WAYCAC Chapter 13

TL: Hua

Chapter 13: Shop owner – The wealthy Xiao Pei bought a “golden” fish, unaware of its…

Pei Xiting followed the two men and bought a string of mini candied haws on the way, with two hawthorns on one stick.

“Hey, look over there!” Pei Jintang walked at the forefront, waving to signal the two of them to look at the shop at the end, “‘Crispy Fishbone’, Xiting, do you want to eat it?”

Pei Xiting was struggling with the sticky candied haws and immediately said vaguely, “Eat.”

The three of them went over and saw a small shop with only a table stacked with chests and crates. It was obviously not used to entertain guests. At the entrance of the shop, there was a stove with a pot of fragrant fish covered with green bamboo leaves.

“Freshly cooked out of the pot, and it’s still fragrant. Just one tael each.” The boss came out of the door with a hot scallion pancake in his hand.

“How much?!” Pei Jintang was still sniffing the aroma of the scallion pancakes. Hearing this, he said in disbelief, “Is this fish birthed by a golden dragon? You actually want to sell it for one or two taels? Even the big restaurants in Yejing don’t dare to sell it at this price!”

“It’s just an ordinary crucian carp.” The boss said with a smile, “But it’s a lot of work for one person, so I can’t sell it cheap.”

Zhao Yi tried to reason with him, “Boss, are you deliberately driving away customers?”

“No. I’m picky about customers—only those who are rich and tasteful are worthy of being my customers.” The boss took a bite of the pancake and said confidently.

Pei Jintang thought: What rich and tasteful, isn’t that just a foolish and rich sucker?

Zhao Yi was also very curious, “What if there are no rich and tasteful customers and you can’t sell anything?”

“I’ll eat it myself,” said the boss, “or feed it to the little beggars.”

Zhao Yi and Pei Jintang exchanged a glance and thought to themselves: So you want to rob a customer, but you’re also kind enough to give the fish away! Only fools will patronize this place!

“Pah.”

Pei Xiting put the money on the table and said under the stunned gaze of the two, “It smells good; I want one to try.”

“Great.” The boss walked over with the cake in his mouth and took out the clean bamboo leaves from the bamboo basket and neatly wrapped one for Pei Xiting, “Here.”

The hand holding the bamboo leaf bag is fair and slender, with distinct bones and flesh. There is a layer of calluses on the purlicue, fingertips, and the palm area below the thumb.

Pei Xiting withdrew his gaze in the blink of an eye and, at the same time, reached out to take the bamboo leaf package. He took a bite while Pei Jintang and Zhao Yi were staring at him intently and swallowed it down with immersion. After savoring it for a moment, he opened his eyes and said, “Well, the meat and bones are tender and the soup is thick. It’s delicious.”

The boss raised his eyebrows and smiled, “Young master has good taste!”

“I will come here often in the future.” Pei Xiting asked the boss to pack one for Pei Jintang and Zhao Yi and one for himself and pay the bill together.

Pei Jintang and Zhao Yi stood behind the victim stiffly.

“I like to sleep in, so I don’t sell fish in the morning; this hour is about right.” The boss reminded him as he worked, lest the tasteful customer come at the wrong hour and make a wasted trip.

Pei Jintang’s attitude towards fish is average. It tastes delicious, but in his opinion, let alone one or two taels, it’s not even worth fifty cents. He ate such a small fish with anger, fear, and respect and said, “You made one sale in a month, but this one sale can feed you for months.”

“That’s right.” The boss did not feel ashamed of charging such an exorbitant price and winked at the fool, “Come often.”

“Thank you.” Pei Xiting picked up the wrapped fish and turned away.

Pei Jintang and Zhao Yi hurriedly followed.

The boss looked at Pei Xiting’s back, opened his mouth, and took a bite of the cake, smiling: “What a beauty. Why haven’t I seen him before?”

“Pei Xiting, the third young master of Guanglu Temple’s Pei-shaoqing, there’s a portrait of him on the Meiyu List.” A man jumped down from the back of the roof, snatching the cake from the owner’s hand and stuffing it into his mouth, letting out a contented “mmm”.

“My cake!” The boss chased after him angrily, “I’ll give you that pot of fish; can you spare my cake next time! This is the first cake out of the oven!”

The other person took a long step, sat leisurely at the table, stuffed his mouth with the cake, and said vaguely, “No, don’t be stingy; I don’t come here often.”

The boss was powerless to save the situation, sighed, and said, “I’ve heard of Third Pei; he is really worthy of his reputation… No, he is even more amazing, but don’t they say he is a soft-tempered person? The temperament of this person just now is clearly like he has been pampered since childhood.”

The man finished his cake and motioned to the boss to pour him a glass of water. He drank it to moisten his throat and said, “What kind of idiot would believe in rumors? Everything must be seen with one’s own eyes… Come on, let’s get down to business.”

He wiped his mouth and said, “I want to find the trace of Po Yinlin.”

“You’re late.” The boss picked up the cup, washed it in the basin, then put it back in place. “A month ago, someone stole Po Yinlin from the young Marquis Shangguan and took it to Baiyou Mountain to exchange it with the buyer. The buyer took Po Yinlin but has not left the suburbs of the capital until today.”

The man frowned. “Dead?”

“Yes.” The boss said slowly, “He was hacked to death, his head was barely hanging on his neck, and his face was disfigured. He was found this morning, and his body is estimated to be in Longhe Division right now.”

“Strange, if you want Po Yinlin, just kill the person and get the treasure; why destroy the face?” The visitor thought, “Could it be that the buyer has a special identity, and the murderer is afraid that others will find some clues from him?”

The boss said, “It’s possible.”

“For now, it seems that we can only find the person who stole Po Yinlin first. He might have clues about the identity of the buyer.” The man raised his chin. “Tell me, how much do you want?”

“No amount is enough.” The boss said apologetically, “Someone has bought all his information. If I say a word, I will be beheaded tomorrow.”

The man said, “I will pay more.”

The boss was unmoved. “I, Qi, am not a money-grubber. I have professional ethics—” The man pulled out the kitchen knife from his back and pressed it on Boss Qi’s neck, staring at him indifferently with a pair of black and white eyes.

“…” Boss Qi changed his words, “Pei Xiting.”

The visitor was puzzled, “Huh?”

“On the day when Po Yinlin was stolen, it was Pei Xiting who met Shangguan Jie. But—” the boss said with a smile, “If you intervene in this matter, aren’t you afraid that the East Palace will come for you?”

The visitor took back the kitchen knife and said, “If you don’t sell me out, how will the East Palace know?”

“It’s hard to say.” Boss Qi pulled himself away and lay on a recliner not far away, looking at him with a smile. “That one is very hard to fool, so you’re on your own.”

“If you dare to sell me out, before the East Palace kills me, I will chop you into meat sauce, knead you into meatballs, cook you, and feed you to the dog!” The man with the kitchen knife threatened, turned around, and left.

Boss Qi stepped on the pedals, leaned back, closed his eyes, and said quietly, “Young men these days are full of anger.”

*

Pei Xiting had no idea that he had been sold. He was chasing someone—about three minutes ago, a little beggar stole Fourth Young Master Zhao’s purse. According to the victim, there were three silver ingots and a hundred-liang silver note in it, which was taken out to invite them to have fun.

“Stop!” Pei Jintang rushed to the front and roared, “Stinky boy, I’ll beat your ass!”

The little beggar was obviously an acquaintance of this place, running very fast and skillfully shuttling between the forked paths with his small body, but he didn’t let the three of them catch him.

Pei Xiting looked at Pei Jintang, who was leading the way and sliding like a hot wheel, and then looked back at Zhao Yi, who was hanging on his tail, holding his knees and hanging his head. He thought that the success rate of catching the thief was not high, so he was about to go around and mobilize the power of the masses, but suddenly, one hand reached out from the corner in front of him—

Pei Xiting’s pupils contracted, and he instinctively wanted to stop, but it was obviously too late. However, two inches away, he was pulled into the corner and flipped over to press against the mountain wall.

The man covered his mouth and warned him in a low voice, “Don’t scream.”

It was Shangguan Jie.

Crown prince doesn’t make a lot of appearance in the early chapters because he’s stalking Xiao Pei (ಥ _ ಥ)