Mountain and Sea Canteen - Chapter 1

It was an ordinary morning. The sun bathed the earth in a golden hue, and the rolling clouds in the clear sky resembled waves. The streets were filled with the damp scent of dew.

Jia Zhiwen, the owner of Fuduo Supermarket, was busy moving the day’s new stock into the store when he noticed two people opening the door of the shop next door, which had been closed for several years. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Oh, the owner next door has finally shown up. How wealthy they must be to leave such a big shop unattended for years.”

“This is it,” said Director Yang as he opened the rolling shutter door, pulling out a key and pointing to the person beside him. “Head Ying, this is the property of the Tianwu Sect in Jiangyu City.”

As he pushed the door open, a thick cloud of accumulated dust greeted them. Director Yang subtly took a step back, holding his breath. “This shop is over a hundred square meters. It started as a large restaurant, but after it closed, the interior was divided into several stalls selling fast food and snacks. A few years ago, the tenants left, and it’s been vacant ever since. Your sect hasn’t sent anyone to manage it for years, so it hasn’t been rented out.”

The person he called Head Ying turned out to be a young woman with a high ponytail, her features delicate yet exuding a sense of vigor. Her eyes, cold and piercing like stars, seemed to see through a person’s very bones.

Ying Linglong’s heart sank when she heard “hasn’t been rented out for years,” not daring to think about how much money she had lost. She interrupted Director Yang’s lengthy explanation, “None of that matters. Could you please tell me how much this shop is worth?”

“Sell it?” Director Yang was taken aback, shaking his head vigorously. “It can’t be sold, and it can’t be rented out either.”

He lowered his voice to explain, “This shop was bought at a very low price by the previous Head, your Master, from the Yaoguai¹ Employment Office. According to the Yaoguai Employment Promotion Act, the proportion of non-human employees in this shop must be over 50% to operate, and it cannot be transferred arbitrarily.”

How could there be such a rule?

Ying Linglong felt her vision darken. She took out her phone and showed Director Yang her pitiful bank balance: 0.67 yuan².

“My Master has been traveling for a long time and hasn’t returned. Although I’ve inherited the sect, I’m really strapped for cash. There’s also a Martial Uncle in the sect who is bedridden and needs care. Could you please make an exception and allow me to sell this shop?”

Director Yang naturally took her phone, “Not even a single yuan?”

“I originally had two yuan, but I was so hungry that I just bought a grilled sausage,” Ying Linglong admitted honestly.

Director Yang handed the phone back to her, “I really can’t help you with this. It’s a rule from the Yaoguai Employment Office, and I’m from the Yaoguai Management Bureau. We’re not the same organization.”

Ying Linglong, who had just come down from the mountain, was already feeling the frustration of dealing with the tangled bureaucracy and the difficulties of getting things done as an ordinary citizen.

To make matters worse, when she glanced at her phone, she noticed that in just this short while, her cracked, second-hand no-name phone screen had been flooded with four new apps!

Ying Linglong scolded Director Yang, “Data is so expensive, and my phone’s memory is almost full. How could you, as a director, sneakily force-download these rogue apps on me?”

And it was a whole bundle! Four of them!

Director Yang quickly explained, “I didn’t use your data! And they don’t take up much space. These are required downloads from the bureau.” The recruitment quota hadn’t been met, so how could he let go of such an easy performance boost?

Ying Linglong took a closer look. The four apps were: [Question Bank for Human World Walking Certificate], [Urban Non-Human Living Guide], [Mountain and Sea Mall], and [Mountain and Sea Forum].

The app icons featured a cat-eared girl, a rabbit-eared girl, a fox-eared girl, and a bright red burlap sack with six legs and four wings, standing out awkwardly amidst the cute beast-eared girls.

She pointed at the words “Non-Human” in the second app and said to Director Yang, “I’m human.”

Director Yang replied, “You don’t look like it.”

Ying Linglong: “…”

Ying Linglong insisted, “You’re insulting me.”

Director Yang gave Ying Linglong another once-over. It was August, and the weather was sweltering. Ying Linglong was wearing an oversized white T-shirt, paired with loose brown shorts. Her jade-like calves led down to a pair of fluorescent green flip-flops.

She looked so human!

She could even seamlessly blend into the group of retired grandpas cooling off under the willow tree at the street corner, muttering, “I’m not good, but I can play with you,” as she squeezed into the chess game and thoroughly defeated the grandpas.

That is, if she weren’t carrying a half-person-tall, bulging hiking backpack on her back and clutching a large iron pot in her arms, making her look like the Turtle Minister from the legends.

Given his position, Director Yang had seen countless Yaoguai. Someone who seemed normal but carried a faint hint of strangeness like this was almost certainly a Yaoguai.

Seeing his disbelief, Ying Linglong pulled out solid proof.

“I’ve got all my documents with me.”

Her birth certificate, vaccination record, nine-year compulsory education certificate, ID card, and even a blue-covered Taoist certificate.

Director Yang exclaimed in surprise, “You even went to school?”

It was said that Liqiu Mountain, where the Tianwu Sect was located, was extremely steep, making the journey up and down the mountain quite difficult. However, since Ying Linglong was human, she must have completed her nine years of compulsory education before joining the Tianwu Sect.

Facing Ying Linglong’s displeased gaze, Director Yang smiled apologetically and said, “In that case, you naturally don’t need to take the [Qualification Certificate for Walking in the Human World] exam. But you should keep the [Urban Non-Human Living Guide] app. It’s good for passing the time when you’re bored.”

Ying Linglong didn’t feel like arguing with Director Yang. She wasn’t planning to stay in the human world for long anyway. Once she finished her business, she would return to her sect. She wouldn’t need any of these four apps.

Just then, a deep voice emerged from Ying Linglong’s hiking backpack: “Linglong, the guy who owes the most debt has been spotted in Jiangyu City! Go after him!”

Hearing this, Ying Linglong hurriedly said to Director Yang, “Since the shop isn’t for sale, I’ll be going now.”

Director Yang chased after her, shouting, “Head Ying! You can’t carry people in your backpack! Or Yaoguai either! It won’t pass security checks! It’s all written in the Urban Non-Human Living Guide. Make sure to read it carefully and avoid scaring ordinary people…”

Before he could finish, Ying Linglong ran back and stretched out her hand toward him.

“Director Yang, can you lend me five yuan for the subway?”

From the moment Ying Linglong was adopted by the head of the Tianwu Sect, she had been the designated successor to the position of sect leader. The reason was simple: the sect only had three members-her Master, her paralyzed Martial Uncle, and herself.

Her Master was often away traveling and rarely returned home. Fortunately, he still remembered to arrange for someone to regularly deliver groceries and rice to the mountain. By the age of six, Ying Linglong was already standing on a stool in the kitchen, wielding a spatula with skill. Her Master was delighted to hear this and would bring her cookbooks every time he returned to the sect.

To improve her own meals, the bored Ying Linglong began to delve into the art of cooking and had since become quite accomplished.

Recently, the second junior who delivered groceries to the mountain accidentally let slip that the sect hadn’t paid Boss Huang for the vegetables in a long time. Ying Linglong was shocked to discover that the sect’s bank account balance was a mere two yuan and sixty-seven cents.

Her Master had left instructions: if he didn’t return to the sect within three years, Ying Linglong would automatically become the sect leader, and all the sect’s assets would be transferred to her name.

Ying Linglong counted on her fingers and realized it had been over three years since her Master left. It wasn’t right to keep owing Boss Huang for the vegetables. She decided to go down the mountain to see what “substantial assets” her Master had mentioned, sell some of them, and repay the debt.

Her Martial Uncle, lying lazily in bed, chimed in, “Your Master left tens of thousands in the bank account. Even though you eat a lot, you couldn’t have spent that much on vegetables. I’ve heard that telecom fraud is rampant down the mountain. Maybe he was scammed or even got caught up in some pyramid scheme, which is why he hasn’t returned.”

Her Martial Uncle loved to talk nonsense, but his words reminded Ying Linglong of something. Where had all that money gone?

She tiptoed into a secret chamber where there was a stone platform holding an ancient bronze mirror.

The mirror was adorned with intricate carvings of dragons and mythical birds, along with inscriptions that were impossible to decipher. Though the surface was smooth, it reflected nothing.

Ying Linglong held the mirror up and said, “Mirror, mirror, who is the most beautiful in the world…”

A silver arm formed from light reached out from the mirror and bonked her on the forehead.

Ying Linglong winced and rubbed her forehead, then pleaded, “Uncle Cave, can you help me see where all the money from the sect’s bank account went? Linglong can’t even afford to eat anymore.”

After a long pause, the mirror spat out a piece of paper like a fax machine.

It read: [The Tianwu Sect has reached a friendly agreement with the Yaoguai Management Bureau. Starting from XXXX/XX/XX, any Exotic Beasts who are unable to pay administrative fines for illegal activities may temporarily borrow funds from the Tianwu Sect’s account.]

[Note: It must be repaid.]

When Ying Linglong saw the six-figure amount that had been lent out and not yet recovered, she almost spat blood.

She was the sect leader now, and she wasn’t about to play the role of a money-losing saint!

She would head down the mountain immediately, sell off the assets, and reclaim the debts!

Footnote:

1. Yaoguai(妖怪): Supernatural creatures or spirits in Chinese mythology, which can be either benevolent or malevolent, often animals or plants that have cultivated spiritual powers.
2. Yuan(元):Yuan (yuán) is the basic unit of currency in China. The symbol for yuan is ¥, 1 yuan ≈ 0.15 USD.