The Universe's Lucky Restaurant

[Preorder: Wind and Moon, Polyester]

1

Director Zhou Xiangqing has a modest reputation in the industry. She had heard early on about Liu Ruoxu, the newcomer who had burst onto the scene with good looks and excellent acting.

She wondered whether he was the type who would win his patron's heart and stay by their side after becoming a sensation, or the type who was accommodating and knew how to work a room.

When Liu Ruoxu smiled and chatted amiably, as considerate as a kindergarten teacher, Zhou Xiangqing decided he was the latter.

Later, she realized she had been wrong. That guy was more sincere with her than with his patron.

Had she become someone's patron?

2

She sat in the dark with someone, watching a Rohmer film. His breaths came one after another, warm enough to coax peach blossoms into bloom. The man joked, "Director, are you going to take advantage of me?"

Zhou Xiangqing lifted her eyelids. Her gaze unconsciously shifted away from the charming heroine and came to rest on the shoulder of the man beside her.

"I don't play games with inferior goods," she said with a smile.

A trace of anger colored Liu Ruoxu's lovely voice. "Director Zhou has seen it all, and even I'm second-rate?"

A glass touched the table. Bubbles spun along its smooth inner wall, making a hopeless sound.

Her tongue softened with tipsiness as she explained, "No, no. I only play a game where I accept one sincere heart and give one in return."

3

At an interview, the host asked Zhou Xiangqing to describe Liu Ruoxu's quality as an actor.

The poised, graceful woman lowered her eyes slightly before the camera, seeming to be lost in thought.

After a long moment, she looked up and smiled, her expression clear and graceful as a begonia covered in dew.

"He's polyester spun from romance: beautiful, soft, and prone to pilling."

The Cosmic Lucky Restaurant

Blurb:

1.

The witch Su Jianjian has lost her powers and is sent to work at a restaurant.

The next day, she is promoted from waitress to chef.

The entire restaurant has only three employees.

The former witch chef spends longer washing dishes than cooking. The doorman, Sparrow, fries the fries for the whole restaurant's customers with his feet. The manager, Jack the Mouse, runs for 23.5 hours a day to generate electricity for the restaurant.

Su Jianjian raises her magic wand, or rather, her spatula.

She serves up roast suckling pig, black bean sugar porridge, roasted pork intestines with scallions, Margherita pizza...

The customers keep coming, like the happy ending of a fairy tale that never ends.

Then one day, Su Jianjian looks at the pile of gold coins in the cash register and discovers: her magic has returned?

An owl brings a letter from the Witches' Association, awarding her the title of Gluttonous Queen and appointing her dean of the Witch Academy.

The Cosmic Lucky Restaurant becomes a landmark in the history of interstellar cuisine.

2.

The laws of the world are a carousel spinning wildly, and sooner or later some unlucky customers get thrown off.

Unfortunate customers, come dine at the Cosmic Lucky Restaurant.

As long as your misfortune weighs more than a feather, the kind former witch will comp your meal.

Because she is the Queen who feeds on misfortune.

3.

This is an era when the twin carriages of magic and science travel side by side.

Meaningless work is everywhere, along with innocent, foolish robot secretaries and nonhuman species with hundreds of kinds of genes spliced together.

But at the Cosmic Lucky Restaurant, you can always enjoy a good meal.

P.S. Inspired by Midnight Diner and Night Shift Convenience Store.

Hope you enjoy reading.

Theme: Food is the simplest kind of magic.