"It is said that a golden giant dragon and a level ten demon, along with a group of extremely ferocious forest trolls, attacked the restaurant. The scene was extremely tragic, enough to make anyone who heard about it grieve and anyone who saw it weep. The entire restaurant was gone in an instant." an old man outside the restaurant said with a sigh.
"Hiss!"
"It's terrifying!"
The customers in the long queue gasped, becoming somewhat tense.
"Then how are Boss Mai and Little Boss doing?"
"Yes, and then what happened? What happened next?"
The guests' curiosity had been piqued, and some asked with concern.
"Later, you might not believe it, but then Boss Mai, carrying the Little Boss in one arm and a cleaver in the other, rushed out of the ruins and fought a great battle with the giant dragon and demon. The battle was so fierce that it darkened the sky and even obscured the sun's rays." the old man remarked with a tsk-tsk.
"And what happened? Is Boss Mai alright?" a little girl asked nervously from the side.
"Of course! Boss Mai is incredibly brave. With just a cleaver, he slew the giant dragon and the demon. All the forest trolls were terrified and ran away in a panic. Boss Mai caught up with them and killed them one by one. What a pity! No one would have thought that the owner of this small restaurant was such a dragon-slaying hero. Once his sword is drawn, who can stand against him!" The old man became more and more excited as he spoke, his beard trembling, as if he had witnessed the scene firsthand.
"Karl, why aren't you telling stories under the Peace Statue? Why are you doing it here? This story is probably just pure fiction, isn't it?" someone in the crowd suddenly said, and a young man looked at the old man with a smile.
"Hey! It really is that old storyteller under the statue. No wonder his voice sounded so familiar."
"I also enjoy listening to the old man tell all sorts of amazing stories, but this story seems a little off, doesn't it?"
Soon, others in the crowd recognized the old man and spoke up.
Karl was quite well-known in Aden Square. He started telling stories under the Peace Statue more than ten years ago. He did it at irregular times and for free. He came whenever he felt like it, and people had to be lucky to catch him.
Moreover, he never repeats his stories, he tells new ones every time, and each one is told vividly and interestingly. As a result, he has a group of fans who often wander around the statue. If they happen to run into Karl, it's considered extremely lucky. They were overjoyed to actually meet him here today.
"Stories come from life, but they can't be exactly the same as life, otherwise they wouldn't be stories. I was just trying to make you laugh because I was bored in line." Karl didn't panic when he was recognized and said calmly.
Everyone laughed upon hearing this.
"Tell us another one, sir! You're such a good storyteller." someone egged on.
"No, telling only one story a day is my principle, and finishing one story is also my principle. If I start now, it will delay my mealtime." Karl shook his head, his refusal clean and decisive.
Everyone was slightly disappointed upon hearing this, as queuing here was rather boring. Although the savory and sweet factions were still divided into two teams, but no one had much desire to argue so early in the morning. The evening after a day's work was usually the best time to win over the other side, when everyone's enthusiasm was quite high.
"What new dish do you think Boss Mai will make today?" someone asked curiously.
"Yesterday at noon, I saw Boss Mai riding his two-wheeled vehicle with the Little Boss, carrying a Flaming Chicken. Today's new dish is most likely related to Flaming Chicken." a tall, thin man said.
"I love chicken soup the most, I can't wait!" said the little girl next to him, full of anticipation.
"By the way, the Aden Square Food Ranking Competition has started again today. I wonder if Boss Mai has participated?"
"He participated. I spent half an hour looking for the food list today. There's an extra dish, braised chicken, which is probably a new dish today. But to make up the numbers, it seems that Boss Mai has separated sweet tofu pudding and savory tofu pudding into two dishes. Isn't this one dish?" A young demon with a pair of bull horns in the back said with a smile.
"How could this be the same dish! Sweet Tofu Pudding is heresy!"
"How can anyone eat Savory Tofu Pudding! It completely ruins the sweetness of the tofu pudding!"
The murderous gazes of everyone fell upon the demon, and the previously harmonious scene suddenly became tense.
"Terrifying... I can't afford to mess with them, I can't afford to mess with them..." The young demon lowered his head silently, never expecting that a casual remark would provoke so much hostility.
"In my opinion, the top four spots on the list should all be occupied by Restaurant Mai Mi. Of course, Savory Tofu Pudding has absolutely no chance of making the list!"
"I have no problem with the top four spots being taken by Restaurant Mai Mi, but the dish that shouldn't be on the list is Sweet Tofu Pudding. Anyway, I'm definitely going to give Sweet Tofu Pudding a bad review later!"
"Yes, bad review!"
"Hmph! We'll give it a bad review too!"
Early in the morning, the atmosphere was already tense, with the air of a fight about to break out at the slightest provocation.
"Sigh, this isn't very Zen[1]." Mai Ge, who was about to open the door, couldn't help but sigh as he listened to the argument outside. These two factions were giving each other bad reviews out of spite, which only hurt him. It seems that the so-called zero bad reviews are just a dream after all.
"It's time to open for business, welcome." Mai Ge said with a smile as he opened the door, looking at the tense customers.
Yabemia and Sally stood to one side, Mia with a smile on her face, while Sally maintained her aloof expression.
"Boss Mai, who is this?" Harrison entered, looking at Sally with a hint of surprise, then smiled and asked Mai Ge.
"This is Aisha, the restaurant's new waitress." Mai Ge introduced with a smile.
"When it comes to finding waitresses, Boss Mai, I only admire you!" Harrison gave Mai Ge a sincere thumbs up. The hardworking, beautiful, and energetic Yabemia was already enviable enough, and now there was an elegant and aloof elf waitress. Just looking at the waitresses would attract a lot of customers. It was practically cheating among all the restaurants!
"Is this Braised Chicken Rice a new dish? Why is it so expensive! 800 copper coins, Boss Mai, is this a rooster that can lay eggs?" As soon as the customers sat down, someone flipped through the menu and couldn't help but exclaim.
After all, not every customer who comes to eat there is a boss. It's okay for an average worker to come once or twice a month. A serving of Yang Zhou Fried Rice costing 600 copper coins is already a bit of a strain. However, the taste is indeed excellent and worth the price. But the price of this new dish has actually increased by 200 copper coins. It's simply unbearable!
[1] It means peaceful and calm.