In the innkeeper's meaningful gaze, Lu Heng pulled Lu Bai away from the inn.
There was no way around it; after seeing the bustling scene within the capital city, Lu Heng's biggest worry now was getting separated from Lu Bai.
It wasn't that he feared Lu Bai would encounter danger. Lu Heng was more concerned about the ordinary people who might anger Lu Bai.
After all, in the face of an eighth-level magical beast, many people, even cultivators who had already reached the eighth level of the Dao Comprehension realm, would likely struggle to escape death at the hands of an eighth-level magical beast.
"Let's find a good restaurant later, and then we can stroll around the streets."
Although the inn also served food, it certainly couldn't compare to a restaurant that specialized in food and drinks.
Lu Heng had no intention of revisiting the food stalls he saw at the city gate earlier. Too many people were coming and going there, making it too chaotic.
"Mmm." Lu Bai let out a soft hum again, her voice drowned out by the noisy crowd. Even so, Lu Heng still heard it.
A curve formed on his lips, and Lu Heng, in good spirits, led Lu Bai through the lively streets.
Lu Bai, always curious, would drag Lu Heng into almost every shop she saw. However, she wasn't very interested in the goods sold there, except for the shops selling food.
Along both sides of the street, pastry shops would occasionally appear. When Lu Bai smelled the sweet aroma, she would immediately turn her head and cast an eager glance at Lu Heng.
Fortunately, storage rings existed in this era. Otherwise, with no vehicles allowed in the capital and no one to follow and carry these packages, Lu Heng doubted how much longer he could keep up with her wanderings.
They walked and stopped intermittently. Sometimes, there were street performances, and cheers would occasionally erupt from the surrounding crowd.
However, Lu Heng had seen most of these performances in storybooks. After squeezing into the crowd for a quick look, he found them rather uninteresting.
Lu Bai was not interested in any of these things, so after looking at the various juggling groups, they did not linger.
"Let's go. It's getting late. After we have lunch, we can find a place to rest."
There were many teahouses in the capital. Lu Heng thought that after eating, they wouldn't need to rush back. Finding a teahouse to have some tea would also allow him to gather more news about the capital.
"Guest, please come in," a waiter in a short tunic bowed politely and led them to a seat.
"Are there just the two of you? Or are you meeting others?"
"There are just the two of us. A quiet spot on the first floor will be fine."
The waiter smiled. Most people who came to restaurants preferred lively spots or seats by the window. Those who preferred quiet would choose private rooms upstairs. He didn't expect this guest's request to be so peculiar.
However, all guests were welcome. No matter what requests the guests made, as long as they weren't too excessive, the waiter, who had years of experience in the capital, could handle them with ease.
"Alright, please follow me."
He led them to a secluded corner. There was a window not far from here, but it wasn't adjacent to their table. Therefore, this spot was neither particularly good nor particularly bad.
"How do you find this spot? There's a window nearby, so it won't be too stuffy. There aren't many tables here, so it's relatively quiet," the waiter asked Lu Heng with a smile after wiping the table in front of them.
"It's fine."
"You can't see the menu hanging at the entrance from here. Please take a look and tell me what kind of dishes you'd like, and I'll tell you about our specialties." The waiter pulled out chairs for them and asked politely with a smile.
"Just serve some of your signature meat dishes."
The little fox still loved meat dishes, and it also preferred various delicacies made from magical beast meat. Even if it were just simple grilled meat, seeing the little fox eat with its eyes squinted in enjoyment would greatly increase Lu Heng's appetite, allowing him to eat more.
Before long, the waiter brought the dishes for Lu Heng's table. Looking at the plates filling the table, Lu Heng couldn't help but twitch his mouth.
This waiter was too insincere. For two people, and considering their slender builds, the waiter had served a table full of dishes.
"Your dishes are all served. Please enjoy. If you want to order anything else, just call me." If the table weren't too small and already full, the waiter would have liked to serve them two more dishes. He never held back when serving dishes to customers who were clearly enjoying them.
If Lu Heng weren't short of money now, and if this money hadn't been earned through his own efforts, he would have definitely argued with the waiter.
Seeing the waiter leave, Lu Heng took out a bottle of cola from his storage. Lu Heng had also repackaged the cola in his storage, and now it was in a bamboo tube.
Cola was something Lu Bai loved to drink. Besides meat, its preference was for sweets. Ever since it drank it once from the black bear, it had fallen in love with this junk food.
"Eat up." He picked up a piece of meat and put it into his mouth. The meat was tender and juicy, indicating that the chef here had good skills.
Lu Heng greatly admired the craftsmen of this era. Lacking seasonings, they could bring out the best flavor from various ingredients.
Lu Bai sat opposite Lu Heng, having lowered its veil. Their secluded seating arrangement wouldn't attract the attention of nearby people. Lu Bai chewed the food with its cheeks puffed out. After watching for a while, Lu Heng noticed that Lu Bai was still only picking out the meat dishes to eat.
"Delicious." Lu Bai squinted its eyes and communicated with Lu Heng telepathically.
After the meal, Lu Heng paid the bill cheerfully. The total cost was two hundred and eight crystal stones, which was much higher than the price in any restaurant in the cities they had passed through before. Lu Heng glanced at the shopkeeper's mouth, which was about to split to his ears, and knew that this meal had made the shopkeeper a lot of profit.
Pulling Lu Bai's sleeve, Lu Heng left the inn and took it to a teahouse.
They only ordered a pot of the most ordinary tea, and Lu Heng and Lu Bai were led to a similarly secluded spot.
This time, it wasn't Lu Heng's request. The teahouse attendant had arranged their seating based on the type of tea the customers ordered.
"Master, I want to drink cola." Looking at the green tea soup in front of them, Lu Bai reminisced about the cola it had just drunk.
"It's fine to drink that occasionally during meals, but you can't drink it like water."
Lu Heng picked up the tea bowl in front of him, blew on the floating tea leaves on the water's surface, and took a small sip.
The taste was acceptable. Perhaps this tea was specifically sold in the capital, so it wasn't as exaggerated as Wu Chenzi had described, but it was still slightly inferior to the tea brought from the post-apocalyptic era.
"Did you hear? Lingbao Pavilion is auctioning crystals tonight, but the quantity is still not large." The conversation of a few people nearby drifted over. Those people hadn't deliberately lowered their voices, so several tables nearby could hear them clearly.