My family tree hollow connects to the modern era : Chapter 10

The decor style of Fulu Residence leaned toward Chinese traditional, with red wood palace lanterns, pavilions and towers, three floors total, magnificent and imposing.

Although it was past mealtime, Fulu Residence was still full of diners. Seeing the three of them walking toward the shop, the greeter at the door warmly stepped forward. “Hello, welcome to Fulu Residence. Please come inside, the three of you.”

Lin Xiaoyang said, “So many people. At this time there are still so many people. Do we need to wait in line?”

Bai Zhizhi also sighed in his heart. So many people. Even more than during the day.

The greeter smiled and said, “No need to wait in line now. There are seats on the first and second floors. Where would the three of you like to sit?”

Lin Xiaoyang said, “No seats on the third floor?”

The greeter said, “The third floor is private rooms, with a minimum spending requirement, and they were all booked out early. They are full now.”

Lin Xiaoyang glanced at Jiang Lin and said, “Let’s go to the second floor. Pick a cool and comfortable spot.”

The greeter escorted them to the first floor stairway, used a walkie talkie to tell the upper floor there were three guests, then returned to the shop entrance.

Lin Xiaoyang looked back. “So late and the servers are still this enthusiastic. Looks like the pay isn’t low.”

Pay? That meant salary, right? Bai Zhizhi perked up his ears, planning to listen to how much ordinary people here earned.

Before finding a way home, he needed to understand this world’s social structure to better survive. Income and prices were the most direct reflection of a world.

Jiang Lin, walking behind the two of them, said, “Walk properly. Don’t look around everywhere.”

Bai Zhizhi, who had just been about to look around, immediately straightened his head back.

Seeing his movement, Jiang Lin couldn’t hold back a smile.

This little fox demon was different from the demons he had caught before. He could tell that those previous demons were wild and untamed. Even after taking human form they still had beastly natures.

Bai Zhizhi was different. He had clearly received education, was polite and cultured. Although newly arrived in the mortal world and understanding no rules, this made him seem all the more well behaved, so well behaved that people almost forgot he was a demon.

The second floor server led them to a window seat with open views and ventilation. Lin Xiaoyang took out his phone and scanned a code, then looked at Jiang Lin. “Brother Jiang, are we eating for real or just ordering something to sit for a while?”

Jiang Lin said, “Order whatever you want to eat. I’ll pay.”

Lin Xiaoyang leaned next to Bai Zhizhi. “Zhizhi, look and see what you want to eat. There are pictures on here.”

Bai Zhizhi flipped through the pictures for quite a while then pushed the phone back. “You look yourself. I haven’t eaten any of these. I don’t know what’s good.”

Lin Xiaoyang chuckled. “Brother Jiang is treating. I won’t be polite then.”

He ordered this and that, salty and sweet, a huge pile. When the server responsible for their area saw the order, they even came over to ask if they wanted to reduce some. Even for three grown men, this was really a bit much. It felt like enough for ten people.

Lin Xiaoyang said, “Not too much, not too much. We can eat. Oh right, I heard from my friend that your shop has a kind of fish that’s especially delicious. He ate it once and couldn’t forget it. It’s called Phoenix Tail Fish. I don’t see it on the menu. Do you still have it? If you do, give us one too.”

The server said, “Phoenix Tail Fish? Our shop doesn’t seem to have this dish. And our shop’s signature dish is跷脚 beef, not fish.”

Lin Xiaoyang made an oh sound. “Maybe I remembered wrong.”

The server confirmed once more. “Do you still want these dishes?”

Lin Xiaoyang nodded. “Yes, yes. Hurry up. So hungry.”

After the server left, Lin Xiaoyang lowered his voice and said to Jiang Lin, “When I just mentioned Phoenix Tail Fish, the server had a completely puzzled look. They really don’t seem to know.”

Jiang Lin slowly poured himself a cup of tea. “If it’s really some kind of wild game, ordinary staff definitely wouldn’t know. The more people who know, the easier problems arise. These things are probably special supply for the private rooms upstairs, and only for old customers. Zhizhi, did you smell any fishy smell?”

Bai Zhizhi shook his head. “No.”

Lin Xiaoyang said, “Zhou Yan said they only come to eat when the boss calls them. Maybe the boss hasn’t caught any. Brother Jiang, do I need to stake out here, or directly report it and have people come investigate this shop.”

Eating wild game wasn’t something that fell under their jurisdiction. There were specialized departments for handling this. But right now they weren’t certain whether Zhou Yan’s illness was caused by eating this kind of thing. Since they had taken the Zhou family’s case, they definitely needed to investigate the cause as much as possible. It was also an explanation to the Zhou family.

Jiang Lin said, “Don’t move yet. Today just look at the environment first. Later have the Zhou family give a list of Zhou Yan’s classmates. They all ate the fish together. If there’s a problem, it won’t be just Zhou Yan.”

Lin Xiaoyang nodded. Bai Zhizhi was eating the fruit plate that was brought first after they sat down. The taste was quite bland and not good at all. After one bite he put it down. “Are you looking for fish or looking for people?”

Lin Xiaoyang said, “Of course we’re looking for fish. If Zhou Yan is like this because of wild fish, whether it’s the fish itself or this shop selling wild game, it’s all a big problem.”

Bai Zhizhi said, “If you’re looking for fish, just go down below.”

Lin Xiaoyang said, “Below, what below?”

Bai Zhizhi pointed downstairs. “Below. In a room, there is a Xian Yu.”

Lin Xiaoyang made an ah sound. “But didn’t you just say you didn’t smell fishy smell?”

Bai Zhizhi said, “Live fish of course has no fishy smell. Only those poisoned by Xian Yu carry fishy smell.”

Jiang Lin said, “You’re certain the fish is in the shop?”

Bai Zhizhi nodded. Certain. This kind of ordinary shop had no formations either. One sweep with divine sense and whatever was hidden inside was clear at a glance.

Lin Xiaoyang looked at Jiang Lin. “Brother Jiang, what should we do?”

Jiang Lin glanced at the server bringing dishes over. “Eat first. Get full before handling matters.”

To be able to do business this well, with so many people even though it was neither dinner time nor late night snack time, this shop definitely had something going for it.

Once the dishes came up, all sorts of spicy and fragrant smells filled the nose. Bai Zhizhi couldn’t hold back a sneeze, causing Lin Xiaoyang to laugh out loud. “Have you eaten chili peppers on the mountain? Can you eat spicy?”

Jiang Lin put a piece of boiled meat into Bai Zhizhi’s bowl. “This shouldn’t be too spicy. Try it first. If you don’t like it, eat something else.”

Bai Zhizhi smelled the pungent spicy scent and was very doubtful whether these things could taste good.

The first bite of meat went into his mouth. His first feeling was salty.

Qingqiu had many spirit chefs. The food they made could be called immortal grade. For them, seasonings were supplementary. The ingredients were the foundation. Almost no spirit chef used seasonings to cover up the ingredient’s own flavor. They only enhanced freshness and fragrance.

But here, he hadn’t even tasted the meat’s flavor yet and his mouth was already full of spicy taste. To say it was delicious, it couldn’t be called earth shatteringly delicious. But this distinctive cooking style was indeed quite stimulating to the taste buds. Once appetite opened up, after one bite you wanted another.

Seeing that his acceptance of spice level was okay, Jiang Lin let him eat on his own.

Lin Xiaoyang ate while recommending to him. “This grilled oil edge is so tender. Try it. And this beef. Truly worthy of being the signature dish. Looks light, but the flavor is actually not bad.”

Bai Zhizhi said, “The names here are so strange. Why does the beef need to lift its foot?”

Lin Xiaoyang said, “Of course because it’s so delicious you lift your foot.”

Bai Zhizhi said, “But it’s not so delicious that it makes people want to lift their foot.”

This remark made Lin Xiaoyang remember what happened at the Zhou family just now, so he lowered his voice. “Zhizhi, let me tell you. Sometimes when being a person, you can’t be too ‘speaking without holding back.’ Even if it’s the truth, you need to be appropriately tactful.”

Bai Zhizhi said, “Since it’s the truth, why be tactful? You humans just can’t stand hearing honest words?”

Lin Xiaoyang said, “Also, don’t say ‘you humans’ like that. Ordinary people hearing it will just think you’re playing a meme, but cultivators hearing it will know you’re a demon.”

Bai Zhizhi looked at Lin Xiaoyang learning to eat skewers, then said with some disgust. “You humans are so troublesome.”

Lin Xiaoyang said, “Look, you said it again!”

Jiang Lin smiled watching the two of them bicker. He tasted a little of each dish on the table. The rest was eaten by Lin Xiaoyang and Bai Zhizhi. One cultivator, one demon cultivator. This amount was easy to finish.

Seeing they had eaten enough, Jiang Lin said, “Clean up. Get ready to go down.”

Lin Xiaoyang made an ah sound. “We’re leaving already? Not investigating?”

As soon as his words fell, he saw from the second floor window that several police cars had stopped at the entrance. From the cars came a group of people in uniform, walking toward the shop.

Lin Xiaoyang’s eyes widened. “What’s going on? Could it be that besides us, someone else is also investigating Phoenix Tail Fish? This timing is too coincidental.”

Police cars, police uniforms. They couldn’t be off duty and not changing clothes to come out for a team building activity.

Jiang Lin said, “Zhizhi, you go with Lin Xiaoyang to find the fish. After finding it, make some noise.”

Whether Phoenix Tail Fish really had a problem or not, just based on their shop’s sneaky reservation system, this shop wasn’t clean.

Seeing the police enter, the shop’s manager immediately went to greet them, wanting to ask what the matter was.

Team Leader Luo, who led the team to investigate the shop, looked up and met eyes with Jiang Lin. He nodded toward him before saying to the manager, “We received a report that your shop is selling wild game. Where is the back kitchen? Take us to see.”

Hearing this, the manager’s expression relaxed. His attitude was very cooperative as he led the way. “The back kitchen is inside. This way. We operate legally and properly. We absolutely don’t mess around. And we have no wild game.”

Seeing his relaxed expression and completely unpanicked look, Team Leader Luo glanced at Jiang Lin again. Jiang Lin nodded slightly toward him. Only then did Team Leader Luo walk toward the back kitchen. “Whether you do or not, we’ll see after we check.”

Lin Xiaoyang brought Bai Zhizhi down from the other stairway. Seeing everyone’s attention was on the police, he asked Bai Zhizhi in a low voice. “Where is the Phoenix Tail Fish?”

Bai Zhizhi said, “In the back.”

Lin Xiaoyang followed Bai Zhizhi toward the back. On the way they even ran into two servers who said the back was off limits to diners.

Before Lin Xiaoyang could act, Bai Zhizhi waved his hand. The two servers seemed to have amnesia or were blind, walking straight past them.

Lin Xiaoyang looked at Bai Zhizhi in surprise.

Bai Zhizhi said, “Illusion technique.”

Lin Xiaoyang put away his surprise. “Okay, no need to say more.” It was a technique he didn’t know.

After passing a pile of stacked drinks, the two of them came to a wall.

Lin Xiaoyang said, “The fish is here?”

Bai Zhizhi said, “Inside.”

He had quietly released a strand of divine sense to investigate earlier. He detected many large pots and stoves. The place where the uniformed people were gathered was the entrance. That side was packed with people and they couldn’t squeeze in. So they would enter from another place.

Lin Xiaoyang said, “You’re sure it’s behind the wall? If we damage shop facilities without reason, we’ll be fined.”

Bai Zhizhi snorted. “It’s right behind. Believe it or not.”

Lin Xiaoyang hurriedly said, “I believe, I believe. I didn’t say I don’t believe.”

As soon as his words fell, he saw a flash of white light before his eyes. Before he could react, he heard a huge rumbling sound. Besides the brick wall shattering into pieces, there was also an extremely strong stream of water rushing out through the broken wall.

Lin Xiaoyang was a cultivator after all. Although somewhat unprepared, the instant he sensed something rushing toward him, he had already instinctively stomped on the ground, circulated spiritual energy, and jumped aside.

Once the brick wall broke, water gushed out with a splash. And along with the water came a red giant monster fish at least seven or eight meters long. The monster fish had a slender body, but because of its enormous size it appeared especially thick. On both sides of its body were fish fins. The fish tail split into three tails, making the tail appear enormous.

After it rushed out through the broken wall with the water, with one swing of its tail, the restaurant’s pillars and some tables and chairs were completely smashed into pieces.

The huge sound of the wall breaking startled the restaurant patrons badly. They thought something had exploded. But their first reaction was to check the source of the sound rather than running outside. Until the huge stream of water rushed out from the shop.

By then it was too late to run. Some people were entirely splashing in the water and couldn’t stand up. They could only be swept outside by the water’s force.

Some people had already quickly gotten up and run outside. But they were still slapped into the water by the surging waves.

The situation before their eyes looked dangerous. But actually whenever the big fish was about to hit an ordinary person, a flash of spiritual light would appear in time to block it. Even those people tumbling in the water unable to climb up were lifted up by a force.

Broken wall, water flow, shattered tables and chairs, panicked and screaming diners, and the monster fish wildly swinging its tail and causing destruction inside Fulu Residence.

Lin Xiaoyang desperately clung to the second floor railing looking at the chaos and mess downstairs. Then he looked at Bai Zhizhi sitting on the railing with a leisurely expression, not knowing when he had gotten there. Lin Xiaoyang wiped his face full of water. “Zhizhi, we’re done for.”

Bai Zhizhi said, “Done for what? It was Jiang Lin who said to make some noise.”

Lin Xiaoyang was speechless. It was make some noise, not demolish the entire Fulu Residence!