Wash Your Hands Before Eating

"Shafolin." Murakami frowned deeply. "A name I've never heard before. Do any of you recognize it?"

The three Hand leaders shook their heads in unison.

The Hand was a massive organization with a presence around the globe, and these four were its supreme leaders. Each of them was a world-shaking figure in their respective regions and fields, yet there was such a powerful entity in the world that none of the four knew anything about.

When Madame Gao had said earlier that she had long heard of Shafolin's great name, it had really just been a courtesy. It was like how martial artists in ancient times would say "I've long admired you" no matter what insignificant nobody they encountered. To put it bluntly, it was mutual flattery. In truth, all the Hand knew about this Shafolin came from rumors circulating among New York's gangs. And where had those rumors come from? Supposedly, they had originated with Kingpin...

Such a mysterious figure, whose head was seen but never his tail, immediately drew the leaders' attention. They believed the only reason they knew nothing about him was because his power was simply too great—just as most ordinary people had never heard of the Hand.

As for the possibility that "Shafolin" had simply been fabricated out of thin air and never existed at all?

The thought had not crossed their minds for even a second.

Stories could be made up, but could Nobu Yoshioka's and Madame Gao's deaths be an illusion too?

"I only have one possible lead." After pondering for a moment, Alexandra said, "Most of the gangs seem to believe that Richard, the owner of the Daily Planet, is connected to this mysterious force. But I specifically sent people to investigate, and there seems to be no solid evidence to prove it. Those gangsters are merely making wild assumptions without any real proof."

That was what made rumors so interesting—they kept growing and evolving with every retelling.

In fact, Shafolin himself had only been conjured into existence because Kingpin insisted that Richard had some mysterious backer. But after the name spread, Kingpin became extremely tight-lipped about its origins. So the masses of "wise" people started using their own imaginations, assigning the name an unfathomable background and terrifying power...

By this point, due to the lack of evidence, the name "Shafolin" no longer had any direct connection to the Daily Planet.

"A newspaper?" Sowande was skeptical. "What could a figure like that possibly have to do with a newspaper?"

"I don't know, but we cannot rule out the possibility," Alexandra said.

Bakuto, a Hand leader with a full beard, said gravely, "No matter what, we cannot let any possibility slip by. I can arrange manpower right now. We'll bring that Richard in and question him..."

"We cannot act rashly." Alexandra cut him off. "This may be the most serious situation the Hand has ever faced. We must proceed carefully. First, we need to gather personnel and resources. If necessary, we may even have to activate the Black Sky. We must make the most thorough preparations... to welcome war!"

As the culprit who had thrown the entire world-class Hand organization into a state of panic, Richard knew nothing about it. What was more, he was leisurely preparing dinner in his own kitchen.

Once dinner was ready, he carried the plates to the table and called out loudly, "Hey, you there? Dinner's ready."

It was quite a while before Jessica slowly shuffled out of her room. Her once-beautiful hair was a mess, and she wore a grayish-black T-shirt that looked like it had not been washed in two days. Her jeans also seemed to be sitting a little crookedly.

Richard could not help wondering whether all girls cared so little about their appearance in private... or whether Jessica was just an exception.

Jessica walked straight to the table and sat down. Before she could start eating, Richard sharply tapped the rim of his bowl with his chopsticks. "Wash your hands before eating."

Jessica shot him a glance and muttered softly, "I already did."

Richard stared at her with a cold smile. Yeah right. Did she even believe that herself?

Jessica ultimately could not withstand his unblinking stare. She muttered an indistinct curse under her breath, but obediently got up and went to wash her hands...

Jessica herself did not really understand why she listened to him so obediently. Just like before, when Richard had told her not to drink—after that, she truly had not touched a single drop of alcohol.

Was it because he was both her boss and landlord, and she was afraid he would dock her pay or raise her rent if she disobeyed?

Thinking it over carefully, that did not seem to be it. For something as trivial as washing her hands before a meal, even if she insisted on ignoring Richard, he would not be bored enough to give her too much trouble over it.

After washing her hands, Jessica returned to the table and looked at the fork and spoon placed at her seat. She thought for a moment, seemingly finally making up her mind about something...

"I don't want this." She pointed at the spoon on the table. "Get me a pair of chopsticks too."

Richard raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Ever since she had snapped a pair of chopsticks on her first try, Jessica had used a spoon and fork for every meal and never mentioned chopsticks again. Why was she suddenly challenging herself this time?

"Are you sure?" He felt that he needed to confirm it once more.

"Quit talking and just give them to me."

Jessica snorted. She would never admit it to Richard, but after that incident, she had specifically searched YouTube for video tutorials on how to use chopsticks and practiced hard for quite a while. That previous blunder had been far too humiliating—a stain on Jessica Jones's life. This time, she was absolutely going to wash away that past disgrace...

"Fine."

Since she insisted, Richard let her have her way. He stood up, took away the spoon and fork, and replaced them with a pair of wooden chopsticks just like his own.

And sure enough, Jessica was actually using the chopsticks rather convincingly this time. Her movements were still a little stiff, but her posture was fairly standard.

Richard said in surprise, "Huh? You've improved a lot. Did you practice on your own?"

Jessica was a little pleased with herself. "No. I just thought about it a little. It doesn't seem that hard."

She was lying. These past few days, she had secretly used two pencils in the office every day, pretending they were chopsticks, and practiced whenever no one was nearby...

Hard work really did pay off.

Jessica was about to use her chopsticks to sample her first bite of delicious food when she froze at the sight of today's menu, her smile stiffening on her face.

Today's dishes... included mapo tofu.