Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
When the three of them stepped through the door, the boss of Midnight Dining Hall, Tan Siming, was washing the dishes. The long knife scar on his face, along with his bitter and resentful expression, made him look extremely hideous under the dim light.
Although it wasn’t time yet for customers to start coming in, he was already preparing for the midnight crowd.
The “Old Boys” sung by Tang Youning was playing on an obsolete and old-fashioned radio. In this day and age, radio stations were already no longer popular, but there were still people who clung to them.
Thus, although there weren’t many radio stations around, there were still people running programs on air. Among them, big boss broadcaster Zhang Ye had to be mentioned. Not only had he majored in radio broadcasting, he was also a very well-known filmmaker, who had written his own biography, I Really Am a Superstar . The entire book was replete with all sorts of lyrics, poems and stories which carried a supercilious and boastful air.
As a veteran web novelist, Father Wang had classified this book as junk literature.
Boss Tan was still washing the dishes. When the three of them entered the shop, he almost reflexively pointed at the menu on the wall as he said lazily, “Hey, we just serve what’s on the menu. But if you want to eat something else, I’ll make it for you if I can.”
Unlike Wang Ling, this was Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal and Song Qingshu’s first time here, after all, and after some thought, Song Qingshu felt it would be rude to act like they were interrogating a criminal from the very start before ordering something. So, he ordered three large bowls of lao tan pickled cabbage beef noodles and paid for them. It was twenty yuan for a large bowl, so sixty yuan for three.
Song Qingshu directly took out a one hundred-yuan note and told the boss to keep the change… the rich were so capricious!
Actually, during these two days, Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal had been treating Song Qingshu like a walking ATM. After selling off all his belongings from working for Mo Immortal Castle all these years, Song Qingshu now had so much money he didn’t know what to do with it.
“Thank you very much.”
When the boss took the money, he finally raised his head for a look. When he noticed Wang Ling among the three of them, his expression suddenly changed. “Ah? Aren’t you that thirty three yuan and seventy cents genius creator? ”
Wang Ling: “…”
Boss Tan still remembered Wang Ling. After all, he had witnessed for himself how this man had peddled off this song “Old Boys,” which had swept across Huaxiu nation. It was such a huge song now, when the melody and lyrics had been sold for just thirty three yuan and seventy cents, the price of two medium bowls of beef noodles.
“Boss, do you know my brother?” Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal asked as he stared at the boss.
“Previously, he and his father came here and ordered beef noodles…” replied Boss Tan.
Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal was stunned in his heart. Senior Wang had actually come here before! It seemed that this wasn’t a simple shop!
“… This song ‘Old Boys,’ have you heard of it?”
Boss Tan thought for a while, then directly explained what had happened with this song.
Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal and Song Qingshu were utterly stunned when they heard it.
“Brother Ling, you can also write songs?”
Wang Ling nodded without expression and shame. “…” Theoretically speaking, he was just a porter passing on songs.
Speaking of “Old Boys,” Boss Tan’s bitter and resentful face twisted even more. “Before Little Tang was popular, he used to visit my shop all the time. There was once a time when he depended on me for things so that he could live in the city. But now that he’s popular, it’s been a long time since he’s come…”
Speaking up to this point, Boss Tan smiled bitterly. “I was hoping he could help me draw in more customers.”
“He was just taking advantage of you!” Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal shook his head.
The boss had been feeling aggrieved by this matter, but now that he had found someone to vent to, he immediately felt a lot better. Looking at them, he said, “By the way, you came looking for me at this hour, did you need something?”
When it came down to it, Boss Tan wasn’t an idiot. He had clearly written that he only opened at midnight, but these three people had come looking for him at around eight o’clock and ordered three large bowls of beef noodles in one go… the most important thing was that they had even tipped him, so something was definitely up with this abnormal situation!
He had encountered plenty of people over the years, so sometimes he could guess what his customers were thinking from the looks on their faces.
Luckily, Boss Tan was a forthright person, which reassured Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal greatly. As a result, he didn’t bother to hide their purpose; a spirit light glowed in his hand, and he produced an illustration of the stone ghost mask which he had prepared beforehand. “I wonder if Boss Tan has seen this thing before?”
Cupping his chin as he looked at this image, Boss Tan’s eyes gradually turned serious, and he then gazed at Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal as he asked a little excitedly, “Where did you find this mask?”
When he said this, the three people felt like the weights in their hearts had instantly been lifted — so it turned out that the owner of this rundown restaurant, Boss Tan, had something to do with the stone ghost mask!
Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal answered truthfully, “Brother Ling bought this mask for five yuan on Moubao, and without a delivery fee to boot.”
Boss Tan: “…”
“Please, Boss Tan, you have to tell us whatever you know about this mask. As far as we know, there should be two stone ghost masks, since it’s one of twin magic treasures. And now someone wants to use them for evil…” As Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal said this, he strode forward and gripped Boss Tan’s hands. “Boss Tan, whether this world can be saved or not all depends on you!”
“…”
Gazing at the illustration as he thought hard for a while, Boss Tan then shook his head as he replied, “Although I’m very surprised at how you managed to find me, I’m sorry to tell you that I wasn’t the only person involved in making these twin masks… when I was a kid, the girl next door and I made them out of mud.”
Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal: “…Out of mud? But this mask contains primordial black crystal — it’s the hardest material in the whole universe!”
Boss Tan thought it over carefully, then said, “Oh, at that time, we did indeed find some black crystal in the mud, so we just put it in.”
Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal, Song Qingshu and Wang Ling: “…”
The scene was deathly silent for a time.
Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal drew in a deep breath. “So, Boss Tan, you’re not a smith?”
Boss Tan shrugged his shoulders. “I never said it was me… it was that girl who shaped the masks, I just helped her. In the end, she was the one who dried them out.”
Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal: “Do… do you still have any contact information for that mud-playing girl?”
Boss Tan: “It has been so many years, we already lost touch a long time ago. But I still remember her name — maybe you can check it out as a lead.”
Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal: “What is her name?”
Boss Tan: “Nüwa (1).”
Wang Ling: “…”