Surprisingly the first to speak is Hai Qiang, with his slight lisp he asks, "Where is all the money you stole today? You should return it to its proper owner." Even with his busted up face he still looks to be calculating something.

Zhi has a puzzled look on his face as he turns to look at Hai Qiang "Who was stolen from? Everyone paid for a service I provided, did they not? Should I go out and find each person and return the money they paid me?”

Qiang’s voice raised slightly, “Me! You stole from me! 40 iron coins, those are mine! I want you to return them to me and another 10 iron coins for causing me trouble!” His wife is glaring at him at this point, while everyone else is surprised he had the face to say something like that to Zhi. Zhi just smiles and begins to chuckle at the absurdity of the request, before shaking his head no.

“You did not supply a service to anyone, you are simply a con man. Who was trying to swindle people out of money for flowery words you probably thought they wanted to hear. No harm in that right?” Zhi’s eyes narrow and his lips press into a thin line as he looks back at Qiang, causing the man to lean back slightly in his chair. “But you would be wrong!”

“You say something nice that might make them feel good for a day or two, but you do nothing to help change their life. I on the other hand pointed people to where their talents lie. While it might not have been exactly what they wanted to hear, in the long run they will end up happier with their life if they pursue their talents.” Looking over the room, Zhi can see that everyone is considering his words, even Qiang seems to be pondering over them.

Taking another sip of tea, he sets his cup down. Raising his right hand, he looks back at Qiang and says, “You know what? I am feeling generous today. So I will give you a chance to earn 20 iron coins.” A small stack of coins appears in between his thumb and index finger. “This stack of coins can be yours, all you have to do is learn to play a bamboo flute.”

Qiang’s unswollen eye lights up with greed as he looks at the coins. He then glances at Zhi, before looking back at the coins. “Something so simple? You promise?”

Zhi nods his head in reply before saying, “I promise, but only if you really try to learn it. I will be in town for a while since I have something I wish to do here. So you have time to practice, and learn a song or two. Come to me once you are confident, but I will only give you three chances to prove yourself. Otherwise you get nothing.”

Qiang is nodding to himself while his nephew and wife are looking at him in surprise at how easily he agreed to learn to play the bamboo flute. While Zhi looks at everyone else around the table while saying, “So who is next?”

Yongzheng speaks up, “You said that Lan’er sang for you? Would you explain that in more detail?” Xiulan's face begins to turn red as she looks down at the table. Zhao’s face also goes a little red as he glances at Xiulan.

“It was simple really, I read her fate and noticed her talent is in singing. So I asked her to sing me a song, as I wished to hear her voice. She was so skilled that she drew a decent size crowd of people on the street. I am not sure if you have ever thought about doing some kind of dinner show, but Xiulans singing could definitely draw a huge crowd if you set her up as the act.”

“I know it was somewhat popular where I come from to go out to dinner and then go watch a show after. A Lot of couples would do it when they didn’t have to work the next day. Not sure how it would work here, but it is something to think about.”

Meifeng is smiling at her embarrassed cousin, while her father is also looking at his niece with a concerned face. “I don’t know, that could lead to trouble.” Xiulans head whipped up to look at her uncle, her cheeks were still red. But her eyes were sharp as she stared at the man.

The silence was broken by Meifeng, “Father, I know your concern, since you have done the same thing to me. But you can’t keep every male away forever. Besides, she would be here singing. We could control everything pretty easily.”

Xiulan glares at her cousin for a second before going back to her uncle. He releases a sigh “I will think about it. Since we were planning to renovate the restaurant already, maybe we can make a stage somewhere. We would lose dining space though.”

Zhi chimes in, “But you could charge a higher premium per guest, and make it clear that only so many people may be seated for the dinner show at night. Which once people find out how good her singing is, will make it always bookend for the dinner show. I would bet within 6 months, you might just be able to do dinner shows and make more money then you pull in now.”

Yongzheng nods his head up and down slowly. “I could see how that would work to drive demand. I will think it over, we still have time before we even start looking into doing the renovations anyways.”

It goes quiet again for a few moments before Ya speaks. “You said you were pointing people towards their talents. What talent does little Zhao have?”

“He has the talent of perfect taste, while it might seem weird. I feel it is one of the best talents I have ever seen.” Hearing Zhi’s reply, everyone looks over at the boy who looks down at his lap under everyone's gaze.

“It’s actually the reason I plan to stay in this city for a while. Zhao, I asked you a question earlier. If you know what makes a great cook. Did you think of an answer?” Zhi picks up his teacup and takes a sip while waiting for the boy's response.

His head is still down when he says, “I thought about it for a while, the only thing I could come up with is practice.”

Zhi seats his teacup down before saying, “That is a good answer if I asked what makes a competent cook. But to have a great cook you need something else. Something special if you will, to take them above all the other cooks and make them shine.”

“When I divined your fate this afternoon I saw your talent. You might not really notice it. But when you eat, do you sometimes think you are eating something over cooked? Or maybe with too much seasoning? Maybe the combination of flavors is wrong?”

As he begins to ponder the question, Zhi takes a look at his almost empty teacup. Then at the tea pot across the table. “Zhao if you would, please bring me the tea pot.” He looks up at Zhi, then over to the tea pot, before looking at his aunt who is still holding his hand. She lets out a sigh before releasing his hand. He gets up, reaching over to grab the tea pot, then walking over to pour Zhi tea. “Thank you.”

Once he returns to his seat, he takes a sip from his tea cup before replying. “I have noticed a few times, but only when it is really bad. Most of the time, I don't really notice anything wrong with the food I eat. But I mostly eat at home and my aunt only cooks simple things. Since we don’t have much money.”

His aunt looks a little embarrassed at his blatant statement of their financial situation, but says nothing. A knock sounds on the door and afterwards in walks Ye Bojing, he is pushing a small cart filled with covered dishes. Behind him are two other people pushing similar carts. “If you give me just a few moments I will set out everything and be out of your way.”

With that he begins to set the dishes on the lazy susan, once placed with there cover removed he spins it slightly to add another dish. It doesn’t take long for the aroma of delicious food to fill the room. As he unloads his cart, another server goes around to each person. Placing down an appetizer plate, a soup bowl, another slightly bigger bowl, a soup spoon and a set of wooden chopsticks. The last person follows behind them, filling up the soup bowl with a dark, rich looking soup. Then they fill up the other bowl with steamed white rice.

It is a well orchestrated dance, as Ye Bojing finishes, the other two also finish. After checking everything is correct, they leave the cart that has the soup and rice on it. Taking the two empty carts away. Ye Bojing bows and says, “If you need anything else I will be right outside of the door, all you have to do is ring the bell for my assistance.”

“Thank you very much Ye Bojing, that will be all for now.” Yongzheng says before looking towards Zhi. After Ye Bojing leaves the room, Yongzheng says, “You said you weren’t from around here, so if you have any tradition for meals please go ahead. We don’t actually have anything special we need to do for meals here.”

“Thank you for your consideration, but I also have no customs for my meals. Let's dig in, this all looks great!”