Maple and Jasmine returned to the haunted shop after the lantern festival ended, or more precisely, when the lanterns in the sky and the rush decreased. When they reached infront of the haunted shop, Maple felt a strange feeling sweeping through her. The shop didn't have any special qualities or anything, but somehow it was different from the properties in the same neighborhood. But, she couldn't quite put a finger on what was wrong or 'different'. She put aside her thoughts and pulled Jasmine into the shop to the kitchen that was filled with cacophony of sounds. Both of them took their seats at the designated station. After few minutes, the elegant man in hanfu clothing came in and clapped twice to catch the attention of all the participants in the room. When the room quited down, he began speaking, "First and foremost, I would like to thank-you all for participating in this competition of making tangyauns. All of you did quite well and yielded results outside of our expected range. However, one group from this year's competition was extraordinary. They not only exceeded our expectations in selling out all tangyauns in record time but also enjoyed their time at the festival. Normally, participants don't get a chance to enjoy the festival because their focus is on selling tangyauns. But, because today we surassed that limit, our shop is throwing a feast for all participants. We will not only provide special tangyauns for our participants, but also a main course this year. The results for the competition will be announced after the dinner".
The elegant man once again clapped his hands twice, and many waiters brought in main course food along with special tangyauns.
Elegant man: Please enjoy :)
All the participants began devouring the food as wolves. Maple and Jasmine were also hungary and didn't hold back. After a while, when their hunger was beginning to be satiated, their eating pace slowed down. Maple picked up a special tangyaun and put it in Jasmine's plate and wished her, "May we become best of friends and live long and prosperous lives doing many good deeds to meet in heaven again".
Jasmine was only staring at the tangyaun in her plate. Her eyes were sticked to tangyaun and only her big fake eyelashes were seen that she wore for interview. Her eyes were hiding behind that fake facade and it was unknown what type of emotion she was feeling. Maple on the other hand, babbled on and on about her life and how happy she was about meeting a new friend.
Jasmine suddenly looked up from her plate and stared intently at Maple. Maple still not noticing her intense gaze continued to talk to her non-stop while scooping a tangyaun. And the moment she put tangyaun in her mouth, she had blissful expression on her face. She liked it so so much that after chewing, she began praising tangyaun nonstop..."Oh my, this is so amazing. I have never eaten this tasty tangyaun before. This should be a national treasure and protected. Oh..I love this taste in my mouth..."
Jasmine interrupted her train: Why did you wish me, what you wished while giving me tangyaun?
Maple: Wish? Oh...Tangyaun is eaten with family or friends and signifies a reunion. So, whenever we part, we will meet again soon is what it technically means.
Maple was going further in explaining tangyaun's history, but Jasmine simply took another tangyaun and stuffed it into Maple's mouth. Maple was almost choking, but then she dipped her pinky finger in a nearby sauce and smeared it on Jasmine's face to take revenge for choking her. Jasmine, not to be outdone, took a glass of water from the table and splashed in Maple's direction. Maple's eyes got shocked at Jasmine's action and her heart jumped with excitement. Maple ducked down. The water was splashed on the person behind Maple who was eating a spicy chicken wing. The person's back was drenched in water. The person turned around with her spicy chicken in hand and like a ball, threw it in Jasmine's direction. Jasmine carefully ducked as well, and the spicy chicken crashed on a head of a white haired lady. The old lady fuming with rage took the salad plate and threw it like a frisbee dish in the direction of the girl that had threw spicy chicken leg. The spicy chicken girl didn't even move an inch, and frisbee disk landed beside her on her brother who was making fun of spicy chicken girl. Now, it was spicy chicken girl's turn to laugh at her brother. Soon, the kitchen was turned into a battlefield. Those who dared to laugh or stay neutral (not attacking anyone) were the first ones to get bombarded with sauces and water.
The elegant man in hanfu returned to the kictchen only to find it in a shabby condition--all the floor tiles, windows, and ceilings were stained with oil and sauces, the food was scattered on floor--he was agitated after seeing this condition. He lost all his composure and began to shout, "Stopp alll off youuu...!" But he was greeted with a pancake on his face. He was no longer an elegant man, but an agitated man. Nonetheless, the battlefield was coming to a ceasefire.
Agitated man: All of you should be ashamed of your behaviour. Do you all know how hard farmers work to grow just a grain of rice? Than that single grain of rice has to be harvested and go through multiple stages before coming infront of you to eat. How can you all just disrepect and waste food like that?????
All the people present their were ashamed of their actions, their heads were bowed down in shame, and they couldn't lift their eyes to meet each others.
Agitated man: Good that all of you are ashmed of your actions. However, just being regretful doesn't make your acts just disappear. What's been done is done. You all will have to deal with consequences. Firstly, you all will be punished to clean this kitchen.
Secondly, you all will be spending your next 8 weekends on farmer's farm to help them harvest or pluck out fruits. This will be an invaluable lesson for you all. Last but not least, whoever doesn't accept the consequences will be sued for vandalizing the kitchen and be reported to the police. Furthermore, they will be pressed charges against wasting food. Since, our country, China, enacted a law in 2021 about food wastage. The serious violaters will have to pay up to 10,000 yaun. We have the cctv footage as the evidence. So, I hope that all of you will instead accept your punishment of cleaning the kitchen and going to help out at farms on your weekends. My assistant has all of your numbers, we will create a special group to give out information on tge location and timing.
Some people were displeased with the arrangement, but were scared to be reported, while some were scared to pay the fine, while some just accepted their punishment whole heartedly.
Agitated man: The rewards for this competition will be postponed because of the chaos. The reward ceremony will be held on the last day of your 8-week-weekend farm work.
The agitated man clapped his hands twice and ordered everyone to begin cleaning the kitchen.