Away from the shop, the air cleared.
Xia Yu looked back at the frightening number of people in line, murmuring to himself.
It wasn't even five o'clock yet, and more than an hour remained before the shop opened for business. However, the queue seemed almost equal to the shop's maximum capacity for the night.
In other words, latecomers wouldn't bother waiting in vain; seeing the queue, they'd just turn back and go home.
Young customers were always full of enthusiasm, and this enthusiasm came more from the novelty. Perhaps in a month or two, the bustling scene in front of the shop would return to normal, but there was another possibility: it might not only persist but also expand.
So, Xia Yu was contemplating how to establish a stable business rule that would prevent those in line from skipping work or classes to wait idly and would prevent latecomers from making a wasted trip, leaving with resentment.
Should he learn from other restaurants and open online reservations?
Reservations weren't a bad idea.
In the new era, one had to adapt to the trend of queuing online and dining offline.
The question was, what good dining software was available on the Neon side?
In his previous life's homeland, Xia Yu knew many such softwares, like Meituan, Ele.me, etc. As a merchant, he could let customers purchase dining vouchers online, saving the hassle of dealing with cash in reality.
"Start my own website?" Xia Yu shook his head.
There wasn't enough time.
He was clueless about building and maintaining a website, and hiring staff seemed unnecessary. Xia Yu planned to search thoroughly for a good dining app here in Neon after tonight and quickly establish a reservation system.
In the old shopping street, the queue in front of Xia's shop made other stores appear even more deserted.
Passing by an old noodle restaurant, a shout came from inside that Xia Yu was all too familiar with. He couldn't help but smile inwardly, "Uncle Nishio is drunk again, huh? He's like a daily feature on entertainment shows, always going on drunken sprees."
The noodle restaurant owner, a middle-aged uncle addicted to alcohol, had been divorced, living alone for years, and never had a good temper. Xia Yu understood this.
He intended to take a stroll to the newer shopping street ahead to breathe in the modern urban air. Unexpectedly, a group of people suddenly ran out of the noodle restaurant.
Bam!
One young man, looking like a business person in a suit, even bumped into Xia Yu.
Ever since enhancing his physique to level 20, Xia Yu could carry a pot and wield a ladle, cooking for six consecutive hours without much fatigue. So, when the person bumped into him, he stood his ground, unmoving.
"Careful there," he said while supporting the young man, who was nearly knocked over. Xia Yu was speechless.
"Th-thanks!"
Before he could regain balance, seeing the burly men chase out of the noodle shop, the young man's face darkened, and he turned to run.
Passersby nervously avoided the noodle restaurant.
"Those little brats!" The noodle shop owner, hands on his hips, spat at the group making a run for it. Turning to Xia Yu, he grinned, "You're quite something!"
He then placed a large hand on Xia Yu's shoulder.
"Aren't you drunk?" Xia Yu noticed Uncle Nishio's clear eyes and was astonished.
Upon hearing that, Uncle Nishio's face darkened. He shook his hand, saying, "These days, that group of brats has been annoying me. I'm too frustrated and bloated with anger to drink!"
"Oh?" Xia Yu was curious, "Who are they?"
This puzzled Uncle Nishio instead.
"Haven't they been to your place?"
"No..." Xia Yu vaguely understood something.
Smack. Uncle Nishio slapped his thigh, his face darkened even more. "Surely because you've been running your cuisine shop well these days, they're afraid to mess with you, so they start with us softer targets."
"Developers?" Xia Yu probed.
"You know the City Life Planning Company, right? Their chairman is said to be some real estate queen. Heh, she's quite cute. I've seen her on TV. Tokyo TV Station even did a special feature on her..."
Wait a minute.
City Life Planning Company.
Why did the name seem familiar?
Xia Yu couldn't remember for a moment and rubbed his brow, asking, "Uncle Nishio, are you saying our old shopping street is being harassed by this real estate company?"
"Not exactly harassed. The price they offer is reasonable. If my wife hadn't left with the kids, I would've sold this small shop and gone back to live in the countryside."
Uncle Nishio stroked his chin and pointed to the depths of the old shopping street.
"Remember the store opposite your cuisine shop? It used to be a grocery store, right? The old lady there died alone at home recently. Her body was just discovered a few days ago. After the police called back her son, I heard he left after dealing with the aftermath and sold the store to the City Life Planning Company..."
Xia Yu nodded.
With the sirens so noisy the other day, how could he not have heard? But at the time, he was focused on studying dishes in the God of Cooking Space. An Ya and Mu Xiaoyue probably went to watch, and they even discussed it with him at the dinner table that night.
Dying alone had become a societal phenomenon in Neon, something Xia Yu had seen and heard of many times, leaving him unfazed.
What concerned him was that the grocery store opposite Xia's cuisine shop had been acquired by this City Life Planning Company?
That wasn't good.
Originally, it being a grocery store wasn't a big deal, but if it were to be renovated into a new restaurant, wouldn't that be a headache? Xia Yu scratched his cheek.
"I've heard that the adjacent Japanese-style bathhouse, which has been closed for years, is also talking with the construction company," Uncle Nishio playfully patted Xia Yu's shoulder. "Rumor has it that the company wants to create a modern food and shopping street here. With skyscrapers and Western-style restaurants, and considering the traffic from Ueno Station, it sounds like a lucrative project hidden beneath a mountain of gold."
Finished speaking, the uncle hummed a little tune, turned his back, and leisurely returned to his noodle shop.
The old shopping street faced a very real problem. Over the past year or two, Xia Yu had noticed the new shopping street's expansion accelerating, compressing the ancient and wind-swept district, now occupying barely a third of the area.
Emotionally, Xia Yu didn't want to see the old shopping street, so full of cultural charm, swallowed by the urban jungle of steel. However, rationally, he realized he might not be able to stop this progression.
Pushing aside the troublesome trivial matters, Xia Yu came out to clear his mind.
Reaching the boundary between the old and new districts, Xia Yu planned to return. Unexpectedly, he glimpsed a boy and a girl quarreling in a nearby alley.
"It's all your fault for being late! We won't be able to get a spot in line!"
"The time we arrived was only separated by a few minutes. It seems about the same, doesn't it...?"
"I don't want to hear it!"
The girl, adorable and pretty, had characteristically golden hair tied into twin tails like an anime character. She was quite upset, constantly waving her twin tails at the bespectacled boy, obviously using them as weapons.
Uh.
Xia Yu couldn't help but stare blankly.
Familiar characters, what was this overwhelming sense of déjà vu all about?