Chapter 608 - Yuan Zhou's Lanterns

At around 10:00, a man dressed in a blue cotton-padded jacket parked his electric bike at the door of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.

“Boss Yuan. Is Boss Yuan there?” The man shouted toward the inside of the restaurant.

“I’m here. What’s the matter?” Yuan Zhou walked out quickly.

“Boss Yuan, your parcel.” The man grinned and took out a parcel.

“Thank you.” Yuan Zhou received it and conveniently sighed his name.

“You are welcome. Please remember to give me a five-star rating,” the man said smilingly.

“Alright.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head.

“Thank you.” After saying that, the man put away the receipt and then left quickly by bike.

Yuan Zhou held the box, in which the lanterns he bought was naturally packaged.

“Xi Xi Suo Suo”. With Yuan Zhou’s flexible fingers, he didn’t need a scissor at all to open the parcel.

“Um. A prince charming also opens a parcel quickly.” Yuan Zhou looked at the parcel dismantled neatly contentedly.

It suddenly occurred to Yuan Zhou that girls liked buying, buying, and buying so they naturally needed to dismantle parcels after they bought them. Since he could dismantle the parcels so quickly, he could naturally be a boyfriend at a prince charming level.

The adhesive plasters were peeled off one piece by another and were put at the side, however, the carton was still intact. The lanterns were disassembled, so he needed to assemble them by himself.

Being in the terminal stage of the obsessive-compulsive disorder, Yuan Zhou could even display an aesthetic feeling just from dismantling the parcel.

With high dexterity, Yuan Zhou assembled the lanterns quickly and held them up, preparing to hang them.

The lanterns bought by Yuan Zhou were very simple. They were a circle of brown wooden strips sparsely distributed outside; the paper inside was white while the light of the bulb was yellow; the wall of the lanterns was painted with the simple patterns of lotus flowers.

He moved the chair, got it plugged in and then turned on the lanterns. After he finished those actions, he had naturally attracted many onlookers to watch.

The happenings of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant caught a lot of attention from the people around it. Of course, they only watched the scene in their own stores, unlike the female of the nearby noodle restaurant. She walked to the store that Boss Tong had once owned previously without turning a hair.

Because she didn’t get along well with Yuan Zhou, she didn’t say anything.

“The electric wires must be placed inside. It will cause very serious problems if you get them wet.” The lame Fatty Wang, namely the boss of the hardware store in front, couldn’t help reminding him.

“Alright. Thank you, Boss Wang.” Yuan Zhou climbed up again and moved the electric wires inwards.

“Yeah, it’s good now. Then you can close the door easily too,” Fatty Wang nodded his head and said contentedly.

“You are right. Boss Wang, you really are capable.” Yuan Zhou climbed down the chair and said thankfully.

“Of course. I certainly know about this better than others. But it’s enough for you to have culinary skills.” Fatty Wang nodded his head complacently and then spoke about Yuan Zhou again.

“Um.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head.

“But why did you hang the lanterns here for? You haven’t even hung up a shop sign.” Fatty Wang pointed at the conspicuous lanterns at the door and asked with puzzlement.

Yuan Zhou was originally accustomed to keeping his face taut. In front of these old neighbors, however, he appeared quite relaxed. Nevertheless, his face once again became taut.

Thinking quickly, Yuan Zhou suddenly thought of a faultless excuse. Of course, he attributed that to the missions the system had given him.

“Oh. A great master that tells fortunes told me that business can get better if I hang the lanterns here.” Yuan Zhou said calmly.

“A master that tells fortunes?” Fatty Wang revealed a puzzled look.

“Yes. He’s a famous fortune teller and told me that several months ago,” Yuan Zhou nodded his head and said affirmatively.

“Those few days? So you went to look for the fortune teller?” Fatty Wang thought about a period of time where Yuan Zhou went to quite a few temples continuously and always came back with the scent of incense on his body.

“Yeah. I ordered the lanterns at that time and they only arrived now.” Yuan Zhou covered the loophole in his own words without a trace.

“That’s really slow.” Fatty Wang said randomly.

“Well, it’s probably because I have many requirements.” Yuan Zhou didn’t shift the responsibility on to others.

“But you must make sure the money-drawing lanterns are always on. Then pay more attention and don’t buy those high-powered lanterns as they will use more electricity.” Fatty Wang thought for a while and then reminded him.

“Yeah, I know. The brightness is just fine. And it won’t go off.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head.

After that, Fatty Wang asked a few more things about Boss Tong. After all, they were old neighbors and it was fairly common to care about each other even if they didn’t get along well.

The conversations between Yuan Zhou and Fatty Wang were all heard by the female boss of the nearby noodle restaurant.

“So it’s the fortune teller who told you to hang the lanterns so that you can make a fortune. It turns out that is the reason you have such a good business,” the female boss muttered while walking back.

At this moment, the female boss believed that she had found out the reason for Yuan Zhou’s good business.

“Just as I suspected, what capability can a young man have? So this is the reason. Look, let me make this matter known to all throughout the street. Then, everyone will hang the lanterns at the door. Let’s wait and see if the Gold of Wealth still drops by your restaurant,” the female boss said with a complacent expression.

“Today I will come and destroy your luck in making money,” the female boss said that indignantly. Then, she turned around and went to other restaurants, preparing to publicize this matter to everybody.

After Yuan Zhou’s restaurant led the trend and brought about the prosperity to the street, many restaurants sprouted like the bamboo shoots after a spring rain. Some of them imitated the arrangement of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant while some others didn’t hang shop signs, either.

Meanwhile, some imitated the style of his dishes. They imitated everything but the price. After all, Yuan Zhou’s dishes were worth that price and thus, they dared not imitate it.

However, they didn’t even let go of the menu.

Now that Yuan Zhou hung the lanterns at the door, these restaurants were also very curious. And the female boss’s information was just like water passed on to thirsty people. It was really timely.

The matter that Yuan Zhou hung the lanterns for beckoning wealth was spread everywhere throughout the whole street all at once. And some people moved more quickly than others.

It wasn’t even dinner time when all restaurants along Taoxi Road had hung the lanterns by their doors. The sizes and shapes were all different from each other. When they were lit, there really was a feeling that it was as bright as day.

After the enormous publicity of the female boss, even the customers that came to eat dinner knew the purpose of Yuan Zhou hanging the lanterns and thus started to make suggestions one after another.

Nevertheless, the suggestions were intended for nothing but their own stomach.

“Boss Yuan, you don’t need to hang the lanterns at all. There will be sufficient luck in growing your wealth as long as you lengthen the business time by one hour,” Wu Hai said primly.

“That’s right. Hanging the lanterns isn’t as effective as increasing the frequency of the BBQ. Tsk tsk. What a nice taste!” said a customer that thought constantly of the BBQ.

“It’s proper business to lengthen the business time,” Ling Hong also said concisely.

“Eat now.” Yuan Zhou only answered with two characters.

However, the two characters were indeed the most important ones. On hearing that, the customers all started to eat their meal.

At 1:00 a.m., the short-hair girl working in the convenience store got off work

“Sigh. Boss Yuan definitely won’t serve BBQ on such a sunny day today.” She sighed and walked towards the side street.

“Ta Ta Ta”. Her footsteps sounded steady and uniformed.

“Ahh.” Suddenly, the short-hair girl revealed a scared look. She covered her heart with her hand and looked at the side street in surprise.

At that time, the side street emitted the dim light under the streetlamps.

“Why are there suddenly so many lanterns?” The short-hair girl didn’t even dare to step out.

When she came to work in the morning, there weren’t any lanterns on the side street, but now, there were so many of them along the street. She was so scared that she fell into a daze for a moment.

Just imagine the scene. In a deserted street at midnight, there was nobody but full of lanterns that emitted a dreadfully pale light along the whole street. And a young girl was walking alone in the street.

How scared do you think she might be?