Ye Xu nodded in sudden understanding and didn't ask any further questions. He also gave Han Yingchen an advance of 10,000 copper coins and 10,000 points as his salary, so that he could use it to buy some daily necessities. An apartment had already been set up for him upstairs.
If it's just for personal use, the system doesn't care whether employees buy from the points mall. Only items given to customers must come from the mall, and items displayed in the store's sales area must also be products of the system.
Before going downstairs, Ye Xu reminded Han Yingchen: "It's best not to spend your points carelessly. Use copper coins whenever possible."
Ye Xu himself doesn't really need the items in the system shop, but that doesn't mean others don't. He figured Han Yingchen would probably buy some items to improve his strength, so he'd have to cut back on spending.
Han Yingchen carefully noted it down, then glanced at Ye Xu with a hint of hesitation.
"What's wrong?" Ye Xu asked.
"I have a bad reputation," Han Yingchen said in a low voice. "I'll try not to show up in the store in the future to avoid affecting business. After I finish shopping, I'll stay in the alley across the street. If you need anything, go find me there."
Ye Xu was at a loss for words for a moment before finally speaking: "No need for that. The shop has a special power that should make people ignore your presence."
If that doesn't work, they can just beg the system for help. Besides, their shop will be sold soon, and when they open a new store in another city, no one there should recognize Han Yingchen. The buff will also make people overlook the staff's exotic appearance, so it's very safe.
Han Yingchen wasn't quite sure how strong that special power was, but he believed Ye Xu's explanation. However, he still said that he had to keep watch outside, as it was inconvenient to keep watch from inside the house in only one direction.
"That's simple." Ye Xu thought of surveillance. If there can be full-area monitoring indoors, why can't there be outdoor monitoring?
I opened the store's backend, performed a precise search, and quickly found the corresponding function.
This outdoor device can monitor a public area within a 500-meter radius, offering almost a bird's-eye view, making it extremely useful. Despite the high price, Ye Xu unlocked it without hesitation; money is secondary, the safety of the surrounding residents is paramount.
"It's all set. I've already shared access to the surveillance footage with you." Ye Xu patted Han Yingchen on the shoulder. "It's not just the outdoor footage, but also the footage inside the shop. I'll have to check it frequently in the future."
Now that he no longer had a reason to insist on going out, Han Yingchen decided to stay in the kitchen on the second floor of the shop after his inspection. This way, he could get there as quickly as possible no matter what happened upstairs, downstairs, or outside. He could jump out of the second-floor window, and given Han Yingchen's physical condition, there was absolutely no possibility of him getting injured.
"Then it's decided. Go buy your things. If you want to buy modern items like tissues that aren't available outside, you'll have to go to the mall."
After Han Yingchen left, Ye Xu realized it was too early and the shops outside were probably not open yet. But since Han Yingchen was already far away, there was no way to call him back, so this was the only option.
Before the shop officially opened for business, Ye Xu still had to deal with the trouble left over from last night.
"System Daddy, do you have any technical assistance on your end?" Ye Xu opened the system panel and asked. Calling the system "Daddy" too often was a bit tiring, so he shortened it to "System Daddy."
The system had no objection to the change in title and casually unlocked a new panel called "Rogue Transformation".
Ye Xu exclaimed in surprise, not expecting it to actually exist. He immediately clicked on it and saw a few simple buttons: Suspect Entry, Start Trial, Conduct Rehabilitation, and Post-Rehabilitation.
Arriving at the shop across the street, where the owner was bound, he had been fast asleep all night and was completely unresponsive.
Ye Xu tried clicking the first button, and a beam of light shot out from the panel, scanning the person from head to toe. Soon, a "paper" containing the person's personal information and a description of the case was pasted into the blank column next to it.
Clicking the second button brings up a small progress bar. Once the bar reaches its end, another "piece of paper" appears in the blank space. It sits on top of the previous piece of paper and contains the verdict.
According to the dimensional system's judgment, this person needs to pay a certain amount of fortune as punishment for this incident. The extracted fortune will be evenly distributed among the surrounding civilians who might theoretically have been affected by the magical bomb; this is their deserved compensation.
It's worth noting that the people in the dimensional shop won't receive any luck. This is because they are unlikely to encounter any danger in this matter, and taking the luck of the natives would deepen their bond with the current dimension, which is not a good thing.
Ye Xu didn't care much about that; he was only curious about one thing: "After deducting a portion of their luck, will this person start experiencing a crazy run of bad luck?"
To say it was just bad luck seems too mild.
The system remained aloof, offering no response, only highlighting and bolding certain sentences in the reason for the trial, prompting the store manager to review them himself.
Ye Xu glanced at it and understood the system's logic. It felt that the magic bomb itself wouldn't cause serious consequences, after all, the weakening effect of the dimensional shop was there, so whether from the perspective of "attempted evil" or "actually did evil but only minor things", this person couldn't be punished too severely.
However, considering the person's antisocial motives, the system appropriately increased the punishment, deciding to deduct the vast majority of his luck. As a result, the person will have a very unlucky life for the rest of his days, and may even be injured as a result.
Don't underestimate bad luck. In peacetime, extreme bad luck can be life-threatening, let alone during a cold snap. Putting aside everything else, just being destitute could drive a shop manager to his death from the cold air. This punishment is like a slow, insidious wound, focusing more on the psychological impact.
"Psychological torture, huh?" Ye Xu suddenly became happy. "That's a good idea. Killing him outright would be too easy on him."
This guy, who doesn't care about human life, was lucky to run into the dimensional shop and Han Yingchen this time. If an ordinary person were to compete with him next time, who knows what would happen to them?
Losing his luck will prevent this guy from buying dangerous items like magic bombs, cutting off his conditions for doing evil at the source, which is great.
Ye Xu rubbed his hands together, eager to see what would happen: "Will he start to have bad luck immediately after the punishment? I want to see him suffer with my own eyes."
The aloof system's response was merely to flash the "Perform Modification" button, reminding Ye Xu to stop talking nonsense and get started. Ye Xu obediently clicked, and then saw a large ball of golden light being drawn from the owner across the street, transforming into streams of light that scattered and flew out, flowing into someone's body.
After the modification was completed, the person was no longer of any use, and the system prompted Ye Xu that he could throw him back onto the street. Ye Xu did as instructed and once again summoned a robot to help carry the person.
At this point, some customers had already begun to gather on the first floor. Before they could even feel happy that the shop door had opened, they saw someone carrying a person in a black robe out. Everyone was stunned for a moment, made way for them, and stared at them curiously.
"Boss, what's going on?"
Ye Xu briefly explained what had happened, saying that the man had come to the store last night to steal the recipe and had been caught. They had given him a little beating and were now preparing to let him go.
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately expressed their disgust; thieves are disliked everywhere. In the continent of Transi, there are only assassins, not thieves, so stealing is not tolerated.
Someone recognized the guy as the owner of the shop across the street and immediately became even more disdainful. Before he woke up, a bolder child ran over and kicked him a couple of times. They had come with their parents for breakfast and had a very good impression of Ye Xu these past few days because of the cheap breakfasts, so they were quite indignant towards him.
The shop owner across the street was finally woken up by the kick. The magical restraints on him had been lifted, and Ye Xu quickly told the children to run away, afraid they would be hurt by the shop owner.
These kids were incredibly clever; as soon as they saw that the person seemed to be waking up, they scattered in all directions, giving the boss no chance to deal with them.
Having maintained the same position all night, the shop owner couldn't move for a while. After recovering, he slowly got up from the ground, glared at Ye Xu resentfully, and then staggered towards his shop.
Given his current physical condition, he was clearly unable to take revenge on Ye Xu and could only leave temporarily. The boss was thinking about ways to get revenge when, because he wasn't watching where he was going, he tripped over a stone on the ground, fell face-first into the mud, and knocked out a front tooth.
These days, nobody has the time to keep the streets clean anymore, so it's perfectly normal to have some stones and branches on the ground. They're not noticeable when hidden in the snow, and people are usually careful when walking, but if you do fall, it's generally not a big deal, since the snow is so thick you won't feel any pain.
Having a tooth knocked out was truly the worst luck imaginable, and everyone burst into laughter, thinking it was divine punishment for the thief. Ye Xu, however, was not satisfied; a mere fall seemed a bit too mild, not befitting his bad luck.
Just as he finished thinking that, a loud crash echoed through the store, as if a crystal chandelier had fallen, narrowly missing the owner. Even if he wasn't hit, he was at least badly cut and bruised by the flying shards.
That's pretty impressive.
The shop's employees were stunned by the owner's misfortune. They were still busy preparing the skewers and hadn't even noticed their boss had returned. Now that something like this had happened, they had no mind for business. They rushed their boss to the clinic for treatment, and when he came back, they still had to clean up the broken chandelier.
I wonder what happened to the boss under Boss Ye, he looks so disheveled.
This little incident didn't affect Ye Xu's business. Everyone chatted for a while and then moved on, focusing on eating. Seeing that there was nothing for him to do in the shop, Ye Xu went back to the kitchen to slack off. On the way, he was startled by Han Yingchen, who was too afraid to go through the front door and jumped into the second-floor kitchen through the window.
Oh right, I was so busy dealing with the boss across the street that I forgot to ask the system administrator if Han Yingchen could have his presence minimized. After Han Yingchen sat down to check the surveillance footage, he started showering the system panel with compliments.
The system listened indifferently, without giving any response.
It had seen people fawn over it for personal gain, but never one so materialistically flattering. Others diligently flattered and praised others every day to gain favor, but Ye Xu only remembered to offer a few words of praise when he needed something, and even had the audacity to make demands with a self-righteous attitude.
Oh well, what can I do? It's a magnanimous adult and doesn't like to fuss over these things.
After a moment of indifference, the system popped up the store interface, allowing Ye Xu to add a small amount of points and add the effect he wanted to the store's default buff.
"Daddy is so good." Ye Xu said a few perfunctory compliments, without changing the words at all.
This time, the system truly ignored him.
Ye Xu didn't mind. After closing the interface, he went to tell Han Yingchen the good news: the other party could now freely wander around the store. After saying that, he stopped watching his variety show, put his hands behind his back, and strolled around the front to check on the business.
As Ye Xu turned around, he noticed that there were many children eating standing up in the shop.
It was already past 10 a.m., and the shop was already full. But looking around, almost every table had at least one or two children standing next to it, and some two-person tables even had four little kids holding bowls standing next to them. The scene was truly spectacular.
Completely bewildered, Ye Xu quickly ran to find a waiter to ask what was going on. With so many people blocking the aisle, how could they possibly function properly?
The waiter who was caught by Ye Xu didn't understand what the manager was asking at first, but after seeing where he was pointing, he suddenly realized.
"You mean this?" The waitress, Li Dong, was a pretty young woman who loved to smile. She smiled and revealed sweet dimples as she replied, "Many customers come as a family. There are quite a few people, but the restaurant only has two-person tables, so they decide to squeeze together at the two-person tables."
Ye Xu knew, of course, that the child would stand on the edge of the table to eat if he couldn't sit down. Children from poor families weren't so pampered that they had to sit down to eat. He had seen this many times before when he was selling breakfast.
However, they came for breakfast, not hot pot.
Ye Xu's shop is almost entirely frequented by adventurers. The occasional commoners who come are not the lower classes with their families, but rather well-off families with a little spare money. The local commoners at most come to buy a jar of base to take home and cook.
What's going on today? Why are so many ordinary people here eating hot pot?
Chapter 25 Help
Ye Xu went to Shuangshuang with a lot of questions, but Shuangshuang said she didn't know either. After asking around, she finally got the answer from Han Yingchen.
"It's cheap, so it's okay to eat it once in a while," Han Yingchen said at the time.
Ye Xu knew this, of course: "I mean, why are there so many people all of a sudden? The prices in the store haven't changed, have they? It's not like it's been this cheap for the first time."
"Didn't we add a food delivery promotion yesterday?" Han Yingchen asked back.
Ye Xu was stunned; he hadn't expected that delivering food into the store would have such a significant effect. He went to the lobby and listened to the diners' conversations for a while, finally figuring out all the details.
Because of yesterday's competition with the restaurant across the street, they're running a promotion where customers get a free dish regardless of their spending. Ye Xu entrusted this to Shuangshuang, who chose a tasty little dessert as the free gift.
Considering that the complimentary dishes must be local favorites to attract a large number of customers, Shuangshuang chose the local specialty, cream puffs, which have been popular for a long time. Each complimentary plate contained ten puffs, and they were quite large, enough to share with family, which appealed to many locals.
Many people had heard before that the skewers at this restaurant were cheap, costing about the same as buying vegetables directly at the market, with only the cost of the soup base. The skewers were pre-washed and prepared, so you didn't have to worry about it. Although the soup base was a bit more expensive, it was very worthwhile when you added the complimentary dessert.
Many families had previously heard from relatives and friends who had eaten there and said the food was delicious, which made them want to try it. They thought that even if they didn't come often, it would be nice to eat there just once, so after hearing the news, this group of people came today.
Some customers had heard that the prices across the street were cheaper and wanted to eat there. However, the owner of the shop across the street was hospitalized today, and the shop was temporarily closed due to lack of management. Some of these customers gave up on dining there because it was closed, while many others gritted their teeth and came to the Weimian Hot Pot restaurant instead.
This is a good thing for the store. Don't be fooled by the fact that ordinary people aren't as generous as adventurers; they contribute more emotional points!
Adventurers, accustomed to good things, are not easily satisfied. A commoner might earn 400 points for a delicious hot pot meal, while an adventurer might only contribute 200 points.
Not to mention that ordinary people come with their families, costing 400 per person, which adds up to several thousand for a family. And unlike adventurers, they don't insist on having a seat before ordering food. A large family of ordinary people only needs a two-person table, or even just a heater to put a pot on and cook, which is fine.
Besides the children Ye Xu saw eating while standing at the two-person tables, there were also families of seven or eight people who still only needed one table. Four people ate first, two sitting and two standing, while the others waited in an open space, ready to take over once their family members finished eating quickly.
With so many family members, there was no need to trouble the waiters; any problems could be solved simply by having their own children run the errand. Therefore, the waiters' work wasn't affected by the road conditions. Some commoners even felt bad for blocking the way and proactively offered to serve tea and water to the adventurers, saving the waiters the trouble of running back and forth.
The waiters' usual job is to help serve soup pots, dishes, water, and clear tables, which are small tasks that the children can also do.
Ye Xu saw several times that the children, who had finished eating and drinking, rushed over and cleaned up the dirty table. One group carried the plates to the cleaning cart, while another group went to the waiting area to help the next table of guests to sit down.
That's not all. Next, the children will proactively offer warm water, guide guests on how to use the ordering system, and introduce the restaurant's signature hot pot bases and dishes. If guests don't want to move, they will even volunteer to help get the skewers, so guests don't have to run back and forth.
Some adventurers were very receptive to this, readily giving each child a copper coin as a tip for running errands. Incentivized by the copper coins, everyone worked even harder, and even if customers only requested a few strings at a time, requiring them to make many trips back and forth, the children were very willing.
Store Manager Ye felt like he had gained a bunch of free employees who didn't cost him any money and had excellent service.
I made a profit!
Ye Xu walked to the kitchen and tentatively said to the system panel, "System, those kids are working so hard, it's not too much to ask them for a little extra money, is it?"
Not all adventurers are generous enough to tip, and some kids work hard but earn nothing. Ye Xu felt sorry for them, thinking that they were at least helping out at the shop, and the shop couldn't just leave empty-handed.
The system administrator did not agree and firmly forbade the store manager from using loopholes to hire outside labor.
"How about this," Ye Xu suggested, "that all the children who help can get free cakes, is that alright?"
When asked, they said the store was about to launch new desserts and wanted the children to try them. They've often held these free tasting events before, so it's not against the rules.