Chapter Three: The New Manager's First Midnight Meal

Mo Tuan rolled across the floor laughing. Only then did Su Li notice Xie Chenzhou still held her hand. He released it at once; a small patch of silver scales appeared behind his ear. “When you said to hear my own voice,” she asked, “what did you hear?” “The pot was loud.” “I meant you.” He said nothing. He tasted the leftover congee without expression, but Su Li heard the weary voice in his chest whisper, “Still no flavor.” She did not ask. She simply remembered. Wen Jiu tossed her a ledger thick as a brick. “Your first order. Barely passing. Record it.” Zhou's name appeared by itself. His payment was not money, but “one shadow remaining in the city.” Earlier pages recorded centuries of transactions: dreams, baby teeth, tomorrow's luck.