Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3: Cleaning

Although it was late, Yuan Zhou was still unable to calm down. Therefore, he started to think about the mission.

“The mission stated that I have to own a restaurant of my own. Right now the store downstairs still belongs to me, no matter in law or in reality. So why is the status of the mission still incomplete?” Yuan Zhou drummed his fingers on the bedside cupboard as he thought about it.

“Is it because I haven’t displayed a signboard or is it because the restaurant isn’t open for business?”

Noticing that the system was not responding, Yuan Zhou directly asked it, “What requirements need to be satisfied to complete the mission of owning my own store?”

The system showed the words, “The host has to own a restaurant that can be opened for business.”

With this explanation, Yuan Zhou finally understood the requirements necessary to complete the task, thus he started to rummage through his wardrobe.

He took a set of clothes out, looked at it and stuffed it back again. This process repeated itself for a few minutes, until he found a set of clothes specifically for cleaning.

Yuan Zhou stared at the clothes in his hands for a moment, lost in thought.

The shirt was in dark blue color and was not easily dirtied. Made from 100% cotton, it was comfortable to wear and easy to wash. It looked like an ordinary T-shirt at first glance but the front showed the Mandarin characters of Yuan Zhou Noodle Restaurant.

His parents had worn the same T-shirts while working during the summer when they were still alive. The T-shirts were purchased from a stall when his family went out to have fun during the Lunar New Year holidays. The words were then printed separately. This was one of the three shirts.

As for the other two T-shirts belonging to his parents, Yuan Zhou had already burned and buried them alongside his parents during their funeral.

He got dressed quickly. After some thought, Yuan Zhou took a peaked cap and a towel from the bathroom, then he went downstairs after putting on a pair of slippers.

“Pa.” He turned the switch on the wall. Several lamps lighted up.

The 1st floor was as dirty and messy as before. Even traces of his tumble could still be seen. A clear human imprint was left on the yellow ceramic tiles.

The place was approximately 30 square meters, with the kitchen being separated from the main hall by a 1-meter wide door. Six long red tables were laid in the main hall with four chairs to match each table. Nevertheless, they were no longer where they used to be. Yuan Zhou had smashed all of them when he broke down after hearing the news about his parents’ death.

“ZhiYa”

Yuan Zhou reached out to push several tables and found that all of them were making squeaky noises. There was even one that fell apart with a loud “Peng”.

“It seems that none of the tables can be used anymore.” Shaking his head, Yuan Zhou looked carefully at the chairs.

He discovered that only one chair, the one he had used, was more or less intact. However, shaken by the falling table, the chair also became unstable. All of it needed to be replaced..

The wallpaper had also peeled off the walls. Everything in the kitchen was used previously by the former noodle restaurant chefs. A gas furnace with two burners had rusted and with only a slight touch, the iron hoop inside broke off. A stainless barrel that was previously used for cooking noodles was now unknown if it was still usable. Nevertheless, he wasn’t prepared to use any of them because he could neither cook noodles nor want to run a noodle restaurant.

Darkness fell and the stars outside sparkled.

Various noises passed through from the former Yuan Zhou Noodle Restaurant at 9 o’clock that night. Passersbys gave strange looks towards the store that had no signs. They were surprised by the noises coming from inside.

Three and a half hours later, Yuan Zhou was covered with dust from head to toe. Smudges decorated his face. Cobwebs hung from his hat. The original color of the towel in his hand would be hard to recognize and a layer of black ash covered the part of his feet which was unprotected by the slippers. With a pose, Yuan Zhou stood by the stairs, a self-contented smile on his face. Although dirty and tired, the cleaning fee was saved.

Looking at the clean and tidy main hall and kitchen from outside, Yuan Zhou felt this place really started to look like a restaurant, if it wasn’t for the pile of rubbish stacked outside the door.

He threw the formerly white but currently black towel into a rubbish bag with “Pa” sound.

“Gosh, my old 1992 waist.” Yuan Zhou stretched his back and walked up toward the upstairs. The first thing was to clean himself in the bathroom. He didn’t dare to enter his room with a filthy appearance like that.

Half an hour later.