Chapter 45: Fatty Lu
In the end, Di Tou decided to go for a walk.
It seemed a bit too late to do any more chores, and he didn't particularly feel like fetching any more water, lest he get himself wet again but it was still a quite a nice day out, so he figured he'd just go out and walk for a bit to digest his meal.
After all, it was quite nice out compared to what Di Tou was used to. While the Academy was clearly a highly populated area, it could in no way compare to the hubbub and pollution of a modern day city. Combined with the setting sun and the soft autumn wind, it was an understatement to say it was quite pretty outside right now.
Anyways, Di Tou still needed to familiarize himself with the environment, so it couldn't be considered a waste of time to just walk around for a bit.
Heading in yet another direction from where he had set off in the morning and the afternoon, Di Tou walked around just enjoying the atmosphere in the town. It was quite a lively place, being a mix of youths who were clearly students enrolled at the Academy mixed with merchants and ordinary citizens who had moved here looking for a better life.
In such a way Di Tou got a better sense of just what the Academy was, it was a place for people from all walks of life to meet up in a relatively safe and controlled manner.
Midway through his walk, Di Tou thought of a genius idea.
"Ahem, this sir, could you tell me where the nearest restroom is..?" Di Tou asked a nearby passerby, which happened to be a young man who was accompanied with another young man and a young woman.
"Ah… I'm not quite sure, sorry. You could ask the mister over there though. I think he's a regular here" The young man pointed towards a bored looking pudgy man who was sitting cross legged behind a rug that held his wares.
"Alright, thank you, sorry for disturbing you."
"No problem."
Walking over to the shopkeeper, Di Tou looked at the various knickknacks that were available. There were a couple of wooden horses and lions and beasts that Di Tou couldn't recognize, as well as some small paper lanterns. It seemed like this shopkeeper was selling toys for children.
Seeing Di Tou heading over to him and looking at his wares, the shopkeeper got excited, "This sir, do you have a grandson or granddaughter? If you do they'll really love this horse. It's made of the finest wood and carved by a master craftsman, and if you have a granddaughter they'll love these lanterns…"
A quick sales pitch later, Di Tou scratched his head and said, "Ah… I was looking for directions to the bathroom."
"Oh… Of course." Deflating a little, the man stood up and started gesturing to Di Tou, "If you head over that way and take a turn at Old Fang's stall… Err, that's the one that's selling hairpins, then go through that alleyway then take a left turn you'll find a restroom."
Then, pausing a moment, the man bent over and rummaged through his back before coming back up with a small wad of hay. "Here, in case you didn't bring any."
Di Tou stared at the piece of hay, trying to figure out what it was for before it clicked in his head.
F*ck he didn't expect toilet paper, but this was too far wasn't it?
Ahhhhh… how was he going to live.
After a somewhat awkward moment, in which Di Tou was questioning his life, and the vendor was wondering if this old man was feeling a bit shy the vendor broke the silence, "It's okay old man, it happens, I've forgotten to bring out something to wipe before, there's no need to feel awkward. I have more look."
The vendor stuffed the hay into Di Tou's hand then started rummaging through his bag, pulling out another two handfuls.
Di Tou: That wasn't the problem!
"Err, thank you." Di Tou accepted the hay, sad as it might be, it was definitely better then the alternative of using his fingers. "I don't know what I should call you this…"
"Oh, you can call me Fatty Lu. I'm just a vendor, although my brother is a very talented woodworker, I'm here most of the time so you should come to me if you ever need anything done with wood!"
"Ah, of course, thank you… Fatty Lu." Ahhhh Di Tou didn't really feel comfortable calling a person he wasn't familiar with a fatty, but that's what the man asked him to call him. "I'll be sure to come to you if I need anything with wood… Oh! By the way, do you happen to sell a flame stick or matches here?"
"Oh?" Fatty Lu's eyes shone at the prospect of selling something, "You're in luck, you're in luck, I normally don't happen to sell these things, but my brother was asked to make some flamesticks for a friend of his, and he gave me a few of the extras, I have a couple on me. Just…" Fatty Lu hesitated before gritting his teeth, "Just five, no four! Four silver nuggets."
Haha, it had been quite awhile since Di Tou had run into such an honest vendor. Reaching into his bag, Di Tou took out five silver nuggets and gave them to Fatty Lu, "Just treat it as a thanks for the directions and the uh…" Di Tou made a glance at the piece of hay.
"Of course of course! It's what I should do. Thank you for the purchase, this uh, I don't think I got your name." Fatty Lu said while grabbing the flame stick out of his bag and handing it to Di Tou.
Taking the flame stick, Di Tou said, "You can call me Lao Di." Di Tou decided to go by Lao Di for now, this would hopefully stop people from instantly making the connection to Mu Di Bai if they didn't know him already.
While at the same time both of them shared a name with Di in it, although the character and pronunciation was a bit different, it'd still be easier to respond to for Di Tou in his head. "Alright, I'm going to head off, thank you."