Chapter 18: The Knight of the Fief
On May 24th, Friday, another day for workers to enjoy simple pleasures.
As the lights began to glow, the “Snacks and Cold Drink Stand” at the corner of the old street officially opened for business.
In addition to the four tables inside the small shop, an extra seven or eight orange tables and chairs were haphazardly placed on the sidewalk, occupying half the street corner.
There was no need for intentional shouting or ostentation; the passersby of all ages on this street effortlessly accepted the changes at each shop.
Without any ceremonial fanfare, as night fell behind the summer sky, the Snack and Cold Drink Stand naturally welcomed its first wave of customers, feeling like an integrated part of the local bustling atmosphere.
Men with bare arms who cared little about their image, laborers joking and complaining, spirited young women, and carefree, sunny college students gradually filled every table at the Snack Stand.
Spicy stir-fried snail, greasy braised pork trotters, salty duck slices, frothy beer, and vibrant boiled edamame… various hot and cold foods exuded rich aromas, mixed with smells of cigarette smoke, sweat, perfume, and cooking oil, all illuminated by bright lights that coated the already worn street with a greasy halo.
“Hey, big brother, oh, sister, one serving of spicy snails, medium spicy, no Sichuan pepper!”
“One serving of braised pork trotters, two servings of boiled edamame!”
“We’re running low on beer; I’ll call the distributor for ten more packs!”
Dressed in dark brown T-shirts and blue jeans, with a single-side apron and a ponytail, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao matched in style and had both fallen into a busy routine different from their military lives.
Between the tables, the silhouette of a girl with light golden hair moved back and forth, constantly responding to customer needs, taking orders, and processing payments.
In the deliberately open kitchen area, smoke swirled as the black-haired girl’s spoon danced elegantly, slicing through various cold dishes on the chopping board.
Time flew quickly, and soon the shop’s wall clock reached 2 AM.
Finally, the last table of customers settled their bill and departed. Looking around, empty beer bottles and assorted food waste piled up proudly in every nook and cranny between tables and chairs—a messy sight that brought immense satisfaction.
All busyness abruptly halted at that moment. With a blissful smile, Jiang Yao quietly sat on the nearest chair to the entrance, flipping through a large stack of accounting slips in her hands.
In the kitchen, Jiang Yan wiped the sweat from her forehead, tidying up the mess in front of her. Her oil-stained apron was long discarded in the heat; her shirt clung to her back and front, faintly outlining some alluring curves.
“Hey, big brother, guess how much we earned today?”
Jiang Yao quickly walked into the shop, approaching Jiang Yan, who was washing dishes, with a beaming expression.
In a good mood and not bothering to dwell on the habitual way the other addressed her, Jiang Yan smiled back and thought for a moment before extending three fingers.
“Hey, over three thousand five hundred bucks!”
Jiang Yao spoke in a low voice, clearly proud.
Not intending to debate the actual calculation of costs at this moment, Jiang Yan nodded, stretching her tired body while looking at the night sky outside the shop, her face filled with joy.
So let’s begin; this is our life.
…
The opening of the Snack and Cold Drink Stand was deliberately chosen for Friday, taking advantage of the unique weekend traffic at the old street corner, easily achieving a successful start. The Saturday revenue once again broke records, naturally leading Jiang Yao to believe in flourishing business.
With the return of weekdays, even though several special dishes like crayfish and takeout were added, the average daily revenue only exceeded two thousand. Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao continued to summarize various operational issues that arose.
Unknowingly, time passed into June, and the weather in City C became increasingly hot, with repeat customers steadily increasing, and revenue slowly climbing.
On June 8th, a sudden storm swept through, washing away the city’s prolonged heat and abruptly cooling the expected weekend business at the Snack Stand.
On such a stormy day, estimating that nobody would come drink and dine, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao early on packed away the outdoor tables and chairs, keeping the roller shutter door half-closed.
Today’s business was likely a wash, but surprisingly, the two were a bit happy, sitting inside the store, each scrolling through their phones, enjoying the rare relaxation.
“Sis, I’ve just secured a new delivery platform!”
Sitting by the door, Jiang Yao suddenly raised her phone and shouted as she quickly walked towards Jiang Yan.
When the girl bounded in front of her, her light, delicate steps made Jiang Yan feel a bit dazed.
Having run the shop for more than half a month, Jiang Yao spent most of her time darting between tables. Unbeknownst to her, the inherent characteristics of female skeletal and joint structure were subtly altering Jiang Yao’s movements and muscle memory, making her actions far more natural and coordinated than before’s deliberate mimicry.
Looking at the other’s smiling face, Jiang Yan suddenly felt she had overthought things previously.
“Great, I appreciate your hard work. I calculated, and in the past half month, after deducting all costs, we netted over eleven thousand. Now that takeout has fully launched, we should clear at least twenty thousand in net profit each month.”
Jiang Yan smiled lightly, casually handing Jiang Yao an ice-cold can of soda she just opened.
Jiang Yao naturally accepted the can with her right hand and brought it to her lips. As the soda poured into her mouth, the little finger of the girl with light golden hair subtly rose.
“Little Yao…”
Turning her gaze elsewhere, seeming hesitant to speak her next words that might break the busy and fulfilling atmosphere of the past few days, Jiang Yan spoke softly.
“Hmm?”
Jiang Yao dropped the can; the carbonated gas surged in her stomach, causing her to burp with a puzzled expression.
“In two days, it’ll be the tenth. It’s time to buy blood from Sister Wan. I plan to close for a day on the tenth of every month from now on.”
Jiang Yan said, loosening her apron and gently placing it aside. Jiang Yao froze, her smile gradually fading, a trace of indescribable melancholy appearing on her face.
“Understood, I’ll go too.”
Yes, this life is merely a forced disguise; we are vampires… Jiang Yao felt a strange uncomfortable sensation in her chest, as if all the life of these days felt utterly fake.
Silence fell over the scene, while outside the door, the night grew darker, the wind and rain intensified, and large raindrops whipped by the gale, pounding against the roller shutter, creating crisp sounds of varying pitches.
Suddenly, the half-closed roller shutter lifted from outside.
A middle-aged woman dressed as an ordinary housewife, reasonably fit, held an umbrella, her beautiful face adorned with a faint mysterious smile. She slightly bent down to enter the shop.
The housewife glanced around at the store’s decor, then turned her gaze to the two girls: “Wow, it’s really pouring tonight… not planning to open anymore? You can still cook now; I’d like a serving of stir-fried snails and a serving of crayfish, make it spicy with cilantro, to go.”
At almost the same moment, both Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao sensed a faint yet intense pheromone fluctuation in the shop. It was an unfamiliar bloodline knight’s presence that returned after a confrontation with a blood-thirsty Black blood clan a month ago.
Both girls’ faces changed dramatically, and they instinctively took two steps back.
Jiang Yan’s hand was already on her lower back, slipping into her T-shirt. Jiang Yao kept glancing toward the checkout counter, with obvious frustration on her face because her dagger wasn’t on her.
“What’s wrong? Not planning to take my order? Or do you prefer to challenge a higher-ranked knight?”
The housewife cheerful sat down at an available spot, tidying away her umbrella while keenly observing the girls’ unusual reactions, seeming to have anticipated their response.
Not sensing any deliberate hostility in the pheromones leaking from the woman, after their initial stress response, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao gradually relaxed.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on you two for over half a month. This… should be the older sister, huh? Used to hang around here often before opening the shop…”
The housewife spoke casually, but her expression gradually became serious: “I’m the knight of this fief; you can call me Sister Tan. It looks like you plan to stay here long-term; do you need me to explain the rules for bloodlines further?”
“Sister Tan, we know that within your territory, we cannot feed on ordinary people; otherwise, it’s an intentional provocation.”
Jiang Yan slowly lowered her hand, her expression returning to calm. It appeared that her and Jiang Yao’s luck held; they encountered a legitimate bloodline overlord and one who was amicable towards her kind, much like Huang Gu.
“Hmm, it shows that the one who led you here was reliable; otherwise, you’d be dead by now. Alright, hurry and cook; my husband is waiting for me to bring him dinner! Hey, if he says my food isn’t as good as yours, men are truly hard to please!”
The housewife laughed, her aura casual once she suppressed the pheromone release, returning to being an ordinary middle-aged woman of unimposing elegance.
The stove ignited, aromatic smoke once again filled the small shop. Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao each had their roles: one in charge of cooking, the other helping prepare the ingredients. Soon, two servings of fragrant, spicy late-night snacks were placed in front of Sister Tan. The two girls exchanged glances, seemingly wishing to say something.
“That’ll be ninety, right? Sigh, prices are really steep now; fifteen years ago, it’d just be a little, at most thirty bucks!”
The housewife casually counted the money and placed it on the table while gesturing towards a nearby chair: “Seeing how you two have been trying to make this work, if you have any issues, just sit down and talk about it.”
“Hey! Um, Sister, you’re a legitimate blood clan, right?”
Before Jiang Yan could speak, curious Jiang Yao hurried over, treating the woman like an ordinary customer, offering a plate of sunflower seeds and even boldly moving her small stool nearer to the housewife.
“What, are you interested? However, if it’s a wandering bloodline seeking refuge in a legitimate family, the lowest rank is at least a retainer. Your sister can, but you can’t.”
The housewife cracked seeds while casually chatting with Jiang Yao.
“Sorry, she’s just overly curious… um, I mean, Sister Tan, do you… have family here? Or are they ordinary people? How do you usually handle things…”
Jiang Yan led Jiang Yao away to the kitchen to clean up, then took her place beside the housewife.
“You little girl, your curiosity is quite big, and your words have layers, huh?”
The housewife spat out seed shells, with a seemingly indifferent smile: “I’m not afraid to say it; I’ve been like this for almost forty years. I’ve forgotten what my former family used to look like. It’s only been seven or eight years since settling here; the one at home now is my second husband after becoming a bloodline; he treats me very well.”
“Don’t beat around the bush testing me; I’ll be honest, I never feed on ordinary people within the fief. Although I won’t invade ordinary people’s blood unless I’m in a frenzy, I don’t like it; I never treat them like lambs. I only see the fief as my own peaceful home.”
When the housewife said this, a hint of bitter smile emerged: “Each month, my family provides me with free blood allowances; if I want more, I can feed on my husband’s blood, he wouldn’t know at midnight, and he’s well-fed during the day, so I keep his health up. Occasionally when his kids and their spouses come home, I can secretly try different flavors.”
“Over these years, I’ve lost the desire to continue growing and advancing; it’s too tiring. As long as I don’t thirst for blood, I can keep living like this.”
Her face was filled with a calm kind of happiness, with a hint of an unnoticeable loneliness.
“So… which family did you join? What do you normally manage to gain a fief?”
Jiang Yan gradually guided the topic towards the direction she truly wanted to understand but regretted her words the moment she spoke since the housewife’s expression began to change.
Fief knights enjoy considerable benefits while being responsible for protecting the family interests and security order within the fief—this is the knight’s most basic affliction obligation.
What seemed an ordinary shop might be a piece of real estate belonging to a major legitimate bloodline family. For every family, this was the most confidential secret, even among fief knights from the same family, there was no certainty to share or inquire about.
“Little girl, trying to pry secrets from me? In the eyes of higher bloodlines, let alone you as a retainer, even I as a knight am barely considered rubbish. As for your sister, she isn’t even worth being called rubbish.”
The housewife stood up, grabbing the late-night snacks, and headed toward the roller shutter with her tone shifted considerably colder than when she entered.
“By the way, since you’re living in my fief, you need to understand the rules. From now on, you’ll pay me ten thousand each month. If you fail to meet this for three consecutive months, you either pack up and leave or force me to take action…”
Leaving these words behind, the housewife exited, vanishing into the rainy night.
Not considering Sister Tan’s appearance an accident, Jiang Yan stared pensively in the direction she left.
It seemed as though there existed a giant mirror between heaven and earth, the world of ordinary people and that of the bloodlines reflected one another, similar yet opposite.
Sister Tan struggles to maintain an ordinary facade, engrossed in mundane household matters and enjoying a deceptive, ordinary happiness.
Yet the cruel and irreversible other side granted her a high and mighty position, nurturing an unrecognized ruthlessness.
