The Three Realms' Top Restaurant - chapter 10
Business at E Le Me was booming more and more each day.
Strangely, however, aside from the regulars from Gray Street, the new customers from the Demon Realm and the Cultivation World always acted as if they were trying to be invisible.
They were like quails with their heads tucked in-the silent version.
They would enter, order, eat, and even line up to return their empty dishes to the kitchen.
Their whole vibe was: “We aren’t close, but we’re polite.”
I asked in confusion, “What’s wrong with them?”
Song Changshan didn’t even blink. “I don’t know. Maybe they’ve been conquered by the Shopkeeper’s charisma.”
I turned to ask Yu Qing.
Yu Qing’s eyes darted around, looking a bit guilty. “He’s right.”
The accountant, having been agreed with, let out an ambiguous “Tsk.”
I poked him hard in the lower back. “What are you ‘tsking’ for? What did you promise me?”
The shop’s rule was two days off a week, but lately, Song Changshan had been busy with who-knows-what and had taken several extra days off in a row.
Even though he’d cast a spell on his brush so the accounting work wouldn’t fall behind while he was gone, I was still a little worried.
Mainly because after living together for so long, I’d come to understand Song Changshan’s true nature.
He looked gentle and approachable, but in reality, he was petty, held grudges, and played dirty.
I was afraid he’d quietly pull off something huge, and we wouldn’t even have time to flee with him.
Unfortunately, no matter how I tried to fish for information, Song Changshan refused to tell me what he was busy with, only telling me to rest easy.
I couldn’t rest easy, and I didn’t want to let him out the door anymore.
Thus, to get his leave approved, Song Changshan was forced to promise me that he would stop being passive-aggressive toward Yu Qing.
“We’re all living together like a family. Why can’t we just get along?”
Song Changshan gave two expressionless “Ha-has” and turned to leave. His movements were so crisp that he completely lost his usual “frail willow in the wind” look.
That day, all the customers from the Demon Realm looked like they’d just escaped a typhoon; when they took their teacups, they thanked me with teary eyes.
Their polite behavior didn’t resemble the arrogant Demon Race at all; they looked more like well-behaved students who had been properly reformed.
Even after seeing off wave after wave of polite guests, I still had no idea what Song Changshan was doing on his days off.
As for Yu Qing, she never took leave, but she would leave Gray Street for a while on her days off.
Every time she came back, she was carrying bags of snacks and storybooks, so I just assumed she was out wandering and didn’t ask much.
However, perhaps because the only two people in the house with any combat power were away, I discovered something strange one ordinary weekend when I ran to the kitchen to make myself a private snack.
Some of the prepped ingredients in the kitchen seemed to be missing.
What was missing was all raw meat. Even if someone was starving, they wouldn’t steal raw meat to eat, right?
“Could it be rats?”
As soon as the words left my mouth, a strange noise came from the corner of the kitchen.
I picked up a kitchen knife and looked over warily, only to find that a water ladle had fallen into the vat.
And there was nothing near the water vat.
That night, I sprinkled a circle of newly bought rat poison around the backyard.
When I got up the next day, I found no dead rats, and another slab of pork belly was missing from the kitchen.
I was… beyond furious.
That meat was meant for my crispy pork belly!
Realizing that this holiday was destined to be devoid of crispy pork belly, I-having lost my dream-actually calmed down. I quietly chopped up a roast duck.
I took half the roast duck back to my room to eat with some ice cream, and I left the other half on the cutting board, partially covered by a bamboo cage Song Changshan had woven.
After doing all this, I left the kitchen without looking back.
…
In a deserted corner, a thin sliver that almost blended into the shadows slowly took shape.
A Little Black Snake, not much longer than an earthworm, floated through the air toward the cutting board in a bizarre posture, spouting arrogant nonsense as it flew.
“Stupid human! Who are you calling a rat? You’re the one who looks like a rat!
“Truly, a dragon in the shallows is teased by shrimp. To think she’d dare use rat poison against this King! In the past, this pathetic restaurant wouldn’t even have been qualified to cook for me!”
Once the Little Black Snake’s mouth was dry from talking, it finally reached the roast duck.
Its mouth opened wide, and two non-threatening little fangs popped out, sinking into the roast duck with a squelch.
Just as it was about to swallow the duck whole, the plate shifted slightly, bumping into the chopsticks propped against the bamboo cage.
The chopsticks fell, and the entire bamboo cage dropped, trapping the Little Black Snake and the roast duck inside.
After a brief startle, the Little Black Snake began to laugh wildly, wagging its tail.
“Such a stupid trap. Only humans still use these. Do you really think this King is some common snake that can be trapped in a measly bamboo basket?”
It nonchalantly finished the roast duck and then carelessly flicked out its tail, intending to tear the basket open.
But the moment the tip of its tail touched the basket, it felt as if it had been burned by fire, and the scales on its tail tip literally bristled.
The Little Black Snake, already pitch-black from head to tail, seemed to turn even darker.
After a long while, it opened its mouth and pathetically puffed out a ring of gray smoke.
“D-Despicable human!”
