Big Guns For Bing-Gan

[Corwin]

"I could go for a fancy meal, since today was fun."

[Kwokinator]

"Fancy it is!" Hao Long strides forward, leading the way.

Turning into a crossroad nearby, the duo continus on, lead by Hao Long, and turns into an alley way.  About a quarter of the way into the long, deserted alley way, Hao Long stops abruptly.

"Err... wrong way," he says with his back turned, and one can hear there's a difference in his tone from his normal cheerful self.  It sounds almost like... seriousness.

He turns around and starts heading out the alleyway, back onto the main road.  "Err... it's this way."

[Corwin]

"Sure," Bing Gan replies, checking out the alley for anything -- or anyone -- suspicious before following him.

[Kwokinator]

The alleyway is still deserted on both sides, the two being the only ones in it.

Going back onto the main road, they make a few turns along the way and continue at a leisurely pace amongst many other passerbys until they arrive at an extravagantly-decorated restaurant called Ming Yue Lou.

Unlike their previous restaurant, the waiter of Ming Yue Lou doesn't recognize Hao Long this time.  The waiter comes off as slighty condescending at first, however, a flash of a tael of gold quickly changes his attitude.

"Bring the lady the best in the house," Hao Long commanded, and the waiter almost squeals in delight as he skips off to the kitchen to put in the order.

Minutes later, Hao Long and Bing Gan find their fair-sized table covered by a plethora of dishes, from bear's paws to chicken in ginseng soup to a hotpot of deer meat, with a healthy selection of dishes in between.

[Corwin]

Smiling at the food, Bing Gan takes out Ban Ban, and has him pick up a small dish and travel through the table towards Hao Long, offering it to him politely.

[Kwokinator]

"Cool," Hao Long grins as he accepts the dish. "Neat trick."

He pats the puppet on the head, much like someone does to a small child.

"Thanks.  Give something really good to Bing Gan too."

[Corwin]

The puppet bows at the waist, and then salutes Hao Long, proceeding to place some deer meat on Bing Gan's plate. Ban Ban then settles down on the table, as if guarding his mistress.

"He can do martial arts, too," Bing Gan comments, placing the controls down and caressing the puppet. "I think it's very cool. Unfortunately, not many people in these parts do."

[Kwokinator]

"Well, I'll make sure not to mess with him then," he smiles. "Or he might kick my ass like you did."

"Hmm... maybe you should go somewhere else then?" Hao Long suggests. "Maybe they'd like Ban Ban in another town."

[Corwin]

"I've been thinking about that," she admits. "I'll probably pick a direction and go there first thing tomorrow. After all, there were quite a lot of places where Ban Ban got a decent reception." Frowning then, she adds, "Oh, and I'm sorry about the whole bump-on-the-head thing. It seemed like the quickest way of changing things without having you accidentally blunder through the challengers and to victory. Then, you'd have to marry that girl, and if you'd wanted that, you would've entered the tournament yourself, I bet."

[Kwokinator]

"Yeah, thanks for that," Hao Long smiles. "She's good-looking and all, but I'm just not that interested in her.  Don't worry about the smack on the head, I was just worried that you might actually end up winning and have to marry the girl.  That wouldn't be very good."

"Sucks that you're leaving though," he frowns. "I was kind of hoping you'd stick around longer."

[Corwin]

"Aside from a couple of people, which include you, the others here seem kinda rude and otherwise mean," Bing Gan says, her frown deepening. "It's very strange. Do you really like living in a place like this?"

[Kwokinator]

"Well, every place has its share of rude people," he offers. "And once you get to know them, most of them aren't that bad."

[Corwin]

Bing Gan laughs. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that."

[Kwokinator]

"So why do you want to get Ban Ban a good reception anyway?" Hao Long asks. "Isn't it just a hobby?"

[Corwin]

"It's more fun when other people can enjoy it too," she responds. "And it makes things easier, when there's no other way to raise money for food and lodgings."