This East Sea Food Street wasn't very wide. Shops lined both sides, their signs crowded together, making the place especially lively.
As soon as they reached the entrance, Xiao Mu and Na'er caught the scents drifting out from the street's food stalls. The bitter sweetness of caramelized sugar, the rich aroma of hot oil, and the sharp bite of Sichuan peppercorns all layered together, teasing their noses and making their mouths water.
"Candied chestnuts! Fresh out of the pan!"
"Chicken neck bones! Buy a pound, get half a pound free! Buy a pound, get half a pound free!"
"Fried sausages, three yuan a skewer! Ten yuan for three!"
"Bobo chicken~ Oh, bobo, bobo chicken~ One yuan per skewer!"
Calls rang out one after another, a noisy jumble. Na'er paused, her nostrils twitching faintly, and was already unable to tear herself away from the chicken neck bone stall.
A few older children clustered around the stall. The owner was pouring golden-fried bones into a paper bag. Specks of oil splattered into the air, bursting into tiny golden flowers.
Without asking a thing, Xiao Mu first bought Na'er fifteen pounds to whet her appetite.
Holding the heavy paper bag, Na'er walked and munched, her mouth glistening with oil. They hadn't gone far before her attention was stolen by the thick meaty aroma wafting from the end of an alley. She chewed with her mouth full and tugged at Xiao Mu's sleeve.
"Bro, that's Pot-Stewed Beef. It smells so good. Let's go eat."
"Sure. Lead the way."
Following the rich aroma, the two arrived at a small Pot-Stewed Beef shop.
The storefront was cramped, and the stove stood right by the street. Nearly a hundred tiny fire pits sat in a row, each with a rough earthenware pot squatting over the flames. The bubbling broth inside made the lids tremble, and the rich scent of meat seeped through the gaps, clinging to passersby.
There were only five rectangular wooden tables inside, enough for no more than twenty people at most. Half the seats were already taken.
It was late autumn, and the temperature outside was low. As soon as they stepped into the shop, warmth and the aroma of beef washed over them, leaving them feeling cozy all over.
Na'er quickly claimed an empty seat by the window and set the rest of the chicken neck bones beside the table. "Bro, hurry up and order. I'm hungry again."
She sat perched on the chair, swinging her legs, visibly excited.
Xiao Mu pulled out a chair and sat down, then waved to the owner. "Two servings of Pot-Stewed Beef to start, and a plate of side dishes."
The diners around them lowered their heads to shovel in meat and sip broth. Their sounds of eating mingled with the steady steam rising from the earthenware pots, wrapping the little shop in the warm, comforting flavors of everyday life.
The food was brought over quickly. As soon as they lifted the seals on the pots, steaming, scalding meat aromas billowed from their mouths.
Na'er picked up a piece of beef and popped it into her mouth. After simmering for so long, the meat had turned tender and soft, and her tongue mashed it into a fine pulp as rich juices slid down her throat.
She quickly swallowed. "Bro, this is delicious."
"If it's good, eat more." As he spoke, Xiao Mu ordered ten more servings for Na'er.
One earthenware pot after another was brought over, and the empty ones piled up in the corner of the table like a tiny mountain. Na'er buried herself in her food, never pausing for a moment.
A short while later, the shop door swung open again, and a cold wind howled in from outside.
Two familiar figures entered, bringing with them the chill of the late-autumn street.
Tang Wulin wore plain white clothes, his figure neat and fit. He swept his gaze around and quickly spotted the two by the table.
Xie Xie stood beside him in an eye-catching outfit: short brown-orange hair beneath a leopard-print beret, a long brown scarf wrapped around his neck, a green top under a leopard-print vest, and shorts layered over ripped trousers. His whole look gave off a sharp, restless energy.
Xie Xie spoke first. "What a coincidence. You're here too."
"You're done fighting? That took longer than I expected. Did it last more than three minutes?" Xiao Mu glanced at the time, then looked at Gu Yue. "Gu Yue, were you slacking off?"
Hearing this, Tang Wulin asked in confusion, "Xiao Mu, you didn't go watch the match. How did you know?"
"I calculated it," Xiao Mu explained. "We knew how long it would take to get here, didn't we? We ran into you here so late, and you aren't carrying any other snacks. It's almost certain you came straight to this shop."
Tang Wulin's gaze fell on the space in front of Na'er, and he froze.
More than thirty empty earthenware pots were piled on the table, their rims still streaked with glistening meat juices.
"You ate all that?" Tang Wulin sounded surprised.
He lowered his head and looked at himself. No matter how big his appetite was, he wouldn't dare eat that much. He didn't have enough money.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Mu noticed Tang Wulin's expression. "Aren't you a Blacksmith? Is that little bit too much for you?"
"I'm saving up to buy a Soul Spirit," Tang Wulin replied.
"True. But all the fast ways to make money are written in the criminal code." Xiao Mu thought about it and realized there was, in fact, a way to make an enormous profit that still hadn't been outlawed.
"Can you say something you don't already know?" Xie Xie said with a faint smile. "Nobody would dare do that. Could you come up with a more practical way to make money?"
"Actually, I can. It just takes a little math," Xiao Mu replied.
At that, both of them lit up. "Hurry up and tell us. What is it?"
"Buy lottery tickets. Two yuan a ticket, with a top prize of a million. Absolutely enormous profits!" Xiao Mu said.
"You actually believe that stuff..."
The two of them immediately lost interest and said no more.
"The Federation's lottery is about probability, not statistics. As long as it isn't statistics, you can calculate it," Xiao Mu explained. "You're both decent at math. You won't lose money."
Back then, he'd calculated a few numbers, then used the numbers Na'er had picked over and left behind. They were guaranteed to win the grand prize.
His success rate had remained at one hundred percent to this day. It had yet to be shaken.
But the two of them still looked unconvinced.
Xiao Mu stopped explaining and stood up. Na'er had already finished eating, with a little oil still clinging to the corner of her mouth. She looked up at Xiao Mu, her eyes curving into a smile.
"Bro, let's go eat something else."
"Sure." Xiao Mu stood up. "Then let's keep wandering around the food street."
Na'er answered with a soft "Mm," slid down from her chair, and followed Xiao Mu toward the door.
The two wandered from one end of the street to the other, buying plenty of delicious food. Candied chestnuts, grilled cold noodles, stinky tofu—they ate their way along.
Walking beside him, Na'er would occasionally fish a bite out of one of the bags and pop it into her mouth. Her cheeks bulged like a hamster stashing food.
When the two returned to the Pot-Stewed Beef shop, they found it surrounded by people.
They pushed through the crowd.
The stove outside the shop had been overturned, and the earthenware pots lay shattered across the ground. Beef broth streamed over the pavement, its rich aroma rising with the steam. The ground was a complete mess.
"Guang Long, give me a little more time. I... I'll definitely pay you back."
The shop owner lay at the entrance, blood at the corner of his mouth and one eye swollen shut. His face was full of grief and fury.
Three burly men stood at the door. The bald leader had his arms bare despite the late-autumn chill. A blue dragon coiled over his left arm, a white tiger over his right, and whatever was on his chest was hard to make out. Probably Pleasant Goat.
The other two were just as broad and imposing, with scowling faces and an aura of menace. They were clearly no good.
Tang Wulin and Xie Xie stood in front of the thugs, bodies tense. Their cultivation was barely at the one-ring level, and under the pressure of a two-ring Soul Master, they were being forced back step by step and had already fallen behind.
"You can't even beat them when it's two against one? Do you even know how to fight?"