with melons, eggplants, and peppers, even though they'd just come for a jin of tomatoes.
But when they saw Lei, those faces creased further, wary eyes staring at him as though he were a thief with the deftest of hands in this part of the city. They had learned better to give him a piece or two after Lei filled his sacks without paying a dime.
He didn't mind it. In fact, he respected their attention to detail, as it wasn't easy to remember a face when there were dozens of people crowding the place every day.
Soon the fresh air gave way to the heavy stench of the animals as Lei rounded a corner. Ahead, the butcher shops came into view. The sounds of bleating goats, clucking chickens, and the occasional low of cattle dinned inside his ears, accompanied by the sharp clinks of knives on chopping boards and the rhythmic thud of cleavers splitting bone.
Lei approached a familiar butcher's stall, run by a burly man named Hu Liwei. His pate shone under the crimson lights of the setting sun as he chopped a chicken with a deft hand, barely blinking as he readied the cuts.
"Master Liwei, good day," Lei said as he smiled at the man. He'd stared around, but couldn't see Fatty Lou.
"Oh?" Master Liwei gave him a side-eyed glance, his mouth twitching. "Little Lei, so it was you? Your bastard of a friend isn't here if you're looking for him. Said something about a friend or a business, can't remember. If you ask me, he must be out chasing some young ladies."
Lei chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm actually here to buy some meat. I'm thinking of a new recipe."
Master Liwei's expression softened as he set aside the chicken and reached for a sizable lamb leg hanging from a hook. "Good, good! What about some lamb? Freshest one we've got."
"I can work with lamb." Lei nodded as he took out his coin pouch. "How much for that leg?"
"Fifty coppers would be more than enough," Master Liwei said with a strained smile.
"Just for a leg?" Lei was taken aback. "The last week it was about thirty, no?"
"Courtesy of our Governor." Master Liwei scowled down at the lamb leg. "They've been devouring lambs and cattle over there for the last week. Don't know who's been visiting, but it can't be a nobody, tell you that much. I'm thinking some officer of the court."
Is it related to the cultivator attack? Perhaps the capital did send a relief package.
If so, there was not much he could do. The lamb was expensive, but it'd sell for more by that logic.
"Alright, I'll take four," Lei said, then raised a hand. "But I need lean cuts, no thicker than a finger. Leave the fat, and save me the bones, will you? I'll take them tomorrow morning if it's fine with you."
"As you wish," Master Liwei said and flourished his cleaver. Unlike Fatty Lou, who seemed he'd have horses chasing him whenever he worked here, Master Liwei was careful, and slow in his art.
"What about this new recipe?" Master Liwei asked just as Lei was about to leave.
Lei smiled over his shoulder. "Something from far away. A dish from my mother's side."
"Oh?" Master Liwei raised an eyebrow at him. "What's it called?"
"It has a different name depending on the region, but our folks used to call it doner kebab."
Chapter 9 - Deal
After securing four fine lamb legs, Lei made his way toward Swirling Fog as the sun slowly gave way to the glinting stars.
The streets were packed with hundreds of people, most out to drink their worries away. Now that he thought about it, it was a touch odd to spend a night in a teahouse when you could savor the wines and the beer of the local taverns. But he was a good two hundred coppers lighter after buying those legs and was left with just about a hundred or two coppers to his name.
I'm not in the mood for drinking, anyway.
Past the Eastern Square, Swirling Fog was as lively as usual. It wasn't hard to spot Fatty Lou, who was busy talking with a lean, tall man who had a mean scowl on his face. The scar that ran from under his right eye all the way down to the side of his mouth was interesting, but not unexpected, of course.
Lei greeted Master Feng with a nod before easing onto one of the stools and laying a hand over the table.
"A good night, isn't it?" he asked, staring Scarface up and down. "I'm Liang Lei, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Long He," the man said, his dark eyes glinting with interest as he glanced at him. "You must be the cook, eh? The spiritual chef, is it? You did not strike me as a man who has one leg deep into the spiritual side of things, to be honest. You know, cultivators are often cracked people. Something about the energy, I've heard, that makes them mad."
A strong first impression.
Lei smiled as he leaned closer to him. "Straight to the point. I like it. So you know your business round cultivators, then?"
Long He nodded. "I've been a retainer once. That was some experience. He was a bastard, that cultivator was, but the pay was good, and I'd often spend days without seeing him. He holed into a cave by the Darkloom Forest, for closed-door meditation, I was told. But as I've gathered you've not sought me out for anything like that, yes?"
Lei turned to Fatty Lou who had a wide smile on his face. "I see that you haven't told our friend about the plans."
"I've told him, but he didn't believe it." Fatty Lou clapped Long He on the back, pulling him closer, and making the man wince. "But whether he believes it or not isn't important. He'll get paid, and will do the deed for us."
"Is he now?" Lei regarded the man's qualifications with a frown. His robe looked clean, and other than that nasty scar there didn't seem anything shady about him. "So tell me, Brother He, have you done anything other than being a retainer to some cultivator that you want to speak of? I'm sure you can understand that we don't want to get too much attention."
Long He lifted his chin and gave him a confident look. "My brother works in the Adventurers' Guild as a scribe. If you want someone to trust, then I'm your best pick around this part of the town."
Fatty Lou was chuckling at the side.
Why bother speaking when you have a damned scribe in the guild?
"Well, that certainly makes it easy for us," Lei said, a little more relaxed now. "Then let us talk about the missions. You must be quite knowledgeable about this stuff if you have a brother working in the guild."
"You want spiritual ingredients," Long He said.
Lei nodded. "Yes. Plants, vegetables, rice, you name it. Anything with spiritual energy will do for us."
"Brother Lou here told me the rewards for these missions would be paid in dishes, is that correct?" Long He asked doubtfully. "Don't blame me for asking, but I've never seen anything like that before. Things can get… troublesome if your dishes won't satisfy the cultivators. The Adventurers' Guild doesn't take kindly when people try to do something stupid."
"Don't worry, my stuff is the real deal, but we don't want people asking questions after eating them," Lei said. This was the crucial point. If word got around that he could cook dishes that had more or less the same effect as medicinal pills, then it wouldn't be just people who were too eager to become cultivators who'd come seeking him.
Long He raised an eyebrow. "Say you can truly cook spiritual dishes, then it's bound to get a great deal of questions from the cultivators who'd be eating them. The only thing we can do, as we've talked, is to keep your name out of this."
"What about you, though?" Lei asked, staring him down. "Any cultivator can fork up the knowledge out of you, don't you think?"
"My brother is right," Fatty Lou chimed in, his hold around Long He's shoulder tightening. "You've not much meat to your bones, Brother He. Even I can mess your face up."
Long He trembled like a mouse stuck between two cats. Then he stared at them both strangely. "What's the deal with you two? I understand that you want to be careful, but it's not like this city has hundreds of cultivators ready to kill you for just some spiritual dish. I mean, is it even real? Don't get me wrong, but I don't want to waste my time—"
"Oh, it's real." Fatty Lou's fingers dug deep into his shoulder. "The realist shit I've ever eaten, mark my words."
"You have to be careful about these things." Lei sighed. His knowledge about xianxia worlds suggested that there was always the risk of some demonic bastard seeking a chance to mess with people's lives. He was no genius, but he knew how valuable the system's gifts were.
Long He's face twisted up in fear, but he gave them a nod. "Don't worry. I can let my brother post the missions. Nobody will mess up with him, trust me."
"No," Lei said, fingers of his right hand crackling as he clenched them. "You're going to do it, and you won't tell anyone about our little deal, right, Brother Lou?"
Fatty Lou flicked a finger up Long He's face, which made him nearly tumble back on his ass. He barely corrected himself before Fatty Lou closed in on him, smiling wickedly. "You're damned right."
Lei knew they had the man on the hook now. They were just missing a single piece before they closed all the gaps. He raised a finger at him. "If you do a good enough job, who knows, maybe you can get to taste my spiritual dishes. They say even a talentless fool can become a fully fledged cultivator once they'd eaten it."
"Really?" Long He's eyes jerked wide open, a greedy glint flashing behind them. He cleared his throat and tried to gather himself. "I mean, good. As I've said, you can trust me."
"It's a deal then." Fatty Lou slammed a hand on the table, which made the pot and the cups shake and rose to his feet. "You're to start immediately. We don't have a second to waste, Brother He."
"Y-You can count on me, Brother Lou!" Long He floundered up his feet, bowed deeply, and scuttled away from the table. A moment after he stopped, turned back, and waved stupidly at Lei. "It was a pleasure meeting with you, Brother Lei."
"Mm." Lei didn't bother to wave him off.
After the man vanished into the crowd, they exchanged a look with Fatty Lou before bursting into laughter. It would be a lie if Lei said he hadn't enjoyed bullying the man.
"Did you see him go?" Fatty Lou snickered. "He's a fool, but an honest one, don't worry. And that scar… He'd fallen off a rooftop back when we were young, and some lantern hook caught him bad. He'd made good use of that, though, I must admit."
"Gives you an edge, no doubt," Lei said and sipped from the tea before frowning in thought. "You think it'll really work?"
Fatty Lou looked confident. "He's not wrong, you know. Jiangzhen doesn't have many cultivators in the first place, and those who had the fortune to become cultivators mostly work for the Governor's Office. We have to thank the Empire for that one."
"Wait, why?" Lei asked.
"There's a law that forbids the cultivator clans from residing in cities that have under a hundred thousand people. It makes you feel fortunate after seeing how things get nasty in places like Lanzhou. There must be over a hundred cultivator clans in that place."
That, I know. I was from one of those clans, you see.
"I don't know about Lanzhou, but Jiangzhen can't be considered the safest place either. People seem to forget, but it's been just a month after that cultivator attack. Nearly half the eastern part of the city had been razed to ground."
Fatty Lou's face darkened. "It's not that people forget, Brother Lei, they're just trying to carry on with their lives. If there's a person to blame, we should blame the governor for his lack of thought in this matter."
"I've never seen that man, but Master Li seems to hate him with passion. Is he that bad?"
"The worst," Fatty Lou said. "The bastard sees this city as his backyard. You know the saying that goes 'The walls have eyes', right? Well, that's him. He owns the walls and all the soil beneath our feet. Everybody knows how corrupted he is, but people fear change more."
Lei nodded. That was hardly anything new. The same was true even back on Earth, where people had all the information, but still chose the 'familiar' ones over the new guys.
Guess I can't blame them. All the old ones, the so-called pillars of the country, were once new faces people had high hopes for. What does it matter changing into a new bastard?
"Well, let's just hope he keeps the taxes this way," Lei said and gulped away the tea in his cup.
A second after Fatty Lou was staring at him, chewing on his lower lip as though he was hesitating to speak. Just as Lei was about to tell him to go on, the man breathed in deep and spilled the beans, "That boon of yours… Have you made any progress on that front?"
Lei smiled slightly. Seemed to his eyes that his brother was having some withdrawal symptoms. That wasn't surprising. It's not every day that you get high on spiritual energy, after all.
"If you're asking whether I can turn normal ingredients into spiritual ones, then no, nothing new on that side. We still need spiritual ingredients. But the other day I found out a curious thing."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah," Lei said, his smile growing wide. "Turns out those brats around the ruins had a real knack for cultivation. They'd licked my place clean after we passed out, and seems like three of the kids had stepped into the ranks of Body Tempering Stage experts."
Fatty Lou's eyes twitched, mouth gaping wide open as he stared at him. "W-What did you say?"
"I said that three of those kids had become cultivators," Lei said, then snapped his fingers. "Just like that."
"What in the eighteen hells…" Fatty Lou wiped the spit trickling out from the side of his mouth and poured himself some tea. He chugged one cup after another before finally gathering enough breath to speak, "This isn't fair."
"Nothing's fair in this world, Brother Lou." Lei shook his head. "But I guess karma is real. That's a good thing, right? They lost their parents but were blessed with talent. Makes you think if there's really some higher being watching us mortals from over the heavens."
"Some sick bastard, that's who he is."
"Can't argue with that," Lei said, drumming a finger on the table. "We have to do something. Can't let them live in the ruins anymore."
"I can go check the orphanage—"
"No, not the orphanage," Lei cut him instantly. That place already had dozens of children who suffered from the sudden attack. "I'm thinking of a new recipe for tomorrow night."
"A new recipe? Thought that menemen is doing good, no?"
"Well, it is good, but I think trying new things will help with my… gift," Lei said. It still felt odd talking about the system as it didn't feel real at times. "I bought some good lamb meat from Master Luwei before coming here."
"You bought what now?" Fatty Lou almost gasped. "Why didn't you tell me? At least I would've given you a discount—"
"You're always talking as if you own the place, but we both know Master Liuwi hates your guts," Lei said tiredly. "If it weren't for Master Li, he would've fired your ass long ago. So spare me that hurt look. I mean, do you even work there at all? Not that I complain, but you're always with me."
Fatty Lou shook his head, greatly disturbed by the mention of that butcher shop as always. "That place sucks your soul. It's different. Anyway, if he wants to fire me, he can do whatever the hell he wants. It's not like I need that job. We'll become real cultivators soon."
Soon, you say? Let's hope things go smoothly for us.
"Figure something out while I ready the dish tomorrow. The last time the thing with that heavenly master was really good, but I need a whole new campaign. I've paid two hundred coppers for those legs!"
Fatty Lou sucked in a sharp breath. "Two hundred coppers… Alright, let me see what can I do."
Lei nodded. It was good that they were on the right track with the spiritual ingredients, but to save those children from the ruins, and himself from that wrecked house, he'd be needing more than two hundred coppers. That was why he had to prepare a bunch of things tomorrow.
Chapter 10 - Time To Cook
The next day Lei sent Stone and Snake to fetch him the lamb cuts, and milk from the market, giving them some extra coin as he knew those little devils couldn't help themselves in a place full of food and candies. After that, he took Little Mei and a bunch of others for a short stroll around the ruins where he gathered enough wooden logs for his grand venture.
He could just cook the chops straight over on a grill, and that would be tasty enough. But taste alone, Lei found, wasn't enough to get the attention of the masses. He needed that extra touch, something flashy in Fatty Lou's words if he wanted to charge over ten coppers for half a bread.
It wasn't like him to try a big gambit like this. Back on Earth, he'd spent most of his life taking account of all the possibilities, thinking too deeply of what ifs and whatnots to the point that he hardly spent a dime on other than basic necessities. Even when he was out drinking with some friends, he'd always be thinking about the way back, the traffic, the crowds until he'd turn the whole night into its own hell.
Crashing into a building certainly clears one's mind. Makes you think about all those decisions, no doubt.
Now that he'd been blessed with a second chance, he had the mind to be a little more courageous than his old self. Take his chances rather than thinking too much about it, sort of.
That was the reason why rather than going with tacos and burritos, which would've saved him the trouble of laboring through the morning with these wooden planks, he opted for a dish that would easily get the attention of these ancient folk.
It was a big stick, after all, and it would be full of meat. Who would turn a blind eye to this marvel of the culinary field?
Not me. Feels like years since the last time I tried one of these.
He cut and shaped the wooden logs until he was satisfied with the result. He used a round piece as a base before fixing a spit on it which came near about his waist. Luckily, the kids found some metal parts around the ruins, though Lei was horrified when Little Mei easily bent those parts into square containers that would house the firewood with which the kebab would be cooked slowly.
It took all the morning, but Lei was more than proud of the final product. Sure, it could be a little cleaner and maybe he could've tried to find a real spit than this metal stick, but these were simpler times.
The noon sun was high in the heavens and sending streaks of bloody light down the ruins when Snake and Stone came with his orders and some more. Lei left them alone with the candies they'd bought from the market, which sparked an intense bout amongst the other kids, and took the meat cuts inside.
As always, Master Luwei didn't disappoint, as all the cuts were around one finger thick and not longer than his hand. He poured the milk into one of the big basins, adding pepper, salt, garlic, cumin, and a pinch of mint. The mixture slowly changed into a thickish, brown color. Once that was done, Lei then eased the fillets into the basin and left them to marinate over the noon.
On the side, he had his lemons and vinegar waiting for him.
He cracked an egg and slipped its yolk into a small bowl, whipping it up before adding a bit of lemon juice, some vinegar, and a pinch of salt.
"We didn't have enough money, okay? I promise I'll buy you some next time," came Snake's voice from the outside. Then the little brat chuckled. "Or you can always ask Big Brother Lei for more."
Just then Lei felt eyes on his back. A look at the bowl gave him an idea, so he gestured for Little Mei to come closer. She had that curious glint in her eyes as she watched him whipping the mixture.
"Little Mei, do you want to help me?" Lei asked with a smile.
Little Mei nodded vigorously as her eyes stayed glued to the bowl.
"Alright, keep whipping it while I add some oil. Don't stop unless I tell you, understood?" Lei stifled a laugh when the girl's face creased with absolute focus.
As Little Mei started working the mixture, Lei grabbed a bottle from the side, which was filled with a dark-golden-colored liquid that had a mild, nutty smell about it. Lei was rather doubtful if cottonseed oil would be a good fit for the mayonnaise, but it was the most neutral-tasting oil he'd managed the find.
Somebody has to come up with sunflower oil soon, or even olive oil. They have tomatoes, so there are clearly some differences from the real ancient times.
Sighing, Lei poured the oil into the mixture, nodding to Little Mei when she gave him a strange look. After a couple of minutes, the mixture got thick enough to dip a finger into it.
"Want to try?" Lei asked as Little Mei put the bowl on the table. She didn't seem that eager to try, so Lei tried it first. The texture was smooth and velvety, and it had an acidic kick to it.
It can use a little bit of mustard, but it's quite good for a simple recipe.
Little Mei shuffled impatiently as Lei savored the taste of mayonnaise, and finally couldn't help but dip a finger into the mix. She sucked on her finger for some time, then she scowled.
"Lei Lei, this thing is too strange!" she said, licking her lips. "I've never eaten anything like this before."
"Oh, is that so?" Lei smiled knowingly. "Back where I came from they loved this stuff. It's called mayo over there. We'll be saucing our breads up with it."
Little Mei nodded, then stared up at him. "Where did you come from, Lei Lei? You never tell us anything about yourself."
"Some place far away from here." Lei tousled her hair.
"Did they kill your parents, too?" Little Mei asked. "Is that why you have to come here?"
Lei blinked at her. His parents should be still alive, but there was no way of him knowing if it'd been really just a month after his death. For all he knew, there could be hundreds of years between his death and the reincarnation.
"I don't know," Lei said, shaking his head. He'd spent many sleepless nights thinking about them before finally accepting there was nothing he could do. On some level, he wasn't that different from the people of Jiangzhen. He was trying to carry on, to put up a brave front, but there were times it'd become a touch too hard to accept that he'd lost all the thirty years he'd spent back on Earth.
Perhaps one day I can go back.
"But at least we have each other now, right, Lei Lei?" Little Mei said, making Lei flinch when she patted him on the leg as though trying to console him.
Guess here's not too bad either.
...
Past afternoon, Lei finished stacking the fillets into the spit, slapping the sides to make sure they were packed tightly together. He slipped parts of the tail fat between the layers, and over on the spit, which would slowly melt with the heat, coating over the layers with delicious juice.
He covered the kebab with a cloth to keep away the flies and the bugs, and the children hopping around the house like curious bunnies. Lei assured them that they would get their fill, but that didn't seem to have done anything but make them more excited.
"Stone and Snake, come here," Lei said, pointing a finger to the platform. "You two will help me carry this stick to the square. The others will take the containers. I need all the hands with me tonight, understood?"
After a nod from his little team, they started for the Eastern Square.
The metal platform and the firewood packed inside the containers could easily break a man's back, but while Lei was sweating like a dog under the setting sun, Stone and Snake seemed like they were having the time of their life.
"Why didn't you cook them right away?"
"Did you do something to the stick? Is that why you worked hard all the morning?"
"Isn't mixing milk with meat disgusting? Why would you do that?"
"Can't you cook it here? Do we really have to wait before we get to the square?"
Lei tried to blow some cold breath into his robe as he was assaulted by questions from all around. Some of them didn't even make sense, but taking a deep breath, he addressed them one by one, his voice calm and patient.
"Alright, listen up," the inner chef inside of him spoke with strength. "We didn't cook the kebab right away because we want all the customers to see the process of its cooking, and we want that delicious smell spreading around the square to get their attention."
"As for the milk," Lei continued, "We soaked the fillets in the spiced-up milk for maximum marinate penetration to make them more tender and give them some extra flavor. It's an important step, so if there's anyone amongst you who wants to be a chef like your Big Brother here, take your notes and pay heed to my words."
"And yes," Lei responded to the last question, "You will have to wait for your fill, because I've nearly spent all my money on this lamb, hoping it'll earn me enough to put a real roof over your heads. So be good when we're in the square, is that understood?"
They nodded to his words, but Lei knew it'd take just a minute or so before they forgot the real reason for this venture.
Well, you have to let kids be kids, right?
Sighing, Lei motioned for Stone and Snake to continue carrying the stick, while the others followed with the containers. Lei himself took another breath to gather his mind. Even though his arms strained with the effort, he felt a sense of satisfaction as the line of little cooks made their way to the Eastern Square.
Little cooks. I've been there once.
They trudged through the crowds, curious gazes trailing them. When they arrived at the square Lei was taken aback to see the stools and tables that'd been laid before his stall. He raised an eyebrow at a certain fatty who slumped over on a table, drops of sweat heavy on his brows, fanning himself with one hand. There was a sack full of bread near him.
"Looks like you've been busy, Brother Lou," Lei said with a grin as he approached.
Fatty Lou chuckled, wiping his brow with a sleeve. "You know how it is, brother. Gotta make sure everything's just right for the big night."
"That, you're right." Lei nodded and gestured to Snake and Stone to put the doner kebab near the stall. They then placed the wooden containers near the stick and sat around a table.
"You've called the heavyweights, eh?" Fatty Lou said as he stared at Stone and Snake with clear doubt. "Those little arms… I still can't believe it."
"I guess there is a good reason why people are willing to risk their lives to become a cultivator," Lei said.
"That's just bad business if you ask me." Fatty Lou shook his head. "Life isn't a race where there is a clear finish line. Better to give your days meaning than chase some far-away goal only to start the circle once again. For me, I don't want much. A little place by some Immortal City, wine, food, and enough women to spend the days. That's what I'm thinking."
Lei raised an eyebrow at him. "That's very wise of you, brother."
"I'm a wise man." Fatty Lou snickered, then shrugged. "Not often, though. We all have good and bad days, don't you think?"
"We do," Lei said, peering out into the people crowding the square. There were around a dozen or so stalls preparing for the night, and not all of them had friendly faces behind them. Lei could feel their questioning gazes on the back of his head. He turned to Fatty Lou. "I hope you've not wasted all your wisdom pondering on the grand puzzle that is life. We'll be needing some of that here tonight."
Fatty Lou snorted, "This Young Master here knows his business quite well, don't you worry. While you were cooking your dishes, I've been cooking a devious plan that'd grab these bastards by their balls. They won't know what hit them, trust me."
"Oh? Care to elaborate?"
"Snake, Stone, come here!" Fatty Lou snapped his head back at the kids and glared out into their eyes before winking at Lei. "I'll be taking these devils with me."
"Wait, what is the plan?"
"You'll see." Fatty Lou gave him a mysterious smile.
With that, he took the kids and vanished into the crowd, leaving Lei speechless and with a heap of questions clouding his mind. A look up at the heavens reminded him of the time, so he rose to his feet and took his place by the stall.
"Alright kids, it's time for some cooking!"
Chapter 11 - Genius
Lei shook his head after Fatty Lou. Though he didn't know anything about the plan, his brother-in-arms was as sharp as a razor when it came to marketing. His thick skin played a big role in that, no doubt honed by Master Li's biting remarks at anything he had ever done. The old man had the habit of cursing and screaming at people's faces when he wasn't busy with his bakery, and his son got the worst of it.
Alright, let's start.
He pulled the cloth covering the kebab and turned the stick using the meat cleaver Fatty Lou had put over on the counter. Lei's collection of knives was rather lacking in this venture, so he'd asked his brother to bring him one of those big, long knives.
Using the Yellow Maiden's Eyes, he checked the cleaver.
[Common Meat Cleaver: Good Quality]
Its edge, glinting sharp, was a testament to its quality. It didn't come as a surprise, as Fatty Lou hardly bothered visiting that butcher shop as of late, and Lei was grateful for that. He needed every help he could get.
He turned the spit so that it faced the crowd, allowing people to see the glorious meat chops, all spiced up and tightened round together. Taking a last look around the square, he kindled the firewood and waved a hand toward the kids.
"Form a circle," Lei said with a straight face as he counted the kids one by one. When they gathered behind the stall, he gave them a nod and leaned closer just like that time his Little Leauge coach tried to shove him some confidence even though he was barely more than a scarecrow against those pitches. But this time, he was the coach and the ace, and he had a team of misfits smiling impishly up at his face.
"Our game plan is simple," he started, heads down and eyes perked up at his words. "We have ten tables, and there are ten of you. Talk it out, and pick a table. For the whole night, you'll be responsible for that table and will deliver their orders. You know those waiters at the taverns? Tonight you'll be just like them. Smile and greet the customers with respect."
"Do we get to eat?"
"Can we eat the leftovers?"
"What if they say something bad?"
Lei sighed out a long breath. Most of these kids were around ten years old, thus a part of him felt strange using them as waiters. Surely this couldn't be seen as child labor, right? He was doing this for the kids, after all. Well, he was thinking of grinding the system too, but that didn't change the fact.
"We'll all eat before we start serving the customers, so don't worry about that," Lei said. At the last restaurant he'd worked they ate a family meal each day. It used to at least give him that much-needed break before all the chaos, so he was thinking of doing the same here. "And if they say something bad, you'll come to me and I'll deal with it. Don't ever try to argue with our customers."
That got him a joint nod from the team, with a questionable smirk and a wink in the mix. Desperate times, Lei reminded himself. However, this table and stool stuff wasn't originally included in his plan.
Why did Brother Lou bring all these here? I could've just gone the old-school way of lining the customers up before the stall.
But they did give the stall some semblance of a real restaurant, and it might just be the extra touch he needed to bring up the profit margins. Eleven coppers was the name of the game he'd decided, and he had more than six hundred coppers spinning round the spit right now.
He started working on the bread, cutting them into halves. Then they all got their fix of cabbage, tomatoes, salt and pepper, and finally a touch of mayo.
Just as he was busy turning the spit, a rough voice came from the back, "Liang Lei?"
Lei scowled as he turned toward the voice. The old man was wide on the shoulders, and wide on the belly too, his robe stretched as though it'd break at any moment. He had a clean face, a shining pate instead of full hair, and a cave of a mouth that most old men had around here.
"Old Wu," Lei greeted him with a half-assed smile. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Old Wu jerked a thump back at the stools and tables, face creasing into a frown. "You can't put those there."
"Oh, why is that?"
"We have rules here," Old Wu said, pointing at the other stalls around the square. "Nobody is allowed to put tables and stools before their places to keep the competition fair."
"Fair?" Lei almost rolled his eyes. "Funny you mention that when everyone knows you got your place from that son of yours for some ten coppers. Or was it five?"
Old Wu crossed his arms on his chest. "If you want to complain, you can always go visit Little Cao in the Governor's Office. He's a good lad, I can tell you that. But this isn't about me. You're blocking a good part of the square with those stools. Don't make me call the guards."
"Look, Old Wu, I know you don't like me," Lei said, reaching with one hand and clasping the man on the shoulder. "And that's alright, cause I don't like you either. But jabbing each other like this isn't going to turn your awful fish into something glorious that'd sell like hotcakes. Have you heard of a thing called seasoning? If not, then let me part with you some advice. One chef to another, what do you say?"
"You've no respect for your elders, you brat!" Old Wu's face twisted up in cold rage as he slapped Lei's arm that was tight around his shoulder. "You come here selling all those strange dishes, and now you want to lecture this old man? There are rules in this place!"
"What rules?" Lei clenched his hands. "Where were those guards when one-third of the city got blasted into pieces? Where were any of you when dozens of children left orphans overnight in some fucking cultivator attack? Rules? You dare speak about rules to my face, you old goat?!"
"You!" Old Wu stepped back, his eyes bulging out as though they were about to pop off of their sockets. The tiny hairs around his mouth trembled with rage, but a look around the other stalls told him he was alone in this episode. So he snorted before fuming his way back to his stall, leaving Lei alone with a budding headache.
I'm becoming more and more like these people.
"He must be one of the Old Monsters of the city," whispered a timid voice.
"Mm!" Little Mei's voice answered. "This city is full of them."
"Old Monsters are everywhere… And why are they all old?" asked one of the kids, a look of dread flashing behind his eyes.
"Because… They become monsters in time." Little Mei was too sure of herself as she stared at the group of children. "When they were young, they were busy with work and had a lot of friends, but when they grow old, they usually become lonely and bored. Did you know? My grandfather was the worst of the Old Monsters. His face was full of thorns, and he would press my cheeks on those thorns even though it hurt."
"The Oldest Monster!" another kid gasped. "It must be terrifying."
Little Mei shook her head. "Thanks to him, I learned how to deal with them. You smile and do nothing, and they will leave you alone. But I think Lei Lei knows better. He doesn't fear the monsters at all."
"No wonder he's the Heavenly Cook!" said a sheepish voice. "We should stay close to him."
Then they all turned to stare at him with sparkling eyes, and Lei didn't know how to respond to that. He straightened his back and gave them a confident nod of his head, puffing his chest out for good measure. It was the least he could do.
But they have it hard here, these old folk.
To his knowledge there wasn't anything like a retirement package in Jiangzhen, or in the Empire, for that matter. So once these people grew old they had to either rely on their descendants or keep working in odd jobs here and there. That was why most of the stall owners around Eastern Square were old people.
That gave Lei an edge in the competition, but also made his life a touch harder as dealing with old people was a headache. This Old Wu, in particular, was the worst of them all. He kept flaunting about his son who worked in the Governor's Office, too proud to acknowledge the fact that it was because of his son he had to work here rather than spending his last years drinking tea on some porch.
I guess they don't pay too much to the postman these days.
Shaking his head, Lei focused on the real task at hand. He turned the kebab and gave himself completely to the sizzling of the meats and the delicious wave of flavors that slowly spread about the square.
There were a bunch of curious eyes gazing toward him, a raised eyebrow here and there, some talk about the meat stick that slowly wore its crispy shell while sucking up the tail fat juice dripping down through the sides. But it took more than curiosity to spend over ten coppers on a street dish, considering the times as they were.
Still, Lei had faith in his gorgeous stick.
Once the outer layer of the kebab cooked beautifully, he began slicing across the sides, letting the cuts rest over on the wooden base which was draped in juice. He then slapped the meat on the loaves, lining the portions neatly to the side for the family meal.
His stomach had nearly consumed itself after all that work.
"Time for the family meal, gather round!" Lei called the children to his side, gave each of them a loaf, and watched as they first took gentle bites before chomping on the bread like ravished little beasts.
When Lei took his first bite, it instantly dissolved into a wave of flavors that trickled down through his throat. Perfectly salted and sauced, the play between mayo and the rich juice of marinated meat was a devilish jab at the ignorant palette of his soul brother, allowing him to experience the taste as though it was completely novel.
And it was true when he thought about it. It was the first time this body got to taste something like this. Back in Liang Clan, most of the food was bland and honestly, boring, which wasn't surprising as food wasn't that high on their priority list. It was mostly about exercise and meditation, with some lessons and education sprinkled in between, and they only ate to maintain this circle of monotony.
It was then no wonder why they'd kicked his soul brother out of the clan. The expectation had been for him to become something, anything that would profit the clan in some shape or form. Joining a sect would be the best scenario, as becoming a real disciple brought about a heap of advantages. These included resources and the protection of the sect which was a crucial thing to these always-competing cultivation clans.
An edge. An advantage. People are tools to be used for the grand benefit of the clan. Hence the motto live for the clan, and die for the clan.
Lei was grateful that he'd found himself free of the shackles of a clan or a sect. That would've made his life miserable and probably pushed him into that bloody path of cultivation, a path that knew no compassion and love, instead fully focused on climbing the steep ranks and getting stronger, sometimes even at the expense of one's humanity.
It must be hard to strive through all those steps and reach the zenith, only to look back and see there's nothing left in the wake of your climb.
He shook his head as he finished the bread. Thinking too much about certain things was an old habit that sometimes wormed its way back into his mind without him noticing. He plastered a wide, beaming smile on his face when children came flocking around him with glinting eyes.
"Big Brother Lei, that was delicious!"
"Heavenly Cook! He's the Heavenly Cook, not Big Brother Lei anymore!"
"Either one is fine," Lei said, smiling down at their faces. Though he had to admit the name Heavenly Cook started growing on him. It had a good ring to it.
It was just as he took his place behind the stall that he heard a commotion from beyond the square. A bustle of noises, excited and heated, echoed throughout the streets that made all heads turn to that side.
"What is happening?" Little Mei asked, then she was on her toes, raising the cat so that it could see about the commotion. "Little She, can you see it?"
The cat purred before wriggling impatiently, which made Little Mei put him back on the ground.
Lei, on the other hand, could see the source of the sounds, but that only made him more curious. There were dozens of people far in that street, and the strange thing was, there wasn't a woman amongst their ranks.
What?
He scowled out into the crowd, crossing his arms on his chest. Then slowly the crowd parted, revealing the real reason for the commotion. A line of beautiful ladies marched through the street, clad in red gowns that fell awfully short of covering most of their powdered skin, with men in tow following each of their motions, afraid to even blink at this sight.
And right between these ladies was a certain fatty who strolled with the confidence of a Young Master, chin raised high and a smug smile playing wide on his lips. When they crossed eyes with him Fatty Lou gave Lei a wink.
So that was your plan.
Lei barked out a laughter. This brother of his was truly a genius in marketing.