Chapter 18. The shop is now CLOSED! (bubble tea, bubble tea for resale)

“Your Highnesses, perhaps we can leave, you have more work to attend to,” one of the assistants said.

Phương perked up—this assistant was his favourite person now. “Right, aren’t you all busy?”

“That’s true,” Prince Lang Diệu said.

“We’re not,” Phượng Hoàng Vũ said proudly. Everyone in the phoenix kingdom knew that he and his friends were top-tier slackers!

“Vũ, we should also leave,” Phượng Hoàng Huy said, making a face. “My mother has been nagging me.”

“My older sister has been nagging me!” Phượng Hoàng Tiên Dung said.

“Don’t worry, I’m the king’s nephew,” Phượng Hoàng Vũ said.

“You can stay here if you want, but I’m not cooking anymore,” Phương said. “The kitchen is now closed!”

“But it’s not closed, it’s right there,” Phượng Hoàng Vũ said.

“How about this, Prince Duy Thận can use the kitchen to teach Phượng Hoàng Vũ how to cook,” Phương said.

“No!” Prince Duy Thận and Phượng Hoàng Vũ said.

Phương smirked. “Wow, you both answered at the same time. I think that means you’ll be good friends. I understand, that’s why you want to stay longer, right? To spend more time with your new friend.”

“No!” Prince Duy Thận and Phượng Hoàng Vũ said simultaneously again. They glared at each other.

Prince Lang Diệu sighed. “Brother, Father will not be happy if he hears about your behaviour.”

“But he would be very happy if we can bring little Phương back,” Prince Duy Thận said.

One of the little assistants yawned, causing the other to yawn as well. “Your Highnesses, please, at least let us return to the boat.”

“This shop is now closing up,” Phương said, standing up. “Time for all guests to leave.”

“Wait!” Phượng Hoàng Vũ said. “What about bubble tea to take away?”

Prince Duy Thận’s eyes widened. “Yes! We can’t eat any more now, but we can eat more later.”

Phương looked at the dining table that was full of dirty cups and the dishwashing machine that was already washing a prior load. “I only have enough to make another 100 or so cups. Fifty each, no arguing.”

Phượng Hoàng Vũ nodded. “Starfruit!”

“Make it green tea jasmine for me,” Prince Duy Thận said. “Less sugar.”

“Fine, fine.” Phương rallied energy from his inner soul and made the cups of bubble tea, exchanging them for a pile of spiritual stones.

As Phương invited them out, Phượng Hoàng Vũ asked, “When will you be open again?”

“In a month,” Phương said.

“How about we come back next week?” Phượng Hoàng Vũ asked

Phương gave him a look. “I won’t stop you, but there won’t be any bubble tea.”

Phượng Hoàng Vũ wasn’t discouraged, smiling happily. “Okay, then see you again soon!”

Prince Lang Diệu leaned in and said quietly to Phương, “We appreciate your hosting. Sorry about my brother…”

“Hey! I’m a cultivator, I can hear you!” Prince Duy Thận said.

Prince Lang Diệu turned to the phoenixes. “It was lovely meeting you. I hope we can cross paths again, perhaps at this very restaurant.”

“Don’t bring your brother,” Phượng Hoàng Vũ said.

“Hey!” Prince Duy Thận said. He had to be held back by Prince Lang Diệu.

The two assistants yawned. “Your Highnesses, the pile of reports and admin has doubled since we left for lunch…”

“Okay, goodbye everyone,” Phương said. “Hope you enjoyed the food, thank you for your patronage etc etc, have a safe trip home!”

The humans went back to their boat, and the phoenixes transformed back into giant phoenixes. Both sides flew away, leaving Phương at last with peace and quiet.

Phương closed up the tearoom, went into his workshop to refine a large “CLOSED” sign, and stuck it outside.

He wasn’t going to cook for at least a month! No bubble tea for at least a month! He was going to buy food only!

Deep in the ocean, Long Quang had arrived home in a good mood, having spent the week developing and practising a new move without any distractions and drinking up his bubble tea freely without worrying about rationing.

His good mood became complex when a group of dragons swarmed him upon his return.

While the dragons from the other clans had left, there was still many young dragons and other dragons his age. His mother Long Hồng Nhung was also there, along with Long Duy.

“Welcome back, Quang!”

“Big brother is back!”

“Child, you’re finally back.”

Once upon a time, he had craved this kind of attention. He wanted to be more popular, more liked, more powerful than Long Quyền.

—And he still did.

Seeing everyone greeting him made feel seen and liked. But knowing why they wanted him made him feel tangled.

He preferred Phương’s greeting and Phương giving him things, rather than this, where everyone wanted something from him.

(He ignored the fact that he paid Phương for food.)

“Bubble tea? Bubble tea?” The fearless little dragons crowded in.

Long Quang remembered he still had over 500 cups left.

“If you want a drink, you have to pay,” Long Quang said. “I went to great efforts to obtain this bubble tea.” He quickly counted the number of dragons present. “A single dragon can buy at most twenty cups.”

“Twenty!” a little dragon gasped. “How much is that?”

“I have original pearl milk tea, taro milk tea, green tea milk tea, honeydew…” Long Quang listed everything.

A drooling little dragon offered a pile of spiritual stones in her paws. “Big brother, I’m not poor! Give me taro and honeydew and lychee with extra pearls!”

“I’m not poor either! I want five cups, please!”

“I’ll have to ask my dad later…give me two for now!”

“I saved my allowance, I want a sweet one!”

“Adult dragons don’t chose. Give me one of every flavour.”

Spiritual stones exchanged hands as Long Quang resold the bubble tea at three times the cost. The younger dragons couldn’t afford too many, but the older dragons—the ones closer to Long Quang’s age—casually spent dozens of spiritual stones and even tricked some of the younger dragons to help buy more for them.

Long Quang turned a blind eye—he only cared about the spiritual stones entering his pocket.

With all the commotion, more dragons came over to buy bubble tea. Long Quang sold and sold and sold. His stock of bubble tea dwindled as his pile of spiritual stones grew into a small mountain inside his spatial storage.

To the side, Long Quang’s mother and Long Duy had increasingly stiff expressions. With the crowd of dragons around Long Quang, they couldn’t push through and interrupt.

Once the dragons wanting bubble tea received their bubble tea and dispersed, Long Quang finally approached his mother.

He was a little disappointed that she and Long Duy hadn’t left earlier. When had they ever been so patient?

“Mother, what do you need?” Long Quang asked.

“Why do I need something to see you?” Long Hồng Nhung said.

Long Duy frowned. “Long Quang, watch your tone.”

“What do you want? Do you also want a cup of bubble tea? Older dragons can drink it too.”

“Be serious.” Long Duy chided.

“Why don’t we go somewhere a bit more private to talk?” Long Hồng Nhung asked.

“Okay.” Long Quang waited for his mother or Long Duy to lead the way, but they looked back at him.

“Your cave is closest,” Long Hồng Nhung said. “I haven’t visited it before.”

Long Quang had a bad feeling. They wanted something from him. But what could they want from his cave?

Even if he did his best to improve it, it was far from the beautiful Imperial Palace.

He swam to his cave and turn into his small form. After unlocking the cave’s entrance formation, he invited Long Duy and his mother inside.

As Long Quang took out his dragon pearl and placed it on its seat to light the cave, his mother and Long Duy cast critical eyes over the space.

“I heard that you have refined light orbs, including one shaped like a dragon,” Long Hồng Nhung said.

Long Quang stiffened. “I do.” He took the two light orbs out from his spatial storage and turned them on.

His mother and Long Duy took one each, their spiritual senses examining the product.

The light orbs had a mere fraction of a dragon pearl’s brightness; its light couldn’t uncover hidden enchantments and didn’t provide a spiritual energy glow—the faint emission from the spiritual stone embedded within was not worth mentioning.

Dragon pearls were thousands of times better. But they were very rare. A dragon may only form a few pearls in their lifetime—and it didn’t help that humans love stealing them.

These light orbs had the potential to be useful, to light up spaces without the need for a dragon pearl and without the need to set up an array. And three spiritual stones was much cheaper than many other light-emitting devices available.

“I heard this cost three spiritual stones. Where did you get it?” Long Hồng Nhung asked.

Long Quang lowered his head.

“Long Quang,” Long Hồng Nhung said sternly. “How did you get this? Where was it from? Why does the refiner know what young dragons look like?”

Long Quang reached out and snatched the two light orbs back into his possession.

“Long Quang!” Long Hồng Nhung snapped.

“A human refined it,” Long Quang said. “There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just ordinary materials and a spiritual stone. If you don’t like it then stop looking it at. I’m not reselling, not even if you give me thirty spiritual stones, not even if you give me a hundred.”

Long Duy frowned. “You’ve been in contact with a human.”

Long Quang put the light orbs into his personal spatial storage, cutting off the other dragons’ gazes. “So what?”

“Are your new moves from the human?”

Long Quang felt a stab of indignation in his chest. He gritted his teeth. “I made my new moves!”

“So you’ve developed more since we last spoke,” Long Duy said.

“And I’m not showing you,” Long Quang said coldly. “Just wait until the next tournament.”

“Have you eaten anything offered by that human? Something that you shouldn’t have?”

“I’m not stupid,” Long Quang retorted. “Is there anything else you want to talk to me about? Or otherwise, please leave so that I can cultivate in peace!”

Frustration welled up inside of him. He didn’t want to be here, he wanted be back at Phương’s house.

Phương: So you two are good friends~

Prince Duy Thận and Phượng Hoàng Vũ: No, we’re not good friends!

Phương: You’re very in-sync and well matched.

Prince Duy Thận and Phượng Hoàng Vũ: That’s just your imagination. Hey, stop copying me!

Everyone else: Hm, you’re right, we see it.

Prince Duy Thận and Phượng Hoàng Vũ: (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

—

Long Quang: I want Phương  (｡•́︿•̀｡) I want to eat delicious food and drink delicious drinks made by him.

Phương: *putting up his closed sign* *sneezes* Huh, I didn’t realise cultivators at my level could sneeze. You learn a new thing every day!