“Young boys and girls of Xiaohe Town infected with strange black spots, suspected to be the work of an evil cultivator.”
The person who posted this news couldn’t be traced, but the matter was true.
In the Qing Yuan World, children could have their aptitude tested and embark on the path of cultivation once they turned twelve.
If he hadn’t accidentally run into Xiao Hua and her mother, Old Man Li would never have discovered that Xiaohe Town held secrets even he didn’t know.
Only after using his connections last night did he discover that many children in Xiaohe Town who were about to turn twelve had contracted a strange illness, developing black spots on their faces just like Xiao Hua.
Old Man Li hadn’t yet dug up whether the black spots had any harmful effects beyond disfigurement, but he had learned at the same time that Boss Lu’s Dousha Bao could remove them.
Once the news spread, it led to the current scene.
It was too much of a coincidence.
Old Man Li strongly suspected that the mastermind behind this was targeting Boss Lu.
Thinking of how delicious these baozi were, Old Man Li swallowed his saliva, his expression resolute.
He would absolutely not allow anyone to disturb Boss Lu from setting up her stall.
I, Old Man Li, will protect Boss Lu’s Baozi Shop!
At that moment, a blazing fire erupted in Old Man Li’s eyes. Many people around looked at him with reverence.
…
“You want two Dousha Bao as well?”
Lu Wu glanced at the masked person in front of her stall.
The bizarre attire, the similar ages, the uniform taste—she was growing more and more suspicious that she had run into some strange organization.
Lu Wu noticed that in a corner, the masked people who had bought Dousha Bao earlier were all gathered together, whispering and muttering, crying one moment and laughing the next.
They seemed a bit mentally unstable.
But they were paying for their baozi properly. As the boss, Lu Wu couldn’t very well refuse them.
“Please wait a moment, then.”
With a worried expression, Lu Wu stuffed the soft, sweet red bean paste filling into the dough.
The cooled red bean paste was like a shy maiden, slowly covered by the dough. To meet the demands of the masked people, Lu Wu made the next steamer basket entirely of the Dousha Bao flavor.
To her relief, the masked people didn’t cause any trouble. They all bought their baozi quietly and left one by one.
Only after the last masked person had disappeared did Lu Wu finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Old Man Li, you’re here again.”
Lu Wu smiled upon seeing Old Man Li.
“That’s right. Get this old man two Innocent Little Meat Buns,” Old Man Li replied with a wide grin.
He looked at Lu Wu with the gaze of a benevolent grandfather.
It was just that the glint in his eyes made Lu Wu feel a little baffled.
The line moved forward.
When it was a middle-aged man’s turn, he stared at Lu Wu and sneered.
“Yo, so this is the legendary Baozi Shop everyone’s raving about? I don’t see anything so magical about it.”
“One Low-Grade Spirit Stone for a single baozi, hehe, there sure are a lot of suckers.”
“You’re not all shills, are you?”
“I’d like to see for myself what kind of divine baozi this is.”
As for the fillings, they looked pretty ordinary to him.
Although the aroma was potent, who knew if these baozi were all fragrance and no substance.
Lu Wu’s hands, which were packing an order, paused.
She looked at the man and blinked.
He had plain features and was a cultivator, but only at the early stage of Qi Training. He didn’t seem to have any backing, yet he had jumped out to cause trouble.
This was very much in line with the cannon fodder villain characters in those novels.
Could it be that she was about to walk the plotline of a trash-to-treasure protagonist?
Lu Wu rubbed her hands in anticipation. Just as she was thinking about how to resolve this, she saw Lou Xiaotian walk over with a smile and sling an arm around the man’s neck.
“Wu Dalang, shouldn’t you be selling your sesame seed cakes? What are you doing here buying baozi?”
Wu Dalang sold sesame seed cakes on the next street over. He also ran a night business, just one street away.
In the past two days, Lu Wu’s Baozi Shop had become a hit. As customers flocked to her, Wu Dalang’s sesame seed cake stall had grown considerably colder.
He had originally wanted to come and have a taste while scouting the enemy.
But seeing so many customers waiting eagerly, he grew resentful and spoke without thinking.
Now, being warned by Lou Xiaotian’s cold glare, Wu Dalang regained his senses.
He averted his gaze and mumbled, not daring to speak.
“Two Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Here are your baozi.”
Lu Wu handed over the Yāozi Bāo and Little Meat Bao the man had asked for, sighing with a hint of disappointment.
She hadn’t even had a chance to fight back. How could the cannon fodder just fizzle out like that?
“Hmph.”
Unable to back down gracefully, Wu Dalang snorted coldly, then grabbed a baozi and stuffed it into his mouth.
With one bite, the scalding hot soup from the freshly steamed baozi burst out, and his tongue was instantly seared with fiery pain.
But along with the pain, an extremely savory flavor exploded in his mouth, so delicious that he felt his tongue was about to melt.
Wu Dalang was stunned.
In disbelief, he took another bite of the Yāozi Bāo.
The chili oil used in the Spicy Kidney Bun was a special blend Lu Wu had concocted according to the system’s recipe. It was numbing, spicy, savory, and fragrant. One bite left a lingering aroma; it was delicious but never quite enough.
His taste buds were conquered in an instant.
Compared to this baozi, his sesame seed cakes, a three-generation family recipe he prided himself on for its wonderful taste, were just a lump of dead dough, unworthy of comparison.
He was wrong. He had been narrow-minded.
“Wuwuwu!”
Scorched yet unwilling to spit it out, Wu Dalang chewed the food in his mouth. The way he looked at Lu Wu instantly changed.
When Lu Wu looked up, she saw Wu Dalang’s teary-eyed appearance.
Lu Wu tilted her head in confusion.
She hadn’t seen Lou Xiaotian make a move. Why was this man crying?
Could it be that he had suffered some kind of internal injury she couldn’t see?
[Ding dong, congratulations Host on completing the mission.]
[Reward: Cultivation of Qi Training Level 3, one random lottery draw.]
As she pondered, the system’s notification sounded. Lu Wu glanced at it and saw that the mission progress was full.
At the same time, she felt a warm current surge through her body. The current was extremely gentle, flowing slowly through her meridians, washing away all her fatigue.
She felt full of vigor and spirit, as if she had eaten a panacea pill.
Is this spiritual energy?
Feeling the changes in her body, Lu Wu was very happy.
However, she didn’t close her stall because of this. Although the mission was complete, she had promised seven days, and she would absolutely not be lazy or cut corners.
“Boss Lu, it’s my turn. I want one meat bao and one Dousha Bao.”
“By the way, Boss Lu, do you have any other flavors of baozi?” a customer asked. Lu Wu found the person before her a little familiar; they must be a regular.
“There will be new flavors, available tomorrow.”
In a good mood, Lu Wu agreed to the customer’s small request.
The system had given her many recipes. For the remaining few days, she could try out more flavors to give back to her new and old customers.
Amidst the cheerful chatter, the portion Lu Wu had prepared for the day was about to run out again.
“The Innocent Little Meat Buns are gone?”
When a customer heard this, he immediately frowned.
“Yes, they’re sold out for today. You can try the Yāozi Bāo and Dousha Bao. Both of those flavors are also very good,” Lu Wu said, introducing the options to the new customer.
The person before her was a young woman, looking to be in her twenties. She was dressed in fine clothes, and from Lu Wu’s discerning eye, she was the child of a wealthy family.
Moreover, her accent wasn’t from Xiaohe Town.
An out-of-town customer?
Lu Wu, who was still unaware of the Universal Realm Communicator, waited for the customer’s choice.
“What? I came all the way across two cities just to try your meat baozi, and they’re already gone?” the young woman grumbled, a little unhappy. However, she didn’t make things difficult for Lu Wu and ordered one of each of the two remaining flavors.
After getting the baozi, she didn’t eat them right away. Instead, she took out a Universal Realm Communicator and started sending a message.