Sometimes it's hard to find enough people for a four-person table, so a two-person table is better. If you use a divided hot pot, each person gets a larger pot, making cooking more efficient and allowing guests to finish eating and vacate their seats more quickly.
Ye Xu was slightly taken aback: "If it's a two-person table, then we'll need to leave more space for the aisle, which will be a waste of space, right?"
“No, not at all,” Shuangshuang said seriously. “If we put two two-person tables together and put a partition in the middle, we can save a lot of space. All we need to do is add an aisle.”
Ye Xu was persuaded, but he didn't have the money to buy a table. Fortunately, the system store's trade-in program was still in full swing, allowing him to exchange a four-person table for two two-person tables without having to pay the difference.
After finishing all that, Ye Xu glanced at the time and remembered the breakfast business he had mentioned earlier, so he decided to open early. There was still an hour and a half until 10 o'clock, but the number of customers queuing up was not small at all, and the first floor was already a third full.
Perfect timing, so many people are ideal for promoting our new breakfast set meals.
Yesterday, Shuangshuang unlocked a whole bunch of random things on her own, including sweet and savory soy milk, steamed buns, and shumai. It doesn't matter that there's no chef in the shop; even if you can't find freshly steamed items on the purchasing board, you can buy frozen pastries and steam them.
There's no issue with the taste of frozen pastries that score 95 points, and the residents of Transi wouldn't complain that frozen is inferior to freshly made ones. Ye Xu had previously had the robot make a batch in the kitchen to give potential early risers a chance to try, so now it can be served directly.
The indigenous people had never seen steamed buns, flower rolls, or shumai before. One of them held up a small flower roll and asked why the bread was salty. He said that the bread he used to eat was filled with red bean paste and tasted very sweet.
Ye Xu stared at the flower roll, which bore a slight resemblance to a ring-shaped red bean paste bun, and fell silent. How should she answer that?
Fortunately, the customer didn't seem to care about the answer. He happily ate the small steamed buns one after another, and even ordered several more after finishing them. These little buns were barely enough to fill a tooth gap; they weren't satisfying at all.
Ye Xu was initially worried that people wouldn't be able to accept these Chinese breakfast items, so he didn't dare to order large portions and only chose the smaller ones. Since they liked them, he simply asked the kitchen to steam large steamed buns, and the smaller ones could be used as samples for the guests to try.
The aroma of the meat buns wafted out, soon attracting the neighbors. After finding out the price was reasonable, they went home and invited their whole family to come and have breakfast.
During the cold wave, monsters were difficult to hunt, and even ordinary livestock were losing weight rapidly, becoming thinner and thinner. As a result, commoners hadn't had a decent meal of meat in a long time. Back when Biyue City was a prosperous tourist destination, almost every household had spare money and had never suffered like this.
The meat skewers at the shop aren't cheap, so even those who come here usually order vegetables and staple foods. But this morning's meat buns are different—thin-skinned and generously filled, and only one copper coin each!
In an instant, the first batch of meat buns was snatched up by the neighbors, before the adventurers even had a chance to order any.
Chapter 19 Assassin
The adventurers stared in disbelief: "They..."
That was so fast! He didn't even see what breakfast items were available before they were all sold out in the blink of an eye!
Ye Xu wasn't surprised. Don't assume that adventurers are good at snatching up bargains just because they're strong. He'd seen plenty of strong young men getting stuck in crowds of middle-aged women during supermarket promotions, barely able to stand. The same thing happened on the Transi continent; housewives were still incredibly formidable.
The adventurers clearly had little experience dealing with this type of housewife and were completely unprepared. Ye Xu found it somewhat amusing but had to restrain himself and go over to reassure everyone.
"There's still a lot of food being steamed in the kitchen, so don't worry. Breakfast is a way to give back to everyone, so the price will be very cheap, and it's available every day."
A meat bun costing one copper coin was ridiculously cheap in the current climate, so Ye Xu had to find an excuse to get by.
The continent of Transi has a religious belief system, with countless gods, both large and small. Ye Xu explained that his god hoped believers would do good deeds, which is why he generally priced his goods at relatively low prices.
The skewers were alright, at least they were within the market wholesale price range, but the soup base and breakfast items were a bit too cheap. So Ye Xuning preferred to let others think he was a rich young master doing charity work, since no one would actually be able to find out his background.
Only a portion of the customers are having breakfast; most want to eat hot pot. Some even order both breakfast and hot pot, confident in their large appetites and wanting to try both.
There were no customers on the second floor at the moment, so all the robots were serving the customers on the first floor, which was very relaxing. Ye Xu simply put out several new hot pot bases for everyone to choose from. Since most of them came in pairs, they sat together at a two-person table and could order whatever bases they wanted without any disputes between strangers.
First-time customers were fine; they didn't pay much attention when they heard about the new soup base, as they were all drawn in by the tomato soup. Regular customers, however, were very excited and immediately opened the ordering system to try it out.
Three new base sauces have been added to the menu, and the four-compartment dish allows you to try them all.
Since yesterday, the latest topic of conversation in Biyue City has become this new hot pot restaurant. Everyone who has eaten there is being questioned by others. It's such a great topic of conversation! Today, the news of the new broth base can't be kept secret either. If someone asks if you've tried it and you say no, how will the conversation continue?
Ye Xu was initially worried that the waiter would misremember the customer's order of the pot, but after observing for a while, he found that the robot had an excellent memory and would not make any mistakes. Moreover, the customers either ordered only tomatoes or all the pots, so there was no difficulty in remembering them.
Shuangshuang urgently went to the kitchen and added several machines for processing the soup bases, one for each of the four types of soup bases. The waiters simply took their pots to the machines to get the soup, which was all freshly boiled. They could just take it out and heat it for a few seconds to bring it to a boil again, saving a lot of time.
Ye Xu really went to great lengths to increase the number of passengers at each seat.
Since the shop was so quiet, Ye Xu simply went to the kitchen to slack off. He had been busy half the night yesterday and hadn't quite recovered yet. Staying up all night was really taking a toll on him, so he was thinking of closing the shop at 10 pm from now on.
Shuangshuang continued to use her privileges to shop endlessly, and Ye Xu had learned to ignore her, as long as she didn't misuse the employee coupons. Just as he finished thinking this, Shuangshuang hired a cashier.
"Why did you hire it?" Ye Xu asked, puzzled.
Shuangshuang blinked, then said matter-of-factly, "It's to reach the minimum order amount! We're only one R card away from completing the quest. After leveling up, we can get two more coupons. By adding and subtracting, we don't lose any coupons, but we get an extra robot. Isn't that a great deal?"
"Uh..." But the problem is that the R-level robot's working ability is too weak, and the employee coupons are so precious, it would be a waste to use them on it! The free coupons rewarded by the system are becoming increasingly rare, and Ye Xu doesn't really want to waste them recklessly.
"We can't waste the remaining coupons," Ye Xu warned. "I need to save them for farming UR."
Shuangshuang nodded vigorously, but she had no intention of listening at all.
UR cards are really hard to get. She secretly asked some experienced players, and apparently most UR cards require other methods to increase the drop rate in the gacha pool before they can be obtained. The shopkeeper only managed to get a UR card last time because of sheer luck; maybe he's already used up all his luck lately.
Shuangshuang dared not say these words and could only remain silent. The staff still needed to be replaced; otherwise, how could the business expand? Her decision to hire a cashier wasn't arbitrary; it was because she saw the store manager wanted to slack off and wanted the cashier to help with selling the base ingredients.
Ye Xu didn't think too much about it. He opened multiple split screens, watching variety shows while refreshing the card pool, hoping to get lucky and get a UR card.
Just as the manager was slacking off, a man dressed in a black combat uniform slowly walked into the hot pot restaurant. He exuded an air of world-weariness and a slightly dejected demeanor, completely out of place in the bustling hot pot restaurant.
"Hello, sir." The waitress came forward to greet him. "Would you mind if we sat on the second floor?"
The man glanced at it, nodded listlessly, and uttered two words with a flourish: "Whatever."
The waiter paused, realizing he'd been tricked.
The man in black entering shouldn't have attracted everyone's attention, but the people sitting directly opposite the door caught a glimpse of his unusual black hair. There were certainly more than one person with black hair in Biyue City, but they were definitely not many, especially those who dressed entirely in black and carried two daggers at their waists.
Several diners quickly whispered to their companions, "That person" has arrived.
As more and more people noticed the anomaly, the atmosphere on the first floor suddenly became eerie. The noise in the hall gradually subsided, and everyone watched the man in black go upstairs. Only after he was out of sight did they begin to discuss in hushed tones.
"Why is he here too?"
"Didn't he disappear after the cold wave hit Biyue City a couple of years ago?"
"It seems they went south, probably to escape the cold wave."
"No wonder. The south is also shrouded in a cold wave now. The climate is the same everywhere. Rather than struggling in an unfamiliar place, it's better to go back to your hometown."
"Damn, when did he get back?"
"What are you worried about? It's been two years. He probably won't bother you anymore. He's probably forgotten about what happened back then."
"Too……"
The waiter listened to the chatter, his smile unchanged, and continued to bustle about serving everyone. However, at this moment, everyone seemed to have forgotten about eating and was chatting, so there were far fewer people who needed the waiter's help.
Taking advantage of a break, one of them quickly returned to the kitchen and recounted what had happened. They also summarized the conversation, highlighting only the most meaningful parts.
It doesn't really matter what kind of customers come into the restaurant, they'll leave after they finish eating anyway. But this one was clearly a prominent figure, and seemed to have grudges against quite a few people. The waiters were worried that a dispute between the two would occur and affect the restaurant's business.
Startled, Ye Xu immediately turned off the system screen and went upstairs to check the situation.
Also, call Tangtang out of the pet park where she's having a great time playing on the big slide and have her wait on the steps between the second and third floors of the staff staircase. If a fight really breaks out, we'll need her to keep things quiet.
Unfortunately, the previous plan to pressure people into paying compensation was somewhat unnecessary, as I don't need the currency and it's not useful for the claim.
Ye Xu nervously went up to the second floor. He didn't need to specifically look for his target's seat; he spotted him at a glance. The other guests on the second floor were also secretly watching him, but they didn't dare to speak out. They were all secretly peeking at him, thinking they were inconspicuous, and then winking and trying to communicate with their companions.
The man in black seemed completely unconcerned, expressionlessly taking the skewers he wanted and sitting down. Ye Xu noticed that he seemed to be picking out cheap, filling items, wondering if he was worried about the taste and therefore hesitant to take anything, or if he was simply short of money.
The waiter quickly brought over the soup pot and placed it in front of the man. As the aroma of the broth wafted out, the man's expression visibly softened, and by the time he put the first skewer of food into his mouth, his whole body was practically bubbling with excitement.
She's actually a foodie; the contrast is kind of cute.
Ye Xu was reminiscing about a novel she had read before, and her mind wandered, her gaze lingering on the food. The man, who was savoring his meal bite by bite, suddenly stopped, turned his head as if sensing something, and caught her red-handed.
Although he hadn't been staring at anyone intentionally, Ye Xu still felt a little awkward. He couldn't just leave pretending nothing had happened, so he simply walked over.
The man was sitting alone at a table; there was no one opposite him. The restaurant wasn't full yet, which wasn't uncommon, but the fact that all the tables around him were empty made him stand out.
The soup pot was still on the adjacent table, indicating that someone had eaten there earlier. The food on the table was unfinished, suggesting that they had hurriedly finished their breakfast and left, probably mistaking the man in black for a monster.
"Hello, I'm the manager of this store," Ye Xu introduced herself to the man. "I apologize for my rudeness earlier."
The man seemed to be somewhat inarticulate, pausing before finally speaking: "Hmm."
Ye Xu: "?" Just one "hmm?"
This wasn't just a matter of being bad at speaking; Ye Xu suspected he might also suffer from social anxiety. Thinking this, Ye Xu took a small step back to create some distance, worried about putting psychological pressure on the other person.
However, neither his departure nor his approach caused any change in the man; his body remained as tense as ever, presumably since before he entered the shop—a personal habit. Combined with the dagger tucked into his waistband, this man was most likely an adventurer, an assassin-like figure, habitually wary of his surroundings.
Since she's not socially anxious, there's no need to be so careful. Ye Xu said she would give the other person a free main course as an apology, hoping they wouldn't hold her rudeness against her.
Upon hearing that he could get food for free, the man's eyes immediately lit up: "Great!"
Ye Xu chuckled. How much did this person love to eat? He greeted the other person and went downstairs to get some bread.
I had originally intended to give him some special food, but then I thought it wouldn't be appropriate. The other person seemed to be in quite a bit of trouble, and giving him too much special treatment might provoke the wrath of his enemies. It was best to stick to official business and not give him any special treatment.
So Ye Xu only sent a few loaves of bread as an apology. Fortunately, the bread purchased from the store was of excellent taste, and even though it was cheap, it was still presentable enough to serve guests.
After delivering the goods, Ye Xu quickly left. He belatedly realized that he could add a surveillance program to the store so that he could monitor the situation upstairs from the kitchen without having to watch over it in person.
Ye Xu wasn't worried about staying in the kitchen and not being able to get there in time to mediate. He was just a weakling and couldn't beat them, so there was only so much he could do. Anyway, he had already told Tangtang to jump out and suppress the situation as soon as she noticed anything wrong, which should be enough to handle most situations.
After the monitoring was turned on, Shuangshuang curiously came over to take a look. The system provided full-view monitoring (public view only, privacy will be avoided), so Ye Xu adjusted the screen to focus on the area around the man in black, paying close attention to whether anyone around him attempted to attack.
Shuangshuang's focus was a little off; she said unexpectedly, "The hot pot base this person ordered..."
A four-compartment hot pot, one compartment for tomatoes and three for water—wow, what a money-saving master! Ye Xucai added the option to order water with the four-compartment hot pot without even having the waiter explain it to the customer; they just figured it out on their own.
Unlike some hot pot restaurants that price each broth in their four-compartment pot slightly higher, Ye Xu's shop charges only one-quarter of the price for each compartment, making the total price of all four equal to the price of a whole pot. Moreover, regardless of the broth type, his shop offers a single price.
This way, by adding a few more free water jars, you can save more money. However, this water is actually originally intended for rinsing off the chili oil from the hot pot.
Ye Xu thought Shuangshuang was going to marvel at the black-clad man's cleverness, but the little elf said instead, "Just plain water looks so shabby. Shouldn't we learn from the experience of our wise predecessors and at least throw in a few slices of white radish?"
Ye Xu paused for a moment and nodded: "Indeed, although I don't know why Haidilao added white radish, there must be a reason for it."
Thinking back to those days, a wealthy classmate treated the whole class to HaiXlao hot pot. That was Ye Xu's first time eating at this supposedly a bit pricey but delicious hot pot restaurant. The people at his table that time were all from less well-off families, and they were too embarrassed to order all four soup bases, so they used the excuse of being afraid the spicy soup would be too spicy and filled one compartment with plain water instead.
When the hot pot base was served, the girl sitting opposite him whispered, "This hot pot is really economical. We don't even need to order white radish. The restaurant gave us several slices for free. Let's take them out and cook them in the other hot pot bases."
No one laughed at her for being frugal; it was simply the wisdom of a thrifty girl. Even if her wealthy classmates didn't mind them ordering extravagant dishes costing tens or hundreds of dollars, they still had their own principles. Rich people who treat you to meals don't come around every day; developing extravagant habits would be disastrous.
Thinking of this, Ye Xu said to Shuangshuang, "We can add a few more slices of white radish. Some people might not be able to afford hot pot and only come over occasionally for a treat. This way, it's like giving them a few skewers for free, and they should be very happy."
"Being happy will provide more emotional energy!" Shuangshuang imagined.
Ye Xu hadn't actually thought about energy, and he didn't argue. He just smiled and poked Shuangshuang's chubby little face.
A note from the author:
It's finally out! Longtime readers, can you guess which familiar face it is?