Chapter Ninety-Five: Well-Fed and Satisfied

As soon as they heard this, everyone in the restaurant was furious, especially Zhao Xiaojie and Manager Wu.

"What do you mean?" Zhao Xiaojie could no longer hold himself back. He stepped out from behind Lu Hao and pointed at Yang Tian.

Yang Tian glanced at him sidelong, now fully fed and sated, lit a cigarette, and said with a grin, "What’s wrong, kid? You can’t take it just because I said your cooking tastes awful?"

"I haven’t even said the nastier things yet."

"Hahaha."

"If it’s so bad, why are you eating so much?" Zhao Xiaojie muttered under his breath.

At that moment, Manager Wu hurriedly stepped in to stop him.

"Enough, don’t say any more."

"The boss will handle this."

Only then did Zhao Xiaojie shrink back.

Lu Hao also stepped forward and said with a smile, "It’s all right. As the saying goes, tastes differ."

"Everyone has different preferences. It’s perfectly normal if you don’t like it."

"Just pay the bill, and that will be that."

Yang Tian picked up a toothpick and began picking his teeth.

"Pay the bill? Did you not hear what I said earlier?"

"What did you say?" Lu Hao sat down and asked with a smile.

"I said, if you can’t satisfy me, I won’t be paying today," Yang Tian said with a grin.

At the same time, he gave a signal. The thugs around him all stood up together, and quite a few of them even had weapons in their hands.

They had clearly come prepared.

"What do you mean?" Lu Hao narrowed his eyes. "You’re not planning to pay?"

"Of course. I said your food was too disgusting, so I’m not paying. What are you going to do about it?" Yang Tian laughed.

"Sixty percent off, and you still refuse?" Lu Hao asked in a low voice.

"That’s right. What, are you going to hit me? I’m your junior high classmate, so think carefully before you speak," Yang Tian said.

"No matter. If you won’t pay, then so be it. I’ll treat this meal as my treat," Lu Hao said, his tone still calm.

For a restaurant that had just changed hands and was still under siege, Lu Hao valued reputation far more than the income from one meal.

"Fine, you’ve got guts." Yang Tian’s expression shifted, and he gave a thumbs-up.

He had not expected Lu Hao to be this patient.

"All right, brothers, we’re done here. Let’s go." After saying that, Yang Tian stood up and casually swept several bowls from the table to the floor with one slap of his hand.

The bowls shattered with a clatter across the ground.

"Oh, sorry about that. I accidentally knocked these onto the floor. You’re not going to make me pay for them, are you?" Yang Tian asked with a smile, looking at Lu Hao.

Unexpectedly, Lu Hao’s face remained utterly still. "It’s fine. Just a few bowls. If an old classmate broke them, then they’re broken."

"Any problem with that?"

"Good, good." Yang Tian rose and headed outside.

The thugs around him also stood up one after another and followed him out.

But in the next instant, those thugs seemed to be "accidentally" clumsy as well; as soon as they stood, they dragged the bowls and chopsticks from the table to the floor.

There were five or six of them. One sweep from each table sent bowls, chopsticks, and plates crashing everywhere, and the last one even knocked the table crooked. It was obvious they had come to cause trouble on purpose.

The whole restaurant was instantly in disarray.

The thugs began to sneer.

"Heh! Feels great! The food in this place is way too awful. Nothing we can do about it. After eating, our hands just wouldn’t obey us. Sorry about that."

"Exactly. It’s just no fun eating here. Only the beer has any taste, and too bad that wasn’t made by your restaurant."

"…"

While cursing, they kept throwing the bowls and chopsticks from the tables onto the floor.

At that moment, Yang Tian turned around with a deliberately angry expression.

"Damn it, what are you idiots doing?"

"Who told you to throw the bowls and chopsticks on the floor? Hurry up and make my classmate whole. Otherwise, I’ll deal with you when we get back."

Yang Tian shouted at the many lackeys behind him.

Those lackeys immediately put on aggrieved faces.

"Sorry, Boss. Our brothers got drunk and accidentally dropped the bowls and chopsticks."

"Since our boss is your junior high classmate, just let it go, all right?"

"If you want us to compensate you, we really can’t afford it."

At the same time, quite a few of the punks stepped forward and patted Lu Hao on the shoulder with false smiles, as if Lu Hao were one of their underlings.

"Fine. You all go on your way. My family is big enough to cover the losses," Lu Hao said, waving a hand.

"Good. Lu Hao, you’re righteous enough. We’re leaving." Yang Tian gave Lu Hao another thumbs-up.

The group quickly departed.

Even as the last punk left, he kicked over and shattered one of the vases by Lu Hao’s entrance. That vase cost over a thousand yuan, nearly as much as the meal itself.

Then the whole group swaggered away, leaving Manager Wu, Zhao Xiaojie, and the others with grim expressions.

They could not understand why Lu Hao had not let them beat these bastards up.

"Boss, you’re just letting them go like this? If we don’t teach them a lesson, they’ll be back tomorrow," Manager Wu said, slapping one hand against the other.

"This makes no sense. We can’t just because he’s your classmate... Boss, I’m the manager."

Lu Hao raised a hand and stopped Manager Wu from continuing.

"You’re right. But you need to understand that, from the long-term plan of breaking through the blockade, only a good reputation can bring in business quickly."

"If we hit someone just because he smashed a few bowls, then word will spread fast that people come here to eat and get beaten up if they’re classmates."

"That would drive away a lot of people who might otherwise have been willing to come and give us a try."

"And as for what you’re worried about, Manager Wu..." Lu Hao’s gaze fell on him.

"It won’t happen. Tomorrow, they won’t have another chance to come here."

His voice turned cold.

At that, Manager Wu, Zhao Xiaojie, and the others looked at one another, not understanding what he meant.

"Clean this up. I’ll pay for everything," Lu Hao said.

"This... they wrecked these things, how could we let you..." Manager Wu looked troubled.

"Do as I said." Lu Hao’s tone brooked no argument.

Then he turned and walked out the door.

Tonight, he would make those thugs crawl into the hospital, and tomorrow, and thereafter, they would never again have the courage to come and cause trouble in his restaurant.

Against troublemakers who lurked in the gray area at the edge of the law, there was only one way to deal with them: be more violent than they were, and beat them until they were afraid.