CHAPTER SIXTEEN

After unpacking their luggage, Lam Bai places the cases under the beds and hides the strongbox of coins behind them. If anyone broke into their room, they’d probably search the chest of belongings first before looking elsewhere, and then they’d be misled by the empty cases. Li Feng, wearing a gray tunic, and Lam Bai, wearing her standard servant clothes, are now ready to explore the city.

“Let’s head out, Bai,” Li Feng says, feeling his stomach. “I want to eat something before the sun sets.”

“Alright, young master Feng, let’s head out,” Lam Bai agrees and follows Li Feng out the door of their room. She locks the door behind them and hides the key in her clothes along with the key to the strongbox and a few hundred coins.

Li Feng leads the way down the wooden stairs and out of the hotel. Once in the street, Lam Bai leads the way, since her superior height allows for her to better spot a place to eat at. Most shops on the street are for either food or vanity items, and it doesn’t take long for Lam Bai to find a suitable establishment for herself and Li Feng.

Lam Bai enters first, and Li Feng follows her, never having lagged too far behind her while they walked. The establishment they enter is small, like a tea room. The floor has twelve tables spaced evenly around, and a stairway on the right side, leading up to the second floor and down to the underground floors. On the far end of the room, a door is labeled Staff Only and has a woman standing next to it. Next to the door, a sign says ‘Seat Yourself’, and Lam Bai obeys it.

Li Feng and Lam Bai take the table against the left wall and two away from the door. Each table has four chairs around it, one on each side, and the pair sit opposite of each other. In the center of the dark wooden table is a bell, the only thing on the table, and Lam Bai rings it.

At the sound of the ring, the woman standing next to the door at the back of the room closes in on Li Feng and Lam Bai’s table. The woman swiftly moves around tables and chairs, arriving at her destination without hitting a single patron.

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“What can I get y’all, today?” The woman asks, bending slightly at the waist and looking at Lam Bai, assuming her to be Li Feng’s parent.

“Young master, please,” Lam Bai says, gesturing to Li Feng with her open palm. The waitress looks at Li Feng and makes a mental note to treat the child as the leader of the table.

“I will have roast duck and keemun tea,” Li Feng says, looking up at the waitress.

“Excellent, and the lady?” The waitress asks, now looking at Lam Bai.

“Dumplings and jasmine tea,” Lam Bai says.

“Very well, I’ll tell the chefs and get your tea,” The waitress says and hurries back to the door, disappearing behind it.

For a few minutes, Li Feng listens to the conversations of people around him. When he was living in the Li estate, less than a month ago, Li Feng got all of his meals from the estate’s chefs. With very few exceptions, Li Feng spent every day, all day long, at the estate. Only a few times did Li Feng go with Lam Bai to fetch some things from shops, but they wouldn’t ever stop somewhere to eat.

The restaurant is lively, reminding Li Feng of restaurants he visited in his previous life. However, instead of magicians dressed in flowing robes of vibrant colors, the patrons in this restaurant wore bland tunics to hide their enormous muscles. Even the waitress had a simple blue tunic, hardly a step up from the customers.

The table behind Li Feng talks about a section of the mine under the city. Apparently, a large vein of iron was discovered recently, allowing the two miners to afford this meal. After months of living and eating underground, spending the day’s payment above ground is an infrequent luxury.

Most of the tables around Li Feng are discussing the same topics. The mines, recently discovered ore veins, their progress with cultivation, and the best whores available are frequently brought up. ‘How crude,’ Li Feng thinks, comparing it to how magicians would speak.

If Li Feng was still in his previous life, and the cultivators hadn’t destroyed his war-torn kingdom, he’d probably be resting at an inn and talking to adventurers about local monsters that need subjugating.

Li Feng knows a cultivator and a magician are very different, all the way down to their cores. A magician will constantly be looking for ways to advance himself in society or produce beneficial change in their community. A cultivator is, however, content to stay a poor miner for years while gradually increasing their cultivation. The difference is ambition, where a magician has it in excess and a cultivator has none.