Chapter 3 True and False Self-Torture

"Master, you're up." Wen Ranqi slept until noon. After stretching, he asked Qiqi with a stern face, "How were sales this morning?"

"Both buckets are finished. There have been a lot of people coming to drink tea recently."

"Give me a bowl, and heat up my lunch." Qiqi knew Wen Ranqi wanted lunch the moment he finished his tea. He had already prepared it, steaming it in the pot. Stir-fried vegetables, a plate of braised beef in soy sauce, a bowl of nourishing ginseng and pigeon soup, and a bowl of rice. He tried his best to keep Wen Ranqi's body, despite her old illness, fed fresh and nutritious food every day. This was something he had been doing for the past three years.

"Master, you eat, I'm going to go guard the tea table."

There aren't too many seasonings, but the controlled use of salt and spices allows Qiqi to make simple ingredients and casual cooking methods make daily meals very delicious with her constant hard practice and careful learning.

Wen Ranqi didn't notice how happy he was while eating. Qiqi secretly looked at Wen Ranqi who was eating, and in his heart, he was happier than Wen Ranqi.

"Boss, boss!" Qiqi came to her senses and saw a woman in brightly colored, revealing clothes standing in front of the tea table. "Boss, we want three bowls of tea, the colder the better."

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

Three bowls of tea, served in white porcelain bowls, are a mixture of black tea and milk, boiled and cooled with cane sugar. The rich aroma of milk is mixed with the freshness of tea leaves. You can smell this unique but sweet smell before walking through the shop and picking up the bowls.

The woman sat in the man's arms and drank the remaining half of the man's bowl. The other people holding the two tea bowls did not have the patience to taste it and drank it all in one gulp.

"Boss, what kind of tea is this? I'm sick of it." Qiqi heard the voice and hurried forward to explain, "Sir, did you put some sugar on the table?"

"So what? Your tea is expensive and not tasty. You're just cheating people. You're spreading rumors that your tea is delicious."

Only one of the three spoke. Qiqi had also encountered unreasonable people when selling buns, and he wanted to persuade them again. "Our tea is brewed with a mixture of milk, tea, and cane sugar. Cane sugar is already sweet, so if you add sugar, it may be sweeter. People who are not used to too sweet food will find it a little too cloying."

Wen Ranqi rushed over after hearing the noise. Although her attire wasn't as good as the three young men sitting at the table, her temperament was completely different. Wen Ranqi pulled Qiqi behind her and bowed, saying, "If you are not satisfied, we will make a new pot of tea for everyone, how about that?"

"We came here just to drink your milk tea because of your reputation. Why would we drink your new tea? Besides, your tea is so bad, you're just lying. And your waiter, how can he talk like that? It's my fault for adding sugar. Isn't sugar on the table for everyone to put on? It's obviously your tea that's too greasy!"

"That's right, we came all the way here not to drink your weird tea." The second man stood up and walked to the tea table with two servants following him.

"What are you doing?!" Qiqi's cry was too late. Half a bucket of milk tea was poured into the spring water channel, and the snacks on the tea table were overturned to the ground and crushed to pieces.

Wen Ranqi was so angry that she immediately started fighting with the two young masters. Several servants also fought with Qiqi. The man holding the woman kept his head buried in her body and did not show his face until Wen Ranqi was thrown on the edge of the table and a bright red cut appeared on her thin white arm. Only then did he look over.

"Stop, stop, stop," Wen Ranqi whispered in the two people's ears, "Hey, I asked you to act, I didn't really hit me, do you still want money?"

"Boss Ran, someone is offering more money, so just bear with it for a while."

"What! Do you still have any professional ethics?"

"We don't understand what professional ethics is. But we know Jin Zi, and I'm sorry, Boss Ran."

Qiqi was harassed by the servants and tried his best to get close to Wen Ranqi, but he could only watch Wen Ranqi being beaten in front of him, unable to do anything. Although his injuries hurt, he was more worried about Wen Ranqi's health.

Wen Ranqi took the last punch and fell in front of the tea table. His clothes were covered with dust, his hair was disheveled, there was a bruise on his face, and the cut on his hand was extremely painful.

However, to explain why Wen Ranqi was beaten and why he tried to use a self-torture trick but ended up making things worse, we have to start from a day ago.

"Boss Ran, don't worry. We two brothers will definitely perform the show for you." Wen Ranqi threw a bag of silver to the two of them. "Okay, remember to act it out as if it were real, but you can't really fight. Remember?"

"Don't worry, Boss Ran is a well-known good man here. My two brothers respect you very much and we won't hurt you."

"Okay, go in the afternoon, during the siesta period. There will be fewer people there, and the neighbors won't be around."

"As you wish."

Wen Ranqi's plan was to stage a self-torture tactic, letting Qiqi watch him being bullied but unable to do anything. In the future, he would have the opportunity to use this to blame and resent Qiqi for her uselessness, making him feel guilty. By putting pressure on her every day and making him feel that he was really useless, he would be more proactive and determined to leave him in the subsequent plot. However, he miscalculated today.

"Master!" Qiqi was pinned down and unable to move, and the man holding the woman finally stood up.

Wen Ranqi gnashed his teeth as he stared at the thugs he had paid for standing beside him. He felt both angry and regretful. "My bag of silver, the self-torture scheme I wanted, wasn't like this. How did it completely deviate from the plot I wrote?"

"Because I spent more money, I can't blame them for switching sides." The woman stroked Qiqi's worried face, while the man squatted down and gently bandaged Wen Ranqi's wound. "You really don't recognize me."

"This plot isn't just out of context, it's completely different," Wen Ranqi was puzzled. He staggered to his feet and said seriously, "I'm just an ordinary tea vendor. I don't even know who you are, so how could I remember you? I'm afraid you've got the wrong person. How about you release my apprentice as well?"

The man raised his hand and the rest of the people retreated. Qiqi limped to Wen Ranqi and carefully supported Wen Ranqi. He was not more injured than Wen Ranqi, but he just wanted to protect Wen Ranqi.

"Apprentice? You haven't changed at all, and you still refuse to admit it. I came here just to try my luck, but I didn't expect it to be you." The man took out two gold bars and placed them on the table. "Take out your share, and leave now."

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir."

"A bunch of snobs." Wen Ranqi complained in her heart. She twisted her slender waist and climbed up to Wen Ranqi. Qiqi smelled the strong scent of the woman's rouge and pushed the hand on Wen Ranqi's shoulder away, protecting Wen Ranqi firmly behind her. "Whatever you want to do, come to me. Don't hurt my master."

"Silly child, you are neither civil nor martial, you will lose no matter what. I am the protagonist and I will not die." Wen Ranqi was very touched behind him. He patted Qiqi on the shoulder and shook his head to signal him to move aside. "If there is any hatred or grudge between you and me, just tell me directly. It has nothing to do with this child."

"No hatred, no resentment."

"Then why did you ask someone to beat us up?"

"I just happened to be passing by and heard their plan, so I just took the opportunity to come over and take a look. I never thought they were going to hit you, so I offered you a little extra money to make them hit you harder."

Wen Ranqi felt that this person must be sick. He swung his punch but missed the person, but his hand was shaking with pain.

"Don't get excited. I just came to see you once. I feel relieved now that I've found you. Even though you don't remember me, I still don't believe you're dead."

"There are still many people looking for you, and you know who wants to find you the most." Wen Ranqi knew who that person was. When he thought of Wen Shi, his legs went weak. "Hasn't the plot changed? Is Wen Shi still the same Wen Shi who tortured Wen Ranqi for a year?"

"Master, Master!" Qiqi helped Wen Ranqi sit down, and stood beside Wen Ranqi like a deadpool. The man laughed at Qiqi's desperate look.

"I'm just reminding you. You know what to do in the future, right? I hope you won't make the same mistake again and cherish the present. I won't stay any longer. Yanyan is still waiting for me, so I don't owe you anything. We're even, and we'll see each other again."

All Wen Ranqi was thinking about at this moment were the details of Wen Shi's torture of Wen Ranqi. He didn't expect that things would happen so soon. It seemed that he couldn't stay here anymore, so he had to prepare a plan to leave.

But he really didn't remember or know who this person was, but this person must be familiar with Wen Ranqi. Even if it would be difficult to meet him in the future, knowing who he was might be helpful in the future.

"What was your name before I forgot you?"

"Muqi! Mu means wood, Qi means Qilin."

"Mu Qi?!" Wen Ranqi repeated this familiar name, a name he had chosen himself and that had accompanied him for several months. He repeated the name in his heart in disbelief, "Impossible, how could there be a second Mu Qi, impossible..."

The man who called himself Mu Qi had already walked away. Wen Ranqi looked at Qi Qi beside him with disbelief. Qi Qi looked completely different from the man just now. His eyes seemed to confirm that Qi Qi was the real Mu Qi, the apprentice of Wen Ranqi in his novel. He had begun to feel that what would happen next would be beyond his expectations.

"Brother Wen, to remind him of your scar, just think about how painful it must have been back then."

"This is the last chance. If we want to develop faster, this is the only way."

"You too, why didn't you just accept it in the first place? You had to torture him, and now you regret it in the end."

“I’m not trying my best to save it.”

"Yes, yes, it's time you texted your, um, sister."

"knew."