Chapter 45: How to Activate the Special Method for Ordering Food
Of course, Yuan Zhou didn’t understand Wu Hai’s complex thoughts. He said in an easygoing tone, “As you please.”
“Boss Yuan, can you at least give us a rough idea?” Wu Hai still didn’t give up his questioning.
“You’ll know if you order. What would you like to eat today?” Yuan Zhou didn’t answer him, instead asked another question.
“Boss Yuan, a man must be honest and kind. You see, this specialty plate is not cheap. At least you tell us what it is or how big it is,” the man seated beside Wu Hai interrupted.
Price list: Specialty plate 22, ¥108 /plate
Specialty plate 13, ¥108 /plate
“The specialty plate is as big as a plate of pickled radish.” After thinking for a while, Yuan Zhou decided to tell them.
“Since the price is the same, why did you mark them with different numbers? Is the smaller number tastier?”
“It just indicates different flavors. The numbers don’t mean anything.” Yuan Zhou was too lazy to explain and besides, he was reluctant to say too much.
“Boss Yuan, you treat us so badly.”
The man that interrupted Wu Hai gave a thumbs-up to Yuan Zhou, expressing his admiration. This Yuan Zhou dared to charge ¥100 for such a small plate, without even telling what it was. His money did not grow on trees, hence he decided to give up on it.
“Give me a bowl of Clear Broth Noodle Soup.” The man ordered the new noodle dish right away.
“Thank you for trying it. The price is ¥268,” Yuan Zhou nodded his head and said.
“Boss Yuan’s heart is still as evil as before. If they are on the same plates, would the quantity for one be more than the other?” Wu Hai asked hesitatingly.
To eat or not to eat, this had always been a problem.
After comparing them carefully in his heart, Yuan Zhou said, “One is slightly less than the other.”
“Fine, I have made up my mind. Give me with a bowl of Clear Broth Noodle Soup and one Specialty Plate 13. I will order something else later.” Wu Hai decisively chose a dish that could fill his stomach and an extra plate. It is human nature to be curious, furthermore, Wu Hai was rather well-off.
“Ok, wait a moment.” Yuan Zhou returned to the kitchen to prepare the noodles first.
Ma Wei felt that he needed to reconstruct his view of the world. “Egg Fried Rice can actually be so delicious. I never had any interest in it before.”
Meanwhile, Wu Anlu was eating carefully by the side. He kept thinking in his heart, “Eat slowly, eat even more slowly. After all, one can only enjoy one serving.”
Ma Wei turned his head away from the Egg Fried Rice with great difficulties and looked at his colleagues, whom he found were all obsessed over the delicacy as well. All of them revealed an expression he had never seen them show before.
The Chinese have an interesting culture, that is, while eating, they would love to chat. There were rarely any exceptions.
For a celebration dinner like this one, it would usually be a circle of friends drinking and talking around the table. Who could have guessed that now, no one would say anything at all?” Besides the conversation between Yuan Zhou and Wu Hai, there were only sounds of food being chewed and the ‘so delicious’ praises that were muttered without their notice.
“Boss, how could you be so mean. Having eaten this Egg Fried Rice, how could we eat the ones we fry ourselves?”
“I actually feel that the price is too cheap. Sh*t, am I stupid?”
Even Ma Wei, the one who disliked Egg Fried Rice the most, finished his meal and shouted immediately without further ado, “Boss, give me another serving.”
Wu Anlu, who was the second to finish his meal, stopped and said, “Everyone can only order one serving per meal for each dish in Boss Yuan’s restaurant. Don’t waste your time thinking about having another.”
“Huh? No way!” The first screech was from the slightly plump Xiao Liu rather than Ma Wei. In fact, Xiao Liu was famous for having a good appetite on the sales team. For such delicious Egg Fried Rice, he could eat more than 10 bowls, not to mention only 1 bowl.
“Ah, it’s you, Xiao Liu. I almost forget you were here. I will treat you to more dishes at other restaurants later. Don’t worry, you won’t starve,” Wu Anlu smiled as he turned his head and said to Xiao Liu.
“No, no, boss. Don’t do this. With such delicious Egg Fried Rice in my stomach, how can I accept any other delicacies during this period?” Xiao Liu put on a long face, ignoring the fact that the person facing him was his superior.
“Yeah, boss, why don’t you talk to the boss and persuade him to offer us another serving for each? You seem rather familiar with him.” Ma Wei urged Wu Anlu hard.
Other colleagues were all looking at their boss expectantly as well.
Wu Anlu waved his hands and said, “It is too difficult. It would be easier to get another large order like today than request the boss to give us another serving for each.”
As the head of the department, when Wu Anlu frankly expressed his inability, the several people were all upset and disappointed. Then they heard Wu Hai, who had heard their conversation by chance, interrupt and say,
“You’d better look at the rules more carefully.”
Of course, Wu Hai was not so kindhearted to tell them the truth. There was a time when he too, suffered from being not able to eat his fill. Although he was emphatic to these people, he wouldn’t tell them directly the special method of ordering more dishes.
It was quite funny to watch other people break their heads over this matter.
“Rules?” Wu Anlu and his subordinates turned their heads back and looked at the price list on the wall.
“Boss Yuan, you added so many new dishes. Why didn’t you tell us just now?” Looking at the new dishes that he had never tasted on the wall, Wu Anlu shouted immediately.
Yuan Zhou, who was still cooking noodles in the kitchen, replied directly, “You didn’t ask.”
“Boss Yuan, your words really make a lot of f*ucking sense.” Even the good-tempered and well-paid sales manager couldn’t help swearing.
Yuan Zhou, nevertheless, turned a deaf ear to Wu Anlu’s curses.
To prevent himself from losing his temper, Wu Anlu started to study the rules written on the wall one by one, as if he were selecting a partner.
The several male colleagues first gave their opinions.
“Boss, fat people like us would definitely starve if the rules are made so.” While bringing up that topic, Xiao Liu was observing Yuan Zhou’s reaction. He hoped that his pitiful act would succeed.
“I only want to have another bowl of the Egg Fried Rice now, so I can’t figure out any good ideas at the moment,” Ma Wei said helplessly while looking at the rules and then at his boss.
The most handsome man in the team but also the one with the least presence said jokingly, “What about forcing the boss to serve us more?”
Watching them contemplating all sorts of solutions, Wu Hai felt really happy. Even he had to go through great difficulties to discover this special method to order more dishes in the restaurant. How could he just reveal it so easily? He was still waiting for these people to come and beg for his help.
The calmest lady in the team suddenly said, “Boss, look at this rule. It says ‘Each guest may only have one serving per meal for each dish’. However, there are quite a few dishes on the menu. We can try to order just the Egg Fried Rice dish. That way we won’t break any rules.”
The instant she said that, everyone around her realized the bug in the system. These people then shouted excitedly, “Boss Yuan, please give us with another six servings of Egg Fried Rice, not the set meal.”
After they shouted, they waited nervously for Yuan Zhou’s reply.
Then, Yuan Zhou turned his head, then responded naturally and lightly, “Hold on a moment.”
“We made it. It was surprisingly easy,” Ma Wei said proudly. He didn’t notice that the face of his manager was turning dark.
Wu Anlu was so embarrassed and tired of this guy who always shot his mouth off. If it was that easy, was the fact that he could never eat his fill here false? This guy was such an idiotic subordinate.”
However, the strict manager, Wu Anlu, felt proud for his other subordinate.
Yuan Zhou felt that the dishes in his restaurant all had very accurate names. For example, the Clear Broth Noodle Soup was really just clear broth and noodles, without even any chopped green onions.
He first set the two bowls of noodles on the tray, then took out a small plate with green vines patterns on the edge and scooped up some blueberry jam. As for how Wu Hai was prepared to eat the sweet jam with the salty noodles, it was not his problem. Yuan Zhou very irresponsibly had such thoughts.
For the very first time, the Clear Broth Noodle Soup appeared in front of everybody.