Chapter 425: Ji Mu Is Back

Chapter 425: Chapter 425: Ji Mu Is Back

When Xu Laifu heard this, the friendly expression on his face vanished. He was about to go over and shoo the person away.

He had the patience to serve even the most difficult of customers, but not that Little Demon Star from the Wan Mansion. The boy had ruined his sauces on multiple occasions and even threatened to wreck the shop.

He’d rather throw the food out than sell to someone like that.

Ji Huan stopped him.

"When you’re running a business, you can hold a grudge against anyone but money. You hate him, and he hates us right back. So what? No matter how much he detests us, he can’t get rid of us. In fact, he still has to pay us for our food. Doesn’t that feel pretty good when you think about it?"

To be honest, Xu Laifu didn’t quite see what was so good about it.

’Wouldn’t it be even better not to sell to that Little Demon Star and leave him craving it?’

Still, Ji Huan had a point. He shouldn’t hold a grudge against money.

Besides, that naughty boy was mercurial. If he didn’t get his way, he might bring people to trash the shop again.

"I’ll go serve him."

Xu Laifu composed himself and walked straight over to serve the customer.

Santai saw that Ji Huan had gone back to her work. Feeling confident in his disguise, he relaxed. With one hand, he blocked the people behind him who were trying to cut in line, while his other hand pointed all over the place, buying nearly one of every item the shop had in stock.

As he took the payment, Xu Laifu finally understood the satisfaction Ji Huan had described. He even enthusiastically told Santai, "Please come again!"

They were busy until noon, by which time they had sold out of everything.

They had intentionally set aside two bags, one of which they gave to the old gourmand.

After eating the spicy braised duck necks yesterday, the man had practically become their spokesman. Not only did he help draw in customers, but he also explained the food to them. Today, he had even brought over all his neighbors and friends.

They had to show their appreciation somehow.

He hadn’t accepted it when they offered it yesterday, but today, they absolutely wouldn’t let him refuse.

After the old gourmand left, overjoyed with his oil-paper bag, the old Taoist—trussed up like a rice dumpling—was seething, his eyes wide and his beard trembling with rage.

"You can give it to others for free, so why not me? At the very least, I’m your savior!"

"Say ’savior’ one more time and I’ll knock your teeth out!" Ji Huan threatened, shaking her fist at him.

The old Taoist flinched, then muttered cheekily, "Well, I’m also the one who brought you two together."

He had found out about Guan Shan and Ji Huan’s relationship and felt the young couple ought to treat him with respect.

And what was the result? He’d only taken a single duck neck, and she’d had him tied up like this.

’So heartless.’

"Do your Three Pure Ones know that you’ve started a matchmaking business on top of all your swindling? And let me remind you, you didn’t ’take’ it. You ’stole’ it."

During the busiest part of the day, a hand had snaked out from a gap in the crowd, fumbled around on the long counter, and latched onto a duck neck.

Awkwardly, the other end of that very duck neck happened to be in Ji Huan’s hand.

Ji Huan had just picked one from the basin and was about to chop it up for a customer when she unexpectedly reeled in a foolish old fish.

She called out for Guan Shan, and he appeared from the back courtyard the moment the words left her mouth.

The old Taoist, completely oblivious to the approaching danger, was still hiding behind someone and tugging insistently on the duck neck.

Naturally, he was caught without a struggle.

The old Taoist’s face crinkled into a smile. "How can you call the actions of a man of the Dao ’stealing’? Benefactress, you are a kind and benevolent soul. Just think of it as me... begging for alms..."

Ji Huan scoffed. "I’ve heard of monks begging for alms, but never Daoists. Besides, this isn’t your first time, is it? On the day of the cooking competition, if I saw correctly, you were the most aggressive one in the crowd, snatching up food. You even made off with one of our plates, didn’t you?"

She had seen him clearly from the stage that day. The old Taoist had been skulking through the crowd. When the two dishes from the first round passed by, he had remained impassive. But during the second round, he revealed his ferocious nature. Few people could out-snatch him, and he nearly got into a fight.

"For a Daoist, you’re certainly full of worldly desires."

The old Taoist looked sheepish. "That ’worldly desires’ stuff is for monks, not us Daoists..."

’Now he remembers he’s a Daoist.’

"Remember what I said last time? Or do you really want me to shave your head and make you a monk?"

The old Taoist choked. "Benefactress, you’re so young, yet your aura is so menacing. You really shouldn’t... shouldn’t... Why not try being a little kinder?"

Ji Huan nodded thoughtfully. "Kindness, you say? Alright, I’ll be kind to you right now."

The old Taoist jumped at her words. Seeing her approach with a mischievous glint in her eyes, he thought she was actually going to shave his head and was so frightened his beard began to tremble.

Knowing it was useless to plead with Ji Huan, he turned his head to look at Guan Shan, who was standing nearby.

"Young man! Warrior! Hero! Our chance meeting was fate. You should at least show some sentiment for our brief acquaintance..."

Guan Shan shot him a cold glance, showing no signs of sentiment whatsoever.

The old Taoist stomped his foot in frustration. "You’re a grown man! Can’t you control your own wife? Morals are decaying, and husbands have no authority! I’m telling you, a man should marry a virtuous woman..."

He would have been better off keeping his mouth shut. Those words made Guan Shan’s brows furrow, and his glacial stare was even more intimidating than Ji Huan’s.

The old Taoist instantly fell silent.

Ji Huan walked up to him, leisurely unwrapped the last oil-paper bag, and took out a braised duck foot. She dangled it right under his nose.

"Want a bite?"

The old Taoist’s face lit up instantly. "I just knew it! Benefactress, you’re a truly benevolent person..."

Ji Huan slowly shook her head. "I’m no great benefactor, and there’s no such thing as a free lunch. I can let you eat your fill, even more than your fill, but you have to do something for me in return."

The old Taoist nodded eagerly.

He stopped halfway through his nod and declared righteously, "I must say this first: I won’t do anything illegal!"

Ji Huan’s eyes crinkled into a smile. "Don’t worry, it’s not illegal. It’s... delivering justice on behalf of the heavens."

Shut in his room, Di Rong gnawed on a duck foot, then a duck neck, and after the duck neck, a duck head. He also had an assorted platter of braised goods. Only after letting out three loud burps, when he couldn’t swallow another bite, did he sullenly stop.

Lunch was definitely off the table.

Santai figured his young master had eaten more than his fill. ’The craving has probably passed,’ he thought. ’We shouldn’t need to go buy more tomorrow.’

But to his surprise, the more Di Rong ate, the more addicted he became. He ordered Santai to go again tomorrow.

’Go again it is, then,’ Santai thought. ’It’s rare for the young master to like something this much.’

Having eaten and drunk his fill, Di Rong recalled that he hadn’t seen much of Ma Chao lately.

"Did he go looking for his relative again? Last time he went to that... what was it, that village? Didn’t he come up empty-handed?"

Santai reminded him, "Young Master, it wasn’t that he couldn’t find them. It was... we were busy chasing after you. Brother Ma never even got the chance to look."

The memory of that experience made Di Rong’s stomach churn.

He had ridden eagerly for half a day to reach Huangban Village, only to step in a pile of dog dung the moment he dismounted.

A group of grimy children had pointed and laughed at him. For Di Rong, this was the ultimate humiliation. He was so furious he didn’t even enter the village, simply turning his horse around and riding straight back to Yeyang.

Since he left, Ma Chao naturally had to follow, which meant the search for his relative was a failure.

Di Rong felt not the slightest bit of guilt.

’Poor relatives from a godforsaken place like that are better off not found anyway.’

Still, seeing how persistent Ma Chao was, he wondered what kind of relative could be so important.

Ji Xiu’e returned home after a walk through the village and hastily shut the courtyard gate.

Huang Juncai was in the courtyard playing with the dog. He looked up, saw her panicked expression, and asked, "What’s wrong, Mother?"

Ji Xiu’e’s face was ashen, and she ground her teeth. "Ji Mu... Ji Mu is back!"