Chapter Twelve: Days Gone By

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"In the beginning, Old Gao and I worked as laborers in Zhi'an Ward. Once, someone snatched our job away, and we were unwilling to accept it, so we fought them," Old Liu recounted these tales of years past as if they had happened only yesterday. "They outnumbered us, and Old Gao and I lost the fight, tossed out onto the street.

As luck would have it, we rolled right to the feet of Master Xu."

"And then? And then?" Ji Wu asked, full of curiosity.

"Master Xu helped us up from the ground and asked if we wanted to find some work. Of course, we said yes.

Master Xu said he happened to know a craft, and could teach us. If we learned well, it would be better than working for others. He asked if we were willing to learn from him."

Old Liu traced the grain of the wooden table before him, a nostalgic look in his eyes. "We wondered if such good fortune could really be ours. For a moment, neither of us dared to agree. Old Gao asked what the tuition was.

Master Xu said, once we had learned the skill, he would be content to drop by occasionally for a free meal. Such a modest request. Naturally, we were happy to accept."

"So you're saying Master Xu taught you to open a breakfast shop?" Ji Wu glanced around the modest, fly-infested eatery, feeling a faint sense of disillusionment.

That ethereal, sage-like Master Xu only taught you this?

"You're still young, you don't understand how precious a skill that can support your livelihood truly is," Old Liu shot him a glare.

The boy was born in Qing County, already considered among the privileged. The Ji family's escort agency was wealthy and influential, and growing up there, he naturally had never tasted the hardship of ordinary life.

"We had no ties to Master Xu, not a shred of kinship or friendship, yet he was willing to teach us a skill to sustain ourselves.

Let me put it this way: if you want to be a chef, you'd have to serve your master for years before he'd even consider teaching you, enduring beatings and scolding, as if you'd found yourself another father.

Even then, he'd hold back some tricks!"

Old Liu spoke solemnly, "Master Xu did us a great kindness! He took no money, only dropping by now and then for a meal. To say 'now and then'—sometimes he wouldn't even come once a year!"

"Oh." Ji Wu nodded, half-understanding. "Go on, what happened then?"

"Master Xu told us he knew ways to earn a living through hard work, and ways to make a fortune, and asked which we wanted to learn."

Old Liu continued slowly, "I wasn't bold, so I said I just wanted to learn how to earn a living through hard work. Master Xu taught me how to grind tofu, make soy milk, tofu, and tofu pudding—enough to keep food on the table, no need to hunt for jobs anymore.

Old Gao was braver, he wanted to learn how to make big money. Master Xu taught him to brew liquor, which is where 'Immortal's Drunkenness' comes from."

Pausing, Old Liu went on, "Master Xu was true to his word. I opened a breakfast shop, Old Gao learned to brew and opened a tavern.

The breakfast shop is hard work, but the costs are low, and you don't need a storefront. Done well, you earn more than a laborer. The tavern is hard to run, costs more, but can earn much more."

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"To be honest, I've regretted it. If I'd been braver, perhaps I could have been like Old Gao, whose tavern grew more and more prosperous, even opening a restaurant and building a reputation—that's the real way to make big money!

Unlike a breakfast shop: no matter how well you run it, it never fetches a high price—it's always just hard work. People are greedy, after all."

At this point, tears shimmered in Old Liu's eyes. "After Old Gao made his fortune, he opened a restaurant, and Immortal's Drunkenness became famous.

But fame brings money, and it also brings trouble! The newly appointed magistrate heard of the liquor's reputation, came to taste it a few times, and then privately approached Old Gao to buy the secret recipe. Old Gao refused.

After that, Old Gao ended up in prison. The tavern was taken over by the magistrate's son-in-law and became Flying Phoenix Restaurant. Old Gao died there, wronged and wasted away in jail."

"So that's how it is." Ji Wu finally pieced together the whole story. Seeing Old Liu's tearful expression, he comforted, "Fortune brings misfortune, misfortune hides fortune..."

"Fortune lies where misfortune dwells, misfortune rests where fortune resides," Ji Wen added.

"Yes, yes, that's it!" Ji Wu thumped his chest. "You only wanted to do small business, not make big money, so no one tried to rob you, and you lived peacefully.

Old Gao made big money, wanted more, got noticed, and ended up losing everything. Isn't that exactly fortune in misfortune, misfortune in fortune?"

Old Liu was amused by Ji Wu's earnest expression. "What you say... does make some sense."

"Wait, I have a question."

Ji Wen, who hadn't said much, stared at Old Liu for a while and asked, "You said Master Xu taught you how to run a breakfast shop?"

"Yes, that's true. Why would I lie to you?" Old Liu nodded firmly.

"When did Master Xu teach you?"

"Twenty or thirty years ago, why?"

Old Liu was puzzled.

"That's the problem! Master Xu looks at most twenty years old, and your hair is already white. How could Master Xu have taught you twenty or thirty years ago?"

Ji Wen pressed on.

Old Liu's face stiffened.

He had wondered the same—why didn't Master Xu ever age?

But he had never dared to ask.

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"Ah, Master Xu is a man among immortals—sage-like, untouched by age. Isn't it normal for an immortal not to grow old? What immortal ever grows old?" Ji Wu was bold, speaking without hesitation, not a shred of doubt.

"Are immortals so easy to meet? Do you just bump into them?" Ji Wen still didn't believe. "Brother, you've listened to too many storyteller's tales. Why would an immortal come here for a meal? Do immortals even need to eat?"

"What do you know? Have you ever been an immortal?" Ji Wu rolled up his sleeves.

Seeing the brothers about to fight, Old Liu quickly intervened, "Why are you arguing? Your parents know Master Xu as well. Why not just ask them?"

"That's right!"

Ji Wu sprang from his stool. "Let's go, let's ask father!"

He was a man of action: once decided, he moved immediately, not stopping for a moment.

"Eat before you go," Old Liu called after him.

"There’s food at home," Ji Wu shouted, not looking back, running off at full speed.

By the time Old Liu’s son returned, carrying the hard-won chives and eggs, there wasn’t a single customer left in the shop.

...

Ji Family Escort Agency.

Ji Wu rushed home, panting, his face flushed, heading straight for his parents’ room.

"Well, just yesterday I disciplined you, and today you dare skip lessons again!" Ji Wu’s mother, Cai Shulan, had already rolled up her sleeves. "If I don’t make you stay in bed for three days, I’ll take your surname!"

"Mother, I met Master Xu! Do you know him? Master Xu!"

Ji Wu gasped for breath, hastily blurting it out.

"Master Xu?" Cai Shulan paused, quickly let her sleeves fall and tidied her clothes, her fierce expression melting into tenderness. "Master Xu has come? Where is he? You didn’t offend him, did you?"