Cassia was stunned by the six demons eating furiously at the entrance. He was even more shocked that they could make eating hot pot look like an arts performance even though they looked so rugged.

  A rousing fire in the winter was deadly seductive to the passers-by.

  And after watching here for a while, most of them couldn’t resist the temptation of the aroma, and wanted to go into the hot pot restaurant to try it out for themselves.

  “Boss, are they actors?” the secretary whispered next to Cassia’s ear.

  “Regardless if they are actors or not, it proves that this boss is extraordinary,” said Cassia gravely. He retracted his gaze from the demons, and walked toward the entrance.

  “Welcome. May I know how many of you?” A tall and slim elf smilingly walked over to welcome them.

  Cassia sized up that elven server before nodding with a smile. “Two of us.”


  “This way, please.” The elf smilingly led Cassia in.

  Cassia followed after that elf with a frown. There were indeed some restaurants that used elves or beautiful demons as hostesses to increase the number of customers entering the restaurants.

  After walking through the door, Cassia’s steps faltered as he looked at the majestic hall with shock.

  Hundreds of hot pot tables were placed in the 1000-odd square meters hall. Its size was at least double of Cassia’s hall, and approximately half of the seats were occupied now. The bubbling hot pots that gave out spicy aromas made the hall’s ambiance very boisterous.

  What shocked him even more was that all the service staff in this hot pot restaurant were elves!

  Beautiful young elves were all over the hall, providing service to the customers with a smile.

  There were about 30 elves scattered over the hall on the first floor. According to the market rate, they would need to pay at least 400,000 to 500,000 copper coins monthly to these elves as salary, and that was excluding the chefs’ salary.

  Meanwhile, the salary of all the chefs, service staff, and management staff in Cassia Hot Pot Restaurant was only 250,000 copper coins.

  Cassia had a befuddled look. Only Mamy Restaurant on Aden Square could match up to such configurations.

  “Sir?” The elf leading the way stopped, and turned around with a smile to ask him, “Which table would you like to have your meal at?”


  “I like bustle, so find me a space in the center,” replied Cassia smilingly.

  “Sure, this way please.” The elf nodded and led them to a table that was close to the center.

  “Please wait for a moment. Someone will come to take your order very soon.” The elf server left with a smile.

  The secretary looked around her with astonishment, and then said, “Boss, this hot pot restaurant is huge.”


  “They still have a second floor.” Cassia threw a glance at the spiral staircase on his left. This hot pot restaurant had set up its main kitchen on the second floor, which was out of the norm. Furthermore, they even had private rooms set up on the second floor to accommodate the customers’ varying needs.

  “Their business is so good. Will it affect our restaurant?” the secretary worriedly said while looking up at Cassia with her bright watery eyes.

  “We’ll find out after we read the menu.” Cassia’s gaze was appraising the restaurant all over. The entire hall looked very open when he looked in from the entrance. Although it had some green plants as decoration, they didn’t affect the spaciousness of the area at all.

  However, he only discovered after sitting down that even though the tables were placed rather closely, they all had some green plants or bamboo curtains as screens in between. This prevented the awkwardness of the customers from different tables looking at one other while they were eating.

  Cassia pondered deeply. The dishes’ taste would dictate if the customers would come in and spend, while the dining experience would dictate if the customers would return again.

  Cassia murmured inwardly with a heavy heart.

  An elf came over with a menu, smiling, and said, “Hello, excuse me. This is the menu. Please see what you want to order.”


  Cassia received the menu. He took a deep breath before flipping open the menu.

  Looking at the vivid pictures and prices on the menu, Cassia’s hands trembled slightly. Tiny beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead.

  The secretary leaned forward slightly. She, too, covered her mouth in shock when she saw the prices on the menu.

  The prices of all items on the menu were very close to the prices of Cassia Hot Pot Restaurant. The prices of the vegetarian items were even lower than those of Cassia Hot Pot Restaurant.

  The elf was a little stunned by their reaction, but she didn’t show it. She simply stood at the side quietly.

  “A set of the double-flavor hot pot, and then we would like to have the duck intestine, tripe, mala spicy beef, and these……” Cassia placed his order in a slightly hoarse voice.

  “Sure, please give us a minute.” The elf took the menu back and left with a smile.

  The secretary miserably asked Cassia, “Boss, what will we do now? Their prices are almost the same as ours.”


  “Shut up,” said Cassia gravely. His right hand’s knuckles were knocking on the table gently, and he clenched his left hand subconsciously.

  If he had to say which competitor he hated to face off with, it would be Mag for sure.

  He had to admit that Mag was a genius chef who had created such delicious and unique food like hot pot.

  Meanwhile, Cassia was simply a bad copycat. He had never wanted to surpass Mag, and had never even wanted to catch up with him.

  He only wanted to earn some money at a different niche from Mamy Restaurant, one where they had no chance of ever interacting with each other.

  However, he had never expected that Mag would go into the low-end hot pot market and make such an elaborate entrance.

  Their similar pricing meant that they would be fighting over the same pool of customers. Mana Hot Pot Restaurant and Cassia Hot Pot Restaurant would have a very intense competition.

  Cassia had indeed panicked.

  After a while, the double-flavored pot and all the ingredients that Cassia had ordered were served.

  The double-flavored pot was served in a “pot in a pot” style. The bone broth was milky white, while the red soup base was fiery red. The rich aroma had already washed over them together with the heat. Just a sniff of it had chased away the chill.

  Cassia pursed his lips in silence as he stared at the soup in front of him. He had already lost with just the soup alone.

  Then, his gaze moved onto the ingredients on the table. The duck intestine was sliced open in the center, thoroughly cleaned, and soaked in clear water. The tripe was neatly sliced into pieces of equal size, and there were also no sediments on its black membrane. All the ingredients were elegantly plated like in Mamy Restaurant.

  After a moment of silence, Cassia picked up a piece of duck intestine with his chopsticks, and blanched it in the pot eight times before feeding it into his mouth.

  The spicy broth exploded in his mouth, and the crunchy texture of the duck intestine was released perfectly. The spicy, aromatic red broth had removed the stench of the duck intestine, and gave it a beautiful taste. The crunchy sounds made it feel like the tongue could drop from too much chewing.

  “Let’s eat,” Cassia said to the jittery secretary before continuing to add all kinds of ingredients into the hot pot.

  “Mm-hm,” answered the secretary carefully. She chewed gingerly and sneakily peeped at Cassia every now and then.

  The hot pot meal concluded in silence.

  Cassia settled the bill and left with the secretary.

  “Boss, I have already instructed the market’s side. Our people will be standing guard at the entrance tonight, and we will be soon certain who their suppliers are. We can cut off their ingredients—”


  Cassia interrupted the secretary, “Alright. Let’s cancel all these plans.”


  “But……”


  “This technique might work if our opponent was someone else”—Cassia smiled self-deprecatingly—”but our opponent is the boss of Mamy Restaurant. He’s the city lord’s favorite right now. I don’t want to be the second Bennett by pulling such stances in front of him.”


  The secretary went white. After a moment of hesitation, she then asked, “What will our hot pot restaurant do now?”


  “Cancel all the promotions tomorrow and close the restaurant for one week. Let the people in charge of cutting and plating in the kitchen go and eat at Mana Hot Pot Restaurant for twice a day. I will pay for all the expenses. Make them find out how to clean, cut, and plate the hot pot’s ingredients within one week. Those who fail to make the grade one week later will be fired.”


  Cassia paused, and then said to the secretary, “And, you will be in charge of setting the new hot pot’s prices. On the basis of the current prices, lower the prices by 30%. Cassia Hot Pot Restaurant is going to be a hot pot restaurant whose average spending is 60 copper coins per person.

  “We can always change if we are not their match.”