Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 1007 - 492: This Is What You Call a Slight Increase in Foot Traffic?
6:37 AM, He Cheng, who had overslept and only woke up on the seventh ring of his alarm, rushed into Yunzhong Restaurant wearing a wrinkled shirt, still half-asleep and disoriented.
As soon as he entered the cafeteria, He Cheng suspected he was still dreaming.
How else to explain the scene before him? It was clearly only 6:37 AM, yet Yunzhong Restaurant was bustling, crowded, and bursting with noise, every seat taken.
Why were these familiar faces, people who normally wouldn't arrive until 7, sitting so peacefully at the tables now, many small empty plates in front of them, smiles of happiness and satisfaction on their faces, exuding kindness, with even the air around them brimming with joy?
Why was there such a long line at this hour, with the usually post-8 AM hungry office workers already in queue, fatigued yet excited, the dark circles under their eyes and vacant stares betraying their work stress, but their restrained smiles and animated expressions revealing their delight?
What a magical scene this was?
He Cheng thought he had been in Laishan City for more than a month, and had never seen anything like this in Yunzhong Restaurant.
Without hesitation, He Cheng's brain might be frozen, but he knew what to do; he silently stood at the end of the line and started queuing.
No matter the situation, getting in line is the way to go.
At the counter, a young server shouted, "No need to queue if you want a regular breakfast; you can buy it directly at the window on the far right!"
No one paid attention; everyone was resolutely queuing up.
In front of He Cheng were two formally dressed office workers with IDs hanging around their necks, tired yet excited, typing away on their phones and conversing in low voices.
"Even though that guy Wang is a jerk for making us get to the office by 7 for the meeting prep, if it weren't for him, we wouldn't be here at Yunzhong Restaurant so early to catch Master Qin's return. That jerk Wang is quite nice in that regard."
"Indeed, despite doing all those bad things, he managed to do something good."
"Not sure if there's any rice cake left; I just heard Grandpa Wang at table 9 say that Master Qin's rice cake today is amazing. He went to Hangzhou's Zhiwei Restaurant to learn how to make rice cake. Imagine, with Master Qin's skills, he spent months just to learn rice cake. It must be incredible!"
The response to this was two gulping sounds, one from his colleague and one from He Cheng.
He Cheng instinctively looked over at table 9, where Xu Tuqiang was sitting, talking animatedly, looking smug and self-righteous as he spoke at length.
"All of you, acting as if you love Master Qin's snacks so much, but when Master Qin leaves for just a few months, you've all forgotten about him. You didn't even know Master Qin was back, and his rice cakes and Yam Cakes went on sale at 6. You arrived at 6:17 because I reminded you in the group. Does this make sense? Is this right? Does this align with our morning running club's mission to have breakfast?" Xu Tuqiang lamented.
Uncle Wang retorted, "You talk as if you knew Master Qin was coming back today."
"I didn't know, but I stayed at Yunzhong Restaurant! Without me, how would you have had the first batch of rice cakes? Look at this line; I'm telling you, the word has already spread, and within 10 minutes, the delivery guys will be here. Without my first call, you'd still be queuing at the end, especially you, Wang, going home to take a bath. By the time you finished, the delivery guys would have already bought them." Xu Tuqiang, unusually justified, replied mercilessly, his sharp words like bullets darting toward Uncle Wang, leaving him speechless.
"Moreover!" Xu Tuqiang raised his voice, "Don't you know what kind of person Master Qin is? Like Master Xiao Zheng, Master Qin is deeply passionate about his snack-making career. What he loves the most is seeing his snacks gone the moment they come out of the stove. And you?"
"If we kept going to Yunzhong Restaurant every morning at 6, no matter when Master Qin comes back, his 6 AM first batch would be sold out instantly. But you got lazy, you slacked, thinking that Master Xiao Zheng's 7 AM breakfast batch was enough. You never imagined Master Qin might suddenly return."
"Do you think you've done right by Master Qin?"
"Master Qin traveled all the way from Hangzhou. Luoluo told me this morning. Master Qin not only came back but also brought back a snack master specializing in flaky pastries from Zhiwei Restaurant in Hangzhou. They were both here in Yunzhong Restaurant last night at 8, going over the kitchen setup."
"Is this how you repay Master Qin? You go out for a morning run, but instead of heading straight to Yunzhong Restaurant, you went home to do laundry, bathe, rest, watch TV, read newspapers, drink tea… Are these things so important?"
