Landlord in the Arctic

"Go tell Nash to meet me at the airport. I’m making a trip to Fairbanks." As he spoke, Feng Shan habitually pulled out his wallet, planning to give Liu Lan a small tip to thank her for passing on the message.

But Liu Lan waved her small hand, her face lit with a pure smile. "No tips between family."

With that, she led her group of friends, and like a flock of cheerful little birds, they skipped and hopped off toward the tribal camp.

After arranging everything, Feng Shan went to the restaurant.

The restaurant was a hive of activity. The staff were in the middle of preparing a banquet to welcome the crew members.

Old Zhang was temporarily filling in as head chef. His thick Chinese accent and broken English echoed through the restaurant as he did his best to assign tasks to everyone.

"Belinda, have you seen Jenny?" After smiling and greeting Old Zhang, Feng Shan’s eyes landed on a girl carrying a basket of vegetables, and he called out to her.

The girl instinctively turned to look toward the kitchen. "Sister Jenny is in the kitchen making a cake. Do you need me to get her?"

"No, it’s okay. You’re busy!"

Feng Shan turned to walk toward the kitchen, but just then, he suddenly heard Loki’s grating voice from a corner of the restaurant.

"Help me! CRACK!"

"This is animal abuse! CRACK!"

"I hate nuts more than anything in this world! CRACK!"

Feng Shan followed the sound and saw Loki standing on a table. One of its tiny claws was tied tightly with a thin string, the other end of which was fastened securely to a table leg.

Two baskets were placed in front of the parrot. One was packed full of all sorts of nuts, while the other already contained a small pile of shelled kernels.

Loki’s head drooped as it listlessly cracked open the nutshells with its hard beak, all the while letting out indignant squawks. ’If only a bird lover would stand up for me right now!’

Unfortunately, though the staff bustled to and fro around him, not a single person spoke up. In fact, they all wore teasing smiles.

Clearly, everyone had been on the receiving end of the mischievous parrot’s pranks more than a few times.

Feng Shan couldn’t help but smile. He walked over and reached into the basket, grabbing a handful of kernels.

Loki was still wallowing in its tragic predicament when it caught a glimpse of someone daring to steal the hard-won fruits of its labor. Fury instantly surged through it. The parrot immediately looked up, opened its beak, and let loose a torrent of curses.

"Fuck, you piece of shit..."

But halfway through the curse, its beady eyes saw that it was Feng Shan. Its tone did an instant one-eighty as it called out fawningly, "Hi, Papa!"

"Go on, keep cursing," Feng Shan said, a cold smile on his lips and a teasing look in his eyes. He popped the kernels into his mouth as he spoke.

"Papa, I was wrong!" Seeing things were not going its way, Loki immediately changed its tune. It hurriedly grabbed a handful of kernels with its claw and flapped its wings with all its might to land on Feng Shan’s palm.

After dropping the kernels, it thoughtfully picked one up with its beak and took flight again, trying to feed the nut directly into Feng Shan’s mouth.

But alas, the rope tied to its claw was too short. The farthest it could fly was to Feng Shan’s hand; it couldn’t get anywhere near his mouth.

After several failed attempts, Loki, like a deflated balloon, hopped dejectedly back to the basket of nuts.

Its beady eyes glistened with tears, looking utterly wronged as it mumbled to itself.

"Papa, Loki go back to the shelter. Loki is tired. Parrots will never be slaves."

"Are you kidding me? Who told you to cause trouble and swear all the time?" Feng Shan wasn’t falling for it. ’Loki’s acting is good enough to win an Oscar.’ "Just accept your punishment and get to work. You’ve earned it."

With that, a corner of Feng Shan’s mouth lifted in a teasing smirk as he reached into the basket again.

He deliberately spread his fingers wide, grabbing a massive handful of kernels.

Then, he turned and left with a flourish.

Loki, still lost in the agony of shelling nuts, froze in a dumbfounded stupor. Its eyes stared blankly into the basket.

The already small pile of kernels was now clearly less than half its previous size.

It had taken the parrot so long to crack all of those.

It had been so hopeful that Papa would get it out of this jam. But not only had Papa not helped, he’d casually made off with so much of its hard work.

"Son of a..."

Loki was so furious, the rest of the curse was on the tip of its tongue, about to burst out.

However, in that split second, it caught Feng Shan suddenly turning back around out of the corner of its eye.

He had a wide grin on his face, and his eyes seemed to say:

’Go on. Say one more word. I dare you.’

Loki was so frightened its feathers puffed up, nearly standing on end.

In a panic, it began to bob its body up and down while screeching out the lyrics to "Who Let the Dogs Out" at the top of its lungs.

"Who let the dogs out?"

"Who? Who? Who? Who?"

Loki repeated the lyrics over and over, trying to use the song to cover up its blunder. Its beady eyes kept darting nervously toward Feng Shan, terrified that Papa would get angry and add to its punishment.

Hah!

Feng Shan gave a cold smirk. ’He knew perfectly well that this bird was a mischievous troublemaker with a filthy mouth.’

’I’ll have to tell Jenny later,’ he thought. ’We should just put Loki to work in the restaurant. That’ll keep it from wandering around camp all day, mooching food and drink, being nothing more than a pure poop-making machine.’

With that thought, Feng Shan arrived at the kitchen door.

Inside the kitchen, Jenny, dressed in a pristine white chef’s uniform, was completely absorbed in making a pizza, not even noticing the dusting of flour on her face.

Feng Shan watched her in silence.

Jenny was bent slightly forward, a lattice cutter in her hand, meticulously imprinting a pattern onto the dough. Her every movement was fluid and elegant. The chef’s uniform stretched taut over her impressive figure, and pulled by gravity, it outlined her captivating curves, revealing a unique sort of beauty.

For a moment, Feng Shan was completely mesmerized. He just stood there to the side, dazed, not even wanting to blink.

Jenny, focused on her work, suddenly felt a scorching gaze sweep slowly over her. Her heart fluttered, and she instinctively straightened up.

When she turned to look, she caught Feng Shan in what looked like the act of swallowing hard.

Seeing this, something clicked in Jenny’s mind. She felt a secret thrill as a blush crept up her cheeks, adding a charming coyness to her expression. She asked in a gentle voice,

"Did you need something?"

"Oh, yeah, something. It’s like this, I came to..." Feng Shan was mortified. Like a child caught red-handed, he began to explain in a fluster.

’After all, staring at her from behind and getting caught red-handed was more than a little creepy. He wished the ground would open up and swallow him.’

Seeing Feng Shan’s flustered expression, Jenny’s lips curved into a gentle smile.

She stepped forward and, with a light and natural motion, extended her slender fingers to gently pluck a feather from his fur collar.

"Looks like Loki found you," Jenny said softly, breaking the brief, awkward silence.

Grateful for the change of subject, Feng Shan quickly tried to push down his embarrassment.

"That little rascal tricked Fiona into stealing something, so the kids sent him to the restaurant to shell nuts. Oh, and from now on, let’s just have him work in the restaurant. It’ll keep him from causing trouble everywhere."

"Alright. Anything else?" Jenny asked, the smile in her eyes deepening as if it held an endless well of tenderness.

Feng Shan nodded quickly, his expression turning serious.

"Yeah. In a bit, I need to go to Fairbanks to pick up some new partners. They can’t fly, so I plan on taking a snowmobile across the Tundra to get them to the Crown Territory."

"You just got back, and now you’re leaving again." A hint of disappointment touched Jenny’s smile, and a flicker of reluctance crossed her eyes. But she quickly composed herself and said with concern, "Be careful, then. The paths on the Tundra are rough. Leave early and come back soon. Do you want me to have Paine go get you?"

Feng Shan quickly waved his hand, a confident smile on his face. "No need. On the snowmobile, I can make it back in a day. Once the highway is finished, it won’t be such a hassle anymore!"

Feng Shan had already privately told Jenny and a few others that the Crown Territory would soon have a highway.

Naturally, everyone was filled with anticipation at this news.

Once that highway was built, the Crown Territory would undergo a world-shaking transformation.

.....