Chapter 120: The Arrogant Owner of the Barbecue Shop

In the evening, as the sky gradually darkened, Zhang Yang and Lin Jingmin left the hotel together and prepared to go eat barbecue.

Outside Starlight Plaza, the Cayenne slowly stopped.

“Did you come here often before?” Zhang Yang asked casually while sitting in the car.

“Quite often. There’s a dance training studio on the second floor. I used to learn here. Well? Can you tell?” Lin Jingmin smiled and lightly spun in place, showing Zhang Yang her posture and figure.

Zhang Yang looked at Lin Jingmin’s figure. Honestly speaking, with her slim waist and long legs, she really did have a graceful, elegant look.

The two walked leisurely through Starlight Plaza, strolling and browsing.

Walking inside his own small business property, Zhang Yang felt a rather wonderful sensation, as if he were within his own territory. In his heart, there was an indescribable sense of calmness and reliance.

He didn’t say that this place was his property and simply wandered around with Lin Jingmin.

“By the way, what exactly do you do for work?” While strolling, Lin Jingmin suddenly asked Zhang Yang curiously.

“I just collect rent and live leisurely every day,” Zhang Yang replied with a casual smile.

“A landlord, huh? I really envy you.” Lin Jingmin’s eyes immediately showed admiration. “You’re not the kind who owns lots of apartments, are you?”

Zhang Yang smiled without answering, deliberately leaving some mystery.

For example, he definitely wouldn’t tell Lin Jingmin that the commercial street they were walking on right now-with three floors and two hundred shops-was entirely his property.

“There it is.” Lin Jingmin suddenly pointed toward a crowded storefront not far away.

Zhang Yang looked over.

A line had already formed outside Fengyun Barbecue.

Some customers were standing at the entrance, lining up while placing orders in advance.

“Is it really that good?” Zhang Yang laughed.

“I think it’s pretty good. After all, it’s grilled over pure charcoal and the flavor is authentic. It’s just a bit expensive, and the owner’s attitude isn’t very good,” Lin Jingmin said honestly.

“Then why come here? Looking to suffer?” Zhang Yang shook his head.

“That’s the power of controversial popularity. Come on, let’s try it.” Lin Jingmin pulled Zhang Yang over to line up.

At the shop entrance, the owner was bare-armed while taking orders.

He was a stout middle-aged man over fifty.

“Boss, we just want to try your grilled chicken feet. If we order too much we won’t finish it,” a customer who had come because of the reputation said in a negotiating tone.

“You two are only ordering about a hundred yuan worth of stuff and you expect me to grill it? I wouldn’t even cover my costs!” the owner scolded rudely. “Not taking the order!”

The few customers were good-tempered and seemed to have done their research beforehand. Facing such an attitude, they simply smiled and tried to negotiate politely.

The surrounding people watched the scene as if it were nothing unusual and showed little reaction.

“Let me say this first-small skewers must be ordered in sets of ten. Chicken feet, kidneys, and things like that start with two portions. If your per-person spending is under one hundred, I won’t serve you!” the shop owner waved his hand arrogantly.

Nearby, a mother with a child had just stepped forward when he noticed her.

“Oh right, anyone with kids won’t be served either. Too noisy and troublesome. I can’t stand it.” He waved his hand and directly turned her away.

The mother froze, standing there awkwardly and unsure what to do.

Although Zhang Yang had heard about it before, seeing this scene with his own eyes still shocked him a little.

What was wrong with consumers these days?

Addicted to being scolded?

Even with this attitude, people were still coming nonstop to eat here?

He felt that the owner had probably discovered the secret to making money-becoming famous by scolding customers, so he simply kept doing it.

“You two want to eat or not? Minimum two hundred for two people. If you want to order, grab the notebook and write it yourselves.” The owner noticed Zhang Yang and Lin Jingmin.

“Two hundred is too much. Make it less,” Zhang Yang said casually.

“Order or don’t order. Bringing a girl out for barbecue and still being stingy. If everyone were like you, how would I keep this shop open?” The owner was about to pick up the menu, but after hearing that, he slammed the menu onto the table and snapped back.

Zhang Yang was stunned.

Damn it-even before he became wealthy, when he was just an ordinary person, he had never taken this kind of abuse.

Now the entire commercial street belonged to him, yet he still had to take abuse from one of his tenants? Didn’t this guy know his place?

Zhang Yang raised his eyebrows and immediately felt like telling him to get lost.

“Forget it, forget it. That’s just the boss’s personality,” Lin Jingmin quickly tugged at Zhang Yang’s sleeve and whispered.

“Just try the food first. It’s worth it.”

Zhang Yang looked at Lin Jingmin’s pleading eyes, hummed lightly, and remained calm, deciding to eat first before doing anything.

He would keep this in mind and settle the account later.

Meanwhile, Lin Jingmin pleaded and spoke kindly to the owner before finally getting the menu back, then happily pulled Zhang Yang to place their order.

“Their chicken feet are delicious. Let’s just try a little-four chicken feet, two portions of meat skewers, two portions of tender beef, hehe, and two lamb kidneys for you.”

Lin Jingmin skillfully selected a bunch of items with the pen and then politely handed the menu to the owner.

“With service like this, customers like you share some responsibility,” Zhang Yang said helplessly.

“Oh come on, as long as it tastes good. If their food is delicious, it’s understandable that they’re a little arrogant,” Lin Jingmin explained softly while hugging Zhang Yang’s arm.

“I want to see just how good it is that makes everyone flock here like this,” Zhang Yang said with a smile.

After an unknown amount of time, the line outside grew longer and longer.

The owner’s loud voice never stopped.

“I sell barbecue, not service! If you want service, you won’t find it here!”

“Two people ordering this little? You might as well go eat a bowl of noodles instead of wasting my time!”

“Too expensive? Then don’t eat!”

“I supported two college students and bought three apartments just from selling barbecue! That’s capital!”

Those who came here had already heard about the owner’s service attitude. Most just laughed it off and didn’t argue with him, though some who couldn’t stand it confronted him angrily-and were promptly kicked out.

After a long while, it was finally Zhang Yang’s turn.

The two walked into the shop and casually found seats.

Inside the restaurant, it was very quiet. The customers who were still eating were slowly savoring their food, not daring to speak loudly.

“The owner hates noise, so nobody talks loudly,” Lin Jingmin whispered.

“What a strange act.” Zhang Yang unwrapped the disposable utensils.

At a nearby table, some barbecue had just been served.

“Come, come, let me distribute it for you. Three skewers for you, three for you, and you get one.” The owner personally divided the skewers for that table.

The three people at the table looked somewhat helpless.

Damn it-they paid money yet still had to obediently listen.

“Alright, eat slowly.” The owner left after distributing the skewers.

Someone at that table muttered, “He earns your money and still makes you obey him. What kind of logic is that?”

“Say less. It’s not easy for the owner either. That’s just his temper. Just eat,” someone else at the table reminded quietly.

“Bah, it’s dry and burnt-looking. How good can it be?”

The words from the neighboring table drifted over to Zhang Yang’s side. Lin Jingmin looked a little embarrassed, since she had suggested coming here.

“Well… everyone’s taste is probably different,” she said awkwardly.

“It’s fine. If it doesn’t taste good, I won’t blame you.” Zhang Yang already had his own plan.

If a shop like this didn’t know its place, it would be better to get rid of it sooner. Its business success was its own matter. For the entire Starlight Plaza, one more shop like this didn’t matter, and one less didn’t matter either.

Keeping it around was just unpleasant to look at.

After a while, the barbecue for their table finally arrived.

“Kidneys, lamb skewers, tendon meat…”

The owner began placing dishes on the table.

Zhang Yang glanced at them and was about to pick up a skewer.

“Hey, hey, I haven’t divided them yet! What are you moving for?” the owner stopped him directly. “Chicken feet are our specialty. You get one to try. The rest go to the lady first.”

“Tsk.” Zhang Yang put the skewer back down and looked at the owner. “Boss, just leave the food on the table. How we eat and divide it is our business.”

The owner was used to losing his temper with customers. This was the first time someone had spoken back to him like this.

“A customer like you, I-”

“What? Not serving me? Then take the skewers away. Just remember, I haven’t touched a single one,” Zhang Yang said, spreading his hands.

The owner’s face changed several times, but he ultimately didn’t want to take the loss and left with a gloomy expression.

The customers at the neighboring table looked toward Zhang Yang.

“I’ve wanted to argue with that boss for a long time.”

“The food isn’t even that amazing, yet he has such a bad temper!”

Zhang Yang just smiled and looked at the food that had been served.

“Here, try their chicken feet first.” Lin Jingmin deliberately placed the grilled chicken feet in front of him and eagerly waited for his evaluation.

Zhang Yang picked one up and tasted it.

Soft and tender, with a crispy surface. Honestly speaking, the chicken feet themselves were pretty good.

“Mm, these chicken feet are quite well grilled,” he commented.

Hearing this, Lin Jingmin immediately smiled, as if receiving validation.

“I told you-their chicken feet are amazing.”

Zhang Yang didn’t continue praising it.

To be honest, even if the chicken feet were good, it still wasn’t to the level where people would willingly get scolded just to eat them.

After finishing the chicken feet, he tried the other skewers.

Immediately, his eyebrows slowly frowned.

There was a ginger taste.

And it was very salty.

Usually in this kind of situation, it means the meat isn’t very fresh, so heavy seasoning is used to cover the taste.

Just judging by the flavor of these meat skewers, they were absolutely very average-basically the level of any roadside barbecue stall.

He took two bites, but seeing the expectant look in Lin Jingmin’s eyes across from him, he didn’t want to spoil the mood and simply continued eating normally.

“How are the meat skewers?” Lin Jingmin asked while watching Zhang Yang.

“They’re alright, I guess,” Zhang Yang said noncommittally. “With barbecue, the taste is mostly similar everywhere. It’s more about the atmosphere.”

“But the atmosphere here doesn’t seem that great either.” Lin Jingmin sighed lightly. “Looks like I didn’t pick the right place.”

“Let me ask you something. If this shop moved somewhere else, would you still come?” Zhang Yang asked with interest.

“Well… that depends.” Lin Jingmin lightly tapped her chin. “Maybe I’d come once in a while, but probably not often. I don’t think the owner would be foolish enough to move though-he’d definitely lose some popularity.”

“That’s not necessarily true. What if the rent gets raised?” Zhang Yang said with a smile.

“How could rent just suddenly be raised like that?” Lin Jingmin muttered, thinking it unlikely.

As for this barbecue meal, Zhang Yang found it very ordinary.

It was nowhere near worthy of all the hype.

And with the owner’s constant bad temper throughout the whole time, there was no way he would come here a second time.

“Check please.” Zhang Yang waved his hand.

At the cashier counter, the shop owner casually glanced down at the bill.

“275. The payment QR code is on the table-scan it yourself.”

“I’ll pay, I’ll pay. I said I’d treat today.” Without hesitation, Lin Jingmin took out her phone and prepared to scan the code.

“Wait a second.” Zhang Yang immediately raised his hand to stop her. “How much did we eat exactly? Just this 275? Are you sure it’s correct?”

“It should… probably be right?” Lin Jingmin suddenly sounded uncertain.

Zhang Yang nodded and beckoned to the owner.

“Boss, bring the bill over so I can check it.”

“What’s with you people and all these problems? What bill do you want? Don’t trust me?” The owner finally couldn’t hold back his temper. “I’ve been doing business for so many years-do I not have this little bit of integrity? Customers like you, I won’t serve next time. Consider this time my bad luck.”

“No, ever since I got here you haven’t stopped running your mouth.” Zhang Yang felt annoyed. “I just asked you to bring the bill over to check. Can’t you understand that or what?”

“Fine! Check it yourself!” The owner stormed over and slammed the bill onto the table.

Zhang Yang glanced at him and took out his phone to calculate.

Tap tap, he did the math.

He calculated again.

Still 265.

Zhang Yang raised his head. The owner was already standing beside him, watching him calculate.

“265. No need to calculate again, right?” Zhang Yang placed his phone on the table and pointed at the number on the screen.

“How is that possible? How could there be a mistake?” The owner refused to believe it and recalculated immediately.

Then he fell silent.

Low murmurs began spreading around them.

“Is that true? If he can even calculate this wrong, who knows how many people he’s cheated before.”

“Three apartments-at least one must have come from doing this, right?”

Hearing the murmurs one after another, the shop owner’s expression kept changing, and a trace of panic quickly flashed in his eyes.

“Stop talking nonsense. Pay and leave,” he said sternly, trying to brush the matter aside.

“That’s not how it works. If I hadn’t asked you to check the bill, I would’ve paid extra without realizing it, right?” Zhang Yang laughed.

“That’s me-what about others? Don’t tell me this only happened once.”

Lin Jingmin stood beside him, both angry and anxious.

“Boss, how can you be like this? Your way of doing business is really dishonest.”

She had finally picked a place to treat Zhang Yang to dinner, yet so many things had happened.

She didn’t mind personally, but the key was that Zhang Yang had been made unhappy.

“So what do you want? I just miscalculated the bill. I’m old-can’t I make mistakes?” The owner bluffed loudly and walked to the shop entrance as if nothing had happened.