With the Ditch Fish drawing customers in, Li Long's fish sold quickly. Within an hour, he had sold every last one. Even the remaining dead fish were bought by a Corps employee in his forties.
As the man put it, he hadn't eaten Loach like these in years. Just looking at them made him imagine their delicious flavor and reminded him of home.
Li Long hadn't expected those big fish to be less popular than these tiny Ditch Fish.
With all the fish sold, Li Long was famished. He gathered his things and loaded them onto the rear rack of his bicycle. Before he could wheel it away, two people rushed over to claim the spot and even started arguing over it.
One of them wanted Li Long to settle the dispute. Seeing that he was the man who had tried to fight him for the stall space earlier, Li Long ignored him and wheeled his bicycle toward the Milk Tea Shop.
When those three thugs had come to make trouble for him earlier, this man had stood there watching. Now he wanted Li Long to uphold justice for him? Was he out of his mind?
"A bowl of milk tea, a nang-fresh from the oven-and a plate of ghee and a small dish of honey," Li Long told the young Uyghur man as he parked his bicycle and stepped inside. "You have freshly baked nang, right?"
"Yes, yes, we do." The young man smiled. "Was it really you who marched those men into prison at gunpoint? I heard about it, but I never imagined it was you!"
Li Long smiled as he paid.
"What, you heard about it too? Anyway, what's the story with these punks?"
"What else could it be? They're people who aren't in school and haven't