I am a cannon fodder, so what's wrong with grabbing an opportunity?

New customers appeared at the door of the shop which had been empty for several days.

Xie Zhiqiu watched from afar as the man walked straight into the Jiao Temple. The shopkeeper arranged accommodation for the man, and the waiter ran to the back hall and shouted, "Same old as always."

The cook's hands moved smoothly without any pause, as if she had made the same dishes thousands of times.

Xie Zhiqiu was indeed curious about what these “old-fashioned” dishes were.

Within a quarter of an hour, three dishes and a soup were all served on the table.

When Xie Zhiqiu saw the dishes, she was greatly disappointed, but she had already eaten most of the home-cooked dishes.

After dinner, the man went straight to the room upstairs, in the completely opposite direction from her.

Don't you want them to run into each other?

Generally speaking, if there are few guests, the rooms will not be arranged too far apart, making cleaning inconvenient.

But it was obvious that the shopkeeper did it on purpose by placing them at both ends. What was his purpose?

In the evening, Xie Zhiqiu went back at the time when the new guests were having dinner.

"Hey, boss, there's a new customer."

The words were spoken to the shopkeeper, who was sitting in front of the new customer.

"Fellow Daoist, do you mind if I share the table? It's too boring to eat alone..." Xie Zhiqiu smacked his lips, not giving the man a chance to refuse.

"Boss, bring some more dishes. I want to have a good chat with my fellow Taoists. Put it all on my account."

The shopkeeper looked at Xiang Qianyan awkwardly, waiting for his reply.

"Obedience is worse than respect, Lao Fu, just listen to your Taoist friend."

After receiving Xiang Qianyan's reply, Lao Fu went to the back hall, and the waiter immediately added new bowls and chopsticks for Xie Zhiqiu.

Xie Zhiqiu was not polite and started chatting with Xiang Qianyan while eating.

"I see you call the shopkeeper Lao Fu, do you come here often?"

Xiang Qianyan: "Occasionally, I come and stay for a few days."

The word "Xiaozhu" caught Xie Zhiqiu's attention. "Are you relatives?"

"No."

"Are you friends?"

"No."

Two people in a row didn't know the answer, so Xie Zhiqiu casually said, "You can't say this is yours."

This time Xiang Qianyan did not refute.

Xie Zhiqiu confirmed again: "It can't really be yours?"

"Come on, serve the food." The shopkeeper and the waiter came over with a few plates of food, interrupting the two men's conversation.

The shopkeeper was serving the dishes while talking to the two of them, "Lao Xiang, stop joking with the guests."

"Look at you, you didn't say anything, why are you so excited?" Xiang Qianyan replied.

"You've scared away so many of my customers. I've finally managed to get my business back, so please don't cause more trouble for me." The shopkeeper grumbled in dissatisfaction.

Xie Zhiqiu watched the familiar communication between the two. It seemed like ordinary anger, but after carefully listening to their words, he always felt that something was not right.

"Boss, I don't think Brother Xiang is the kind of person you said." Xie Zhiqiu said standing next to Xiang Qianyan.

The shopkeeper raised his eyebrows, "You just met him today, why are you on his side?"

"Ask him yourself if it is true that every time he comes, my guests leave the next day."

"Maybe it's a coincidence." Xie Zhiqiu said.

The shopkeeper raised his voice a few notches, "How can it be such a coincidence? It happens every time. I think he deliberately doesn't want me to do business, and drives away my customers when I'm not paying attention."

"Sir, please don't listen to his nonsense."

This was the first time in the past few days that Xie Zhiqiu heard the shopkeeper talk so much.

After I mentioned the Jiao Temple on the first day, the shopkeeper turned cold and handled business as usual. Apart from that, there was no chance for me to get close to him. The waiter was also under his strict supervision and they hardly ever stayed alone together.

What happened today?

Xie Zhiqiu seemed to be moved by the shopkeeper's words, and asked with a shaky attitude: "Brother Xiang, is what the shopkeeper said true?"

Xiang Qianyan spread his hands and said helplessly: "I said it was all a coincidence, do you believe it?"

After hearing his words, Xie Zhiqiu shook again, as if he didn't know who to listen to for a moment.

Finally, he waved his hands and said, "Forget it, forget it. Meeting by chance is fate. Why think so much? Let's eat when we should eat and drink when we should drink."

"Well said." Xiang Qianyan agreed, raising the wine bowl in his hand and clinking glasses with Xie Zhiqiu.

The shopkeeper said nothing more and quietly returned to his counter.

The two drank too much and were talking to each other. At first they were still conversing, but later they were talking about their own things and staggering.

Finally, it was the shopkeeper and the waiter, who were ready to each carry one and drag them back to the room.

Seeing the shopkeeper pulling Xiang Qianyan up, Xie Zhiqiu disagreed. He acted like a drunk and tugged at Xiang Qianyan's clothes, saying, "What are you doing? Uh... put Brother Xiang down... uh... serve some wine... we still want to... continue drinking..."

"It's getting late, sir, let's get ready to close..." the shopkeeper advised.

"You're closed for dinner, I'm staying here, I don't care, I'm drinking now..."

Hearing this, the shopkeeper's face turned dark. Since he wanted to drink so much, let him drink as much as he wanted.

"Ah Xiao, serve the guests some wine."

"That's right... uh," Xie Zhiqiu said with a smile, and then he asked, "These dishes are cold... uh... give us a few more hot dishes."

Ah Xiao looked at the shopkeeper and said, "Sir, it's too late. The kitchen is closed. How about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, what tomorrow? I want today... Who knows if I can see the sun tomorrow..."

For a moment, a murderous aura emanated from the shopkeeper.

"Who knows which will come first, tomorrow or an accident..."

When the shopkeeper was about to drop his knife on Xie Zhiqiu's head, she suddenly changed the subject: "Brother...you died so tragically...why didn't you take me with you...leaving me alone in this world..."

"What's the point of leaving so many things for me..."

"You're not by my side, I don't even know where I am..."

"Didn't you say that if I find the Jiao Temple, your friends will be able to protect me? Woo woo..."

"Why did I find it... wuwu... where did your friend go..."

"Awooo... Big Brother... Wow wow..."

Xie Zhiqiu became more and more excited as he performed, and his howling became louder and louder.

Bring all the cooks from the kitchen over here.

"What bastard is crying so loudly in the middle of the night..."

"Lao Fu, Ah Xiao, you two want to die."

The names called were those of the shopkeeper and the waiter, and the one who was shocked was Xie Zhiqiu.

Xie Zhiqiu fell silent, looked at the cook with tearful eyes, then suddenly stood up and rushed over.

"Brother...you came back to see me..."

"Do you know how hard my life has been these days? Awooo..."

"Big brother..."

The cook's face turned red and blue. She wanted to pull Xie Zhiqiu off her, but he was like a dog-skin plaster and refused to let go.

She was so angry that she yelled at the two people who were stunned, "You two dead men, why don't you come over and give me a hand?"

Lao Fu and A Xiao then hurriedly rushed forward to help, and finally managed to pull Xie Zhiqiu off Yanhua.

Xie Zhiqiu desperately stretched out his hand to Yanhua and called for help: "Brother...save me...brother..."