One more week had passed for Rex, but to him it had felt like a month as he had been on the move everyday as he prepared for his shops grand opening. He had bought all kinds of equipment that were needed, scoured all the corners of the North Blue Mountain City to find his ingredients and he was exhausted, but pleased.
' Heh, who would have thought that a cultivator, even someone like me who is still in the Qi Gathering stage to open a restaurant.' thought Rex as he saw his modifications to the first floor. First he had separated the first floor of the building into two, one part for the customers and the other one was the kitchen he had constructed.
The kitchen wasn't that unique or beautiful in the first place , but it was decent with big wooden tables, a grill and a primitive stone refrigerator he had hastily constructed. Instead of being powered by electricity like in his old world, this refrigerator was cooled by and ingot of ' Glacier Steel' which had the property to absorb slight amounts of Qi from the atmosphere and turn it into Frost-Qi.
"Mhhm....I like it." smugly nodded Rex with his hands crossed. The feeling of creating something was very rewarding, but someone walking towards him made his calm down.
"Yeah, it's a nice kitchen alright, but is this really going to work?" said a somewhat deep male voice , making Rex turn to his left. There he saw a short (1.65m)and fat man that looked to be in his early forties wearing a black apron. He had very short hair and no facial hair to note , making him seem like someone with the face of a child, but that didn't matter as he was not a cultivator, but the cook of the shop.
His name was Bing Tao and he had been a cook for over 20 years in this town creating a name for himself and he even owned his own restaurant, but he had a problem. Because of his only son insisting of entering into a small Sect in this area despite his poor talent's at Cultivation he had been forced to sell his restaurant and even enter some dept to make his son not fall behind his peers, and that worked for the most part.
At first everything was ready okay, but even after supporting his only son for five years it wasn't enough. His son only complained about not having enough resources to advance his cultivation and asked for more, but there was no more as no one would lend him money. Fortunately Rex was looking for someone skilled enough and he didn't care that much for the salary , so he and his wife were immediately hired.
" Tao.... what makes you think that this won't work?" said Rex as he raised his eyebrow " Is it because of the location or maybe.....
Bing Tao nodded his head as if he knew what Rex was about to say." It's as I've said before to you. Although this ' Sandwich' dish you have described is something I haven't heard before and maybe something genuinely good, the way it's to be eaten is, to say the least ba barbaric. Stuffing your face and eating with your hands is something only lower class people would do.
I firstly would not eat here." said Bing Tao , making Rex roll his eyes.
"Taooo....
"What?"
" I know that you dislike the food I decided to serve here and want to do the menu if your old restaurant...and I know that it would be a good idea, but don't forget that I own this place and you work for me. Now go see if the bread that we ordered today from Liu has arrived.
Go...." said Rex before turning to face forward again.
Bing Tao was surprised at Rex's words at first and he became a little angry, but did as he was told and went to see if the bread that they had ordered from Liu's bakery was ready leaving only Rex in the building.
'Huuuuuu.... what a headache!' thought Rex ' I really suck at beeing a boss to someone and can only be blunt at them, but can I be blamed though?I know he wants to not move from doing the same dishes he is used to do and doesn't want to waste his skills is doing simple sandwiches, but should I care?
The answer is no.'
...........
One more hour passed and the sun had just under 30 minutes then it had risen. Compared to the empty streets that would be normal for modern Earth as most people would he still sleeping, the North Blue Mountain City was beaming with people, mostly workers at the mine located at the Northern Mountain.
These people were usually non-cultivators or people that had little cultivation and were slightly stronger than normal people. They chatted loudly as they sometimes laughed at each other's jokes as they did everyday, but something caught their attention. The usual streets that should be empty besides them were lined with some young and pretty women clad is seductive clothes that held wooden a sign in front of them.
"Huh..... what's that?" said out loud one of the young workers making the rest of his friends also turn to see.
"Huh, that.... isn't that one of the wenches that works at ' The Drunk Deer'? What is she doing her at this hour?
Don't tell me she was cast out on the streets!?"
"Bah, you're an idiot!" said one of the older workers" Read the sign that she is holding. She is not cast out, she is.....I don't know what she is doing."
"You don't know...then why the hell are you berating me then? You're the real idiot!"
"Why you little....
As a small fight broke out between them, others flocked at the woman holding the wooden sign and one of them went forward to ask.
"Uh, is what's written in the sign true? You're....you've started working at a restaurant?"
"Hehe...." sweetly in smiled the girl" No I've not quit my job, but I've been hired by the shop owner. Hehe.....do you want to try eating at the ' Flour Tongue' today? It's the grand opening after all...." said the girl in a seductive voice as she grabbed the man's hand. As soon as that happened she knew that she just won her first reward and smiled internally.
"Uhhh....haha, why not! The ' Flour Tongue' you said? "
"Yeah, it's a new restaurant that had opened at the old gambling house. It's first day after all.....
"Good, good I'll be sure to check it out."
As the man left a couple of others came and asked the same question and most of them showed interes on the sign and they went to see what this new restaurant had to offer.
.........
And so, because Rex used money to create a honey trap to attract customers, all the restaurant tables were full and Taos wife was sweating a little as she took each order.
" Are you okay? Do you need a hand?" said Rex at her as she saw her struggle , but she just waved him off so he just shrugged his shoulders and continued to observe the bewildered customers.
He smiled as they were like little children as they asked Tao's wife about that dishes they served and smiled even more as he saw the gears spinning on their head at the explanation. In total he had put in his menu five kinds of sandwiches and for drinks he had put, cold tea, hot tea and water, but even that seemed to much for them.
After five minutes explaining to each table, she put in the orders and in less than five minutes the dishes were on the table making the workers look at each other.
"Brother Lei, have you eaten something like this before?" said one young worker that looked no more than 18 , making man sitting next to him shake his head.
"No, I didn't recall to have eaten anything like this, but it just seems like bread stuffed with meat, and maybe cheese? Well I guess that it should be cheese as I ordered the ' Double Cheese Meat Delus' the woman called it? " said the one named Liu as he stared at the small and flat hot bread filled with 'stuf' and curiously took a bite.
At first he was disappointed, but with each bite he begun to feel more flavor and he could even notice the freshness of the ingredients so he devoured it in less than two minutes. After he did that he took a big gulp of the glass of cold water to the side and was surprised when he found small ice cube's in it.
'.....
He paused for a second as he thought about it, but he quickly took another gulp and the glass became empty and he smiled in content.
"Heh, the food doesn't seem all that bad."
And so the first day of the shop was over, but it had remained in the minds of the people as the talked about it, unconsciously advertising it to others. In less than one week the restaurant had become a spot for workers and others of slightly lower social status to quickly dine, but that was not all good. Although Tao's wife was hardworking she couldn't handle it, so Rex put up a sign that he was hiring .
"Is this the place Ding? " said a young and beautiful woman with long black hair band blue eyes as she stared at Rex's restaurant, and she received couple of squeaks from her robes. As she heard that she just nodded and entered inside.