Heaven's Granted Wish

Chapter 2: Searching For Answers

Awoken in the early morning, only to be forced into labor work right after, what can a man do when he just came back from the dead? Roaming in an unfamiliar city, there's got to be someone who can provide answers.

If this town has many people flourishing in and out, with businesses all over the streets, it must be a city close to the capital. If I can get to the emperor and explain the situation, I can soon be reunited with my A'Xin!

Looking around the street, Bai Ying heads towards the tea house and orders a table seat. The waiter leads him to the second floor and when they finally approached a nice four-seated table, Bai Ying proceeds to take a seat.

"Hello sir, what would you like to order?" the waiter asks.

"Uh mhm, I'll have some tea and snacks." Bai Ying clears his throat.

The waiter nods, walking away and begins to prepare the tea and snacks. With the season approaching mid-summer, Bai Ying can't help but sweat through the thin layers of his shabby, rat-chewed clothes.

Where'd this Dong ZhaoMing find these clothes? In the garbage?

Thinking of that scenario, Bai Ying can't help but sigh, thinking it could be true.

Sooner or later, Dong ZhaoMing, you will get your karma!

To Bai Ying's delight, the server quickly returns with some tea and a plate of snacks. Placing them down, Bai Ying begins to slowly eat his snacks, savoring them, as he might not get to eat something good for the rest of the day.

Following into the tea stand, a group of men approaches inside, taking the empty table next to the single man enjoying a cup of tea.

"Hey! Did you hear? I heard there was an exorcist monk who just flew in town and I heard he's performing for the Annual Midsummer's Exorcism Ceremony." The first man whispered closely to his group of friends.

"I did! I did! I heard that the Ouyang clan was given the task this year to arrange the whole thing. I even heard rumors that they spent almost half of the family's wealth to prepare everything!" One of his buddies raised his voice in excitement.

"Well of course it's grand! Everyone who has even just a tiny amount of good reputation in the cultivation world has been invited for this annual event!" Another man spoke as the warm tea was slowly poured in his cup by his fellow brother.

"There's no doubt that everyone's gonna try and squeeze into the Ouyang residence for just a minute of the performance! I can't believe I missed the last annual Midsummer's exorcism just because of some stupid stomach flu!" The first man spoke up again, straining his voice with anger and frustration.

"It's alright! At least now I got myself a good buddy who works for the Ouyang Clan, said he's able to sneak us in through the back entrance and peak at the performance." the second man patting his brother, calming his sudden mood swing.

"Thank heavens! What are we waiting for? There are probably so many people piling up at the entrance of the residence! Let's hurry and save ourselves a nice spot!" the third brother stood up quickly, packing up all the stuff he placed on the table.

The three brothers nodded at each other and frantically ran out of the tea house after paying the waiter. Instead of rushing himself unlike the three men who just left, Bai Ying just gulped the last drop of tea and swallowed his last piece of roasted honey walnuts.

"Ahh, you can never go wrong with the perfect mix of tea and snacks.", smiling to himself contentedly. Having consumed the energy to fulfill his first task of the day, Bai Ying prepares to leave the tea house, gathering the little to nothing of things he has.

"Mister! Please pay for the food and tea before you leave!" the waiter waves for him as we quickly pace himself towards him.

"Oh! I almost forgot hahaha..." Bai Ying reaches into his sleeve pocket, searching for the money bag that he always carries with him.

....Why can't I find my money pouch!?......oh.....

The realization finally hits Bai Ying, slowly retrieving his hand out of his sleeve, the waiter stares at him with impatience as he has been standing there for too long for someone to retrieve their money pouch.

"Ahem, so you see...."

Bai Ying quietly makes his way to the table he sat earlier, sitting on the chair closest to the window.

"I actually almost forgot! Haha, I was to order some food to take out for my master, could you prepare that for me?" Bai Ying was always so good at fibbing at the very moment, one of his "many talents" that he likes to take pride in.

The waiter looks at him in confusion, what kind of servant would satisfy their own hunger before their own master?

"My master's name is Dong ZhaoMing, he is an exorcist monk who will perform at the Ouyang Residence tonight, and he wishes to be well-fed before his exorcism." Bai Ying continued babbling about anything closely relevant to what he heard this morning at the Ouyang residence.

Seeing that the waiter wasn't moving but continuing to stare at him, Bai Ying suddenly pulled out a piece of gold, quite big in size, a valued amount that could feed a family of 6 for a whole week.

Finally realizing that the man wasn't lying, the waiter quickly rushed to the kitchen to prepare that order of take-out.

Watching the waiter dash a bee-line to the kitchen, the waiter failed to see the piece of gold turn into a flower that Bai Ying grabbed. He then took the opportunity to quietly open the window and jump out with such grace. Landing on the dirt floor with his two feet, he wastes no time running as far as possible from the tea house back to Ouyang residence, hoping that he will find some answers.

Without looking up, Bai Ying had sensed a group of cultivators hovering above him, flying towards the same direction. What he failed to notice was back in that tea house, sitting across the room, a man watching him as he made his escape out the window.

Grabbing his sword and putting money down for his meal, the man began his walk towards the Ouyang residence, well prepared for what's to come tonight.