Original and most updated translations are from volare. Please don't read elsewhere and stop supporting theft.

　　TL: Zhao

　　Editing: Krisaia

　　At nine in the morning, in the old city district, Li Yiming opened the aged wooden doors to his tea shop. As he stared at the wooden panel above the entrance, he forced himself to produce a smile.

　　'I'm now back at the start. What kind of road will I walk this time?' Li Yiming entered his shop and looked around. The owner of the shop had left everything as it was. Being scared of Li Yiming going back on his words, he hurried to have all the paperwork done within three days.

　　The furniture was left untouched and the place had been cleaned up thoroughly. Li Yiming walked to the counter, took out a tea set, and began preparing a cup of tea for himself. As he sniffed its sweet aroma, the quietness of the moment was broken by a ruckus on the street.

　　On the other side of the street, two old vans stopped abruptly, and a dozen of strangely dressed young men jumped off. Led by the man who had been scared off by Li Yiming when he first visited the shop, the gang made their way towards the establishment. They had received news of Li Yiming's purchase and arrived at the scene as soon as possible. Instead of rus.h.i.+ng inside, however, the young men remained right outside of the entrance, blocking the way to any potential customer.

　　"Hey boss, are we just going to stand here?" One of the thugs whispered into the ears of their leader.

　　"Listen to your orders," The leader answered coldly. However, when he looked at the entrance of the tea shop, fear briefly flashed in his eyes. Even days later, he still remembered the abysmal feeling of crossing eyes with Li Yiming. Every night, he would have nightmares waking him up from his slumber, forcing him to take drugs to just fall back asleep.

　　Li Yiming sipped his tea and watched as the scene unfolded. He searched the drawer beneath the table and found a small bag. Within the bag was a wooden bracelet seemingly made of rosewood, but the weight indicated that it was most likely a counterfeit artifact. He chuckled as he remembered that he had told the old owner to keep everything as it was, so the latter had chosen to even leave the bracelet he wore.

　　As time went by, Li Yiming continued to play around with the bracelet. He did not intend to make money from the tea shop, so he did not particularly care that the thugs were ruining his business. As dusk arrived, Li Yiming sat still like an old monk while the thugs continued to scare off any potential customers. After an entire day of fiddling with the bracelet, its wooden beads had gained an abnormal glow — Li Yiming had been transferring his energy into it the whole time.

　　"It's been an entire day now. Let's see how long this kid can last!" One of the thugs laughed as he threw his cigarette onto the ground.