"Hello, please bring me some dishes."
"Hello Ms. Han, would you like to continue with the original menu?"
"That's right, just send it as usual."
"Okay, please wait a moment, we'll arrange it right away."
...
Wang Shen stared at the few simple sentences of conversation on the paper, slowly falling into deep thought. "Manager Han, do you remember the tone of her voice when she made that call? I mean, was Han Mo's tone hurried or steady when she spoke?" Based on the text, Wang Shen could only know the content of their conversation, but often, a person's tone of voice can tell others a lot of additional information.
"Tone of voice? Well, that takes a while, I need to think about it." Manager Han looked hesitant. Wang Shen's request was indeed quite difficult. For a restaurant, especially a busy one, countless customers come and go every day. Asking a restaurant manager to remember the tone of voice of a customer from three years ago is obviously very difficult. However, Han Mo was a high-level VIP, and after thinking for a moment, Manager Han finally spoke: "To be honest, Ms. Han's tone of voice back then did seem a little different from when she usually made the order. Her voice seemed a little... a little trembling."
"Trembling?" Wang Shen frowned and quickly jotted down the two words in his notebook.
"Are you very familiar with Han Mo's dining habits?" As soon as Xu Xiaolin finished speaking, Wang Shen and Manager Han turned to look at her. "Oh, because I saw you ask if we should follow the original menu."
"You could say that Ms. Han is a regular customer of our store," Manager Han replied to Xu Xiaolin's question with a smile.
"Does Han Mo usually choose to have your meals delivered?" Xu Xiaolin then asked.
“No, sometimes Ms. Han comes to the restaurant to eat herself.” After saying this, Manager Han hesitated for a moment, looked at Wang Shen, pursed his lips slightly, and continued, “Speaking of which, Ms. Han’s dining habits are indeed quite strange.”
"strangeness?"
"Yes." Manager Han nodded to Wang Shen. "The dishes Ms. Han orders when she comes to the store are completely different from the dishes she asks us to deliver."
"Aren't you a Sichuan restaurant? Shouldn't all the dishes be spicy?" Xu Xiaolin stopped taking notes in her notebook, noticed a menu nearby, and started flipping through it.
"As you can see from the menu, Sichuan cuisine is our main cuisine, but we also serve other cuisines, now known as fusion cuisine. Our dishes can satisfy almost all the discerning palates of our customers." Manager Han's smile widened as he spoke about the restaurant's dishes.
"So do you still remember Han Mo's two different menus?" Before she could finish speaking, Xu Xiaolin placed the paper and pen in front of Manager Han.
"Yes, I should be able to remember." Manager Han nodded and started writing on the paper again. In no time, the menu that Han Mo often ordered was completed.
Dining menu: Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs, Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish, Braised Eel with Hot Oil, Brown Sugar Rice Cake, Drunken Crab, West Lake Beef Soup
Takeout menu: Maoxuewang (Sichuan-style spicy blood curd), boiled sliced pork, twice-cooked pork, Mapo tofu, Wanzhou grilled fish
Xu Xiaolin took back her notebook and stared at the menu, her eyes darting between the sweet and sour pork ribs and the spicy blood curd. The two menus were indeed very different in style. After looking at them, Xu Xiaolin handed the menu to Wang Shen. An incredulous expression appeared on Wang Shen's face.
"Has Han Mo always had these eating habits?" Xu Xiaolin took the notebook from Wang Shen and continued to ask Manager Han while writing.
"At least that's the case in our store."
"Whenever Han Mo comes to the restaurant, does she dine alone or with friends?"
"I usually go with friends," Manager Han replied after thinking for a moment, looking at Xu Xiaolin.
"Are there any friends who have this problem frequently?"
"It seems there is someone who comes with Ms. Han quite often."
"Oh? Male or female? Can you describe what he looks like?" Xu Xiaolin asked, her voice tinged with excitement as she realized she had found a breakthrough.
"A man, not very tall, wearing glasses, no beard, oval face..." Manager Han's expression was somewhat pained. There was no way around it; every question today seemed to be a powerful test of his memory.
"Do you see the person you described in these photos?" Wang Shen, who hadn't spoken for a while, took out several photos from his pocket and laid them out in front of Manager Han. Xu Xiaolin glanced at Wang Shen and secretly admired him.
“It’s him, it’s him.” Manager Han pulled out one of the photos and placed it in front of Wang Shen.
Wang Shen picked up the photo and glanced at it. It was a man, not very tall, wearing glasses, clean-shaven, with an oval face. Manager Han's description was remarkably accurate; everyone in the photo matched the description perfectly.
"By the way, there's something else I'd like to ask Manager Han for help with." Wang Shen put all the photos back into his pocket, then turned his gaze to Manager Han.
"You're too kind, please go ahead."
"I wonder if the employees who delivered food to Han Mo's house back then are still working at your store?"
"Yes, please wait a moment, I'll go and call him over." After saying that, Manager Han left the private room. Not long after, a young man with slightly dark skin stood at the door of the private room.
“Officers, you can ask him any questions you have. It's not very convenient for me to be here. If there's nothing else, I'll head out. Please feel free to contact me if you need anything.” After saying this, Manager Han smiled and nodded to Wang Shen and Xu Xiaolin respectively, then left the private room.
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