Chapter 1403: Street at night in 1402
Chapter 1403: Street at night in 1402
By 6 p.m. local time, it had already started to get dark. Tan Rou had eaten barbecue rice just in the afternoon and wasn’t hungry now, so she planned to wait for Shang Jin and others to return before going out to eat dinner together.
Moreover, she had already notified everyone in the group that she would treat them to dinner tonight, she just hadn’t arranged the location yet. Fortunately, nobody had come back yet, so she still had time to prepare.
Tan Rou was very good to her employees. They were willing to follow her to such a distant place and had not complained at all, which touched her. Thus, she tried her best to arrange good living conditions for everyone.
Taking advantage of the fact the hotel receptionist hadn’t finished his shift yet, Tan Rou hurried downstairs to ask him if there was any good restaurant nearby.
The hotel receptionist recognized Tan Rou and said, “Are you looking to treat someone to a meal?”
Tan Rou replied, “Yes, I plan to treat people to dinner tonight, around 20 people. I’m looking for a large restaurant with a private room, or if there’s no large one, two smaller ones next to each other would be fine.”
“You plan to treat people to dinner tonight?” The hotel receptionist seemed puzzled, “But it’s already past 6 pm now. If you invite people out for dinner now, you won’t be able to make it back in time.”
Tan Rou was even more puzzled, “Aren’t there any restaurants around here? Hmm, it’s okay if there are no private rooms, as long as there’s enough space for 20 people.”
The hotel receptionist didn’t mean that. He explained, “What I’m trying to say is that if you go out for dinner, you must come back before 8:30 p.m., otherwise, you won’t be able to return.”
Tan Rou thought he was joking with her and asked with a smile, “Are you saying there are monsters around here? That come out to eat people at 8:30 p.m.?”
The hotel receptionist whispered, “Let me tell you, those people are scarier than monsters. Monsters don’t eat people every day, but those people come out to catch people every night, and no one knows where those who are caught are taken.”
“What?” Tan Rou turned serious, “Are you not joking with me?”
The hotel receptionist replied, “I’m not joking. Lately, after 8:30 p.m. there are many patrol guards in the sky. If the guards find you wandering the streets, you will be captured by them. No one knows where those captured are taken, perhaps to prison, or maybe to the mines.”
Once again, the system in J country broadened Tan Rou’s horizons. She only knew of curfews from ancient times, never imagining that such policies could still exist in the 21st century. It was simply ludicrous.
At 8:30 p.m., many night markets are just getting started. It was absurd to not use that prime time to generate revenue and instead have guards take away people who are outside. It seemed to her that the King really had some serious problems with his thinking.
“Why has this situation emerged?” Tan Rou asked with interest, “You say guards have only appeared recently; what about before?”
The hotel receptionist replied, “Previously, there were no time restrictions; people could stay out as long as they wanted. Now that there are guards on the streets, people dare not go out. Furthermore, after the designated time, all the major junctions are closed, and those outside can’t come in. They have to either spend the night outside or go somewhere else.”
When Tan Rou and her group arrived yesterday, they were only aware that the palace gates would close after a certain time; they didn’t know that there would be guards outside as well. Thankfully, they hadn’t gone out last night, or they might indeed have been at risk of being captured by the guards.
“Thank you for the warning,” Tan Rou said. “I’ll have to think about this again. If we don’t have enough time, we can always have dinner tomorrow night.”
The hotel receptionist said, “Because you speak the language of our country, I thought you had been living here for a long time, so I didn’t inform you about our rules. I’m really sorry about that!”
Tan Rou didn’t mind and replied, “It’s okay, I should thank you for informing me about the situation here. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t be able to return after dinner tonight.”
The hotel receptionist said helplessly, “Alas, the King used to be very good, but in recent years, I don’t know what happened to him, he’s like a completely different person, constantly introducing some very strange policies. I even suspect that the person in the palace isn’t the King at all, but an alien.”