To fulfill Fatty's expectations, Zhang Qiling, with a poker face, finally ate the smallest can.
At this moment, Wu Tianzhen had changed the TV program to a famous palace drama. A concubine on screen was speaking to someone beside her with a haggard expression.
"...I feel so tired, I've never been this tired before..."
"...I truly feel utterly exhausted."
Zhang Qiling chewed mechanically. With great effort, he finished the can in his hand. But with a "crack" of a pull-tab, Wu Tianzhen, with great "enthusiasm," "helped" him open another can?!
Zhang Qiling: ...
Wu Tianzhen, oblivious, thought Zhang Qiling was handling it well since his expression hadn't changed. To make up for his earlier desertion, he was busily trying to demonstrate his fiery brotherhood by proactively opening cans.
Then, he and Fatty watched with wide eyes as Zhang Qiling quietly swallowed the last bite of cilantro in his mouth. His pale hand suddenly exerted force, and he actually crushed the empty cilantro can flat!
The flattened can made a crunching sound. The veins on his handsome hand even faintly showed through the skin.
Zhang Qiling said nothing. He tossed the lifeless can into the trash, picked up a glass of water, drank it, rinsed his mouth, and stood up without looking back, walking out of Wu Shan Ju.
He didn't take the Black Gold Ancient Saber.
Wu Tianzhen and Fatty watched his hooded figure disappear into the crowd in silence. Although the abandoned saber on the sofa confirmed that Zhang Qiling had no intention of leaving, they deeply felt his displeasure.
They exchanged glances and simultaneously turned their gaze to the army of cilantro cans on the coffee table.
"Fatty..." Wu Tianzhen cautiously pointed at the cans with his finger and hesitated before speaking, "Do you think there's a possibility that our Xiao Ge actually doesn't like cilantro cans?"
"I think Teacher Wu has discovered the truth," Fatty nodded, pinching his chin.
They were silent for a moment, recalling how Zhang Qiling could actually finish two cans of the bizarre food with a straight face, and a sense of admiration arose within them.
...But for some reason, thinking about his expression just now made them want to laugh.
Thus, not long after Zhang Qiling left Wu Shan Ju, his keen hearing picked up the "heart-wrenching" laughter of Wu Tianzhen and Fatty from inside the house.
The laughter was so exaggerated that passing pedestrians even skirted around the antique shop.
"..."
Zhang Qiling pulled down his hood and decided he wouldn't return until after dark.
Hangzhou was a beautiful place. He walked aimlessly along the streets, his mood gradually calming down.
There weren't many people on the road, and they maintained a considerable social distance, which was very friendly for introverts.
...Wait, were the people around him increasing?
Zhang Qiling stopped. A circle of people around him also halted. Their unusual behavior was immediately apparent. Zhang Qiling instinctively reached for his saber, only to realize he hadn't brought the Black Gold out to appease the other two. So, he shifted his hand downwards, intending to fight bare-handed.
Just as he had planned the attack order for this group and was about to erupt—
A young girl, pushed forward by several people, timidly approached him, her face flushed, and offered her optical computer.
"Um, that, can we exchange contact information?"
Zhang Qiling: ...?
His pupils widened in shock. Seeing his lack of reaction, the young girl quickly changed her approach.
"If not, can we go for a cup of coffee? My treat!!!"
Zhang Qiling: ...!
He had been tense and coiled up for the fight. Now, that pent-up energy exploded, allowing him to successfully escape the crowd through a gap in two seconds.
Pulling down his hood, he chose to duck into an alley. Although the alley's scenery was not ideal, it was thankfully sparsely populated.
With a complex mood, he wandered through all the small alleys near Wu Shan Ju and made many new friends among the stray cats and dogs. As he walked around with a group of cats and dogs, his expression unchanging, he suddenly heard a burst of music.
The sound was like an erhu, played quite well, with a high level of skill.
But for some reason, the moment Zhang Qiling turned the corner, the erhu's sound suddenly changed. From its heavenly melody, it abruptly transformed into the grating noise of a saw cutting wood.
The sound was like a pig being slaughtered, or a duck that had been stepped on, or even more like a hanged ghost going mad in the dead of night.
The cats and dogs at his feet instantly puffed up like balls of fur and fled the scene with whimpers and yelps.
Zhang Qiling stood rooted to the spot, staring fixedly at the corner ahead.
There, a long banner was conspicuously hung, with several large characters written on it—
"Blind handsome man plays erhu, fifty-one songs, honest dealing. If untrue, stall owner will offer self-sacrifice!"
The stall owner was currently lost in a trance, sawing wood with the erhu in an ecstatic state. His familiar sunglasses reflected the sun.
A window above suddenly opened, and a bald uncle, his head full of foam, poked out and began to curse at the stall owner.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! What kind of garbage is that? I thought my solar water heater was about to explode just now. I was halfway through my shower and didn't even have time to rinse off the foam!"
"Are you leaving or not? If you don't leave, I'm calling the urban management!!"
...The stall owner didn't seem to have any intention of leaving, but Zhang Qiling twitched his lips and turned to walk away.