Ye Chen noticed more and more people were crowding into the Bubble Tea Shop.
The line at the back kept growing.
Most of them were students from Jiangzhou Middle School; a few customers had simply been lured in by the crowd.
What the hell is going on now?
Just then a voice rang out.
"It's this Hot Pot Restaurant—man, the flavor's amazing. After our class ate here, our grades shot straight up."
Ye Chen spotted the rumor-monger and instantly saw red.
It was Xu Liang.
"Xu Liang, what's the meaning of this?"
Ye Chen pulled him aside and asked in a low voice.
Xu Liang looked smug. "Haha, Ye Chen, no need to thank me—what are bros for?"
"Thank your sister! Why are half of Jiangzhou Middle School here eating Hot Pot?"
Xu Liang grinned. "We spread the word for you."
"Spread the word?"
Ye Chen had a bad feeling.
"How exactly did you 'spread the word'?"
Xu Liang said, "You might not know, but our whole class agreed: whenever other classes ask why we did so well, we tell them it's because we ate at your place."
Ye Chen was speechless.
"Whose rotten idea was this?"
Xu Liang scratched his head. "Hard to pin it on anyone, really. We never planned it, but after the results came out loads of people asked how we managed. Teacher Wang won't let us say it was your lessons, so we had to come up with something."
Ye Chen giving lectures to Class Five was something Teacher Wang had specifically told them to keep secret.
His main goal was to protect Ye Chen.
After all, if word got out that Ye Chen's teaching worked miracles, it would bring him endless trouble.
Teacher Wang knew the principal too well—once he heard, he'd drag Ye Chen around to lecture every class.
The National Higher Education Entrance Examination was right around the corner; when would Ye Chen have time to revise?
Besides, some parents at Jiangzhou Middle School had serious clout—what if they demanded Ye Chen tutor their kids?
Refusing would be tricky.
Wang Chao felt that Ye Chen was still just a kid and might not see these pitfalls.
But as a teacher, he had to shield his students.
Especially since Class Five's results had exploded this time; Old Wang had stressed again and again that no one could breathe a word that the leap was thanks to Ye Chen's lessons.
At the very least, before the exam, Ye Chen needed a quiet place to study.
Ye Chen hated hassle; he appreciated Teacher Wang's goodwill.
Not that he feared trouble—if he didn't want to teach, he'd just say no.
Still, he wasn't about to trample on Teacher Wang's kindness.
What Ye Chen never saw coming was Class Five pulling a stunt like this.
They'd actually dreamed up such a ridiculous excuse.
"We figured it would fob off the other classes and bring your restaurant some extra cash, so we told everyone it was your Hot Pot."
"And they actually bought it." Ye Chen watched the steady stream of Jiangzhou students and asked bitterly.
Xu Liang chuckled. "At first they didn't believe it, but when our whole class kept saying it, people gradually were convinced."
Ye Chen: "..."
They believe this crap?
Are these kids really high-schoolers?
With IQs like this, how will they ever get into University?
Just then Ye Chen's phone rang.
"Ye Chen, get over to the Hot Pot Restaurant, we're swamped!"
"I'm right outside, coming in now."
He stepped inside: every table was packed.
Even Li Sitong and Xia Yingluo had stepped in as Waitresses.
Seeing the chaos, Ye Chen jumped in to help.
He took a curry broth pot from Song Yuyu and set it before a student in a Jiangzhou uniform.
"Your Curry Base."
"Wow, my Hot Pot's here!" The kid's eyes sparkled.
Like a kung-fu nut laying eyes on a sacred manual.
Beside him a girl muttered, "Can eating Hot Pot really improve grades?"
"Relax. I asked my big brother—he's in Class Five. He said they all ate here a while back, and he jumped from dead-last loser to top hundred."
Ye Chen: "..."
Eat Hot Pot → better scores?
Such a garbage rumor and people actually swallow it.
Ye Chen looked around: most customers today were from Jiangzhou Middle School.
Not just Senior Year—plenty of first- and second-years too.
He even spotted uniforms from other schools.
They'd all come because of a legend.
On the Pedestrian Street there's a magical Hot Pot Restaurant.
Eat their Hot Pot and you feel clear-headed, enlightened, and ace every exam.
The tale grew ever wilder.
After all, Class Five's Mock Exam scores really had sky-rocketed.
And the whole class really had eaten here recently.
So everyone chose to believe.
Ye Chen: "..."
We're done for—these students' brains are fried.
Actually Ye Chen understood.
Only a handful truly believed Hot Pot equals high scores.
But it's just a sixty-yuan meal—why not give it a shot?
If everyone else eats it and their marks rise, and you don't, what then?
Plenty were just following the herd.
Like those viral internet cafés of later years.
The food might be mediocre, but once it trended online, crowds flocked in.
The more people came, the more showed up... Class Five's stunt had turned Ye Chen's restaurant into the next big thing.
The staff stayed busy until closing.
When they finally shut the doors, everyone collapsed.
Song Yuyu lay sprawled on the sofa like Ge You.
Li Sitong and Xia Yingluo tapped away at calculators, tallying the day's take.
"We raked in over twenty thousand today," Xia Yingluo announced happily.
The staff cheered as if recharged.
Only Ye Chen looked mournful.
Everyone else was elated.
Exhausted, yes—but they'd broken the daily earnings record.
The Turnover was four or five times the usual.
Students from other schools had joined the Jiangzhou influx.
Ye Chen blinked at the ledger Xia Yingluo handed him.
For a newly opened place, these numbers were staggering.
Since day two, business had grown every single day.
Ye Chen told the team, "This month you've all worked hard. From losing money on opening day to clearing twenty grand in profit today—it's thanks to you. You're amazing."