Chapter 8: Boss Lu’s Bun Shop, Guarded by Yours Truly, Old Li
Page (1/3)
“Boys and girls in Little River Town have contracted strange black blotches. A rogue cultivator may be behind it.”
The person who posted the message was never found, but the information itself was true.
In the Azure Origin Realm, children could test their aptitude once they turned twelve and set foot upon the path of cultivation.
Had Uncle Li not happened upon Little Flower and her mother by chance, he would never have realized that Little River Town held secrets even he knew nothing about.
Only after calling upon his connections the previous night did Uncle Li discover that quite a few children in town who were nearing their twelfth birthdays had contracted the same strange illness as Little Flower. Their faces, too, were covered in black blotches.
Uncle Li had yet to uncover whether the blotches caused anything beyond disfigurement, but he had learned one thing at the same time: Boss Lu’s red-bean buns could make them disappear.
Once the news was spread, the current scene had naturally followed.
It was far too coincidental.
Uncle Li strongly suspected that the mastermind behind it all was targeting Boss Lu.
Thinking of the delicious buns, Uncle Li swallowed and his expression hardened with resolve.
He would never allow anyone to interfere with Boss Lu’s stall.
Boss Lu’s bun shop would be protected by him, Uncle Li!
At that moment, blazing flames erupted in Uncle Li’s eyes. Many of the people around him looked at him with awe.
…
“You want two red-bean buns as well?”
Lu Wu glanced at the masked person standing before her stall.
The bizarre attire, similar ages, and identical tastes made her increasingly suspicious that she had stumbled upon some strange organization.
Lu Wu noticed that the masked people who had bought red-bean buns earlier were huddled together in a corner, whispering among themselves. Some were crying, others laughing.
They seemed to be mentally unstable.
But they were paying properly for their buns, and as the shopkeeper, Lu Wu could hardly refuse them.
“Then please wait a moment.”
With worry written across her face, Lu Wu tucked the soft, glutinous red-bean filling into the dough.
The cooled red-bean paste resembled a shy young maiden, slowly concealed beneath the dough. To satisfy the masked people’s demands, Lu Wu made the next steamerful entirely in the red-bean flavor.
Under her wary gaze, the masked people caused no trouble. One after another, they obediently bought their buns and left.
Only after the last masked person had disappeared did Lu Wu finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Uncle Li, you’re here again.”
When she saw Uncle Li, Lu Wu smiled.
“Yes. Give this old man two Pure-Hearted Little Meat Buns.”
Uncle Li answered with a beaming smile.
He looked at Lu Wu like a kindly old grandfather.
It was only the strange gleam in his eyes that left Lu Wu utterly baffled.
The line continued moving forward.
When a middle-aged man finally reached the front, he stared at Lu Wu and gave a cold laugh.
Page (1/3)
Page (2/3)
“Oh? So this is the bun shop everyone’s been raving about? I don’t see anything special about it.”
“One low-grade spirit stone for a single bun? Heh. There sure are plenty of suckers.”
“You’re not all hired customers, are you?”
“I’m going to taste this so-called heavenly bun of yours.”
As far as the fillings went, they looked ordinary enough to him.
The aroma was certainly strong, but who knew whether these buns were all fragrance and no substance?
Lu Wu’s hands paused as she wrapped the order.
She looked at the man and blinked.
His features were utterly unremarkable. He was a cultivator, but seemed to be only at the early Qi Refining stage. He did not appear to have any backing, yet he had boldly jumped out to cause trouble.
Wasn’t this exactly the sort of cannon-fodder villain who appeared in those novels?
Could it be that she, too, was about to embark on the plotline of some useless protagonist’s rise to power?
Lu Wu rubbed her hands together expectantly. She was still thinking about how to deal with the situation when Lou Xiaotian approached with a smile and hooked an arm around the man’s neck.
“Wu Dalang, did you stop selling your sesame cakes? What brings you here to buy buns?”
Wu Dalang sold sesame cakes on the neighboring street, also doing business at night.
Over the past two days, Lu Wu’s bun shop had become wildly popular. Customers had been coming from all around, leaving Wu Dalang’s sesame-cake stall noticeably quieter.
He had originally come to taste the buns and scout out the competition.
But when he saw so many customers waiting eagerly, resentment got the better of him, and he let his mouth run away with him.
Now, after Lou Xiaotian gave him a cold warning with his eyes, Wu Dalang regained his senses.
He looked away and fell silent, too intimidated to say another word.
“Two low-grade spirit stones. Here are your buns.”
Lu Wu handed him the kidney bun and the little meat bun he had ordered, sighing in disappointment.
She had not even had a chance to fight back. How had the cannon-fodder villain already gone out like a snuffed candle?
“Hmph.”
Unable to swallow his pride, Wu Dalang snorted before picking up a bun and stuffing it into his mouth.
The moment he bit down, scorching hot broth burst from the freshly steamed bun, and his tongue began to burn fiercely.
Yet along with the pain came an exquisitely savory flavor that exploded across his mouth. It was so delicious that he felt his tongue might melt.
Wu Dalang froze.
Unconvinced, he took another bite of the kidney bun.
The chili oil used in the spicy kidney bun had been specially prepared by Lu Wu according to the system’s recipe. It was hot, numbing, fragrant, and savory, leaving a lingering aroma with every bite. The flavor was so good that one could never get enough.
His taste buds were conquered in an instant.
Compared with these buns, the sesame cakes he had inherited through three generations and proudly proclaimed delicious were nothing but a lump of dead dough, utterly unworthy of comparison.
He had been wrong. He had been narrow-minded.
“Waaaaah!”
Page (2/3)
Page (3/3)
The bun was scalding, yet Wu Dalang could not bear to spit it out. He chewed and chewed, and when he looked at Lu Wu again, his eyes had completely changed.
Lu Wu looked up and saw Wu Dalang’s eyes brimming with tears.
She tilted her head in confusion.
Lou Xiaotian had not even laid a hand on him. So why was this man crying?
Could he have suffered some invisible internal injury?
[Ding-dong. Congratulations, host. You have completed the mission.]
[Reward: three levels of Qi Refining cultivation and one random draw.]
As Lu Wu pondered the matter, the system notification rang out. She glanced at the interface and discovered that the mission progress was already full.
At the same time, she felt a warm current surge through her body.
The current was extraordinarily gentle. It flowed slowly through her meridians, washing away the fatigue weighing upon her.
She felt full of energy, vitality, and spirit, as though she had swallowed a supreme restorative pill.
Was this spiritual energy?
Feeling the changes within her body, Lu Wu was delighted.
Even so, she did not close her stall. Although the mission had been completed, she had promised to keep it up for seven days. She absolutely would not slack off or take shortcuts.
“Boss Lu, it’s my turn. I’ll have one meat bun and one red-bean bun.”
“By the way, Boss Lu, do you have any other flavors?”
One of the customers asked. Lu Wu found him somewhat familiar and guessed that he was a regular.
“There will be new flavors tomorrow.”
In high spirits, Lu Wu agreed to the customer’s small request.
The system had given her plenty of recipes. Over the next few days, she could experiment with more flavors and give something back to both her new and old customers.
Amid the laughter and conversation, the buns Lu Wu had prepared for the day were nearly sold out.
“No more Pure-Hearted Little Meat Buns?”
A customer frowned the moment he heard the news.
“That’s right. They’re all sold out for today. You can try the kidney buns or the red-bean buns instead. Both flavors are excellent.”
Lu Wu introduced the remaining choices to a new customer.
The person before her was a young woman who looked to be in her twenties. She was dressed in fine clothes and, judging by Lu Wu’s keen eye, came from a wealthy family.
Her accent was not that of Little River Town, either.
A customer from out of town?
Still unaware of the existence of RealmLink, Lu Wu waited for the woman to make her choice.
“What do you mean? I came all the way across two cities just to taste your meat buns, and they’re already gone?”
The young woman grumbled, visibly displeased, but she did not make things difficult for Lu Wu. She ordered one of each of the two remaining flavors.
After receiving the buns, she did not hurry to eat them. Instead, she took out RealmLink and began sending messages.
Page (3/3)