Chapter 12. New little transmigrator (pearl milk tea, extra large, full sugar, no ice, extra pearls)

Phương strolled through town. The sun was shining and there was a cool breeze. The world was a great place when he had enough rest and enrichment.

As always, he was on the lookout for anything new or interesting. He tried food from a few new food vendors; he had a look at the new stores that popped up.

After passing through the main streets, Phương visited the farmers’ market, purchasing large quantities of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, nuts, grains, and interesting processed foods and sauces. The food expenditure at his shop had increased significantly over the last few weeks due to certain visitors.

Then he visited the cultivators’ market.

The town wasn’t particularly large, so the cultivators’ market was fairly small. He browsed various stalls of the travelling cultivators passing through. He purchased a few materials, but he didn’t purchase any finished goods.

Phương’s eyes lit up when he saw a familiar rogue cultivator and her stall. Somkeo was one of the few cultivators who explored the deep earth and extracted ores and metals that Phương needed, rather than focusing solely on gathering materials containing spiritual energy.

“Hello!” he greeted. “You’re back! Looks like a fruitful trip.”

Somkeo nodded. “Hello. Yes, I found some good veins.”

“I’ll take these,” Phương said. “And these and these and those too.”

“What are you making?” Somkeo asked as they exchanged goods and payment. Her business had picked up when Phương started coming by.

“I’m planning to make a new, big pearl-making machine.”

“Pearls?” Somkeo blinked. “You can refine pearls?”

“Tapioca pearls. They’re round balls of tapioca, used in drinks and desserts,” Phương said. “I already have a tapioca-pearl making machine, but its output is too small.”

“Tapioca pearls used in drinks and desserts—you mean BOBA?!” an unfamiliar voice interrupted.

Phương and Somkeo turned their heads. A male cultivator dressed in blue-white robes of a sword-cultivation sect stared back at them.

“You have a boba-making machine?” the man asked excitedly.

“Yes,” Phương said.

The male cultivator took some steps closer and lowered his voice. “Can you make…bubble milk tea?”

Phương raised an eyebrow. Oh, it was probably another transmigrator.

“Yes.”

The male cultivator’s eye lit up. “Can I have some?”

“I don’t have any on me.”

The male cultivator deflated and made a sad face at the sky. “I’m craving bubble tea so much!! I haven’t had any for—over a year!”

“I sell them at my tearoom.”

The male cultivator perked up. “Is it far from here?”

“I’m by the beach, south of here, maybe half an hour by sword.”

The male cultivator had a pensive expression. “Maybe I can…” His eyes widened when he sensed something. He grimaced. “Uggh, I have to finish my mission first! I’ll…I’ll come by later, definitely!”

Without waiting for a reply, the man raced off.

“Now I’m curious about this bubble tea,” Somkeo said.

“I’ll bring you some next time,” Phương said.

“Or I’ll visit your little tearoom myself.”

“You’re very welcome to visit.” Phương put away his newly acquired materials and bid farewell to Somkeo.

Phương glanced towards where the male cultivator had run off. Only been in this world a year? What a young little transmigrator.

When engrossed in refining something, Phương could spend hours in the workshop.

Days later, Phương had a new tapioca pearl-making machine. It could make ten times as many tapioca pearls per hour than his previous machine and could cook the pearls too. It could make both standard pearls and popping pearls, in ten different flavours at a time. After the pearls were completed, they were automatically deposited into a spatial storage container to ensure optimal freshness.

Next to the tapioca pearl-making machine were the new powder-maker machines, capable of drying various fruits, milk etc. and turning them into a powder. These powders could be used to make bubble tea drinks.

In the tearoom, the single display cabinet now had a second display cabinet friend. They were full of light-emitting devices—more animal-shaped ones, including little dragons and little phoenixes, along with other shapes like lanterns and moons. There were also several new fruit-shaped cushions.

Small changes were good; now what about big changes?

Phương was outside, about to tackle a house extension, when a new guest arrived.

“Hello? Hi!”

Phương turned to the visitor. “Hello. You found me.”

The visitor smiled happily—it was the male sword cultivator dressed in blue-white robes.

“Are you open yet? Or are you a bubble tea shop that only opens after 12 noon?” The cultivator walked right up to shop/house, peering inside through the clear glass.

“I don’t have particular opening hours. Come in.”

The male cultivator looked around, grinning when he saw the menu stuck to the wall.

“I want a cup of pearl milk tea, extra large, full sugar, no ice, extra pearls!” The cultivator sat down at the table. “Do you have a membership card? Can I get a free drink if I order twenty?”

Phương’s lips twitched. “No membership card.” He went to brew the strong black tea for the pearl milk tea.

As he waited, the cultivator looked around the tearoom. His eyes were bright as he noticed the items in the kitchen and the light switches. His gaze landed on the display cabinets showcasing various lights. “Did you refine those? Are you an artefact refiner?”

“Yes.”

The cultivator’s eyes lit up. “Ah! Then can you refine a phone?”

Phương gave him a look. “No. And even if I could refine one, are you a programmer? Could you make an operating system for me?”

The cultivator deflated. “Ugh, it’s been so long since I’ve used a phone. I tried out artefact refining and farming cultivation, but I’m no good at it. And my character setting is sword cultivator anyway…”

“There’s no reason why you have to remain a sword cultivator if you don’t want to. People change jobs all the time.”

The cultivator re-inflated a little. “Huh. I guess you’re right. Hehe, learning to use a sword isn’t bad though. Flying on a sword is so cool! It’s super exhilarating and there are no traffic rules either! You know, it only took me 20 minutes to go from that town to here…”

This was the most talkative person Phương had ever met—talking before he even had any bubble tea.

Phương added the brewed tea, non-dairy creamer, sugar and a lot of brown sugar tapioca pearls into a large glass and took it over. “Here you go.”

The cultivator sucked pearls through his straw and sighed happily. “Oh, I’ve missed this taste! Yum!! Hey, why don’t you come to Golden Mountain City and open up a bubble tea shop there? It would be very popular, you could even set up a bubble tea chain and get rich! You can expand into restaurants, introduce pizza and fast food, and revolutionise the food culture and dominate the food industry!”

“Golden Mountain City?”

The cultivator gave a sheepish smile. “My name is Zhèng Huá, sword cultivator of the Míwù Shān Sect. Golden Mountain City is the major city near my sect.”

“I’m Nguyễn Nam Phương. You’re a long way from home,” Phương said.

“Well, I was meant to eliminate a ghost soldier causing havoc but it crossed the border…” Zhèng Huá drank more bubble tea. “Don’t worry, I subdued it already. This bubble tea is the perfect reward!”

“I don’t plan on making an expanding bubble tea empire,” Phương said. “Sounds like a lot of business admin, and I’m retired.”

“Aww, shame, shame.” Zhèng Huá glanced around, and then lowered his voice. “You’re the first fellow transmigrator that I’ve met. How did you transmigrate over? Were you hit by a truck?”

Phương remembered that stormy day. “I—”

“I died of overtime work,” Zhèng Huá said. He huffed. “My damn boss! While he’s on holiday, I’m slaving away! I’m fixing mistakes made by the people he stuffed into the company!”

“Oh,” Phương said. He made himself a cup of tea while Zhèng Huá unloaded all about his hateful boss and horrible 996 work conditions. Hearing about the old world made him nostalgic.

“—Wait, you never answered me. How did you transmigrate over?” Zhèng Huá finally remembered.

“I hit a pothole while driving home after working overtime,” Phương said. It had been raining and dark, and he hadn’t seen the pothole. His small moped was no match for it. BAM—and just like that, he had become a poor rogue cultivator in a new world without much else aside from the clothes on his body and the sword at his side.

Zhèng Huá gave him a sympathetic look. “Damn bosses making us work overtime! Can I get another cup of milk tea? Do you have taro?”

“Heh, of course I do.” Phương got up and made Zhèng Huá a cup of taro milk tea with extra pearls.

“Hey, do you think we came from the same world and time?” Zhèng Huá asked.

Phương put down the cup of taro bubble tea in front of Zhèng Huá. “You might have only been here for a year, but I’ve been here for over twenty years. Almost thirty, now that I think about it.”

Zhèng Huá was shocked. “Oh my gosh, what?! You look so young!”

“I’m a cultivator. And I’m asian.”

“Oh yeah… I keep forgetting that.”

Zhèng Huá: I like pearl milk tea, brown sugar milk tea, mango milk tea, wintermelon milk tea, earl grey milk tea, taro milk tea, cookie milk tea, oolong milk tea, coconut milk tea, matcha milk tea, peach milk tea, honeydew milk tea…I like all milk teas, I don’t discriminate! Phương, you’re my new favourite person!!!

Phương: Ah, another sugar-addict.

Long Quang: (  •̀ - •́  ) Anh Phương, who is your new favourite person?

Notes:

996 work schedule: 9 am to 9pm, 6 days a week.