The owner, still busy making dishes at the entrance of the restaurant, stole a moment to tally up Yuan's table, tapped on the calculator for a bit, and came up with a figure, "Miss, you've got quite the appetite, eating 5 buns and 4 baskets of dumplings, plus two bowls of soy milk, that'll be 53 yuan in total."
"Keep the change," Yuan Yundanfengqing nonchalantly produced a hundred-yuan note from inside her Taoist robe, and airily placed it on the counter.
The owner took the note she offered, intending to closely examine its authenticity, but before he could take a good look, he sensed something was amiss: "Miss, this money can't be used. Do you have anything else?"
"Can't be used? How is that possible?"
Yuan produced another note from her robe: "All the money I have on me is , surely it's all real."
"But, it's not... This money, it's too old, at least forty years out of date."
The owner wiped his forehead: "I've only seen this kind of banknote when I was a kid, and even the exchange period has passed, it's definitely unusable."
Yuan couldn't help but take the banknote back, gave it a shake in front of her eyes, then extended it again: "But even if it's old money, there's surely someone who would want it, right? I'll give this to you, you can exchange it with someone, no need to give me change."
"This is a small business, miss, you're kidding me."
The owner awkwardly laughed: "The bank won't exchange it now, and I'd have to find another way to deal with it. I can't even tell if your money is real or fake, just give me cash instead. If that's not possible, could you transfer it to my phone or something?"
"What if I have nothing but this kind of money, what should I do?"
Yuan threw the banknote on the counter: "Since you don't want this, I have no other solution."
Seeing Yuan ready to leave things unsettled, the owner grew anxious as he wiped his sweat again, contemplating what to do, when his gaze suddenly shifted to the sidewalk not far away.
At that very moment, a patrolling police officer was passing by.
At noon, Lin Yun set aside the documents in his hands, closed the computer in front of him, and tiredly closed his eyes.
He stretched a hand to rub his shoulder, feeling that the inflammation that had barely eased seemed to resurface, and contemplated if he had been overworking lately. Just then, he heard a series of gentle knocks at the door.
As he spoke, he covertly pulled on the silk thread at the door, and saw a female staff member from the intelligence department cautiously enter.
"Director, hello, sorry to disturb you."
She greeted him in a soft voice, then picked up her phone and got to the point: "We've just received a report of a magical disturbance case, about a magician who dined and dashed at a breakfast stall in Lixing District, and then created trouble with spell techniques in order to avoid paying... The person has already been apprehended by our department."
Lin Yun raised an eyebrow: "That doesn't seem particularly heinous. With some time spent on criticism and education, followed by urging the magician to compensate the business a bit more, and conducting a review after a while, the case should be closed."
"Yes, that was what the department initially decided as well, but after receiving the person, the interrogation room insisted that you come take a look," the staff member said cautiously, "They claim that only you can make a decision on this matter."
"Why? Is this related to Black Ash Dawn?" Lin Yun instinctively speculated.
"No, it's not Black Ash Dawn,"
The staff member shook her head, watching Lin Yun's expression, she slowly said:
"They're saying that the person arrested isn't a magician, but a... Magical Girl."