Shen Le was quite satisfied with waitress Xiao Yu's performance. With skills like hers, Little Puppet would be in good hands.
Even so, he still had to lay down some conditions:
"You can rent this puppet, but don't damage her!"
"Of course! We'll use her for performances. We won't let some brat play with her!"
"If you notice anything strange about her, let me know so I can come get her. Don't just throw her away, don't toss her into a soup pot or a stove, and don't go hacking at her with a hammer or an axe!"
"We'd never do anything like that! Don't worry!"
"What time in the morning should I bring her over? And what time should I pick her up at night?"
"How about eight to five?"
"Sounds good!—Oh, right. With only one puppet, there are lots of puppet shows you can't put on. Would you like to order another one?"
"Sure!"
The proprietress's eyes sparkled as she smiled at Shen Le:
"Then I'll order another one, a male puppet—a young scholar, so he can perform alongside this one. Two thousand yuan, including makeup and clothes. How about I pay you a thousand as a deposit?"
A pleasant partnership.
If he bought cheap ready-made clothes, he could keep the cost under two hundred. He had wood in stock, and Silk Thread in stock, too.
Ten days to deliver. A net profit of eighteen hundred. Oh yeah!
Shen Le happily signed a contract with the proprietress, then headed out, carrying Little Puppet.
He was halfway to the door when a customer sitting in the corner of the dining hall—the one who had earlier said, "Give him a bowl"—called out to him:
"Wait a moment."
The man had a cigarette between his lips. He sauntered over, and Shen Le frowned, about to hurry away to avoid the secondhand smoke. But then the customer suddenly took a deep drag and blew smoke right in his face:
"Phew..."
Before Shen Le could react, he was enveloped in a cloud of pale smoke. Hey! What kind of manners was that? Who blew secondhand smoke in someone's face?
He was just about to kick up a fuss when a sudden warmth spread through him. It felt as if something cold and gloomy that had clung to him all this time had been driven away by that puff of smoke.
"Huh?"
He rolled his shoulders, then twisted his neck, eyeing the man in confusion. The customer just smiled and walked back to the corner to talk to his girlfriend:
"Want another ice cream?"
Uh... was that it?
What was in that cigarette smoke?
Shen Le watched the man from a distance for a while. When he saw that the man was completely ignoring him, he could only head out, feeling rather deflated.
He had barely left when a jumble of footsteps sounded behind him. Seven or eight waitresses came rushing out from the corner of the dining hall, the kitchen, and the entrance, all hurrying after him.
What was going on?
Were they looking for me?
Shen Le quickly turned around and saw the girls flitting back and forth through the wisps of white smoke that hadn't yet dispersed, like butterflies among flowers.
What did that mean?
Was the white smoke some kind of good stuff?
But no one paid him any attention. Shen Le shrugged and left on his own. After walking a few dozen paces from the restaurant, he glanced back—
Huh?
It was closed?
The neon sign above the restaurant was off, and every single light in the dining hall had gone dark.
Even the side of the restaurant facing Old Street was completely boarded up. The doors were shut tight, and not a soul was in sight.
Wait. Where had I just eaten?
What had I just eaten?!
Shen Le stood on Old Street, bewildered, as countless thoughts churned through his mind. Stories about traveling in the middle of the night and staying in a grand mansion, only to wake up and find it was a desolate graveyard; stories about entering a restaurant late at night, enjoying a huge feast, then waking up to find the meat was mud, the rice was maggots, and the wine was muddy water; stories about lodging somewhere for the night, arriving just as the owner was celebrating a wedding, and joining in the feast, only to wake up and find that the fine food and wine on the plates had all been human blood, brains, livers, and fingers...
No, wait!
If this had really been that kind of horrifying scene, my Copper Fragment would have warned me. Little Puppet would have warned me, too!
Shen Le did his best to stay rational. He didn't immediately bend over to gag himself, nor did he sprint to the hospital and demand an emergency stomach pump.
He steadied himself, took out his phone, and opened Alipay.
"Hmm, 8:52 p.m., paid 54 yuan. 9:03 p.m., received a transfer of 1,000 yuan..."
It couldn't have been fake, could it?
Even the supernatural power of places like Desolate Grave Demon Mansion was confined to the mansion. It couldn't extend beyond its walls.
Besides, Shen Le really didn't believe any monster's power could affect Alipay—
Alipay's main servers were thousands of miles away!
With that thought, Shen Le put his worries aside for the moment and carried Little Puppet home.
Lying on his bed, he grabbed the Copper Fragment and squeezed it, pressed it, and poked it. Then he traced its two raised strokes, one dot and one horizontal line, over and over.
"Hey, do you have any cultivation techniques you can share?
Last time it was Five Animal Frolics. Do you have anything more powerful this time?
Something that'll let me cultivate qi, build a foundation, and form a golden core?
Or help me run faster and get stronger?
At the very least, let me communicate with the Great Camphor Tree in the mansion. Maybe it could help me keep an eye on the place?"
The Copper Fragment stayed silent. It didn't vibrate or make a sound.
But suddenly, Shen Le felt himself pulled into a dark space. A half-transparent human figure sat before him, and a red line rose straight up from its lower abdomen.
A warm current rose in Shen Le's lower abdomen, too. Guided by the red line, it climbed up from the Gate of Life in his back, passing the Great Vertebra and Jade Pillow, all the way over the crown of his head.
His tongue naturally lifted to touch the roof of his mouth, and the warm current traveled along his brow and chest before returning to his dantian.
Everywhere it went, his whole body felt warm, as if he had suddenly gained inexhaustible strength and his mind had become a hundred times sharper.
But after making just one and a half circuits, he felt hollow and weak all over, as if half the blood had been drained from his body, or as if he had just finished a five-kilometer run.
"Right! Refining essence into qi, refining essence into qi. You need to turn the essence of the human body into internal energy. My reserves aren't enough, so I can't generate internal energy. I definitely can't force myself to keep practicing..."
Just as he thought this, warmth suddenly welled up from his stomach and spread throughout his body. The warmth gathered, pushing the current through another half circuit, then seven more in a row.
After nine full circuits, the warmth surged, enveloping his eyes and ears. Shen Le sat up and opened his eyes, stunned to discover that he could clearly see the table, cabinets, stools, and chairs in his room without turning on the lights.
He could even see a red glow on the roof opposite, and, in the neighboring courtyard, a green cloud in the distance...
"Huh! It really works! But what was that warmth just now? Could it have been the Lamb Noodle Soup I had tonight?"
It clearly wasn't worth making another trip to Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant in the middle of the night just to find out. Besides, the place was already closed. If he went back, he didn't know whether he'd find a restaurant or a ghost shop...
Shen Le had no choice but to find another target. He left his courtyard, crossed the narrow passage, and entered the third courtyard on the eastern path. He headed straight for the Great Camphor Tree in the southeast corner.
"Ah Lu, big sis? Can you hear me? Can you talk to me?"
He asked three times. The Great Camphor Tree stood there in silence, its leaves rustling in the breeze, just like any ordinary, unremarkable tree.
Shen Le had no choice but to raise his hand and pat the trunk. Then he patted it again.
"Ah Lu, big sis? Ah Lu, big sis?"
"You're so noisy!"
A branch suddenly swung down and swept across Shen Le's shoulder. It was a gentle blow, but no light one. Like a broom sweeping the floor, it sent Shen Le stumbling out from beneath the canopy.
"I'm sleeping!"
"Uh... sorry for disturbing you, Ah Lu. I'll come find you again in the morning..."
"I am. not. your. big. sis!"
"Then... big brother Ah Lu?"
"Neither!"