The sun had climbed high above the Whisper Bowl by the time Yu Mian arrived.
Heat shimmered on the street, market stalls buzzed with shouts, and training noise echoed from inside the restaurant.
Inside, chaos reigned in the main hall.
A pot clanged to the floor.
"Hot! HOT! My HAND!" one of the newly freed workers shouted as soup spilled everywhere.
Lin the twin yelled, "I TOLD YOU—hold the ladle from the BACK!"
Lian the twin shouted back, "Why are you shouting?! Even I heard it loud!"
The scholar Han Shi rubbed his temples. "No! That letter is NOT a fish! Stop drawing circles!"
Wei Jie walked past silently with a bucket of clean water, as if used to all disasters.
Fen Yu giggled from the rafters, "Mortals are so entertaining."
But in the private upstairs room, a very different atmosphere filled the air.
A serious one.
A historic one.
A future-changing one.
