Chapter 53

Chapter 53: The First Stage of the Mission

Nevertheless, the contents of the mission stunned Yuan Zhou.

“System, what kind of bloody mission is this?” Yuan Zhou asked helplessly in his heart as he raised his hand to hold his forehead.

The system read, “Since host has reached Level 2, the special staged mission to level up is officially opened.”

[Staged Mission 1] “Host, please close the restaurant down for three days starting from today.”

(Mission tips: As a candidate to be the next Master Chef, how could you not leave for our very own food trip? Go, young man, go wander the world.)

[Mission reward] Watermelon Juice Recipe

“System, I don’t actually like trips.” Yuan Zhou said with a firm tone, looking like a hard-working youth.

The system read, “The adventurous vibe of the host has already been exposed. There is no need to lie to yourself anymore. The staged mission can’t be rejected.”

Standing in front of the gates to the tax bureau in a daze seemed rather odd. Therefore, Yuan Zhou left with quick steps, preparing to hail a taxi. Along the way, he didn’t forget to refute the system.

“System, please don’t impose this adventurous vibe on me. This is presumably your own thoughts.”

Nevertheless, the system did not respond.

“Mister, take me to No.14 of Taoxi Road.” Yuan Zhou raised his arm and hailed a taxi. After telling the driver the destination, he began to hold his head as he seriously started to consider what excuse he would provide to close the restaurant.

Suddenly, he straightened his body, put down his hands, drew out the mobile phone from the pocket, and then started to look something up on the Internet.

“Zi liu”

“Here we are.” The driver didn’t talk much. After saying that, he waited silently for Yuan Zhou to pay the taxi fare.

“Thank you, mister.”

“Peng.” After paying the taxi fare, Yuan Zhou got off and headed into the restaurant from the back door again. As he passed by a pile of trash, the Maltese dog with mixed hair colors was still lying prone on the plastic bag, taking no notice of Yuan Zhou passing by.

Not until Yuan Zhou disappeared into the depths of the alley, did the lying prone dog idly raise the head and take a look.

With a sound of “zhi ya”, Yuan Zhou unlocked the back door and went inside. Suddenly, a blast of cool air wrapped around him. The smell of oil and smoke didn’t exist in his kitchen.

He ran up to the second floor in quick steps and opened the drawer of his bedside table. Inside the drawer were some remaining pieces of A4 paper. He picked up a ballpen and, with a flourish, wrote several large characters on the paper.

After leaving the restaurant by the back door arrogantly, Yuan Zhou gave 2RMB to a boy and told him to help paste this notice on the front door. Having glimpsed the notice on the door from a distance, he then prepared to find some place to eat. It was almost the time for lunch.

As to why he hadn’t gone to paste the notice in person, even Yuan Zhou himself probably understood. If his excuse was seen by his regular customers, he would probably end up in the hospital, eating in their cafeteria.

As he thought about that, Yuan Zhou couldn’t help giving himself a thumbs-up at his own intelligence.

……….

“Sister Ying, wait a moment.” The moment lunch time came, Gao Ying, who had eaten the Egg Fried Rice in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant once, left the office in a hurry. However, she was stopped by her colleague before she reached the elevator entrance.

Wearing her usual office-wear, Gao Ying turned around elegantly. She discovered it was the newly-hired girl from the human resource department, thus gently asked her, “What is the matter?”

“Thank you, Sister Ying. If it wasn’t for you this morning…” Before the girl had finished speaking, she was interrupted by Gao Ying

“Let’s talk while walking.” Gao Ying gestured at the girl to follow her pace.

“Oh, all right.” The girl’s name was Weiwei. She had a baby face and was an easy-going person.

Weiwei had barely graduated from university this year and this was yet her first job. She was a fast learner, sensible and obedient, but also a little impulsive. This morning, she made an error in a very important Excel chart. Fortunately, Gao Ying happened to check the chart when it was submitted to her and gave the girl a few words of advice.

“Let’s enter the elevator.” Gao Ying stepped into the elevator first, followed by the girl, just like a servant girl.

“Ok, let’s continue.” only when the elevator started did Gao Ying looked at Weiwei and then said.

“I just want to thank you, Sister Ying. If it was not for you, I would have been severely scolded today.” while saying that, Weiwei stuck her tongue out, giving off a youthful and pretty appearance.

“You are welcome. We are all colleagues.” Gao Ying paid no attention to her gratitude.

“I have to. I heard you didn’t bring food with you, right? Shall I treat you to lunch?” Weiwei looked at Gao Ying carefully and then promised, “It is definitely very clean.”

Weiwei had heard about a restaurant serving delicious Egg Fried Rice near the company. Lots of people would queue up for it. Furthermore, the boss had a unique personality too. She had been looking forward to tasting the dish. Since Gao Ying happened to help her out today, she wanted to take this opportunity to invite Gao Ying along to try the Egg Fried Rice as well.

Gao Ying had intended to go to Yuan Zhou’s restaurant for lunch today. Nonetheless, when she saw Weiwei’s earnest manner, she felt it would be impolite to refuse her, therefore she agreed.

Once they left the company, Weiwei began to lead the way in the front. On the way, she poured all kinds of praise about the restaurant they were heading to as if she was about to present a treasure.

“Sister Ying, I heard the dishes there are awfully tasty. When I came to work on the first day, I searched for restaurants with high ratings around here using my Wechat. When I checked, I saw many customers leave favorable comments for this restaurant.”

“Sister Ying, I know about your slight mysophobia, but don’t worry, this restaurant is incredibly clean.”

“Humm”, Gao Ying answered absentmindedly. However, once she heard Weiwei’s recommendations about the restaurant, she felt it started to sound a lot like that unknown restaurant she had wanted to visit. Once the way seemed to become more and more familiar, she finally confirmed it was the same place.

How fortunate was it to be invited to a restaurant that she had just intended to visit, especially since Gao Ying had slight mysophobia.

Gao Ying couldn’t help revealing a faint smile on her face.

While walking and talking, the two ladies soon arrived at the street where Yuan Zhou’s restaurant was located. From a distance, they could already see the entrance to the restaurant was bustling with activity.

“Look, Sister Ying. As expected, there are so many people queuing up. Let’s hurry.” Weiwei leaped forward.

“Ok.”

The two ladies arrived at the entrance soon. However, they found that things were not as they expected. It sounded like the customers at the entrance were all cursing the boss.

“Boss Yuan is too deceitful. Why didn’t he inform us in advance that he would shut the restaurant? Now, I have to eat other food to fill my stomach today.” a man said.

“True. How could Boss Yuan act like that? I will definitely not come tomorrow.” a tall and slim man said in anger.

“Hey, man. You’re the one who said you would never come again last time. See, you are still here now.” the tall and slim man was exposed immediately.

Without any embarrassment or abashment, the tall and slim man said frankly, “If other restaurants can serve such delicious Egg Fried Rice, I will definitely not come here anymore. Humph.”

While speaking, he even dared let out a ‘humph’ to show his protest.

“Who wouldn’t?” Those who were waiting at the door let out a collective sigh.

Having heard them talking for a while, Weiwei couldn’t help asking, “What’s wrong? It isn’t open?”

“Young girl, go and take a look yourself. The notice is on the door.” the tall and slim man said while pointing to the A4 paper on the door.

“Ok.”

She went up curiously to check the message on the paper.

Notice, “Since today is May, 28th, the National Love-One’s-Hair Day. I hereby declare a rest today.

The signature below was from the boss of the restaurant.

When she saw this unbelievable reason, Weiwei’s first reaction was “astonished”; the second was “terrible”.

“Sister Ying, I’m sorry.” Weiwei looked at Gao Ying pitifully with a blush on her face.

She had dragged Gao Ying along with the intentions of treating her to a meal and had furthermore praised how delicious the dishes were, yet the restaurant was closed. This situation was even worse than finding out that it was not as delicious as expected.

But what the hell was National Love-One’s-Hair Day was? She had never heard of that.

Was this even an official holiday? Weiwei suddenly felt she and the boss of the restaurant were not of the same species.

Gao Ying just raised her eyebrows at the notice and then comforted the girl, “Never mind. I have been here before. The boss indeed has a unique personality.”

“Huh? Have you been here before? Wow! Tell me how it is.”

After being comforted, Weiwei naturally forgot her embarrassment. Thus she followed Gao Ying who had turned and left, questioning her non-stop.