Unfortunately, his happiness did not last for very long. His phone rang, and it was still Bao Zi. "Brother Bai, someone wanted to reserve the restaurant."
"No Reservations. Ask them to queue up."
After he hung up the phone, he continued to stroll around leisurely. When it was 10.30am, he had already finished the 3kg of tangerines. Then he started to walk back to the restaurant.
When he arrived back at the restaurant, he thought, "Oh my God! Why are there so many people? Are they here for a meal or just gathering together?"
Since he started his business, there was only a maximum of 30 people queueing. However, there were more than 60-70 people here today. The queue bent around like the video game Snake .
As he walked closer, he noticed a baldy discussing with the customers one by one. Some of them were convinced and left with a sigh. Some of them said, "You can ask the rest first. If they agree to leave, then I would leave you a spot as well." Unfortunately, no matter how hard he persuaded, two people refused to budge. They did not agree to give up their spots.
Right when Bai Lu arrived, someone pointed at him and said, "He is the boss."
The baldy immediately rushed up to him, and he offered him a cigarette. "Boss, could we discuss something?"
Bai Lu had swagger. "Queue up." He did not receive the cigarette, and he walked directly into the restaurant.
The baldy followed him in. "Boss, I need your help."
"What's up?"
"I want to propose."
Bai Lu sprung up from the floor. "But I don't even know you."
"You are not the one I am proposing to. Last month, I ate here once, and I think the taste was fantastic. My partner has a dream: She wants to have a once-in-a-lifetime marriage proposal that she would never forget. As for me, I am just a poor bloke, who cannot even afford to take her to the Maldives, and not even Hong Kong. With my meager salary, I have to use it to pay the mortgage. After thinking about it, I remembered about your restaurant. Could you make an exception today, so that my friends can come in here, and I can use the place for my proposal." The baldy was very sincere.
"Proposing to her here? Are you nuts? Since when have you heard of someone that has proposed in a ramen shop?"
"This place is not a ramen shop. It is the Great 5-Star Restaurant, with exceptional interior decor that looks clean and beautiful.
While they were discussing, someone pushed open the door of the restaurant. A girl with an oversized pair of glasses came in, and she said, "Boss, I want to discuss something with you."
Bai Lu looked at her and realized it was Cheng Lai Lai who had came yesterday. With a smile, he asked, "You are also here to propose?"
"I propose that you die! You have to thank me instead! Yesterday when I went back home, I casually did some publicity for you. Look outside now, there are 36 people from my group, but your restaurant is not big enough. Could you discuss with you if it is possible to let us all come inside?" Cheng Lai Lai was summoned in the last minute. The foodies from her website came over for a meal, but they discovered that there were a bunch of people queueing up before them. Therefore, they called her to go to the restaurant.
"Oh, 36 people. You are impressive." Bai Lu casually responded. He looked outside the restaurant and caught a glimpse of a familiar sports car parked along the street. Two people came out of the vehicle; they were Duckie and Lin Zi.
The two young masters pushed the door open and entered. Duckie said, "Lu Zi, I need your help."
"What's up? Someone stole your car again?"
Duckie made a hand gesture that symbolized contempt. "I condemn you. Lin Zi is the one that needs your help."
Lin Zi said, "You are aware, that I am currently wooing a celebrity. I have already wasted more than a month of my time, but it is still not in the bag. I plan to use your venue to treat her to a nice meal—"
"I thought that you were rich? Just dump some money on her." Bai Lu interrupted him.
During these National Day holidays, he was busy yesterday but seemed like today he was even more hectic. When he was speaking, his phone rang, and it was Gao Yuan. "My grandpa has a friend who is dying. He has contracted terminal esophageal cancer and has not eaten a proper meal for more than a year. Now, all he wants is to have some food, so my grandpa asked me to inform you. In a while, I will be there to collect the food from you."
After he hung up the phone, Bai Lu felt his head getting dizzy. He looked at the clock on the wall with dried-up branches, and he thought, "What seems to be the occasion today? Why is it so chaotic?"
At the same time, while he was pondering, Policewoman Sun Min came into the restaurant as well. She pointed at him and asked, "What's going on here? Why are there so many people crowding outside the door? Don't you guys know that it is the National Day holidays today?"
"They are here for a meal—"
"If they are here for a meal, then they should enter the restaurant. Are they eating while standing outside?"
"Hey, would it be possible for you to smile and speak to me properly?" Since they met, Sun Min has been treating Bai Lu like her mortal enemy.
"Cut the crap. Hurry up and usher them into the restaurant. Are you conspiring to muster a group and cause a disturbance?"
"Fine, you are the boss." Bai Lu wanted to comply, but the problem was that he was unable to comply even if he wanted to. There were more than 60-70 people outside the restaurant, and they all wanted to come in at the same time.
Bai Lu went out of the restaurant and shouted. "Those who want to order a takeaway, please come over to register. Bao Zi, record it down. And the lunchboxes would require a deposit of $100."
"Why is it so expensive?" Someone asked.
"Deposit! I am afraid that you would keep the lunchbox without returning it." Bai Lu screamed.
This tactic successfully reduced a few of the customers. Bai Lu continued to shout. "Those people form that whatever website will be served a bowl of noodles each. Please leave in 20 minutes after you are finished eating."
"What gives you the right? We came all the way over here for just a bowl of noodles?" The foodies started to complain.
"It's up to you if you want to eat or not. This is my restaurant, so I call the shots." Then he spoke to the baldy. "You are lucky that we have the same hairstyle. Ask your partner to come over at 12.30pm. You only have 30 minutes, being late is not acceptable."
"What about us?" Some of the individual customers questioned.
"I have forgotten about you guys. You can wait until they have finished proposing." Bai Lu was getting emotionally and physically exhausted.
"We are also individual customers, so we could also wait until they have finished proposing." There were intelligent people in the group of foodies from the website.
"So be it." Bai Lu did not want to talk anymore.
But as soon as he entered the restaurant, Lin Zi asked, "What about me?"
"You? I don't know." Bai Lu went into the kitchen to make a bowl of soup for the terminally ill patient.
He did not have a proper meal for more than a year, because he was on IV the whole time. However, now that he was near the end of his life, the request was his dying wish. Gao Yuan was the one that made the call, but even if it were some random guy on the streets that had made the request, Bai Lu would do whatever he could to fulfill it.
He went into the kitchen and wrote down a list of ingredients. "Bao Zi, just buy the ingredients according to this list."
Bao Zi was in charge of the groceries, he took the list and left.
Lin Zi chased him into the kitchen. "You cannot just disregard me like this."
"I am not. I am not disregarding you. Come earlier tonight. I will reserve a table for you. However, Duckie, you must queue up if you want to eat."
"What the hell! I have to queue up?" Duckie was unwilling to accept this.
As soon as he heard Bai Lu's promise, Lin Zi took out a piece of paper. "I copied this from the menu of the Guangdong-Hainan Restaurant. Could you follow the menu?"
Bai Lu did not even bother looking through it. He just snatched it, squeezed it into a ball, and threw it into the trash bin. "Stop tormenting me. I am going crazy!"
The restaurant was re-opened for business on the 1st of October. On the first day of business, he was already exhausted. Yesterday, it was still the same; there were many torturous events. But today was even worse, it was still in the afternoon, but there were already more troubles arising.
In just three days, he had already so many things to do. There were too many problems, and it made his head swell up. He did not dare to imagine how it would be like the next day. He also did not dare to imagine how it would be like when he would become famous one day.
He thought, "This would not do. I have to hire more chefs and open another branch. I have to buy a bigger house!"
Sun Min was still lingering around, she asked, "What's the matter? You promised to let the people come in. What's wrong with you?"
Bai Lu cast a look at her. Then he turned to speak with Duckie. "Give Xiao San a call. Ask him to look for Old Zhao so that he can send this ancestor on her way."
Bai Lu still did not understand, what exactly did he do to piss off Great Policewoman Sun Min. He thought, "Could it be because of that simple mistake of calling her Police Aunty? Might as well forget about it, and leave it to the young masters to handle this situation."
"Do not threaten me with authority. I am not afraid." Deep within Sun Min's subconscious mind, she could detect a scent of a thief on this indecent guy. She knew that she must keep a close watch on him.
"Why not I treat you to a bowl of noodles?" Bao Lu was reminiscing about the times in the desert. He thought, "When I was there, I am the king. But here, I am—"
"Humph, I warn you. Never let me catch you red-handed." Sun Min fluttered away into the distance.
After watching Sun Min leave, Duckie asked, "There's no need to call anymore right?"
"Of course! What's the point of calling when that person has already left." Bai Lu started making the noodles.
He washed his hands first, and again, and again. Then he started kneading the noodles. In a giant stainless steel pot, he poured in the flour till it was half-full. Then he poured in the milk, stirred in the eggs, and started stirring the mixture.
Because he was full of rage, he did not hold back his strength during the process. Both his hands were dancing in the air, which made a trail of shadows. The flour was dispersed in the air, and it was flying out of the pot. However, it did not scatter all around him, but instead, it landed back into the large pot.
As the flour slowly became solid, which mixed into a huge lump of dough, Bai Lu started to practice his punching abilities. One by one, his fists pounded onto the dough, firming it up.
Perhaps, it was because he had a lot of troubles lately. The punches started out slow, but after a few warm-ups, he has seemed to find a way to release his anger. The two fists rapidly landed on the dough and sent out a massive impact wave that caused the counter to tremor.
Since he began pouring in the flour, the entire house full of people were staring intently at him. They wanted to witness the Maverick Chef in action. Also, they tried to find out the secret behind his excellent cooking.
The big transparent glass window has been transformed into the most dazzling screen. In the screen was Bai Lu.
When the kneading board boomingly sounded, all the people in the restaurant finally reacted. They hurriedly took out their phones and started taking photos.
At this moment, Bai Lu was immersed in his little world. No matter what he did, he wanted to do it to the best of his ability, which meant that he diligently put in a lot of effort. Bai Lu was even more diligent when it came to cooking. At this moment, he was focused entirely on the noodles, so he was not aware of what was happening outside.
His fists struck the table even faster, and the sound of impact slowly amalgamated together. The heavy sound "Dong Dong Dong" slowly merged into one uniform "Dooooooong" sound. The volume and intensity persisted for a long time.
In the end, the fists started blurring. Only the shadows remained.
After three minutes, Bai Lu lifted the humongous ball of dough with one hand. With the other hand, he pushed aside the giant pot. And at the same time, he pulled over the kneading board. With a single splat, the ball of dough landed on the board.
His two hands kneaded the dough continuously. The dough kept changing shape frequently. Then, one became two, two became four, four became eight, and eight became sixteen.
He peeled off a small lump of dough and grabbed the rolling pin. Then he began rolling the dough in all directions. After five seconds, a piece of dough that was as thin as paper appeared on the kneading board. It wasn't just thick, but it was even and uniform. There were no uneven bumps, and the edges were also equally thick.
He set aside the rolling pin and wielded a shiny silver knife. There was no need to measure or look. With a swing of his blade, he split the dough down the middle. The dimensions were so precise that it seemed as though he had measured with a ruler.
With a casual stroke, he flipped one half of the dough into the air. It made a splattering sound as it landed precisely on the other half of the dough. The two pieces were neatly and tightly combined.
Then he wielded his knife again, and the dough has been split into two once more. The same thing happened where the dough flew into the air and landed on the other pieces. The whole motion was smooth and connected. It looked extremely graceful like naturally flowing water.
When the dough was stacked to four layers, Bai Lu pressed the board with one hand and held the knife horizontally in the other hand. He rapidly cut the dough and stopped in an instant. The stacks of dough still looked whole and complete. In reality, they were already chopped up into tiny strands, which became noodles.
Everyone outside the glass window was in shock. They never expect that noodles could be made in such a manner. Bai Lu's movements were beautiful and precise; Everyone could not take their eyes off him. In their visions, they could not distinctly see Bai Lu's hand. All they saw was the remnants of the afterimage from his knife and hands moving. In that afterimage, the stacks of noodle did not budge an inch.
Human vision would often experience afterimages. A fast-moving object would leave behind a trace or remnant of the image. If the motion were consistently fast, the afterimages would become more noticeable. As the previous afterimage slowly faded away, the later afterimage would overlap and appear. When all these afterimages accumulated to a certain degree, the person would no longer be able to see clearly. All he would observe would be a significant number of shadows.
On the contrary, the unmoving stacks of dough would leave behind a lasting image in their minds.
Unfortunately, his happiness did not last for very long. His phone rang, and it was still Bao Zi. "Brother Bai, someone wanted to reserve the restaurant."
"No Reservations. Ask them to queue up."
After he hung up the phone, he continued to stroll around leisurely. When it was 10.30am, he had already finished the 3kg of tangerines. Then he started to walk back to the restaurant.
When he arrived back at the restaurant, he thought, "Oh my God! Why are there so many people? Are they here for a meal or just gathering together?"
Since he started his business, there was only a maximum of 30 people queueing. However, there were more than 60-70 people here today. The queue bent around like the video game Snake .
As he walked closer, he noticed a baldy discussing with the customers one by one. Some of them were convinced and left with a sigh. Some of them said, "You can ask the rest first. If they agree to leave, then I would leave you a spot as well." Unfortunately, no matter how hard he persuaded, two people refused to budge. They did not agree to give up their spots.
Right when Bai Lu arrived, someone pointed at him and said, "He is the boss."
The baldy immediately rushed up to him, and he offered him a cigarette. "Boss, could we discuss something?"
Bai Lu had swagger. "Queue up." He did not receive the cigarette, and he walked directly into the restaurant.
The baldy followed him in. "Boss, I need your help."
"What's up?"
"I want to propose."
Bai Lu sprung up from the floor. "But I don't even know you."
"You are not the one I am proposing to. Last month, I ate here once, and I think the taste was fantastic. My partner has a dream: She wants to have a once-in-a-lifetime marriage proposal that she would never forget. As for me, I am just a poor bloke, who cannot even afford to take her to the Maldives, and not even Hong Kong. With my meager salary, I have to use it to pay the mortgage. After thinking about it, I remembered about your restaurant. Could you make an exception today, so that my friends can come in here, and I can use the place for my proposal." The baldy was very sincere.
"Proposing to her here? Are you nuts? Since when have you heard of someone that has proposed in a ramen shop?"
"This place is not a ramen shop. It is the Great 5-Star Restaurant, with exceptional interior decor that looks clean and beautiful.
While they were discussing, someone pushed open the door of the restaurant. A girl with an oversized pair of glasses came in, and she said, "Boss, I want to discuss something with you."
Bai Lu looked at her and realized it was Cheng Lai Lai who had came yesterday. With a smile, he asked, "You are also here to propose?"
"I propose that you die! You have to thank me instead! Yesterday when I went back home, I casually did some publicity for you. Look outside now, there are 36 people from my group, but your restaurant is not big enough. Could you discuss with you if it is possible to let us all come inside?" Cheng Lai Lai was summoned in the last minute. The foodies from her website came over for a meal, but they discovered that there were a bunch of people queueing up before them. Therefore, they called her to go to the restaurant.
"Oh, 36 people. You are impressive." Bai Lu casually responded. He looked outside the restaurant and caught a glimpse of a familiar sports car parked along the street. Two people came out of the vehicle; they were Duckie and Lin Zi.
The two young masters pushed the door open and entered. Duckie said, "Lu Zi, I need your help."
"What's up? Someone stole your car again?"
Duckie made a hand gesture that symbolized contempt. "I condemn you. Lin Zi is the one that needs your help."
Lin Zi said, "You are aware, that I am currently wooing a celebrity. I have already wasted more than a month of my time, but it is still not in the bag. I plan to use your venue to treat her to a nice meal—"
"I thought that you were rich? Just dump some money on her." Bai Lu interrupted him.
During these National Day holidays, he was busy yesterday but seemed like today he was even more hectic. When he was speaking, his phone rang, and it was Gao Yuan. "My grandpa has a friend who is dying. He has contracted terminal esophageal cancer and has not eaten a proper meal for more than a year. Now, all he wants is to have some food, so my grandpa asked me to inform you. In a while, I will be there to collect the food from you."
After he hung up the phone, Bai Lu felt his head getting dizzy. He looked at the clock on the wall with dried-up branches, and he thought, "What seems to be the occasion today? Why is it so chaotic?"
At the same time, while he was pondering, Policewoman Sun Min came into the restaurant as well. She pointed at him and asked, "What's going on here? Why are there so many people crowding outside the door? Don't you guys know that it is the National Day holidays today?"
"They are here for a meal—"
"If they are here for a meal, then they should enter the restaurant. Are they eating while standing outside?"
"Hey, would it be possible for you to smile and speak to me properly?" Since they met, Sun Min has been treating Bai Lu like her mortal enemy.
"Cut the crap. Hurry up and usher them into the restaurant. Are you conspiring to muster a group and cause a disturbance?"
"Fine, you are the boss." Bai Lu wanted to comply, but the problem was that he was unable to comply even if he wanted to. There were more than 60-70 people outside the restaurant, and they all wanted to come in at the same time.
Bai Lu went out of the restaurant and shouted. "Those who want to order a takeaway, please come over to register. Bao Zi, record it down. And the lunchboxes would require a deposit of $100."
"Why is it so expensive?" Someone asked.
"Deposit! I am afraid that you would keep the lunchbox without returning it." Bai Lu screamed.
This tactic successfully reduced a few of the customers. Bai Lu continued to shout. "Those people form that whatever website will be served a bowl of noodles each. Please leave in 20 minutes after you are finished eating."
"What gives you the right? We came all the way over here for just a bowl of noodles?" The foodies started to complain.
"It's up to you if you want to eat or not. This is my restaurant, so I call the shots." Then he spoke to the baldy. "You are lucky that we have the same hairstyle. Ask your partner to come over at 12.30pm. You only have 30 minutes, being late is not acceptable."
"What about us?" Some of the individual customers questioned.
"I have forgotten about you guys. You can wait until they have finished proposing." Bai Lu was getting emotionally and physically exhausted.
"We are also individual customers, so we could also wait until they have finished proposing." There were intelligent people in the group of foodies from the website.
"So be it." Bai Lu did not want to talk anymore.
But as soon as he entered the restaurant, Lin Zi asked, "What about me?"
"You? I don't know." Bai Lu went into the kitchen to make a bowl of soup for the terminally ill patient.
He did not have a proper meal for more than a year, because he was on IV the whole time. However, now that he was near the end of his life, the request was his dying wish. Gao Yuan was the one that made the call, but even if it were some random guy on the streets that had made the request, Bai Lu would do whatever he could to fulfill it.
He went into the kitchen and wrote down a list of ingredients. "Bao Zi, just buy the ingredients according to this list."
Bao Zi was in charge of the groceries, he took the list and left.
Lin Zi chased him into the kitchen. "You cannot just disregard me like this."
"I am not. I am not disregarding you. Come earlier tonight. I will reserve a table for you. However, Duckie, you must queue up if you want to eat."
"What the hell! I have to queue up?" Duckie was unwilling to accept this.
As soon as he heard Bai Lu's promise, Lin Zi took out a piece of paper. "I copied this from the menu of the Guangdong-Hainan Restaurant. Could you follow the menu?"
Bai Lu did not even bother looking through it. He just snatched it, squeezed it into a ball, and threw it into the trash bin. "Stop tormenting me. I am going crazy!"
The restaurant was re-opened for business on the 1st of October. On the first day of business, he was already exhausted. Yesterday, it was still the same; there were many torturous events. But today was even worse, it was still in the afternoon, but there were already more troubles arising.
In just three days, he had already so many things to do. There were too many problems, and it made his head swell up. He did not dare to imagine how it would be like the next day. He also did not dare to imagine how it would be like when he would become famous one day.
He thought, "This would not do. I have to hire more chefs and open another branch. I have to buy a bigger house!"
Sun Min was still lingering around, she asked, "What's the matter? You promised to let the people come in. What's wrong with you?"
Bai Lu cast a look at her. Then he turned to speak with Duckie. "Give Xiao San a call. Ask him to look for Old Zhao so that he can send this ancestor on her way."
Bai Lu still did not understand, what exactly did he do to piss off Great Policewoman Sun Min. He thought, "Could it be because of that simple mistake of calling her Police Aunty? Might as well forget about it, and leave it to the young masters to handle this situation."
"Do not threaten me with authority. I am not afraid." Deep within Sun Min's subconscious mind, she could detect a scent of a thief on this indecent guy. She knew that she must keep a close watch on him.
"Why not I treat you to a bowl of noodles?" Bao Lu was reminiscing about the times in the desert. He thought, "When I was there, I am the king. But here, I am—"
"Humph, I warn you. Never let me catch you red-handed." Sun Min fluttered away into the distance.
After watching Sun Min leave, Duckie asked, "There's no need to call anymore right?"
"Of course! What's the point of calling when that person has already left." Bai Lu started making the noodles.
He washed his hands first, and again, and again. Then he started kneading the noodles. In a giant stainless steel pot, he poured in the flour till it was half-full. Then he poured in the milk, stirred in the eggs, and started stirring the mixture.
Because he was full of rage, he did not hold back his strength during the process. Both his hands were dancing in the air, which made a trail of shadows. The flour was dispersed in the air, and it was flying out of the pot. However, it did not scatter all around him, but instead, it landed back into the large pot.
As the flour slowly became solid, which mixed into a huge lump of dough, Bai Lu started to practice his punching abilities. One by one, his fists pounded onto the dough, firming it up.
Perhaps, it was because he had a lot of troubles lately. The punches started out slow, but after a few warm-ups, he has seemed to find a way to release his anger. The two fists rapidly landed on the dough and sent out a massive impact wave that caused the counter to tremor.
Since he began pouring in the flour, the entire house full of people were staring intently at him. They wanted to witness the Maverick Chef in action. Also, they tried to find out the secret behind his excellent cooking.
The big transparent glass window has been transformed into the most dazzling screen. In the screen was Bai Lu.
When the kneading board boomingly sounded, all the people in the restaurant finally reacted. They hurriedly took out their phones and started taking photos.
At this moment, Bai Lu was immersed in his little world. No matter what he did, he wanted to do it to the best of his ability, which meant that he diligently put in a lot of effort. Bai Lu was even more diligent when it came to cooking. At this moment, he was focused entirely on the noodles, so he was not aware of what was happening outside.
His fists struck the table even faster, and the sound of impact slowly amalgamated together. The heavy sound "Dong Dong Dong" slowly merged into one uniform "Dooooooong" sound. The volume and intensity persisted for a long time.
In the end, the fists started blurring. Only the shadows remained.
After three minutes, Bai Lu lifted the humongous ball of dough with one hand. With the other hand, he pushed aside the giant pot. And at the same time, he pulled over the kneading board. With a single splat, the ball of dough landed on the board.
His two hands kneaded the dough continuously. The dough kept changing shape frequently. Then, one became two, two became four, four became eight, and eight became sixteen.
He peeled off a small lump of dough and grabbed the rolling pin. Then he began rolling the dough in all directions. After five seconds, a piece of dough that was as thin as paper appeared on the kneading board. It wasn't just thick, but it was even and uniform. There were no uneven bumps, and the edges were also equally thick.
He set aside the rolling pin and wielded a shiny silver knife. There was no need to measure or look. With a swing of his blade, he split the dough down the middle. The dimensions were so precise that it seemed as though he had measured with a ruler.
With a casual stroke, he flipped one half of the dough into the air. It made a splattering sound as it landed precisely on the other half of the dough. The two pieces were neatly and tightly combined.
Then he wielded his knife again, and the dough has been split into two once more. The same thing happened where the dough flew into the air and landed on the other pieces. The whole motion was smooth and connected. It looked extremely graceful like naturally flowing water.
When the dough was stacked to four layers, Bai Lu pressed the board with one hand and held the knife horizontally in the other hand. He rapidly cut the dough and stopped in an instant. The stacks of dough still looked whole and complete. In reality, they were already chopped up into tiny strands, which became noodles.
Everyone outside the glass window was in shock. They never expect that noodles could be made in such a manner. Bai Lu's movements were beautiful and precise; Everyone could not take their eyes off him. In their visions, they could not distinctly see Bai Lu's hand. All they saw was the remnants of the afterimage from his knife and hands moving. In that afterimage, the stacks of noodle did not budge an inch.
Human vision would often experience afterimages. A fast-moving object would leave behind a trace or remnant of the image. If the motion were consistently fast, the afterimages would become more noticeable. As the previous afterimage slowly faded away, the later afterimage would overlap and appear. When all these afterimages accumulated to a certain degree, the person would no longer be able to see clearly. All he would observe would be a significant number of shadows.
On the contrary, the unmoving stacks of dough would leave behind a lasting image in their minds.
