Chapter 769 - Reaching Thailand
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The flight via Singapore Airlines was very comfortable, and the stewardesses were quite pretty. Even their stewards were only slightly less handsome than Yuan Zhou. They had great service, putting Yuan Zhou in a good mood. Yuan Zhou felt so good he believed he could eat several bowls of rice at once after the flight.
Yuan Zhou reminded the stewardess that if he was asleep during mealtime, they did not need to bother waking him up.
“Pulling myself out of the busy work, resting my mind and soul,” Yuan Zhou muttered, feeling completely relaxed before shutting his eyes and fell asleep.
Meanwhile, things were getting rowdy outside Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. Although Yuan Zhou’s restaurant had put up a leave notice and had also mentioned it to some customers during business hours, only a small number of customers were aware of this. Therefore, some customers had still arrived today, thinking of rewarding themselves with a good meal.
When they arrived, they found the door of the restaurant shut. Although the lantern at the entrance was still shining brightly, the A4 paper pasted on the door was even more conspicuous than the lantern. They were stunned when they saw the notice.
“Dang, Boss Yuan is being lazy again.”
“He’s going to Thailand? Is he looking for transvestites? If that’s what he wants, he does not need to go to Thailand. Don’t we have a big boss in a female outfit in the restaurant? Just look at the one we got.”
“This must be an illusion. Everything is an illusion.”
The customers started their discussion about Yuan Zhou’s leave. Some of them were regulars, some were new customers, and some were customers that had only been here a couple of times. Now, all of them shared the same identity: the abandoned ones.
The so-called big boss in a female outfit was a certain male customer that enjoyed dressing up in female outfits who would come to the restaurant occasionally. As he had a cold demeanor, he did not talk much. Therefore, few people knew much about him.
“For the sake of making better delicacies? That’s Compass’s excuse. He’s only there to have some fun.”
“He’s a vagrant.”
“I usually trust everything Boss Yuan says, but I don’t believe a single word of this leave notice.”
Most of the customers were not convinced of the excuses given on the leave notice. They all rubbed their fists indignantly. If Yuan Zhou was captured by them at this moment, he would definitely receive much “love” from them.
Fortunately, the members of the Queuing Committee was here to keep order. Otherwise, this would be the start of the first protest at Taoxi Road.
At around 11 in the morning, more and more customers arrived. Some left after seeing the notice, some waited for a bit as they did not believe the notice, and some planned to eat something else around the area instead since they were already here.
Thus, Li Li’s Western restaurant that was two stores away from Yuan Zhou’s restaurant became a good alternative. After all, his restaurant was indeed decorated rather nicely. Moreover, the latest online reviews of this restaurant had been rather favorable.
Thus, Li Li’s Western restaurant gained a lot more customers than usual today.
Li Li who was leading the kitchen could clearly feel the change as the number of orders he received from the waitresses had increased greatly.
“Has a trend of eating Western food started or something?” Li Li wondered. After all, the quality-to-price ratio of Li Li’s Western restaurant was quite high. Fortunately, with Yuan Zhou’s restaurant nearby that was equally as expensive nearby, he was able to survive on the leftover traffic of customers from Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
After arranging everything in the kitchen, Li Li walked out of the kitchen to see what’s going on.
The moment he took a look, he found that many of the customers were Yuan Zhou’s regulars.
Why had Yuan Zhou’s regulars came here today? It was still quite early and they would usually be lining up in front of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant at this time.
Perhaps…
“Perhaps my cooking skills have improved?” This was the only explanation Li Li could come up with. When he thought of this, his heart started burning with excitement.
“Manager Wang, we have a lot of customers today. Ensure that we maintain the quality of our service…”
Li Li told the manager, feeling quite proud, like an old man who had suddenly reignited the passion he once had when he was young.
However, before he was done giving orders, the manager cheerfully told him something, “Head chef, I heard from the customers that Yuan Zhou is away for a one-week-long holiday. Our business will definitely be excellent for the duration of his holiday.”
“One-week-long holiday…” Li Li was slightly stunned before he turned and returned to the kitchen.
It would seem like Li Li would never be able to stop worrying…
Back at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
“How unlucky. How unlucky.”
“I hope Boss Yuan will really come back on time”
“I reckon Painter Wu is going crazy right now.”
This was the conversation between the vendors of the stalls in front Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. The amount of traffic here at Taoxi Road would be very different without Boss Yuan around.
Therefore, many vendors started planning to take a few days off as well. Some were also planning to end their business earlier for the week. By the way, these vendors had quite an amount of respect for Wu Hai due to his status as the most famous local painter of this generation.
If the people here were ranked by their popularity, it would be Yuan Zhou, followed by Wu Hai, and finally, Jiang Changxi.
“He’s taking leave again? A one-week-long leave?” Lee Yanyi frowned as he mumbled, “I was too late. Looks like I can only try the lost dish next time.” Then, he walked away with his hands clasped behind his back. A few days ago, he heard that a lost dish had been restored here. He was not around and had only returned to Chengdu today. He came immediately after he returned, but he was still a step too late.
His car was waiting for him at the intersection. Since Yuan Zhou’s restaurant was not open, Lee Yanyi did not feel like staying around. Although he was hungry, he decided to return and cook a meal himself instead.
Sharp at 12, Wu Hai appeared in a set of sports attire. He was rarely dressed like this. He leisurely walked towards Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. The customers all moved away to make way to him and stared at Wu Hai, waiting to see his reaction to this. Wu Hai was the absolute number one fan of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. He would be here nearly everyday, a person who had treated Yuan Zhou’s restaurant as his personal dining hall.
In truth, many people wanted to do the same. Unfortunately, those that had free time to do so could not afford it, while those who could afford it did not have the free time to do it. Therefore, Wu Hai was unique in the sense that he alone was using this restaurant as his personal dining hall.
Under everyone’s gaze, Wu Hai leisurely took out a coin from his pocket and tossed it into the money box. Next, he turned and walked away, as if he had not noticed the leave notice at all.
“Wu Hai, did you not see Boss Yuan’s leave notice?” reminded a customer that could no longer wait to see Wu Hai’s reaction.
“Yes, I already knew this yesterday,” Wu Hai replied calmly.
His calm tone confused everyone there. One ought to know that when Yuan Zhou took a one day leave previously, Wu Hai had gone crazy with agitation, as if he was going to take the restaurant apart. Now that Yuan Zhou was taking a week off, Wu Hai was behaving like this? Was this even logical?
This was illogical!
“But Wu Hai, you won’t be able to eat any of Boss Yuan’s food now that he will be in Thailand for a week,” added a customer.
“Coincidentally, I’m going away on a trip to Guizhou to do some mountain painting today. It will probably take me between five to seven days to come back.” Then, Wu Hai started laughing heartily as he added, “In any case, I won’t be able to eat Boss Yuan’s food during that period of time. It’s good that Compass is going to Thailand. Now, all of you will have to suffer the same fate as me. Hahahaha, this feels so good!”
Wu Hai left, laughing all the way to his home.
All the customers were rendered speechless.
Everyone there, the vendors included, looked at Wu Hai’s departing back, listening to his piercing laughter, all having the urge to beat Wu Hai to death!
