Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 54: Naming The Shop

Chapter 54: Naming The Shop

After identifying the location of their destination, Lu Yang reconvened with the other two and analyzed, “Judging from Qin Yuanhao’s walking posture and breathing frequency, he should be at the Advanced Foundation Establishment Stage.

“He stays in a normal estate which isn’t too big. It also doesn’t look like there are servants or anyone else. Let’s observe him nearby for a while longer. First, it’s to observe his habits; we can’t be totally clueless when people in the diabolic creed ask us after we join. Second, it’s to follow him and see if we can find the Yanjiang Branch’s base.”

Man Gu was puzzled. “Qin Yuanhao has so many underlings, so why aren’t we following them to find the Yanjiang Branch?”

Meng Jingzhou rejected this idea as he knew a bit more about diabolic creeds. “Those people don’t have cultivation. It’s true that they’re Qin Yuanhao underlings, but they’re not members of the diabolic creed. Joining a diabolic creed is not as easy as you think. Besides, we’re not even sure if these people know that Qin Yuanhao belongs to a diabolic creed.

“Anyways, where should we hide to observe him? There are no hostelries nearby. The only establishments are a few teahouses and taverns. We can partake in tea in the morning, but what about at night?”

Diabolic creeds love acting at night.

Lu Yang was also slightly fazed by this conundrum. Suddenly, the corner of his eye lit up upon catching sight of a teahouse with a signboard for rent. “This teahouse’s location is perfect! We can observe Qin Yuanhao from the second floor. Let’s rent this teahouse and keep an eye on him while under the guise of opening a shop!”

Meng Jingzhou nodded and followed up with a question, “What shop do we open?”

“Although opening a shop is a facade, we need to make sure that our pretense is convincing. I’m not good at brewing tea, so continuing to run a teahouse is out of the question. There’s a senior in my family who is well-versed in linguistic spells; I spent some time learning the four fundamentals of xiangsheng comedy—speak, learn, tease, and sing.” Meng Jingzhou was very dedicated. “I propose we open a xiangsheng house. I’ll perform a solo xiangsheng.”

Lu Yang was impressed by the multi-talented Meng Jingzhou. “But xiangsheng is only lively in the day; there’ll be hardly anyone left at night. The best solution is to find a business that operates at night, maybe an entertainment venue so that it can be full of buzz and people can drink and make merry. By letting everyone enjoy themselves, we can observe Qin Yuanhao from the second floor without him noticing us.”

Meng Jingzhou blushed. Although he was a little hesitant, he was mostly excited. “A nighttime business...don’t tell me that you want to open...”

Lu Yang nodded. “That’s right, I’m talking about a barbeque shop.”

Meng Jingzhou nodded. “...That’s right, I was thinking of that too.”

Lu Yang had thought it through. Barbeque was easy to pick up, and even if they were inexperienced, they should probably get the hang of it after charring the barbeque for more than ten times.

“You can leave the barbeque to me.” Man Gu smiled with overflowing confidence. To prove his competency, he even fished out a piece of paper that wrote “Ancestral Barbeque Secret Recipe.”

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou found the secret recipe very familiar. Isn’t this the ancestral barbeque secret recipe on the rewards list that can only be exchanged with a hundred contribution points?!

Man Gu smiled sheepishly. “Back home, I often barbecued wild beasts myself, including black bears, wild boars, and small rabbits. I noticed that there are many things to eat in the Dao-Seeking Sect but very few barbeque shops, so I put my ancestral barbeque secret recipe out there.”

Lu Yang had already been baffled then. Who would place a barbeque secret recipe on the rewards boards? So you were the one who put it there!

Meng Jingzhou was curious. “Did anyone buy it?”

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Man Gu answered honestly, “A senior brother told me that after he bought the barbeque secret recipe, he went on a mission with a fellow female disciple in the wilderness and used his barbeque to win her heart.”

Meng Jingzhou didn’t know what to say. I shouldn’t have asked.

A faint smile appeared on Man Gu’s face. “There’s also another benefit to opening a barbeque shop.”

“And what’s that?”

Man Gu summoned the two tiger-henchman ghosts. “I don’t have to do the work myself. We can let these two tiger-henchman ghosts barbecue in the rear kitchen, and we don’t even have to give them any wages; it’s very convenient.” This way, we won’t even have to hire a waiter. It’s both cost-saving and secretive, truly well thought out.

After learning from Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou for so long, Man Gu had managed to learn a thing or two. However, Lu Yang adamantly refused to admit that Man Gu had learned anything from him.

Man Gu spent the night researching the secret recipe. His old home was in the wilderness, so the original version of the barbeque recipe consisted of many ingredients that were unique to the wild. He had to study how these could be substituted.

He suddenly asked, “By the way, do you eat grilled bugs and grilled cow eyes?”

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou shook their heads, persuading Man Gu to stick to things that were within the general public’s comfort zone.

Man Gu simply replied, “Oh.”

He pondered about it briefly. Firstly, I’m a normal person. Secondly, I can accept these things, so whatever I can accept, normal people can also accept.

Conclusion reached.

Man Gu retained the grilled bugs, grilled cow eyes, and other barbeque ingredients with special regional traits, hoping that people in Yanjiang Commandery would like them.

Early the next morning, Meng Jingzhou demonstrated his extraordinary wealth by purchasing the whole teahouse.

“Hold on, didn’t we say to rent?” Lu Yang stared at Meng Jingzhou in a stupor.

Meng Jingzhou had acted too quickly. Before Lu Yang could react, the teahouse was already under their names. We're just doing the mission for a few months. Don’t tell me you're planning to run the place for your whole life?

Meng Jingzhou defended himself with conviction. “I have always only used my own things; if I can buy it, I’ll never rent it! Worst case, I’ll just sell it off again after we’re done with the mission.”

Seeing how swiftly Meng Jingzhou handed over the money, the original teahouse owner rapidly packed up and left. After his departure, a very serious problem lay in front of them.

What should be the name of the barbeque shop?

Meng Jingzhou proposed, “I suggest calling it ‘Waiter Meng Barbeque Shop.’”

Lu Yang cast a glance at Meng Jingzhou and was dismissive. “This name is too vulgar. I suggest calling it ‘Just Drink Three Bowls Barbeque Shop.’ [1]

Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu shook their heads, finding it not at all appropriate.

It was rare for Man Gu to raise a different opinion. “The name ‘Just Drink Three Bowls’ is too long. Why don’t we follow our tribe’s style and call it ‘Hahaha Barbeque Shop’ or ‘Heeheehee Barbeque Shop?’”

Lu Yang had heard of the naming customs of the Barbarian Tribe in the wild. Such methods were considered progressive even within the fairly progressive Dao-Seeking Sect. There were the ‘Hehehe Weapon Shop,’ ‘Roar Roar Roar Tavern,’ ‘Ow Ow Ow Brothel’ and more...

“What about calling it ‘Transcendent Tribulation Barbeque Shop?’”

“We might as well call it ‘Immortal Ascension Barbeque Shop.’”

“I think Light Boat Barbeque Shop sounds acceptable.”

“Who would give a barbeque shop such an elegant name?”

The three discussed for a while more, but they eventually had to acknowledge a frustrating fact—they were all terrible at coming up with names.

“Forget it, the three of us can write a name each on a piece of paper and crumple them up; we’ll shake them and pick randomly,” Lu Yang recommended a solution, and the other two agreed.

Considering that Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou weren’t exactly known to be pure-hearted, they decided that it’d be safer to have Man Gu shake the paper lots. Pressing his hands together, Man Gu hugged the three small paper balls. Swaying up and down and with his thumb shifting away, two small paper balls flew out.

Opening up one of them, he saw what was written on the paper: One More Time [2]

Man Gu opened the other paper in confusion. The words written on it were: Thank You For Your Patronage

Question marks were madly popping out of Man Gu’s head. It took a while for him to register what was happening.

We’re just naming the shop and not participating in a lottery...right?

1. This is based on one of China’s earliest and most successful advertisements. It was promoting their alcohol, and it stated how three bowls was just the right quantity. ☜

2. It can mean “one more time” or “come again. ☜