Compared to Lai Fu’s rather chaotic Offshore Sea Store Instance, Qian Qian’s Reef Knolls Bakery was the complete opposite. The lines were orderly, and everyone queued to buy her bread. Aside from the few Orcs and Penguins that were aiding her with the baking procedures, Qian Qian handled the cash register.
It was still a bakery store no matter how one looked at it, and window shoppers wouldn’t know why it was that popular until they stepped into the store instance themselves. The first thing awaiting them was the mouthwatering fragrance of fresh bread out of the oven.
The old customers who had frequented Qian Qian’s bakery knew that she handled this store mostly by herself as a store passed down by her family throughout the generations. Her customer base wasn’t too large, but neither was it too little.
It was enough for a decent living, which was why when she saw the large crowd waiting to pay for the bread, she could not help but feel a little anxious. The crowd outside easily surpassed what she usually had to tend for a whole day by at least twofold.
Luckily the presence of her orcish helpers in the area made almost everyone aware not to mess with Qian Qian’s store. However, some idiots who were too used to convenience, got pissed off by waiting and shouted for the store owner to work faster.
Just as Qian Qian wished to apologise, one of the Orcs who was working on the next batch of bread stepped forward in her stead. “You got a problem, punk?” The Orc asked, and the customer was still daring enough to shout at the Orc for being so discourteous to the clientele.
“Since it’s day one, I will present you with three choices. One. Shut up, apologise and silently wait your turn. Two. Turn around and leave while you still can do so yourself. Three. Stay and face my wrath. Which one would you like?” The Orc somehow appeared even more threatening in his baking apron, making those surrounding them move back a little. (Or forward to give them some space.)
“Don’t you touch me!!! I will sue you!! I will call the police!! How dare you threaten to assault me?!” The customer was trembling, but his mouth was still rumbling off nonsense.
“First. This is an instance. Second. I am a monster. Third. No one is here to help you right now.” The Orc approached him even closer and cracked his knuckles. Scared witless, the customer fell to the ground and his hand covering his head, afraid of getting beaten up.
“No worries, Landlord Jin has comprehensive medical care. If a few punches don’t do the trick, perhaps the experience of death might help correct your behaviour.” One of the spectating cultivators interjected his opinion, and everyone laughed at his misery.
The Orc, however, did not let it end there. He single handedly picked up the rowdy customer and lifted him by his throat. Unable to resist the customer quickly began begging for Qian Qian’s forgiveness.
With this being the very first day and the store owner wanting things to be over she agreed to forgive him. The Orc simply dropped him on the ground, returning to his station. The unlucky soul kept quiet in the queue, trying his best to ignore the surrounding jabs at him.
Eventually, it became known as the tale of the Valiant Orc in a Baking Apron on the Pandamonium Forums. People were pointing out that the Orcs were like knights for Qian Qian’s bakery. The rest of the day went uneventful, with the Orcs making sure that everything would go smoothly and that people were happy with their purchase of bread.
——–
As for the Castle Tower Café Instance, Sheng Si Fang had spared no effort in ensuring the tranquillity of the area. Instead of people queuing within the store instance, the customers were queuing outside of the Castle Tower Café instance entrance where there was a statue out there of a Panda drinking a cup of coffee.
Si Fang was not willing to compromise his ideal of the instance and told Jin that he was ready to forego profit to ensure the customers in his Castle Tower Café were enjoying their time there. However, he too, did not allow people to hog the area.
Amongst his former customers, students made up a large percentage. Yes, Si Fang knew that his new place might be popular for those students wishing to do their work there, so he had asked Jin if there was any way to incorporate a space for the students to focus on their studies. There and then, Jin had already moved most of the library from the old store to the underground floor of the Castle Tower Café.
Hence, there was a vast and spacious underground library which could only be accessed by the little panda statue reading at the back of the Panda drinking the coffee. It was a sort of hidden instance which allowed students and adults to enter the place.
For the underground library, he used the same principle as the Panda Burger Instance where more floors were added further down to accommodate more students. There were basic facilities like toilets and water dispenser, but the library only had access to a limited menu of the Castle Tower Café’s, such as sandwiches and beverages.
When ordered, the purchase would be dispensed in a specially allocated area which the students/adults had to pick up themselves. The food and drinks were placed in a vacuumed box where the students had to use their Pandamonium app to unlock the box safety mechanism to prevent theft from other people.
Other than that, the underground library offered individual cubicles as well as an open area for discussion. Each of such a table could produce an anti sound barrier similar to the café operated by the Wyrm Ants in the WunderPanda Theme Park. That way, the students’ livid discussions would not interrupt students that desired peace and quiet to study.
Else, for Si Fang’s café, the customers were thoroughly satisfied with the layout of the castle instance as well as the improved food quality that Si Fang served. So long it had something to do with food, people felt the Tree Mall was the most desirable, new place to rely on.
As the ambience was important, Jin suggested Ke Mi showcase her instrumental music at Si Fang’s Castle Tower Café. Though Ke Mi offered to do it out of goodwill, Si Fang insisted that he paid her and even added a decent tip for every gig she performed at his place. Since Jin had long planned for this performing stage when he created the instance, he had already included a platform for Ke Mi to play the grand piano.
Jin initially wanted to put a Zither in there but felt that it did not fit with the current theme and chosen the grand piano instead. When Ke Mi was not playing, customers were invited to use and perform their musical talents every once in a while.
Not to mention, for those who played and was well received by the audience, Si Fang would present them a coupon voucher of the Tiangong Tree Mall as a sign of gratitude. Thus, the café became a unique hit of its own within the Tiangong District.
