CH 35

Bai Xianzhi turned his head and noticed a person not far away looking at him. It was Sun Lanyou. He turned around and shouted, “Sun Lanyou.”

A woman dressed in a camel-colored coat walked towards him, her eyes seemingly shining. She said, “… Can we find a place to talk?”

Bai Xianzhi asked, “Is there something you need?”

Sun Lanyou bit her lip and said, “There’s something I want to ask you about.”

Looking at his flip-flops and baggy pants, Bai Xianzhi felt that it wasn’t convenient to go anywhere at this moment, so he said, “Can’t we talk here? There aren’t many people around.”

The woman across from him frowned slightly, seeming hesitant. After a silence of more than ten seconds, and seeing no response from Bai Xianzhi, her face revealed an ambiguous expression, as if she wanted to cry but held back, “I understand. Sorry to bother you.”

After saying that, she turned and left, leaving Bai Xianzhi confused.

Understanding without even asking?

What did she understand?

Why didn’t he understand?

The day before reopening, Tu Linlin found the place he wanted to stay. Bai Xianzhi couldn’t accompany him, so he prepared some meals for him to have with his grandmother in the evening.

Watching the grandmother and grandson disappear at the door, he turned around and returned to the kitchen to prepare ingredients for tomorrow. Judging from the responses received today, he felt that tomorrow would likely be a day with a full house of customers. To ensure the speed of serving dishes, early preparation of ingredients was necessary.

On the seventh day of the first lunar month, it is auspicious for: business opening.

At exactly eleven o’clock in the morning, Three Thousand Food House opened its doors punctually. At one minute past eleven, the first customer stepped into the shop.

“Boss, you finally opened! Do you know how much weight I’ve lost in these ten days? A whole ten kilograms!”

The first one to enter was a familiar customer, with black and yellow ears that stood straight, as if complaining about something to the owner in the kitchen.

Bai Xianzhi smiled and said, “How could that be?”

Receiving a response, the tiger-clan customer vented his grievances, “How could it not be! Ever since I ate at Three Thousand Food House, I can’t eat anywhere else. When you closed the shop, I had to go to Time Moon Hotel, but the taste simply can’t compare! I don’t understand why some people suspected you of imitating Time Moon Hotel. Anyone who has tried your food wouldn’t even have such a thought; the difference is too vast!”

“The food at Time Moon Hotel doesn’t even come close to one-tenth of what you serve! After eating there once, I never went back, and I ended up starving for nine days. It was only when I stepped on the scale that I realized I lost ten kilograms!”

“No more waiting, no more waiting,” the tiger-clan customer waved his hand, “Quickly bring me a hotpot with meat for the sides—pork and beef, twenty portions of each. I’m starving!”

As expected, someone ordered a hotpot today, and Bai Xianzhi was well-prepared. In less than five minutes, he placed the pot and side dishes in front of the tiger-clan customer, with egg dumplings floating in the rolling red broth.

“Please enjoy. The dumplings in the pot are fully cooked and ready to eat.”

Before Bai Xianzhi could walk away, the tiger-clan customer quickly scooped up a dumpling and put it in his mouth. Despite being scalded, he managed to say, “Finally, I can taste this flavor again! Thank you, boss, you’re so thoughtful!”

Just as he returned to the kitchen, the second customer came in, also a regular. He wanted to order spicy diced chicken, but upon seeing the tiger-clan customer devouring the dumplings, he immediately changed his mind, “I’ll have a hotpot too, and give me the same side dishes he’s having!”

“…I want pork, fish balls, tripe… Hurry, hurry, hurry! Boss, I’m starving. I haven’t eaten anything all day, waiting for this meal!”

Bai Xianzhi: “…”

Before the second customer’s hotpot was ready, the third one arrived and, upon smelling the aroma of hotpot in the restaurant, also changed his original order and directly asked for a hotpot.

As more and more customers arrived, Bai Xianzhi was swamped with work. Luckily, most people were ordering hotpots, so he could barely keep up with the demand.

By the afternoon, Three Thousand Food House was packed, with a line extending outside. Bai Xianzhi announced that they could only offer takeout for the hotpot, as the restaurant couldn’t accommodate so many people.

He was handling the orders alone, cooking and serving dishes, and wished he had two more hands. Fortunately, Tu Linlin, whom he had granted an extra day off, came to help. With Tu Linlin assisting in cooking, the queue moved much faster. As customers left with their takeout, the restaurant became somewhat less crowded, though the line was still stretching outside.

Outside Wutong Lane, a large red tricycle was parked by the roadside. Two men, one plump and the other skinny, got off the tricycle. The plump man checked the street signs and his phone, “Alright, this is the place!”

Then the two of them walked toward Wutong Lane.

“Bro, doesn’t this feel surreal? Just eat a bit, complain, and we can really get four thousand bucks?”

Patting his belly, the plump man glared at the skinny one, “Nonsense! Haven’t you seen who hired us? It’s the young master from the Yang family, a person with assets worth millions. What’s four thousand to him? As long as we can satisfy him, even forty thousand wouldn’t be a problem!”

The skinny man’s face brightened, and he said eagerly, “Really? That’s great! I’ll put on a convincing performance, even if the food is as good as a hotel’s, I’ll pretend it tastes like shit!”

As he spoke, his face contorted into an expression that looked like he had indeed eaten something unpleasant.

After much wandering, the two spent a full twenty minutes to find Three Thousand Food House. The plump man quickly reported the progress to their employer and, after finishing the call, the two wiped their sweat and stepped into the restaurant.

Back in their car, Yang Ming hung up the phone and said to Sun Lanyou, “Lanyou, you like dogs, right? I saw online that there’s a nearby café where dogs serve as waiters. Do you want to go check it out?”

Sun Lanyou, sitting in the passenger seat, looked melancholic but perked up a bit upon hearing about the dog waiters, “Let’s go take a look.”

“Bro, why are there so many people in the shop? We didn’t notice it from outside!”

“How would I know!” The plump man was also taken aback. The small restaurant was crowded with customers, creating a lively atmosphere. They had completely underestimated the popularity of the place.

“Bro, what should we do now? Can we succeed with so many people here?”

Indeed, these many people aren’t fools. Just the two of them praising the food won’t be of any use!

The plump man gritted his teeth, “Let’s do it! But we’ll use a different approach and not say the food is bad.”

“What should we say then?” the skinny man asked, puzzled.

The plump man grinned, “What are restaurants most afraid of?”

“The food being bad?” the skinny man guessed.

“You idiot!” The plump man smacked the skinny man and lowered his voice, “Restaurants are most afraid of being dirty. Look at this!”

The plump man took out a few things from his pocket, and the skinny man’s eyes lit up. He whispered, “Cockroaches!”

“Let’s go. We’ll go to the end of the line first!”

The two of them walked toward the end of the queue and stood there. The plump man took out his phone to report progress to their employer, while the skinny man eagerly observed the dishes that people around them were eating.

…..

The young elephant tribe member, Mao Dandan, had never imagined that he would encounter such a situation. As an elephant in the world of beastmen, his large size was among the biggest. In addition to that, even after transforming into a human, he still had two twenty-centimeter-long elephant tusks. Few people dared to provoke him when he was outside, and even those who asked for directions would purposely avoid him. So, he never thought that one day he would be… cut in line!

Cutting in line! This was such a lack of public ethics, a complete disregard for rules, and a disrespect for others’ behavior!

In the past, whenever he saw netizens complaining about someone cutting in line, he would vent his indignation and anger at those shameless and aggressive carnivorous beastmen. He wished there was a line-cutter right in front of him, so he could throw them out to vent his frustration!

However, unfortunately, even the tiger-clan members dared not cut in front of Mao Dandan, so his frustration had never been vented.

But today, someone actually cut in front of him! Looking at the two short, weak guys in front, one of them was particularly skinny. How could just these two people dare to cut in line in front of Mao Dandan? Did they really look down on him?

Anger and excitement welled up in Mao Dandan’s eyes because… he could finally vent his frustration!

Out of basic moral qualities, he didn’t immediately take action but issued a warning first, “The two little ones in front, I’ll give you thirty seconds. If you’re still here after thirty seconds, don’t blame me for being impolite.”

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, … 22,”

The skinny guy scratched his ear, “Bro, do you hear any buzzing sound, like mosquitoes flying?”

The plump guy listened…

“27, 28, 29…”

“No? Maybe—”

“30.”

“Ah – f**k—”

“Wow – damn—”

Two heavy lumps were thrown outside of Three Thousand Food House. Even the dust on the ground seemed to dislike them for taking up space.

“Ah, it hurts. Bro, who’s messing with us?”

“Pah,” the plump guy had thick subcutaneous fat, providing a perfect cushion. He spat out a mouthful of dust-filled saliva, stood up, and walked toward the restaurant while shouting, “Who did it? Come out! Watch me beat you to death!”

The people inside the restaurant looked at him strangely. The plump guy scanned around but found nothing. He cursed, “Cowardly bastards who act but dare not admit it! If you have the guts, you’ll be a lifelong coward!”

At this time, the skinny guy limped in and the plump guy coldly snorted, dragging the skinny guy to the end of the line. Then, history repeated itself…

“Ah – f**k—”

“Wow – here they come again!”

The plump guy stormed into Three Thousand Food House, shouting, “Who did it?! Who the hell did it?! Show yourself!”

The skinny guy tremblingly held the plump guy back and pointed to the empty space outside the door, “Bro, the person should be standing there.”

The plump guy looked over and became furious, but the skinny guy continued, “We were standing next to the door, and the person who grabbed us from behind—”

Can only stand outside the door! The plump guy completed the sentence in his mind, and both of them saw fear in each other’s eyes.

“No, it can’t be. It’s broad daylight, there must be someone messing with us. Stand here and watch!”

The plump guy took a deep breath and continued to stand by the door, staring firmly at the skinny guy, trying to prove his words.

A few seconds later, a robust palm suddenly appeared at the door, the muscular forearm looking like it had been sliced by a blade, suspended in the air as it grabbed the plump guy by the back of his collar and threw him out. As the plump guy soared through the air, his eyes met the skinny guy outside the door, and both of them were filled with intense terror!

“There… there’s a ghost!!!”

—–

Author’s note: Thank you for all the lovely support~

1TL: YSIAD “You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you ”