"Yes, Mom."
Satou smiled and greeted her. His family had been running a snack shop here for a long time, and all the neighbors knew them.
"Speaking of which, it's not easy for you, keep it up!"
The neighborhood Mom encouraged him.
"Thank you, Mom."
After seeing off the neighbor, Satou began to clean the shop.
One hour later.
"Finally finished."
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded with satisfaction as he looked at the shop's interior.
Although the cleaned shop still looked old, it was much cleaner and had a sense of aged charm.
Satou took out a small blackboard, thought for a moment, and wrote down the menu.
...
Hand-pulled Cabbage: 20,000 Japanese Yen
Yangzhou Fried Rice: 20,000 Japanese Yen
After finishing the menu, Satou prepared to open for business.
However, with prices set so high, it would be fine in a high-end restaurant, but for a small roadside shop, it should be quite difficult to sell, right?
But honestly, Satou felt that his cooking was indeed worth the price.
About half an hour later, the first customers entered the small shop.
They were a young couple.
"I'm so tired. Let's have dinner here?"
The girl said to her boyfriend.
The boy nodded, then walked in with his girlfriend, found a clean seat, and casually asked, "Are you the owner here? Do you have any signature dishes?"
"This shop has Hand-pulled Cabbage and Yangzhou Fried Rice."
Satou replied.
"Only two kinds?"
The boy frowned, but after thinking that he was already seated and leaving now would seem a bit rude, he hesitated and said, "Then give us one portion each of Hand-pulled Cabbage and Yangzhou Fried Rice."
"Alright, but you need to pay first. The total is eighty thousand yen."
Satou nodded and said.
"Ho... How much?"
The couple was instantly stunned. Even a Kaiseki meal probably wouldn't cost eighty thousand yen, would it?
"Shop owner, did you make a mistake?"
The girl stammered.
"No, why don't you look at the menu on the blackboard?"
Satou shrugged.
The two looked at the wall and indeed saw the small blackboard hanging there, with the menu written on it, and the price was indeed twenty thousand.
"You... You're a rip-off!"
The two could no longer remain calm, jumping up from their seats and accusing him.
"No, the dishes in this shop have a taste that brings happiness. Just try them, and you'll know they're absolutely worth it."
Satou explained.
"Bring happiness? I think it's a taste that makes people vomit, right? How could we fall for such a trick!"
The boy said indignantly, then turned to his girlfriend, "Let's go."
"Mhm!"
With that, the two walked straight out of the small shop.
Seeing this, Satou felt a wave of helplessness.
Indeed, selling his dishes truly required patience.
Over the next hour, several more waves of customers came into the small shop, but after seeing the menu, they were all scared away.
Some even claimed they would call the police.
"Satou, are you here?"
Just then, Kaga Aoi happily ran in and called out.
"Huh, Aoi, why are you here? Isn't this peak dining time? If you're not helping out at the shop, won't Uncle get a headache?"
Satou asked in surprise.
Usually at this time, Kaga Aoi would be helping out at her family's restaurant.
"No, I've already asked my father for leave. Besides, I was worried you couldn't handle it alone, Satou."
Kaga Aoi smiled brightly and said.
"Oh, speaking of which, Satou, why is there no one in your shop?"
She looked around the shop curiously and said.
Although Satou's small shop usually didn't have great business, it wasn't usually this deserted.
"Probably because it's newly opened."
Satou said.
"That's true, but don't get discouraged, Satou. Opening a shop is always a step-by-step process."
Kaga Aoi encouraged him, and then she saw the menu on the blackboard, her eyes instantly widening as she stammered, "Satou, did you write your menu wrong? Twenty thousand for one dish?"
"No mistake, that's indeed the price."
Satou nodded and said.
"But, this..."
Kaga Aoi was suddenly at a loss for words.
She had originally thought Satou had accidentally written the menu incorrectly, which was why he had no business.
"Don't worry."
Satou looked at her surprised expression and couldn't help but smile slightly.
He was quite confident in his cooking; good wine needs no bush, as long as his dishes were worth the price, customers would eventually come.
Soon, another hour passed.
During this time, not a single customer came, but it did attract accusations from many indignant passersby.
"Are you kidding me? In this alley, you dare to sell such expensive food? Isn't this a rip-off?"
"Yeah, it must be a scam."
Kaga Aoi's face turned pale with fright; this was the first time she had encountered such a thing.
"I say, Satou, why don't you change the price?"
She couldn't help but say.
"It's fine."
Satou remained calm and was not intimidated by the scene before him.
"If you're not buying, please do not comment on this shop's dishes."
He said indifferently.
"I say, are you the shop owner? This kind of behavior isn't right!"
Just then, a girl with orange-red hair and bows tied on both sides walked out, hands on her hips, and questioned.
Behind her followed a tall, expressionless boy with black hair.
"Huh?"
Satou was slightly startled, feeling that these two looked familiar.
After a moment, he remembered, wasn't this Sakura Chiyo from Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun?
And the seemingly uninteresting boy following her, wasn't that the famous shojo manga artist Nozaki Umetarou?
At this moment, Sakura Chiyo saw Satou in a daze and couldn't help but call out again, "Shop owner, your behavior is complete fraud, and it's not right, so please stop it immediately!"
Satou couldn't help but laugh and retorted, "Why do you think I'm committing fraud?"
PS: Please collect and give flowers, thank you everyone.
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