Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
On the early morning of the following day, Yuan Zhou was stopped when he was jogging as usual.
"Boss Yuan, can you do me a favor?" Huang Ling stopped Yuan Zhou straightforwardly with her shadow in the first ray of the morning sun.
"What’s the matter?" While jogging in the same place, Yuan Zhou didn’t stop exercising.
"It’s like this..." Huang Ling then slightly explained to him.
"Reservations are not allowed. Besides, are you sure they will come to eat?" Yuan Zhou was a little curious.
"Yes, they will. Don’t worry about that." Huang Ling nodded the head affirmatively.
"Ok. It’s a total of 100 RMB only." Yuan Zhou considered for a while and then brought out the price.
"That’s not correct, is it?" Huang Ling doubted.
"It’s indeed that much," answered Yuan Zhou affirmatively.
"But I remember dishes in your restaurant are very expensive." Huang Ling didn’t really know the exact prices, but she was pretty sure they were very expensive. After all, she frequently swept the floor along this street.
"I’m the boss. The first three can enjoy discounts today," said Yuan Zhou solemnly.
"Boss Yuan, I don’t wish for you to do so." Huang Ling lowered her head and got a little unhappy.
"Humm. Every time I have a good mood, I will offer discounts. The dish of Honey Tremella is sold at only 1 RMB." Yuan Zhou used an example to illustrate.
After thinking back carefully, Huang Ling realized it was true. Yuan Zhou’s restaurant was the star restaurant of the street right now and was even listed on the gourmet map, therefore this 1 RMB event was known to Huang Ling.
"Ok. Thank you, Boss Yuan. But please don’t mention me." After an earnest nod, Huang Ling took out a brand-new note of 100 RMB.
"Sure. That’s it." Yuan Zhou received the money and put it in his pocket and then continued the morning jog.
"Bye, Boss Yuan." Huang Ling then walked further with the broom and the hand cart filled with trash.
Having jogged for two circles around the side street, Yuan Zhou returned to his restaurant. He first went to the second floor to wash up and change the informal clothes and then came back to the restaurant. After that, he began to knead the dough and prepared to cook the soup dumplings.
Yuan Zhou cooked while leaving the front door open this time in order to catch sight of Zhou Jia at the first moment she arrived.
Zhou Jia was quite a hard-working girl, who always arrived at the restaurant half an hour earlier every morning and helped to maintain the line.
"Zhou Jia, come here." Yuan Zhou’s sound passed to her through the face mask.
"Morning, boss." With a big smile on her face, Zhou Jia appeared quite delighted.
"You are very happy today." Yuan Zhou paused slightly and asked her first.
"Yeah. Thank you for your help. Thank you so much, boss." As soon as she recalled the phone call last night, Zhou Jia felt pleased.
Finally, that cocky Li Fang would no longer entangle her. Having been refused again by Zhou Jia, he agreed not to bother her anymore. Therefore, Zhou Jia became happy ever since last night.
After all, Li Fang not only was a male chauvinist, but also liked talking to her father and using her father to exert pressure on her, which was totally unacceptable to Zhou Jia.
"Humm. You are welcome." Yuan Zhou nodded the head and appeared as if that was the obvious result.
At the next second, however, he asked, "What’s it about?"
"Well..., nothing. I just want to thank you for providing me with such a good job." Zhou Jia hesitated for a while and even wanted to wipe her perspiration.
The way her boss spoke was really odd, but luckily Zhou Jia had gotten used to that. Therefore, she changed to another subject immediately.
"Not at all. Just work earnestly here," Yuan Zhou instructed her carefully.
"Don’t worry, boss." Speaking of the work, Zhou Jia was quite serious.
Having heard Zhou Jia’s "grievance", Yuan Zhou felt, as a boss, he was really not bad and even knew to care about his staff’s spiritual life. Then he began to talk about his proper business with her. Yet, he totally forgot it was he himself who first started the topic.
Of course, Zhou Jia had no idea of that. After all, Yuan Zhou was talking to her solemnly.
At the other side, three people in the black car likewise stretched themselves. Of them, a man that appeared to be a senior white-collar talked first.
"Ok, let’s go to get some breakfast. A moment later, Mouse will take charge over here." The man had a crew cut and was plain-looking. But when he talked, he was, nevertheless, rather decisive.
"That’s great. Boss Zhao, you didn't forget what you promised last night, did you?" The younger man on the passenger side leaped up. He was dressed up like a newbie of the workplace.
"Lin Cong, you brat, you rip me off every time." The person who was called Boss Zhao was the one speaking. He said smilingly upon hearing that.
"It's not true. Zheng Xing, you testify for me. Didn't Boss Zhao say that by himself?" Lin Cong turned the head immediately and said to the one seated in the backseat.
The smiling expression of the person made him look like a goody-goody in the workplace who wouldn’t give offense to anybody around. But once he talked, it wasn't like that anymore.
"I can testify that. Boss Zhao, I have inquired about that restaurant. Customers need to wait in line for the dishes. Shall we go now?" said Zheng Xing after he opened the car door with a smile.
"That's corruption. As far as I know, the dishes there are awfully expensive." With a frown, Boss Zhao revealed a look of reluctance to spend the money. Nevertheless, he didn't have any hesitation, but instead opened the door and got off the car following them.
"Come on. We must hurry up, otherwise, we won't get the seats in time." Lin Cong walked faster than the other two. While speaking, he had gone half way.
The three people had three characters that were totally different from each other. But the only thing in common was probably being plain-looking. Basically, none of them could be found if they were thrown into the crowd. Contrarily, Yuan Zhou had a currently popular uncle-style look, especially when he was solemn, although he wasn't really handsome.
Yuan Zhou could more or less catch the eye of the crowd while these three persons were nevertheless like the passers-by on the streets.
The side street wasn’t long at all. In just a few minutes, the three people arrived at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant in the middle.
Coincidentally, there wasn’t anybody inside.
"Please come on in," as soon as Zhou Jia saw the three people, she became delighted and then went up and greeted them.
"Huh. What a coincidence! I'm the first customer." Lin Cong walked into the restaurant excitedly in big strides.
"It's indeed a coincidence," Zhou Jia answered with a smile.
"We have long heard that your restaurant serves extraordinarily delicious dishes, so we are here today with the purpose to have a taste. He is paying," Zheng Xing first complimented Boss Yuan smilingly and then said while pointing at Boss Zhao.
"I'm sorry, but we provide only soup dumplings for breakfast this morning." Zhou Jia reminded.
"How many soup dumplings in each steamer"? Lin Cong looked at the food steamers stacked up over there suspiciously.
"Only one." Zhou Jia kept answering mildly.
"No problem. Get one for me. I'm hungry." With his sharp nose, Zheng Xing smelled a glimmer of the remaining fragrance, thus he directly ordered.
"Alright. One moment, please." Zhou Jia went up and carried the soup dumplings to them.
"Vinegar?" Zhou Jia set down the soup dumplings and then asked.
"Of course. Bring some for me, please," Boss Zhao answered.
Even if he didn't really like vinegar, he still ordered it. He had just seen the surprising price of 66 RMB for each soup dumpling. It would be a loss if he didn't eat it with the vinegar.
"Some vinegar for me, too." Zheng Xing came prepared this time. He had once logged on to the gourmet forum and of course, he would savor the perfect combinations of soup dumpling and the vinegar.
"Tsk-tsk. An adult man surprisingly eats vinegar with soup dumpling?" Only Lin Cong grunted. He couldn't wait to take the chopsticks and prepare to eat.
"It looks so good," Zheng Xing first smelled the fragrance of the vinegar and then looked at the soup dumpling before he said contentedly.