05:How to dominate a Tea Market
The morning sun hadn't yet burned through Shanghai's haze when Caera arrived at Yuyuan Garden's tea market. Ancient walls held memories of a city that existed before steel and glass reached for heaven. The jade sphere pulsed quietly in her bag, almost hiding from the weight of last night's humiliation.
"YOOO IS THAT A SPIRITUAL BLESSING POINT?"
Eugene's voice shattered the morning peace like a brick through meditation. He bounded up looking suspiciously fresh for someone who'd spent last night at TAXX - she'd seen the pictures on his WeChat moments. His designer outfit probably cost more than most of the market stalls combined.
"I heard," he continued at a volume that made several elderly vendors wince, "that this place has the best feng shui alignment for cultivation breakthroughs. Almost as good as that club in Taipei where—" He stopped suddenly, something flickering behind his eyes before his usual manic grin reasserted itself.
"Isn't it a bit early for you?" Caera asked, noting how his seemingly random movements always kept him positioned to watch the market's main entrance. "I thought you'd still be recovering from your... social research."
"Would you believe I'm here for the historical significance of traditional tea ceremony?" His smile held the same emptiness she'd glimpsed in the tunnels. "Also, totally unrelated, but did you know snake tattoos are actually super meaningful in certain circles? Like, hypothetically speaking—"
A commotion near one of the older stalls caught their attention. An ancient teapot had fallen, its owner looking distressed as priceless porcelain headed for stone.
Caera's fingers moved instinctively. "Yuánfù zhǐ!"
The spell wrapped around the falling teapot like golden silk, bringing it to a gentle stop inches from disaster. The elderly vendor's relief was palpable - right until Eugene opened his mouth.
"Wow, that was almost as dramatic as my night! Speaking of which, you'll never guess who I met at TAXX. Total girlboss energy, had this really interesting snake thing going on—"
The temperature seemed to drop several degrees. Caera turned to find an elderly man watching them with unusually sharp eyes. His stall, tucked between two newer shops, practically hummed with dormant power.
"The young lady shows skill with ancient arts," the vendor said, his Shanghainese accent thick with age and judgment. "Though perhaps her choice of company is... questionable."
Eugene's grin widened in a way that didn't reach his eyes. "Aw, that's not fair. I'm at least three different types of questionable."
The old vendor's shop seemed to exist in its own pocket of time, untouched by the modern market's bustle. Shelves lined with tea canisters that hummed with subtle power, each label written in calligraphy so old it made Caera's eyes hurt.
"Such an interesting sphere you carry," the vendor said, eyes fixed on Caera's bag where the jade artifact pulsed with quiet warning. "One might wonder how a young lady acquires such things."
"One might also wonder," Eugene cut in, his voice carrying none of its usual manic energy, "how a tea shop owner knows about artifacts that aren't supposed to exist." His posture had shifted, subtle but significant, like a switch being flipped.
The old man's smile didn't waver. "The same way a boy who spent last night with snake women knows to watch the market's exits."
Something dangerous flickered across Eugene's face before his usual grin snapped back into place. "Hey now, that's unfair. I spend lots of nights with lots of interesting people. Last week there was this girl who could do this amazing thing with spiritual energy and boba—"
"Eugene," Caera cut him off, noting how his random movements had created a perfect triangle formation with the shop's support beams. "Maybe don't antagonize the clearly powerful spiritual master?"
"Me? Antagonize?" Eugene gasped with theatrical offense while his eyes mapped every exit point. "I would never! I'm just a simple guy with simple interests. Like tea. And pretty girls. And occasionally getting recruited by underground organizations through complete accidents that definitely weren't my fault—"
The vendor's laugh carried centuries of secrets. "Ah, youth. Always thinking they can dance between worlds without consequences." His gaze settled on the jade sphere again. "But some dances have higher stakes than others, don't they?"
"The sphere is tied to older powers," the vendor continued, pulling out what looked like an ancient teapot. "Powers that certain... organizations find very interesting."
"Organizations like the ones with snake tattoos?" Eugene's voice was light, but his eyes tracked the vendor's every movement. "Asking for a friend. A very beautiful, possibly dangerous friend who may or may not have recruited me last night."
The teapot's surface shimmered with runes that matched the ones on Caera's sphere. Steam rose from its spout, forming patterns that looked suspiciously like writhing serpents.
"The young master plays dangerous games," the vendor said, pouring tea into cups that definitely hadn't been there a moment ago. "Dancing with snakes while wearing a mask of chaos. One might wonder which face is real."
"Bold of you to assume any of them are real," Eugene replied cheerfully, though his stance had shifted into something more defensive. "I contain multitudes. Also bad decisions. Mostly bad decisions."
The jade sphere pulsed suddenly, its light catching the steam and creating images - shadowy figures moving through ancient tunnels, a woman with a snake tattoo examining old scrolls, Lin Yu standing in what looked like a government office.
"Ah," the vendor smiled. "It seems the sphere has opinions about recent events."
"About that," Eugene's grin turned sharp. "I should probably go check on some of those events. Places to be, people to accidentally charm into secret societies, you know how it is." He backed toward the exit with suspicious grace. "Caera, try not to let any ancient artifacts spill more secrets while I'm gone!"
He disappeared into the market crowd like he'd never been there, leaving Caera with the vendor and a cup of tea that smelled like destiny and bad choices.
"Your friend," the old man said, watching steam curl into more serpentine shapes, "plays a very dangerous game."
"He's not my friend," Caera replied automatically. "He's more like a natural disaster I know personally."
The vendor's laugh echoed with ancient wisdom. "Sometimes the most dangerous storms wear the brightest smiles." He gestured to the tea. "Drink. You'll need strength for what's coming."
"And what exactly is coming?"
The steam formed one final image - the underground chamber where she'd failed to fight the qilin, but this time filled with figures bearing snake tattoos, government badges, and in the center, Eugene's silhouette wearing an expression she'd never seen before.
"Change," the vendor said simply. "And with it, the need to decide who's wearing the truest mask."
Above them, Shanghai's modern pulse continued its eternal rhythm, unaware of the powers stirring in its shadows. Somewhere in that urban maze, Eugene was probably charming his way into more trouble, Lin Yu was making her own moves, and ancient forces were choosing sides in a game Caera was only beginning to understand.
The jade sphere pulsed one final time, as if to say this was only the beginning.
The steam from the vendor's tea twisted into shapes that shouldn't exist, each curl revealing fragments of a truth Caera wasn't sure she wanted to see. Eugene's exit had left an emptiness in the air, the space where his chaos usually lived now filled with something heavier.
"Your friend," the vendor said, watching the steam paint stories in the air, "wears many masks. The fool. The charmer. The lost boy." His ancient eyes carried centuries of witnessing similar games. "But the most dangerous mask is the one he's worn so long, he's forgotten it's not his face."
The jade sphere pulsed, casting shadows that danced like memories across worn wooden shelves. Images formed in the steam - Eugene in TAXX, his practiced smile never reaching eyes that calculated exits and angles. Eugene in Taipei, juggling three different identities with the ease of someone who'd forgotten his original one. Eugene in the tunnels, that moment when the mask slipped and something older looked out through his eyes.
"He's not my friend," Caera said, but the words felt hollow. "He's just..."
"A chaos agent? A failed student? A boy playing games with powers he doesn't understand?" The vendor's laugh carried no warmth. "Or perhaps he understands them better than any of us wish to admit."
The steam shifted again, showing Lin Yu in a government office, her own mask of perfect composure hiding something just as calculated as Eugene's chaos. Then the snake-tattooed woman from TAXX, watching Eugene with eyes that saw through his performance to the weapon underneath.
"Shanghai stands at a crossroads," the vendor said, pouring more tea that smelled of destiny and regret. "Old power and new ambition circle each other like hungry dragons. Your friend dances between them, wearing whichever face serves his purpose."
"And what purpose is that?"
The vendor smiled, ancient and knowing. "That, young lady, is the question that should keep you awake at night."
The steam formed one final image - the underground chamber where she'd failed to fight the qilin. But this time she saw more: shadows moving with purpose, figures bearing both snake tattoos and government badges, and at the center, Eugene. His usual bright smile was gone, replaced by something that belonged in older, darker stories. He stood at the nexus of competing powers, each group thinking they controlled him, none realizing he was playing his own game.
"The boy who makes everyone laugh," the vendor mused, "ensures no one looks too closely. The perfect mask - so obvious it becomes invisible."
Above them, Shanghai's modern heart beat its eternal rhythm of commerce and ambition. Somewhere in that urban maze, Eugene was charming his way into deeper waters, Lin Yu was moving pieces on a board Caera couldn't see, and ancient forces were stirring beneath the city's neon skin.
"Change comes," the vendor said, his voice heavy with prophecy. "The old ways and the new order will clash, and those who dance between them must finally choose a side." He looked at Caera with eyes that had seen empires rise and fall. "The question is, when masks finally fall, will you recognize the faces underneath?"
The jade sphere pulsed one final time, its light catching the last wisps of steam. In them, Caera saw Eugene's reflection fractured into countless versions - the chaos agent, the charmer, the lost boy, the schemer - each one real, each one false, all of them pieces of a puzzle she was only beginning to understand.
Shanghai's shadows lengthened, holding secrets older than its tallest towers. And somewhere, Eugene Kao was probably smiling his brightest smile, making sure everyone watched his right hand while his left rewrote the rules of a game as old as the city itself.