Chapter 324 - 306: Sights Set on the Championship

Chapter 324: Chapter 306: Sights Set on the Championship

After a moment of discussion, the customers filed into the restaurant and began ordering food.

At that moment, even more customers arrived.

All the newcomers were just as surprised, delighted, and excited when they saw the prizes.

’The boss is really generous this time!’

’No, wait, the boss has always been generous.’

’It’s just that this time, the prizes are especially tempting.’

Lu Xiangyun, Wang Peng, and the other experts who had registered for the tournament arrived as well.

They normally came once a day at most. Having been here for lunch, they wouldn’t usually come back for dinner.

But today, the thought of the tournament made them so keyed up that they just had to come back to the restaurant.

They wanted to see who else was practicing and what everyone was saying about the competition.

They couldn’t calm down at all and just wanted to hang out at the restaurant.

So, they all came back in the evening.

The area outside the restaurant was already bustling with people.

Lu Xiangyun, Wang Peng, and the other experts also saw the prize announcement.

When they read it clearly, they were incredibly surprised and thrilled.

The prizes were just too tempting, especially the one for the champion.

At that moment, Lu Xiangyun, Wang Peng, and the other experts had only one goal in mind.

The championship.

Originally, they hadn’t felt a particularly strong desire for the title.

They knew there were many skilled players, and winning the championship would be extremely difficult.

So, their attitude was to just do their best. If they didn’t win, finishing in the top ten and getting a prize would be good enough.

But now, they felt an intense craving for the championship title.

Because the champion’s prize was just too lavish. It was far more generous than the prize for second place.

Especially the fact that it included a pound of wine they could take home.

This was the first time there was an opportunity to take the restaurant’s wine home.

Taking home a pound of this wine was like acquiring an incredibly valuable treasure.

Because you couldn’t buy this wine anywhere else, even if you offered thousands, tens of thousands, or even more for a pound.

That just showed how valuable it was.

’So, there’s only one goal: the championship. I have to give it my all.’

The more Lu Xiangyun, Wang Peng, and the other experts thought about it, the more excited and thrilled they became, and then, for some reason, they started to feel nervous.

This was the first time they had felt nervous since registering for the tournament that afternoon.

Most of the contestants who signed up knew they weren’t skilled enough and had no real chance of winning the championship.

So, despite their excitement, they were also quite calm.

But Lu Xiangyun, Wang Peng, and the other experts actually had a real shot at the title.

That was why they were nervous.

’I hope I don’t mess up when the time comes!’

In a duel between experts, a single mistake could easily lead to defeat.

...

Just as Li You had expected, the prize announcement triggered a new wave of heated discussion and commotion.

However, Li You didn’t have time to go outside and see it for himself.

He was busy in the kitchen. There were far more customers eating dinner tonight than usual.

His revenue would at least multiply several times over.

So, Li You was busy. Very busy. Luckily, he had large woks and could cook several portions at once in a single batch.

Otherwise, he would have been completely overwhelmed.

Li You told Ling Xiaoru to go ahead and order something to eat without him. He would probably have to eat much later tonight.

But Ling Xiaoru said it was okay. She wasn’t hungry yet and would wait for him no matter how late it was. Besides, it was her turn to treat Li You to dinner tonight, and she wasn’t going to back out of it.

Li You could only nod and agree they would eat together later.

The customers outside continued to stream into the restaurant to eat, including Lu Xiangyun, Wang Peng, and the other experts.

’Since we’re already here, we might as well have dinner here too, right?’

Eating here for lunch and then again for dinner. This had never happened before.

But it was happening now. They didn’t mind the cost. ’It’s okay to splurge once in a while.’

...

It wasn’t until 10 p.m. that the last of the customers finally left.

After a full day of clamor, the restaurant was finally quiet.

Li You reflected that, thankfully, his physical constitution had been enhanced twice by system rewards, making him far stronger than an ordinary person.

Otherwise, after such a busy evening, he would have been completely exhausted, probably without even the strength to lift his arms.

As it was, he only felt a tiny bit tired.

A feeling so slight it could almost be ignored.

’Having a good body really is important.’

The food for himself and Ling Xiaoru was ready, and they could finally eat.

Ling Xiaoru was treating tonight, so she had chosen the dishes.

One portion each of Mapo Tofu, Chopped Pepper Fish Head, Longjing Shrimp, Stir-fried Bitter Melon, and Tomato and Egg Drop Soup.

Ling Xiaoru had specifically requested the bitter melon again tonight. As for the price, she told Li You to charge whatever he thought was fair.

This was because Li You hadn’t officially added the dish to the menu yet, so it didn’t have a price.

Ling Xiaoru came downstairs. She knew it was time to eat, so she came down to help carry the dishes.

Li You asked, "You must be hungry, huh?"

Ling Xiaoru nodded. "A little."

Li You apologized, and then the two of them carried the dishes upstairs together.

They also poured two bowls of wine.

"By the way, did you end up stir-frying those two bitter melons for lunch?" Li You asked.

Ling Xiaoru nodded. "I did! I used the method you told me. The bitterness wasn’t as strong, that’s true, but the flavor was nowhere near as good as yours. I still prefer the way you make it."

Li You smiled. ’Of course it is!’ he thought.

Even though he hadn’t mastered the stir-fried bitter melon recipe yet, his own culinary skills were already at the level of a high-class chef. Naturally, Ling Xiaoru’s home-cooking skills couldn’t compare.

Then, Li You picked up a piece of bitter melon with his chopsticks, placed it in Ling Xiaoru’s bowl, and said, "If you like it, have some more."

Ling Xiaoru was very happy and said, "Okay, thank you, Boss."

She then picked up the bitter melon from her bowl and put it in her mouth. After eating it, she said, "This really is so much tastier than when I cook it myself."

Li You said again, "Eat up."

"Okay."

...

「The next day.」

Today, Ling Xiaoru, for once, was up very early.

She was up while Li You was still in the bathroom washing up after getting out of bed.

Li You was quite surprised.

Ling Xiaoru explained that she did get up early sometimes.

After that, Li You went downstairs and opened the restaurant doors. He then went into the kitchen and cooked two small bowls of Yangchun Noodles.

Just as he finished, Ling Xiaoru came downstairs too.

The two of them ate their noodles.

After they finished eating, Ling Xiaoru didn’t leave right away. Instead, she sat down at one of the arcade machines outside the entrance and said, "Boss, can you turn this on for me? I want to try that game you’re all having a tournament for."

"Oh?" Li You was very surprised. "You’re interested in that game?"

Ling Xiaoru said, "I wasn’t before. But after watching them play for so long last night, I want to give it a try."

Li You smiled and nodded. "Alright, then."

He then turned on the arcade machine.

After turning it on, he selected *The King of Fighters ’97* and showed Ling Xiaoru how to get to the character selection screen.

"Pick three characters," Li You said.

Ling Xiaoru nodded. "I saw them use this character a lot yesterday. I’ll pick him."

Ling Xiaoru was talking about Yagami.

The character’s full name was Yagami Iori, and he was arguably the most popular character in the entire *King of Fighters* series.

In the *King of Fighters* lore, Yagami was an anti-hero, which also contributed to his high popularity.

He was much more popular than the main protagonist, Kyo Kusanagi.

Besides Yagami, Ling Xiaoru also picked Shenle Qianhe and Mary. These were two other characters she had seen people pick frequently last night.

Once the match started, Ling Xiaoru, unsurprisingly, just mashed the joystick and slapped the buttons randomly.

It was completely normal for a beginner.

As she was playing, a voice called out, "Haha! Morning, Boss!"

"Miss Xiaoru is playing this too?" The voice sounded pleasantly surprised.

Li You turned his head and saw that several customers had arrived together.

’These guys are here so early. It’s undoubtedly because of the arcade machines and the tournament starting tomorrow.’

The group was quite excited to see Ling Xiaoru playing *The King of Fighters ’97*.

Ling Xiaoru said, "I saw you all playing last night, so I wanted to give it a try. I don’t know how to play, I’m just mashing buttons."

’You certainly are just mashing buttons,’ they all thought.

But that wasn’t important. What mattered was that Ling Xiaoru was interested enough to sit here and play.

A beauty like her was captivating to watch, even if she was just button-mashing.

They all watched with great interest.

Ling Xiaoru played a few rounds but didn’t win a single one.

Of course, not winning was to be expected.

After a while, Ling Xiaoru stood up and said to the customers, "I’m done. You guys can play."

The men were a little disappointed. They had actually wanted to watch her play a bit longer.

But since she was done, there was nothing they could do.

After that, Ling Xiaoru said her goodbyes and left. She had to get back to work.

After watching Ling Xiaoru leave, the men also sat down and started playing.

They had all signed up for the tournament. They wanted to take advantage of the smaller crowd to get in some extra practice. If they got lucky and managed to break into the top ten, it would be awesome.

"Oh, right, Boss! I’ll have a large bowl of beef noodles."

"Me too, a large bowl of beef noodles."

"..."

None of them had eaten breakfast yet, so they all started ordering food.

Li You nodded and went into the kitchen to start cooking the noodles.

Just then, more customers arrived.

"Damn! We came this early and there are already people here ahead of us. You guys are way too early!"

"Haha! You’re here too. It’s not the weekend, what’s up? You guys don’t have to work?"

"We do. We have to go to work in a bit. Just wanted to squeeze in a visit and grab some breakfast."

"You came all this way even though you have to work? What, you couldn’t resist coming to check things out?"

"Yeah. Aren’t you the same?"

"Haha! I am. When I woke up this morning, all I could think about was the tournament tomorrow. I just had to come and take a look. I have to go to work in a bit too. I was going to take the morning off, but my director wouldn’t approve it. Said someone was out in the countryside, they were already short-staffed, so how could I take leave? I’m so bummed out."

"Well, nothing you can do. Hey, you’ve played a few rounds, right? Let me have a turn. I’ll practice while we’re waiting for the noodles."

"Sure, go ahead."

"..."

The area with the arcade machines slowly began to buzz with excitement again.

This was the first time since the restaurant opened that it had been so lively this early in the morning.

Li You was very happy about this.

After cooking the customers’ noodles, he brought them out to the dining tables.

He went to the entrance and called out to the customers, "Noodles are ready."

"Great. Thanks, Boss."

The customers all responded.

Then, those who weren’t playing a game at the moment went inside, picked up their bowls of noodles and chopsticks, and returned to the arcade machines outside.

They wanted to eat their noodles while they watched.

The ones who were currently playing didn’t move.

’No rush. I’ll go eat after this round. It’ll be quick.’

Only after finishing their round did they stand up and go inside to get their noodles.

Then, everyone ate their noodles while talking about the tournament.

Right now, the tournament was practically the only topic of conversation among all the customers.

...