Chapter 81: The Shopkeeper
Li Changlu tore into the roast chicken with gusto, devouring it ravenously. The flavor was truly exquisite, and before long, more than half the chicken had disappeared into his stomach.
In the quiet tavern, a gentle voice whispered beside Li Changlu’s ear.
“Is it fragrant?”
Li Changlu wiped the grease from his lips and glanced up at the speaker. He was stunned. Before him stood a woman clad in a flowing white dress. Her face was pure and graceful, her figure slender and elegant, her waist as delicate as a willow branch.
She stood like a figure from a painting, tall and graceful in the tavern, smiling softly as she gazed at Li Changlu.
Li Changlu stared at her in a daze. She seemed so familiar, as if she were the goddess of every underdog in martial arts tales—the very image of the Maiden of the Dragon, as he had always imagined her.
“Auntie…” Li Changlu cleared his throat and blurted out.
“Auntie?” The woman in white pressed her lips together in amusement.
“Ah, miss, do you wish to know how the roast chicken tastes?” Li Changlu cleared his throat again, transforming from a frenzied chicken-devouring nobody into a refined gentleman, exuding an air of cultured grace…
Then—
He gripped the roast chicken tightly and leaned toward the woman in white, waved it in front of her, and quickly drew it back.
“Is it fragrant?” he asked. “Take a sniff, a careful sniff.” With a mischievous grin, Li Changlu spoke and resumed gnawing on the roast chicken.
…
The woman in white widened her eyes.
Are you a devil?
“Just one bite, please? I beg you,” she reached out with a finger, gazing at Li Changlu and his chicken with pitiful, pleading eyes, her voice delicate and soft.
A woman’s coquettish plea is a fatal blow to a man; in such moments, men’s intellect drops to zero—or even below—provided the woman is beautiful.
Of course, there are exceptions, like Xiao Qing, a striking tomboy whose rustic attempts at coquettishness only make one shudder and ponder, is it time to focus on survival?
Li Changlu was inexperienced and utterly defenseless before women, especially beautiful ones.
“Just one bite, alright.” Li Changlu smacked his lips, glanced reluctantly at the half chicken remaining in his hand, then handed it to the woman in white with great reluctance.
She smiled gently, her delicate jade-like hand received the roast chicken from Li Changlu.
Then she smiled at him again, revealing two shallow dimples, so tender and endearing that Li Changlu gazed at her in a trance.
“Sir, look, what’s that?” As she smiled, the woman in white’s expression suddenly froze. She pointed behind Li Changlu, her face stricken with terror.
---
“Ah, sir, how did your roast chicken vanish?” The woman in white looked sorrowful, her brows knit, then—
She wiped her lips.
Li Changlu stared at her blankly—not because her pitiful demeanor had rendered him dumbstruck, but because…
He hadn’t even turned around to look. He had watched, eyes wide open, as she swallowed the roast chicken whole…
She hadn’t even spat out the bones…
And now she asked where it had gone?
And what was with the shameless finger-licking?
Original flavor finger-licked chicken?
Could you respect my eyesight? I’m not blind yet.
“Hehe, I forgot, it was me who ate it. How forgetful I am.” The woman in white, seeing she could no longer hide her actions, gently patted her head.
Li Changlu said nothing, staring dazedly at the pure, alluring woman before him. Truly, her innocence did not detract from her charm, and her charm carried a subtle…
Face of shamelessness.
“Give back my roast chicken, I don’t care!” Li Changlu stretched out his hand to demand the chicken, all traces of gentlemanly elegance gone, his demeanor now fierce and uncompromising.
What use is gentlemanly elegance?
Can it be eaten?
“Wuwuwu…” The woman in white covered her face and wept, tears like falling pear blossoms, crying so pitifully that Li Changlu was completely bewildered, rooted to the spot…
How does one handle such a scene?
Is she hinting at something?
Does she want a hug, or to be lifted high?
Should he go over and embrace her?
Li Changlu struggled internally.
“Li Changlu, you little rascal, what are you doing?” In the tavern, a familiar voice thundered like a lion’s roar, echoing through the hall. Li Changlu was startled, all his scattered thoughts vanishing.
Miss Mingshan stepped down from the second floor in a single stride, landing gracefully in front of Li Changlu, her almond eyes round and fierce as she glared at him.
“Brat, are you tired of living? What did you do to our proprietor?”
Miss Mingshan interrogated Li Changlu.
“Our proprietor? You mean she’s the proprietor of this Monster Tavern?” Li Changlu jumped in surprise.
---
This was not what he had imagined…
Since arriving at the tavern, Li Changlu had never met the proprietor, nor heard any information about the mysterious owner from the other monsters.
He had pictured the proprietor as a greasy middle-aged man, with a mouthful of gold teeth…
Or, perhaps, like the Dragon Gate Inn, the proprietor would be a woman—fiery, ruthless, yet alluring…
Or failing that, a giant monster with three heads and six arms, intimidating in appearance…
But he never expected—
The proprietor of the tavern was a frail-looking woman, emanating an ethereal aura…
A goddess who tricked others for food and drink…
“She is our proprietor, White Lotus.” Miss Mingshan respectfully produced a handkerchief from her cloth pouch and handed it to the woman in white, then addressed Li Changlu word by word: “Brat, are you itching for a beating? Hurry up and apologize to our proprietor.”
As she spoke, she raised her fist threateningly at Li Changlu.
Li Changlu nearly burst out laughing at the name…
White Lotus, the dignified proprietor of Monster Tavern, with such an indecent name…
How vulgar…
How uncultured.
“Unstained despite growing in mud, pure amidst ripples, as white as lotus, flawless emerging from water—miss, you truly live up to your name, so different from those gaudy lotuses outside. I can’t help but applaud this name, so full of poetic meaning…”
As he spoke, Li Changlu faltered…
Damn, he couldn’t make it up anymore. What a ridiculous name, even flattery was exhausting…
“No, Mingshan, you’ve misunderstood. He did nothing to me.” White Lotus wiped her tears and returned the handkerchief to Miss Mingshan. She pointed to the plate on the Eight Immortals table, her voice choked as she spoke gravely, “The little chicken was eaten. It… it died with no remains.”
Miss Mingshan’s temper flared instantly. She pointed at Li Changlu and demanded loudly, “Was it you?”
“Wasn’t the roast chicken left for me by you?” Li Changlu hurriedly searched for the note under the plate, recalling that there was a small slip with Miss Mingshan’s signature.
He had been too hungry to check it carefully, simply trusting it was from Miss Mingshan and eating first, questions later.
Li Changlu drew out the note, and when he read what was written, he felt sick.
On the note, a line read: “Soul departed, last words remain…”
There were more words, but Li Changlu’s eyes were fixed on the signature at the bottom:
Sister Mingshan.
A funeral couplet?