The father and son inside and outside the counter exchanged a glance, then turned their heads away, staring at the guest who didn't even glance at them, rattling off dish names like reciting a list, with a few black lines simultaneously appearing on their foreheads.
The son, whose thoughts were interrupted, hesitated for a moment, stepped forward and greeted this seemingly impulsive guest, quickly squeezing out a sunny business smile: "Sorry, dear customer, it's already very late right now... we've just closed..."
"What did you say?"
Gu Mo's expression froze instantly while reciting dish names, and his voice seemed to surge up by at least ten decibels in an instant.
The highs and lows of life are no less than this; at this moment, his feelings were incredibly difficult to accept, just like after tirelessly grinding for days in a game, finally seeing a tool emit dazzling golden light, only for the effects to fade away revealing it's actually ordinary quality trash.
— Isn't this deceiving feelings!!
"C-calm down, sir..."
The boy named Yukihira seemed a bit intimidated by Gu Mo's momentum; he subconsciously took a step back, raised his hands defensively in front of him, cold sweat appearing on his forehead, and his smile turned particularly strained. He constantly felt like this guest came not to eat but to devour him.
"..."
"..."
After a brief silence, Gu Mo took a deep breath, circled the store's environment, and indeed saw that it was as said by the person across — obviously closed and ready for the night.
Tables and chairs were already arranged, just waiting for the final cleaning work to be completed before the lights and door can be shut.
Arriving a step late was an unavoidable matter.
He sighed, his face showing undisguised disappointment, waved his hand: "Sorry for bothering…" Despite the intense disappointment, the hunger combined with the peculiar aroma never experienced before almost made it hard for him to suppress himself, but ultimately, he couldn't act unreasonably.
Turning around, he walked toward the door, determined to immediately find a place to sit down and eat heartily.
Or just look nearby; they say people go where people gather, goods where goods cluster, so if all are opening stores around here, the quality should be fairly matched?
"Hold on, Yukihira…" The man behind the counter originally was just watching, not saying anything, suddenly spoke now, "Since it's a customer, how can we push away… It's just at this hour, we've basically exhausted ingredients; we can only offer a few dishes, how about this?"
Those last few words were directed at Gu Mo, who had stopped in his tracks.
"But… fine."
The boy named Yukihira seemed like he wanted to say something, but seeing his dad had already expressed, he didn't continue. Normally nobody wants to work overtime because work is just work, not a cherished hobby.
But he's different; this is his passion and interest, furthermore a life goal he's determined to pursue, so… at present, extending business hours a little doesn't bother him.
"Of course, no problem, I have only one request, that is as soon as possible!" Gu Mo nodded repeatedly, although it slightly deviated from his initial thought, but this moment couldn't demand too much — he just purely desired to enjoy a meal properly.
"Okay, okay…" The man nodded repeatedly, with a light, cheerful smile on his face.
At first, he thought somebody came at night to challenge, deliberately causing trouble, which wasn't impossible, because a real estate developer called "URBAN LIFE" recently seemed intent on developing this area, claiming to create a garden-style high-level residential community, initiated a land acquisition plan targeting town citizens.
Many nearby shops couldn't resist temptation and sold their land, and those not yielding to lucrative offers faced threats, business obstruction using various underhanded ways — if you don't drink the toast, you'll drink the penalty, forced land acquisition.
Recently, URBAN LIFE people persistently disrupted during business hours, iterating the same set, but since the father and son never planned to close the restaurant, they hadn't succeeded, so presumably, next will be the despicable method switch.
But now it looks like this is a simple diner, just hungry panicked, coincidentally running into closed doors, and not deliberately causing trouble...
This is quite delightful; pure chefs often enjoy these straightforward diners.
Hence, late night Yukihira Restaurant started bustling again, incompletely extinguished stoves reigniting flames. Father and son deftly dividing tasks, quickly stir-frying dishes, using scarce ingredients to prepare the best available dishes for the last guest.
Waves of enticing aroma wafting out.
Such fragrance!
Truly fragrant!
Sitting at the center table facing the counter, Gu Mo waited patiently while feeling incredibly impatient — he found it hard to articulate the mixture of smells, each interwoven yet distinctly separating, seemingly merely by scent, he already imagined their tastes.
Either tender and refreshing, spicy and flavorful, sweet and soft, colors and aromas seemingly forming a seamless whole, intensely memorable.