Encountering such an unreasonable and peculiar girl, Yi Xiaofei always felt like he had been played by Lu Wanyin. But what can you do? As long as there's money to be made! After all, this was also a part-time job for him.
In the big city, Yi Xiaofei, who was new to the scene, found the cost of living a bit too much to bear.
After settling things with Lu Wanyin, Yi Xiaofei rode his electric scooter away from Jinghua University and returned to Fate Restaurant.
However, regarding the delivery incident, Yi Xiaofei didn't breathe a word about the trouble he faced, and simply visited Proprietress Ye Mengyan's office, telling her that he had landed a big client.
Proprietress Ye Mengyan didn't pay too much attention to this, since Fate Restaurant was never short of customers. The taste of their dishes guaranteed customer satisfaction. Most of the customers were regulars.
The busy day passed quickly. When night arrived, Fate Restaurant was open until midnight, and the customers dining at this hour were undoubtedly here for the late-night food stalls and supper.
As it was the transition between spring and summer, more and more people were eating supper, and the business was booming. Just as they were short-staffed, Yi Xiaofei stayed to help out. The help he offered was quite easy—mainly serving dishes and cleaning up tables after customers had left.
"Waiter! Bring over three more cases of beer! Make it quick, the boys are waiting to drink!"
At one of the tables, there were two groups of people who looked like troublemakers, each one looking fierce, and they spoke with a careless tone. Each was tattooed here and there.
"Coming right up!"
Those serving these tables didn't dare to dawdle, quickly bringing over three cases of beer.
"Feh! The chick from yesterday was really wild, pampered me so good! That place is not bad, you guys should check it out when you're free! Just drop my name, Lord Hu, and you might even get a discount!"
He spat a thick glob of phlegm onto the ground.
"What are you looking at? What's with that face!"
The bald man who referred to himself as Lord Hu, looking at someone nearby, glared with both eyes, thinking his spitting had been scorned by others.
"Big brother! No, no! I didn't... look!"
The waiter, under that glare, felt his legs go weak; after all, this group of people was not to be trifled with.
"Hmph... Look again, and I'll have you lick it off the ground!"
"Ha ha! Lord Hu is so domineering!"
"Our Lord Hu is a real man!"
"We'll have to rely on you, Lord Hu, in this area from now on!"
...
The other men at the table, raising their glasses at this moment, were undoubtedly flattering him.
And even though Lord Hu knew the words were flattery, he was delighted to hear them.
"Come on! Drink up! Let's have a good time today, as long as everyone's happy!"
Lifting their glasses, they clinked them together and drank heartily.
They continued drinking till about half-past eleven, by which time both tables of people were staggering drunk.
However, at this time, the people at both tables had left, and Lord Hu gestured to everyone inside the restaurant.
"Come! Time to settle the bill!"
This statement made the waitstaff at Fate Restaurant all sigh in relief, fearing most that these people would play the scammers, eating their fill and then not even paying the bill.
"Um... big brother, the two tables together consumed 1435 yuan, but let's just round it off, and the total comes to 1400 yuan!"
"1400 yuan, that's quite a fair price! Look, this time we brought so many brothers to patronize your place, you should show some gesture of goodwill. This entire area is under our control, and if we want your restaurant to stay open, it stays open. If we want you to close, that's also very easy! So let's do it this way, we had a great meal, get your boss to come out! Give us tens of thousands, then afterwards, our brothers can go have some fun! Of course, how much exactly, that depends on your boss's sincerity! If it's satisfactory, I ensure your restaurant will have no trouble for half a year!"
Picking at his teeth casually with a toothpick in his right hand, he spoke nonchalantly.
His words made the faces of Fate Restaurant's staff turn sour. These shameless thugs had not only eaten for free but were now demanding money, they really had no shame.
At this time, someone had gone to notify Proprietress Ye Mengyan, and others went to the kitchen to ask people to come out, figuring that the more people there were, the safer it would be in case of a conflict.
Meanwhile, at an empty table next to where the two tables of customers sat, Yi Xiaofei was sitting there, with one leg casually propped over the other, cracking sunflower seeds and watching everything unfold with a calm demeanor.
"This guy is interesting! He looks quite manly, but he's wearing such cutesy cartoon underwear!"
A glint appeared in Yi Xiaofei's eyes. With the help of the Dragon Pattern Ring, he managed to get a clear view of the bald man known as Lord Hu's underwear, which was adorned with a cute, pink little bunny—a stark and embarrassing contrast to his tough image in Yi Xiaofei's view.
However, at this time, the atmosphere in the restaurant was undoubtedly tense, so the sound of Yi Xiaofei cracking sunflower seeds seemed somewhat out of place.
"Who! Who's not paying for their meal?"
A familiar voice rang out. Yi Xiaofei was well acquainted with this voice—without a doubt, it was Proprietress Ye Mengyan making her entrance. At this moment, however, in both of Ye Mengyan's hands were cleavers, delivering a visually impactful impression.
But the appearance of the proprietress didn't intimidate the thugs; on the contrary, it made their eyes gleam with lust.
Such a knockout! They were the new gang recently deployed to this area and hadn't expected that the owner of Fate Restaurant would be a woman—and such a sizzling hot one at that.
Those legs, that chest! The kind you could play with for a year and never get bored.
She was leagues above the women from the sleazy joints, incomparable, in fact.
"So you want to dine and dash and then take money from us?"
Facing their gazes, Ye Mengyan didn't care a bit. With kitchen knives in hand, she walked over, chest out, and her presence didn't falter a bit.
However, to Yi Xiaofei, it was apparent from the proprietress's eyes and subtle gestures that she was nervous at that moment. Putting on a brave front, her defiance at that instant was clearly intended to intimidate the thugs. It seemed running a restaurant wasn't an easy job.
"Ay! So the boss lady is quite the beauty, that's a different matter altogether!"
At this time, Lord Hu swallowed hard, eyeing Ye Mengyan's body. To land a woman as stunning as her would be worth shortening his life by a few years.
"Different matter or not, pay up and get lost! We won't do business with you ever again!"
Ye Mengyan swung the cleavers in her hands, and the staff of Fate Restaurant stood behind her, undoubtedly bolstering the proprietress's courage.
"You little punk! Still eating sunflower seeds, with everything that's going on? Can't you see this is not the time to be so leisurely!"
Li Qian stood at the back, looking at Yi Xiaofei who seemed completely out of place, wondering how he could have such a nephew who seemed as if he was just watching a play.