'GOLDEN FLOUR'
That was the name of the bakery Ning had just walked into. The freshly baked bread's scent wafted on his nose, and his stomach growled once again reminding him of his hunger.
It was late afternoon right now, but the number of people was quite high. 'I thought bakeries only got this many people during the morning,' Ning thought.
"Sigh, look at them, "Reever said referring to the many men and women getting in line to buy some bread. "They work hard and don't even have time to cook for themselves. If only they knew how tasty a homemade meal was."
"Well, I can't complain since this just helps her business even more," Reever said. "Although, it seems we arrived during the busy hours, brother Ning. We will have to wait for a little while before we get some food for ourselves."
Ning didn't mind. He had already waited this long. Just a few more minutes was nothing.
He looked around at the staff that was selling the bread in what looked like bags made up of rags. They were all females and wore an apron over their white shirt, and wore a hat on their heads.
Slowly, but surely, the number of people lessened by a lot. Then, a woman came out from the back of the bakery and walked directly towards them.
Ning looked at the girl that felt very familiar to him. She came up to the table where they were seated and pouted. "What took you so long? I waited forever. The soups went cold. Do you want cold soup?" she asked with a fake angry face.
Reever laughed and said, "Honestly, a cold soup might not be a bad idea in this hot climate."
"No, just wait. I'm reheating it. It will be done in a few minutes," the girl said.
Ning looked at the girl, still wondering where he had seen her. Her apron and shirt gave nothing away. Even her black hair in a bun behind her hat looked like everyone else. Still, the face…
"Ah, it's you," he said in surprise. "The one who bought his first item."
"Ah right, I forgot to introduce you. This is someone I met out in the desert today. He's called Ning," Reever introduced him. Then he turned towards Ning and said,
"This is my wife, Lisa."
"Oh, I remember now. I saw you today too. Your clothes were unique so it caught my eyes. Hello," Lisa said.
"Hello," Ning said, clearly embarrassed for randomly shouting out loud.
"Right, can you get some food for him too?" Reever asked.
"Sure. Wait a few minutes, I'll be right back," she said and left.
Ning looked back towards Reever and asked, "You got your wife to buy your items?"
"Oh yeah, she acts like she knows a lot about what I bring and the people naturally start believing her. Before you know it, they all end up buying my items," Reever said.
"Well, she certainly can act well. I didn't even notice anything wrong when she said the things she said back then," Ning said.
"Right? Sometimes even I get caught up in her lies and end up believing them. I tell her that she can become an actress in the theater if she wanted to, but she never agrees at all," Reever said.
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"Oh, there are theaters here? I should go visit some soon," Ning said.
"Yes, yes, there's one quite close from here, you can go watch it every 5th day of the week," Reever said.
In just a few minutes, Lisa walked out from the back with a plate full of bread and 3 bowls of soup.
She placed the soup in front of Ning and Reever, and sat down next to Reever before putting the final soup in front of her.
As for the bread, she put it at the center so that everyone could reach for it.
"Dig in, brother," Reever said and picked up one of the big bread before ripping it into two and handing one half to his wife.
Ning did the same and took the bread and ripped it in half. He placed the half back onto the plate and was about to chew on the bread in his hand when he saw the two tear off a small piece of it and plunged it into the soup in front of them.
'What the hell?' he thought. 'Is this tea?' he looked down at the soup and clearly saw the onions floating inside. But even so, he saw the two of them eat the bread that was soaked in the soup.
Reever was even making faces like he was enjoying the food. 'Break dipped in soup? I've never eaten anything like that, have I?' he thought.
He didn't have many memories from the time when he wasn't an Energy. His times before reincarnation was vague and he only knew tidbits at most.
It had come to the point where he had completely forgotten even his parent's own faces. So, he assumed that he might have seen something like this before, but just forgot about it.
'Let's try it before I judge it,' he thought and did the same as they did. He ripped a piece of the bread and dipped it in the soup. He hesitated for a bit, but still took a deep breath and ate it.
The moment he ate it, the salty soup and the sweet bread intermingled into becoming something that was of great delight. It wasn't the tastiest food he had eaten by a long shot. That belonged to a meal he had in the southern continent of Planet Kumia during the 300 years he wandered there.
Still, this was very tasty for it was his first meal in this new body. "This is really good," He said to the two.
"Of course it is. My wife made it after all," Reever said.
"Stop, you're making me embarrassed," Lisa said. She then turned to Ning and said, "Eat up. You'll need to eat more if you want to grow healthy."
Reever stopped eating and turned to look at his wife. "Um… dear. He might look like an 18-year old, but he's actually 25," he said.
"Huh? What?" Lisa said with surprise. "He's the same age as me?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm 25," Ning said.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry. I thought you were much younger. How do you manage to look so young?" she asked.
"Uhh, I don't know. Genetics, I guess?" Ning said without giving it much thought.
Reever and Lisa both looked at each other with confused expressions. "What's Ge-Genetics, Brother Ning?" Reever asked. "Does that mean luck?"
"Huh? Genetics it's… ah, sorry. It means something like passed on through my family. Hereditary or bloodline even," Ning said.
"Ah, I see. That's a word I've never heard before," Reever said.
"Yes. So I'm saying that my youthfulness isn't uncommon in my family," Ning said.
They continued talking as they ate the rest of the food. Finally, once they were done, Lisa stood up. "Alright, I need to go back to finishing up the work. I will be out in half an hour or so," she said and picked up the plates.
"Thank you for the food, miss Lisa. Uhh… how much will I have to pay you?" Ning asked.
"It's alright. You don't have to pay anything," Lisa said.
"But… won't the bakery's boss get mad if they find out you gave us food without permission?" he asked.
"Oh, don't worry about that, brother Ning. Lisa owns half of the bakery. The other half is owned by the woman who owns this building. They were an amicable relationship, and she lets Lisa do whatever she wants with the bakery as long as it's bringing in results," Reever said.
"I'll see you, boys, later," Lisa picked up the plates and walked away.
"Thank you," Ning said as he looked in her direction as she was entering the room to the back.
Just then, he noticed something about Lisa that he hadn't before. From the back, he could see that her hair was blond at the roots around her neck. 'People already dye their hair here, huh?' he thought.
"Let me go show you a hotel, brother Ning," Reever said.
"Ah, okay. Let's go," Ning said and stood up. They walked out of the Golden Flour and walked a few blocks down towards the west.
Along the way, Ning noticed a building with words written on a whiteboard on top. "Oh, is that the theater?" he asked.
"Hmm, ah yes. This is the one. I wish my wife worked here, but she likes working in the bakery so its fine I guess," Reever said.
Just a few minutes later, the two of them reached in front of a hotel. "Alright, brother Ning. This is the hotel. You can stay here," Reever said. "I will take my leave for now. Go in and rest. If you ever want to find me, just come to the bakery. 9 times out of 10, I will be in there just sitting around."
"Thank you, brother Reever. For everything, you've done for me today. I will surely return this favor sometime soon," Ning said.
"Ah, don't fret it. Anyone would do such simple things. You didn't even get in my way at all. Just go in and rest. I will talk to you later," Reever said.
"Thank you again," Ning said and walked inside.
He then met with the registrar at the front desk and got himself a room in the hotel. He didn't know how long he was going to stay around for, so he decided to buy if for 2 weeks for now.
