173 Entrustment and Compensation (1/2)
”It smells so bad…”
Ye Qingxuan held his nose and opened his eyes with difficulty. He could see blinding sunlight behind half a rotten leaf. The light was hot and it hurt his eyes. He lay in the foul odor and surrounding him was…oh, it was a pile of garbage. He was in a garbage pile?
Wait, why was he here?
He remembered that he had played the overture of Moonlight and sank into the melody. He did not even know to fight free. Then he became dizzy and the Professor…
Yes, he fell into the Professor's clutches!
The thought gave him a headache. His head really did hurt. The blood loss and exhaustion gave him empty pain and uncontrollable hunger. He quickly felt around his body. Good, his equipment was still there. Jiu Xiao Huan Pei and Indra's Eye were untouched too.
But…the Blood Path's sign was gone.
In its place was a folded piece of paper. He opened it with difficulty and held it close to read the small words. The elegant and flowing script only wrote a few sparse words.
”Come find me.”
The somewhat familiar face appeared in his mind again. Ye Qingxuan could not help but sigh. His head began to hurt again. That d*mned woman threw him in a pile of trash!
He pulled himself up and stumbled out of the garbage, but he felt extremely weak. His head pounded, his body hurt and he was hungry. He could barely even stand up straight.
”Hey, friend,” he said to the beggar squatting beside the garbage. ”Got any food?”
”…No!” The beggar froze before quickly hiding his bowl behind his back. He had half a bowl of leftover porridge!
”You have porridge! Why didn't you tell me…”
Ye Qingxuan's eyes brightened and snatched the bowl without hesitation, using his hands to eat. He did not feel anything was wrong until he saw the beggar's hurt eyes.
”Ah, sorry. I'm too used to stealing food.” He chuckled awkwardly and coughed, trying to put on a serious face. ”How about this? Go tell the Shaman's men that Holmes wants to see their boss…If you're lucky, in twenty minutes, you'll be sitting in…sitting in…” Ye Qingxuan thought for a bit and pointed at a classy restaurant that had not opened yet. ”I promise you'll be sitting there eating steak!”
The beggar gaped at him in doubt.
Seeing him like that, Ye Qingxuan just shrugged instead of urging him. ”Even if you don't go, your porridge's gone and you can't beat me so…”
Hesitating a bit more, the beggar stomped his feet, grit his teeth and walked away with tears in his eyes.
-
-
Twenty minutes later, faint perfume filled the air, along with soft music.
A tidy server led the stinky beggar across the fine carpet to the best spot in the entire restaurant. The server pulled out the chair politely, gesturing for the beggar to sit. Then he gently offered the menu.
On the other side, another server brought over freshly-poured red wine and introduced softly, ”Sir, today's main course is Burgundian escargot. I also recommend you try the fried lobster and swan liver…”
The beggar sat on the chair in a daze. He felt dizzy, as if he was in a beautiful dream. The guy who stole his porridge was telling the truth? Was he dreaming?!
”I want this, this and this…and that!” He stared at the menu filled with delicacies and pointed randomly. In the end, he was completely dizzy. ”I want everything on here! Uh…can I get take-out too?”
”It's no problem, sir,” the server replied with a smile. ”Please wait a moment. I will notify the head chef now.”
”Good! Hurry and go!”
The beggar was close to tears. They could even do take-out? Didn't they say that there was a dress code here? Thank god…no, thank the mighty Sherlock Holmes!
-
Downtown, in an insignificant tavern, the Shaman stood before the bar and studied the youth beside him. After a long while, he nodded. ”You look pretty good.”
”I smell horrible. Stop lying through your teeth.” Ye Qingxuan sighed. He stuffed rolls of paper up his nose but still could not block out the stench.
”Fine.” The Shaman sighed as well and moved to the side in disgust. ”Can you go shower?”
”Sorry, but no.” Ye Qingxuan rolled his eyes.