After leaving the two strange men behind me, I begin looking for restaurants with something light to eat. Despite not having anything to eat in the last who-knows-how-many hours, I’m only feeling slightly peckish.
There are plenty of options if I don’t want to travel far for food, and I don’t, but even more options if I’m willing the travel all the way to the Inner City for extravagant eats, which isn’t happening.
The quality, or rather the type, of food as well as its price goes up dramatically the closer one gets to the Inner City. In the Outer City, most of the food consists of more mundane affairs such as rice, pork, chicken, cabbage, and other things that don’t sound too interesting but have a predictable taste. In addition, most places nearby only cost a handful of copper for a full meal, a pot of tea, and a private room to eat and drink it all.
The Inner City, on the other hand, costs handfuls of silver for the simplest of meals. Everything there seems to be made in ‘spiritually rich’ areas or harvested from vicious beasts. And for me to get a private room there would shoot the cost up into the ‘handfuls of gold’ territory— before I even order food!
The second I realize that, I calmly close any of the webpages I have open related to dining in the Inner City and turn my attention toward the meals of more reasonable people— the kind that have enough common sense not to pay the price of a house on a single meal!
“What’s wrong with people?” I mutter to myself as I try to ignore the idiocy of rich people in this city.
“Is the food really that good?” There has to be a reason to justify spending a fortune on it, right? No one is that dumb, or rich, that they’d eat such expensive food just for appearances, right?
Part of me wants to try it just to say I did and then never do it again, but at the same time, I’m on a budget right now and I’m not willing to make such terrible financial decisions.
After my inner turmoil settles, I ultimately decide to go to one of the closer places to Physician Bing’s house. Relative to the areas surrounding us, it is an upscale business with an open layout, private rooms on the second floor, and a nice and quiet atmosphere.
When I arrive, I find that the staff aren’t as personable as I’m used to, but it doesn’t really bother me since it just means I get a private room that much faster.
I’m brought up to the second floor and through a pair of thin, sliding doors and into a nice room. It is plainly decorated with a circle table in the center, four lampposts in the corners to brighten up the room, and four cushions at equal distances around the table.
It doesn’t scream ‘rich’ by any sense, but everything seems to be of good quality construction and make, so I’m more than happy to sit down as the waiter begins to take my order.
The man, dressed in plain white robes with his black hair tied behind his head by a string, asks, “Would this distinguished young master like to begin with our famous Lotus Petal tea? Or perhaps the distinguished young master would prefer our White Fragrant tea?”
He seems a little nervous, which I take to mean he’s new, so I ask, “Which one is your favorite? Also, it’s just Lan Jin, calling me a distinguished young master is just weird.”
“This—“ the man almost imperceptibly clears his throat, “Ah, master Lan Jin, my preference would actually be the more simple red teas that our establishment has to offer. They have a wonderful fragrance, a good coloration, and fill the body with warmth and energy. In particular, I prefer the red tea leaves transported in from my village, Red Orchard.”
“I’ll go with that. And it’s just Lan Jin, no ‘master’,” I respond. “Is there a menu, or do you give me recommendations for food?” I saw some of the food choices available online, so the lack of a menu isn’t really a problem, but I’m more curious to see whether they have any seasonal options that I might not have noticed.
The man doesn’t respond by giving me a menu, he begins asking questions instead. “Would you prefer something sweet or savory, light or filling?”
“I don’t really care too much about sweet and savory, I just want something light to coat my stomach. I’m not too hungry, but I don’t want to be hungry half an hour after I finish eating.”
The man nods his head and says, “Then I would recommend ordering our chef’s pork dumplings. He doesn’t skimp on the pork, so you’ll be full for a while, but because they come in small orders we can bring you more until you’ve had your fill.”
“Alright, I’ll go with the Red Orchard red tea and the pork dumplings, then.
A few minutes later, I am served a pot of steaming hot tea. The teapot is made out of ceramic and glazed black. It looks nice, but doesn’t have any other distinguishing features.
“Would you like me to stay and pour your tea for you?” The man asks me after he pours my first cup of tea.
“No, thanks,” I respond. I remember Physician Bing’s ‘training’ from earlier and think I should probably continue pouring my own tea to get used to the way my body is functioning now. It isn’t as bad as it was, but I seem to have a lot more energy right now… enough that I’m worried about getting jittery if someone were to watch me drinking tea.
“Very well,” he replies. “I will be back shortly with your food.”
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“Awesome, thanks.”
With that, the man leaves and I’m left alone to drink my tea. He was right. The tea is really fragrant and it has a nice color to it, but, despite the steam coming off of it, it isn’t as hot as I would have thought.
“That’s odd,” I say to myself with the cup of tea in the palm of my hand. The tea I had last night had a far better temperature despite me taking a while to pour myself a cup. “Maybe they just let the water sit for a minute to avoid anyone getting burnt?”
I watch the tea closely as I take a sip. The flavor is really good, and it is hot enough that the aroma spreads through my mouth and nose as I drink it, but it lacks the heat that I typically associate with tea served at restaurants.
“Maybe I could heat it up?” I look at the cup and hold my finger right above the water as I channel the red energy of fire into the cup and, after a few seconds, the water begins to boil but I still lack the sensation of having something really hot in my hands.
“Okay, so I don’t think it’s the tea that’s cold…” I look at my cup of tea before taking a curious sip. It tastes roughly the same, maybe not as tasty as before, but it’s just a heck of a lot hotter now. Probably to the point where I should be getting burnt from drinking it, but obviously I’m not.
“Does this have something to do with me running qi through my body?” I wonder. I want to perform tests, but I doubt playing with elemental energies inside of a restaurant would be smart or appreciated.
“I really wish Physician Bing was around to answer some questions,” I sigh despondently. “Figuring this stuff out would be so much easier with someone to bounce my questions off of.”
I finish off half the pot of tea before the waiter returns with my food, each time pouring myself a glass and heating it until it is scalding hot before I drink it. The flavor suffers a bit because of it, but I don’t think there’s anything else like burning yourself from the inside out with a cup of something hot to start the day strong.
The temperature in the room also seems to have increased by a degree or two, but it isn’t so much that the waiter notices any difference.
After placing the food in front of me, along with a red napkin, a pair of chopsticks, and a brown-red dipping sauce with sesame seeds inside it, the waiter checks to see if I need anything. I respond that I don’t, so he leaves once more and I’m left to deal with the problem of chopsticks.
I know how to use them, but I’m only good when it comes to sticky rice, noodles, and chunks of meat. Things like dumplings that shift a bit when you pick them up still get the best of me sometimes, so I’m glad the waiter isn’t around to see my pick one up and immediately drop it on the table.
“This is why humans evolved to use forks,” I grumble bitterly as I try to pick up the dumpling again. It takes me a try or two, but, finally, I realize that I can just pinch the tip of the dumpling with the chopsticks to keep them from falling. It probably wouldn’t win me any praise from anybody, but at least I’m not dropping my food into the sauce while I dip it.
The sauce is salty but also a little spicy. It’s a nice blend that adds some character to the steamy pork and cabbage in the dumpling. I’m big on spice, so I actually wish it were a little spicier, but I’ve got to give props to the chef for his food. Not exactly breakfast food, but it sure tastes good!
Before long, the plate of dumplings is polished off and I’m debating ordering more. The waiter returns before I can make up my mind so, of course, I end up ordering another plate full of dumplings.
This time, I take a little bit longer to eat my food and drink my tea as I open the Omega Browser and begin searching for places I can buy some nicer clothes. What I have on right now is decent and fits remarkably well considering someone bought it for me without checking for my measurements, but it is a little tight in some areas, loose in others, and I still don’t know how to tie the sash so I probably leave a wonderful impression on everybody I meet.
Outside of the Inner City, which is way too expensive considering the cost of something called Ten Year Aged Oak Silk that they use to make their clothing, the best place to buy clothing is a shop in the Outer City owned by some old guy and his family.
Looking at their selection of materials and their prices, I notice that they are pretty much a mid-high end boutique. I wouldn’t normally go to a place like that considering my usual lack of finances, but compared to what Physician Bing gave me earlier, the small chunk of small silver coins required to buy the clothing there seems like an excellent deal.
I even manage to learn how the currency works in this place; Copper coins are at the bottom followed by large copper coins, small silver coins, large silver coins, small gold coins, and large gold coins. Then there are special denominations of currency called qi crystals, which I’m familiar with from the tests Physician Bing ran. Each higher denomination of currency is worth ten of the denomination just below it, with the exception of qi crystals, so it gives me a good evaluation of my wealth.
In the Outer City, I have a very significant amount of money. If I wanted to, I could spend the rest of my life living frugally off of the one hundred small gold coins. That being said, one hundred small gold coins wouldn’t even last me a week in the Inner City. In fact, I could blow it all in a single purchase if I decided to buy a pair of Ten Year Aged Oak Silk pants.
When I look up the spatial ring that Physician Bing told me I might want to buy, I realize he must have smacked his head against the wall at some point. For the cheapest spatial ring, they don’t have a price tag in the gold range, they have a price tag in the qi crystal range! Qi crystals don’t even have a fixed exchange rate; when I check what they are worth in gold, I find that you’d need treasured items, weapons, spiritual herbs, cultivation manuscripts, and other such nonsense in order to trade for them. And I don’t have any of that!
“How the hell am I supposed to get a spatial ring?” I wonder, not quite certain why Physician Bing even bothered telling me about something I obviously couldn’t afford. My first thought is that maybe they were worth less when he was younger, but considering people could live to be over a hundred years old and still move around like he does, I doubt that’s the case— the market for them is probably just as big as it was when he was my age.
“Whatever,” I sigh. “I don’t need a spatial ring right now, anyways. I can look into ways to make some money after I’ve got the basics taken care of.”
Not long after that, I am finally ready to leave the restaurant, but I face one tiny problem: the restaurant doesn’t normally deal in coins greater than silver!
It takes some negotiating, but the waiter and an older gentleman urge me to set up a tab with the restaurant and come back as frequently as I’d like. The food is good, so it isn’t as though I wouldn’t enjoy doing that, but I am a little hesitant in what would happen to my money without it being in my control.
They understand, and I feel as though they’ve been through similar situations in the past because they quickly draw up a receipt showing me how much I ordered today versus the one small gold coin that I paid them as well as the remaining value of the small gold coin. I receive the older gentleman’s signature on the bottom of the receipt before we finally part ways; me with a new regular restaurant for the next 9 large silver coins, 9 small silver coins, 8 large copper coins, and 1 small copper coin that I spend there, and them with a shiny golden coin.
At least it is close to Physician Bing’s place.