Chapter 393: Protest From Abroad
Translator: Xiong_Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
"Boss Yuan, when will you serve this new dish?" Wu Hai wiped his mouth elegantly and asked.
"Not for now." The expression on Yuan Zhou's face was extraordinarily serious.
"Then why did you cook this dish today?" The novelist was a straightforward man and hence asked straightforwardly.
"It's only for me," Yuan Zhou said deservedly.
"..." The novelist instantly became speechless.
"I think it will be good to our health if you can increase the vegetable dishes quickly," Su Mu suggested sincerely.
"I think so, too." Yuan Zhou nodded his head, indicating he agreed.
"Then what about the time for the new vegetable dish?" Su Mu asked with an expectant look.
"When it's done well enough." Yuan Zhou said quite naturally this time.
"But I think it's just tasty now. Really, it's delicious." Wu Hai tried to prove his words by pointing at the clean plate.
"Half an hour of the pub time has passed." Yuan Zhou reminded earnestly.
"Damn it. I almost forget my liquor." The novelist rushed towards the backyard anxiously.
"Your skill in changing subjects is so awkward every time." Wu Hai said grudgingly.
"Never mind. I feel it's good and useful. Besides, it's also very considerate." Yuan Zhou appeared quite serious, but actually he wanted to laugh inwardly.
"That's really like the advertising slogan of a sanitary napkin." The man in a suit said abruptly.
"Haw-haw-haw. It really is like that." Su Mu laughed first.
Then, other customers all burst into laughter one after another.
It wasn't early anymore. Those who were supposed to leave had left while those who would drink liquor went to the pub.
Yuan Zhou nevertheless gathered all the remaining plain cooked rice together and cooked a serving of Egg Fried Rice. After that, he ate it up for his dinner.
Then, the dog Broth ate a small bowl of Egg Fried Rice as his midnight snack, rather than the noodle broth, for the first time.
"There's no broth today. I have only the Egg Fried Rice." While saying that, Yuan Zhou poured the rice into the bowl of Broth.
After Yuan Zhou left, Broth held the bowl in the mouth and went to the place where he had lived before.
"One that has a girlfriend won't accompany friends." Yuan Zhou shook his head and sighed.
It was going smoothly at Yuan Zhou's end. However, Wu Zhou was facing some troubles.
"Martin, let's have lunch together tomorrow. What do you think?" Wu Zhou chatted with somebody through Wechat.
"Ok. Sorry to bother you." A golden-haired man, namely Martin, picked up the phone and sent the message back earnestly.
Of course the message was in English, but they could use the translation software. That way, it would be Chinese when Wu Zhou received it.
"Have you made the appointment?" Zhuang Xinmu went up and asked at the side.
"Um. It's all because of the good luck that my sweetheart brings me." While saying that, Wu Zhou went up and intended to hug his girlfriend.
"Stop. I'm folding the clothes." Zhuang Xinmu patted on Wu Zhou's arm reproachfully.
"Sweetheart, I want to apply for 2000 RMB to take that Martin for lunch tomorrow." Wu Zhou set Zhuang Xinmu down carefully.
"Ok. You have my approval." Zhuang Xinmu nodded her head smilingly.
"My sweetheart is so nice." Wu Zhou smiled blissfully.
...
Even before lunch time arrived the next day, Wu Zhou had prepared to take Martin out for lunch.
Fortunately, they didn't have much work to do recently and could leave earlier. Besides, Martin came over here for a visit and exchange of pointers. Thus, he didn't really have to adhere to the time rigidly.
"Martin, we are going to the most famous local place around here, Yuan Zhou's restaurant now. The dishes there are awfully delicious." Wu Zhou got straight to the point.
"Oh, really? I will have to bother you then, Zhou." Unlike other programmers that spoke little, Martin was a man with an open and frank disposition.
"Not really. Since you come here, I must make you satisfied with the food here. Do you have any dietetic restraints?" Wu Zhou asked carefully.
"No, I don't. But I don't like the eggs that go bad." Martin knitted his brows while speaking of the egg.
"Are you talking about the preserved egg?" Wu Zhou knew that foreigners didn't like eating the preserved eggs.
"Yeah, yeah, you are right. That's the name." Martin revealed a lingering fear on his face.
"Don't worry. There isn't this dish there. Can you eat spicy food?" Wu Zhou said smilingly.
"No problem. I can." Martin nodded his head.
"Then you follow me." Wu Zhou waved his hand and signaled Martin to go with him.
On the way there, Wu Zhou briefly introduced Chengdu City to Martin in English fluently all along and Martin just listened to him earnestly. Occasionally, he asked some questions. The atmosphere was quite harmonious.
"Here we are." Wu Zhou said while pointing at the crowd of people that lined up and waited to get the number ticket.
"It seems to be a good restaurant. Look, there are so many people." Martin looked at the crowds of people and sighed with emotion.
"Of course. The dishes here are so tasty that they can even outclass those made by any other restaurant in China." Wu Zhou said immodestly.
"It seems to be so." For that short moment, Martin had seen more than ten people join in the long line and thus he nodded his head.
"Hey, wait a moment. I feel that this restaurant is a little familiar." While looking at the door of Yuan Zhou's restaurant, Martin revealed a look of deep thought.
"You might have seen this restaurant on some websites that recommend nice food. Look, those people are the tourists." Wu Zhou pointed at some people and said.
"Website. Oh, yeah, it's the website." On hearing that, Martin quivered. Then, he took out his phone and started to check.
"Yes, I got it. It turns out to be this restaurant evil-mind black-hearted shop." Martin pointed at the door of Yuan Zhou's restaurant and said loudly.
"Haw?" Wu Zhou indicated that he suddenly couldn't understand English well.
"Zhou, you check by yourself." Martin handed his phone to Wu Zhou.
Then, Wu Zhou saw various comments on the website, all from abroad. Of course, there were also some comments in Chinese, but all of them were overwhelmed by the English comments.
[Hey, I don't believe it. Since the restaurant is so black-hearted, its dishes definitely taste terrible] from Radiance of Cilveti.
[But some say the dishes are not bad] from Abigail.
[I think we'd better go for a look in person and then make the conclusion. However, the price is indeed very high.] from William.
"This is ...?" Wu Zhou glanced at them quickly.
"It's said that the boss charges the foreigners dollars while for your fellow countrymen, he charges RMB." Martin shrugged and said.
"It's indeed like that. This is the privilege offered by Boss Yuan." Wu Zhou nodded his head.
"But it's quite unfair to us foreigners." Martin said discontentedly.
"Indeed." Wu Zhou nodded his head. He agreed to Martin concerning the "unfair" part.
"But it seems that injustice exists everywhere. Take the clauses of Screen Actors Guild concerning the protection to the Black people for example, if there's no discrimination, how would they protect?" Wu Zhou said that right after that.
"You are right, Zhou. But I won't eat here." Martin nodded his head, but still insisted on his opinion.
"Ok. I'm in favor of your decision. Then let's go to the western restaurant next door, shall we?" Wu Zhou didn't insist on persuading Martin, but only pointed at the western restaurant next door and suggested.
"Ok." Martin only nodded his head by then.
This was only one case out of many. Many foreign tourists came here. Some came over to visit Yuan Zhou's restaurant specially and some came to taste.
Therefore, the protests seen by Wu Zhou wasn't that fierce anymore.
When Jet Li became well-known to all by means of his film Shaolin Temple, the Songshan Shaolin Temple received the attention from all over the world.
During that period, many martial arts enthusiasts from all over the world studied in Shaolin Temple.
The instructors naturally wouldn't teach them for free. They also charged foreigners US dollars. And the entrance ticket was 10 times more expensive than that of the native people.
The price at that time was even as high as 1300 USD per month, which was approved by the authorities.
Therefore, there were examples for Yuan Zhou's differential treatment to the foreigners. Of the foreign tourists that came to Yuan Zhou's restaurant now, however, more were here to hunt novelty.
But most were there to protest...
...