Chapter 120 - Royal Cuisine Location
Chapter 120 of "City's Best Divine Doctor" begins with: Liu Lingxiu sat down in the classroom and immediately took out her new phone to... See the full story!
Liu Lingxiu sat down in the classroom and immediately took out her new phone to check it.
It wasnât because she liked to show off, but because she knew that todayâs phones had many functions, including direct access to online resources for college entrance exam preparation.
Her deskmate, Xiaomei, was average in looks and academic performance, but she was a chatterbox.
Unless Liu Lingxiu was seriously doing a problem or reading, she wouldnât disturb her.
Otherwise, she would always come over to chat with Liu Lingxiu, especially since Liu Lingxiu had been able to speak normally again.
âLingshow, is that your new phone?
Itâs so pretty!â
Xiaomei immediately scooted over to ask.
Liu Lingxiu nodded.
Xiaomei took a closer look and soon realized that the phone must have cost four or five thousand yuan.
She was quite surprised that Liu Lingxiu, who dressed so plainly, could afford such an expensive phone.
âHow much did it cost?â
Xiaomei asked.
âI didnât buy it.
It was a gift,â
Liu Lingxiu said.
At first, Xiaomei thought it was a gift from Liu Lingxiuâs parents.
But then she considered that it was unlikely.
âWho gave it to you?â
But Liu Lingxiu didnât say.
By the first class in the afternoon, the whole class knew that someone had given Liu Lingxiu a new phone.
Liu Lingxiu didnât say who, but Su Luoluo, Li Shen, and Zhu Zhiming guessed it was Ye Qiu.
However, neither Li Shen nor Zhu Zhiming saw Ye Qiu anywhere.
Su Luoluo was almost certain that the phone was Ye Qiuâs gift to Liu Lingxiu.
She didnât know why, but she felt an inexplicable sense of sadness and loss.
Especially yesterday, when she saw Ye Qiu treating Zhou Baoâs illness and earning five million yuan in less than half an hour, Su Luoluo realized that Ye Qiu had become very different from before.
Looking at the empty seat next to her, she didnât know when Ye Qiu would return to class, nor when Ye Qiu would be as kind to her as he used to be.
Things that come too easily are not cherished, and once lost, they are deeply regretted.
Perhaps this was exactly how Su Luoluo felt now.
After leaving Jinling Hospital, Ye Qiu rode his electric bike around Jiangnan.
Through the soul consciousness he absorbed, he learned that there used to be a restaurant here specializing in Qing Dynasty court cuisine.
But ever since Boss Li opened this palace cuisine restaurant, its business had always been poor.
Eventually, it went bankrupt, and the restaurant switched to serving other types of food, but its business didnât improve.
Ye Qiu wondered what the current situation of the restaurant was.
Ye Qiu rode his electric bike to the restaurantâs entrance.
First, he noticed that the restaurant wasnât located in a busy area, but rather near the outskirts of Jiangnan.
Although Jiangnan was the wealthiest part of Jinling, much richer than Jiangbei, the restaurantâs location was close to the suburbs, making it similar to being in Jiangbei.
This might have been the reason why there werenât many customers dining here.
However, Ye Qiu saw that the surroundingsâwith mountains, water, and a lakeâstill made for a nice environment.
As he parked his electric bike and walked into the restaurantâs first floor, he noticed only a few scattered customers eating and chatting.
The number of waitstaff inside seemed to outnumber the customers.
Even though it wasnât meal time, Ye Qiu still felt that there shouldnât be so few people dining here.
When he walked in, the female waitstaff mostly ignored him with an indifferent attitude.
Ye Qiu sat down at a table near the window.
From there, even on the first floor, he could enjoy the beautiful view outside.
Though it would certainly be better on the second floor.
âWaiter, come here,â
Ye Qiu called out.
A female waiter finally walked over slowly.
âWhat do you want to eat?â
Seeing Ye Qiuâs attire, the waitress wasnât sure if he could afford to pay, worried that he might dine and dash.
âBring me the menu first!â
Ye Qiu said.
The waitress turned around to get the menu.
From this, Ye Qiu felt that the service quality here was really poor.
The waitress brought the menu, and he carefully looked through it, finding that they now served Huaiyang cuisine instead of the previous palace cuisine.
âI want palace cuisine,â
Ye Qiu said.
The waitress was surprised.
She didnât expect the young man to know that this place used to serve palace cuisine.
This upscale restaurant, looking like a manor, once indeed specialized in palace cuisine, but it suffered heavy losses and switched to Huaiyang cuisine.
Though Huaiyang cuisine was a bit better than palace cuisine, their situation hadnât improved much and remained somewhat bleak.
âSir, we no longer serve palace cuisine, only Huaiyang cuisine,â
The waitress said.
âAre you afraid I donât have the money?
Go get your boss or your manager,â
The waitress saw Ye Qiu taking out a bank card.
Although she didnât know how much money was in it, hearing the young man requesting palace cuisine, she had no choice but to go and fetch the boss.
The boss was still in his office on the third floor.
The bossâs name was Li Fu, and he had always been in the restaurant business.
He initially scouted this location because he felt its geographical environment was quite suitable for an upscale restaurant resembling a manor.
He signed a thirty-year lease for it.
In fact, another restaurant owner had rented it before him, but for some reason, whether it was Feng Shui or something else, no one had managed to run a successful restaurant here.
Eventually, it was subleased to Li Fu.
Li Fu only knew the place had been used for dining and heard that the previous owner had moved elsewhere for better opportunities, so he took over the lease.
Unexpectedly, after he began operating it as a palace cuisine restaurant, business declined daily.
Even after switching to Huaiyang cuisine, the situation remained about the same.
Perhaps on weekends or holidays, business picked up a bit, but most of the time, the waitstaff were left idling around.
Li Fu found it puzzling; Jinling, a historic city of six dynasties, a major urban center for eating, drinking, and entertainment, with such a dense population, why was it so hard to run a restaurant here?
Li Fu was contemplating if, given the persistently poor business, he should convert the venue into a hotel focusing on sauna and bath services.
However, that would require a costly renovation.
If the sauna and bath business didnât do well either, this place would become a bottomless pit, and he didnât know how much more money heâd need to pour in.
Li Fu lit a cigarette and sat in his office, smoking anxiously.
He wondered if he should turn this place into a sauna bath or sublease it to another owner.
He looked quite worried.
At this moment, there was a knock on the door.
âCome in,â