Chapter 42: The Way of the Gentleman
Seeing the boss treating such a sloppily dressed Taoist monk in such a sycophantic manner made many of the customers present, stare at them in bewilderment.
Seeing the staff kneel down, he nervously looked at Little Fatty and said, “Celestial elder, so~”
“Ask him to get up!” Little Fatty waved his hands and asked out of curiosity, “Did you know who I am?”
“Celestial elder must be joking. This is the first time I met you, of course, I would not know who you are. But, I have been here for over 10 years and have met all sorts of people. As such, I can tell in a single glance that you are a cultivator. My staff was blind and has offended you. On the account that he is young and ignorant, please forgive him!” The boss politely said.
Hearing what the boss said, everyone present took in a cold breath. A cultivation expert! What was that? That was like a celestial. They only heard rumours of such people in the secular realm. The rumours all said that they could control the weather, and are omnipotent. If this Taoist monk in front of them is such a celestial, that staff who offended him is really in grave danger. If his temper was bad, any random spell could make the staff wish he was dead. Plus, there would be no place to seek justice. Even the court would not dare to meddle in the affairs of a celestial cultivator.
The staff finally understood the boss’s intentions and knew that asking him to bow was to save him. If not, thinking about the consequences of offending a cultivator made him tremble in fear.
Little Fatty did not expect that this boss had such a good perception, but it was also expected. After all, he operated this inn for over 10 years at the foot of the Mystical Sky Temple. He would have definitely served countless of cultivators who went to the temple. It was normal for him to have such a good perception.
After he understood this, the devilish Fatty was also lazy to be too calculative with the staff and said, “This brat does not know how to control his mouth. I should have actually punished him. But since he knows his mistake, I am also lazy to calculate with him,”
“Thank you, thank you, celestial elder!” Seeing Little Fatty let the matter rest, he immediately cupped his hands and thanked him.
“Enough, enough. I am here to spend my night. Help me to prepare a quiet, secluded courtyard!” After he said that, he threw out 5 taels of gold and said, “This is the deposit, in case you’re afraid I run away!”
“That’s alright!” The boss said with embarrassment, “Celestial elder, there’s no need for that. For you to stay here is our honour. How can we still collect money from you?” Saying this, he attempted to return the gold to Little Fatty.
How would Little Fatty want it back? He impatiently gestured and said, “I do not have the habit to stay and eat for free. Hurry and find a room!”
“Okay okay!” Seeing Little Fatty insist, the boss did not dare to say anything else and personally led him to the back courtyard.
After a few moments, the boss came back out. He went to the staff immediately and began to reprimand him, “How many times have I told you? Do not look down on others! Why do you have such a bad memory? It is lucky that you met an expert who is reasonable. If you met with an unreasonable evil cultivator, you will not even know how you died!”
“It, it can’t be?” The staff was scared silly.
“Why can’t it be? Do you know, this town has a lot of wealthy customers who died an unknown death?” The boss frustratedly said, “Remember, in future when you meet with a celestial elder who is dressed shabbily but has a very stable aura, you must be careful. Do not throw away your life just like that!”
“Yes yes!” The staff responded and then asked, “Right, boss. Are you sure he is a celestial elder? The way I look at him, he doesn’t seem to be much?”
“Shut up!” The boss scolded in frustration, “Are you an idiot? If he isn’t a celestial elder, how can he throw out gold like it was trash?”
“Oh, that’s true!” The staff was stunned for a moment then said, “Even the relatives of the royal family is not as generous as this celestial elder!”
“It’s good that you understand!” The boss then added, “Go and prepare a table of food for the celestial elder immediately. Ask the chef to give it his all. Then take the few hundred years old Red Lady which we had secretly hidden, and give it to the celestial elder!” (T/N: Red Lady, aka Nu’er Hong, is a famous Chinese wine.)
“Ah?” As the staff heard, he was immediately shocked, “Boss, that jug of Red Lady is the treasure of our shop. The last time someone offered to buy it with 10 taels of gold you refused to sell it. Why is it that with only 5 taels of gold~”
“What do you know, it is obvious that this celestial elder is an expert who achieved Dao. People like these does not like owing others a favour. Once he owes a favour, he would definitely find a way to repay it. This time, I will gamble my assets to service him properly. At that moment, he may just give me a few elixirs which can extend my life!”
“Ah, the boss is really smart!” Hearing what the boss said, the staff praised him with a thumbs up.
“Heh heh, of course. You better learn more. This is called ‘A gentleman has no choice but to be bullied’!” The boss laughed evilly and said. What he did not know was that although this celestial elder is a celestial elder. But, he is not a gentleman. Thus, these actions of his would be destined to fail.
In the night, Little Fatty enjoyed the dishes which the boss prepared for him. Especially the jug of 100 years old wine. It really made Little Fatty praise it. He even could not bear to finish it and left half a jug.
The next day, the boss wanted to pay his greetings to Little Fatty when he came out and raise some requests. But he realised that he was not coming out. Seeing that it was almost noon, the boss did not have the patience to wait any longer. He gathered his courage and knocked on Little Fatty’s door with the excuse of paying his greetings. In the end, he realised that the door opened easily and that it wasn’t locked.
The boss immediately knew that something wasn’t right and he hurriedly went in to take a look. He then realised that Little Fatty had left long ago. He only left a phrase of words on the wall saying, ‘A gentleman has no choice but to be bullied’!
Seeing this sentence, the boss was immediately stunned. He then knew that what he said yesterday was being overheard. He was embarrassed and heartbroken. Embarrassed that his plans were being seen through. Little Fatty still wrote the words on the wall sarcastically. He was heartbroken of his jug of 100 years old fine wine. This jug of Red Lady was said to be his grandmother’s dowry. It was being left until there was only one jug left. He did not bear to drink it all this while, but he lost it this round.
This was not the most important thing. The most important thing was that after he sacrificed a jug of fine wine, not only did he not get any benefits, he even offended a cultivator. Isn’t this as good as the classic ‘Losing his wife and his soldiers’? (T/N: This is a Chinese idiom which originates from The Three Kingdoms which means to suffer a double loss)
Little Fatty intentionally wanted to play a prank on the boss and flew away before the sky was bright. He also managed to reach the Mystical Sky Temple just at dawn.
The Mystical Sky Temple really lived up to its name of being the temple for the royal family of the Blue Moon Nation. It occupies the space of over a few thousand temples. On the mountain and along the way, there were a few varied size palaces. There were over a thousand Taoist monks as well. However, these Taoist monks are all mainly talentless mortals. Although they cultivated some cultivation method, but they were all stuck at the HouTian stage. There were only very few of them who entered into the XianTian stage. As for the head of the temple, he was the only one in the who temple who was at the Foundational stage. He usually lived in seclusion and appeared to be a celestial in the eyes of the mortals!