Chapter 35 The Second Waiter

After five days, Shen Ye returned from his travels and reopened his new restaurant. Naturally, the customers voiced their discontent: "Boss, are you too impulsive? Is there any restaurant that opens just to close again after a few days for rest?" Shen Ye declared domineeringly, "No worries. I have confidence in the food I make." In the end, the customers could only say helplessly, "Boss, this isn't the taste of food at all. We're all switching to other places. Fine, you win. I wonder how you manage it—has it been mixed with opium poppy shells or something?" "The boss who adds opium poppy shells only wants to earn more money. Someone like me, a lazybones, would never do that," Shen Ye retorted. Finally, the customers nodded in resignation: "Fine, boss, you win. Given your laziness, it's impossible for you to go out and procure opium poppy shells. So this world is truly unfair—such an undiligent person can create such delicious food. Oh, god of delicacies." For the old and regular customers' complaints, Shen Ye was always generous. He opened the shop for a few more days. One morning at ten o'clock, Shen Ye was listening to music, a recently popular internet song titled "Self-Hanging Southeast Branch." The lyrics were extraordinarily cheerful: "After a new rain in the empty mountains, I hang from the southeast branches. Wanting to see a thousand miles, I hang from the southeast branches. No words from relatives and friends, I hang from the southeast branches. Life in the world not satisfying, better to hang from the southeast branches. Autumn wind rustling, morning wind howling, chrysanthemums withered but still proud of the frost. Qian Bo is old, how long can the moth eyebrows turn? Raise a cup to invite the bright moon, a red apricot branch peeks over the wall. Lowering my head thinking of hometown, a red apricot branch peeks over the wall. Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, a red apricot branch peeks over the wall. Once inside the Hou mansion, deep as the sea, several red apricot branches peek over the wall." Listening to it, Shen Ye nearly sang along himself. At that moment, the restaurant door was pushed open. "It's not yet eleven o'clock, and it's not business hours yet," Shen Ye said without lifting his head. "I'm not here to eat. I'm here to apply for the position of waitress," came a delicate voice. Shen Ye felt the voice familiar and looked up. In the sunlight at the entrance, a girl in a black-and-white maid outfit stood gracefully, with lace flowers in her hair, a pretty face, smooth skin, white stockings, and white shoes. She smiled confidently, as if saying you can eat your fill while staring in surprise. Shen Ye rubbed his eyes, doubtful: "Lin Xiaolei? How did you get here? It's not vacation time yet for junior high third year, right?" Lin Xiaolei walked happily to Shen Ye's side: "Last time at the International Grand Hotel, didn't grandpa tell you? I'm not with my parents anymore but with grandpa. Grandpa is doing business in Yangcheng, so I've come here too, and I'm studying at the Pipa Zhou Experimental Middle School nearby." "You're studying here. But wearing such a maid outfit to school? That's too shameful." Shen Ye frowned. Lin Xiaolei rolled her eyes: "Do you think I'm dumb? How could I wear this to school? I like cosplay but don't want my classmates to know. I wear this to apply for waitress at your shop." "Slow down, my brain can't process this." Shen Ye was puzzled: "Your grandpa is rich; why do you need to work?" "I don't want to study all day. I told grandpa that working at your shop was fun, so I want to be a waitress there." Lin Xiaolei said proudly. "You haven't asked if I accept waitresses?" Shen Ye said. "With a pretty waitress like me, would you refuse?" Lin Xiaolei widened her eyes, making a cute face. "I just realized you're quite vain about beauty." Shen Ye said helplessly: "Okay, you can be a waitress, but at most one to two hours a day. The rest of the time you still have to study. After all, you're a student; learning comes first." "Yes, sir!" Lin Xiaolei struck a report pose, hands together pointing to her temple: "This is my first job in life, one to two hours a day, how much pay per month." "Miss Lin also cares about salary. Your shift is short, so a thousand yuan." Shen Ye said. "A thousand is little, but fine. It's money I earned myself." Then Lin Xiaolei said apologetically: "The 'Legend of the Condor Heroes' you gave me—I was keeping it as a treasure, it's beautiful. In a dispute with my parents, several pages were torn. I glued them back with tape later; you won't blame me, right?" Her eyes showed embarrassment. Shen Ye smiled: "What? It's just a book. How could I blame you." "Hey, how can you not blame me? This is a very meaningful gift." Seeing Shen Ye not care, Lin Xiaolei got annoyed. Shen Ye covered his head, a 14-15-year-old girl is still a woman. Women are such incomprehensible creatures. When Wen Xiuting arrived and saw Lin Xiaolei, she was surprised. After a few explanations, Wen Xiuting smiled, "Welcome." She was originally a gentle woman, everything good. And after Lin Xiaolei became a waitress, Shen Ye discovered her great hobby: cosplay. Maybe suppressed too much at home before. At Shen Ye's, she changed into cosplay outfits whenever free: first black-and-white maid, then red-and-white miko, bunny girl. Later, some anime characters: Haruhi Suzumiya, Black Cat, and Asuna and such. This added many customers to the seaside villa, mostly anime-obsessed otaku men who photographed Lin Xiaolei in cosplay with their phones. This made Shen Ye quite melancholic: seriously, this is a restaurant, not a cosplay base, okay. More days passed. Shen Ye felt he had rested enough and it was time to do something big. Previously, finding criminals required searching everywhere. But now, he often visited the Chopsticks Hero Official Website's forum, the third division, the criminal forum. Various users provided various criminal cases. However, he still needed to verify the authenticity himself. "Suburban imperial capital, a private group that likes to abduct single women staying in hotels, why abduct unknowns." A message caught Shen Ye's eye. It detailed a single woman at the Ande Hotel in the imperial capital suburbs, tracked and forcibly dragged by a stranger, grabbed by hair and pulled, shouting loudly but security didn't intervene, janitors just watched. As more people gathered, the stranger escaped. The girl posted angrily rebuking the security's coldness and the hotel manager's passive handling. Shen Ye narrowed his eyes at this post. Imperial capital was a bit far. Temporarily pay attention. If find a better target in Yangcheng, handle that first. Otherwise, he might need to go to the imperial capital and do one case. Then he continued scrolling down. (Second update delivered, one more after twelve o'clock.)