Volume One: Days in the Shantytown - Luo-Style Lazy Stewed Rice (Part One)

"Brother Luo, you're here. Please, sit." Inside the room, Ling Xiaose's cousin was sipping hot tea, looking perfectly at ease. He greeted Luo Qian politely enough when he entered. Why does he act like he owns the place? Luo Qian had dealt with plenty of people and knew this was a habit of those in power: they put on an air of open-minded humility, making you feel welcome while keeping you at arm's length.

"Heh, I wonder if you're satisfied with my goods?" Luo Qian asked, making conversation. The mysterious cousin nodded. "Very. I never imagined the Lower Realm had such fine things." He kept his face covered, guarding his identity. Even when he drank tea, he lifted only one corner of the covering to expose his mouth.

"Brother Luo, did you go down and fetch these things yourself?" the mysterious cousin asked. Luo Qian glanced at Ling Xiaose. Ling Otaku knew everything about his business and had surely told his cousin already, so Luo Qian admitted it readily. "That's right. The risk is enormous, so naturally the price isn't low." The cousin said mildly, "Though it isn't all that high, Pale."

Luo Qian's heart jolted. A hundred High-Grade Immortal Jade, and he calls that cheap? He took a closer look at this lavish young master. Who exactly is he?

"You needn't guess. You're a merchant, and I'm a buyer. Once goods and payment change hands, we're square. There's no need to concern ourselves with each other's identities," the mysterious cousin said, as though he had read Luo Qian's mind.

Luo Qian nodded and lowered his gaze. The cousin continued, "To tell you the truth, I came with my cousin to ask a favor of you, Brother Luo. I'd like to trouble you to make a trip." Luo Qian looked up. At a slight tilt of the cousin's head, Ling Xiaose took out a piece of Immortal Jade and tapped it. A thread of Immortal Spirit Energy seeped in, and layers of light unfolded from the jade, projecting a three-dimensional image into the air.

Luo Qian was astonished. Judging by how Ling Xiaose obeyed this cousin's every command, the man was far more than a relative. Otherwise, why would a member of the Ling Household let himself be ordered around like a servant?

"Brother Luo? Brother Luo?" Seeing him distracted, the mysterious cousin called to him. "Ah, what is it?" Luo Qian replied quickly. The cousin pointed to the projection. "Please, have a look." It showed a white-and-red jade pendant carved with a dragon and phoenix. The workmanship was exquisite. Their eyes were two tiny raised points, each with a speck of bloodred inside. Those finishing touches truly brought the carvings to life; the dragon and phoenix looked ready to burst straight out of the jade! Even from the projection, Luo Qian could see the stone's warm luster. It was a superb piece.

But Luo Qian saw at once that it had not come from the Immortal Realm. Immortal Jade and fine jade from the Lower Realm were fundamentally different; one glance was enough to tell them apart.

"This is what I'd like to entrust to you," the mysterious cousin said. "You've probably realized it's a mortal object. I'd like you to make a trip and retrieve it for me." Luo Qian frowned. "It isn't that I won't help. You're Young Master Ling's cousin; for that alone, I wouldn't bat an eye at making ten trips to the Lower Realm. But the Mortal Realm is vast. Where am I supposed to find one little pendant?"

His words sounded generous, but if not for those hundred and twenty High-Grade Immortal Jade, only a ghost would make the trip to the Lower Realm for him.

"You needn't worry about that," the mysterious cousin said. "I know where it's kept."

"Ha ha! We're rich!" After seeing Ling Xiaose and his cousin off, Du Lengning seized Luo Qian in an excited hug. "Come on. I'm treating you at the Rock-Viewing Pavilion."

The private tea room with the best view atop the Rock-Viewing Pavilion had practically become Du Lengning's personal haunt. Once the Pale-scented tea and simple snacks were set out, Young Master Du sent the attendant away and shut the door. With a turn of his hand and a use of Universe in the Sleeve, he produced a sleek new Laptop.

Luo Qian nearly jumped out of his skin. "Young Master Du, what are you doing? It isn't safe here!" Du Lengning waved him off. "Relax. No one would dare come in without my permission..." He had already copied the awards-ceremony footage Luo Qian had filmed for him onto the laptop. Now he played it again, watching with a wistful sigh. "Ah, if I could spend one night with her, I'd do anything."

Immortal women were not necessarily more beautiful than women of the Lower Realm. The faces reshaped through cultivation bore traces of the knife and chisel too plainly. Beautiful, certainly, but lacking a certain spirit. Fairies who seemed untouched by mortal smoke and fire did exist—Fairy Li Feng, whom Du Lengning and Lei Ming had once both secretly loved, was one. Unfortunately, even Du Lengning had no chance of getting close to a beauty of her caliber.

For days now, Du Lengning had played the awards footage in front of Luo Qian over and over. How could Luo Qian fail to understand what was on his mind? Seeing that his good brother had become utterly obsessed, Luo Qian put down the awful, unidentifiable pastry in his hand and sighed. "Old Du, give up on the idea. I can only go down there by myself. If I took someone along, I'd probably die without even knowing how. Besides, while you're working with me, all you're doing is selling things from the lower realm. If you're caught, you'll only be locked up for a few hundred years. But if you go down there yourself, that's a crime that'll cost you your head. I can't do that to you, brother."

Hearing how earnestly he spoke, Du Lengning's spirits sank. He patted Luo Qian's shoulder. "I know you're looking out for me, of course. But... ah, Immortals have their troubles too..." Luo Qian said, "Young Master Du, I don't get it. With your standing, you must have plenty of Immortal women around you. Isn't there a single one you fancy?" Du Lengning shook his head with a bitter smile. "Easy to say. The ones who want you aren't the ones you want, and the ones you want don't want you. That poisonous rule of love applies in every world."

Luo Qian shook his head.

After returning from Ningyao Mountain, Luo Qian began considering his next move. Auctioning the Massage Chair had brought in over a hundred High-Grade Immortal Jade, a fortune worth more than a hundred million standard Immortal Jade. Even in the Immortal Realm, that was enough to make plenty of people green with envy. Should he follow Xiao Xiangzi's example, buy land on Ningyao Mountain, and open a Medicine Shop to sell the Treasure Pills he made with his rice cooker?

The Treasure Pills might be low-grade, but he could produce them in enormous quantities. If he kept the price down, business was bound to be good.

The more Luo Qian thought about it, the more workable the plan seemed. His thoughts turned to Du Lengning again. If he opened a Medicine Shop on Ningyao Mountain, its local tyrant ought to give him a discount. He might even save the cost of the land altogether.

But opening a shop in the Immortal Realm was not so simple. It had a commercial authority of its own, the People-Benefiting Institute, which oversaw merchants. Merchants cared only for profit, hence the institute's name. Among the Immortal Realm's four institutional ranks—palaces, terraces, institutes, and offices—the People-Benefiting Institute stood a rank above even the Immortal Apprehension Office. Its power was clear.

To open a Medicine Shop, he would first have to submit an application to the People-Benefiting Institute and report his total assets—the equivalent of "registered capital" in the Lower Realm. Then came a string of certifications and tax filings. In short, the procedures were a nuisance.

Besides, even if the land cost nothing, a teleportation array would not be free. Neither would a sign or banners. Luo Qian and Du Lengning could not spend all day minding the Medicine Shop themselves, and hiring someone to watch the shop would take Immortal Jade too.

Luo Qian shook his head. Even a rough look revealed a mountain of complications. He would go down to the Lower Realm first and fetch the pendant for that mysterious cousin. The man had offered a hundred High-Grade Immortal Jade for it, nearly what the Massage Chair had brought at auction. But moving the chair from the Mortal Realm to the Immortal Realm had taken Luo Qian seven or eight round trips. One little pendant would take only one. That money would be easy to earn.

With a muffled pop like a champagne cork, Luo Qian landed safely on the roof of a high-rise. He looked around, and with the guilty nerves of an Immortal up to no good, hurried downstairs.

At the foot of the building stood a large chain fast-food restaurant. Huge posters advertised its new stewed rice: coarse and fine grains cooked together with green peas, vegetables, carrots, and other ingredients. It looked delicious enough to make anyone's mouth water. Luo Qian glanced at it, and a thought struck him. What kind of Elixir would come out if I threw Jade Ying Rice, Cloud Ying Rice, Azure Sea Millet, and the rest into one pot and stewed the whole mess?

He pondered it as he walked and made up his mind to experiment as soon as he returned.

The address the mysterious cousin had given him lay in an obscure little mountain somewhere in the Mortal Realm, a fair distance from where he had landed. Luo Qian worked out that the route would take him through City X, where his base was, so he might as well stop by.

He still had several dozen batteries on him. Xiao Xiangzi had not yet finished that batch of power-generating boxes, and quite a few of Luo Qian's customers still depended on the batteries for electricity. He could recharge them while he was there.

He had barely reached the entrance to the neighborhood where his base was when the auntie who collected utility payments stopped him. "Little Luo, don't run off..." Looking at the short, stout woman who had outdone herself by darting across his path, Luo Qian smiled ruefully. "What do you need me for, ma'am? The utilities bill isn't due yet, is it?" She winked conspiratorially and asked with great enthusiasm, "Little Luo, tell me honestly. Have you found yourself a girlfriend?"

Luo Qian froze. The neighborhood aunties of modern China seemed awfully keen on playing matchmaker. A bad feeling came over him. If I say no, she'll jump at the chance to introduce me to someone. To put an end to it once and for all, he gritted his teeth, shut his eyes, and admitted, "That's right."

"Heh heh..." The auntie smiled triumphantly. "I knew it! That girl's come looking for you several times." She nodded in satisfaction. "Well done, Little Luo. You're usually so quiet, I'd never have guessed you could find such a pretty girlfriend. That girl gets my approval!"

Luo Qian was stumped. Usually? Am I usually even in the Mortal Realm?

With a couple of awkward laughs, Luo Qian made an excuse and escaped her clutches. Back at his base, he remained baffled. A girl came looking for me? She must have the wrong person. I barely know any female creatures in the Immortal Realm, let alone here. Then his heart gave a sudden leap. A hazy, beautiful figure rose in his mind, warming his chest and bringing tears to his eyes. But the surge lasted less than half a second before he dismissed it. Impossible. It can't be her. How could she find me? Besides, she already...

"Oh, young lady, you're here again! Little Luo just got back..." Leaning against his door, Luo Qian happened to hear the auntie's voice outside. Almost at the same moment, someone knocked.

Full of doubt, Luo Qian steadied himself, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

A beautiful young woman stood outside. She looked familiar, but he could not fit her face to the beautiful figure he had hoped to see.

"You're..." Luo Qian was puzzled. She was dressed simply and freshly in a white T-shirt and vintage jeans, her glossy black hair tied in a ponytail. Her beauty was natural; even with no makeup at all, she was breathtaking.

"Hello. I'm Pei Sefei. Perhaps you'll recognize me better like this." She raised a magazine. On its cover, Pei Sefei wore a warrior's costume, her eyes as cold as ice, her gaze sharp enough to kill.

"Number Thirty-Five! It's you!" Luo Qian was stunned. "But... how did you find me?" Pei Sefei did not answer. Instead, she studied him with an intrigued look. His beard was scruffy and he was hardly well-groomed, though his clothes showed good taste. Someone living in a neighborhood like this probably was not very rich. Why had he helped her without a word? Instincts formed in childhood made her wary.

"Oh, I have my ways." The beauty smiled, tilting her head with a hint of pride. A spark of intelligence shone in her eyes as she watched Luo Qian.

Luo Qian let it go. He raised an arm and rested his elbow against the doorframe, whether deliberately or not placing it squarely in Pei Sefei's path as she was about to step inside. She ducked on instinct and almost ran straight into it.

"You!" Her cheeks puffed in anger, and she looked like a furious little lioness. Even Luo Qian felt his heart stir. The first time he had seen Pei Sefei, it had been in a photograph. She had seemed cold and striking then, with eyes like icy blades that could kill. The impression had stayed with him.

When he had opened the door and first seen her standing there, though, she had seemed refreshing, like a glass of iced lemonade on the hottest day of summer. She was lovely to look at, easy to be around. There was nothing overdone about her; her understated presence felt real.

When she refused to answer his question, her large, star-bright eyes had held mischief and wit.

And when he refused to let her in, that little-lioness expression had made her as adorable as a child.

Luo Qian could not help feeling dazed. How could one girl embody so many different qualities? Her beauty truly came naturally. The women of the Immortal Realm were beautiful enough, but each looked stamped from the same mold. After seeing enough of them, he had lost all interest.