"I’ll treat you to dinner after work."
"Meat!"
"No problem!"
Zhang Fan replied, adding a smiling emoji.
...
Evening descended, nightfall blanketing the sky.
Old city district, 101 Xiangliu Street.
Old Nine Hot Pot House.
Ever since Xiong Sanqi brought Zhang Fan here once, he’d fallen in love with this barbecue place. Sure, it was a bit out of the way, but it was nice and quiet, and their meat—fifteen bucks a plate, tender and juicy—was honestly unbeatable.
"Master Jiu..."
Zhang Fan led Jiang Lai inside, lifting the curtain, and greeted the bald old man at the counter as soon as they walked in.
Xiong Sanqi said his old man used to come to this barbecue joint all the time back in the day. The boss was known as Master Jiu, so Zhang Fan naturally started calling him that, too.
"Brought a girl this time, I see."
Master Jiu’s eyes narrowed slightly, sizing up Jiang Lai from head to toe, their gaze meeting for a lingering moment.
"Sit wherever you like."
Master Jiu called out to them.
"Let’s order..."
Zhang Fan glanced around—the place was as quiet as always. Besides their table, not a single other customer in sight.
Sometimes, Zhang Fan honestly wondered how Master Jiu managed to keep this old shop going all these years.
"Anything you don’t eat?" Zhang Fan looked over at Jiang Lai, asking with care.
"No garlic."
"Barbecue without garlic? That’s half the flavor gone," Zhang Fan couldn’t help but say.
"No offal, no scallions, no vegetables..." Jiang Lai thought for a second, then added.
"Just meat?"
"Yep, yep!" Jiang Lai nodded.
"Alright, fifteen plates of meat to start." Zhang Fan didn’t bother with the details, just put in the order.
Moments later, fifteen plates of barbecue and sauces were served up.
Zhang Fan handled the grilling while Jiang Lai just sat there with her chopsticks, waiting for the meat to land in her bowl. In no time at all, all fifteen plates had disappeared into her stomach.
"You’re still not full?"
"Just enough to fill the cracks," Jiang Lai replied without even looking up.
"Master Jiu, another fifteen plates."
...
On the iron tray, slices of meat—seven parts lean, three parts fat—sizzled as fat dripped down, the aroma wafting through the whole room.
Zhang Fan flipped the meat with his tongs, then asked out of the blue, "Jiang Lai, do you know where you came from?"
"I do." Jiang Lai nodded.
"Where?" Zhang Fan’s eyes lit up, instantly remembering what he’d seen in that star reading from the past.
"Dragon Tiger Mountain!"
"I knew it!"
And the moment those three words left Jiang Lai’s lips, Zhang Fan’s heart clenched tight, as if squeezed by an invisible hand.
"What else do you remember?"
"Nothing."
...
Zhang Fan’s hand paused mid-turn, squinting at her. "Are you messing with me?"
"Barbecue."
Jiang Lai pointed at the iron tray.
Zhang Fan rolled his eyes and put the grilled meat into Jiang Lai’s bowl.
"You told me to wait for you to come back." Jiang Lai, head down, kept eating as she talked.
"Didn’t I come back?"
"Not this you." Jiang Lai shook her head.
...
"Jiang Lai, you’re not a demon, are you!?"
Right then, Zhang Fan blurted out. He’d had a hunch Jiang Lai wasn’t exactly normal ever since Zhenwu Mountain.
"You’re the one who’s not human." Jiang Lai put down her chopsticks. "I’m full."
"Not an ordinary demon, anyway."
Zhang Fan shook his head. "Old Yu said, some unusual demons are ’second class.’"
"Let’s go home."
With that, Jiang Lai stood up and walked straight out the door.
"Hey, wait up!"
Zhang Fan settled the bill in a hurry, calling out, "Master Jiu, I paid!"
And before the words were done, he’d dashed out after her.
A moment later, Master Jiu finally wandered out of the kitchen at his own pace.
"Eat, eat all you want."
Just then, Master Jiu glanced around the empty restaurant and said to no one in particular. Then he walked over to the messy table and started cleaning up.
"Second class? Now that’s interesting!!"