Fang Shi was sitting in his favorite chair looking over the daily report. Ever since his neighbor, Yan Cheng, and his family became cultivators, more mortals had been visiting the store. While this was a good thing, there had been some trouble with the restaurant as lines would form every day, and he needed to see what he could to alleviate the situation.
Fang Shi had his panel open, and every few minutes would select a new setting, such as table number or time, to view the trends. It took a few hours, but he leaned back into his seat once it was done. He took a sip of red tea as he changed to the wallet tab to look at his current assets.
Fang Shi took out a feather, went to the design tab, and started two projects. Using the numbers he had researched earlier, he started designing two new floors to the main store before making a few adjustments, and calling it a night.
The next morning, Fang Shi woke up a few hours earlier than normal and took a stroll around. He looked at the building that sold all the artisan goods which was now five stories high. The first floor was was now for spirit farming, the second was alchemy, third was artifact refinement, the fourth was array formation, and the fifth was talismans. He also added a set of special rooms with a platform that would move between the floors. From the outside, the glass cylindrical platforms were pleasantly designed to his liking.
Fang Shi skipped the bathhouse and cultivation shops because he had not made any changes to them, and looked at the main store. It had added floors starting with the main grocery on the first floor, restaurant on the second, on the third was now a tea house, and the fourth was a bar. His home was still on top, and the new moving platforms were added to this store as well, but he was slightly disappointed. He had gotten used to the of his pond while eating, and also he didn't like that the other building was tall enough that customers could see his floor. With that thought, he left to go to the city office to purchase more plots of land to the south of what he already owned. A few hours later, he returned with the deeds of nine more lots, but he was running into a problem. At this point, he had purchased almost all the land between his house and the city wall. Even though it was undesirable, he wouldn't be able to expand outwards as the lands to the north and to the east was already owned by someone.
"No matter", he assured himself as he walked back, "I'll build a house on the new land with gardens to keep my privacy."
Ever since his breakthrough, Elder Wuying of the Dusty Peak sect had made time to return to the Heaven and Earth pavilion when he could.
"I must thank Elder Wuying for the invitation today", a man said to him.
Elder Wuying politely bowed, "It was the fortune of one the disciples I'm responsible for that I was be introduced. I'm merely spreading the word to let others enjoy the opportunity as well."
Walking alongside Elder Wuying was four men, and two women, all elders from Dusty Peak.
"It seems we are in some luck", he said as the store came into view, "The main store is much taller than the last time I was here, something new and exciting should be here?"
Everyone's eyes developed into arches as they entered the gate, and noticed additional signs added to the store and restaurant advertising a tea house and bar. Elder Wuying walked over to the counter where Fang Shi was sitting when they entered.
"Owner Fang, why did your master add the tea house and bar?"
"Elder Wuying", Fang Shi said, "Well, recently there were long waiting times for the restaurant, and after looking into the reason, it turns out that many that sat down would drink something and sit for a long time. To better serve each customer, and prevent conflict, he decided to add appropriate shops to ease the situation."
"Thank you for the hard work", Wuying said as he returned to his companions, "Everyone, let's head up stairs. I'll pay for the meal since I invited everyone out."
They all agreed and walked over to the stairs, but saw the odd doors next to the stairwell. There was only one lighted button on the wall, so Elder Wuying pressed it. Soon the doors opened, and a small but empty room appeared. He walked inside and the others followed, so he looked and saw they had a clear view of the surrounding area. Elder Wuying noticed the doors closed, but also that they didn't move so he looked around and saw multiple buttons. Some were numbered, and others were labeled 'open' and 'close'. He pressed the button labeled '2', and the platform smoothly ascended to the second floor. When doors opened again, the group noticed the floor had changed, so they exited the platform and a nearby waitress greeted them.
After the meal, one of Wuying's invited guests spoke, "Shall we try the other new floors as well?"
Everyone nodded, and took the stairs to third floor where the strong scent of several types of tea hung in the air. As they looked around, they saw tables and chairs, sofas, countertops, and even a small shop where beautiful cups and bottles of jade for sell. The group sat down at several seats and sofas that overlooked the pond. A waitress came over, introduced the menu, and took their order before leaving.
The waitress returned, and delivered all the drinks to everyone before heading towards the next customers. Everyone took a moment before raising the cups to their lips, and after taking a sip, they all had smiles on their face.
"Elder Jun, what did you order again?", Wuying asked.
"A green tea latte", Jun replied, "I was curious as I've never heard of such a thing before. I have to admit I mostly enjoy it, and the effects on my mind and body are quite interesting. Too bad I was the only one with courage."
One of the other men in the group snorted, but couldn't refute him since they had gotten black, green, or red tea. After enjoying their drink, they continued up the stairs to the fourth floor.
As the group arrived, the floor had already left a good impression on them based on design and decoration, but they were somewhat surprised to see that most of the seat were already full. Fortunately, they were still able to find a place to sit, and soon wine, beer, and liquor were delivered. They evenly distributed the drinks to everyone so that they all could sample the wares, and toasted before trying each one.
"This wine taste like peaches", one of the women exclaimed.
"Elder Ni, if I didn't know you, I would say this is your first time drinking wine", one of the other elders laughed.
Elder Ni blushed, "I was just surprised by the quality of the wine and the amount of Qi in it. It's very good…Elder Yue, what are you looking at?"
The other women replied, "There are so many people here, but I don't see anyone uses the spots over there. Why do you think that is?"
Elder Wuying looked at where Elder Yue was pointing, "I don't know, let me go ask."
He stood up and walked over to the bar where a server was waiting, "Pardon me, but what are those spots over there for? Perhaps they are reserved?"
"No, honored guest", the puppet responded, "The table with four chairs is for a game called Mah-jongg, and the table with two chairs has a game called Shogi. I do not presume to know why they are empty. I may have heard some of the other guests say that games like these are a waste of space, so it could be that."
Elder Wuying understood the point of view of the others, entertainment that didn't assist cultivation did seem wasteful, but he was still curious. He relayed what he learned to the others upon his return to the table.
"I think that everything that Owner Fang has offered so far is been worthy of his effort", he said, "So why don't we try our hand at it once before we move on to the cultivation artifacts."
The rest of the group didn't see very enthusiastic about it, but agreed anyways since he had visited them.
"Let's do this since there are six of us, four try one and two try the other", Wuying suggested.
After some discussion Elders Wuying, Jun, Ni, and Yue sat down at a Mah-jongg table. The other two, Elders Tai and Hao, choice the Shogi table, and after five minutes everyone had the general idea of how to play.
Two hours later, all six had been enthralled by the games which had cause the other customers in the bar to fill the other open tables. Elder Ni had just laid down her row of tiles claiming victory while shouting "Ron!"
"Ah!", Elder Yue exclaimed, "Look at the time, we were only supposed to play once."
The four of them realized how much fun they had, but remembered their goal. They grabbed the other two elders at the Shogi table, and made their way to the cultivation building.
It was that evening, and Fang Shi was just about ready to turn in for the day when someone familiar walked into the gate. The puppet had returned after a few week from its mission to retrieve Fang Shi's prize. What Fang Shi didn't expect was for there to be three people following the courier puppet. He want to call them kids, but technically they looked to be 17 or 18 while he would be turning 13 soon. Two girls and a boy entered the gate, watched as the puppet approached him, and return to his designated storage place.
The three walked up to Fang Shi before the boy demanded, "Hey kid, give us what that man had."
"No", he replied, "This is my store, why would give you something I sent my puppet to get."
The three were surprised, so they walked a few steps away and held a discussion. Normally, he shouldn't be able to hear them, but this was his shop.
(How can this kid be the owner of this shop?), the boy whispered.
(I don't think he is lying though, he probably is the children of a great merchant family), the older girl said.
(Our master is also a great merchant, let's just use his name to settle this), the younger girl advised.
Their verdict reached, the three returned and the boy spoke again, "We represent the Merchant Rui, and have to insist that you return the item that was stolen from us."
Fang Shi was annoyed because not only were they being persistent, but they also raised their voice to attract attention.
'System, can you tell me anything about these people?', Fang Shi requested.
'Answer: These three are enchanted with slave marks to a certain master', the system responded, 'Due to the overwhelming pain they will be subjected to if they fail, they most likely will not give up.'
'Ah, this is troublesome', Fang Shi thought, 'Can we remove the mark while they are here?'
'Answer: Yes, it will cost spirit stones as a service', the system stated, 'But, it is achievable.'
Fang Shi made up his mind, and performed a quick series of hand motions. A moment later, the three of them reacted in pain before recovering.
"What did you just do to us?", the older girl shouted.
"You are no longer slaves", Fang Shi answered, "Since you no longer have a master, you no longer have a mission. Now leave."
The three were shocked by his words, and immediately began checking themselves before realizing that their mark wa gone.
"Why did you do that?", the younger girl became hysterical, "Now the master will think we rebelled and kill us!"
"So noisy", Fang Shi frowned, "If you are going to yell, do it outside."
With another motion, the three found themselves back outside the gate of the store. The trio seemed to be in shock, because they wouldn't leave the spot they landed and the two girls cry as the boy hangs his head down low.
Fang Shi did his best to ignore the bothersome group, turned his seat over to the puppet, and went to his floor. He went through he normal routine for the night, until he heard raindrops falling on the roof. Sighing, he went back to the window facing the front gate only to the three still motionless in the same spot. Fang Shi wanted to think he was a ruthless resident of this world, but he was just lying to himself. It was easy to move when people moved against him, but these three just had their future seriously altered by him on a whim. Putting robes back on, Fang Shi made his way to the front gate.
"Are the three of you going to sit there forever?", he called out to them.
"It's no use, once the master finds us, we are dead", the younger girl continued to bawl while speaking.
"There is no escape for us", the older girl sniffed as she despaired.
"Fine, since this is my fault, let me make a proposal", Fang Shi offered, "How about the three of you come work for me?"