Chapter Sixty-One: A Strange Request

Thank you, brothers, for your praise, your bookmarks, recommendations, and rewards. The Half-Immortal will continue to strive!

The family that walked in consisted of five people—small in number, it seemed to be the whole family. The youngest was a little girl whom he hadn’t seen before, but the two young adults, a man and a woman in their twenties, were familiar to Qiu Fengyu.

Each received a bowl of noodles, and after that, the five of them said nothing more, dedicating themselves entirely to the meal before them, with an air of seriousness and gravity. Were all Japanese people this rigid?

Davis, finding it amusing, went over to Qiu Fengyu and remarked, “Boss, I think the Japanese truly are… astonishing.”

“As long as there’s money to be made, don’t talk nonsense,” Qiu Fengyu replied, unwilling to entertain the topic.

More people continued to come in for noodles. Each time, they would stop by the kitchen to greet Qiu Fengyu, mainly to congratulate him on winning the town’s bull-riding championship.

When the rush had subsided, Qiu Fengyu came out, and the Japanese family was still seated, waiting respectfully for him. The father approached and bowed to Qiu Fengyu.

Qiu Fengyu was startled—why did these people bow at every turn, and so suddenly?

“A photo together, please. Twenty dollars per person. Also, a photo with my little daughter, all together, one hundred and fifty dollars. Please, do not refuse!” As he spoke, he handed over several bills, totaling one hundred and fifty dollars.

Since they were paying, Qiu Fengyu had no objections. They all took photos together in the restaurant—first a group photo, then one with the youngest girl, who was around ten.

Qiu Fengyu crouched down, and the little girl wrapped her arm around his neck, nestling close to him, her mouth stretched in an irrepressible smile.

After the photos, the family bowed again to thank him before leaving. The little girl kept grinning at Qiu Fengyu until the young man tugged her away, and she left, pouting in discontent.

Qiu Fengyu felt no aversion toward this Japanese family. They were polite to him, pleasant in appearance—not the bow-legged or mustachioed comedic figures from television dramas. The young man was rather handsome, and the young woman was beautiful in that gentle, serene Eastern way. The little girl was honest and adorable, brimming with charm.

Judging from today, many people had grown genuinely friendly toward Qiu Fengyu, their warmth now expressed through casual familiarity. Before, though polite, there was always a sense of distance. Today was different. Perhaps it was because he had earned their recognition and become a true cowboy in the town.

After closing up shop, Davis sidled over to Qiu Fengyu with a broad grin.

“If you have something to say, say it,” Qiu Fengyu prompted.

“Uh… I just wanted to thank you. I won some money—this is yours…” Davis pulled a few notes from his pocket, roughly six hundred dollars.

“For me?” Qiu Fengyu was surprised.

“Yes, I bet on you and won, so… I’m splitting it with you!” Davis grinned. “Honestly, it was thrilling, but without your win, I wouldn’t have this, so we split it…”

Qiu Fengyu shook his head. “Forget it, Harry, keep it for yourself. Just buy me a drink tonight.” He clapped Davis on the shoulder. “Go on, stop bothering me here.”

Davis left, still grinning. The man had a conscience, Qiu Fengyu thought, and he didn’t care about a few hundred dollars. But as soon as Davis left, Britt arrived, catching sight of Davis’s beaming face as he departed. Britt sat down opposite Qiu Fengyu in his booth.

“You’re late, Josh,” Qiu Fengyu greeted him, then called to Tim, who was clearing dishes, “Two coffees, please.”

Tim quickly grabbed the pot to brew coffee. The kid was skillful, no doubt from much practice at home.

“You’re not here to give me money, are you?” Qiu Fengyu said, sitting across from Britt.

“Bingo, you guessed right!” Britt grinned broadly, then laughed as he pulled a thousand dollars from his pocket and laid it on the table. “This is yours.”

“How much did you win?”

“Over three thousand… Elizabeth kept reminding me not to forget your share—she thinks I’d forget, but I wouldn’t.”

“But I didn’t join your bets, did I?”

“That doesn’t matter. It was between us. We bet on you, and you put in a lot of effort. This is yours.” Britt pushed the money across.

Qiu Fengyu laughed. “Actually, I won even more than you. Don’t forget, I bet five thousand myself… Do you know what that means? I might make nearly fifty thousand dollars.”

“Congratulations—but that’s different!”

Qiu Fengyu didn’t protest further and accepted the thousand dollars, but he was determined to throw a party to celebrate both his victory and the hefty winnings.

The fifty thousand dollars wouldn’t be paid out immediately—it would take a day to process such a large sum. Qiu Fengyu wasn’t worried; no one could swallow his money, no one.

He was set on hosting a party. Britt gladly accepted the invitation, and Qiu Fengyu planned to invite a few close friends as well.

That afternoon, Tim again endured another round of Qiu Fengyu’s rigorous training. Despite being pushed to his limits, the boy seemed even more excited—the tougher the training, the more thrilled he became. Another little oddball.

After finishing with Tim and sending him to Britt’s place, someone approached the fence beside Qiu Fengyu’s house.

It was two girls, one older, one younger.

“May we come in?” The young woman bowed to Qiu Fengyu, her voice gentle yet formal.

The little girl smiled sweetly at Qiu Fengyu, her face still chubby with baby fat. She held the young woman’s hand in one, and with the other, waved lightly at Qiu Fengyu.

He was momentarily puzzled—what were these two doing here? They had bought Sean Biggs’s house, several hundred meters away. He hesitated, then approached them and asked, “Is there something you need?”

“Sorry to trouble you!” the young woman began. “I’m Ryoko Mikura from the newly moved-in Mikura family, and this is my sister, Mina Mikura.” She introduced herself with perfect manners.

“What do you want?” Qiu Fengyu asked directly, not one for patience.

“We’d like to watch you slaughter a cow…”

“What?” Qiu Fengyu stared at the two girls, bewildered.

“We’d like to watch you slaughter a cow…” Ryoko Mikura repeated, bowing again. “Please rest assured, we’ll buy the beef from the cow you slaughter, and we won’t record or upload any videos. We just want to observe the whole process, and… in Japan, people also enjoy beef from cattle slaughtered this way.”

Enjoying beef from such a process was true enough. Qiu Fengyu understood why the Japanese liked to witness the slaughter—it was a cultural culinary difference, much like in China. Still, it was curious that such young girls would be interested in something so bloody.

“No, I have to attend the bull-riding competition in Paso City. I don’t have time!”

“But…” the young woman began.

“No buts. After the competition, if you still want to, I have no objection. The cattle are from Britt’s ranch—since you’ve bought your own ranch, you can select one yourselves. No need to slaughter someone else’s.”

It seemed there was no hope in the next few days. Disappointed, Ryoko Mikura bowed as Qiu Fengyu turned to leave, taking her sister’s hand.

Little Mina Mikura continued to beam at Qiu Fengyu. If not for the sharp intelligence in her eyes, he might have thought her a simpleton.

That evening, as usual, he went to the bar for drinks. Davis, who had promised to treat, arrived early at Qiu Fengyu’s place, eager to go together. He seemed to know Saoirse’s house well—clearly, he was on good terms with both Saoirse and David Burkin.

“It’s a pity, isn’t it?” Qiu Fengyu remarked as they left.

“It really is,” Davis replied, understanding to whom he referred. “But for them, maybe it’s not a bad thing. It’s just a shame we won’t see them often.”

They said no more, heading straight for the bar. Davis, for all his roguery, was a loyal man—he hadn’t abandoned Saoirse or David Burkin in their hour of need. Qiu Fengyu always welcomed people like him—one reason he let Davis hide out in the noodle shop to evade the Russians.