Chapter 515: Let You Open a Food Shop, You Open at 3 AM

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Protagonist:

Lu Feng

"What? Is there something special about this shop?"

Cheng Bureau Chief heard the urgency in Director Cao's words over the phone, and couldn't help but ask half-jokingly: "You're protecting that shop so much—could it be run by your relatives?"

"Chief Cheng, if it really were run by my relatives, I wouldn't be so worked up about it."

Director Cao gave a wry smile, then put on a serious face and said firmly: "But Chief Cheng, I'm serious—you really can't touch that shop, and I definitely won't agree... Even if you approve it on your end, I won't cooperate. Anyway, no one can say anything that works."

"Oh, hearing you say that, could there really be some inside story here?"

Chief Cheng's joking expression faded, and his tone became much more serious and stern: "Director Cao, tell me in detail—what exactly is the special situation with Shop No. 55 that makes you protect it so much?"

"Chief Cheng, tell me the truth—is someone trying to buy this shop to open another restaurant?"

Director Cao's tone also turned serious: "If that's really the case, and other places have plans, our Street Office can help communicate with the merchants, and we'll definitely cooperate with whatever cooperation is needed."

"But Shop No. 55 is the only exception—absolutely not! I'll say it again: even if you agree to approve it on your end, we won't cooperate when the time comes!"

Chief Cheng was rendered somewhat speechless by his tough attitude: "Director Cao, look at you—I was just asking casually about the specific situations of those few shops, do you have to be so worked up?"

Then he changed the subject and asked very seriously: "You've been talking for half a day and still haven't told me the specific reason? Stop making these determinations to me first—hurry up and tell me exactly what the situation is? Why is it specifically this shop that can't be touched?"

"Chief Cheng, I won't tell you about anything else—do you know that shop is our Jiangcheng's Lu Family Restaurant that's become incredibly popular?"

Director Cao took a deep breath and said word by word: "That shop is now the golden signboard of the Food Street! Let me put it to you like this—the Food Street has so much foot traffic now, and more than half of it comes for that shop!"

"Last time, an old classmate of mine who works at the Tax Bureau told me to my face that the Lu Family Restaurant paid taxes last month that ranked fifth in our entire district!"

"Fifth in the entire district? Director Cao, are you serious?"

Chief Cheng looked shocked, his tone full of disbelief.

He knew very well that the tax ranking Director Cao mentioned was after excluding companies, looking only at the catering industry.

Even so, being able to rank fifth in tax payments among so many restaurants in the entire district was quite impressive.

After all, within his jurisdiction, there were also many large high-end restaurants with luxurious renovations and large floor areas.

Those that previously ranked in the top ten were basically all monopolized by those high-end restaurants.

And the shops on Garden Road Food Street were mostly small-scale independent operators, yet now they could rank fifth—this truly exceeded Chief Cheng's expectations.

"Chief Cheng, can I joke with you about tax matters?"

Director Cao's tone was very certain: "My classmate at the Tax Bureau is specifically responsible for tax statistics in the catering industry, and this came from him—it definitely isn't false!"

"But I remember that the shop areas on the Food Street side aren't large at all? That shop is probably less than one hundred square meters? Can such a small eatery really not compare to those high-end restaurants?"

Chief Cheng still found it unbelievable and couldn't help but ask further.

In his impression, even if a small restaurant did good business, compared to high-end restaurants it was still far behind, and paying taxes could never reach that level.

"Chief Cheng, you probably haven't been to Lu Family Restaurant, right? You don't know how popular the shop opened by that young man named Lu Feng is now!"

Director Cao's tone sounded somewhat strange, containing both pride and a hint of helplessness: "If it weren't for that kid being a bit lazy and only operating two hours a day, if he were like other shops, let alone fifth in our district, even if he rushed to first place, I think it would be easy!"

Director Cao wasn't exaggerating at all—after all, he was also one of the loyal customers of Lu Family Restaurant.

During this period, whenever he got off work early in the evening, he would go queue at Lu Family Restaurant.

But even though he rushed over every time, he wasn't able to eat Lu Feng's cooking every time he went.

Several times, he hadn't even reached the hall before it was time for the restaurant to close.

There was no way—there were simply too many people coming to Lu Family Restaurant every day.

And the number of diners queuing to eat was visibly increasing day by day.

Now it had become exaggerated to the point of needing four people to maintain the diners' queue order.

"From what you're saying, that young man named Lu Feng has pretty good cooking skills?"

Chief Cheng asked after pondering for a moment, already beginning to reconsider the importance of this matter in his mind.

He originally thought these few shops were just ordinary independent operators, but didn't expect that among them was actually a major taxpayer.

If that was really the case, then the intentions of the two people who invited him today were worth pondering.

"Chief Cheng, Lu Feng's culinary skills are more than just good! His cooking is the best I've seen in my life, not an exaggeration at all!"

Director Cao nodded without hesitation on the other end of the phone, his tone full of admiration: "The dishes he makes, whether home-style noodle soup or special hard dishes, every one makes you want to eat more after eating! As long as you come to his shop and eat once, it's guaranteed you'll never forget it afterward! Many people come specially from out of town just to eat a meal at his shop!"

"Alright, I've basically understood the specific situation."

Chief Cheng glanced toward Guo Mingyuan and Zhou Li in the private room, then lowered his voice and asked: "One more thing—do you know the specific tax amount that restaurant paid last month? I need to understand the situation clearly, so I can refuse with solid grounds later."

"That specific number, my classmate didn't tell me, and it's not convenient for me to ask too clearly—people on that side need to keep it confidential."

Director Cao answered truthfully: "But if you want to know, you can just call the Tax Bureau side and have them check—then you'll know."

After Director Cao finished speaking, he added somewhat uneasily: "Chief Cheng, you absolutely must not touch that shop! It's our district's treasure!"