Night Tokyo without Lingzi was still somewhat different. At the very least, Teacher Ge, Tao Tao, and Linghong argued far less every day. On the other hand, business was still barely holding up.
With no one coming to look for A Bao and no Lingzi calling out sky-high prices, they had indeed lost a great deal of high-income business. But after three years, Little Monk's cooking skills had improved. Even though a small restaurant could not afford to be overly particular, with neither the time to fuss over refinement nor the energy to maintain a perfectly consistent standard at every moment of every day, Little Monk had still steadily reached Level 4.
With cooking at that level, coupled with the lower prices, Night Tokyo's food could not exactly be called a bargain, but customers certainly were not getting ripped off. As a result, business remained quite good. During the lunch and dinner rushes every day, the restaurant was packed.
Naturally, Wang Yan sympathized with Little Monk's hardship and exhaustion. First, he raised his wages. Second, he found him an apprentice—the youngest son of Fangmei's second aunt's maternal uncle. Since he could not get into college, he might as well quickly learn a trade to make a living. Cooking, barbering, auto repair, and the like were all popular choices for the next twenty years.
Teacher Ge handled the cash register. When things got busy, Linghong came over to help take orders and serve dishes. After Tao Tao delivered the seafood and took care of his own business, he had the clerk he hired watch the stall while he ran over to help out in the kitchen.
They were not losing out either. After all, they ate good food, and the liquor they drank was all Moutai. They would never have the