Chapter 83: A Bad Review
When she was looking at the abandoned building’s blueprints with Boss Xu earlier, the system automatically scanned a copy. Now that Shen Lu wanted to renovate the shop, she just had to enter the shop module’s editing interface.
Shen Lu: "Mhm, let’s enter the editing interface."
Upon receiving the Host’s affirmative response, the system silently displayed a top-down floor plan. It was, in fact, the layout of the abandoned building’s first floor.
Shen Lu had already chosen a renovation style long ago. All she had to do was click on the "natural wood style" icon below.
Full of anticipation, Shen Lu clicked "Confirm." She thought some magical scene would appear, but nothing happened.
Shen Lu: ?
Shen Lu: "What’s going on now? Where’s the renovation?"
[Host, the renovation will take one hour.]
’Fair enough, that sounds reasonable.’
But Shen Lu wasn’t about to wait here for an hour. It was better to head back.
Just as she walked out of the abandoned building, Shen Lu discovered that the first floor had been encircled by a black cloth, completely obscuring the view. She poked it curiously but was blocked.
A line of text appeared.
[Renovation in progress...]
Shen Lu had no choice but to turn back. Once inside her house, she took off her mask and drank some water to soothe her throat.
Seeing her return home safely, Fu Cheng, who had been worried the whole time, let out a sigh of relief.
Shen Lu rested for about fifteen minutes, then got up to cook the braised foods.
After finishing that, Shen Lu confirmed with Boss Zhou about the appliance delivery for nine o’clock the next morning. Once she got an affirmative answer, she started editing today’s video.
She had already edited and posted the video she shot yesterday, and the response had been mediocre, but it hadn’t dampened Shen Lu’s enthusiasm.
She spent half an hour editing the video and uploading it to the platform. A moment later, a little red dot lit up in her account’s backend.
Hmm?
’Yesterday’s video still has no comments, but today’s got one less than five minutes after I posted it?’
’This is a good start.’
Full of anticipation, Shen Lu clicked on the little red dot.
—Fake! What kind of good stuff could possibly come from the Lower City District? It’s a total scam. She probably uses illegal additives, otherwise how could it smell so fragrant? Don’t believe her, everyone!
Shen Lu mentally shrugged.
’Alright, a negative comment.’
’A negative comment is fine, too. At least it’s generating some buzz.’
’As they say, all publicity is good publicity. The important thing is to build up hype first. Being ignored is the scariest thing.’
’Besides, her food was the real deal, with no weird additives whatsoever. She wasn’t afraid of any self-proclaimed crusaders of justice.’
In high spirits, Shen Lu closed the backend and used today’s Lottery Ticket.
[Congratulations, Host, for drawing Blind Box Prize #003: One voucher for ten thousand jin of crayfish.]
[Voucher for Ten Thousand Jin of Crayfish: Can be used to redeem ten thousand jin of high-quality crayfish from the system’s marketplace.]
Shen Lu: ...
Following the one hundred jin of seasonings, she had drawn ingredients yet again.
But this time, the ingredients were much more valuable than the last.
Shen Lu stroked her chin. ’Crayfish are great, too. There are lots of ways to cook them. I was just wondering what kind of gimmick I should use for the grand opening. I can build it around the crayfish.’
’Maybe a crayfish eating contest?’
’Whoever eats the most crayfish in one minute gets a membership card that gives them a twenty percent discount.’
Shen Lu thought this was an excellent idea. ’Note to self: write this down!’
’This is much more interesting than my original idea of a huge grand opening sale. If I shoot some videos of it, it’s bound to go viral.’
All that time she’d spent watching videos recently wasn’t for nothing. Shen Lu had looked around; no other shop’s grand opening had been this extravagant. Not even the rich bosses in the Upper City District were as generous as her.
Before going to sleep, Shen Lu glanced at her popularity value. Today’s increase wasn’t as good as yesterday’s.
That was normal. She’d been affected by those few people today. Some people just echoed whatever they heard, like grass on a wall, easily led by the nose.
But Shen Lu was confident that these people would eventually come back to eat her food.
Filled with wonderful expectations for the next day, Shen Lu drifted off into a sweet sleep, but Fu Cheng lay awake all night.
He knew that they were moving to their new home tomorrow, which meant he and Shen Lu would be sleeping in separate rooms.
He wasn’t used to the idea.
If he had been a little resistant at the beginning when Shen Lu had insisted on squeezing into the same bed with him...
...then after all these days, listening to her even breaths and feeling her warmth had become a deeply ingrained habit.
Fu Cheng didn’t know what he felt for Shen Lu, nor did he care what she thought of him. He just wanted to be a little closer to her, and then a little closer still.
Like a drowning man clinging to a piece of driftwood, holding on for dear life, unwilling to let go.
Fu Cheng moved his arm, pushing himself further into the bed with some effort. Then he gently pulled Shen Lu, shifting her from her side onto her back.
Because the bed was so narrow, this position would inevitably cause her to press down on him.
Fu Cheng didn’t care. His fingers sought out Shen Lu’s, not just enveloping her small hand as he usually did, but weaving through the gaps between her fingers, their palms pressing together.
’It’s the last night. It’s okay to be a little reckless.’
Fu Cheng felt ashamed of his own thoughts, but the craving in his heart was too strong to suppress.
...
In the early morning, Shen Lu’s eyes opened right on time. She wanted to stretch, but found her right hand was being held.
She let out a breath. ’Alright, I take back everything I said about being a neat sleeper.’
Her sleeping posture was actually quite average.
After pulling her hand back, Shen Lu checked on Fu Cheng as she usually did, since she had been pressing against him all night.
This time was bad. The stump of Fu Cheng’s left thigh was bleeding.
"Sorry, sorry," Shen Lu apologized in a low voice. "I’ll change your dressing right now. Don’t worry, starting today, I’ll never press on you again."
Shen Lu quickly took out the medical supplies, unwrapped the gauze from Fu Cheng’s left thigh, cleaned the blood, sprinkled on medicinal powder, and re-bandaged it.
The entire process was as smooth as flowing water, practiced to perfection.
Just as she finished washing her hands, Shen Lu heard a knock on the door.
"Boss Shen, it’s me."
Shen Lu glanced at the time. It wasn’t even six-thirty yet. Why was Wang Daguo here so early?
She went to open the door. "You’re here so early? Have you had breakfast?"
"I’ve eaten, Boss Shen. Aren’t you moving today? I came early to see if there’s anything I can do."
Shen Lu smiled. "Fu Cheng and I don’t have much luggage. Moving will be easy."
"Then how about I take Fu Cheng to the new place first?"
"Let’s... wait. I don’t feel comfortable leaving him home alone for a long time. It’s better if he comes with me to the stall, just like before."
’Shen Lu didn’t dare run any more experiments. Fu Cheng was her Lucky Cat; as long as she was setting up the stall, she had to bring him along.’
Shen Lu washed up and ate, then fed Fu Cheng. She also gave Wang Daguo and Cai Su each a braised egg.
She glanced at the time. It was almost seven. She still had to hurry to the abandoned building to meet Xue Can, so she had her two employees go to the junkyard to scavenge first.
Shen Lu jogged all the way to the abandoned building. Xue Can and two other men were standing at the shop’s entrance, studying the black cloth that surrounded the first floor.
Spotting the fiery pattern igniting on Xue Can’s fingertip, as if he were about to burn the black cloth, Shen Lu quickly called out to him, "Sorry, Mr. Xue, I’m late."