Chapter 107

Chapter 107: Start

Tomorrow was the day of the agreed time to exchange pointers. However, Yuan Zhou didn’t change his opening hours. It was really strange.

Furthermore, Yuan Zhou even set the clock at 6:30 in the morning and decided to prepare the Soup Dumplings that he hadn’t done for a while.

“Ling Ling Ling”, it was still the old-fashioned phone beep. Yuan Zhou then got up and began to clean himself.

Once he arrived downstairs, Yuan Zhou began to knead the dough. He was immersed in a cheerful state of cooking delicacies until 8:00 AM. Then, he turned on the tap and out came a “Hua Hua” sound as he washed his hands beneath the flowing water

Mu Xiaoyun was waiting uneasily at the entrance with the tips of her toe gently scuffling on the ground when he opened the door.

“Come on in.” After saying that, Yuan Zhou turned around and walked away, doing exactly the same thing he did every morning.

“I had thought Boss Yuan wouldn’t open the restaurant in the morning.” Following Yuan Zhou, she grumbled in a low voice.

“The duster is over here.” Yuan Zhou pointed at the washed duster on the countertop and ignored Mu Xiaoyun’s muttering.

“Oh.” Peeking at Yuan Zhou, she found that he was still as solemn as ever and, thus, heaved a sigh of relief before starting her own work.

A little while later, the scent of the Soup Dumplings started drifting in the air. As a result, Mu Xiaoyun had no desire to think about anything else as she focused all her attention on not salivating. After all, there were no customers here that could distract her attention then.

Just at that time, a young girl, with her hair in a bun and dressed neatly in shorts and a baggy white shirt, entered the restaurant, taking occasional hops while walking.

Yuan Zhou subconsciously frowned upon the sight of the white shirt but when he saw such a way of walking, he relaxed.

“Boss Yuan, I specifically came here to make a live broadcast.” Meng Meng approached Yuan Zhou and looked at him expectantly.

“Ok, what do you want to eat?” Yuan Zhou asked after nodding.

“No, no. I’m talking about the contest in the afternoon. My audiences and I are all here to cheer for you,” while saying that, Meng Meng ended her sentence with an adorable curl at the end of her sentence.

“No problem.” Yuan Zhou agreed with a nod. After all, it did him no harm.

“Thanks, Boss Yuan.” Meng Meng joyfully sat down and her eyes lighted up immediately as she sniffed.

“Boss Yuan, what’s this fragrant flavor? I want to eat this fragrant thing.” Meng Meng, namely Wang Meng, was also very cute even when she was not in live broadcast. It was for this reason that her audiences liked the genuinely lovable girl so much.

Nobody was stupid. If Meng Meng merely pretended to be so cute, she’d already have been discovered and abandoned by the audiences.

“Ok, do you want vinegar?” Yuan Zhou nodded and asked.

“Yes. But even when Boss Yuan is asking a question, it sounds so sure,” Meng Meng said curiously.

“Humm, wait a moment.” As usual, Yuan Zhou still couldn’t get used to handling excessively enthusiastic people, especially if they were females.

After a while, Meng Meng began to eat the Soup Dumplings with a blissful expression.

The arrival of Meng Meng was like a signal. More customers began to come one after another. Soon an hour passed, indicating that the opening hours of the morning were finished. However, Meng Meng didn’t have any intention of leaving.

“You are still here?” Yuan Zhou tilted his head and looked at Meng Meng.

“Yes. I prepare to go to the contest with you, Boss Yuan,” Meng Meng said peacefully while sitting there.

“I’m not going now.” Yuan Zhou’s words contained a rather obvious meaning. “I’m not going right now, so you can leave.”

“Never mind. I can wait for you. I heard you practice sculpting skills every day now. I wanna have a look.” Meng Meng revealed a look of curiosity.

“Opening hours has already ended,” Yuan Zhou still refused mercilessly.

Then, Meng Meng began to wait outside in front of the entrance. While Yuan Zhou practiced sculpting the radishes, she moved around to the side and conveniently watched the process.

Mornings was short. Before Meng Meng saw enough of those marvelous sculpting skills that changed the simple radishes into miraculous work of art, Yuan Zhou had already headed back to the kitchen to prepare some of the ingredients required for the lunch.

“The serious Boss Yuan looks so handsome.”

Today was a little strange. No one came for lunch until 12:30. However, Yuan Zhou didn’t seem to be worried and merely sat in his special seat leisurely.

The two girls, nevertheless, appeared a little more anxious, hence looked outside from time to time.

“Ba da Ba da”, it was Wu Hai who was coming over from the opposite with slippers.

“Boss Yuan, why are you still opening the restaurant at noon?” after sitting down with a swagger, Wu Hai asked.

“Yes. It has been opened ever since this morning,” Yuan Zhou stood up and replied.

“You have a contest today. Why is it still open? Be careful not to be late.” Although he said that, Wu Hai nevertheless began to order his dishes unreservedly, “One serving of Egg Fried Rice Set and Phoenix-Tail Prawns.”

Having finished ordering the dishes, he said to Yuan Zhou in a supposedly helpful tone, “One serving of Phoenix-Tail Prawns so you can practice before the contest.”

“Wait a moment.” As usual, Yuan Zhou automatically turned a deaf ear to the meaningless words of Wu Hai.

Nonetheless, due to Wu Hai, Yuan Zhou finally knew why there was no business this afternoon. Most customers should have thought he wouldn’t open the restaurant at noon in order to prepare for the contest.

“Hey, little girl. Why are you here?” When he found Yuan Zhou wasn’t interesting at all, Wu Hai turned to ask Meng Meng.

“I’m here to broadcast the triumphant victory of Boss Yuan.” Meng Meng said earnestly while clenching her small fists.

“Humm. Boss Yuan will definitely win. That chef who challenged him is just average.” Wu Hai gave the impression as if he had known everything.

“Gee? How do you know, small mustache? Hurry up and tell me.” Meng Meng was so excited that she yelled out Wu Hai’s private nickname.

“You called me small mustache? No, you should call me uncle.” Wu Hai pretended to be angry.

It was not until the two people started quarreling did several other customers enter the restaurant from outside.

“I originally thought Boss Yuan wouldn’t open the restaurant at noon but still wanted to come to confirm it. To my surprise, it’s open for business. I’m so happy,” the man walking ahead said that.

“But would it affect the chances of Boss Yuan winning the contest this afternoon?” another one behind him asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry. With Boss Yuan’s superb culinary skills, that guy can’t even be compared with him. Let’s eat quickly. I’m starving to death.” Naturally, there were more people who didn’t worry about the contest. They just waited there to have lunch.

Only then did business start to get better…

When it was almost 2:00 PM, Yuan Zhou still did not seem to be leaving. It was by then that the customers started to worry and began to persuade Yuan Zhou one after another to go quickly in order not to be late.

Nonetheless, Yuan Zhou waited until business hours for the afternoon were over before shutting the door and going upstairs to clean himself and change his clothes. Of course, this time he cleaned up quickly and managed to get everything done in ten minutes.

“Hurry up, Boss Yuan, otherwise we’ll be late. It takes half an hour to get there by taxi.” Meng Meng urged him at the side, hopping and skipping.

“There’s still time.” By the time Yuan Zhou walked downstairs, there were only 50 minutes left, barely enough to get there by taxi.

“Boss Yuan, I finally understand a proverb now,” while Meng Meng was anxiously waiting for a taxi at the junction, she said suddenly.

“What is it?” rarely, Yuan Zhou got curious.

“It’s ‘The emperor is calm, while the eunuchs are anxious’. Right now, I’m like a eunuch.” Meng Meng naughtily stuck out her tongue.

“We can make it on time.” Yuan Zhou went up and hailed a cab.

With a “Zi” sound, a cab stopped in front of the two persons.

While Yuan Zhou had just gotten on the cab, Chef Yu was still waiting patiently. However, the general manager started to get slightly worried…