Jin took a long shower after he reached home and a nap for the first time in weeks after discovering his cultivation could substitute his sleep. When he woke up, it was already 6.20pm in the evening. Jin changed into another fresh set of clothes and decided to walk around Tiangong shopping district for a change.
He noticed that for some reason, it was definitely busier than usual and he guessed it was probably due to the upcoming Qixi Festival. The Valentine’s day for the Chinese while the Japanese celebrated Tanabata Festival in lieu of it. Although the Chinese businesses did market Valentine’s day in February, they did not let go of the business opportunities for Qixi Festival as well. Hence, it resulted in many Chinese to celebrate Valentine’s Day nearly twice a year.
Besides, Jin was also walking around to check which store would be worthy to invest in. He had the coupon booklet that was delivered by Shen Si Fang, the owner of Lele Diner Cafer, with him and was investigating the different various types of stores in Tiangong Shopping District.
Unfortunately, it was already in the evening when he got to the shopping streets and quite a number of places were bustling with crowds. As time passes, the queues would only get longer.
“Ah, perhaps I should just go back to my shop for food.” Jin thought to himself as he continued walking down the street to check on the food stores. Nothing really caught his attention since he was somewhat spoiled by his shop’s own food menu.
Suddenly, he picked up a whiff of a terrific fragrance of meat with his acute sense of smell from his cultivation. Despite the faint aroma, it felt strong, thick and especially appetising. He briskly walked around the street, trying to concentrate his senses to pick that particular smell of meat in the turmoil of good smelling food in the shopping street.
Soon, he found where the smell was and it was from a black pepper pork bun which an office worker recently bought. “Hi Mister, sorry to interrupt.” Jin tapped on his shoulder.
“No, I do not want anything.” The office worker adamantly refused any request.
“Sir, no. I am not selling anything, I just want to know where you bought this black pepper pork bun from?” Jin also gestured using his hands that he was not selling anything.
“Oh, you should have said so earlier. Go straight, turn right. You will see a street vendor there selling these buns. There should not be any queue and they are fantastic, go give it a try” The office worker kindly directed Jin and he was able to find it in no time.
Jin found a lady covered with a mask and cap, working all alone at the side of the street with her mobile stall attached to a motorbike. The smell was indeed coming from the stall’s mini traditional oven which he peeked to have a look.
“Mister, do you want to buy one?” The female shop vendor was constantly looking left and right which Jin suspected that she was selling without a licence. While having a licence might overall help mobile street vendors, the maintenance of the licence was expensive. Not to mention, the licence itself was a hassle to obtain especially for migrants or illiterate vendors.
“I will like one. How much?” Jin opened his wallet to check if he had any spare cash notes around since most transactions were wireless.
“15 Yuan,” she replied.
“Hold on a moment.” Jin tried to dig his pockets to see if he had any loose change. He did not really want to give his 50 Yuan note and get back even more small change.
“Ah, then make it two buns..” Jin figured he should buy one for Yun to try too.
“Understood, please hold on for a moment.” The female shop owner prepared an additional paper bag and bent down to check whether the black pepper pork buns were ready. Meanwhile, Jin got a little interested in the female stall vendor. Although he could not see her entire face behind that mask, her eyes alone were simply dazzling. Not to mention, he got upset that almost everyone in the street had a girlfriend with them. Hence, like what all singletons would do, he took the chance as an attempt to observe her body while she was working.
Her apron covered the majority of her body but Jin managed to catch a glimpse of her side view and he celebrated this little victory in his heart.
“Thank you for waiting, that will be 30 Yua-” In an instant, the female stall vendor seemed to saw someone she did not wish to see which she immediately pushed the buns to Jin and started to pack her items.
“Inspector?” Jin tried to look around and he noticed an officer with a blue shirt patrolling the streets. It could really be an officer from the City Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau. Even so, the police officers around the area might have the ability to fine the street vendors too.
“Do you want the money?” Jin asked once more as he knew how hard it was for unlicensed street vendors to be on the run while earning their keep. The female shop owner did not respond and frantically packed her items. However, she was still organised in her packing, which showed that it was not the first time she ran away from them.
The Police officer was getting nearer and finally noticed her. He immediately picked up his pace and Jin slowly distanced himself away from the street vendor but something else happened.
“Damn! Of all times why now!?” The female stall vendor cursed under her breath as she tried to get the motorbike to work. Soon, she quickly gave up and tried to push the stall but Jin could clearly see that it would be a futile event as he bit a part of the black pepper pork bun to watch the showdown between the stall vendor and the police officer.
However, when Jin took that small bite, his eyes lit up and immediately put the buns on top of the lady’s mobile stall. He pushed the mobile stall without asking if she needed any help. His new Grade in cultivation and the farming training he just completed, made him stronger than before. “Lady Boss, ride on the motorcycle. I will push you to safety!”
Seeing how the customer pushed the motorcycle so effortlessly, Zhen Qing agreed hastily and hopped onto the seat of the motorcycle. She did not care about the consequences of implicating other people in it. All she knew was if she ever got caught again, she might probably be jailed. Her customer ran and pushed the mobile stall further into other streets. She also started to notice that the police officer began to call for backup and ran towards her.
“Milk, Zeru. Any distraction tactics you two can pull off?” Jin sent his thoughts to his bellators as he ran with the mobile stall.
“Why did you not include me?” Peppers replied back angrily.
“I can help. Zeru, follow my lead.” Milk and Zeru took the chance to appear right beside an alley along the streets and they were holding beer bottles. They timed themselves perfectly the moment Jin ran past the alley.
“Kyaaaaaa! Help!!! Molester!!!” Milk was surprisingly in her nightgown and Zeru tried his best to pretend along by pulling her gown’s strap down. “Wahhahaha!” Zeru shouted as long as possible too. The officer heard the scream and immediately changed his target to Zeru. Unfortunately, the officer did not know what was waiting for him when Zeru knocked him out with his wooden sword.
“Why are you all still ignoring me?” No one had yet to reply Peppers.
Jin and Zhen Qing managed to travel a few streets further away from Tiangong shopping district where they finally stopped. “Thank you, kind sir.” Zhen Qing came down from the motorcycle with her mask and cap off to sincerely bow.
“Your Black Pepper Bun was worth it!” Jin was simply blinded by her beauty and could not say any more than that. He then took the 50 Yuan note out once again and passed it to her. “Kind Sir, after what you have done, please take this as a treat!” Zhen Qing refused Jin’s money firmly.
“No, please, just accept it. I know how hard it is to run a business.” Jin shoved the money back and began to walk away, feeling really happy to do a good deed.
“Sir, what do you work as? Perhaps I could patronise it.” Zhen Qing shouted at him after some hesitation.
At that moment, Jin suddenly thought of a very good yet simple plan to eat those delicious black pepper pork buns in the future.
