Time went by peacefully for the boy. He worked at Cloud Tavern during the day and slept in one of the spare rooms in the old man’s house at night. After a few days of working here, he quickly realized that the people who ate here were regulars and made an attempt to remember their names.

A few days after he was given the job, the boy worked diligently as a waiter.

“Here you are, Mr. Po,” the boy set the plate of beef briskets on the table. Sitting there, the chubby middle-aged man the boy addressed as ‘Mr. Po’ smiled kindly and nodded. He then looked at the plate of food with hungry eyes and dug in.

The boy left the man to his meals and went to another customer that had just come in.

“Mr. Yuan, the same as usual?” the boy wore an amiable smile on his face.

“Yeah, kid! Also, tell Old Ouyang to give me a glass of beer as well,” the burly Mr. Yuan replied somberly.

“Understood,” the boy nodded. He then walked towards the kitchen and opened the door. Inside, the old man whose surname was Ouyang was cooking. The boy said, “A bowl of chicken soup and a glass of beer.”

The old man turned around and looked at the boy, “It’s that codger Yuan, eh? He wants a beer?”

The boy nodded. The old man sighed, “Give him a bottle, it’s on the house!”

Looking at the old man’s lamentations, the boy frowned but did as he was told. He took the bottle of beer from one of the shelves and a glass made out of porcelein before walking out the kitchen.

He put the bottle and glass on Mr. Yuan’s table before saying, “Elder Ouyang says it’s on the house.”

Mr. Yuan looked at the boy for a while before uncorking the bottle and pouring the contents into the glass. Emptying the glass, he said, “Give him my thanks.”

The boy nodded and did as he was told before attending to the other customers.

Kachak!

The door to the store opened and in came a handsome man who looked to be in his late 30s. He had sword-like eyebrows and an aquiline nose. He had a stern expression and an aura of authority which seemed to make others want to obey him. The man came into the store and looked around before sitting in an empty seat.

The boy hadn’t seen this man in his few days of working here but that didn’t matter. He would serve a customer regardless of who they were. He went to the handsome man and asked with a smile, “What would you like to eat?”

“I-!” the handsome man looked up at the boy and felt the words he was about to say stop in his throat. So handsome? The man felt a pang of envy towards the boy’s looks but knew better than to make it hard for a junior.

“You are?” the handsome man narrowed his eyes.

“Oh, I’m the new helper Elder Ouyang hired!”

“Brother Ouyang hired you?” the handsome man looked stunned. That stubborn prick hired someone?

“Oh, Mister knows the Elder?” the boy raised an eyebrow.

“Y-Yes.”

“I see. So, what would you like to order?” the boy flashed a bright smile.

The boy waited for an answer but even after a while heard nothing. The handsome man kept staring at him as though he had seen something rare.

The boy gently coughed into his fist, “Ahem! Mister, your order?”

That cough seemed to have brought the man back to reality. He seemed to have realized he had been caught staring and coughed to hide his embarrassment, “Sorry, it’s just that you’re too pleasing to look at that! And my surname is Lin. What’s your name?”

“My name is-” but before the boy could finish, the two of them heard Elder Ouyang shout at them, “Lin Yan, you ass! Stop hogging the boy!”

“What did you say, you twat?” the man surnamed Lin scolded angrily.

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“Boy!” Old Man Ouyang looked at the boy, “Give him this!” He then put a plate of food on the counter.

“Yes!” the boy responded and took the plate of food on the counter before putting it on Mr. Lin’s table.

“Enjoy!” the boy turned around to leave.

“Hey, boy!” Mr. Lin called out.

“Yes?” the boy turned to look at Mr. Lin.

“You say Brother Ouyang hired you?”

The boy nodded.

“Where did you come from?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Mr. Lin was flabbergasted.

“I just woke up a few days ago and know nothing else.”

“What!?” Mr. Lin screamed out. The other customers were interrupted and glared at him. “Sorry,” he spoke with his head down. Actually, he felt embarrassed. If there was a hole nearby, he would’ve surely dived right into it.

He then looked at the boy, “You mean to say you don’t remember anything?”

The boy nodded, “That’s right!”

“I see…” Mr. Lin stroked his chin and went into deep thought. The boy left him to his thoughts and attended to the other customers.

The day swiftly ended and the tavern closed. Old Man Ouyang and the boy were in the kitchen cleaning up. Old Man Ouyang washed the dishes and the boy swept the floor.

“We never did talk about your wages, did we?” Old Man Ouyang spoke suddenly.

“No, we have not,” the boy admitted honestly.

“So, what do you want to get paid?”

“Isn’t that something you’ll decide?”

“Hmm…” Old Man Ouyang’s hands stopped moving as he pondered.

After a while of silence, he started speaking again, “What about 4 silver taels per day?”

“Are you okay with that?” the boy was stunned. “The shop makes about 8 silver taels a day.”

“Of course!” the Old Man replied nonchalantly.

“You know you could increase the prices, right? Your food’s worth more than 75 copper taels.”

“I just want to make people eat my cooking and live a peaceful life,” the Old Man shook his head. “No use in raising the prices.”

The boy stopped sweeping and looked at Old Man Ouyang, “Just give me 2 silver taels.”

“Haha!” the Old Man laughed. “Boy, do you think I have a lack of money?”

“I do. If not, you wouldn’t be running a tavern which doesn’t even have a high number of customers.”

“You-!” the Old Man felt speechless. That’s so logical I can’t even refute it! “Don’t worry about it. I have enough money to last me a lifetime.”

“You do?” the boy raised an eyebrow. He then nodded understandingly, “Good. Then I want 10 silver a day!”

Old Man Ouyang nearly vomited blood. Give someone an inch and they’ll take a yard!

“Four silver per day and no more than that!” Old Man Ouyang spoke sternly.

“Okay,” the boy said no more and kept on sweeping. But later he murmured, “If you’re poor, just say so. What’s the use of posing?”

“You-!” Old Man Ouyang was about to strangle someone.

“Hey, Elder!” the boy changed topics swiftly. “You know what Qi Refinement is?”

“Ho?” the Old Man’s interest was piqued. “You’re interested in Cultivation?”

“Cultivation? As in agriculture?” the boy frowned in incomprehension.

“Are you even human?” the Old Man was stunned. “How do you not know about Cultivation?”

“I-” the boy couldn’t refute that. Of course, he didn’t know! He just woke up a few days ago and saw that this world’s common sense was way different from his.

“Haah~” the Old Man sighed. “Do you understand Martial Arts?”

“I do,” the boy nodded.

“This world is filled with Spiritual Energy or Qi. And those who absorb and refine Qi to become stronger are called Cultivators and what they do is called Cultivating.”

“Really?” the boy lifted his head and tried to look around for this ‘Qi’. “Why can’t I feel it?”

“You can’t feel Qi, no ordinary mortal can just feel Qi at a glance. Only Cultivators can do that!”

“So, are people born Cultivators?”

“No, everyone is born as an ordinary mortal.”

“Then-”

“You have to meditate and focus first to sense Qi. And this is where talent comes in.”

“Talented people will sense Qi faster.”

“Exactly! Of course, other than talent there is also a person’s constitution. But mostly, these go hand in hand.”

“Constitutions? You mean body types?”

“Yes,” the old man nodded. “There are different types of constitutions each with their own uses and features like the Pure Yin Body, Pure Yang Body, Sword Casket Body, and so on.”

“Each has different uses, I presume?” the boy asked.

“Yes. The Pure Yin Body I mentioned converts the energies of Heaven and Earth into Yin Qi and the Pure Yang Body converts them into Yang Qi.”

“Elder, can these constituitions be spotted at a glance?”

“Not all of them. The constitutions I mentioned can be. The former would make one look very effeminate and the latter would make one look masculine.”

“So,” the boy stroked his chin. “Only girls have the former and boys would have the latter.”

Old Man Ouyang choked on his saliva, “T-That’s not the case.”

“You mean…” the boy’s eyes widened.

Old Man Ouyang nodded awkwardly, “Yeah…”

The atmosphere became awkward in a second.

“You never told me what Qi Refinement is,” the boy adeptly switched subjects.

“R-Right! They’re realms each Cultivator advances through as they get stronger. Qi Refinement is the beginning. Then comes Blood Condensation, Tendon Transformation, Bone Forging, and Meridian Opening.”

“Is that all?” the boy raised an eyebrow.

“No,” Old Man Ouyang smiled. “There are lot more realms but there’s no need for you to learn about them now.”

The boy narrowed his eyes but said nothing. By this time, both of them had finished their work. The Old Man started to head upstairs leaving the boy to finish cleaning everything.

Just as he headed upstairs, the old man looked at the boy and warned, “Don’t try to Cultivate. Without a Cultivation Art, you’ll be sending yourself to death.”

“But-”

“No buts!” the Old Man said sternly. “There have been plenty who died due to Qi Deviation and I don’t want you to be one of them.”

“Fine!” the boy agreed. “But, you’ll teach me more about this stuff!”

“Deal!”

The Old Man headed upstairs and heard the boy’s voice from behind, “Elder, you’re a cultivator, aren’t you?”

Old Man Ouyang laughed but didn’t say anything, leaving the boy downstairs. Smart lad!