This afternoon, Lin Xu originally planned to take some time to look for a house.
But there was just too much prep work.
He was so busy that there was simply no time at all.
So he just wrote it on the digital blackboard.
Anyway, most of the people who come to eat at the shop are locals from the neighborhood.
And there's enough foot traffic.
Maybe he'd just find a place suitable for himself like this.
"Holy crap! Oil-poured Noodles are finally on the menu!"
Li Qiang and his coworkers had just gotten out of a taxi when they spotted the digital blackboard at the shop entrance.
For the past couple days, they didn't have to work overtime.
After stuffing themselves, they could go home and play games and chill.
But today, they weren't so lucky.
After dinner, they'd have to cab back to the office and keep working overtime.
So none of them looked as relaxed as they did the last two days.
They came into the shop.
Li Qiang frowned, his face full of inner struggle:
"One is lively and spicy, the other is rich and sultry, both are my favorites, how am I supposed to choose?"
Lin Xu asked curiously:
"Qiang-ge, are you having some romantic luck these days?"
The last time someone said they loved both was He Shuhuan.
Who knew Qiang-ge could play at such a high level too.
Respect, bro!
Li Qiang waved his hand: "Nah, I just can't decide whether to eat Oil-poured Noodles or Noodles with Braised Eggplant and Pork Sauce first."
Lin Xu: "..."
Did you have to make it sound that flirty?
In the end, Li Qiang still followed his heart and chose the rich and sultry:
"Give me a big bowl of Noodles with Braised Eggplant and Pork Sauce first. I haven't eaten much meat lately, gotta make up for it."
As soon as he took the lead, everyone else picked Noodles with Braised Eggplant and Pork Sauce too.
Lin Xu headed to the kitchen.
Grabbed the rolling pin and got to work.
Li Qiang's arrival marked the official start of the dinner rush.
Not long after,
the chubby Panda, the half-asleep Yue Liyue, and the mushroom-cut genius girl Geng Lele all arrived too.
"Boss, you're looking to rent a place?"
The rental note on the digital blackboard at the door caught their attention.
Lin Xu said:
"Next week, our school is clearing out all the graduates, so I gotta hurry up and rent a place to move out. Living too far away makes coming to the shop inconvenient, so I want to find something nearby."
If it's close enough,
he could even go back to nap after the lunchtime rush.
For folks in the restaurant biz who are chronically sleep-deprived,
that's an absolutely irresistible perk.
"I'll ask around for you, see if anyone's got a suitable place."
Panda's e-commerce studio was nearby,
but he didn't live around here.
Not super familiar with the local area.
As for everyone else,
they were either hardcore homebody gamers or still in high school.
So they really couldn't help much either.
"Boss Lin, got any requirements for the place?"
In the corner,
an old man eating his noodles suddenly piped up.
Lin Xu knew this old fellow.
His surname was Gao.
Everyone called him Grandpa Gao.
Grandpa Gao always orders a small bowl every meal.
He quietly finishes it, drinks a bowl of soup, then gets up and leaves.
When Grandpa Gao asked,
Lin Xu thought seriously for a moment:
"No big requirements, just needs to be quiet. I gotta wash up and sleep as soon as I get back at night, and have to get up at four a.m. to buy groceries. If it's too noisy, it'll mess with my sleep."
When he said that,
everyone else got pretty emotional.
"We only ever see Boss Lin's business is great, who would've thought he has to wake up at four a.m.?"
"Yeah! Work all day, then go home with barely any time to even look at your phone, and just when sleep is the sweetest, you gotta get up again. The food business is really tough."
"Boss Lin, you gotta take care of yourself."
"Yeah, don't overdo it! You're already doing amazing as it is."
"..."
Grandpa Gao said:
"I've got a place in the neighborhood behind here, on the top floor. It's pretty quiet, only thing is it gets kind of hot in summer, so you've got to run the AC a lot. If you don't mind, you can move in—it's just had new furniture and appliances put in, and I was planning to find a tenant these days anyway."
This place sounds great.
Plenty quiet.
Super close too.
Lin Xu was tempted.
But he didn't have time to check it out right now, so he said:
"Can I come have a look tomorrow, Grandpa Gao? If it suits, I'll rent it."
Grandpa Gao smiled:
"Sure, I'll come find you tomorrow morning."
As the dinner rush hit,
the shop got more and more customers.
But unlike before,
today there were a lot more customers struggling with too many choices.
"I want Noodles with Braised Eggplant and Pork Sauce, but I also want to try the Oil-poured Noodles. How do I pick?"
"Yeah, it's a headache! Wish I had a bigger appetite, then I could order both."
"I want all three! Tomato Egg Noodles are delicious too."
"This decision is painful!"
"Why can't I eat more? If I had a big stomach, I wouldn't have to feel this bad!"
Lin Xu had never thought
that a bowl of noodles could get customers this obsessed.
Now he cooked ten bowls of noodles at once,
then either topped them with sauce, or ladled on mixed noodles sauce, sprinkled with chili powder mixed with Five-Spice Powder, and poured on sizzling hot oil.
This batch-cooking method was pretty handy.
Not as tiring as he imagined.
The only downside,
was it still couldn't keep up with customer demand.
Now Lin Ji's Food was getting more and more famous.
Customers were coming from farther and farther away to try it.
Hiring help was now urgent business.
Lin Xu planned to check out the job sites when he got home.
If there were any decent candidates, he could try contacting and interviewing them.
Work things out together.
Since he'd decided to win people's hearts with sincerity,
he'd look for staff who fit that bill.
As long as he could hire someone,
he'd get to join the Superior cold dish lucky draw.
That would definitely kick off another rush of customers.
As night fell,
Lin Ji's Food was getting busier than ever.
Customers flocked from all over, just wanting to taste the legendary noodles.
After trying it,
most people would sigh and say it was totally worth the trip.
And become die-hard fans of Lin Ji's Food.
At 7 p.m.,
the busy Lin Xu suddenly heard the system's notification sound:
"Host has successfully sold one thousand bowls of hand-pulled noodles, completed the main quest [Grand Opening], and earned one Perfect Level Braised Snack Lucky Draw entry. Draw now?"
What?
It's done?
Lin Xu was surprised.
He hadn't kept track of how many bowls he'd sold today.
He thought he'd have to wait until tomorrow to hit the thousand-bowl mark.
But it was already done.
"Draw!"
Since he'd earned the draw, Lin Xu didn't want to wait even a second.
He immediately made his choice to draw.
Now, it wasn't just customers anxious to see what braised snacks would be offered next.
Lin Xu was just as excited.
A fancy wheel appeared in his mind again.
All sorts of braised snacks were written on it:
Braised Pork Trotters, Braised Duck Neck, Braised Duck Wings, Braised Chicken Feet, Braised Chicken Gizzard, Braised Egg, Braised Pig Tail, Braised Pig Head, Braised Pig Ear, Spicy Chicken Feet, Spicy Duck Head…
The list of braised snacks was so dense it made Lin Xu's eyes blur.
The wheel started spinning slowly.
He hadn't even managed to read half the names.
The wheel spun faster and faster.
Lin Xu silently made a wish,
then hit the stop button.
Soon,
the wheel gradually came to a stop.
The system's notification sounded in his mind:
"Congratulations, host, you have received Perfect Level Braised Snack—Tiger Skin Chicken Feet."