CH 53

Something seems off. It’s only been a few days, and I haven’t done anything. Why did several unfamiliar faces suddenly show up at the Three Thousand Food House in Hua Country today? Before he used any promotion methods, Bai Xianzhi considered his little shop in Wutong Lane as being hidden away, and its popularity couldn’t extend beyond the lane.

There were occasional new faces before, but most of them were females who recognized him as their previous live streamer. But now, the situation is completely different. There are four men in the shop, and one of them even has a beard. They are looking around, occasionally showing fierce expressions. To be honest, if it weren’t for the fact that they were dressed in T-shirts and shorts, Bai Xianzhi would have felt like he had stepped onto a movie set of a martial arts film. The martial aura exuding from these four men is too strong.

Bai Xianzhi served them tea and went to the kitchen to cook for them since he hadn’t found his apprentice yet. He had to do it himself.

As Bai Xianzhi disappeared into the kitchen, one of the skinny men among the four lowered his voice and called out to the bearded one, “Boss, have you noticed anything?”

The bearded man’s eyes gleamed as he looked around. He took out a palm-sized compass, and the needle on the compass kept shaking and didn’t stop for at least half a minute. He solemnly said, “The streamer that night was right; there’s a strong Yin energy here!”

Hearing the compass and the bearded man’s words, the other three’s eyes brightened. “So, Boss, does that mean…”

The bearded man’s face showed a hint of joy. “Tonight, we’ll come in quietly, bring all the tools, and whether Lao Wu will come to see us depends on tonight.”

When Bai Xianzhi came out, he noticed that all four men had smiles on their faces, completely different from their resentful expressions earlier. Trying to make small talk, Bai Xianzhi asked, “Is there something special happening? You seem really happy.”

Immediately, the four men suppressed their smiles, and the bearded one bluntly said, “No, you must have mistaken.”

Bai Xianzhi: “…” But they were literally grinning ear to ear just now!

Awkwardly and politely, Bai Xianzhi served their dishes and brought out a large pot of rice. Considering they were four big men, he had prepared a lot of rice. However, the bearded man said they didn’t need that much, and Bai Xianzhi offered to get a bowl to scoop some out for them.

Ten minutes later…

The skinny man awkwardly entered the kitchen, “Boss, is there any more rice?”

Bai Xianzhi turned his head and saw the rice pot in the man’s hand was empty. He said, “Isn’t there plenty in that big pot over there? Help yourself.”

As he watched the man sheepishly scoop more rice, Bai Xianzhi had to turn away as if he hadn’t seen anything.

At that moment, another couple walked into the shop, dressed in matching outfits, clearly a couple. Bai Xianzhi greeted them, “Welcome, what would you like to eat?”

However, just like the previous four, the couple also didn’t pay much attention to the menu and randomly ordered a couple’s set menu. After sitting down, they carefully observed the environment in the shop.

Bai Xianzhi scratched his head, wondering why all the customers he encountered today were so peculiar. With his doubts in mind, he went to the kitchen to cook.

To speed up the service, Bai Xianzhi changed both menus. While keeping the individual dishes, he added several set menus. Most of these set menus were pre-made dishes like braised pork, spicy chicken, and tomato egg soup. They were kept warm since the morning, so they might not be as fresh as freshly cooked ones, but it significantly reduced the pressure in the kitchen and sped up the service.

The couple’s set menu included braised pork, spicy chicken, and tomato egg soup, among others, and it was one of the most popular menus in the Three Thousand Food House in the Three Thousand Worlds.

Braised pork and spicy chicken were already prepared, and Bai Xianzhi only needed to make the tomato egg soup. As he was cooking, the couple in the dining area started discussing in a hushed voice.

“It’s nothing special. The shop is still doing business, and it doesn’t feel scary at all. Tiger’s Den’s reputation is probably just a bluff,” the girl in the couple said.

The boy seemed unsure and said in a lowered voice, “How about we come back tonight? Tiger’s Den is supposed to be active at night.”

The girl frowned and reluctantly agreed. She looked over and saw the four people across the table eating voraciously, her eyes revealing disdain. She whispered to her boyfriend, “Look at those people behind you; they look like they’ve starved for generations. It’s like they haven’t eaten in several lifetimes.”

The boyfriend glanced behind him and said, “It looks delicious, maybe the food here is really good.”

The girl scorned, “Are you kidding? How could there be anything delicious in such a remote place?”

The boyfriend smiled awkwardly and stopped talking.

In the kitchen, Bai Xianzhi prepared two dishes and a soup for the couple and served them on the table, saying, “Please enjoy your meal.”

As soon as the food was served, the boyfriend felt hungry, especially after seeing the four people behind him eating. He hurriedly said to his girlfriend, “Let’s eat!” He picked up his chopsticks and took a big piece of braised pork into his mouth. The juicy and tender meat made him unable to hold back a sound of approval, and a satisfied expression appeared on his face.

His girlfriend gave him a strange look and picked up her chopsticks. She muttered, “Why did you choose braised pork? It’s so high in calories; we’ll gain weight if we eat it.”

Although she said that, she still reached for the braised pork and even deliberately picked a large piece. The boyfriend, who was also picking the same piece of braised pork, reminded her, “This one is the biggest. It has the most calories.”

The girlfriend gave him a look and said, “I want to taste the flavor. How can I tell if it’s good with a small piece?”

The boyfriend: …You make a valid point; I’m speechless.

…

Tonight, Wutong Lane experienced a power outage, making the alley particularly dark and secluded. Bai Xianzhi from Three Thousand Food House had already fallen into a deep sleep with his two little companions.

At this moment, four people were quietly communicating at the entrance of Three Thousand Food House. “Second brother, be careful. This is the last bit of money we used to buy the incense and money paper. We only have enough for this occasion. If we break one, we’ll have to spend a day moving bricks tomorrow to afford more.”

“I know!”

The four of them arranged the incense and candles in front of the shop. As it approached midnight, the bearded man took out a lighter and ignited everything. They closed their eyes and chanted softly.

“Ju Jie! Ju Jie! Come back! Come back!”

The four big men muttered under the flickering candlelight, a scene that appeared eerie to others, especially those who had watched the livestream of “Tiger Den Sanguine.”

“What are they doing?”

“I don’t know.”

The daytime couple peeked from the corner, feeling a shiver down their spines. Who would light incense and candles at a place where Ah Piao was suspected to have appeared in the middle of the night?

“Maybe they are also summoning ghosts, just like Tiger Den Sanguine did.”

The girl frowned with fear and held tightly onto her boyfriend’s arm, whispering, “Let’s go back. I don’t want to watch this.”

The guy felt uneasy too. If his girlfriend insisted, he could be brave, but since she wanted to leave, he immediately agreed, “Okay, let’s go!”

As they turned to leave, the four people not far away suddenly raised their voices, “Ju Jie, come back! Ju Jie, come back!”

Startled by the sound, the couple turned back to see the four people saying, “The boss is not cooperating. We’ll have to climb through the window. We might need to be inside the shop for it to work.”

The girl looked at her boyfriend, mouthing, “They’re thieves! Call the police!”

…

The most annoying thing in the world is probably being awakened from sleep by a phone call from the police at midnight. While changing clothes, Bai Xianzhi felt bewildered. In his mind, he recounted all the things he had done in the past twenty years, from the scuffle with a hooligan outside the school during high school to the time he put a fallen rice grain in his uncle’s bowl.

At that moment, all he could think of was, “What did I do? Why are they looking for me? Did I commit a crime? What crime did I commit? Will I go to jail? What will happen to my two little companions? What about Three Thousand Food House? What about Feng Ye’s grand plan? I haven’t even started teaching Feng Ye third-grade lessons yet!”

With a jumble of thoughts, he went downstairs and pulled up the rolling shutter. To his surprise, he saw two stern police officers standing at the entrance, and behind them were the four men, as well as a man and a woman huddled closely together.

“Are you the owner of this shop? We are police officers from the Wutong Street Police Station.”

Bai Xianzhi hurriedly replied, “Officers… comrades, please come in.”

The two officers nodded and entered the shop. The six people following them were all customers who had eaten in the shop during the day!

Bai Xianzhi: (￣△￣)

The officers declined Bai Xianzhi’s offer to pour water for them and got straight to the point. “Do you know these four people?”

Bai Xianzhi nodded, “I remember them. They came to the shop to eat during the day.”

The officers said, “They were probably surveying the place during the day, and now they are here to steal. They were about to break in through the window when these two good Samaritans saw them and called the police.”

Bai Xianzhi looked at the two good Samaritans, and they awkwardly laughed when their eyes met.

At this moment, the skinny man among the four suddenly spoke up, “We’re not here to steal!”

His words drew everyone’s attention, and the officers asked, “Then what are you doing breaking into this place?”

The four men remained silent, and the young couple quickly said, “Officers, we saw them lighting incense and candles at the entrance before they climbed the window. It’s really scary in the middle of the night!”

The two officers exchanged glances, and one of them searched the bags of the four men, finding half-burned incense and even a stack of money paper.

The officers asked sternly, “Tell us, what were you doing here in the middle of the night?”

The four men remained silent, and the police officers sighed with exasperation. “You still won’t talk? Trespassing into someone’s property could result in up to three years of imprisonment or detention!”

The four men were a bit scared, exchanged glances, and the bearded man, Luo Saihu, spoke up, “If we tell you, you won’t arrest us?”

The police officer replied sternly, “Don’t try to negotiate with us! Speak up!”

With a mournful look at the police officers, Luo Saihu finally revealed the truth.

It turned out that these four men came from the same village, and they had a youngest brother, whom they referred to as “Lao Wu.” The five of them grew up together and were as close as family. However, their academic performances were not remarkable, so after barely graduating from junior high school, they found odd jobs in their small town. When they reached adulthood, they decided to move to a big city together to seek better opportunities. However, lacking formal education, they could only do physical labor like construction work, which provided a modest income, but they were content with it.

Unfortunately, after a year of working at the construction site in the big city, the youngest brother, Lao Wu (Ju Jie), grew tired of the hard work and low income. Moreover, with his fair and refined appearance, he thought he could find a more comfortable job, so he started working in a nightclub.

His other four brothers disapproved of his decision to work at the nightclub, but the more they objected, the more stubborn he became. Eventually, he moved out and lived on his own. However, about half a month later, they received news of Lao Wu’s death, stating that he died from suffocation due to excessive alcohol consumption. The four of them organized a funeral for him in the village, but they couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was off. Lao Wu, despite being the youngest, had the highest alcohol tolerance among them, so how could he have been intoxicated to the point of choking?

The four of them became suspicious and thought that someone might have harmed Lao Wu intentionally. They decided to investigate further. They learned about a medium in their village who claimed to communicate with spirits and offered to help them contact Lao Wu’s spirit. However, the medium told them that Lao Wu’s death was too far in the past for them to assist and suggested they find a place with strong spiritual energy to attempt the communication themselves. The medium even gave them a compass and instructions on how to call upon the spirit.

Not long after, they stumbled upon Tiger Den Sanguine’s livestream and saw him at Three Thousand Food House. Intrigued, they decided to visit the place.

After listening to their story, the two police officers were dumbfounded.

Bai Xianzhi and the police officers: =_=

The police officers sighed, “If you have any doubts about Lao Wu’s death, you should seek help from the police instead of resorting to superstitions.”

Luo Saihu took out the compass, “But the pointer was moving continuously!”

The two officers took the trembling compass and pressed the top, causing the pointer to immediately stop.

Police officers: …

Bai Xianzhi: …

The couple: …

Four men: !!!!!

An awkward atmosphere filled the room.

The police cleared their throats and broke the silence, “So, you should believe in science.”

With the matter cleared up and no substantial damage to Bai Xianzhi’s shop, the two police officers left with the four men. Before leaving, they turned to the couple, “Are you leaving too?”

The couple nodded eagerly, “Yes, yes, we are!”

The police officers replied, “Alright, we’ll accompany you to the entrance of the alley since our car can’t fit all of us.”

The couple agreed, as the alley still made them uneasy. They felt safer with the policemen.

Back upstairs, Bai Xianzhi, after freshening up and having breakfast, searched for Tiger Den Sanguine’s livestream mentioned by the four men. To his surprise, the video had millions of views, and many comments expressed a desire to visit his shop. What worried him the most was that Tiger Den Sanguine mentioned his shop’s name openly during the livestream.

He fast-forwarded the video and heard Tiger Den Sanguine describe seeing a translucent figure in white robes floating in the air.

Bai Xianzhi: … This is a plot twist.

How could someone from the Three Thousand World accidentally encounter someone from the Three Thousand Realms at Three Thousand Food House? While he still didn’t understand how people from two different worlds could meet there, almost a year of observation told him that people from both worlds couldn’t see each other outside of Three Thousand Food House. That’s why he felt secure running two shops in the same location. How could he explain the sudden appearance of so many customers every day if people from both worlds could see each other outside the shop?

Now, the teleportation array at the entrance might become useless! After all, if people from both worlds could meet outside of Three Thousand Food House, something extraordinary might have happened, and the people of the Three Thousand World might start noticing the existence of the country of Huaguo. How would those people from the world with spiritual energy react when they encountered the people of Huaguo?

Bai Xianzhi scared himself with his own imagination. However, he tried to reassure himself that things hadn’t reached that point. Before long, Feng Ye arrived, and after finishing their lessons for the day, Bai Xianzhi asked him a question, “Do you think my world can merge with the Three Thousand World?”

Feng Ye paused while eating the bread Bai Xianzhi had baked. “A small world from a different grand world cannot merge.”

Bai Xianzhi asked puzzledly, “Then why can Three Thousand Food House connect the two worlds?”

Feng Ye looked at him meaningfully. “You should ask the person who opened the passage between the two grand worlds. How did he manage to do it?”

The person who opened the passage? His uncle? But his uncle had passed away.

Bai Xianzhi asked in a low voice, “Can you do it?”

Feng Ye shook his head, then picked up another small bread. “No, the divine may be the strongest in the Three Thousand World, but they are still limited to their own world and can never break through its barrier.” He paused and looked at Bai Xianzhi. “So, you don’t have to worry about people from the Three Thousand World coming to your world.”

Bai Xianzhi scratched his head, his black hair slightly disheveled, oblivious to what had just happened. “Then why was I able to go to the Three Thousand World after you gave me something to eat?”

Feng Ye silently wiped his hand, looking at the intertwining hair on top of Bai Xianzhi’s head. His right hand twitched slightly, and he cleared his throat, “Actually, I was just trying it out and didn’t expect it to work. I guess it’s possible that you’ve consumed a lot of food with spiritual energy and spatial power, and the mouthful of food I gave you, rich in spiritual and temporal power, tricked the Three Thousand World’s barrier into recognizing you as one of its people.”

Bai Xianzhi reluctantly accepted this explanation. He wanted to say something else, but he felt something touching his head. He turned his head and saw Feng Ye’s hand retracting. Bai Xianzhi quickly touched the top of his head and asked, “Is there something there?”

Feng Ye’s ears hidden under his silver hair turned slightly red as he calmly replied, “Um, there’s… confetti.”

—–

Author’s Note: Thank you to all the lovely readers who voted or provided nutrient support from 2020-08-09 10:51:53 to 2020-08-10 14:18:01.

Thank you to the reader who dropped a landmine: 白桃乌龙鸭 (1).

Thank you to the readers who provided nutrient support: w三月 (50), 夏 (30), cupid, 明月清风, 落雪成霜 (10), 去看星星了 (8), 没有肉 (7), oyy, 橘橘橘橘橘橘 (2), 41432554, 小肥啾 (1).

I really appreciate everyone’s support, and I will continue to work hard!

1TL: YSIAD “You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you ”