Shen Le got whacked twice by the camphor tree and fled with his arms over his head.
Back in his room, he pulled out his phone and looked it up. Well, as it turned out, camphor trees were hermaphroditic. So was the tree spirit a big sister or a big brother?
That was definitely something worth thinking about...
But it was late at night, and after that awkward blunder, Shen Le couldn't bring himself to keep pestering the tree with questions—not even the next morning.
Right on time, he headed for the Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant with Little Puppet in his arms. People streamed in and out in front of the restaurant. A huge pot by the door bubbled with lamb, while the proprietress smiled and carried out bowl after bowl of lamb noodle soup...
By all appearances, it was just an ordinary noodle shop. As for the way the lights and stove had been switched off the instant everyone left last night, and that eerie, silent atmosphere—it all felt like a dream Shen Le had had.
Shen Le left Xiao Ling in the care of the waitress, Xiao Yu. He watched her take her place on the stage in the middle of the dining hall, watched her tug on the silk threads and sing in her high-pitched voice. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed.
Wait, something was wrong!
She wasn't controlling the puppet at all!
From beginning to end, Xiao Ling had been moving on her own, gesturing and dancing by herself!
And she wasn't the one singing, either. The waitress had a microphone clipped to her collar, and it was playing a recording. She was clearly lip-syncing...
Wait, did they know this puppet was alive?
Or were they under the puppet's spell?
Shen Le glanced around. Just as he was about to find a chance to ask the proprietress, a bowl of lamb noodle soup was brought to his table. He bent over his food and picked up his chopsticks. After just two bites, he realized something was off.
Why does this lamb taste like it's several grades worse than the lamb I had yesterday?
Shen Le was puzzled, but the restaurant was packed, with customers coming and going nonstop. The proprietress and the waitstaff were all rushed off their feet.
Besides, the lamb noodle soup tasted quite good in its own right. The noodles were springy, the broth delicious, and the translucent slices of poached lamb were so tender that the bits of aspic melted in his mouth.
To say it wasn't good would only be true compared with the bowl he'd had last night. Put it up against the restaurants outside, and it would easily beat them all.
So Shen Le put the matter out of his mind and leisurely picked up his noodles, occasionally nibbling on a slice of poached lamb. As he ate, he watched Little Puppet sing and dance onstage.
"Little sister Qing, lower your Dragon Spring sword, and let your husband explain; don't be afraid.
"Your wife is no mortal woman—she is a snake immortal from Mount Emei.
"I descended the mountain out of longing for the mortal world, and came with Qing'er to the banks of West Lake.
"It was in the rain on the lake that I first saw my beloved..."
Ah, these were the lyrics from the Broken Bridge scene in Legend of the White Snake. The puppet should be wearing white mourning clothes for this part—at most, white with a bit of blue embroidery.
That bright red outfit really doesn't suit the scene. I guess I'll have to buy her some clothes later...
Besides, the Broken Bridge scene needs Bai Suzhen, Qing'er, and Xu Xian to perform. One puppet is a bit short.
When things quiet down, I'll talk to the proprietress and ask her to order another puppet.
Wait, what's that?
Out of the corner of his eye, Shen Le saw the customers throughout the restaurant swaying their heads and softly humming along to the tune, tapping their fingers against the tables in time.
For an instant, he thought he saw a halo of rainbow colors spread out around Little Puppet. When it passed over Xiao Yu, it suddenly swelled tenfold, enveloping the entire dining hall and even spilling out onto the steps outside.
As the rainbow glow passed over the diners, wisps of faint gray-black vapor were drawn from their bodies, one thread at a time, and twisted into ash.
Even the passersby at the entrance, peering in through the windows, seemed to relax. Those with furrowed brows, those sighing, those wearing worried expressions...
When they left the glow, their steps were noticeably lighter, as if a great weight had been lifted from their hearts.
Shen Le blinked hard, but the halo vanished again, as though it had only been his imagination.
The more it seemed that way, the less Shen Le dared act rashly. He ate quietly and watched with care.
As he ate, he recalled how he'd felt the previous night and silently practiced his cultivation. Warmth gradually rose within him, returning him to the state he'd reached while practicing the night before—a state in which his mind was clear and he could see everything. He observed closely.
There was no mistake. A halo really was pulsing around Little Puppet, swelling and shrinking as it swept away the black vapor from the diners!
There were the customers clutching battered briefcases, their brows knitted with worry;
There were the customers tapping at their screens as they ate, their faces full of irritation;
There were the customers rushing off after grabbing a couple of buns, their shoulders bent beneath their backpacks...
As the halo passed over each one, the sorrow on their faces quietly eased, even disappearing altogether.
This is a good thing!
Shen Le watched quietly without saying a word. Only after he finished his bowl and the restaurant began to empty out did he get up to leave. He paused by the cash register and asked in a low voice:
"Proprietress, where does the lamb you serve come from?"
"It's local!" The proprietress smiled, her eyes and brows full of pride.
"We use locally raised free-range goats, all of them a year and a half old and weighing sixty or seventy pounds. They drink lake water and eat clean grass—that's what gives them such a wonderful flavor.
"We slaughter them fresh and stew them over a high flame. We don't add a single seasoning besides salt!"
"Uh... what about the lamb last night...?"
The lamb he'd had last night hadn't tasted anything like today's!
If it wasn't local goat, could it have been Ningxia Tan sheep? Altay fat-tailed sheep? Lamb from Inner Mongolia?
Or some legendary delicacy, raised only in a particular pasture, with fewer than five hundred produced each year?
"Last night's? The customer brought that in himself..." The proprietress gave him a knowing smile, her eyes glinting. Shen Le paused, then suddenly understood.
No wonder they waited for the customer to say so before serving it to me. It wasn't the restaurant's own ingredient in the first place.
He tried to ask what breed it had been, but the proprietress only smiled without answering. Shen Le had no choice but to take the hint and leave. Seven or eight meters from the restaurant, he started circulating his cultivation technique and listened carefully.
The customers ordering, the waitstaff answering, dishes being served, the singing—all the sounds reached his ears. He listened patiently for a while, then suddenly heard a silvery giggle drifting from the kitchen:
"That little fellow's lucky. Rain Artisan isn't something you can just eat whenever you want... We've got that great lord to thank for it. We only get to eat it once a year..."
Yu... Yugong?
What's that?
So what exactly did I eat last night?
Shen Le racked his brain, searching through words with the same pronunciation, but couldn't figure it out. He was about to give up when he looked up and saw two familiar figures approaching with a clatter of footsteps.
Oh!
The Special Affairs Department duo!
What were they doing here?
If they walked straight into the Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant, then... oh dear~~~ They'd managed to make the place feel like a haunted house last night. What would they find when they came in today?
Would Heaven and Earth clash—or, no, would Yan Chixia stumble into Lanruo Temple?
Shen Le grew a little curious. He turned back toward the Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant, found a seat in the corner, and watched with interest.
To his disappointment, the Maoshan Taoist duo seemed quite familiar with the place. They nodded to the proprietress as they came in and greeted a few of the waitstaff.
Then they... they...
Hey! Why were the two of you heading straight for my Little Puppet?