The footsteps became clearer and clearer, and the distant loudspeaker penetrated into my ears with the cold wind, allowing me to know what was happening even without looking:
"Welcome! Our restaurant opens today, the first fifty customers are free of charge!"
Free...
The sound of footsteps gradually disappeared, and I secretly thought that not many people were going there - it was not yet dinner time, and the temptation of free meals was not enough to make people who stayed at home obediently go out to face the cold wind.
I licked my chapped lips, and the slight sting made me lose my appetite instantly - I was really not happy with the thought of touching those greasy foods with such a mouth.
What's more... before dinner, I might have passed out due to lack of calories.
In the humble town of Vigo, a 101-year-old lonely man who was afraid of facing Raya froze to death on the street, ending his life meaninglessly.
Beautiful.
To avoid this outcome, I stood up firmly.
The restaurant is not far away, and the warm and peaceful firelight shines through the windows on the snow.
I took steps towards that.
Hmm, probably...not even fifty people.
I entered the store.
"Welcome!"
The voice came from a muscular man wearing only a white vest, with a small iron plate with "Store Manager" printed on his right chest.
The brief greeting did not sound "welcome" at all.
A damp warm air hit my face, and I shivered uncomfortably.
The store is not very big, with less than twenty customers, so it seems that I am not too late.
I noticed that the customers didn’t seem to look at the store manager in a friendly way.
I found a seat in the corner and sat down.
The store manager is here:
"What to eat?"
Well, at first I thought I heard it wrong, but now I am sure - his tone was full of impatience.
"Well..."
"Have you thought about it? Hurry up!"
"...Oh, sorry."
Hey, I just started looking at the menu, okay?
"Hey, manager, when will our meal be ready?"
The speaker is the person at the next table.
"Wait a minute!"
"How long?"
"Wait until I enter the kitchen!"
Into the kitchen? In other words...
I looked around and found that the tables of other customers were empty, and they all looked at me with urging expressions.
That’s right.
"Um...you turned out to be both the store manager and the chef?"
"The clerk is me too, what's wrong?"
...It's really yours, you dare to run a restaurant by yourself.
"Store manager, are you okay yet?"
The guests at the other table couldn't wait either.
"No! Just wait!"
"Hey! Can your attitude be better?"
"No! It's good enough to give you a free bill, but do you care about your attitude? So you locals are really..."
The store manager shouted back rudely.
Well... the store manager probably feels that he is working in vain and is depressed.
He knows that we, the guests who come here for free, don’t have much money in our pockets, so he doesn’t care about the attitude issue at all.
Sure enough, after the manager yelled, the restaurant became quiet again.
I quickly and wisely completed my order.
The manager's biceps twitched as the pen was written on the paper. After twitching three or four times, he nodded to me and finally entered the kitchen.
The soundproofing effect of the kitchen is very poor, and the store manager is humming a tuneless song inside.
Fortunately, the store manager was incredibly fast and served everyone's meals in less than twenty minutes.
"Wow...! It tastes pretty good!"
"Let me try...oh oh, really!"
"Delicious..."
At the same time, there were sighs immediately.
I secretly observed the store manager standing aside - he blew the mustache on his lips proudly and listened to everyone's praises nonchalantly, as if he had anticipated the scene before him.
Fortunately, his cooking skills are not as bad as his temper
I stared at the ramen on the table - it looked delicious, and the steam kept coming out of the soup. I carefully avoided them and didn't have much desire to eat them.
"Hey, store manager, are you from out of town?"
The speaker was a customer who had an attitude argument with the store manager not long ago, and his tone was obviously much calmer.
Except for traveling businessmen, outsiders are rare in the small town of Vigo.
Therefore, including me, everyone is full of curiosity about outsiders.
"...Hmm."
"Business here is not as easy as in big cities."
Ahem... To be precise, business is easier than here, no matter in a big city or a small city.
"Of course I know! If my baby daughter hadn't asked me to please, I wouldn't have come..."
"Your daughter?"
"She didn't like the original place... Anyway, I have some savings."
"Oh..."
The guest asked no more questions.
Everyone’s curiosity is easy to generate and easy to satisfy.
At this moment, the door of the restaurant was opened.
I saw her.
Uh, what should I say? I didn’t know what I was feeling at that time, but I immediately thought of something seemingly unrelated:
Today seems to be Christmas in the world I lived in before I died.
Oh oh oh...
She has long flaming red hair, beautiful cheeks with a little rosiness, and big round eyes that seem a bit childish. She is wearing a guard uniform, with a sword at her waist.
Yeah, a very heroic girl.
"Welcome!"
For some reason, the store manager put on a completely different expression than before and greeted him enthusiastically - this behavior soon aroused new dissatisfaction from other customers.
"Hello, I'm sorry, it suddenly snowed heavily outside. I have to patrol and can't leave... Can you let me in to avoid the snow?"
The girl asked politely.
"Okay! You're welcome."
"Thank you very much."
The store manager laughed and slowly stepped aside.
"Oh! Isn't this Miss He? It's hard work patrolling!"
"Thank you."
"Miss Qian Zhihe! Are you interested in having a drink with us later? My treat!"
"Well! I would be happy to do it if I have time."
The guests also greeted the girl one after another.
Obviously, her popularity is not low.
Because she is not only the newly appointed captain of the infantry team, but also the only [Date] host in the town.
Betrothal - in short, it is an invisible object with special magic. By signing a contract with it, you can use the corresponding special magic.
It exists like a plug-in.
There are not many books on dating in the small town. Like most people in the town, I think it is not necessary to spend too much energy to understand such a distant thing - although I have more energy. p>
The number of betrothal couples distributed in different places varies, and areas with a larger number of betrothed couples are often more developed.
Due to the invisibility of a Dating Partner, the only way to become a Dating Host is to wait for the Dating Partner to actively establish a contract with oneself.
...This shows how earth-shattering the appearance of a mate host is in a backward town like ours.
Right now, the destined host is looking for a seat.
Thousand Paper Cranes...if I remember correctly, that's the name...
"If I remember correctly, you are Mr. Gu Lao, right? Can I sit here?"
She came near me.
"Well, please."
She sat down and I looked at her with curiosity.
The guard is usually very busy, and today must be the first time I meet her... But what's the matter with this vague feeling of familiarity?
"I have often heard about you. Are you really immortal?"
"Hmm."
"It's such an honor to meet you in person. I've always wanted to have a good chat with you."
"I'm not hard to see."
As expected of a commander of the guard army, he also carries a businesslike and polite tone in his daily speech.
My assumption was quickly verified. Before I finished dinner, we just chatted about a few indifferent topics.
After the meal, I was about to leave, and Qian Zhihe seemed to be planning to say goodbye, so we got up together.
The kitchen had turned off the fire, and the manager hung a "Closed" sign at the door of the restaurant and then left.
There are still many customers in the restaurant. They gather in a circle and don’t know what they are doing.
Full of the comfort of having a free meal, I walked slowly towards the door, but was stopped midway:
"Hey, Mr. Gu, are you interested in playing?"
"Well..."
I came closer and saw homemade temporary chips placed on the large table surrounded by the guests.
I understand.
"What to bet on?"
"Bet on how this restaurant's business will be in the future. This side is 'good', this side is 'bad'... Oh! Miss He, why don't you come and play too? It's a rare opportunity!"
Qianzhihe blinked when his name was called, and then joined happily.
"One chip has ten dimensions."
...actually blatantly gambling in the store.
"How about it? Give it a try? Think of it as a blessing ceremony for the store manager."
Well, it is indeed an unusual blessing ceremony, and it is in line with the customs of the small town.
I glanced at the bets on the table - so far, a lot of chips have been placed on the side that represents the restaurant's future business prosperity, which is in sharp contrast to the emptiness on the other side.
"I vote here."
Qian Zhihe did not hesitate to become a member of the group that supports "good".
"Then I also..."
The stakes are not big, I just want to show my feelings.
That's what I was thinking...
[The probability of restaurants closing down recently is 87%]
A message appeared in my mind, and my words stopped abruptly due to hesitation.
The source of the message is my only remaining plug-in - a thing called "divine eye" that can predict probabilities.
It’s just...it’s not just the probability of knowing what I want to know.
This ability is not activated under my control, but will convey information like this to me from time to time.
As for the content of the information...mostly it won't be of much help to me.
So, in one sentence - it’s a dispensable thing.
At this moment, my plug-in told me that the restaurant would most likely go bankrupt in the near future.
Going bankrupt... Betting on "bad" means making a fortune, I——
"I'll vote here too."
After a brief pause, I put my chips on "good".
"Hey~~ Then I can't gamble, it's really boring~~"
I heard someone making fun of me.
But when I raised my eyes, I found that everyone had a look of "Sure enough," with smiles hidden in the corners of their eyes.
No one placed a "bad" bet, so the bet ultimately failed.
Why is this unfolding? The reason I said early on——