Early the next morning, the wet market erupted like a shaken soda can — vendor calls ricocheting off every stall. I slathered enough gel on my hedgehog hair to beat it flat, then pulled on the apron embroidered with Spirit-Flavor Grilled Fish — the one Lin Yao had sewn from an old curtain, the stitching as crooked as the Ultraman laser beams Xiao Chuan draws in crayon...
Lin Yao and I wheeled our cart to a corner and set up our stall.
Our son Xiao Chuan hoisted his hand-painted sign — the fish on it looked more like an alien life form — and bellowed at the top of his lungs: "Get your magic grilled fish here! Eat one and turn into a superhero!"
"Stop spouting nonsense!" Lin Yao bopped him on the head, though the corners of her mouth kept creeping upward no matter how hard she tried to stop them.
The stinky-tofu uncle from the next stall wandered over, squinted at our handwritten chalkboard — Grilled Fish: ¥88 per piece — and immediately curled his lip. "These days all the kids are hawking internet-famous skewers, and you're pricing your fish higher than a five-star hotel. Why don't you just fly to the moon while you're at it?"
I was about to explain when a wave of cilantro-tinged air rolled in. Old Zhang came shouldering through the crowd with his cane, dragging three equally cane-equipped neighbours behind him — a perfect "Sunset Glow Cane Crew." Old folks don't sleep in; Zhang had spotted Lin Yao and me prepping our gear in the estate at four or five in the morning, figured out we were heading to sell fish, and rounded up the whole squad.
"This is the fish!" Old Zhang jabbed a finger at the grill, practically vibrating with excitement. "I had some last night, and my knee actually bent again! Eighty-eight yuan for one fish — way better value than a session at the hospital's rehabilitation department!"
The crowd instantly went off. Someone refused to believe it: "Grandpa, you showed up the second they opened — you're not a paid plant, are you?"
Old Zhang flung his cane aside and dropped into a full squat right then and there, leaving everyone agape. "Don't believe me, then. Everyone in this market knows Old Zhang has been selling vegetables here for decades. If I'm lying, I'll live-stream myself eating a steel weight."
"But who's going to pay that much for a fish?" "Exactly — it's not some immortal elixir!" The grumbling spread through the crowd. Then the grandma standing next to Old Zhang quietly opened her purse. "Give me one. My bad knees have ached for over ten years; I've spent tens of thousands at hospitals and nothing's worked. May as well give it a shot."
Lin Yao stifled a laugh as she took the money. "Auntie, our fish is better covered than national healthcare!" Once someone took the lead, all the grandpas and grandmas nursing various ailments started pulling out their wallets one after another — and those who'd simply caught a whiff of the aroma while passing by kept streaming over to try some, too.
Ding — Congratulations, Host, for completing the task: use Sword Qi to descale and prepare 5 portions of Spirit-Infused Snacks and sell them successfully.
Ding — Task reward of 500 Low-Grade Spirit Stones has been distributed. System detects that Host currently has no environment in which to use Spirit Stones and has not yet successfully completed Foundation Building. The 500 Low-Grade Spirit Stones will be held in custody by the System in the meantime.
Ding — Task reward of 5 Body-Tempering Pills has been distributed.
Money came flying in like a snowstorm, and I was sweating buckets keeping up — too slammed to even think about the System rewards. If I hadn't already advanced to the Second Layer of Qi Refinement with my meridians considerably widened and my qi and blood running full, my old constitution honestly couldn't have held up. Working a job, earning money, and still looking after a partner and a kid — anyone with a life like that knows exactly what it does to you.
I was mid-grill when the crowd suddenly parted. A man in a tailored suit and gold-rimmed glasses strolled in unhurried, turning a jade thumb ring in his fingers, eyes fixed on my meteorite-iron chopping board and the fish.
"Boss, what exactly have you put in this fish?" He ran a finger along the runes carved into the board. My heart lurched — those runes actually lit up.
Before I could say a word, he produced a card that gleamed gold-bright. "I'm the procurement manager for Hundred Treasures Tower. I'd like to discuss a partnership. The price is very negotiable — as long as you can supply in volume, we can double it, no problem."
I hadn't even finished reading the name on the card before Lin Yao stepped squarely in front of me. "We run a small operation. We don't do wholesale." The man smiled and drew a contract from his briefcase. "Agree to this, and we'll guarantee you a hundred thousand a month minimum — ingredients and supplies fully covered on our end."
The people around us went green with envy instantly. "Just say yes! That's enough to cover a year of fish sales!" "No kidding — a hundred thousand a month, that's one point two million a year!"
Back in the old days, hearing a number like that would have had my heart racing. But that was then. Never mind that I had a System now — just the fish alone could basically cure every ailment under the sun. I could hike the price tenfold later, or even a hundredfold, and people would still be clawing each other to get it.
Xiao Chuan suddenly tugged my sleeve and whispered, "Dad, this man smells weird. Like fish that's gone bad in the fridge." I looked more carefully — there was a dark mist drifting off the man, nothing like the spiritual energy of a Qi-Gathering Pill. Completely different nature.
"Sorry, we only sell freshly grilled, made to order." I wrapped up the finished fish and passed it to the grandpa at the front of the queue. The man's face went black in an instant. He tore the name card to shreds, teeth grinding. "You don't know what's good for you. We'll see about this." The moment he walked away, every vegetable leaf he passed shrivelled yellow and died.