Chapter 59

The crowd surrounded the little fat man.

“How about we exchange positions?”

The second place in the queue were several high school students. A blond boy among them squeezed beside the fat man, took out his wallet, and stuffed a 5,000 yen note into his hands.

“No, I won’t change!” The little fat man sweated from the forehead and stuffed the notes back to the blond boy.

“Not enough?”

The blonde boy gritted his teeth. This time he took a 10,000 yen note, and his two companions were frightened.

A neutral looking young man whispered to him, “Yoshitake, isn’t it too much to spend 10,000 yen? You can order three dishes in this restaurant!”

The blong-haired boy with glasses thought, ‘The average meat dish is 3500 yen. It’s not wrong to order three dishes for 10,000 yen. However, the staff just said that the first person has a gratitude cuisine… This price is difficult to measure. As long as it is not dessert… These 10,000 yen can be well-spent to eat a special dish.’

“I said no exchange in positions! No matter how much you pay!” The little fat man noticed more eyes on him. He could not help raising his head. His expression was firm.

“…”

Since everyone was lining up, the crowd did not immediately leave the little fat man alone and continued to ask for an exchange of seats.

The backyard of the shop.

An Yilun and Eri Yinglili were placed by Xia Yu in the tearoom where the old man often sat. The two held the hot tea that Xia Yu just brewed. The hot temperature of the cup told them that it was not a dream.

The tearoom was very simple. It was just a shed in the courtyard promenade, where a low coffee table was placed.

Xia Yu came down from the second floor. He took a cushion in his hand and put it outside the tearoom and sat down.

“Hello, let me introduce myself. I am, in fact, the manager of this store…”

Before Xia Yu finished speaking, Eri Yinglili exclaimed.

But An Yilun was much calmer. He apparently guessed something through Xia Yu’s name, but the second half of Xia Yu’s words still surprised him.

“At the same time, I am also the head chef of this shop.”

“Head, head chef?”

Eri Yinglili was startled and pointed at Xia Yu.

After a while, she suddenly asked, “…Are you a student of Togetsu?”

“Why do you ask this?” Xia Yu raised his eyebrows.

“You… seem to be about the same age as us.” Eri Yinglili fiddled with her ponytails to disguise the imagination that was running through her mind. She thought of the Tongue of God, Rina. That arrogant girl seemed to be very hostile to this store. Wouldn’t it be because of this boy?

The more she thought, the more curious she was.

Eri Yinglili knew the name of Rina, and she had the ‘Tongue of God’. She was the youngest member of the Top Ten in the history of Togetsu and had a great reputation in Japan’s food industry. To many seniors, she was also the genius most likely to become a Premium Chef in the next ten years.

Therefore, she was afraid that only a genius chef of the same age and the same level could attract the attention and hostility of the ‘Tongue of God’, right?

An Yilun did not think so much. His mind was full of food. Chinese dishes were full of colors and flavors, as if they were floating past his eyes. He could not stop secreting saliva.

He looked at Xia Yu with excitement and admiration. “Are you really the head chef of this shop?”

Because of the widespread reputation in the ACG circle, An Yilun also really thought that Xia’s Chinese Cuisine Restaurant was a two-dimensional restaurant.

“Certainly.”

“What do you want to eat? I can cook for you now.” Xia Yu smiled. “This is also an appreciation banquet. It’s thanks to your publicity about the shop. Otherwise, my shop’s business will not be so popular.”

“What…”

An Yilun and Eri Yinglili were both surprised.

An Yilun was fine. His ACG well-known blogger identity was not a secret amongst friends. However, the identity of the female artist of Yinglili, except for family and the limited one or two friends, no outsiders know.

“You misunderstood… I did nothing!” Yinglili immediately waved her hand. Her face blushed like an apple.

Xia Yu couldn’t help but laugh. “You guys should order first. When the shop opens, I may not have time to cook a nice feast for you.”

Eri Yinglili murmured, “We don’t know what to order!”

An Yilun also stared at Xia Yu without speaking.

“Then I will improvise. Can you two eat six dishes?” Xia Yu asked. Seeing An Yilun and Yinglili nodding like chicken pecking rice, he couldn’t help laughing. Then he got up and left.

About an hour later, six hot dishes were filled on the short table.

“Please enjoy!”

Xia Yu did not come out from the kitchen. Morita Maki replaced him, serving them one by one, and carefully handed two bowls of rice to the two.

Grunt.

Just after Morita left, Eri Yinglili changed her lady’s etiquette. She wiped her saliva and quickly picked up a pair of chopsticks. She added several dishes into the rice bowl, mixed it with rice, and put it into her big mouth. Her happy and long exclaim immediately came out from tearoom. “It’s really delicious! It’s even better than last time!”

An Yilun was also gobbling up the food.

Among the six dishes, three of them were Fried Spoon Cabbage, Magic Mapo Tofu and Hibiscus Crab Egg!

Three glowing dishes were served at the same table.

This was a feast that An Ya and Mu Xiaoyue, who had already boarded and returned to their home country, would dream about. An Yilun and Eri Yinglili did not know what the selling price of these dishes were in Xia Yu’s mind.

100,000 yen per plate.

He wouldn’t do it if it were a little one bit less.

…

“You brought all the dishes over?”

Xia Yu was cleaning the spatula in the kitchen and glanced at Morita who stood at the door.

“Well, they are having a great time,” Morita answered with a smile. She stood quietly and watched Xia Yu work hard. Miyoko Hojo also changed into a white chef’s uniform. She started handling ingredients in front of the kitchen counter. The knife and the bang of the chopping board created a wonderful cooking melody.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Suddenly, there was a loud ringing sound from the antique wall clock on the storefront.

It’s six o’clock in the evening.

Without Xia Yu’s request this time, Morita walked around the kitchen and went to the front desk to take care the crowd lining up at the door.

Because she often took care of the pastry shop at home, Morita had strong hospitality experience. She took care the guests in an orderly manner with her quiet face and a friendly smile.

At the same time, a list of the names of dishes was handed into the kitchen, and Xia Yu didn’t have to look at the dishes by himself.

Miyoko Hojo took the list and walked back and forth inside and outside the kitchen. She was looking for the ingredients and chopping vegetables. At the same time, there were too many people ordering food. When it was too busy, Xia Yu would let her help to look at another wok.

“Miyoko, put the deboned fish in to deep-fried for 30 seconds, not a second more!”

“Hand me the cut pork mince!”

“Help me look at the casserole. When you hear the whisper, stop the fire after five minutes…”

Xia Yu skilfully commanded Miyoko Hojo.

Gaining an effective helper to the kitchen made him feel very happy, and he could finally take a breath during cooking. Whatever ingredients and seasonings he needed, he just had to open his mouth. But he was not aware of disturbance in Miyoko Hojo’s mind.