Yang Qing lightly chuckled at their preference. They may act a bit too mature for their age but there were some things they couldn't overcome and that was a love for sweet things.
"Okay," said Yang Qing as he shook his head.
"Can you bring me the sweet fermented rice wine first, a single large bowl will do and for them, bring them the 500-year-old ginkgo tea," said Yang Qing as he finished his order.
"Big brother Yang Qing it's not that we are being inconsiderate and unthankful but can we have the pearl milk tea instead?" Zhi Da hesitantly suggested.
Both he and Zhi Luoran flinched when they heard the ginkgo tea being mentioned as if they'd been afflicted with unpleasant memories.
"It's good for you, especially your bodies. There's no refusing it but after you drink the ginkgo you can have the pearl milk tea too but you have to finish the whole ginkgo tea otherwise I'll terminate your services as my guides," Yang Qing solemnly said as he narrowed his eyes to add an air of seriousness.
The 500-year ginkgo tea was about one of the few things in the restaurant that could be bought with a spirit stone. It cost a single low-grade spirit stone.
The tea was great at improving concentration and blood circulation in addition to its healing properties that are brought about by strengthening the vitality of the user. The older the tree the better these effects were pronounced and the worse its taste. It always had a woody texture to it that got more pronounced the older the tree was.
During the brief scan Yang Qing did on the two siblings he realized their bodies were overdrafted. When one was in the body refining stage in addition to precious herbs that were used to refine their bodies they also required a high intake of energy-rich foods to keep up with the requirements of their bodies.
The two kids were clearly not able to meet those daily needs so their bodies always run empty. In the short term, there was no problem but if it went on for long they would damage their bodies' foundations which though could be remedied would end up costing a lot.
The ginkgo would help remedy those problems for atleast a month. Ideally, for better effects, Yang Qing would have preferred to give them some of the vitality rejuvenation pills he had on him that he used as candies but they required one to have atleast a minimum cultivation base at the seventh stage of the foundation establishment realm otherwise if someone below that stage attempted to consume those pills their bodies would blow up from the overwhelming energy contained in them.
The two Zhi siblings were only in the bronze stage of the body refining stage no different than mortals, they wouldn't be able to handle the potency of those pills so the tea was a better substitute since the tree it was sourced from was an earth rank herb that worked on those at the body refining stage and qi refinement stage.
…
"Okay," they both softly said as they bowed their heads.
The old man's son had a strange glow flash in his eyes as he eyed the interaction between Yang Qing and the two siblings. He bowed immediately after as he left to give out the order to the kitchen.
…..
(Kitchen of the Wang's restaurant)
The old man was currently seated in one of the chairs trembling on his hands as he exchanged a grim look with an elderly lady in a brown apron who was seated on the seat opposite to him. There were beads of sweat dripping from her head.
"Honey what do we do about him?" asked the elderly lady.
"What can we do? It took all I had just to remain standing in front of him trying to act casual.
There was no pressure coming from him, not even a little bit but every bone and sense within me was screaming for me to run away as far as I can. In all my years on the battlefield I've experienced that sensation not more than five times and every single time a calamity descended soon after," the old man weakly smiled in self-deprecation as he placed his still trembling hands in front of his eyes. He kept clenching and unclenching them to try and calm them down but his hands had betrayed him.
"Do we tell them? He might be outside help for the others," said the old lady.
"There's no need for that. I doubt they would be able to afford someone of his caliber, if they did they would have already stirred up a storm instead of biding their time. Besides I believe that the matter has already been reported by someone else not unless he snuck in. But I doubt that. I don't get that sense from him," said the old man as he got up from the chair still shaking a bit but he stabilized himself with the table before he picked up some of the ingredients and the kitchen knife next to it.
The elderly lady mirrored him as she too got up and started preparing some of the ingredients.
An eerie silence ensued as they went about their work. The silence was broken when their son who had just taken Yang Qing's order walked in.
He frowned when he walked in as he found the atmosphere too strange. Usually, he would find his parents bickering as they cooked but right now there was an air of tension and grimness in the place that accompanied the silence.
"Is something wrong?" He pensively asked.
"Has the customer made his order?" asked the old man as he threw a stern stare at his son which made him swallow the follow-up questions he wanted to ask. He knew that look well, if he insisted on butting into their matters all he would end up with was a painful beating.
He painfully sighed when his thoughts reached this point. He was almost 40 years old but he still had to leave with the fear of receiving a beating from both his parents. He and his younger brother had thought of escaping more than once but with the connections of their old man, they'd be found within a day and get a world-shaking beating for their attempt at escape.
"Is this still the same monster that dotes on Zhi Da and Zhi Luoran? They always show a side I never knew existed. Maybe when I breakthrough into the core formation realm the beatings will hurt less," he enviously thought as a new fire of hope got lit in his eyes.
But it was extinguished immediately after when he noticed the impatient glare from the old man.