"How does it taste?"
A person's presence was an intangible thing, but often it was genuinely hard to hide.
It took the time it would have taken to use a Burial Scroll for Fu Qian to finish savoring the pomegranate juice and sausage.
His focus and delight had been almost too much for the shopkeeper to watch, but they were also remarkably infectious.
After watching the whole time from the corner of her eye, the old woman finally couldn't resist asking for a customer satisfaction review when Fu Qian let out a deeply contented breath.
"Not bad. Just expensive."
Fu Qian's review was exaggerated but sincere. As he spoke, his gaze settled on something nearby.
It was clearly another of the historical buildings mentioned earlier. Its white exterior had yellowed, and was covered in patches of mold, lushly thriving.
The building's shape was unusual, too. It looked like several square boxes stacked on top of each other, so at first glance, it seemed like someone had misaligned the blocks in a tile-matching game.
"Not many people around here drink juice..."
The old woman offered an awkward explanation. Fu Qian had been so blunt that he'd practically ignored the rules of polite customer surveys.
That was true. In this climate, it was hard to imagine the fruit tasting all that good. They'd clearly put some effort into achieving this level of quality.
"I understand... What was that place used for originally?"
Fu Qian had no objection to the explanation. His gaze remained on the building as he asked in a casual tone.
"I'm not sure about that... I only know it stood abandoned for a long time before they repainted it. Now it's a nice place to wander around inside."
Unfortunately, though the old woman was elderly, she seemed just as