Chapter 277: The Lure of Free Stuff
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
"Hey, Boss Yuan. Can we talk now?" the man wearing a cap continued saying.
"I’m sorry. Please wait until the business time is over and then discuss about it. My boss won’t do anything else right now," Zhou Jia said seriously.
"Ok, fine. He really has so many rules." The man said discontentedly.
"Sorry, please pardon me." Zhou Jia made a gesture of "Please leave".
"I can wait for one hour only, as I still have something else to do." The man looked quite dissatisfied but still agreed at last. After grumbling several words, he stepped aside.
"Thanks for your understanding." After a faint smile, Zhou Jia continued to greet other customers.
"Whoops. Finally, I get my turn. I almost starv to death." It was a man who was dressed in a gray shirt and appeared rather stout. He complained while walking into the restaurant.
"Sir, this way, please. What do you want to eat today?" As soon as she heard him, Zhou Jia went up and asked.
"All the meat dishes are my favorite," the man in gray shirt said immediately with his eyes glowing.
"The menu of this tiny restaurant is right behind you. Please check what you want to eat." Zhou Jia signaled the man to look at the menu behind of him.
"Ok." The man then turned the head and looked back.
"Can these dishes be cooked with a bigger portion?" After checking all the dishes, the man looked toward Zhou Jia.
"Sir, the dishes are all standard portion. You can easily eat your fill with one serving." Zhou Jia uttered earnestly. However, she wasn’t really confident with that. After all, too many customers requested to increase the portion.
"Are you sure you can’t?" The man frowned.
"You can order one serving of every single dish here in our restaurant." Zhou Jia put it another way and indicated that he could eat his fill in the restaurant.
"All right. Translucent Beef Slices, Silk Twined Rabbit and Melt-In-The-Mouth Chicken Feet," The man in gray shirt considered for a while and ordered.
"Is that all, sir?" Zhou Jia asked courteously.
"Don’t you have any main course like streaky pork or braised pork with soy sauce?" The man asked again.
"Sir, all our dishes have been written on the menu." Zhou Jia said politely again.
"Forget it. The Phoenix Tail Prawns can also be considered to be a meat dish. Get one serving of that for me." The man ordered another dish despite his tone of disfavor.
"Alright, sir. Your dishes will be served in no time." Zhou Jia said with courtesy while smiling.
"Ok, go now." The man waved his hands and signaled Zhou Jia to go and get the dishes for him.
"One moment, please." Zhou Jia nodded the head.
The first thing that Yuan Zhou did after he received the order was to ask Zhou Jia, "Have you reminded him of the rules of our restaurant?"
The serious and earnest manner of Yuan Zhou enabled Zhou Jia to become earnest, too.
"Yes, I told him the moment he ordered the dishes." The comely face of Zhou Jia tightened firmly.
"Humm, that’s good." Then Yuan Zhou nodded the head and turned to cook the dishes.
The smoke-cured Silk Twined Rabbit and the Translucent Beef Slices were served first. With his forehead tightly creased in a frown, however, the man in gray shirt said after a long while, "They are surprisingly so little."
Just when Zhou Jia was about to answer him, the man nevertheless turned the head and started to eat. Therefore she had to give up.
"Humm. Well, it’s so delicious and way too good." The man couldn’t help sighing with emotion while gobbling up the dishes.
Then, Zhou Jia became relieved when she saw the man eat so happily with satisfaction.
After all, this person seemed to be a little dissatisfied. And Zhou Jia hoped very much that the customers would increase.
Only when the boss had good business could they work there longer and hence have a stable high salary.
"These are the remaining dishes that you ordered just now. Now they are all here." Zhou Jia carried the dishes onto his table neatly.
"Okay. You can go now," The man in gray shirt said vaguely.
Then, he continued eating. The way he gobbled the dishes up gave people a free and uninhibited feeling.
It seemed that he liked Yuan Zhou’s craftsmanship very much.
The eating speed of the man made others greatly impressed.
"The way this guy eats the dishes is so exaggerated. He seems to like Boss Yuan’s craftsmanship a lot," having just entered the restaurant, Man Man said to Zhou Jia smilingly.
"Of course. The craftsmanship of my boss is the best," said Zhou Jia proudly.
"Young girl, how do you know that since you haven’t eaten any of the dishes before?" Man Man joked with her.
"I surely know. Sister Man Man, you also like his dishes, don’t you?" Zhou Jia asked back cleverly.
"This little girl also knows to strike back now," Man Man said with a smile.
"Sister Man Man, what do you want to eat today?" With also a smile on her face, Zhou Jia changed the subject.
"Me? One serving of the dish as usual, please," Man Man said leisurely. After all, she was the last customer for lunch.
There were only 5 minutes left before lunch time ended.
"Alright. One moment, please." Zhou Jia turned around and left then.
Having cooked Man Man’s dishes, Yuan Zhou finished his work. After he brought out the closing remarks as usual, he went straightway to the man wearing a cap.
Yuan Zhou indicated that he was fairly interested in things free of charge.
"Sorry for making you wait so long. What can I do for you?" Said Yuan Zhou first.
"Boss Yuan, you have got a really good business." Looking at the customers who were unwilling to leave, the man wearing a cap heaved a sigh with emotion.
"Thank you." Yuan Zhou nodded the head.
"May I be so bold as to ask how much is the daily turnover of your restaurant?" Under the brim of the cap, a pair of shrewd eyes rolled about quickly.
"What do you ask that for?" Yuan Zhou suddenly became alert.
Did these cunning guys want to play the trick of sending thing for free and then cheating his money again?"
"There are always some people who want to cheat my money." This stingy Compass thought that way.
"I don’t mean anything, but just want to know the footfall of your customers. Please don’t misunderstand me." Seeing Yuan Zhou misunderstand him, the man wearing a cap explained immediately.
"It’s just like today as you see." Yuan Zhou signaled to him the crowd that hadn’t totally dispersed.
"That’s great. Boss Yuan, I see you still haven’t had your shop sigh installed. I can provide you with one for free." The man wearing a cap said generously.
"For free? Why?" Yuan Zhou felt even if his fortune was far too good, he had gotten the best and most advantageous system.
Therefore, he wouldn’t believe there was such a good thing for him. He definitely had to make it clear.
"Reason? There’s no particular reason for that. I just feel that it does not conform to your style not to have a shop sigh in such a nice restaurant as yours. So I want to provide you with one." The man complimented Yuan Zhou without any obvious trace.
What the man said made Yuan Zhou feel very comfortable, but still, he didn’t give him the reason.
"Please get to the main point." Yuan Zhou revealed a quite solemn expression, indicating that he was fairly concerned about that.
Yuan Zhou wasn’t good at dealing with the slippery people. It wasn’t his strong point to guess others’ inwards.
Like he said before, he was merely a chef, a chef with the target of being a Master Chef.
"We just want to add some advertisement for my business on the shop sigh. Don’t worry. It’s not food and won’t affect your business." While speaking, the man carefully observed Yuan Zhou’s expression.
When he saw something was wrong, he said immediately, "It’s made of large glass screen with LED lighting lamps. We offer lifetime maintenance. For any emergency, a simple call would bring us here."
Yuan Zhou was deeply struck by the proposal. But when he was prepared to talk about some details, the long-lost system suddenly appeared.
The system displayed, "Host’s level is too low to possess a shop sigh."
"You think I still don’t deserve the title of Master Chef?" Not knowing why, Yuan Zhou suddenly quickly grasped the system’s meaning, thus he ridiculed straightforwardly in the heart.
However, the system disappeared again. Looking at the man who was waiting for his answer, Yuan Zhou uttered with a serious look of righteousness.
"Sorry, I don’t accept any advertisements."
On speaking that, the several words sounded extraordinarily domineering and just. Deep in the heart, however, Yuan Zhou thought differently.
What the hell! The advertising shop sigh that was offered for free and lifetime maintenance was gone.
...