7 Fateful encounter

I wipe the tears from my face. Sorrow did not bring them back to me. Heaven sends me back to live must have a certain reason. And for me, the reason is to revenge against treacherous Bao and Hong. At least, that is my reason to live right now.

I continue looking at this restaurant, I see the calendar it shows number 201X. Seem I'm in deep slumber for over two millennia, so long time since I die. The world also already greatly changed. There's no more kingdom like in ancient China. People can go around the world easily now. That's what I get from previous owner memories. I go to the kitchen and looking at the equipment there. There are so many types of equipment that completely new to me. There's no more firewood stove, it's replaced with gas stove. The lighting no longer uses oil lamp and candle, it's replaced by the electric lamp. There are also things called electronics like the blender, microwave, the freezer which haven't exist in my time.

The other equipment like frying pan, kettle, pot, and spatula is not different from the ancient time. So even the world already changed, there're some things that never change from the old time. I look at the kitchen knives at the shelf, it looks sharp and well cared. Seems the previous owner also people who love cooking like me, I can see his passion for cooking on the equipment that he left.

I'm still looking at the kitchen when I heard the sound of the door opened. Ah? Who's going to eat in this rundown restaurant? Did the door lock when the previous owner died? When I try to dig his memory it seems he deliberately not lock the door so people can find his body easily. So like that, and maybe this guest is not someone from here, lost and entering this restaurant.

So I come out of the kitchen and greet this guest. It's a girl in her twenties, carrying a traveling bag who come in. But when I see her face, I'm stunned and almost blurted a name and calling her,

MING ER!

Yes, the person who just coming into this restaurant resembles my wife, Ming Er. I almost can't hold this urge to call her name and hug her, but I manage to hold it and calm myself. 'You Ben, this is not the world you know before, your wife is already dead thousand years ago, she just someone resemble your wife' that what I tell to myself to calming down. So, I have to greet her first and ask her purpose in my restaurant

"Miss, are you coming to eat?"

"Sir, are you the owner of this restaurant?"

"Yes, I am"

"Do you need a worker here? I'm looking for a job, and if there any vacation, I would like to apply"

I'm sighed, so she's come not to eat but looking for a job. Doesn't she look at how this restaurant going? Dust in table and chair, spider webs on the corner of walls and rooftop, decoration flowers in vase already withered and dry, there are no other people here except me and her. Is this what a restaurant should be?

"So, you don't come to eat but looking for a job?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. I would not ask much for the salary. As long as I can rent a room and have eaten something every day is enough for me"

"I'm sorry miss, but don't you see how this restaurant looks like is? It's a rundown restaurant which hardly has a customer every day. I think you're looking for a job in the wrong place. Why don't you apply in that chain restaurant?"

She looks dejected and desperate hearing my words.

"I used to work there and don't want to work there again"

There's sadness carried in her voice, and somehow my interest piqued. What exactly happened to her? I pull a chair in the nearby table and please her to a seat.

"Miss, why don't you take a seat first and tell me your story"

She didn't refuse and sit on the chair, I pull another chair and sit in front of her.

"First, can I know your name, miss?

"My name Ming Er, Li Ming Er"

When she said her name, my heart feels like almost stop beating. Ming Er! She also has the name Ming Er! Is this coincidence or heaven sends her back to me?