Ying - Tigress
Yu Ting - Viper
Jia - Crane
Wu Cong - Monkey
Fan Hai - Mantis
The bowl of congee was growing cold.
Ying had half a mind to dump it in the bin out of spite. But the other half knew it would be a waste of perfectly good food that would get eaten eventually. So she put it in the fridge for heating up later. She peered at the contents carefully. There wasn't much left, save for a bag of the ends of bread no one liked. They'd have to make a shopping trip soon.
Tearing her eyes away from the fridge, Cong stumbled in, messy bedhead, shirtless and yawning. She grabbed the milk, knowing from experience that he was going to make a beeline for it.
"Where did Po sleep last night?" She asked him, and pressed the milk bottle to his exposed stomach.
He yelped at the sudden cold. "Holy shit!" He jumped away from her, waking up instantly, and cast her a dark look. "That's freezing!"
Ying allowed herself to smirk evilly. She'd never tried that trick before to wake them up, but it appeared extremely effective.
Cong was hugging his stomach, trying to get the heat back and not noticing her smirk. "Po bunked with Jia, not Jia's choice of course, but we played rock, paper, scissors and he lost every game."
She nodded, that sounded about right. "And did you tell him what time he needed to get up?"
"…no?"
She grabbed the kitchen towel and whipped him with it.
"YING! It's too early for this!"
"It's already nine thirty!" She shouted back. "Today is a MONDAY we have WORK that starts in HALF AN HOUR!"
Cong blinked at her stupidly, still trying to comprehend everything through his half-asleep mind. "But I assumed – I assumed we'd take a day off 'cause… you know, the whole-"
She whipped him with the towel again. "NO!" Ying closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her face gathering all the patience she had. It was going to be a long day. "…let's just go and wake him up."
Cong didn't bother protesting and followed her meekly out kitchen and upstairs to the hallway of their rooms. All the doors except for hers and Cong's were shut with light snores coming from behind each one. They were fast asleep. Shifu would have a fit if he saw this. Ying almost considered grabbing the woks from downstairs and waking them up in her favourite way. But that wasn't a good idea, doing that always put them in bad moods. That being said, they weren't helping her current mood.
"Are you kidding me?" She muttered, staring down to no room in particular.
"So, Fan may have told everyone to sleep in…" Cong started guiltily.
She exhaled loudly. Stress is bad for the mind, stress is bad for the mind… The mantra never did anything. Though she loved them, they really did cause her some petty, unneeded worries. Holding up a hand to get Cong to stop talking, she kicked open Fan's door, ricocheting it satisfyingly off the wall. The form under his duvet flinched and groaned loudly, the black tuft of hair disappearing under the sheets.
Cong had rushed forward and put two hands on her arm. "Ying, Ying, let's talk about this-!"
"Wake up." She stalked closer to Fan, grabbed the end of his duvet and tried to tug it off him.
Even in his sleep, Fan was still incredibly strong, and yanked it so hard she face-planted into his mattress.
"WAKE UP!" She yelled, recovering quickly but still trying to wrestle the duvet from him.
"NO!"
After an almost violent tug-of-war she finally managed to take the duvet away, leaving a pleasing moment where he shivered pitifully without it. "WHY DID YOU TELL EVERYONE TO SLEEP IN?!"
This got Fan to wake up. He sprung out of bed as if it was lava and pointed at Cong accusingly. "You traitor! It was him who said we could sleep in!"
Ying dropped the duvet and slowly turned her head to allow the glare to be as strong as possible. "Seriously?"
Cong immediately put his hands up in surrender. "In my defence –"
"There's no defence!" Both Ying and Fan exclaimed.
"- I honestly thought we just… wouldn't open today."
Fan reached forward and smacked him upside the head. "You sounded so convinced yesterday."
Ying punched Fan in the arm, knowing that he wouldn't really feel it. "You also went along with it," She rolled her eyes. "you're both in the same boat."
Fan groaned loudly, and started to crawl back into bed. Only to get up with alarm when Ying quickly left and made her way to Jia's room. Both Fan and Cong were hot on her tail.
"Wait what are you –"
"Ying! Please don't –"
She knocked loudly, to the sighs of relief from Fan and Cong. "Wake up!" She called.
"I'M UP!" Came Po's terrified shout.
She frowned at the solo voice. "Are you decent?"
He said a weak yes and she opened the door wide and looked round the room and the empty bed. "Where the hell is Jia." She growled.
"I – uh – I think I heard the door open and close during the night…" Po muttered weakly.
She looked back at him and tried to soften her glare. He had the sheets pulled up to his chin and seemed frozen in fear. It probably didn't help that her and Fan had been yelling, plus the fact that he was on the floor while she towered over.
She sighed. "Right, Po, your restaurant doesn't get busy at this time, yes?"
He nodded. "Customers don't start ordering 'till twelve."
"Ok, Cong is going to go down with you to the city to pick up your stuff and keep your cover."
"What?! When did we decide on that?!" Cong spluttered from behind her.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "When you told everyone to sleep in." She hissed, to Fan's snickering.
"This is so unfair…" She heard him mutter as she made her way to Yu's room.
She was so over everything that she didn't bother knocking, and instead pushed the door wide open.
"Thanks for knocking Ying." Came Jia's tired remark from the floor on the bundle of sheets he'd been sleeping on.
"The yelling and slamming doors should have been warning enough." Said Yu boredly, idly scrolling through something on her phone.
Ying blinked at the state of them. Yu was generally an early bird, and she sometimes got up even earlier than herself. Jia liked having lie-ins but always got up before nine to enjoy the morning breeze. But now they were just… lazing around? And the worst offender being that Jia actually left his own room in the middle of the night with his duvet and a blanket to go sleep on Yu's floor. Shifu would go ballistic.
"Why are you in here?" She demanded, kicking his duvet aside with disgust.
"I still don't trust him," Jia said, pushing himself into a seating position. "also he snores." He added as an afterthought.
Yu put her phone down to give him a look. "A bit rich coming from you." Then chuckled at his offended face.
"That was one time and it was only because I slept like a log!"
"Still woke me up though." Her annoyed tone played in contrast to her affectionate eye roll.
Ying was steadily growing bored of their interactions, this was why she preferred being the third wheel to Fan and Cong. "How come Yu didn't hammer you when you woke her up?"
Yu shrugged. "He was polite."
"And I had a peace offering," Jia pointed to the tea set sitting on Yu's dresser. "a cup of oolong."
Ying didn't bother to comment on how low Yu's standards were on whether she fought with someone or not and just sighed loudly. "Get dressed, we've got work in half an hour." She said, backing away and closing the door.
She turned to leave and came face-to-face with Po. "Did my – did my snoring wake him up?" He asked nervously.
"No you're good," She said, her tone still a little colder than she would have liked. "and he snores as well anyway." She moved past him, gesturing for him to follow her down the stairs where Cong was waiting, fully dressed and in a bad mood.
She made an extravagant bow to him. "Enjoy the Thousand Steps, Wu Cong." She said deeply, while he muttered insults to her name, then bounded away with a stupid smile on her face. Even in dire situations, it was fun to be silly.
Wu Cong led Po out of the… house? That wasn't quite the right word for it. Hideout? No, it wasn't some sort of underground bunker. It was built like a house though, even if it was a little on the… weird side. It had a kitchen, living room, bedrooms, bathrooms and all normal stuff. Except the fact that all houses definitely had courtyards with underground tunnels leading straight to your day job, because that was totally normal.
"What is this… uh, house – thing." Po asked, looking back towards the building.
Wu Cong squinted at it, perhaps because of the sun or because he didn't know himself. "Well, we call it home." He said, an air of sentiment behind it. "Back in the old days this used to be the student barracks."
"Really?!"
Wu Cong nodded, satisfied at Po's amazement. "Sounds cool and everything, until you realise that the walls between the rooms would have been made of paper." He shuddered as if the mere thought disturbed him, and Po had to admit the feeling was mutual. "Anyway, let's go, getting down the Thousand Steps takes so long it kills me."
Wu Cong swiftly started to make his way through the vegetation Tarzan-style, pushing the branches and leaves out of the way as if his arms were machetes. Po stumbled along behind him, ducking the occasional branch getting flung back into his face.
Almost tripping over a disguised rock, Po attempted conversation. "Since you guys – hate the Thousand steps – ouch! – ah – how come you haven't found a way to make it easier to… you know, get up?" He had to concentrate very heavily on making his breathing sound normal, he did not want to expose how pathetically unfit he was.
"Believe it or not, we had the genius idea to buy a ski lift," Wu Cong tapped his head with a smug smile. "but, Shifu said we didn't have the budget and, I quote, 'having the steps means you can't skip leg day', which is bullshit because we never skip leg day!" This was obviously a very passionate subject matter, as Cong had jumped off the small, rocky cliff leading in the direction of the Jade Palace in a frustrated manner. "See? I obviously don't skip leg day."
Po made a quick hum of agreement.
"We were all in favour of it , since it would bring more tourists anyway, but noooo," He wagged his finger childishly as if someone (most likely Shifu) was actually standing there getting berated. "the rest of the budget goes towards the stray fucking cats."
"Cats?"
Cong pointed to a white tuft of hair caught in a random tree branch. "A load of cats just hand around the house and I'm pretty sure they live in the forest. Well, Shifu has a soft spot for these cats and he makes sure that we put food out everyday for them, food that comes out of our budget!" He tutted loudly. "And now the cats just don't leave, and there are some that are always in the house because Shifu won't let us evacuate them."
That made a lot of sense. Po did hear some random scuffling and scratching during the night. It had probably been one of the cats rather than a terrifying ghost or something. Though it would have been nice to know this before going to bed last night. As when Jia had left the room, he'd spent the better part of the next hour trembling under the covers with paranoia forming stupid reasons for the scratching sounds. The most terrifying reason his mind had settled on was that they were planning an elaborate plot to kill him and be rid of him once and for all. Which, in all honesty, didn't seem far-fetched at the time when Jia left the room without saying a word. Plus, their track record on with-holding information was horribly bad. But Po couldn't blame them on wanting to keep all their various secrets. He did, after all, stumble upon -
"Po?"
"Hmm?"
Wu Cong was looking at Po expectantly. "If you have any questions, just ask."
Po attempted a fake scoff. "Questions? Me? Nah! I'm good! I completely understand everything you're - … yeah I've got questions." His admission was long overdue, according to Wu Cong's amused grin.
"I thought so, you've looked perpetually confused the whole time you've been here." He swiftly started to descend the steps, avoiding the various tourists making their way to the Palace entrance. "It probably didn't help that we did a whole story time for you last night."
Po had to jump out the way for an incoming group of tourists holding cameras and bulky backpacks, once the cloud had passed he quickly ran after Wu Cong. "I liked the story! Honestly! I mean yeah it was a bit… all over the place, but it was still awesome!"
A genuine smile was given to him. "Hey, thanks dude," He nudged him in a brotherly manner. "it was pretty fun for us as well, we don't get to exchange stories much."
"I do wanna know though," Po started slowly. "why work at the Jade Palace? Surely that takes time out of your day?"
"That's where our budget comes from," He said. "whatever donations we get and money we make from the gift shop. You'd be surprised by how much people are willing to pay for souvenirs."
"But then, why don't you just hire normal people and let them do the work for you?"
Wu Cong shrugged. "It gives us a good cover story," He gestured over to the Palace, now starting to fill with the day's tourists. "people see that as a tourist attraction, and we're just the employees, who would suspect us?"
Po looked back to the Palace and had to agree. If he hadn't followed (well, followed was a light word for it…) Ying through the staff room then he'd still be blissfully unaware of the whereabouts of his idols. There was no real indication that something secretive was hidden under the Palace floors. The only one being that the Palace held kung fu artifacts, but even then, that was a stretch.
Wu Cong seemed to be mulling over his rhetorical question. "Well, I guess you did." He muttered, reflecting yesterday's sober mood.
Po grimaced and focused on the stone steps in front of him. The awkwardness was not something he'd anticipated with Wu Cong. He gave a much friendlier vibe and didn't look at him with various uneasy and uncomfortable glares.
"Tell me, Po," Wu Cong started after almost five minutes of painful silence. "what do you think of all this?"
"All of this… spy stuff?"
"Yeah, in a general way."
He had to open and close his mouth a few times to give himself time to think carefully of his word choices. On one hand, he didn't want to come off as some crazed fan who was absolutely obsessed with these… spies. On the other hand, did that really matter anymore? He'd already outed himself as a lover of kung fu, how could he damage his dignity anymore than he already had?
"It's seriously cool. Like, I think it's crazy that you guys can do this stuff and not get caught!" He made huge, excited circles with his hands, almost picturing the drug bust that was detailed the day before. "And it's so awesome that you do this stuff! You're like, doing good things but without the glory or fame!" A huge grin stole the place of his grimace. He couldn't help it, the little balloon inside him had grown to great proportions and wasn't showing any sign of dying down.
"Good, because I'm pretty sure you're gonna have to stick around with us for a while." He said, casually jumping down the last few steps (something Po didn't dare to try as it would most likely end with a twisted ankle).
Stopping the gushing that fought to get out his mouth again, Po forced himself to think clearly. "Are you – are you sure about that?" Wu Cong waited patiently for him at the bottom of the steps. "I mean, I feel like the others aren't too keen on – you know…"
Wu Cong batted his hand as if swatting a fly. "Don't worry about it! Fan's easy to get on with, Jia, when you get to know him, is a bit less of a prick, Yu obviously likes everyone –"
"And Ying?" Po interrupted. "Ying doesn't seem too happy."
Wu Cong didn't falter. "You need to give her time," He said wisely. "she's not easy to read, and the Ying you've seen so far is just the surface layer, she's really not as bad as she makes herself out to be."
Po snorted disbelievingly. "Yeah and she definitely doesn't hate me." He remarked sarcastically.
"She made you breakfast this morning."
Po stopped in his tracks. Oh. "Is that a –"
"No it's not a normal thing," He pushed him forwards through the crowd to keep them moving. "with breakfast it's every man for himself, and whoever wakes up too late gets the scraps no one wants."
Po said nothing.
The rest of their walk to the restaurant left Po very dazed. He didn't know what to feel about Ying making him breakfast. And if he had to be honest, he didn't know what it meant. It could be a sign of peace, a sign that she wanted to finish the story from yesterday over some good food. Or, it meant she cared enough to not leave him on his own his first morning at their house. Either way, surely this was a good thing?
"This is it, right?" Wu Cong asked, pointing to the restaurant cosily squeezed between a hairdressers and a tattoo parlour.
Po broke out of his musing. "Yeah, we live above it, it's not much but, you know."
"Hey," Wu Cong turned himself towards Po. "I'm in no position to judge someone's living space, believe me, and you also shouldn't feel the need to disclaim it, it's your home after all, so don't say that." He said firmly yet gently.
Po nodded until he looked satisfied. "Right, the cover is that I'm a new friend who lives on the other side of the city and we met at the Palace a few months ago. We've been hanging out for a while and decided last night when we went out for a drink that we should go on a holiday with some other friends I know from school, got it?"
Po blinked at him, when had he come up with that plan? Last night? Maybe after he'd gone to bed. But then he hadn't known he was going to be the unlucky one escorting him.
"Got it?" Wu Cong repeated.
"Uh – yeah – yes! I've got it." Po said quickly.
Wu Cong gave him a searching look, much like he was being scrutinised, and smiled when he was convinced of what he saw. "On we go then." He marched them up with confidence Po wouldn't have walking into a stranger's house.
Upon entering the still-empty restaurant, Po worked his way around the furniture and straight to the kitchen.
He paused at the door. "Do you, uh, wanna come in?"
"Of course I want to see how this food is made!" Wu Cong, eager to see the kitchen, pushed open the door before Po had the chance to.
"Po!" Came his dad's voice from behind a puff of steam. He batted away the small cloud and came forward to engulf Po in a hug, one which he gladly returned. "And do you want to introduce me to your friend here?"
"This is – uhhh…" Po faltered. This was something he wasn't debriefed on. Did they have fake names? Was he forbidden to say the name Wu Cong?
Luckily, an answer was given.
"Wu Cong, sir." He shook his dad's hand with a friendly gesture. A friendly gesture that Po hadn't seen.
It wasn't friendly in the sort of way he interacted with Fan Hai. Not with glee like the kind of glee he exhibited when Jia lost the game of rock paper scissors last night. It was a little like customer service, but harder to spot the veneer. He supposed that was what being a… spy was all about. Were they spies? Or did they simply work undercover, in the shadows. It didn't seem that simple. He really had to start asking more questions.
"I love your food, by the way, I've ordered from here a few times." Wu Cong said, sincerely this time.
His dad was enjoying every moment. "Thank you!"
"The custard baos are my favourite." He carried on, smiling widely.
"Such a kind person!" His dad clasped both hands together and turned back to him. "You never bring your other friends home." Please stop talking, Po tried to silently communicate with urgent eyes to his dad to stop rambling. "I know you said Jade Palace but how exactly did you meet him?"
Po hesitated. The legendary phone call had not gone very well. Minor lying he could do. But this? This was so much pressure. This was probably the biggest secret in all of China! How was he supposed to act cool in front of his dad who knew him inside and out?
"We met at the Palace – during a – during a tour." He said quickly, with Wu Cong giving him a subtle encouraging look. "And yesterday we were out for drinks and that's how – that's how we decided to go for a… guys holiday." He tried desperately not to physically cringe too much and give away the lie. "And I haven't used any of my days off this year so, you know – I think this is good to do."
His dad appeared slightly sceptical, and probably would have called his bluff if it weren't for the physical proof of Wu Cong. "Well then, how long will you be away?"
They hadn't prepared for this. "Errr…" Po started sounding much like a microwave.
"About a week," Wu Cong cut across. "maybe longer depending on the other guys, you know how it is." He gave a cheeky wink and Po had to fight the urge to looked shocked at his casualness.
"That sounds good! The other cooks can manage just fine without Po!" His dad seemed to really take a shine to Wu Cong. "And I'm surprised he's even going away with friends because usually he-"
"OKAY!" He interrupted. "Let me get my stuff and we'll be off!" He said loudly, and pushed his way past the kitchen, into the back room and up the stairs to their humble home. "Wu Cong you stay there!" He called back quickly, he seriously did not want to brandish his embarrassingly messy room.
While Po had run off upstairs, Mr Ping had gone after him and Cong sincerely hoped Po would stick with the cover story. Left in the kitchen with only the busy cooks for company, Cong took the time to check his phone. It had been vibrating like mad since leaving the house and he was starting to grow frustrated. His friends had left a whole conversation of scrollable texting in the group chat that he was seriously considering muting.
Ying: Cong, you have to question Po when you're out
Yu: I thought we trusted him?
Fan: i still don't and neither does jia
Jia: But what are we questioning him on?
Ying: Yesterday he told his dad he'd be back by 9
Yu: So?
Yu: I don't see anything wrong
Ying: He applied for a job here and ONLY here in the AM
Yu: Ohhh I see what you mean
Ying: He must have a motive, he couldn't assume he was gonna get hired on the spot and instantly start working THE DAY he gets hired
Jia: What if he was just making his way round the museums? I wouldn't be surprised bc he likes kung fu and some people are weird like that
Ying: And he'd leave all day for that? I'm not buying
Fan: idk but I'm w ying, seems fishy
Fan: brb
Fan: ducking customers
Cong had to roll his eyes at Fan's abrupt goodbye message. It wasn't often they texted while at work due to the numerous jobs that needed doing. The Palace wasn't huge, but it was sizable enough for large amounts of tourists with various needs from unwilling employees. Fan, he assumed, was manning the till at the gift shop, judging by the annoyed texting. It wasn't the worst job, but when busy, was definitely no piece of cake. The next few messages were back and forth debates with various amounts of caps lock so they could be ignored. He scrolled quickly until finding a huge chunk of text from Ying with all the questions he had to interrogate Po on. Oh for fuck's sake…
Ying was being ridiculous. Okay yes the whole thing was pretty suspicious and yes she had a right to want to question him but this was getting out of hand. Her demands were high and Cong didn't know if he was going to get away with it. Luckily, the others texted their disagreement with some of the more obvious questions and he hopped on the tail end of their conversation.
He's gonna suspect smth, I'll try but he's not that stupid.
Yu: Yeah but don't ask the fifth one
Yu: Too obvious
Jia: I still don't think this will go down well, some of these are so obvious that I don't see how you'll work them into conversation and not sound weird af
Fan: dude don't listen to them you're usually good w stuff like this
Ying: For once I'm w Fan
Jia: Yeah but even then he probably won't give you answers
Fan: wdym?
Jia: I talked to him last night before bed and he didn't want to give away anything personal, and I'm being serious here when I say that you won't get anywhere w this bc he'll just dodge everything, honest to god I could not get a word out of him and I'm pretty sure he was too tired to get annoyed at me last night, so you could start questioning him but it could all go to shit
Cong couldn't believe his eyes at the lengthy message. This went in the history books as the two most disappointing days for their team. The others shared his sentiment and the chat exploded with messages.
WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING?
Ying: YOU LITERALLY HAD ONE JOB
FFS JIA
Yu: SERIOUSLY JIA?
Fan: DUDE WTF
Jia: I didn't think it was important!
Cong tore his eyes away from the onslaught of angry texts and stuffed his phone in his back pocket to greet Po coming back with a large duffle bag.
He plastered a friendly grin on his face. "Hey Po, ready to leave?"
Po nodded and Mr Ping hugged him rather enthusiastically goodbye.
"Have fun son!" He said happily, and turned to Cong. "And you, don't forget to come and visit! As a token I'll give you a discount!"
Cong lit up properly at the mention of a discount. "Oh definitely!" He said excitedly. "Yours is probably the best food in the whole city!"
"Come on," Po tugged on his sleeve impatiently. "let's go already."
"It was nice meeting you Mr Ping!" Cong waved as Po dragged him out the kitchen.
"You too Po's friend!"
Guiding him through the tables, Po groaned loudly. "Did you have to say that?"
Cong stopped. "Say what?"
"That stuff about our food," He replied, still walking forwards. "it's not like it helps your cover story or anything."
"But I love your food!" Cong put a hand on Po's shoulder and forcefully turned him around. "And we were being honest when we said that we ordered from you all the time!"
Po looked a little less sceptical. "Really?" The tone was still challenging.
"Why would I lie?"
Po gave him an annoyed look and gestured roughly around them .
Cong chuckled awkwardly. "Okay that wasn't the best choice of words… but still, I'm being honest when I say this is the best food in the city, because it seriously is."
At Po's face of approval Cong pushed them both out the restaurant and out to the busy streets.
"So," He started in a casual tone. "you've heard a lot about us, what about yourself?"
Po elbowed his way past a crowd and looked around uneasily at him. "Err – what d'you wanna know?" He said hesitantly.
"For starters, what are your plans for the near future? Uni? Maybe culinary school since you cook?" Cong had to mentally pat himself on the back, the first question was delivered naturally enough.
The brisk stride they had taken meant that Po took a little time before answering. "Well… you know what it's like with uh – gap years."
Cong hummed in acknowledgement. Po didn't quite dodge the question as much as Jia said he would. Besides, Jia wasn't always the best at interrogations. "How old are you anyway? Twenty?"
"I turn twenty in a few months."
Cong grinned and elbowed him suggestively. "Ying's nineteen too! You guys could be such good friends."
Po looked as if he was going defy his statement, but instead closed his mouth and simply nodded. Cong suspected it was due to Ying making him breakfast this morning. And to be honest, he didn't really understand himself why she had chosen to be so hospitable.
"So back to the gap year thing," He continued, careful not to push any unassuming buttons. "are you just sort of doing odd jobs and stuff?"
Their long strides had taken them to the Thousand Steps, and Cong had to take a moment to mentally prepare himself for the leg workout he was about to get.
"What do you mean?" Po asked, also stopping at the start of the steps.
Cong stepped up first with an exasperated sigh. "You know what I mean," The sun was really beating down, and part of him wished he'd brought a hat to avoid the inevitable sunburn. "you already have a job at your dad's restaurant but still tried to apply at the Palace."
"And what about it?"
Cong almost slapped a hand to his face at the attitude in Po's comment. "Most people don't apply somewhere else while having a… decent job with a heritage attached to it, that's all."
"What are you getting at?"
He wanted to push him down the stairs. It was like pulling teeth! He was seriously deflecting all questions with questions of his own and Cong was stupidly falling for it. "Why? Why did you want to work at the Palace?!" It took all his inner strength not to raise his voice.
Po just shrugged. "'cause I felt like it."
Cong physically stopped, leaving Po to climb the next few steps without him. He bounded over with the agility he usually only displayed in the training room.
"Yes but what –" He huffed loudly, how was he meant to word it? "- what made you want to work with us?"
"Maybe the pay was better, I don't know, the reason most people change jobs?" The hostility in his voice was not lost on Cong, and he feared that Jia was definitely right.
They trekked up in silence for a bit while Cong cringed over the questions he was meant to have answers to.
"Okay, job aside," He said quickly, not wanting to wallow in the awkwardness any longer. "what are your hobbies, interests, things like that."
"Why?"
"Because I want to get to know you!" He exclaimed, losing control over his bubbling temper momentarily Then took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "If you're going to stay then we're gonna be friends, so we might as well get a head start."
Po gave him a hard look, apparently still not recovered from the previous questions. "Who says I'm going to stay? Shifu hasn't made an appearance."
"Because I said so!" Cong ran a tired hand over his face and groaned deeply. "Let's not – let's not talk about this in public please."
"Where is this Shifu guy anyway?" Po carried on. "If he's your master then isn't he supposed to be training you or something."
"It's complicated." Cong said curtly, cutting the conversation to an early end.
"A place is not complicated." Po's steps were starting to become frustrated again, probably half due to the stupid number of steps.
"No, it really is complicated." Cong insisted. "I'm not sure myself to be honest."
"If you're not sure, and if I'm going to stay, then you should tell me."
It was out of pure pity that Cong opened his mouth and answered.
"We're pretty sure he's visiting someone," He started with their predictions that they'd mulled over while moving the sofa into the kitchen when Po was unconscious the first time. "and it's complicated because this person… this person is close to death."
Po immediately looked uncomfortable. "Oh." Was all he said.
"He's very old anyway, so we all knew it would happen eventually, but him and Shifu are really close, so we can't expect him to be paying us a visit any time soon." Cong was almost voicing his thoughts on the matter.
They'd decided, over an unconscious Po in the kitchen, that Shifu would be gone for a while. The moment he'd punched their visitor in the face he received the phone call that changed everything. Yu was adamant at first that nothing was wrong, and simply covered Po in a blanket while arguing her point. Fan had also pointed out Shifu's track record with panicking over (what they considered) things that were very minor in the grand scheme of things. Ying was not convinced, but was still a little weirded out by being followed through the tunnel in the staff room, so didn't say much on the matter. Jia had insisted they not worry about it, and started on his pending chore of washing the dishes. Cong still worried though, and proposed the possibility of a death. That made them think a little more, and helped everyone decide on the final prediction. They'd retreated to their rooms until Jia's fateful shout that Po had woken up.
Cong didn't say anything for their entire walk back. He tactfully ignored Po's short breaths and concentrated solely on the different reasons for Shifu's disappearance. Reasons that, still made no sense to him.
They reached the steps at the Palace on aching legs. Po was completely out of breath and sweating from the physical exertion and heat from the sun. Cong allowed him a short moment to regain strength to carry on and led him back to the house. Upon opening the front door, Po went straight past Cong to the kitchen. He heard running water and guessed Po was hydrating, so moved on to the next step in his plan. Not sure if it was going to fit or not, he rummaged around in the storage room next to the kitchen. Cong held up the old uniform and inspected it with a critical eye. The last time it had been worn was over a decade ago, but the fabric had held up, despite having been discarded in quick haste.
He handed it to Po. "Here, put this on and change your shorts to trousers."
Po looked at it and back to him. "Is that…?"
"A Jade Palace uniform? Yes." Cong shoved it into his lap, they didn't really have time for this.
"Are you – are you sure it will fit?" He asked, eyes intently on the shirt, fiddling with it uncomfortably.
"The guy who had it before you was apparently built pretty large," Cong said, not quite lying through his teeth, but also not totally sure on the truth. "and it's very old and very worn, so you won't have a problem stretching it." That part was definitely true. Shifu didn't share much, but they could theorise on how much it had been used.
Po still seemed uneasy, but obediently took his bag and the shirt upstairs to the bathroom. Cong took the time to leave some messages in the group chat.
I've got Po a uniform and we're gonna come in through staff entrance
Dibs on not training him
Ying: Dw Fan's training him
Fan: what
Fan: since when?
Fan: this is so unfair
Yu: Don't be so mean! Stop complaining!
Jia: But it is fair since I had to have him sleep on my floor last night as well as having to set up the mattress and Cong had to take him down to the village and babysit so yes, it is fair
Fan: that's so stupid
Jia: Stop bitching and get on w it
Fan: i hate you
Jia: Ik ;)
K we'll be there in 5
Don't kill each other
Yu: W Ying you can't guarantee
Ying: Wow I see how it is
"Does it fit?!" Cong called up, while chuckling lightly to himself at their texting antics.
Po stepped down the stairs a little hesitantly. The shirt was definitely on the tighter side, but nothing that looked out of the ordinary. Cong nodded, it would do for a few days until they could buy another.
"Come on," He gestured for Po to follow him and led him outside to the courtyard where he'd first been knocked out. "when we get in the Palace, I'll give you over to Fan and he can train you."
"What?!" Po exclaimed from behind him.
Cong jumped into the tunnel with ease. "Exactly what I said, you're going to be trained."
Po was hesitant at first to get in, but Cong heard the sounds of him clambering after him and carried on through the tunnel. "So does that mean… I'm hired?"
"You might as well pull your weight around here." He explained, feeling the tunnel walls in the darkness, knowing them well enough to not need a light. "Like Yu said, we needed someone else anyway, the Palace gets really packed these days and we could use with another employee." And Cong didn't have to look back to know that Po was grinning.
Fan was replacing the bin liners when Cong poked him gleefully.
"Here you go," He pushed Po towards him. "he's all yours!" And sauntered away before Fan could say anything.
Po's eyes darted around. "So uh – what's first?" He was the poster child for new employee nerves, and Fan felt a little sorry for him.
"Well I've got these bin bags," He pointed towards the trolley holding the five rubbish bags. "I've gotta take them outside, we'll start with that."
He wheeled them outside, invisible to the customers, and round behind the Palace where the bins were. "Do you know where Cong got you that shirt, by the way?" He asked, examining the uniform Po was wearing.
"Er, no."
Fan's brow furrowed in thought. Cong couldn't have… but maybe he did?
He stopped the trolley and opened one of the giant bins. "Could you chuck these in for me? I just have to do something."
Fan opened his phone as Po obediently started throwing in the bags.
cong
where'd you get the uniform
Cong: The only other uniform we have? In storage?
but it's not HIS right?
Cong was typing. Then he wasn't. Then he was typing again. Then he backpedalled again and Fan needed no more confirmation.
cong please
Cong: Well…
Yu: No you didn't…
Ying: Cong are you kidding
Jia: When Shifu gets back he'll be so mad I hope you know that
Jia: Sorry
Jia: IF Shifu gets back
CONG YOU CAN'T DO THAT
Cong: Wtf was I supposed to do?
Yu: LITERALLY THAT'S SHIFU'S ONE BIG RULE
Fan, already leaning against the side of the building, turned his phone off and pressed his forehead on the cool jade. They were going to be in so much trouble it was unbelievable. If Shifu wasn't already, he was definitely going to kill them now. Fan sighed loudly, it was going to be funerals for everyone. Taking a moment to gather himself, he plastered on a smile and turned back to Po. He might as well be nice to the guy. No matter how many funerals, he'd not really done that much wrong.
"Hey Fan Hai?"
"Yep?"
"Whose is this shirt anyway?" Po looked at it with scrutiny. "Cong said it was someone else's."
Fan's mouth went dry, and for once in his life he had no idea what to say. "It's – it's complicated."
Po gave him a dry look he thought only Jia and Ying were capable of, completely done with everything and everyone.
AN - Word actually lost 1k words of this chapter as I was writing it, which was seriously annoying but luckily didn't hinder my progress on getting this out on schedule
The texting formatting was so nerve-wracking for me. I've obviously never written characters texting and a group chat is a step up from that. It looks alright on my laptop, but I haven't seen it on mobile, so sorry to all my phone users out there!
Mr Ping is literally impossible to get right. Jame Hong is so talented and I everytime I give his character a line of dialogue I want to cry because I can't embody the uniqueness James Hong brings to him. So yes, you can tell that in that conversation I sort of gave up half way through.
I promise, I
promise I'll finish the drug bust story. I was going to tail it on the end of this chapter but that would mean it growing to maybe 10k words, which is just too much.
And I know everyone is eager to see Shifu, I promise that will be soon.
Also I'd like to say that the next update I might not get out in two weeks like I've been doing. It might end up being the Friday after because I'm staying at a friend's house for the second week of August. And I'm doing research for uni and grown-up stuff like that (which I'm not mature enough for) so that's pretty time consuming.
Thank you for the comments so far! I love hearing what you think about each chapter. So let me know what your thoughts on this one! It makes my day :)