The two of them bought two jin of each kind, and then went to the shop across the street to buy candied fruit. These were all made from fruit, and some candied fruit were even shaped like flowers. However, Hua Hua didn't like things that were too sweet, so she only bought one jin of each kind.
After they finished shopping, it was already noon. The two asked passersby for directions to the largest restaurant in Baiyun City. Once they found out, they headed there. As soon as they entered the restaurant, a waiter came to greet them. Worried that they had ordered too many dishes and would attract attention, the two asked for a private room.
As soon as she sat down, she asked the waiter to tell her what dishes the restaurant had. After he finished speaking, An Shuyi said, "Waiter, bring me two of each of your signature dishes, and one of each of the other delicious dishes."
The waiter looked up in surprise, thinking he had misheard, but seeing the expressions of the two ladies, he realized he hadn't misheard.
"Madam, are there any other guests?"
“There are no other guests, just the two of us. We have big appetites and eat a lot, so go and prepare it!” Fearing that the waiter might worry that they couldn’t afford the money, An Shuyi took out five hundred taels of silver notes from her purse and placed them on the table.
"Go and make the arrangements quickly. If we don't have enough money, we'll make up the difference later."
The waiter picked up the silver notes. "Yes, madams, please wait a moment while I make the arrangements." He calmly opened the door, and after closing it, he ran downstairs to the shopkeeper.
"Xiao Tu, you brat, don't run around in the restaurant. If you bump into a customer, you'll be sorry!" the manager yelled angrily upon hearing the commotion.
The waiter ran back and slapped the silver notes on the counter in front of the manager. "Manager, there are two customers on the second floor. They ordered all of our restaurant's signature dishes, two of each, and one of each of the other dishes. Here are the silver notes. They said it's not enough and they'll make up the difference later."
The shopkeeper looked at the silver notes on the counter, five hundred taels, took them and examined them. It was from the largest bank in Chen Kingdom, and there was no problem with the silver notes. "Since the customer specifically asked for them, then you should have the kitchen prepare them. There's no need to make a fuss."
It's perfectly acceptable for some guests to eat more; as long as they can afford it, they can eat as much as they want, even if they try all the dishes in the restaurant several times.
After listening, the waiter nodded, "Then I'll go and inform the chefs to prepare it." He then ran back to the kitchen.
An Shuyi sat in the room drinking tea and waiting for the dishes to be served, while Xia Hua was buying bowls, all of which were the same type. After buying them, she put them in the warehouse.
After waiting for a long time, a voice came from outside the door, "Madams, your meal is ready!"
"Come in!"
Hearing the noise, the waiter outside pushed open the door and came in, carrying a tray with the prepared dishes. He then placed the dishes on the table, followed by two other waiters, each carrying a tray with many dishes.
Fortunately, the table was big enough to fit the three trays of food. The waiter said, "Ladies, there are more dishes for you to eat later, but the manager said you should eat these first, and the others will be served after you finish eating."
There are just too many dishes; the table isn't big enough to hold them all, and some of the more complicated dishes haven't even been prepared yet.
An Shuyi nodded, "I understand, you can go now. I'll call you when we're done eating."
After they left, Xia Hua took out a bucket of water and the bowls she had just bought. "Shu Shu, put all of these in your storage room. The bowls I bought are all the same."
"Okay, then you wash the dishes, and I'll take care of pouring out the vegetables and putting them directly into the warehouse."
The two divided the work: Xia Hua was responsible for taking out the bowls and washing them, while An Shuyi was responsible for pouring the food into the bowls and putting them into her space. Soon all the food on the table was put in, but Xia Hua did not stop and washed dozens more bowls.
"Shushu, I still have some breakfast I bought this morning. I'll put it in your storage room too. It's taking up space here. It's steamed buns, dumplings, and meat pies. I'll put them in a basin and put it in your place as well." As she spoke, she poured the breakfast into a bowl and handed it over.
An Shuyi took the bowls and put them all into the warehouse. Since the bowls were the same size, they only took up one compartment. The basins took up another compartment. After they were all packed, Xia Hua put the bucket and the cleaned bowls into the warehouse, opened the door, and said, "Waiter, take these bowls away. We'll continue serving our dishes."
Hearing this, three waiters downstairs came up immediately and quickly cleared the bowls off the table. Although they didn't say anything, the shock in their eyes was obvious to everyone. Fortunately, An Shuyi and her companion were thick-skinned and remained seated there without flinching.
"Please wait a moment, gentlemen, I'll bring your dishes up right away." After saying this, the waiter hurried downstairs.
Before long, three waiters came up again with trays and placed the dishes on the table. "Gentlemen, your dishes are all served. Please enjoy!"
After the door closed, Xia Hua took the bowl out again. "Shu Shu, if you want to eat that, I'll keep it."
An Shuyi looked at the dishes on the table. "Keep this squirrel mandarin fish. It's been a long time since I've had fish. There are two of them. It seems to be a signature dish. Also, keep this immortal duck and this copper purse. See what you want to eat."
"Keep these, we can eat the rest later!" Xia Hua said, avoiding those dishes and putting the rest of the dishes into her bowl. She then asked Shu Shu to put them in the storeroom before starting to eat.
"Huahua, this fish is delicious, and this copper purse is also delicious. As for the Immortal Duck, it's barely edible, not really delicious."
"Eat more if you like it, and order more if you're still hungry. We've already ordered so much, so it doesn't matter if we order a little more." Everyone could see the commotion when the dishes were served the last two times.
An Shuyi shook her head, "No need, this is enough to eat, we can't waste it, you eat quickly!" As she spoke, she put a lot of food into her bowl.
"I'll pick it up, you eat quickly."
After finishing their meal, the two went downstairs to pay the bill. The meal cost more than 300 taels of silver, as it consisted of signature dishes, some of which were quite expensive. The owner had given her 500 taels earlier, and then gave her the extra money.
After leaving the restaurant, the two continued shopping, heading to a bookstore. They had heard that the largest bookstore in Baiyun City held a debate every few months, and since they had nothing else to do, they decided to go and take a look.
Unfortunately, they arrived at an inopportune time; it wasn't the time for the debate at all. The two of them could only continue wandering around, going in to look at anything that interested them, until it got dark before going to a restaurant for dinner.
This time they went to a different restaurant, and the two of them didn't care at all about the waiter's surprised look. They ordered the restaurant's signature dishes again. Although they gave the money, the manager was still not at ease. After hearing what the waiter said, he came directly to the room to ask again.
After confirming that we really wanted one of each dish, we went out to ask the chef to prepare them. This time, the food was served much faster than at the restaurant where we had lunch, and the dishes were brought out very quickly.
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