Eight Immortals Tower

Wang Gang walked out of the county office carrying a packet of tea. Wang Zhong came up to him and teased, "Almost noon, and he didn't ask you to stay for lunch?"

"He did, but aren't I going to the Eight Immortals Tower?" Wang Gang handed him the tea with a smile. "How could the magistrate's food taste as good as a full-service restaurant's?"

"No banquet is a friendly banquet! I'm afraid they've set their sights on our stir-fried dishes!" Wang Zhong looked somewhat worried. "You really don't want me along?"

"A Hongmen Banquet is just the sort worth eating! You're no Fan Kuai who can help me eat raw pork. What would you go for?" Wang Gang walked on, smiling.

"Can't I be Zhang Liang?" Wang Zhong flared up.

"Even Wang Gui knows I'm going to do great things. I'll practice on them first!" Without looking back, Wang Gang waved and walked away.

The Eight Immortals Tower was one of Gusu's three full-service restaurants. Three stories high, it occupied a grand, spacious building, with colorful flags and painted poles on its roof, splendid brocades adorning its halls, and the music of strings and flutes ringing ceaselessly within.

Wang Gang had just reached the entrance when a waiter came to greet him. Leading the way, he said with a smile, "Young Master Wang, you're late! The gentlemen have been waiting quite some time!"

Wang Gang stopped and gave him a sidelong glance. "Do I have a habit of arriving early?" he asked coolly.

"Uh..." The waiter choked on his words. He slapped his own cheek and offered an apologetic smile. "I misspoke! Whatever time you arrive is exactly the right time, young master!"

Wang Gang nodded in satisfaction and casually tossed him a coin pouch. "Well said. A reward!"

"Thank you, young master!" The waiter caught the pouch, his smile growing even more attentive. "I'll be waiting right outside the door. Just call if you need anything!"

Four men were sitting in a private room on the third floor: three middle-aged men in splendid brocade robes and one burly, thickset fellow.

"Shopkeeper Shen, can you really get the Wang Family's secret stir-frying method from the Drunken Immortal Tower? Shopkeeper Gu spent a fortune and still couldn't poach anyone!" said a plump middle-aged man.

"Old Lu, don't laugh at me! You've put no less effort into the Drunken Immortal Tower than I have!" the lean Shopkeeper Gu retorted.

"Enough, gentlemen!" Shopkeeper Shen blinked his shrewd little eyes. "Let's set our own contests aside for now. If either of you had obtained this stir-frying method, I'd have nothing to say. But for none of our three full-service restaurants to have it while a small eatery monopolizes it-that won't do. It makes us a laughingstock!"

"Exactly! Those stir-fried dishes aren't necessarily all that good. People are only eating them for the novelty. But letting that little eatery have them all to itself is a slap in our faces!"

"True enough! But the Wang Family isn't easy to provoke either. What do you two suggest?"

"Hmph!" Shopkeeper Gu snorted coldly. "What's so difficult about provoking them? In strength, which of us doesn't surpass them? In business, we're full-service restaurants. As for estates, the Wang Family has only four. Which of us doesn't have fields stretching crisscross as far as the eye can see?"

"That's precisely why we can't act openly! Calling in so many favors over that little thing would only cost us face for nothing and let people laugh at our ugly table manners!"

Shopkeeper Gu fell silent. In terms of influence in Gusu, any of their families could defeat the Wang Family; the price would simply be rather high. But what would they gain? A few estates and shops? It wasn't as though they had some deep blood feud!

If they really did that, not only would people ridicule them, things would likely be awkward afterward too. Once their reputation was ruined, who would still associate with them?

"Naturally, we can't act openly!" Shopkeeper Shen smiled. "Allow me to introduce a fine fellow!"

He pointed to the burly man. "This is Jin Long, second leader of the Fish-Dragon Gang! He killed Western Xia scoundrels on the battlefield back in the day!"

"Greetings, shopkeepers!" Jin Long rose and cupped his fists in salute.

Shopkeepers Gu and Lu exchanged a glance, both somewhat displeased. They had assumed the man Shopkeeper Shen brought was his trusted subordinate. Who would have thought he would produce someone from the Fish-Dragon Gang!

What was the Fish-Dragon Gang worth? Were its people fit to sit with them?

Ignoring Jin Long, Shopkeeper Gu gave a smile that did not reach his eyes. "Shopkeeper Shen, I heard your family's eldest master once proposed a marriage to Wang Yukun, only to be turned down!"

Understanding dawned on Shopkeeper Lu, and he inwardly grew wary. He mustn't become the Shen Family's blade.

"Where does that come from? When the prefectural examination results were posted, how many wealthy households in Gusu with daughters of marriageable age didn't propose a match?"

Shopkeeper Shen was an old hand at reading people. Seeing their expressions, how could he not know what they were thinking? He hastily said, "Please don't overthink it, gentlemen! This is solely about the stir-fried dishes!"

Seeing that no one was paying him any attention, Jin Long felt he had lost face. Yet he dared not offend these men. With a grunt, he placed his hand on a corner of the table and, with a heave, actually snapped it off.

"Shopkeeper Shen, this table needs replacing. It's far too flimsy!"

Shopkeepers Gu and Lu took the broken corner from Jin Long, tried bending it, and examined the break. Astonishment crossed their faces. He really had snapped it off with his hand. Looking again at Shopkeeper Shen, who was stroking his beard and smiling without a word, they promptly praised, "A true hero indeed!"

The two raised their teacups to him with smiles. "With Gang Leader Jin's help, there's no chance this will fail!"

Jin Long smiled with restraint. "The Fish-Dragon Gang will be relying on you gentlemen in the future!"

"Of course, of course. We simply support one another!" The three drank a cup together.

Just then, Wang Gang pushed the door open and entered. The shopkeepers froze for a moment, then rose to greet him.

"I accepted Shopkeeper Shen's invitation today, but I didn't expect Shopkeepers Gu and Lu to be here as well!" Wang Gang returned their greetings. "Are the elders of your households well?"

"Very well, very well! Just yesterday, the old madam was saying she hadn't seen Yukun in so long and missed him terribly!" Shopkeeper Gu said cheerfully, looking utterly harmless.

Gusu was not large, and its many great families all had dealings with one another. Though there were schemes and calculations in the shadows, everyone remained perfectly courteous on the surface.

"The old madam is finding fault with me!" Wang Gang smiled. "I'll go pay my respects in a few days!"

"Good! I'll tell the old madam when I return. She'll certainly be delighted!" Shopkeeper Gu cheerfully ushered Wang Gang to the table. "Please sit, Yukun!"

Wang Gang looked around, wearing the hint of a smile. "I'm afraid there's no seat for me at this table!"

The men exchanged glances, their gazes settling on the seat of honor occupied by Shopkeeper Shen.

Whatever else might be said, Wang Gang was the head of the Wang Family and normally dealt with their masters. They were merely household stewards, so Wang Gang ought to occupy the seat of honor.

"Oh dear! How muddleheaded of me!" Shopkeeper Shen hurriedly ushered Wang Gang to the seat of honor.

"Surely this isn't proper! You're all older than I am!" Wang Gang offered polite objections while sitting down without the slightest hesitation.

"Hehe, it's only right, only right!" They sat down in turn, inwardly cursing Wang Gang's hypocrisy.

After a little idle conversation, waiters soon came in to serve the dishes. Looking at the table laden with delicacies, Wang Gang smiled. "This feast must have cost quite a sum! You'd better tell me what you wanted, Shopkeeper Shen, or I won't dare touch my chopsticks!"

"Not at all, not at all! It's merely to thank you for disposing of that spoiled wine for us, Young Master Wang!"

"Hehe, I'm afraid the money I paid for that bit of wine wouldn't even cover this meal! You're not being honest, Shopkeeper Shen!"

"Ah! Since you've asked, young master, I won't conceal it any longer!" Shopkeeper Shen put on a troubled expression. "Those stir-fried dishes your Drunken Immortal Tower has come up with have really left us in a bind!"

"It's not that we're jealous. It's just that whenever customers ask, we never have them. Inevitably, we suffer a few jibes and lose face!"

Shopkeeper Shen glanced at Wang Gang's expression and continued, "Might you be willing to part with your treasure, young master, and grant us that stir-frying method?"

"We're not just mocked by diners, but laughed at by our fellow restaurateurs too!"

"Even our masters have their complaints. But we aren't as clever as you, young master. We hope you'll take pity on us!"

The men took turns playing up their misery, hoping to win Wang Gang's sympathy.

Wang Gang smiled faintly. "There's a place in the south of the city called Sister-in-law Wang's Noodle Shop. Every bowl of noodle soup they sell has a large piece of meat in it, and people love it. Why don't you sell that?"

"How could such lowly food..." Shopkeeper Lu blurted out, then stopped.

"Your full-service restaurants already do a thriving business. Surely you can't refuse to leave anyone else even a mouthful of rice!" Wang Gang tapped the table. "You should know that a household rich enough to cut ice mustn't raise cattle and sheep!"

"Is there no room to discuss this, Young Master Wang?" Shopkeeper Shen put away his smile and asked seriously.

"Of course there is. That depends on the price!" Wang Gang leaned back in his chair and swept his gaze over them.

The shopkeepers exchanged a glance. Shopkeeper Shen considered for a moment. "From now on, the Drunken Immortal Tower won't have to pay when it comes to collect wine!"

"Oh? No payment for any of the wine?"

"The spoiled wine!"

"Fine. Whenever the Eight Immortals Tower needs stir-fried dishes, just place an order. I'll give you a five-percent discount!"

"Young master, aren't you joking?"

"Weren't you the one who started joking with me?"