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Chapter 80 The Restaurant (Seeking First Subscription)

Changhua County was more prosperous than Zhou You had imagined.

Although the county town wasn't exactly bustling with people, it was far from being a desolate wasteland where bones lay exposed and no roosters crowed for miles. There were some signs of life on the streets—peddlers carrying bamboo poles, farmers in coarse robes, and children running around the corners of the alleys.
In the distance, there was a hint of a peaceful world.

However, Zhou You's gaze grew increasingly somber.

Everyone he saw, except for the yamen runners and soldiers in the county government office, had an oily sheen on their skin.

—The rosy appearance is just an illusion; the entire county has become an orchard.

A vast orchard built on human lives and serving demons and ghosts!

Looking at the scenery, the old Taoist priest sighed to himself.

"Such a grand gesture is a rare sight in decades. This Tai Sui star is truly a talent."

Zhou You's expression remained unchanged; he simply spoke in a low voice.

"What, Master? Has this kind of thing happened before?"

The old Taoist chuckled.

"I wouldn't say it ever happened, but it was similar—thirty-seven years ago, in Wuzhou, a high-ranking monk couldn't withstand the pollution and fell into the demonic path. He transformed himself into a meditating Buddha and planned to guide the Lord of the Corpse Forest to descend to earth. In just half a year, half of the prefecture was turned into a domain of white bones. At that time, the streets were full of skeletons and corpses, and the city was eerily quiet with not a single living person in sight. In the end, the matter became too big, and the Shifa Sect joined forces with some bald men to destroy it."

At this point, the old Taoist suddenly stopped speaking, and then, as if he had just thought of something, he muttered to himself with some doubt.

The sound was so faint that Zhou You didn't hear it.

"—But that's not right. Causing trouble on a small scale is fine, since none of those sects have clean hands, but if it gets out of hand, it will definitely be besieged. This Tai Sui Star Lord was able to kill my main body, so it can't be that stupid. So what exactly does it want to do?"

"Master, what did you just say?"

The old Taoist priest shook his head in his pocket and gave a casual reply.

"No, it's nothing. By the way, disciple, have you arrived at your destination?"

"Pretty much. There aren't many restaurants in this city to begin with. Basically, everyone goes to the meat stalls. This is probably the only one that's somewhat decent."

Zhou You looked up.

The Wine-Eating Immortal

The three large characters are clearly written on the signboard.

However, unlike its rather nice exterior, there were hardly any people inside the house.

There were no waiters or servants in the shop, only a middle-aged man with a decadent face lying on the table, looking at the pedestrians on the street with boredom.

The middle-aged man was taken aback when he saw Zhou You enter.

"Friend, you've come to the wrong place. Shi Rou Peng is on the street corner. I don't sell Tai Sui meat here."

He spoke with practiced ease, as if he had said this more than once recently.

Zhou You simply smiled.

"That's strange. Are there still shops in this world that turn away customers?"

The boss looked on incredulously.

"Are you here for a meal?"

"Of course." "You're not asking us to make 'Tai Sui meat'?"

"Yes."

The shop owner immediately beamed with joy. He stood up quickly, ignoring the chair he had knocked over, and hurriedly welcomed Zhou You inside.

"Come, come, guests, please come in! Liu San, Liu San, what are you doing? Hurry up and get inside—"

The boss called out a couple of times, then suddenly realized he was all alone, and his face instantly fell.

However, he quickly realized what was happening and led Zhou You to the hall, pulled out a chair, and respectfully invited him to sit down.

The service was so good that it even made someone feel a little overwhelmed.

"No, brother, you don't need to be so polite. I don't want to order too much; I just plan to have a simple meal."

But the owner still respectfully wiped the table clean and then smiled.

"No problem, no problem at all. You're the first customer in the past two months, so even if you're just here to share in the good fortune, we have to provide excellent service. What would you like to order?"

After saying that, the boss's expression suddenly turned somewhat embarrassed.

"—But then again, as you know, because of this recent disaster, we don't have much good stuff left here. We only have some dried vegetables that can be stored for a long time and some brown rice. It's only because most people in the city don't need to eat anymore that we have what we have."

"Then..." Zhou You was about to ask for the menu as usual, but then shook his head self-deprecatingly. "Just bring whatever you have first."

"okay!"

The boss walked into the kitchen, and then heard several shouts, followed by some drowsy arguments.

After a while, the other person came out again and said to Zhou You very apologetically.

"I'm so sorry, but because we haven't had any customers for so long, the cook has gotten a bit lazy. The kitchen has just started cooking, so it might take a while. May I ask your permission?"

Zhou You waved his hand.

"It's alright, I can take care of my business here tomorrow anyway." Then he looked around and said to the owner, "By the way, owner, in such a big restaurant, are you and the chef the only ones working?"

The person on the other end immediately gave a wry smile.

"In good years, there were many. There were four or five master chefs in the kitchen and six or seven assistants in the front. Back then, we were so busy that we couldn't keep up. All we wanted was to relax a bit all day long."

As he spoke, a hint of nostalgia appeared on the boss's face.

"But it's a pity that after the disaster, we couldn't even support ourselves, let alone others. In the end, only the cook, a waiter named Liu San, and I were left in this building. But recently, Liu San disappeared a few days ago for some reason. There's no trace of him, neither alive nor dead. So now it's just the cook and me."

But at that moment, Zhou You suddenly interrupted.

"—By the way, boss, have there been many missing persons in the county lately?"

The boss was taken aback for a moment, then replied.

"How would I know? Because of this drought, people keep coming and going in the city. There have been several waves of refugees. Many of them fill their stomachs with the flesh of the Grand Duke Jupiter and then flee to the outskirts of the state. After all, it just won't rain no matter what. Nobody knows how long the Grand Duke Jupiter can hold out."

"—Not to mention that the Lord's birthday is approaching recently, and there's been a lot more trouble. There are even a few lunatics in the county town who keep saying that the Lord of Tai Sui is not a god but a demon. —Look, he has saved the people from suffering, and there are still people slandering him. Is this fucking reasonable?"

Zhou You's expression suddenly became very serious.

Wait, are there people in this city who actually know what the Tai Sui Star Lord is?
　Chapter Two: Today, the author took a day off, putting aside all the Legal Circle projects, and squeezed every last drop out of himself. He estimates he can manage to write over 10,000 words a day.
　　Right?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)