The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

They were standing in the hallway, arguing loudly, when a sharp-eyed waiter hurriedly went to call the supervisor over.

Upon understanding the situation, Gao Wenjing thought to herself, oh no, something bad has happened!

This matter had to be addressed in terms of right and wrong.

By logic, the female customer was undoubtedly wrong; she shouldn’t have intercepted a dish that someone else ordered halfway.

The order taker was also at fault, they should have directly and firmly refused, serving the dishes in order as they were meant to.

However, from an emotional standpoint, the order taker actually didn’t make a big mistake; they just felt sympathetic for the teenager suffering from anorexia and wanted to help out.

It was just bad luck that they happened to be caught by another customer.

Everyone comes to the restaurant to eat; no one wants to wait longer.

Gao Wenjing hurriedly pretended to scold the food runner and the waiter: ”No matter what, you can’t disrupt the order of serving dishes at will. This matter is your negligence!”

The food runner and the waiter felt wronged but didn’t dare to argue back on the surface.

”Why didn’t you ask for guidance when something happened? Who allowed you to independently change the order of serving dishes for customers? Did you even ask for the customer’s opinion?”

”Moreover, it’s clearly stated in the rules that you cannot accept tips from customers, so why did you knowingly break the rule?”

As soon as these words were said, the food runner and the waiter hurried to defend themselves: ”Boss, we didn’t take any money! The customer wanted to give it, but we didn’t accept it, really!”

Already feeling wronged for being reprimanded over this matter, and now being accused of taking tips, they absolutely hadn’t done that!

If it weren’t for refusing to accept the tip earlier, and the fuss in the hallway, they might not have been noticed at all.

Thinking of this made them feel even more wronged!

The female customer, seeing the situation escalate, hurriedly explained: ”They really didn’t take any money. It’s actually nothing at all; the dish was originally ordered by this young man, and he agreed to let us have it. Right?”

The young man dressed as a laborer gave a silly smile: ”Yes, we’re not in a hurry to eat, there’s a sick person on their side, let them have it, it’s okay.”

The three of them were workers at a newly built community nearby, and today they came to the restaurant to celebrate the beginning of the month when they got paid.

After having two dishes and a few pork fat dumplings, they weren’t too hungry anymore.

Seeing this mother and son, judging by their dress they seemed quite well-off, and the child was sick now.

Anyway, they couldn’t afford to offend them, and they felt sorry for them, so without thinking, he chose to give in.

Seeing both sides reach an agreement, the young woman immediately jumped up: ”What, after all this, was I just meddling? When will the dishes at our table be served? We’ve been waiting half the day!”

The young woman angrily glared at the female customer and the young worker, then turned to ask Gao Wenjing.

Gao Wenjing quickly offered a conciliatory smile: ”I’ll urge them right away. Indeed, today’s matter was our staff’s fault, they didn’t handle the situation well, affecting your dining experience. How about this, I’ll ask the back kitchen to send a specialty dish from our restaurant to each of your tables as compensation. Please bear with us, it’s all because of our poor management. I will definitely standardize management later, I’m really sorry.”

A smiling face doesn’t provoke a hand.

Gao Wenjing, with both compensation and an apology, although the young woman was still angry, felt it wasn’t appropriate to explode further. With a sullen face, she turned around and returned to her private room.

The female customer and the young worker on this side were quick to speak for the food runner and the waiter.

The female customer said: ”It’s not their fault, I was the one in a hurry, sorry for troubling you.”

After she finished speaking, she turned to the young worker and said: ”Thank you so much, I’ll cover the meal for your table today. Don’t be modest, today it really was my fault, you see how things turned out...”

The young worker hurriedly declined.

After some polite back-and-forth, the young worker relented, mainly because the female customer indeed wasn’t short on money, and her attitude was very sincere.

Later, the female customer said to the waiter: ”Simply serve us the same dishes as their table, that will be fine.”

The waiter quickly agreed and started taking the order.

The food runner followed the female customer back to the private room and brought the dishes to the table.

The young worker also returned and explained the situation to his two colleagues.

None of the three thought that someone would actually treat them to a meal today, and they were all quite happy.

The older one said: ”I guess this is the reward for being kind?”

The youngest was a bit hesitant: ”This doesn’t feel right, maybe we should pay her back.”

Another one said: ”That lady was so enthusiastic, really couldn’t refuse!”

The older one decided: ”She meant well, so we should accept it. The dishes we had ordered aren’t expensive, eating one meal is no big deal.”

The other two thought about it and agreed.

When they ordered earlier, to save money, they didn’t really choose expensive dishes.

People who can eat here definitely aren’t short of money.

Thinking this way made them feel quite justified.

The young woman returned to her private room and complained to her friends: ”Honestly, I went to the bathroom just now, and ended up running into a shrew...”

The female customer, referred to as a shrew, was at that moment smiling warmly as she watched her son eating: ”How is it? Does it taste okay?”

The delay earlier caused the dish to be not as hot, but surprisingly, it tasted quite good.

The mushrooms were tender and refreshing, doused in chicken fat and broth, rich and delicious.

With shallots and ginger to enhance the flavor, although they looked simple and natural, the taste was incredibly fresh and savory.

The boy ate a couple of slices of mushrooms, found it pretty good, and unhurriedly took two more pieces.

The female customer watched eagerly, and when the boy picked up another piece of mushroom and put it in his mouth, she couldn’t help but smile in relief.

Thankfully, he wasn’t disappointing her.

At least he was able to eat something.

But when the successive dishes were brought to the table, the smile on the female customer’s face started to falter.

Sweet and sour pork could be tolerated, but they even ordered stewed intestine?

This pig offal smells terrible, how can they eat it?!

The pig trotters were whole, but the most baffling thing was the big bowl of thick soup.

What kind of soup is this?

There are big bones inside, and this...is that turnip?

To drink this at Qianlima?

It’s really...

The female customer frowned, remembering the person just now in work attire, probably working on some construction site.

If they don’t have money, why come to Qianlima to dine?

They came, and yet skimped on ordering just these few dishes, it’s really...

Don’t even know where to start critiquing!

At this moment, the boy leaned over the soup bowl for a look, then picked up the ladle, scooping a small spoonful of soup into his mouth.

Female customer: ”!”