"Look at the kind of thing you've cut, huh?"
"A perfectly good plate of meat, ruined by you!"
The broad-waisted head chef stood with one hand on his hip and the other pointing like a sword, spraying spit everywhere. Gao Cheng kept his head down and said nothing.
Only after the man had cursed to his heart's content did he force out a smile and carefully offer a few words. The head chef finally snorted and left to supervise the other hands.
Gao Cheng looked at the unevenly sliced meat on the chopping board and suddenly sighed.
The turn from summer to autumn, from heat to chill, had always been a time when people easily fell ill.
Only a few days into September, his son had caught a chill. The boy was listless all day and could not eat anything.
Gao Cheng had only this one son, and he worried over him day and night. When he asked his master for leave, the man did not bother asking right or wrong before launching into a torrent of abuse. All he said was, "Your wings have hardened, have they? You don't want to work anymore? You think you're ready to leave the master?"
A bellyful of words was shoved back down his throat.
To make matters worse, his wife was miserly. When he asked her to take the child to see a doctor, she simply could not bear to spend the money. She kept saying it was nothing serious and that he would be better in a few days.
When he did not improve after several days, his wife began seeking out witches and charlatans instead, making talisman water and inviting gods.
"Ugh."
The more Gao Cheng thought about it, the angrier he became. He grabbed his cleaver and went chop chop chop chop chop, mincing the meat into fine bits.
Hearing it, the head chef raised his brows and came over with his hands on his hips.
"Gao—"
"Elder Brother Gao, I came to see you!"
The newcomer's voice rang like a bell. Merely hearing it, one could picture a fierce man in the mind. When that tall figure entered in a black headcloth, red forehead band, and white round-collared robe, the kitchen hands all recoiled a step in fright.
How could someone look so vicious?
And somehow familiar, too?
"Y-you're Nezha?"
Gao Cheng stared blankly at the tall young man before him. Though he had grown several inches taller and become far more solidly built, Gao Cheng still recognized him at once. This was Li Cunxiao, who only a month ago had still relied on his charity to survive.
"These clothes... Cunxiao, you became an escort master?!"
At Gao Cheng's words, the people around them finally came to their senses, shock spilling into their eyes.
Good heavens, in just one month, Li Sanlang had become an escort master?
A salted fish had turned over!
"Li... Li Sanlang? You're Li Sanlang?"
The head chef squinted his tiny eyes, panic in his gaze as he flailed his limbs. He looked indescribably comical.
Gao Cheng was also at a loss before the transformed Li Cunxiao. It was Li Cunxiao who stepped forward first and warmly grasped his hand.
"Elder Brother Gao, after joining the escort agency, I was busy practicing martial arts and working. I couldn't get away, so I haven't come to see you in over half a month. Don't blame me."
As he spoke, he lifted the paper package in his left hand.
"See? I found some time today and bought a few dishes. Shall we have a couple of drinks?"
Then Li Cunxiao turned his head, his leopard-like face casting a sidelong glance at the head chef.
"Master Zhang, if I take Elder Brother Gao out for drinks, you won't be too busy, will you?"
"I can manage! I can manage!"
Seeing that savage face, Master Zhang was so frightened that even his breathing became careful. He could only nod again and again. Only then did Li Cunxiao leave the back kitchen with Gao Cheng to ask the restaurant owner for leave.
East Arrival Restaurant was itself a place often patronized by the Flying Tiger Escort Agency. The moment the shopkeeper saw Li Cunxiao's clothes, he understood everything.
He immediately gave Gao Cheng a day off and even wrapped ten taels of silver in a Red Envelope for Li Cunxiao. He said Li Cunxiao could be considered someone who had come out of the restaurant, so there had to be some token for such happy news. He also said Gao Cheng was diligent at work, while Master Zhang was usually somewhat too harsh, and so on.
Even after they walked out of East Arrival Restaurant, Gao Cheng remained dazed. His feet seemed to be stepping on cotton, shallow and deep, and everything felt so unreal.
That iron rooster of a shopkeeper had actually given someone a Red Envelope?
Usually, whenever Gao Cheng brought leftover dishes home, the shopkeeper's pancake face would stretch into a horse face.
But just now, before Li Cunxiao, that amiable smiling face—he had only ever shown it to the restaurant's customers. When had he ever shown it to the hands?
"Brother, I... I..."
At some point, Gao Cheng's honest face had flushed bright red. He turned his head one moment and lifted it the next, like an old yellow ox drunk on wine.
Li Cunxiao could not laugh at the sight. He only squeezed the other man's arm hard and said seriously,
"Elder Brother Gao, you've looked after Wood Fork and me for all these years. I've kept it all in my heart."
"I can't let people bully you."
Gao Cheng's back immediately straightened. It was as if something had been poured into his body. He grabbed Li Cunxiao firmly, overjoyed.
"Good! Good, Sanlang! Come, drink at my house!"
"Second Uncle, Li Sanlang is only an escort master, not a chief escort. Why did you give him a Red Envelope?"
Shopkeeper Sun heard those brainless words and, furious, backhanded his nephew across the face. The boy staggered from the blow and stared at his second uncle in disbelief. Shopkeeper Sun's face was full of bitter disappointment.
"Fool! Fool! Do you think Li Sanlang is still that fellow who begged for leftovers? Didn't you see how thick his arms were, how big his fists were?"
"Those martial men have nothing but blades and spears in their heads. Do you think, when their hot blood rises, they'll care about any law?"
"Besides, wars are breaking out everywhere now, and refugees are everywhere. Who knows when the world will fall into chaos?"
"An escort master may not count for much now, but once Chu Hill falls into disorder too, those fifty or sixty strong men of the Flying Tiger Escort Agency won't be escort masters anymore. They'll be tigers that eat people without spitting out their bones!"
"Feed a tiger full now, and perhaps you can escape disaster later. Tell me, which is the better bargain?"
"Your second uncle may be greedy for money, but I treasure my life even more!"
The youth listened submissively, though it was unclear how much he understood.
Shopkeeper Sun sighed. Just as he had sent the boy away, a kitchen hand suddenly ran over to report that Chief Escort Zhang of the Flying Tiger Escort Agency had sent someone to order a whole-sheep banquet at short notice. They would be coming that evening.
Shopkeeper Sun did not dare delay and hurried to the back kitchen to press them.
"Shopkeeper, I... Gao Cheng isn't here. I'm afraid we won't make it in time."
Master Zhang looked troubled, secretly complaining in his heart. Why give Gao Cheng leave for no reason? Apprentices were meant to work. Yet Shopkeeper Sun had to go and play the good man.
"If you can't manage, go invite Gao Cheng back. It'll be a good chance to ease things between master and apprentice. You still need to pass down all that skill of yours, don't you?"
Shopkeeper Sun tossed those words down, ignored Master Zhang's face turning from green to white, and left.
Master Zhang stood there dumbly for several minutes. At last, he sighed and turned to leave.
The kitchen hands were all holding back laughter. Once he left, before more than a few sounds could burst from their throats, they saw Master Zhang turn back and hurriedly held it in again.
Master Zhang grabbed a roast chicken and a bottle of yellow wine from the kitchen, then set his two short legs spinning as he headed for Gao Cheng's home.
Laughter finally exploded through the back kitchen.
"Fatty Zhang, you have a day like this too!"
"Elder Brother Gao, don't just drink. Eat some food. Sister-in-law, you should eat too."
"Huzi, come drink your medicine. Once you're well, Brother Li will buy you candied hawthorns again."
When they reached Gao Cheng's home, Li Cunxiao immediately grew nervous upon seeing the sickly Huzi.
The poor at the bottom of society knew nothing of hygiene. With their pockets empty, they often avoided doctors out of fear of illness, thinking they could simply endure it. Li Cunxiao naturally did not dare take it lightly.
Ignoring the Gao family couple's attempts to dissuade him, he immediately took the child to see a doctor. Fortunately, it was only an ordinary cold. The doctor said it was nothing serious and that a few days of medicine would cure him.
The medicine naturally was not cheap. Fortunately, before leaving, he had specifically borrowed silver from He Bi.
He had originally asked to borrow five taels, but He Bi waved a hand and gave him twenty directly, saying it was to congratulate him on becoming an escort master.
A friend's kindness could only be repaid slowly.
"Sister-in-law, if someone gets sick in the future, don't seek out spirit mediums and witches. They're useless."
Sister-in-law Gao looked at this younger brother who had suddenly struck it rich. Remembering what she had said before, she could only lower her head and say awkwardly,
"It wasn't me. Those people came to our door themselves. I won't go again in the future."
"I told you long ago not to believe those things! That Mingzun Cult or whatever it is, all those people in white clothes and black hats definitely aren't good people!"
Gao Cheng had not drunk much, but his spirits were high.
"Right, Sanlang, a few days ago the Green Snake Gang and the Wolf Gang had a fight. I heard that Bald Snake even had his arm broken! You remember the Green Snake Gang, right?"
Li Cunxiao narrowed his eyes at those words.
"Bald Snake was injured?"