Chapter 39 Dongjiangzhen
With the headlights illuminating the uneven road, they slowly entered the small town. This town was fundamentally different from the bustling city center. The streets were very clean and tidy, there were also a number of street lamps and neon lights about, which lend the town a rather modern feel and atmosphere.
However, this place lacked the hustle and bustle of metropolises. The buildings weren't as tall and the lights were soft and gentle unlike the blinding dazzle of the city lights. There was no such thing as light pollution here.
Fatty drove the off-roader slowly through the city and brought Jiang Han to a resort. Fatty lowered his window and spoke to the attendant before entering the car park at the back. Then he turned off the engine and got off the vehicle with Jiang Han.
A wave of fresh clean air crashed against their faces. This place was surrounded by mountains, the quality of the air was much better than those in the city. Jiang Han and Fatty, both took in a couple of deep breathes. It wasn't surprising that they felt tired with the last leg of their journey being so bumpy.
"Little wood, why are you here this late this time around? Oh, and you even brought a friend." The man who welcomed them at the courtyard walked towards them smiling and waving.
(t/l notes: the ‘mu’ in Liangmu means wood, little wood is like an affectionate nickname.”)
"I was feeling a little ravenous so I followed the fragrance in the air here for a pilgrimage." Fatty was rather familiar with this person and replied with a smile.
"This is my big brother. He's called Jiang Han. He is an incredible doctor." Fatty pointed to Jiang Han on his side and made the introductions.
"Young and promising. Come, let's continue our conversations inside." That man smiled at Jiang Han, nodded his head and then led the both of them inside into a wooden house.
The construction of this house was really chic and it seemed to be made entirely of wood. The interior decorations were done really tastefully in a Japanese style. There were numerous art works on the walls and some of the corners were decorated with some Japanese craft works which made the whole place looked really elegant.
It was only when Jiang Han saw that there was a Gundam in one of the display units that he was sure that this was a modern resort.
The attendant brought Jiang Han and Fatty into one of the rooms. There were approximately more than 10 rooms in this building. The building floors were covered in tatami and they had already changed into the appropriate footwear when they entered the building. When the attendant brought them to their room, he turned around and left.
Fatty collapse onto the tatami right away. On the other hand, Jiang Han closed the door and walked over to sit at the table. On the table was an exquisite tea set. The teapot was filled with water and hot to the touch. They must have prepared this before Jiang Han and Fatty stepped inside so that they could enjoy a nice cup of tea as soon as they entered the room.
This sort of service was incredibly thoughtful. Jiang Han looked around the room and saw various works of art decorating this spacious area. It simply did not looked like this was a resort, instead it looked as if someone painstakingly decorated their very own room.
The flowers by the window looked fresh and has yet to wilt. Under the warm lightings, the room with its décor felt rather serene. It was really a great place to getaway for some R&R.
After a short rest, Fatty got up, "Big brother, in my opinion, this resort is the most comfortable in this town. Even though it is only two stories high, every single room is magnificent and the attention to details are incredible. The owner is a Japanese born Chinese. When the owner was of age, he came back here to open this resort. Every time I'm around, I always stay here."
Jiang Han nodded his head, Fatty's arrangements were excellent. He didn't need Fatty to explain to understand that this place was extraordinary.
They both then engaged in a long banter before taking a shower and finally going to bed.
The night pass quietly and peacefully. This town was far away from the city and the pace of life here was comparatively slower. There essentially was no one up early in the morning and it wasn't until roughly after 8 o'clock that there were restaurants open for breakfast.
The mornings here were peaceful and quiet, it was the perfect place for a good long sleep, which was exactly what Fatty was doing. It was already nine in the morning and Fatty did not look like he would wake up anytime soon.
Jiang Han was done with his meditation. He opened his eyes, stood up and walked out of the room. After a night of cultivation, he realize that this town was indeed different compared to the city. The concentration of spiritual energy here was multiple times thicker than it was in the city.
Even though a night of cultivation here was not the same as a month's worth but it was certainly better than a couple days of bitter effort in the city. Sacred treasures and spiritual lands were important to all cultivators. This was why every novel always had cultivators involved in bloody fights over areas with dense spiritual energies, it was simply incomparable.
When the attendants saw Jiang Han walked out of the room, they beckoned for him to have a seat and then shortly later filled the table with breakfast. There were several exquisite rice balls, a piping hot bowl of miso soup, green tea and a platter of fruits. It was a Japanese style breakfast.
Jiang Han had yet to try a Japanese breakfast before and this was his very first time. He found the food to be quite tasty. The rice balls were warm and did not burn his mouth, furthermore it was nice and fragrant. The other items on the table were equally good. A mouth full of green tea was both relaxing and refreshing. Jiang Han quickly finished all the food on the table without wasting any.
At this time, Fatty was still sound asleep and Jiang Han did not want to wake him up. After his breakfast, Jiang Han ask the resort staff a couple of questions related to his investigation and then left the resort. As he left the resort, he spent a moment to take note of the resorts signboard in case he couldn't find his way back later.
There was a huge signboard above the entrance to the courtyard. On the signboard was the resort's name written in Japanese "江ろっぽんぎ". Jiang Han couldn't understand what was written and he only recognize that one of the word was river.
(t/l note: 江 ,this character exist in both Chinese and Japanese and they have similar meanings. In Chinese it means river and in Japanese it means bay or creek.)
From Jiang Han's understanding of the town, the point of contact between the outside world and Dongjiangzhen was in a centralised area called Dongjiang market. The town wasn't very big to begin with and it would not take him long to walk over there.
After Jiang Han found out the location of this market from the resort staff, he began to head in that direction.
The air was fresh and clean, the number of pedestrians on the streets were few and far between and thus the journey there was uneventful. He quickly arrived at Dongjiang market and at one glanced the place looked like a fancy wet market.
At this hour, the market was already opened and it was rather busy here. The place was crowded with those that were here to purchase, to collect and even some who were just browsing around. The ingredients Jiang Han was here for were rather well known and he easily found out which stall was responsible for them.
Jiang Han first found the source of the Dongjiang steak, which was the meat of the cows that was reared around the town. He saw all the different cuts of meat neatly displayed atop blocks of ice. There were different sizes of different cuts of meat neatly arranged and all the marbling could clearly be seen. Everything looked really fresh.
Regardless of the name and branding, the quality of the beef was clearly of a very high quality. Its fame was not misplaced.
The person in-charge here was a middle-aged woman. When she saw Jiang Han looking at the meat, she smiled and said, "Come and have a look, young man. See anything you fancy? Everything here is really fresh. If you have the appropriate permits then you can even purchase in bulks."
"Permits?" Jiang Han was shocked, why was a permit needed to purchase in bulk.
Jiang Han did not understand that to place an order here, one needed the permission of the town's mayor. The residents here had no complains about this since it was beneficial to them. Since such arrangement was beneficial for everyone in the town, it received unanimous support.