Pixiu Restaurant, No Way Out - Chapter 11
On the second floor, the air conditioning had been turned to the lowest temperature possible. Even so, Pi Xiu almost completely undressed himself, wiped off the sweat, and walked to the air conditioner so that the cold air could hit him directly. Wen Xi followed him and asked again what Feng Du meant by those words.
âHe said a lot. Which words are you referring to?â Pi Xiu reached out to wrap his arms around Wen Xi.
Wen Xi, however, jumped to the side: âYouâre all sweaty!â
âSo what? Itâs not like I havenât hugged you when I was all sweaty before. Besides, sweat is a manly characteristic.â Pi Xiu frowned and touched his hair. âCome here now. Iâm too hot.â
âThen you will have to explain to me what Feng Du meant by âsomething extremely coldâ.â Wen Xi raised his nose up high. âWhat did Feng Du mean by âhis cause of death is unusualâ and âhis soul has a heavy cold qiâ?â
Pi Xiu: âYou really donât remember how you died?â
âI really donât remember.â Wen Xi whispered. âI feel a strong headache every time I try to remember it.â
Pi Xiu pulled the ghost towards his own body, placed his hand on the ghostâs neck, and touched the ghostâs skull along the cervical spine. All of a sudden, Pi Xiuâs fingers touched a firm bulge. He asked: âHave you always bowed your head?â
Wen Xi: âHuh?â
âI can feel that your cervical vertebra is protruding, which only means that there was something wrong with your sitting posture. Iâll help you improve your posture tomorrow.â Pi Xiu loosened his hand to hug Wen Xi, and said carelessly: âSince it hurts to remember, donât do it. What will you do if your souls scatter away? You wonât be able to reincarnate then.â
Wen Xi was so angry, he even gritted his teeth. Since he was unable to scold Pi Xiu, Wen Xi said: âYou still havenât answered my question.â
Pi Xiu: âSomething extremely cold is, precisely, something extremely cold. A thousand-year-old Water-Essence jade or a ten thousand-year-old Chalcedony, a Zhulong1Â Lung, and Merman Tears. All of those items are all good.â
âWere all of those things put together with myâŠ.bones?â Wen Xi asked cautiously.
Pi Xiu laughed: âIn your dreams! Those items are priceless, and itâs really outrageous to use them on a mortal like you. However, your jade urn is also quite good. If you round it up, it can be regarded as a ten thousand year old chalcedony.â
âWhereâs my urn?â Wen Xi hurriedly asked.
Pi Xiu raised an eyebrow: âI made it into a pickle jar.â
Wen Xiâs face turned pale, and stopped breathing.
âNot only is that jar just the right size, but it also maintains a cold temperature all the time. If you cover it and place it on a cool place, you can freeze pears and persimmons, saving electricity.â
Wen Xi clenched his fist: âThatâs my urn, where my bones are, and you justâŠ.â
Pi Xiu: âOh, how was I supposed to know if you didnât tell me? I already made Lil Broom wash that jar six or seven times. Itâs fully clean now! Besides, itâs not like weâre going to be the ones eating from the food inside it, right?â
After listening to Pi Xiuâs mocking words, Wen Xi turned around, grabbed the phone on the sofa, and began to dial a phone number.
âWhat are you doing?â Pi Xiu asked.
Wen Xi replied coldly: âIâm calling the Food Supervising Administration. I will report your unacceptable sanitary conditions.â
Pi Xiu angrily laughed: âYou canât understand a joke now? Do you really think I would want to pickle food in your urn, with your bone ashes? Not to mention that you can get sick, but the mere thought of eating something fermented in an urn makes me feel sick to my stomach.â
âThen where are my bones and my urn?â Wen Xi stared at Pi Xiu questionably.
Pi Xiu threw the phone in his hand to the side, frowned, and said: âIâm keeping it safe. Itâs not like I want your garbage.â
âReally?â Wen Xi didnât believe him.
Pi Xiuâs face darkened again: âYou can believe me or not, I donât care.â
Seeing the old demonâs face change, Wen Xi immediately changed his demeanor as well. He went from looking like an evil spirit, to being a gentle, tender creature. Then, Wen Xi took the initiative to hug Pi Xiu to calm him down: âWhy are you angry again? I was simply scared by you.â
âMind the proximity.â Pi Xiu pulled Wen Xi away from him. âDonât let others misunderstand.â
Wen Xi sneered in his heart: âWerenât you the one who tightly hugged me, no matter who was present? But now you want to push me aside and keep your distance? You really are something else, Mr. Pi.â
âIn the past, I was able to persuade my eccentric old grandfather to favor me over his own children and other grandchildren. So why should I fear an uneducated, thousands-year-old demon? I can always find more opportunities than difficulties, I just need to make better plans.â
âAlthough that mud-headed demon has a really bad temper, this ice pillow has his own personal integrity!â
When Pi Xiu saw that Wen Xi obediently stepped aside and didnât cling to him again, Pi Xiu was very satisfied that this little ghost, who was intelligent enough to understand. âWhen the summer is over, I will have to choose the perfect time to send him off to reincarnate. In any case, he will have a new life of wealth and good fortune.â
âIâm going downstairs for a bit, you can rest up here. Call me if you need anything.â
Wen Xi didnât speak or look at Pi Xiu. Wen Xi simply stepped aside and stood with his head bowed down.
âWhat is it now?â Pi Xiu frowned and thought: âIs he sulking?â
Wen Xi inclined his head and replied: âYou only think of me when youâre feeling hot. If youâre not heating up, you would throw me aside. When the time comes, you will put me back into my urn so you will never have to be seen with me again.â
Pi Xiu was stunned. Seeing how Wen Xiâs eyes began to redden, Pi Xiu panicked: âCould I have said something wrong?â
âIâm simply using you as an ice pillow. You need to understand your place.â
Wen Xi stretched out his neck to look at Pi Xiu, his eyes reddened even more: âYes, Iâm nothing else, but an ice pillow.â
When the two menâs eyes met, love and hate intertwined between them. Pi Xiu was in a momentary trace, feeling that he had walked into the wrong set, saying the wrong lines.
âWhat the hell do you want?!â Pi Xiu rubbed his short hair. âDonât get mad at me.â
Wen Xi sneered and took two steps back to vividly show his frustration. The more Pi Xiu looked at Wen Xi, the worse Pi Xiu felt, and the more his temperature increased. In the end, Pi Xiu could no longer stand it, so he stretched out a hand to Wen Xi: âStop making trouble. Come here and let me hug you.â
However, Wen Xi didnât move.
âYou ignored me not too long ago, you canât afford me now.â
Mr. Pi, who couldnât afford Wen Xi, grabbed his hand, pulled him, and hugged him. As Pi Xiu gritted his teeth, he said: âDonât provoke me.â
Wen Xiâs treacherous plan was successful, so his face relaxed: âYou were the one who provoked me first. Not my fault.â
As the two non-human men hugged each other for a while, Su An called for Pi Xiu from downstairs three times. In the end, Pi Xiu let go of Wen Xiâs cold body to go downstairs. As soon as Pi Xiu arrived at the accountantâs room, Su An was staring at Pi Xiu with his dead fish-like eyes.
Compared to the two, Wen Xiâs smiling peach blossom eyes were more pleasing to look at.
âWhat are you staring at me for?â Pi Xiuâs expression was solemn as he assumed the posture of the Boss.
Su An raised his hand to look at his watch and said: âItâs been 15 minutes since I called you. Youâre too slow, and the customers will complain if you make them wait.â
âComplaints, complaints! I donât need ungrateful customers!â Pi Xiu didnât care.
Su An pushed up his glasses: âBut thereâs a rule in the restaurant. If you donât receive your order within the specified time, you can get a discount.â
A discount means less money, and less money means less meat. As soon as Pi Xiu heard this, he immediately headed towards the kitchen, swearing: âIâll see who dares to pay less money.â
Pi Xiuâs signature dish, which was cooked only once a month, had always been a dish the glutton customers scrambled for. When you search it up on Xianyu2, you can find several scalpers selling queue tickets for the restaurant to get the limited dish.
Su An understood the importance of hungry marketing, so he had also signed up on Xianyu to sell information about the queue. Su An used the convenience of his position as a mediator to gain a differential price, which was then split between him and Pi Xiu. Over the years, Su An had managed to save some money, enough to have a family one day.
Every time Su An looked at the rising numbers on his account, he always sighed. âIndeed, working for a Pixiu can guarantee that you will earn lots of money.â
âŠ
On the other hand, Pi Xiu was already in the kitchen, standing by the stove, heating up a pan and throwing the food inside it. From one moment to the next, Pi Xiu began to move the pan to the point where the food flew into the air, a meter away from the pan, swirling in the air and falling back into the pan. Even though this movement was constant, not a single drop or scrap of food had fallen out of the pan.
It was both entertaining and artistic, far beyond a culinary experience, moving in the direction of an acrobatic performance.
Qiu Fu stood next to the stove, staring at Pi Xiuâs movements in awe. In the end, he couldnât help but ask: âBoss, who taught you this skill?â
Pi Xiu showed a rare humility, as if pretending to be a natural: âNobody did. Itâs just that I have a lot of experience with cookingâ
âItâs all that damn dog Taotieâs fault! If he hadnât swindled me out of all my money, I wouldnât have had to run around to make money. At one point, I ended up working in a human restaurant to survive. I went through so many painful situations, but there is no point in mentioning them now!â
âBoss Pi used to have a stall, in which he sold sugar fried chestnuts.â Ren Jiao didnât give Pi Xiu face. âAt the time, chestnuts werenât selling very well, so he went to a theater troupe to learn stunts from them. Every time he stir-fried the chestnuts, he would make them fly a meter in the air, so the people around would reward him with a few hundred coins.â
Qiu Fuâs face suddenly turned pale, as he gave his brave Boss a sympathetic look.
âAs expected of such a powerful ancient demon! He can adapt to every circumstance. Even in difficult times, heâs prepared to sacrifice his image to get five buckets of rice. Such an open mind is something the foxes of Qingqiu mountains, including myself, donât have! Heâs indeed a role model for the demons!â
Pi Xiu glared at Ren Jiao with a grim face: âIf you dare say more, I will peel off all of your scales!â
âWhy did you come down so late anyways? Is it because of the one in your room that you donât want to come down?â Ren Jiao laughed. âIt seems the âold house is on fire3â, and you can no longer run away.â
Pi Xiu frowned: âBullshit! Itâs obvious that it was him who pestered me not to come down! Humans are all clingy and coquettish, who canât change their natures even if they have already become ghosts. If I donât want to hug him for a while, he dares to show a sulky face, looking as if I have wronged him!â
The pots and pans in Pi Xiuâs hands clanged, until finally, he scooped up the soup and divided it into thirteen bowls. Once finished, Pi Xiu told the Monkey waiters to hurrily take them to the tables.
Ren Jiao âtsk-edâ next to him: âTwo days ago, you said that you two had nothing to do with each other, but now heâs refusing to let you go?â
As Qiu Fu listened with a yearning face, he muttered: âWhen will I have someone who hugs me and refuses to let me go?â
Pi Xiu glanced at Qiu Fu and said: âGo out, turn right and walk one kilometer until you reach a cosmetic store. Once there, make your face look as beautiful as your siblings. Tomorrow, Iâll have Su An shoot a short video of you cooking, so you can become an online chef celebrity. Every time the humans see you, they will rush to greet you, increasing the restaurantâs customers.â
Qiu Fu blushed and asked shyly: âReally?!â
âOf course not!â Pi Xiu angrily took off the apron from his body and threw it aside. Ren Jiao had to hold him back.
Ren Jiao: âIâm going to give you back the urn you gave me. I have already confirmed what it contains, and the contents are just as you said. The urn is made from a thousand-year-old white chalcedony. The soul-calming incense was made by crushing as well as mixing Zhulong Lung and Merman Tears. He had been soaking in these items for hundreds of years, so itâs no wonder his soul has such a heavy cold qi.â
Pi Xiu frowned: âWhere the hell could the Taotie get something as valuable as Zhulong Lung?â
Ren Jiao: âCould it be the stone lung you got from Zhulong?â
Pi Xiu: ââŠ..â
âItâs not unreasonable. After all, what monster wouldnât suffer after being slapped by Zhulong? Of course he would use my stuff.â
âBut that little ghost has really been soaking in those precious objects inside his urn for hundreds of years.â At this time, Pi Xiu began to think deeply about the reason why Taotie would send Wen Xi to his side. Pi Xiu first analyzed the debt relationship that Taotie had with him, followed by the many years they have known each other, only to end thinking about the red thread between Wen Xi and him.
Pi Xiu slapped his thigh and said with frustration: âCouldnât it be that Taotie already knew about the red thread that linked me to that ghost, so he sent him to me as a child bride to cover his debts?!â
Ren Jiao immediately stood up and applauded: âCongratulations! You have managed to solve the puzzle!â
âDammit! What does Taotie take me for? Although Iâm a demon, Iâm a bachelor who exercises self-control to protect myself from immorality. A demon who cares about nothing else, and loves nothing more, other than money.â
âA money debt should be paid with money! I donât want a ghost!â