Chapter 1
It was a cool and breezy night at some corner in San Jose California, the parking lot beside the small wooden sign of “Xianshi Inn” was only a third filled. The lights in the lot shined a faint but warm light down at the humble and dusty cars down below. The night was quiet.
A brand new looking fancy car in shiny red and gold paint drove into the parking lot and slowly parked in one of the empty spots. A young lady with light brown hair in fashionable attire got out of the car, gently adjusted her sunglasses and walked towards the entrance to the humble looking inn. She threw a cigarette butt onto the ground and took a deep breath of fresh air, the minute traces of smell of flowers and fresh grass may have just lightened her mood for a little bit.
The lounge was small yet very neat and clean, with a sign placed near the entrance pointing to the right side that read “Diner”.
“Good evening, would you like a room?” The receptionist behind the desk was a pretty blonde girl with bright blue eyes, a small scar on the left side of her forehead and a ponytail, wearing a clearly non-uniform leather jacket and some sort of occult medallion, with a bit of indication of an attitude, who was obviously not very happy to be doing a shift at this hour either.
“Umm… yeah, I would also like some food...” hesitantly, the lady still in shades asked, “and could you give me a room with a view of the parking lot and near the stairs please.”
“Sure thing for the room, but let me check with the boss on the food.” the receptionist quickly typed up some information on her computer, then asked: “that would be 80 dollars per night and 80 dollars of safety deposit plus taxes. How long would you stay and would you like to pay cash or credit card?”
“Just one night. And can we keep my stay off the books? I can pay extra.” the lady asked in a low voice and in a slightly secretive manner.
The receptionist did not even hesitate for that long, “That would be an additional 40 dollars, miss Mary Jane. And we will need all of the payments upfront, aside from the food.”
After a swift and probably barely legal transaction involving 200 something dollars and a cold and stainless steel key, the receptionist picked up the phone and called her boss, in a different language than what the lady guest is used to: “Lao ban, you ren yao chi dong xi … hao de, wo rang ta qu diner.”
“Diner?” the lady guest understood one word, asked slightly nervously, “can I eat in my room?”
“Sorry, our policy is no food in our rooms.” the receptionist shook her head, “Diner only.”
“Ah… ok ...” the lady guest hesitated, then followed the receptionist to the diner.
“So, what would you like to eat?” The receptionist was also the waitress, as she just picked up an ordering pad and put a small and thin menu on the table, “we don’t have much fancy here. We only serve Chinese food, we don’t have gluten free or vegan options, or any other kinds of religious options.”
“Umm… how about an egg fried rice? Do you still have it?”
“Of course, just an egg fried rice? Anything to drink? We still have some soft drinks. Or tea if you like.”
“Err … just some water would be fine. With a wedge of lemon?”
“Ok, coming right up.” The receptionist walked over to the kitchen area, and it seemed like someone was already in the kitchen.
“Boss, the customer wants an egg fried rice and a glass of water with a wedge of lemon.” as Caroline, the receptionist walked into the kitchen, the owner of Xianshi Inn was already getting started with his wok.
“What? No Mandarin?” Jianmen, the owner asked jokingly.
“Please, I am tired, and you wouldn’t have answered me if I spoke english on the phone.” said Caroline frustratedly , rolling her eyes.
“Egg fried rice will be ready soon. And uh, water is over there near the fridge.” Jianmen pointed to the kitchen table near the fridge, where a glass of water was placed and a whole lemon was laid beside it.
“So you knew already.” Caroline scoffed, then pulled out a knife and cut a slice of the lemon to wedge on the edge of the glass.
“Yeah well, an educated guess, figured she’s probably the ice water with lemon type.” Jianmen chuckled as he put the overnight rice mixed with egg yolk in the wok.
An egg fried rice is a pretty easy and fast dish, especially if the rice is already cooked.
And the taste should undoubtedly be great, other wordly, someone might even say.
Leaning on the frame of the door to the kitchen, Jianmen watched as the lady guest, who did not take off her sunglasses even while in the dimly lit diner, took her first bite of the egg fried rice.
An overly careful, slightly scared woman, who had a nice sense of fashion judging from her choice of clothing was, for some reason, eating a simple egg fried rice. This was what Caroline saw happening in the diner.
However, from Jianmen’s point of view, the scene was quite different - it was a woman, whose aura of karma has a lot of threads and chains of different shining colors extended to high above. This of course, as far as he could tell, was only visible to him and him only, for it being a gift from the practice of Laws of Karma - a cultivation method only he would know and understand.
A woman of a complicated past, it seemed.