Chapter 291 - 291 291 Explosive
Chapter 291 - 291 291 Explosive
?Chapter 291: Chapter 291: Explosive Chapter 291: Chapter 291: Explosive The following day, Bai Xiao was almost absent-minded at work, but luckily the patients seemed to empathize with her mood, barely giving her any work except for one injection, after which she had almost nothing to do.
At lunch, Bai Xiao couldn’t even manage to eat, feeling extremely choked up. She was still too weak compared to that person! Although he wasn’t very strong yet, his starting point was far higher than hers.
Finally, when it was time to leave work in the afternoon, Bai Xiao put on her coat, a waist-tightening black down jacket. There weren’t any bright colors in this era, and she didn’t like wearing bright red either. She wore a sapphire blue scarf and black chunky leather shoes, which made her tall figure even more graceful.
Her fair skin seemed even more translucent, causing anyone who saw her to involuntarily turn back and take another look.
She walked out of the hospital building; the weather had been gloomy all day, and now snowflakes began to float down, twirling in the air. The road was only slightly covered with traces of snow, nowhere near burying the road. The cold wind seemed to seep into Bai Xiao’s bones. The wind rustled the tree branches, and their mournful sound struck her heart.
When she got off the bus, the snowflakes outside had grown bigger and more numerous, landing continuously on her hair. Bai Xiao glanced at the dark sky, which appeared even darker than usual, suggesting that the coming snowstorm might be fierce.
Walking through the swirling snow, her field of vision was momentarily a white blur.
When Bai Xiao reached the porch of the Bai Family’s Spicy Hot Pot, she brushed the snow off her hair and shoulders. The main door was tightly shut, but the bright light shining through the glass windows conveyed warmth. The sign was now notably conspicuous because of the neon lights, clearly visible even through the blizzard.
The wall that had been damaged the previous day showed no trace of it, as if everything had been a nightmare.
The glass windows were clean and the old-fashioned red lacquered wooden windows had no discernible difference from the adjacent glass ones. She pushed the door and entered, greeted immediately by a blast of warm air.
The waiter at the door turned around quickly when he heard the door open. Li Haian, seeing that his aunt had arrived, broke into a cheerful smile, “Auntie, you’re here, come on in. It’s really busy today, my parents are swamped!”
The joy of the fourteen-year-old boy was evident as he greeted Bai Xiao while attending to customers’ requests for more dishes.
“Auntie, go sit at the bar yourself, I have to get busy!”
Glancing around, the hall was indeed bustling. According to the original layout, there were ten tables downstairs and ten upstairs, which were now all fully occupied. Each table sported a pot emitting steaming vapor, filling the room with a misty, almost celestial atmosphere.
Bai Yue, Wang Yan, and Li Haian, along with two waiters, were so busy they barely touched the ground.
“Boss, add two portions of lamb!”
“Boss, we need a portion of glass noodles and tofu here.”
“Boss, bring a bottle of wine!”
“Waiter, one serving of beef tripe and one serving of pork belly.”
The popularity of the dishes took Bai Xiao by surprise—what was going on?
Bai Yue had already grabbed the menu and delivered it to the kitchen before catching her breath behind the bar. Seeing Bai Xiao, her face was flushed and her forehead was beaded with sweat. “Xiao, Mr. Jiang is incredible. When he says overnight, he means it. When your brother-in-law and I came the next day, we were startled. It was exactly the same as yesterday, you couldn’t tell the difference. You should really thank him. I tried to invite him for lunch, but he refused because he was busy with other matters.”
Bai Xiao handed her sister a glass of water, “Here, drink some water and catch your breath! Don’t worry about Mr. Jiang; I’ve got it covered. We’ll thank him sooner or later—it’s just a matter of one meal. They must really be busy, with what happened last night not being an accident. Someone is definitely behind it. They’re probably trying to find that person.” Seeing how well the business was doing lifted his spirits inexplicably.
“Is that so? But our family hasn’t offended anyone. Why would someone target us?” Bai Yue didn’t understand.
“Sis, you don’t need to worry about it. There will be an outcome for sure, with An Zhiyuan and Jiang Shaoqing on it. We don’t need to stress! I’m just wondering, why are there so many people this afternoon as well? It couldn’t be customers brought in through Jiang Shaoqing and An Zhiyuan’s connections, could it?”
He hadn’t expected the business to boom like this.
Bai Yue smiled, unable to close her mouth, “No, not at all! People started packing in since noon. At first, I thought they were your acquaintances bringing in guests; but then I asked around and found out there was a conference happening nearby—a three-day training session for municipal officials. They saw our flyer and decided to give it a try.”
“I gave them a discount, and they enjoyed their lunch tremendously. Little did I know that after they went back, they promoted us, and nearly everyone from the conference came tonight. Both upstairs and downstairs were packed; so many people that I had to ask some to try other places, yet they weren’t happy about that and just sat waiting on the chairs over there.
I really didn’t expect this many people, Xiao, you wouldn’t believe it, we made a thousand yuan just at lunch, and even more this evening—I estimate over two thousand. My God, it scared me. Your sister had no idea business could turn out like this!” Bai Yue’s voice was a bit hoarse with excitement, as she finished off the tea Bai Xiao had given her.
She wanted to say more, but clients were already outside calling for additional orders, so Bai Yue hurried back out to work.
Sitting behind the bar, Bai Xiao watched the busy silhouettes of her sister and Wang Yan among the tables of guests, feeling finally at peace. Although she knew that society was moving towards private enterprises, she had no experience and was simply imitating others, yet the results were now surprisingly good.
With the recent surge in popularity, people tend to follow the crowd. Seeing the restaurant bustling from day one, they naturally assumed the food was exceptional.
Indeed, their hotpot was truly unique in the area, and this style of eating, including the flavors, would one day become popular nationwide. So, she was confident that after this initial success, the reputation of Bai Family’s spicy hotpot would spread, and within a month of the trial operation, the customer base would stabilize.
Her sister and brother-in-law had finally secured their foothold here.
Of course, there would be many challenges in managing the business, but she was ready to face them as they came. Currently, doing business was relatively easier; customers were not very particular, and their demands were not high, especially when compared to the service attitude, quality, and flavors of the many state-owned restaurants around, they definitely had the upper hand.
It must be luck.
It seemed that even fate was on their side.