After the divorce, he took care of his child and sold fried rice; his ex-wife was filled with regret

Isn't that Mr. Wang, a regular customer of the private room number A on the third floor of Shuweitang?

He was standing in line in the snow, completely lacking any semblance of a boss!

It wasn't just General Manager Wang. Zhao Chengming glanced around, following the line of people, his expression growing increasingly grim.

The man behind Mr. Wang, chatting casually with his hands in his pockets, is Mr. Zhang, who runs a building materials wholesale business in the East District.

Besides these, there were a few familiar faces!

He's a regular at Shuweitang!

These VIPs, who usually bang on the table and curse if they wait more than ten minutes for their food at Shuweitang, are now willingly waiting in the freezing cold for a seat at a roadside stall!

Zhao Chengming took a deep breath and strode forward.

"General Manager Wang? Boss Zhang?"

Upon hearing the voice, Mr. Wang turned around, trembling. Seeing Zhao Chengming, a hint of embarrassment flashed across his face, and he coughed twice.

"Ahem... Oh, Mr. Zhao, what a coincidence! You're here to... queue up too?"

"I was just passing by and came to take a look." Zhao Chengming suppressed the anger in his heart, pointed to the snow around him, and asked with a hint of suppressed questioning in his tone.

"Mr. Wang, in this heavy snow, why are you leaving a heated private room to come here on this run-down street and freeze?"

Mr. Wang sighed and glanced at Zhao Chengming somewhat embarrassedly:

"Mr. Zhao, it's not that we're not supporting your business. Da Yong keeps raving about how this place's clear broth mutton tastes heavenly, and we've been craving it so much that we just had to come and try it."

"Want a taste? Mr. Wang, Mr. Zhang, what kind of delicacies can't you have? Standing on the roadside in this snowy weather just for a bite of mutton?"

Zhao Chengming laughed in exasperation, pointing across the street: "If you gentlemen are really craving mutton, I'll have someone fetch the best Yanchi Tan sheep right now and bring them back to Shuweitang. I'll personally slice them for you to enjoy with your drinks! Why suffer this foreign torture here?"

"Oh dear, Mr. Zhao, that's really not how it is." Boss Zhang sniffled as he approached, his glasses fogged up.

"Your lamb is good, but Dayong said the lamb at this restaurant is unlike any other on the market! It's boiled in water, has absolutely no gamey smell, and is so fresh it'll make your eyebrows fall off!"

Zhao Chengming sneered, his tone full of expert disdain: "Mr. Zhang, you're in the import and export business, you've traveled all over the country, what top-quality ingredients haven't you eaten? Boiled mutton in plain water doesn't have a gamey smell?"

"You actually believe this kind of ridiculous gimmick? How many chemical flavor enhancers and high-tech processes are added to this meat? If your precious stomachs get sick from eating it, who's going to take responsibility?"

"We already said that to him in the group chat!" Mr. Zhang, standing behind, tucked his hands into his pockets, stamping his feet to keep warm, and chimed in.

"Don't you know Da Yong's temper? He's pickier than anyone else! Last time I went to your place, he slammed his fist on the table if the tripe was even slightly overcooked. He ate it for three days straight and still looked radiant. There's definitely something fishy about that!"

"Yeah, if Dayong hadn't guaranteed it with his life, who would come to this godforsaken place to freeze in this freezing weather!"

Mr. Wang chimed in with a complaint, his voice laced with resentment, "And what did that bastard do? He sent his driver to queue up and grab a seat first thing this morning, and now he's inside, sweating buckets, while we're left out here starving!"

Zhao Chengming listened to these Jiangcheng bigwigs complaining like wronged women in the snow and found it utterly absurd.

"Li Dayong is eating inside, and you're just standing outside watching?" Zhao Chengming frowned and asked the question that had been bothering him.

It's just looking for someone, not some dangerous place. Why are these big bosses who usually act like they own the place in Jiangcheng now behaving like obedient schoolchildren being punished?

Upon hearing this, both General Manager Wang and Boss Zhang looked extremely embarrassed.

"Mr. Zhao, you have no idea how bizarre the rules are in this shabby shop." Mr. Wang sighed and pointed to the tightly closed windproof cotton curtain in a low voice.

"I heard the owner of this shop has a terrible temper!"

"He put up a sign at the entrance, with rules above all else: First, no reservations accepted, first come, first served; second, the number of tables inside is limited, and non-diners are not allowed to enter and wait, let alone stand next to diners' tables to urge them to have their tables served!"

"Just because of this rule, you don't even dare to come in?" Zhao Chengming found it utterly absurd. "You're supposed to be respectable figures in Jiangcheng, paying for a meal, and you're being held hostage by a mere boss?"

"If it were a regular shop, I would have shut it down long ago!" Chairman Zhang said angrily from the side.

"Yesterday, Li Dayong's driver saw it was snowing outside and kindly wanted to go in with an umbrella to give Li Dayong one and check on things. But as soon as he stepped inside, he was kicked out by the store's security!"

"So what if we blast them out? They're not going to lose anything, are they?" Zhao Chengming scoffed.

"Losing weight is a small matter, losing my qualification is a big deal!" Boss Zhang slapped his thigh anxiously.

"Furthermore, the shop owner has declared that anyone who dares to violate the rules and disturb customers will be blacklisted immediately! They will be permanently barred from serving customers!"

Hearing this, Zhao Chengming finally understood.

No wonder these big shots were willing to shiver in the snow at minus ten degrees Celsius, but none of them dared to lift the curtain and go in to find Li Dayong.

They were genuinely afraid of being blacklisted and missing out on that clear broth mutton that Li Dayong had touted to the heavens!

Such so-called "hunger marketing" and "bizarre rules" are not uncommon in the catering industry.

Many incompetent online celebrity stores like to use these gimmicks to harass customers and make themselves seem high-class.

But to tame these big shots who are used to eating delicacies and make them obedient is not simply a matter of rules.

There's definitely something strange about that pot!

After saying that, Zhao Chengming ignored the few big bosses shivering in the wind and snow and strode straight to the front of the line.

The first person in line was a young man wearing a thick down jacket, stamping his feet from the cold, staring longingly at the tightly closed curtain, clutching a wooden queue number sign tightly in his hand.

Without saying a word, Zhao Chengming unzipped his coat and pulled out a thick wad of hundred-yuan bills from the inside pocket, totaling ten thousand yuan.

"Snapped!"

The young man was stunned by this sudden action. He stared blankly at the stack of bright red banknotes in his arms, and then glanced at Zhao Chengming's unapproachable face.

"This...this..." The young man swallowed hard. He was just running errands for someone else, and now he had enough money to eat for a month! What was the point of queuing then!

Without a word, he deftly shoved the wooden plaque into Zhao Chengming's hand, stuffed the money into his pocket, and beamed, "Boss, you're so generous! Enjoy your meal!"

After saying that, the young man dashed into the snowstorm, afraid that Zhao Chengming would change his mind.

Zhao Chengming raised the number 1 wooden plaque in his hand.

Mr. Wang and Mr. Zhang, standing at the back of the line, were dumbfounded. Could they really do that?