In his past life, Leon experienced only two types of restaurant dining; fast food and places with generous portions of reasonable food with low prices. Nothing fancy or expensive. Ah but the cheap restaurants would share similarities to fine dining establishments in which there was a menu, waiter and chefs in the kitchen.
When he and Jin Li went on their first date, the place they visited was a quaint tavern that was tucked away in the streets of the old town, but due to its bear-like owner, usually frequented only by old men, who'd been regulars for years and their sons, who'd be the same in the future. The fair had been a bit coarse, mutton stew and bread and a boiled egg. Just enough to sate Jin Li's monstrous appetite. It had only cost a few handful of brass with weak mead included.
The place that Ursam dragged them and poor Mr Clawse too (the latter had been carried over the formers' shoulder, so not to keep the youths waiting) was not like that small tavern. Leon felt that this place would likely be more in keeping with those fine dining restaurant's he'd never visited. It was a building of three floors. Upon the ground floor were a smattering of round tables and chairs as well as a small stage area to one side. The second floor was home to a balcony which happened to be shaped in a squared 'u' that diners could see down to the stage below from all seats. And the highest floor had private rooms where the elite often partook of food and beverages while discussing business. These rooms had paper windows that could be opened should these guests wish to witness plays on stage or amuse themselves by looking down on those who could not afford a private room.
Seats upon the balcony and the private rooms incurred an additional fee for the privilege of usage, to be paid prior. This restaurant had been bitten before by Second generation nobles who happened to speak big, but lacked the silver to back up their claims. A noble household was not necessarily a wealthy one, and even were it, doesn't mean that noble fathers would had out silver unchecked to their spendthrift children.
In all honesty, although a private room commanded a fair sum of silver, a balcony seat was just ten silver. Otherwise this restaurant, which was located in a town with a good amount of money, but not a city with a lot, would always have empty spaces upon it. Ursam coughed up the ten silver on hearing that there was still a table available up there. The middle-aged waiter took the coin and lead them up the first flight of stairs onto the balcony which used tall pillars of wood to create some divide between the tables between guests along with a few folding embroidered screens here and there. The balcony was not wide, just enough space for a line of tables that bent around with the shape of the area and a walkway along its length. The stairs came out in the middle of the shaped 'u'.
The table that the waiter lead them to was close to the left corner and partially hidden by a screen decorated with bamboo shapes and a pagoda. Unlike the tavern in which the policy was 'this is what there is to eat, take it or leave it', there was a menu, which was printed upon slates of bamboo. Upon it were listed the restaurant's specialities, other meat dishes, vegetable dishes and rice and noodle dishes and lastly soup dishes. Ursam rattled off a few requests to which Jin Li added to, these being mostly meat dishes, while Leon's eyes widened and thoughts of the cost of this meal caused him a bit of panic. But before he could protest, the waiter had already disappeared with their order.
"So just for what reason," Clawse finally said at that moment, "have I been brought here without notice?"
"We are celebrating!" Ursam replied in a booming voice. Leon felt rather than saw the eyes of numerous guests glancing their way with high pointed noses and sneers. Ursam did not seem to care, however, pouring the jug of wine brought by another server, into the bowls upon the table.
"Yes, that you did say before unceremoniously dragged me here," Clawse added. "But why? What are you celebrating?"
"Did I not mention it?" Ursam asked, looking suddenly bewildered, before his expression resumed its bright, happy go lucky usualness with a shrug. "We are celebrating the day that you were smart enough to introduce me to this young alchemist of course!"
Clawse turned to Leon and said earnestly; "I am so sorry."
Jin Li smirked before picking up the small bowl of wine and sniffing it. It was fragrant and aromatic, a fruit wine meant to stimulate appetite. His small alchemist should not feel the ill effects too soon, but just in case; "Don't drink it on an empty stomach. Wait until you eat."
"Alright," Leon agreed and placed the bowl back onto the table.
In the meantime, Ursam decided to use his quota of discretion for the month and quietly informed Clawse just what the youth had accomplished of late. However, he was disappointed by the fact that Clawse remained stoic. "You are not surprised?" Ursam pouted, poking the prominent cheekbones of his friend.
Clawse slapped his hand away before lifting his bowl to sip from it. "No, I am not," the pharmacist admitted. How could he be when that same small alchemist had once brought him one heart Pills and Blood Pills that were a vast improvement on that which had been around for centuries. Creating such might satisfy a different alchemist that sought money and fame, but Leon was definitely not like that. Clawse had been certain of this fact ever since he came to trade the clear spiritual pills with reduced impurities; that boy was still seeking to improve the pills he knew.
Leon may have worried about the cost, but he came to realise that all of the dishes were in bowls no bigger than a western soup bowl, which were placed in the centre of the table for them to help themselves to. He felt the heat in his cheeks increase as Jin Li deftly filled his bowl with less greasy foods as he usually favoured, while he more clumsily tried to return the favour with meat, carefully picking up each piece with his chopsticks. Jin Li smiled happily at first, that his small lover sought to serve him, but his mood fell slight as Leon was so slow about it! Thus he still filled his own plate in the end.
Just wanted to clarify a couple of things in monetary terms. Easiest way to look at it is via a pair of shoes. A pair of geta clogs would be about 20 brass, a pair of simple leather shoes would be 2 silver and a pair of unadorned, plain silk shoes would be 20 silver. For the last, the price would rise for patterned silk and embroidered shoes. So while Leon’s earnings seem a lot, Jin Li could easily bankrupt him if he wanted to live by the style in which he was once accustomed too!
It is not unusual for the night streets to be filled with toneless singing of men chanting with slurred words, however the voice that echoed this time was soft and the words sang were quite clear... even if the song made absolutely no sense.
"One - don't pick up the phone..." the boy sang as he clung to the back of the man carrying him. "You know...um... dah dah dah dah dah!"
Ursam glanced over at the grimacing Jin Li and the drunk boy he held. "How much did he drink exactly?" He inquired. They had already sent Pharmacist Clawse on his way and were heading back to Ursam's shop, where the man planned for the youths to stay the evening.
"Two bowls worth." Just to say, a bowl of wine was no more that a single glass in Leon's previous life. The wine had only been a floral wine, not high in alcohol content. However, unknown to others, this had been beyond his limit in that life as well!
"...so little?" Ursam commented with slight bewilderment. The singing tapered off as Leon drifted to sleep upon Jin Li's back.
Ursam's Wife was less than impressed by the state Leon was in, but not a word was said in blame of the small alchemist. No, instead it was all reserved for her husband. "How could you let him drink so much as to be in this condition?" She hissed at him, crossly.
"He's an adult, you know," Ursam pouted as the words fell like large hammers onto his head.
"He's an adult? You're the adult!" The woman retorted. "These boys are like mere bairn's compared to you! Just how much did he drink?"
"Two bowl's full," Jin Li repeated his earlier words, without chagrin.
"...so little?" Ursam's wife hesitated for a moment. Still, she felt that a man of her husband's age ought to have known better and to have stopped him after just the first. "Help Jin Li to the guest room and settle him in. We'll talk about this in the morning."
The guest room only had one bed, happened to be a double bed, with heavy curtains to protect sleepers from draft winds. Although Ursam guided Jin Li to the room, he didn't enter with him, saying he would refresh the jug of water upon the table beside the bed instead. Leon slipped from Jin Li's back and onto the mattress with a sigh, but otherwise did not seem to be disturbed from peaceful sleep.
"Look at you, so weak," Jin Li sneered as he carefully pulled Leon's boots from his feet, followed by his socks. "You dare to allow others to see you in this vulnerable state?" He removed Leon's glasses and the pin from Leon's hair, which spilled over the bed like a halo of black and white.
Leon did not answer as Jin Li maneovered him until he was beneath the covers and watched with raised brows as his small lover snuggled deeper into the blankets, until only the crown of his head could be seen. Looking at him for a moment, Jin Li felt the rising of that soft sensation within his heart, that he still wasn't quite used to. Protecting him was fine, sharing the sensations of the body were fine, blatantly declaring his sovereignty over him was fine, this was... this was fine as well, he supposed.
A muffled cough and knock upon the door shut down the tiny warmth and the coldness of seventeen years swiftly returned to its rightful place. Jin Li turned around and saw Ursam waiting for him, jug of water in hand. Without a word, Jin Li came over to take it from him, but hesitated to take it when he noticed the strange grin upon Ursam's face. A sense of foreboding began to build and worsened when Ursam crooked a finger at him, indicating he should step out of the guest room and follow him. They did not go far, however. This was the older man's way of being considerate to the sleeping boy left behind.
That grin, though... "So you and Leon huh?"
Jin Li frowned. "Leon and I what?" He asked coolly.
"Your relationship is like that!" The man's brows raised and the grin widened nearly splitting his face in two.
"I do not get that which you imply." Jin Li was not a complete idiot. In the country state of his birth, he was actually renown as a genius. Able to read and write hundreds of words before he was four, thousands before he was seven. Able to Cultivate to a level beyond his years without much external aid (from pills and the like), able to learn Martial Arts techniques quickly and adapting them for his own usage. His demeanour was while cold, considered elegant and sophisticated, he was blunt on occasion, did not use flowery words or schemes of misdirection. As such, sly comments with double meanings would never cause him to share more than a sneer and a look of contempt. In actual fact, this man just didn't really catch the other meanings hidden in their words.
"I am saying that you two are in a lovers relationship!" Ursam finally spelled out his views plainly, allowing Jin Li to attain enlightenment. "You can't deny this, I have eyes, you know!" The older man continued, he felt Jin Li's evasiveness was not cute and also unfair to the small alchemist, who always looked at the Martial Art student with stars in his eyes. However, Jin Li's next words surprised him.
"I do not deny this, Leon is mine," he said this so clearly that Ursam was actually struck dumb for a moment. It didn't last long however.
"Good man, good man!" He smacked Jin Li back in an approving matter and ignored the fact that his touch was brushed off in obvious disdain. "It's hard for many men to admit that they would rather have a man than a woman! Society is all about the son, heir and marrying for the sake, one forgets that a Cultivator lives much longer than a mortal. Gender often becomes irrelevant when seeking that person destined to walk along side you on the path to immortality." The amicable smile was once again replaced by the lewd grin. "So have you to practiced any dual cultivation methods yet?"
Jin Li frowned, dual cultivation? How was that possible? In his knowledge, Dual cultivation was something that a man did with a woman, an advanced form of bedroom relations, but for the sake of cultivation rather than producing progeny. Although he had learned, in an extremely pleasurable way, that some bedroom activities could be performed between men, he still did not consider this one of them.
"It just so happens," Ursam continued oblivious to Jin Li's clear confusion, "I happen to be in the ownership of a dual cultivation technique designed for two men. I came across it quite coincidentally, wanted to try it out, but... you know... met the wife and everything so it's of no use to me now."
A part of Jin Li was curious, but that part of him, while it was of reasonable size and girth, still only represented a small part of the overall man. Thus he shook his head to turn down the offer. "No need," he said, curtly. "The cultivation method I practice is superior, only practiced by members of my family line. I need nothing else."
Ursam looked at him bewildered for a moment. With a slight frown he said; "Most dual cultivation methods are practiced in conjunction with other lone methods, you wouldn't be at a loss... otherwise how many would bother going into closed cultivation with their dao companion, if you know what I mean!"
"I don't."
It was at this point Ursam realised just how innocent Jin Li was in these matters, such a contrast to the cold, vicious aura he usually projected. How amusing! "Well, if I can't convince you..." he sighed, as if it really did not matter to him. "A bit of a pity for Leon, though; it would have likely boosted Leon's cultivation. He's not as fortunate as you, to inherit a bloodline technique, after all. This method would definitely be a boon to him."
Jin Li hesitated. "It's not as if this Lord is not interested..." he said, evasively, still unable to figure out just how two men could dual cultivate, but too proud to ask.
"It has pictures."
"Seeing as it is of no use to you," Jin Li spoke in an off handed manner, "this Lord could take it off of your hands."
"Ah, but you know, I can't give it away for free," Ursam grinned. Jin Li's felt the vein in his temple begin to twitch.
"This lord does not have much," he admitted. Leon fed him, had clothed him and bought a cup, plate and bath for him. But he would not ask his small lover for money of this thing. Instead, he considered what was in his interspatial pouch and fished out a handful of jade bottles filled with high quality cloudy spiritual pills. He couldn't recall where he'd got these, but he had no need of them. "Would these be sufficient?" High quality cloudy spiritual pills were worth something in the region of 10 silver a pill, but even with the amount of pills here, they really could not really cover even a quarter of the value of the cultivation method.
"Made by Leon?l Ursam hoped there would be some secret and that they'd be worth more than their initial estimate.
"No."
"Well, I'm practically giving it away," Ursam relented, eventually. "But seeing as this is for Leon... here you go." Jin Li snatched the small bamboo booklet away and tucked it into his robes, before quickly hurrying back to the guest room ignoring Ursam's knowing grin.
My apologies for the delay in posting this chapter. Life happens! Hopefully, there should be no unforeseen circumstances or lazy procrastination tomorrow and I will post as normal.