Chapter 5: Spirit Rice (3)

Muchen finally figured that he was as comfortable as he was going to get in his dress robes. He still fiddled with the collar one last time before heading out. One nice thing about staying at a decent inn was that both of the restaurants were within easy walking distance.

He stopped by the Plum Blossom Kitchen first. Not to eat, but to scout out the menu. As he'd expected, the dishes made with spirit rice were the most expensive available. Actually, the premium being charged was even more than he'd expected. Perhaps Xinyi's attitude had been coloring his own thoughts about the value of low grade spirit rice.

He focused on the math as he made his way to the Hidden Fragrance Pavilion. He didn't know exactly how much rice was used in each dish, but he could make a guess. What he needed to do was approximate just how much each ounce of spirit rice was adding to the final sticker price. Multiply that by the amount of rice that he was carrying, and at least he'd know the highest possible value he could put on his cartload of spirit rice.

He set aside the half-finished calculations when he arrived outside the Hidden Fragrance Pavilion. The restaurant was pleasantly decorated, but where the Plum Blossom Kitchen had enjoyed a crowd of customers milling around outside, the street outside the Hidden Fragrance Pavilion was nearly deserted. The trend continued as he made his way inside. Half the tables were empty.

It was bad news for the restaurant's owner, but at least Muchen didn't have to wait to be seated. He hesitated for a moment over the menu, struck by the variety of dishes on offer. In the stories he'd read about people transferring over to the past or to different worlds, the heroes always seemed to impress the locals with their miraculous cooking ability and innovative recipes. Muchen could readily admit that he was no match for the wisdom of the ancients. Not to mention that in this world with no microwave oven available his own cooking repertoire was sharply limited.

He eventually settled on a dish that looked vaguely familiar. It was hard to go wrong with braised pork over rice, even if he didn't recognize the names of any of the sauces or spices described in the menu. Lack of knowledge was no obstacle to enjoyment. Once Muchen downed his first bite he barely paused until he found his chopsticks scraping at an empty bowl.

He sat back for a moment with a sigh of satisfaction. Part of it was over the pure enjoyment of the best meal he'd enjoyed since he came to the Qianzhan Continent, and part of it was with relief: now he knew that once he made it rich he could enjoy delicious meals every day.

He was broken from his reverie when the waiter came by to clear the table. After a moment's thought, Muchen pulled a tael of silver from his pocket and set it on the table. It was far more than enough to cover the bill. "Tell the owner that I have some business to discuss."

The waiter, to his credit, didn't rush to grab the silver. Instead he straightened and gave Muchen a curious look. "I don't know what business you could have with our Hidden Fragrance Pavilion?"

Muchen smiled. "I happen to be able to supply certain high quality ingredients that I believe you've been looking for."

The watier studied him for a moment, then nodded. He didn't forget to pocket the silver before he walked off. A moment later an older gentleman made his way to Muchen's table. Judging by his round belly, he had enjoyed his fair share of the output of the Hidden Fragrance Pavilion's kitchen.

"You wished to speak with me?"

"Your chef's craftsmanship is wonderful," Muchen said. "It's a pity to see so few diners in comparison."

He glanced meaningfully in the direction of the Plum Blossom Kitchen.

"Business naturally ebbs and flows."

"That's true. But it's hard for even a clever chef to cook without rice," Muchen said. "If you do business with me then the quality of your product will increase by more than just one grade."

The man's eyes widened, before he took a reflexive glance around the room. "Perhaps we should discuss this in a more private setting?"

Muchen nodded. He wasn't trying to keep control of state secrets here, but he didn't need to announce to the whole restaurant just how much money he'd be carrying with him on his way out of town.

The owner led him through the dining room and past the kitchen to a small but neatly kept office. The room was dominated by a large desk that was covered with stacks of paperwork. The first thing that caught Muchen's eye on the wall was an elegant ink painting of a landscape, mounted next to a calligraphy scroll. On the opposite wall was a plaque, a simple wooden board decorated with a small circular disk of polished tortoise shell.

"I want that plaque," Xinyi said, her voice whispering in Muchen's ear.

He started, then glanced around. The owner was settling in behind his desk and showed no sign of having heard anything. In the back corner of the room he spotted a turtle shell that he swore hadn't been there a second ago, propped innocuously against the back wall.

Muchen nodded. He couldn't reply out loud without sounding crazy. He wished Xinyi had given him some kind of warning so they could have prepared a rudimentary sign language or something. He'd thought she was still meditating back at the inn. Well, at least he could gather information without needing to consult with her.

"An interesting decoration," he said, gesturing at the plaque.

The owner perked up. "Ah, yes, that's our restaurant's good luck charm. My grandfather said that it used to be part of a spirit artifact but was damaged in battle long ago. There's no spirituality in it any longer, but it has been here watching over us since my family opened this restaurant."

Muchen smiled politely while he cursed in his heart. It was one thing to buy a trinket or a conversation piece, but convincing this man to sell off a family heirloom would be nigh impossible.

If Xinyi was determined to have it, she'd have to steal it. He didn't think she'd have any scruples about it. Accordingly, it behooved him not to show too much interest in the thing.

"Your restaurant needs high end ingredients," Muchen said. "I have almost two thousand pounds of spirit rice available to sell."

The manager cocked his head. "What grade?"

"Low grade," Muchen said. "From the Cloudy Peaks Sect itself."

If he'd had mid-grade spirit rice on his hands, he wouldn't be looking to sell it at an ordinary restaurant. For that matter, convincing Steward Fu to part with middle grade spirit rice wasn't something that could be accomplished with a single bottle of wine.

While he understood that the owner was trying to soften him up a bit by emphasizing the grade of the rice, Muchen was confident in the value of his product. The difference between ordinary rice and even low grade spirit rice was the difference between heaven and earth. Not just that, but Muchen had checked enough of his cargo to be confident that what he was carrying was the real thing, with no admixture of ordinary rice. Buying off Steward Fu hadn't been cheap, but the man had come through on his end of the deal.

"Would you be able to ensure a steady supply?"

Muchen smiled. "We can talk about that after we come to an agreement regarding this cartload. Don't forget, spirit rice keeps a lot longer than ordinary grain. Two thousand pounds is enough to raise the profile of your restaurant for a long time to come."

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Muchen didn't have any problem in principle with a long term supply contract, but he didn't want to make any promises he couldn't keep. His ability to keep bribing his way into the Cloudy Peak Sect's supply of spirit rice had already been pretty tenuous even before he found himself traveling together with a fugitive whom the sect had kept imprisoned for centuries.

Admittedly, he wouldn't have that problem once Xinyi headed off to a cave somewhere for secluded cultivation, but if there was any chance that the sect would discover that she was missing and associate it with his visit, well... Muchen didn't intend to visit the sect's grounds any time soon, that was for sure.

"We could use that rice," the owner said. "I can give you four hundred taels for the lot."

Muchen shook his head, though he maintained his professional smile. He'd put in a great deal of effort and shouldered a great deal of risks to get his hands on that rice. He couldn't be happy with a mere hundred percent profit.

"One thousand taels."

"Surely you're joking," the owner replied. "For that much money you could buy an entire restaurant."

While that was technically true, he certainly wouldn't be able to buy a restaurant with a storehouse full of spirit rice for a mere thousand taels.

Muchen raised an eyebrow. "Have you seen how much the Plum Blossom Kitchen can charge for a dish with even a scoop of spirit rice? You'll earn back that thousand taels easily, not to mention all the silver that will come in from the general increase in business."

"I appreciate your confidence in our skills, but it's hard for me to be so optimistic," the owner replied. "I can go up to five hundred taels. Even that much is an awful lot to pay for a single cart load of goods."

"Whether that cart of goods is worth the cost, I think you'll know once you've thought it over," Muchen said. "There's no need to rush to a decision now. I have business that will keep me in Heshan Town for the next few days."

Specifically, that business was the need to wear down the man in front of him and convince him to pay as much silver as possible for the spirit rice. Of course, getting into the specifics would hardly help his negotiating posture.

He'd be able to find something to do to fill the time. If nothing else, he might as well take a look around and see what local goods might be worth picking up once he sold off the rice. Traveling with an empty cart was just wasting effort and not making money, after all.

The owner looked happy enough with the reprieve. The man really did want to get his hands on the spirit rice. He just wasn't comfortable paying everything Muchen was demanding, at least not yet. They said their polite farewells and Muchen made his way back to the inn without any further incident.

It wasn't until he closed the door to his room that the interrogation began.

"You didn't even ask how much silver he wanted for the artifact!" Xinyi said. "Aren't you always going on about the power of silver?"

Muchen rubbed the bridge of his nose. He'd made the occasional effort to convince Xinyi of the merit in buying things rather than just killing and robbing, but so far she mostly seemed to take the use of silver as a substitute for low level mind control techniques.

"Usually money is quite useful in getting what you want," he said, "but some things are difficult to buy."

Xinyi plopped herself down on the bed, retracting her flippers into her shell. "I see, I see. We don't want to do anything to make them raise their guard before we take what we want."

Muchen wasn't entirely comfortable with the fact that she was including him in her criminal plans so easily. He liked having a powerful and friendly cultivator around, but he wasn't ready to fully board her pirate ship and join in on her every whim without scruple.

"Is it so important?" he asked.

She nodded. "If my suspicions are correct... I wouldn't mind burning down that entire building to get hold of that artifact."

"Well, hopefully it won't come to that," Muchen said. "At least we're halfway to closing a deal."

"You think so? He didn't seem convinced."

"Tomorrow or the day after, I'll bring the cart over so he can take a look at what I'm selling," Muchen said. "He won't be so reluctant once he's seen the product for himself."

"I don't know if it's going to be so simple."

Muchen shrugged. There was no point arguing when they would find out the result one way or another once the plan was put into action. He wasn't quite desperate enough to take business advice from a turtle just yet.

Before going to bed, he made sure to keep up with his cultivation. He even put a little extra effort into it. For the last few days he had felt like he was getting close to a breakthrough.

He felt like the connection to the Great Dao was there waiting for him to take it, but every time he stretched out a hand it was just out of reach. Surely with one great push he could break through that last barrier.

It was a nice thought, but turning it into a reality was another matter. Muchen adjusted his posture and his breathing for best effect. He could feel the energy flowing into his body. He felt like he was in the best health he'd ever experienced. He just couldn't take that final step. No matter what he did, he couldn't take that last step.

With a sigh, he gave up for the evening. At least his business dealing was going according to plan.

He felt much less sanguine about his plans the next day when he woke up and checked on his cart only to find a small turtle perched atop a motionless body.

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