The inside of the shop was unlike anything Shao had ever seen before. Ceramic bowls packed with meats, grains, and vegetables sat in front of the store’s customers, and employees brought food from an unseen kitchen in the back.

A single large wooden table split the customers from the bartender and other employees, and more than a dozen stools provided a place where one could sit. Beyond this, several circular tables were scattered across the rest of the restaurant’s floor space. People eating from the bowls with wooden chopsticks sat at these tables.

Drawn forward by his nose, Shao took a seat at the bar and put his iron staff down on the ground as inconspicuously as he could manage. Naturally, the sound of a staff as heavy as an adolescent child being placed on the ground was enough to draw some attention. Once the staff was on the ground, Shao removed his bag from his back and allowed Zero to jump out on Shao’s lap.

The small black cat, finally free from the bag after several hours, stretched out his taut muscles. Immediately, Zero began staring at the nearest bowl filled with meat and fish like a tiger looking at a motionless deer. Shao rubbed Zero’s head lightly as he waited for one of the employees to notice him.

“Just wait a little longer, Zero. You’ll be able to get your fill of meat in a minute.”

After just a few seconds, an older man dressed in pragmatic clothing that was almost identical to the clothing Shao used to wear whenever he went out fishing. Shao wondered if the man was a fisherman himself, or if it was merely traditional for workers in Zhoushan to dress in such a way. Based on his bearing and the way that other workers bowed when he walked by, Shao assumed the man was the store’s owner.

“You a cultivator?” In a gruff voice, the store owner asked this short question.

“Yeah,” Shao said, though it felt strange for him to refer to himself in such a way. “I guess I am, technically.”

“You gonna cause any trouble?”

“No, sir. I just want to order some food.”

The store owner grunted, accepting Shao’s answer. “Well, I’m not one to deny a paying customer. What’ll you be havin’?”

“Uh… I guess I’d like a bowl of that.” Shao pointed to a bowl sitting in front of a nearby customer. “And, uh, do you have any green tea?”

“Of course. If you want to see the full menu, it’s written over there.” The store owner pointed over to a large wooden board hanging on the wall which had been marked with about a dozen lines of written characters.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Shao could make out a few vowels and one or two consonants. Otherwise, the menu was completely inscrutable to him. Like most fishermen from Bluecrest Village, he could not read. He knew basic arithmetic from buying and selling goods, but reading never came up. There was no schoolhouse in the village, and private tutoring was never an option. Shao had been working to feed himself and his grandmother ever since he was seven years old. He never had the time or desire to learn how to read.

Naturally, he couldn’t reveal this fact to everyone present in the store. He would just be asking to get robbed or swindled if that information got out.

“Bowl and tea, that sounds good,” Shao said as if confirming his order with the information written on the menu.

“By the way,” the store owner quickly looked down at Shao’s clothes and unkempt appearance, “do you have any money to pay with?”

“Yep,” Shao said cheerfully as he reached into his bag and rummaged around the small pouch given to him by Shen Jian several days before. He withdrew a single gold coin from a pile of twenty others and placed it lightly on the bar. “Is that enough?”

Shao knew that a gold coin was worth a hundred silver tael. In Bluecrest, he could use a gold coin to feed himself for months, but he didn’t know if it was the same in Zhoushan. As far as he knew, one of those bowls might cost three or four gold coins. Even if that was the case, Shao would be willing to pay.

“Yes, that’s enough,” the store owner said, eyeing the gleaming gold coin on the bar.

At this, one of the other customers cleared his throat loudly and approached Shao. The customer approached, prompting Shao to swivel toward the man with his hand slowly inching toward Bolin’s knife.

The customer was a teenage boy who was about the same age as Shao. The boy wore a scholar’s robes which bore a simple design that concealed the quality of its material. Something about the scholar made him stand out against the other customers at the restaurant. Once more, Shao’s instincts were trying to tell him something.

Cultivator.

Certain small things betrayed the scholar’s strength. He walked with a suspicious ease, and his physique was way too developed for someone who spent all his time reading tomes or writing manuscripts.

The scholar sat at the stool immediately next to Shao’s and placed a short stack of silver tael on the bar next to the gold coin. With a voice that betrayed a wisdom far beyond his age, the scholar said, “I’ll pay for him. A beef bowl and mug of green tea cost a total of fifteen tael put together, yes?”

“Yes,” the store owner grumbled, annoyed at the scholar’s interjection. “I was just about to tell him.”

“I’m sure you were,” the scholar said in a voice full of doubt. “While you’re at it, bring me the same order.”

The store owner took the thirty silver coins offered by the scholar and quickly disappeared into the back of the store, clearly still annoyed by the interaction.

“Thanks, I guess,” Shao muttered, confused. “It seems like you just saved me some money.”

“It was the principle of the thing.” The scholar shrugged. “Anyway, I’m Xiahou Ren. It’s nice to meet you.”