The scribe cleared his throat, opened the document, and announced: Eric Ford, for violating public security regulations, has served a sentence of imprisonment, which has now been completed and is hereby released in court. However, as Eric Ford is penniless and unable to repay the tea debt, he is fined to work at Youjian Teahouse for two hours to pay off the tea bill.

“Please, sir, just give me a few minutes and I’ll bring you the money right away…” Eric Ford hadn’t expected this outcome, panicked and pleaded desperately.

The official ignored Eric Ford, gestured again to the scribe, who waved his sleeve, and two constables came up to drag Eric Ford outside. Eric Ford’s voice echoed in the main hall of the yamen. “Dou E, what are you worth! Come and see me!”

Poor Eric Ford was sent off to Youjian Teahouse, and before leaving, the constables didn’t forget to warn: “If you dare to run away, the punishment will be doubled!”

Eric Ford was assigned to be a waiter. The boss first gave Eric Ford a half-hour professional training, such as being polite to customers, serving tea and water with energy, speaking respectfully to the boss… Then spent another half hour showing Eric Ford around, inside and out, thoroughly familiarizing him with the layout of the teahouse. Finally, with a wave, the boss told Eric Ford to change clothes and ordered him to get to work, the manner reminding Eric Ford of his beloved newbie village chief.

As Eric Ford turned to leave, the boss said something behind him that made Eric Ford want to kill himself: “Two hours, timing starts now!”

There were quite a few people at the teahouse, but not much work to do. Most players would sit for half a day with just one pot of tea. Once the place was full, no one else would come; if no one came, no one would order tea; if no one ordered tea, Eric Ford didn’t have to serve tea—easy and idle.

The people in the teahouse chatted animatedly. According to Eric Ford’s incomplete statistics, “Yijian Chongtian” and his Seven Deadly Whirlwind Sword were the most talked-about topics, followed by yesterday’s hidden quest event—his own heroic deed, though sadly, no one knew his name.

He opened his friends list: Yijian Chongtian and Wanshitong were both offline. He tried adding Emily Lewis, but she was offline too.

Bored, he could only perk up his ears and listen to others’ conversations.

Suddenly, a system prompt: David has added you as a friend; the Treasure Pot has added you as a friend; Frank Walker has added you as a friend. Seeing David’s name, he figured it was probably the three from his dorm. He added all three back as friends.

David sent a message: “Where did you go? Why are you only online now!”

Eric Ford replied: “Crying, I was in jail!”

“What happened!”

“It’s a long story. I’m at Youjian Teahouse in Xiangyang now, come over, I can’t get away!”

“We’ll be right there! We’re very close to Xiangyang!”

A moment later, the three appeared at the teahouse entrance.

All three wore black clothes and pants. The one in front had messy hair and held a large ring-blade—no need to ask, that was the boss, David. The one behind had his hair in a topknot and carried a sword—should be Paul Brooks. The last one, no doubt, was Brian, his hair tied with a headband, hanging evenly on both sides, swaying as he walked.

The boss waved at Eric Ford, who smiled and went up to greet them.

“Waiter, get us a table and a pot of tea!”

“Come on, it’s me, Kevin Young!”

“Kevin Young!” the three called out in unison.

“How did you end up like this?” the boss was the first to ask.

“Where did you get these clothes?” Brian only cared about such things.

“I was wondering why the NPC had a player’s face!” Paul Brooks was as observant as ever.

“Sigh, it’s a long story…” Kevin Young then explained what had happened.

“Why do you always have to surprise us? Ever since you started playing yesterday, it’s been one surprise after another!” Brian made a praying gesture.

“All right, Xiaopeng, see if you can help Kevin pay off the debt and get him out of here!” the boss instructed.

Paul Brooks went in and came back out: “The boss said no, he has to work the full four hours. Kevin, how long have you worked?”

“Not even an hour yet!”

“Jeez, time is precious, let’s not waste it here with him!” Brian started to complain.

“Kevin, look, there are a lot of people here, and we don’t have a seat. Standing here is bad for business, so we’ll head out first. Message us when you’re off work!” the boss always spoke so tactfully.

“Come on, you three are so disloyal!”

“Don’t worry, when you’re off work we’ll help you level up! Call me if you need anything!” Brian blew a kiss at Eric Ford, the three waved and left on their own.

Bored, Eric Ford could only continue enduring the boredom alone in the teahouse.

But Eric Ford wasn’t the only bored one in the teahouse. Suddenly, there was a commotion upstairs, and quite a few people ran downstairs. Eric Ford hurried upstairs. Two groups were about to start a fight! He couldn’t help but feel delighted—fight, hurry up and fight, best if you tear down the whole place, venting the anger in my chest.

The boss, having heard the unfortunate news, rushed upstairs too. Seeing Eric Ford cowering and gesticulating on the side, he was furious! He grabbed Eric Ford, “What are you doing here? Go and get rid of that group for me!”

“Boss, I don’t have that kind of skill!” Eric Ford said with a wronged expression.