Restaurant At Emperor Huangdi

(An excerpt from the story)

Vitya rushed to where the light from the mirror fell. In front of him was an old building. Numbers were engraved on the roof of the building: 1887-1909. And a little further there was another inscription, it announced that before the revolution there was a bathhouse in this building. Four letters have not been erased from time to time. The word: "Bath", probably before the revolution, was visible from afar. This now old building could hardly be seen because of the new taller buildings. And indeed, the contour of the sauna stove protruded from the wall of the house. The beam passed along the contour of the stove, illuminated the entire building, and then rested on the door of the sauna stove.

The beam rested almost on the ground and immediately there was a creak. The oven door opened. Vitya shook his head. He didn't want to go inside. But there was a noise of brakes from behind, and cheerful excited voices of the pursuers shouted the name of Taota. The boy climbed in and the door slammed shut behind him.

First meal change. Old stove door

Vitya crawled through the door of the sauna stove. It was scary and dark all around. He immediately tried to go back, but heard the voices of his pursuers. They pulled on the oven door, but did nothing. The boy's eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he saw that the inside of the furnace looked like a cave. Light seeped through the old bricks. Entering the cave of the furnace, Vitya was frightened, in front of him he suddenly saw four men who were sitting quietly and silently. There was a sound, a bright light became visible, someone threw firewood into the furnace of the stove. The stove periodically went out, then lit up with light. It was getting hot. People turned to Vita. Each person had many furry hands. The calendar exploded. His beam burned the web, which strange people tried to throw on Vitya. People's faces were frozen. They were Kumo's were-spiders. They were visiting here, they came to steam old bones. The calendar has taken the will of the spiders under its control.

- What does the lord want? - asked one of the spiders - We admit our mistake and are ready to pay dearly for it. Command!

The walls of the cave are warm. It got very hot. However, the shocked boy remained silent. Then one of the werewolves Kumo himself made a decision.

“Now let’s help the young master!” - turning to the others, the spider began to take off the sheet, - We will save the master, and the master will put in a word for us when the time comes!

It took a very long time to weave a new web, so Kumo simply took off their bath sheets and wove a network out of them. One of the men quickly climbed up the wall of the furnace cave and threw the net over the wall. Here the wall did not fit snugly against the ceiling. Kumo helped Vitya climb up the net. Jumping down, the boy got into the stoker. It was the kingdom of stokers. Noperapon, faceless ghosts, worked here as stokers. Seeing Vitya, they instantly took on his appearance.

“Food,” the ghosts whispered, “food, lots of food!” Big boy! Live boy!

Vitya began to choke, Noperapon tried to draw life out of Vitya. The calendar intervened again and soon Noperapon became transparent again. Everything seemed to fall into place, but then a new problem arose. Coal began to pour down the chute. It got bigger and bigger. Noperapon jumped up easily and stuck to the wall. Victor, of course, could not do this. Coal poured faster and faster, filling the entire space of the stoker. Almost instantly, Vitya was covered up to his hips. He barely had time to pull out the calendar. The beam of the calendar began its work. Vitya directed him to a chute from which coal was pouring. The chute was located almost under the ceiling of the stoker.

- Food! shouted one of the ghosts. “No, I'm so hungry!” Oh, great mirror, don't take my food! No one has descended here for two centuries! Give the boy to us! Lots of people upstairs! Anyone can be your master! Oh, hot beam, spare us! We will thank you! Not!!!

Reluctantly, obeying the order of the beam, Noperapon took off their robes and made a rope out of them. After that, the beam burned a passage in a pile of coal. The rope helped Vita to get out of the stoker through the hatch.



Having descended the noperapon rope, the boy found himself in a strange place. It was a gigantic room. Millions of foxes stood in regiments and battalions. From time to time one of the foxes disappeared, another fox immediately took his place. The rope was not enough, and Vitya fell right on the head of one of the foxes. The space around the boy immediately cleared up. A fox general appeared in front of Vitya. It was the werewolf fox Katsune. He was huge, but still no taller than Vitya. Katsune opened his huge mouth. His teeth were in blood. The fox was advancing on Vitya. The calendar disk ripped open the boy's pocket and flew out at an alarming rate. Flying up to Katsune, the disc instantly shaved the general's tail.

“Oh,” a sigh of surprise swept through the hall, “oh, woe! We give you praise! You came for a sacrifice - you got it! There is no way back! Greatness is gone! Die is cast!

The general was disgraced. He tried to hide his tail behind his back. He did not succeed. Then Katsune called the fox - understudy and ordered the impossible. The stand-in fox bit off Katsune's tail. Blood flooded the hall. There was so much of her that it was hard to believe that there was so much blood in Katsune. The fox understudy took the form of Katsune . Katsune himself was thrown into the chute of the stoker. Katsune turned into coal. Blood seeped through the floor tiles. At the call of blood, the steward came. It was the earth god Houtu. Howtu told Vita to raise his hand. The man grabbed one of the foxes, shook it out of the skin, turned the skin inside out, and smeared Vitin's palm with the skin. His palm burned, it itched and burned, and Houtu patiently waited for signs to appear on Viti's palm. When the signs appeared, Howtu began to read them carefully. Then the earth god snapped his fingers. The foxes began to howl, and then stood in pairs and shook each other out of their skins. The skins fell at the boy's feet. The foxes that survived made a staircase out of the hardened skins. Howtu snapped his fingers again and told Vita to start climbing the stairs. Ten minutes later Vitya was in the kitchen. It was the kitchen where the dishes for the restaurant were prepared. The restaurant had a loud name "Emperor Huangdi".

RESTAURANT KITCHEN

During the day, the restaurant was visited by people, the night was for other visitors - not people. At night, the restaurant was visited by: gods and goddesses, spirits and werewolves, heroes and traitors, villains and saints. And also ghosts, werewolves and other inhabitants of another world.

The owner of the restaurant was the yellow emperor, his name was Huangdi. He was rarely there.

He had four assistant managers and one manager. You have already met the manager - this is Howtu.

The restaurant was run by: the god of the earth - Houtu, his color was brown-yellow

The ruler of the east - Taihao, his color was green

Lord of the South - Yandi, his color was red

The lord of the west - Shaohao, the color was white

The ruler of the north - Zhuanxu, the color was black

And Emperor Huangdi also had a competitor - it was the many-armed and many-legged Chi Yu, the god of chaos.

Chi Yu, a jealous god, opened his own restaurant next to the Huangdi restaurant.

Just like the restaurant "At the Emperor's", it was located on Millionka and had the name: "Million Desires". In Chi Yu's restaurant, licentiousness and vice were welcomed. Vitya got into such a strange world



According to the mirror calendar, the cycle for which the earth goes full circle is 60 years.

The year of the blue horse, which was supposed to come on earth, could be the last year when people rule the world.

But back to the frightened boy Vita. Going down through the oven door, Vitya got into the kitchen of the restaurant "At the Emperor's".

The spirit of Tsukomogami cuisine that reigned here was unhappy. Vitya took up too much space.

Vitya tried to go back, but the passage he went down was no more.

The manager flew into the kitchen - it was Ohaguro Bettari, a female werewolf. She herself was not visible, only her mouth full of black teeth was visible.

What is this pause? Why are there no ready meals? I keep the deal! Everything must be according to the law! I find your thing - you pay me with work! Ouch! Who else is this? Who are you?

- I am ... a boy ... a man ... my name is Vitya! - huddled with fear, the fugitive said, - That man from the hall sent me here! I…

- Stop! Tsukomogami! shouted the mouth, “Yes, stop!” Yes, what is it? There is a full hall of guests, but the cook is no more! Tsukomogami, my friend, wait, don't be afraid! I have a lot of useful things in store for you! Oh, the spirit of hot dishes, but what is it!

Ohaguro was furious. The dish, which fifteen minutes ago should have been served to the table of the eminent guest, was not ready. Seeing Ohaguro, the spirit was frightened, with every minute he became paler and thinner. Seeing what she had done, Ohaguro tried to stop the decay of the spirit, but did not have time. The spirit was completely destroyed. Only Vitya and Ohaguro remained in the kitchen. Seeing Vitya, his mouth began to change. Lips reddened and black teeth began to sharpen. But it didn't last long. A fire broke out in the furnace, and the furnace cracked in two. Ohaguro came to her senses. She realized that she could not even touch Vitya. A bell was heard from above. This demanded dishes that were to be delivered to the guests. Ohaguro pursed her lips and sucked in the smoke from the stove. Exhaling sharply, the mouth tried to brand the boy's forehead. At the last moment, the beam of the calendar deflected the jet of darkness, but a few grains still fell on the boy's forehead. Now Vitya was a slave to the kitchen, but, thank God, not forever. Just for a short time.

An excerpt from the story
The full version can be read by following this link.
http://proza.ru/2014/08/14/190