SES Chapter 13 V1

Chapter 13

It was breakfast time again, but strangely, Mu Dai was nowhere to be seen at the table. Huo Zihong was the boss lady, and Uncle Zhang had reached the age where his legs needed calcium supplements, so running up and down to deliver messages shouldn’t be expected of them. Yi Wansan sprang up eagerly, “I’ll go get the young boss.”

He dashed up the stairs, feet thudding. Mu Dai’s door was ajar. Yi Wansan didn’t dare walk in, so he stood at the threshold, coughing a few times. “Boss lady, breakfast is ready.”

“Come in,” Mu Dai replied.

He pushed the door open and was instantly stunned. Holy crap…

Mu Dai was training.

Her room looked different from everyone else’s. The walls had all kinds of indents and protrusions, clearly custom-designed for practice. For instance, there was a hollow niche two meters high. Yi Wansan once thought a construction worker had damaged it by accident—until he saw Mu Dai with one foot planted in that niche and one hand on the ceiling, forming a perfect right triangle with the intersecting walls—as she was changing a lightbulb.

That explained why no one ever saw her out in the courtyard at dawn doing the stereotypical kung fu “heya heya” routine. She often twisted herself up like an octopus or read books while standing on her head. In her words, “Mastery is built in the mundane.”

So Yi Wansan was certain—Mu Dai was training.

But this was creepy. She was suspended in midair, limbs stretched out and tied with four rock-climbing ropes, one on each wrist and ankle, each anchored to a corner of the ceiling.

Just as he entered, she twisted her limbs outward again, shortening the rope lengths even more, increasing the tension across her whole body.

Yi Wansan carefully asked, “Boss lady… what are you doing?”

“Stretching,” she replied.

Right, he’d heard her say before that proper stretching before a fight reduces the risk of injury. So this is how she stretches? One more rope around the neck and it’d be a full medieval torture setup.

“Oh… I’ll let the boss lady know to save you some breakfast.”

Terrified she might suddenly ask him to become a human training dummy or something, he turned and bolted down the stairs.

“Wait! Come here. Does my face look okay?”

From hard-earned experience, Yi Wansan knew this was a moment for honesty. Suck up now, and you die a horrible death. He approached, examined her face, and shook his head truthfully. “Not great.”

Mu Dai pouted and pointed with her lips. “Help me put on a face mask.”

Yi Wansan went all in—first applying a warm towel to her face, then holding up the mask sheet and carefully aligning it to her eyes and nose.

As he applied it, he couldn’t help but ask, “Boss lady, are you… meeting someone today?”

Mu Dai didn’t respond.

Yi Wansan, though lacking in moral fiber, was sharp as a tack. He’d seen Mu Dai fight before—usually didn’t need much prep at all. But this time, she was stretching in advance? It had all the signs of a classic kung fu novel duel. Life at the bar was usually a total bore, so now he was getting excited: “Boss lady, then why the face mask?”

Mu Dai answered, “So I can completely crush her. Physically, mentally, visually—crush her.”

She emphasized the word “crush” with full force.

Got it! Yi Wansan was thrilled. He lived for chaos—flipped tables, broken dishes, wild drama. The bigger the mess, the better. Ideally, Mu Dai would end up in jail for three to five years.

All day long, he was buzzing with anticipation, imagining all kinds of dramatic confrontations. So when the visitor finally arrived in the evening, casually strolling into the bar and asking for Mu Dai by name, Yi Wansan was utterly let down.

This guy? Worth all that prep?

He didn’t even feel like moving. He lazily picked up the phone and called upstairs. “Boss lady, your ‘crushing target’ is here.”

“Crushing target?” Cao Yanhua looked confused and corrected him, “My surname’s Cao. Cao Yanhua.”

Yi Wansan rolled his eyes nearly into his skull. “Yeah, yeah.”

Mu Dai was also stunned when she saw Cao Yanhua. “You… here for a visit? You could’ve given a heads-up.”

Cao Yanhua looked deeply aggrieved. “Mu Dai, my sister, I’ve been wiped out. My crew scattered. I can’t even lead them anymore.”

No wonder he’d disappeared recently. He’d been caught stealing and thrown into detention for ten days.

The silver lining? The cops only thought it was petty theft. They didn’t realize he was a small-time ringleader, so they just lectured him and let him go.

The downside? His arrest wasn’t just bad luck. The city was cracking down on pickpockets near Jiefangbei to “clean up the streets.” His whole crew was getting busted one by one—they were about to get to him.

Time to bail.

With a couple of changes of clothes and a bank card, Cao Yanhua ran.

At the train station, as he stood hesitating about where to go, his phone dinged—a message from Mu Dai.

“Hey, how’ve you been?”

Cao Yanhua held her hand now with deep emotion. “No wonder they say true feelings show in hard times, Mu Dai. My WeChat Moments is full of coworkers. The moment I got in trouble? Not a single like or comment. Only you reached out. My heart felt cold… and clear.”

So here he was. Karma’s a thing.

“But don’t worry, Mu Dai. I’m not here to freeload. I wanted to see you… and maybe explore some business opportunities here in Yunnan…”

He glanced around the bar. “This place is nice… opening a bar seems like a good idea.”

After 9 p.m., the bar got busy. During the day, Yi Wansan and Uncle Zhang were enough, but during the 9-to-10 rush, both Mu Dai and Huo Zihong had to come down to help take orders and serve drinks.

Tonight, Mu Dai was working especially hard because Cao Yanhua was draped over the bar, chatting up Yi Wansan like they were old buddies. And Huo Zihong? Softly said, “Mr. Cao came from far away. A little more work won’t hurt us.”

Fair enough. At least with the bar full and her aunt in plain sight, Mu Dai didn’t have to worry about Luo Ren starting trouble.

As she brought another tray of glasses to the bar, she quietly listened to the two men’s nonsense.

Yi Wansan: “A bar can make money. Start-up costs, though? I’d say at least 300,000 to 500,000. Gotta invest in decor.”