WangXian Forever Book 8

Chapter 94 Lollipops

Hui Gai brought Zago back to the Nether World.

They were in a little alley off the main road...and the smell in the air was simply...delicious. Zago followed her nose and Hui Gai followed her, into a curious little backyard.

Melted sugar fragranced the air all around them. Two little demons sat on either side of a cauldron, stirring a dodgy looking liquid. It was kind of a slimy brown colour.

One of them dipped a broken branch in it and held it towards the other's mouth. The other one steadfastly kept his mouth shut, pressing down on his lips in refusal.

"You have to! It's your turn." The one with the branch said, forcefully. He scowled at his accomplice.

The other one shook his head and made a gagging motion without opening his mouth.

Zago took a good look around.

The place wasn't exactly dirty...but it definitely wasn't clean either.

"Aren't there...I dunno...hygienic standards?" She whispered in disbelief to Hui Gai.

"Apparently not. Besides, this is the cleanest place I found so far." Hui Gai shrugged.

Zago grimaced, still looking around.

There was a sheltered porch to one side, its roof made out of wood with bamboo stilts in place to prevent it from collapsing. There was a shelf with different coloured bottles lined up, which Zago assumed was food colouring. On the ground was a pile of chopped up wood in neat pieces, roughly equal. Next to it, there was a bundle of tied up sugarcane of similar size.

Suddenly, a rat scampered across from under the pile of wood to nibble at the ends of one of the sugarcane tubes.

Zago watched it for a second, making a disgusted face, before glaring at Hui Gai.

"I can't believe you're buying from these clowns! And you said they were the cleanest??" She hissed at him. She spat out the lollipop in currently in her mouth, scowling at it on the floor.

"Hey, you didn't see the other places." Hui Gai shrugged.

Zago tried not to throw up.

The two demons sitting across from each other with the cauldron between them had progressed into pushing and shoving.

Quite aggressively, too.

"TASTE IT!"

"NO!"

When he said that, the one with the dripping branch shoved it into his mouth and then did a victory dance in a tight little circle while the other one turned a different colour and retched.

Then he stood up, all two feet of him, and punched the other one, right on his mouth.

It knocked him straight out.

The one still conscious began swearing loudly, stomping around.

"Are you responsible for making these?" Zago towered over him, easily thrice his size. In her hands, she clutched a heap of lollipops.

The short Demon looked scared at first, but then he saw Hui Gai and ran to him, kowtowing on the floor.

"My lord! Today is a great day, for you have deemed to visit us here, in our humble abode!" He kissed Hui Gai's foot.

Hui Gai stepped back, making a face.

"Your customer is not happy." He replied, glancing at Zago.

"And why not?" The little Demon cried. "We make every single lollipop with love and care! I cannot believe this slander!" He turned and faced her. "Why may I ask, are you not happy with our products?"

"They taste like sh-"

"Sugar!" Hui Gai interjected. "Where's the flavour? That's what she means."

"Well...I hate to point it out, but the ingredients are 95% sugar. Has madam considered chocolate?" He asked, sniffing in a hoity toity way.

"I'm lactose intolerant. And I used to like lollipops." She snapped.

"You can get dairy free." He pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I see...and what exactly has changed?" He pulled out a stethoscope and began listening to the pulse in her leg, since he couldn’t reach any higher.

"You're not a doctor!" She seethed through her lips.

"I can be. Anyway, that's not the point."

"The point is that you have changed your recipe. I want you to make me lollipops like the ones you used to make. The ones that actually had a taste!" She grimaced at the memory of the latest lollipops she had the misfortune to eat.

"No can do." The Demon stood straighter, just as adamant.

"Why not?"

"Those ones were made by our colleague...who unfortunately passed away...due to unforeseen circumstances..."

"What?" Zago couldn’t believe him.

"Well, he might have been pushed...and it's his word against mine...and as he's dead...you see my point?" He shifted on his feet. "We had to throw away an entire batch...too many body parts... but you didn't hear that from me!" He tapped the side of his nose.

"Listen up, you poor excuse for a cook!" Zago pulled out a knife and held it at his throat. "Give me the old recipes and we'll leave you alone. Now!"

The little Demon scowled at her.

"What you gonna do if I don't?" He asked defiantly.

"I'm going to gut you like a fish." She went on to detail exactly how and what she was going to do.

The Demon reached into an invisible pocket and drew out a sheaf of parchments.

"Here!" He shoved them at her. "And don't come back. You'll give us a bad name...we've got a reputation, you know!"

Hui Gai grabbed her before she could make her threats come true.

As they entered Cloud Recesses, Hui Gai stopped.

"Hang on...I forgot to do something!" He remembered.

He closed his eyes and made adjustments.

"There we go! Sorted!"