Journey to Somewhere New (Sun Wukong x reader)

Chap. 17 - The Monkey King and his Master (2)

"Uh....hey." a shadow was casted on her, shielding her from the sun.
She looked up to see someone looking down at her, only now did she remember that she was in the center of the city and that there was people around. She quickly stood up, stumbling a little bit and feeling some back pain.
"S-sorry. I'll get out of the way."
"Do you need help?"
She looked at the man, hair in a low ponytail with a little mustache, with bags under his eyes. She recognized him as one of the men who mugged her and Monkey, and the only one that survived. She became wary and he noticed it.

"I-I owe you this much." he shyly said. "You did save my life." he extended a hand. "My name is An-shi."
She looked back and forth between him and his hand, but she eventually shook it.
"I'm (Y/n)." she said before getting her hand away. "And, I appreciate it, but I don't think you can help me."
"Are you sure? What's the problem exactly?"
She pursued her lips, not sure if she should tell him. She wasn't feeling really open at the moment.
"I heard you and your...friend? Talking about saving a baby, were you talking about the Earth God Ch'ien found a while ago?"
"...Yeah. What do you know about that?"

The two of them went to sit in a park, they would've sat in the nearby tea shop if it wasn't so expensive.
"A week ago, the two heads of the Ch'ien company left on urgent business overseas." An-shi began explaining. "They put their right hand men in charge, but then their son decided to step in, boosting up the prices and acting like he's the king."
(Y/n) thought back to the kid's entourage, they must be these right hand men.
"Why didn't they stop him if they were left in charge?" she asked.
"That's the problem, Taio is infamous for making a scandal every time something isn't going his way. If his parents learn that there is a scandal, they'd of course believe their son over us poor people. And people are afraid to lose the jobs they desperately need, so they just let him do whatever he wants. One day a little Earth God just walked in the city, and as soon as Taio heard about it, he ordered everyone to bring it to him. Now he just keeps it as a toy."
"I saw that yeah." she nodded. "When are his parents coming back?"
"They're going overseas. As of now they're still on the way there, and they'll stay there for like a week."
She sighed, her head hung down.
"How am I supposed to do this by myself?"
"Well...you don't have to do this by yourself."
She pursued her lips, Monkey's words echoing in her head. He lightly tapped her shoulder, leaning over a little bit to see her face.

"I know someone who could help. She's a demon."
She suddenly looked at him with big eyes.
"A demon?"
"Yeah, she's known for ruling over the slums."
"The slums?" she awkwardly looked away. "I'm not sure about that."
"Trust me. If you want a chance to beat Taio, you gotta go to her."
She looked into his eyes. Even though he tried to mug her only a couple of hours ago, it's true that he did owe her. And he looked like he genuinely wanted to help.

Monkey, standing on top of a roof, watched as (Y/n) and An-Shi walked away. He didn't understand, first he didn't punch her and now he was following her, he felt pushed into doing this, something inside him prevented him from leaving. He placed a hand on his forehead.
"What is your deal with her man?" he asked himself, as if he'd get an answer from his future self.
But of course, he didn't get any. He sighed and kept following her from the rooftops.
"And now she's going with a guy who threatened her. What an idiot."

Meanwhile, (Y/n) kept her bag close to her as the two of them walked through the slums.
'If mugging people is a frequent occurrence on the main streets, imagine how things are here.'
Although, when they walked by some restaurants, the smell of the food made her stomach grumble loudly. She froze and held her stomach, she hasn't eaten anything since this morning after all. An-shi looked back at her embarrassed expression and laughed.
"You can treat yourself here. The Ch'ien company doesn't own anything in these parts so it's much more affordable."
He saw she was hesitant and decided to pay for her. He ordered a bowl of kung pao chicken and (Y/n) read the sign.
"Three coins?!" she exclaimed as she took the bowl An-shi handed to her, still hesitant to eat it. "For a meal, there's no way!"
"Like I said," he said, taking a piece of chicken and eating it to show her nothing was wrong. "everything's cheaper here."
She gulped, her mouth watering, and began eating. She hummed, it was good. He smiled seeing her enjoy her meal but then he noticed a little girl sneaking up on her and slowly extended a hand towards her bag, An-shi clicked his tongue, getting the kid's attention, and shook his head. The little girl looked disappointed but then (Y/n), who heard An-shi, turned around and startled the girl. She noticed how skinny she was.
"Do you want one?" she asked, showing the bowl.
The girl was surprised, but she nodded. When (Y/n) gave her a fresh bowl, she nodded again as to say thank you, looking a little guilty, and quickly walked away.