Gu Changsheng stood at the edge of the red-and-white checkered picnic blankets, holding the gleaming silver platter high in his right hand.
Fifty thick iron skewers of [Rank 9 Cumin & Garlic Mutton] sizzled on the tray. Tiny bubbles of golden lamb fat popped along the crisp, charred edges of the meat, sending ribbons of fragrant white steam curling into the morning breeze. A fresh dusting of chopped green scallions, toasted highland cumin, and crushed garlic clung to the juicy cubes.
With his free hand, Gu Changsheng pointed his battered iron spatula toward the side table. There, Auntie Qin had just lifted the lid off her ten-foot porcelain cauldron of golden Egg-Drop & Green Scallion Soup, releasing a rich cloud of sesame-oil aroma. Beside the cauldron, thirteen-year-old Su Nuannuan stood next to ten porcelain washbasins filled with warm, bubbling Life-Spring Water.
In her hands, she held a basket of pink strawberry-scented soap bars and fluffy white cotton towels.
Gu Changsheng looked out over the one hundred thousand trembling Marriage-Severing Executioners and let his warm, steady voice boom across the ten-mile plaza.
“Listen up, brothers!” Gu Changsheng called out, his voice carrying no killing intent at all—only the easygoing warmth of a neighborhood dad calling the street kids in for dinner.
