A Stay-at-home Dad’s Restaurant In An Alternate World

“President, what do we do now? It looks like that restaurant really did make it onto the rankings based on actual merit. They have a huge customer base and high prices; if we don’t provide a legitimate reason for removing them from the rankings, we’ll receive a lot of backlash.” On the way back, Tonis turned to Warren with a concerned expression. His lips were still swollen, and he drank another large mouthful of ice water before heaving a long sigh of relief. The grilled fish really was spicy; even the ice water was unable to provide much relief.

“20 years ago, I would’ve ranked the spicy grilled fish, braised chicken and rice, Yangzhou fried rice, roujiamo, and sweet tofu pudding from number one to number five on the rankings board.” Warren shook his head with a smile, and said, “Unfortunately, this is no longer 20 years ago, and the rankings board isn’t just controlled by me anymore. Countless customers and restaurants have come together to form a massive net. Even though I’m no longer the one hauling in the net, I still have to look out for some big fish that want to break out of the net. In contrast, if a pretty little fish escapes, I would want to save it, but watching it being eaten by the larger fish is a better option.”

Tonis hesitated momentarily before suggesting sheepishly, “President, I feel like the savory tofu pudding can be placed at number six on the rankings.”

Warren glanced at Tonis, and shook his head with a smile as he said, “Release the rankings as usual tomorrow, but delay the release of our explanation for removing Mamy Restaurant from the rankings. When a shooting star first appears, it’s very dazzling, but it will quickly disappear. All we need to do is watch. There will be many people looking up into the sky, waiting for the arrival of that shooting star.”

“Oh.” Tonis nodded with a contemplative expression.

…

Within an office in the Chamber of Commerce, Mars had his head bowed in a respectful manner, and said to Cyril, “Young Master Cyril, the Catering Association has already confirmed that Mamy Restaurant won’t appear on the rankings again. They will assess the rankings that we have specified, and try to get their rankings to match ours as closely as possible.”

“Very good, Mars, thanks for your hard work.” Cyril nodded with contentment. He wrapped his little colorful snake around his wrist, and asked, “How are you doing with Devoe and Goodenia’s case? Is the Bastie Prison still unwilling to release them?”

“Young Master, that’s really not something that we should be meddling in. The two of them have been swept up in a 4th-tier incident, and there’s almost no way for anyone to save them. Bastie Prison is unwilling to reveal any information to us, either, so I suggest we leave this matter untouched. Otherwise, we could get embroiled in the mess as well.” Mars shook his head with a serious expression.

“So what if we get involved? No one can do anything to our Moreton Family in Chaos City anyway.” Cyril pursed his lips in a dismissive manner. He looked at Mars, and said, “I’ve already taken their money, so we have to sort this out for them. Otherwise, if our reputation gets ruined, it’ll hurt our profits.”

“But—” Mars tried to reason with Cyril, only to be abruptly cut off.

“A 4th-tier incident isn’t a minor event, right? If I recall correctly, Devoe and Goodenia were detained in that little restaurant, right? Just make the restaurant the scapegoat. Bail them out, and frame the owner instead. There won’t be any issues, then.” Cyril smiled as if he were very pleased with his resourcefulness. He stroked his little snake’s head before getting up to leave the room.

“If it were the eldest young master, he definitely wouldn’t be so rash and bullish. What a pity…” Mars sighed, and shook his head in resignation as he looked down at the files that he had placed onto the table, which remained completely untouched. The Moreton Family was indeed a colossus, but the city lord’s castle and Gray Temple were still the main powers in Chaos City.

…

“City Lord, what are you doing?”

Mag had only just come back downstairs when he was greeted by the sight of Michael fiddling around with his chandelier, upon which a peculiar expression appeared on his face. It appeared that the city lord was perhaps not as cultured as he was rumored to be.

Michael had also realized that what he was doing was a little unbecoming of a man of his status, but he still turned to Mag with an inquisitive expression. “I’m just curious about the light source in your chandelier. It’s not an oil lamp, nor is it a magic crystal. Also, it’s emanating a lot of heat, but it hasn’t lit on fire, so I was very curious.”

“This is a type of stone that I discovered by chance. It could emit light, so I decided to use it for lighting purposes. It’s more convenient than oil lamps.” Mag lied like a seasoned veteran. He didn’t have a good way to explain electricity to Michael. Furthermore, if Michael asked him to provide electricity for the entire city, then this world would skip the steam era, and advance straight to the electrical era. If that were to happen, the system would probably explode with rage.

Michael nodded before getting down from his chair. He turned to Mag, and asked, “This is indeed a very peculiar type of stone. Do you have any more of them?”

“Sorry, I only discovered a few of them, and all of them are being used in my restaurant.” Mag shook his head with an apologetic smile.

“What a shame.” Michael sat back down in his chair with a wistful expression.

“Please wait for a moment, the grilled fish will be served soon.” Mag hurriedly changed the subject before heading back into his kitchen.

Even though he didn’t know how Michael had heard about the spicy grilled fish’s ability to combat frosty energy, Mag could see that Michael was very fond of Vivian, and was a very good father, so he immediately developed a good impression of Michael. Thus, if the spicy grilled fish was satisfactory to him, Mag would perhaps be able to bring up the issue of the food competition rankings board.

In Chaos City, the only person aside from Warren that could influence the Aden Square food competition rankings was Michael.

After all, the Catering Association was a subsidiary to the city lord’s castle, and even though the association was given a lot of autonomy and freedom, that still didn’t change the fact that Michael was the boss of their boss.

As such, what Mag had to do now was very simple: he had to conquer Michael’s stomach with his delicious food!

Michael was staring at the kitchen with a hint of nervousness and anticipation in his eyes. Soon, the delicious aroma of fish wafted out from the kitchen, and he couldn’t help but swallow.

That smells really good. Due to the changes in Vivian’s condition, Michael hadn’t eaten yet that night, and his stomach immediately began to rumble as he caught a whiff of the alluring aroma of fish.

After waiting for about 15 minutes, Mag emerged from the kitchen with a medium-size spicy grilled fish, underneath which was an alcohol stove. He placed it gently in front of Michael, and smiled as he said, “Here’s your spicy grilled fish. Enjoy.”

“Mm-hm.” Michael only gave an offhand response as his attention had been completely drawn to the grilled fish in front of him. However, he didn’t dig in immediately. Instead, he began to carefully examine the dish.

In contrast with the grilled fish that was served straight after being roasted on fire, this grilled fish was instead placed into a steel platter.

What was even more eye-catching was the dense layers of chili peppers that covered almost the entire fish. Just the sight of it made his throat feel dry and scorching hot.