Mr Wang suddenly recalled that some of his old friends would be coming to the capital soon. If those old fellows were to taste these dishes, they would probably become addicts on the spot.
By the time Mr Wang finally regained his senses, there were only scattered dishes and cups left on the table. He gaped in shock with his chopsticks still raised in his right hand. All the dishes had been completely emptied. Some of the customers had even poured the remaining bits of sauce into their bowls and scarfed it down with rice.
“Damn it, I’ve lived for over thirty years and I’ve never tasted anything as delicious as this before,” lamented a stocky middle-aged man wearing a short tunic.
Mr Wang slammed his chopsticks on the table in a fit of anger. Although he looked down on this group of people for wolfing down all the food without any manners at all, he realised that he would have acted the same way if he hadn’t been lost in his thoughts. Actually, Mr Wang had the same laments as that stocky man. Compared to that man’s thirty years of life, the fifty-year-old Mr Wang was starting to think that all the food he had eaten before had gone to waste.
After eating such amazing food, he felt that the past fifty years of his life were spent living in hell.
The excitement of Guilin Restaurant’s opening finally drew to a close.
Now that the opening had officially ended, the old west market started to recover some of its usual peace and quiet.
When night fell, Chu Lian returned to the Jing’an Estate together with her servants. Manager Qin would take care of the remaining business at Guilin Restaurant, so she didn’t have to do anything else.
When she returned to the estate, she first reported everything over at Qingxi Hall before returning to her Songtao Court. Senior Servant Gui knew what Chu Lian’s habits were like; after such a busy day, Chu Lian was definitely going to take a good rest.
Thus, she had already prepared some soup for Chu Lian. After Chu Lian took a bath and ate some red bean porridge, she immediately entered her bedroom and laid down.
The next day, before the sun had even risen, the narrow entrance of the old west market seemed to have regained some of its past glory.
It wasn’t just the richer common folk who had gathered there. There were even expensive-looking carriages from different noble estates lined up at the market’s entrance.
In order to stay close to Guilin Restaurant and be at hand for any matters, Manager Qin slept in one of the courtyards at the back of Guilin Restaurant. Now that the opening day was over, it was as if a burden had lifted from everyone’s hearts. When it was time to rest at night, their hearts and minds had already completely relaxed.
However, before they could get a good night’s sleep, someone knocked loudly at Guilin Restaurant’s entrance.
Manager Qin struggled to open his eyes. He got off the bed and pushed the windows open a little. When he saw that it was still dark outside and that the moon was still hanging high in the sky, he guessed that it was around 4 in the morning.
Just as he was about to return to bed and continue sleeping, there was a knock on the door of his room. “Manager Qin, Manager Qin! Wake up! Come over to the entrance and take a look! Someone charged into the restaurant!”
What!
Manager Qin was shocked wide awake thanks to the furious knocks on his door and the anxious tone of the server outside. He didn’t bother trying to go back to bed and instead tugged on his outer robe and opened the door.
“What’s going on?!”
The server was carrying a lantern. When he noticed that Manager Qin looked like he had just gotten out of bed, he quickly explained, “The entrance was filled with people. For some reason, Ah-zhong opened the door and those people just charged right in. They’ve been making a ruckus about reserving a table. I was going to call more of our staff to chase them off, but some of the people in the crowd look like the stewards of a noble house… The main hall’s already full, so it’s hard to ask them to leave now.”
The server’s face was creased with worry. He was sweating with tension, having to deal with this situation late at night. Furthermore, one of the manservants had reported that one of the doors had been broken from the crowd squeezing in…
Other people worried about whether they would get enough business. However, their Guilin Restaurant had to worry about how they were going to chase away their customers!
When this thought passed through the server’s head, he had to resist the urge to sigh.
Manager Qin had first thought that some hoodlums were trying to cause trouble for them. Who could have expected that it was actually their customers? He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but he didn’t dare to tarry. He changed into decent clothes and followed the server out to the main hall to deal with the situation.
Although their owner was House Jing’an’s Third Young Madam, there were too many nobles in the capital. A single moment of carelessness could mean accidentally offending some noble family and bringing disaster upon themselves.
In the dark of the night, Manager Qin and a few of his more capable subordinates got to work. It wasn’t until daybreak that they finally appeased this crowd of people and got them settled. However, without even giving him the time to take a short break or even a sip of water, another crowd arrived. There were a few middle-aged men in the lead. Before they got to the entrance of Guilin Restaurant, they pointed out the entrance to the people behind them with smiles on their faces. At this distance, he couldn’t tell what they were saying.
It wasn’t even time for the restaurant to open, but Manager Qin was already sitting by the reception counter with a cup of tea. When he saw that twenty or more people were walking towards them from afar, he felt his head go numb.
Those… those people weren’t here to have a meal or reserve a table, right?
Their tables had been booked all the way up till next next month!
As wise as Manager Qin was, he had never experienced such a situation before. In the end, he sent someone to report this matter to Chu Lian. Fortunately, he was given a solution to deal with this problem- at least temporarily.
