"Illusion, it must be an illusion."
The mech mechanic left muttering this to himself. Two mornings later, he and his wife were sitting at the breakfast table. As she stood up to pour him a glass of water, her eyes happened to glance at him, and she became excited.
"Honey, your hair has grown?! Have you been using a doctor's prescription recently? Or has the shampoo finally worked?"
Mid-meal, the mech mechanic subconsciously touched his head upon hearing his wife's words. He didn't realize how astonishing it was until he felt it!
"I haven't taken any medicine lately! And I haven't changed my shampoo."
He completely forgot about his meal and didn't even remember the encounter. It was his wife who asked him, "Huh? Then what have you been doing lately?"
Hearing his wife's question, he thought, "There was something different, but what was it?"
It was only his fault that his mind was so focused on mechs that he had a terrible memory for everyday matters. It had only been two days...
"Ah! I remember! I went to a medicinal cuisine restaurant. The tea and food were all dark. The owner said that these things could treat hair loss. I thought she was just saying it casually. Could it really be the effect of her food?"
The man continued, "The key is that I only ate one meal!"
He touched his head again. He hadn't noticed anything when washing his hair for the past two days. It hadn't grown much yet, but upon careful feeling now, there was indeed a slight pull.
Hearing this, the man's wife immediately took away his bowl.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go! Shall we go back to that restaurant to eat?"
The man looked at his empty hands, his chopsticks having been taken by his wife. For the first time, he felt that his wife was so decisive and domineering.
"Let's go!"
The man didn't say anything further. He directly took his wife and left home, heading for the medicinal cuisine restaurant.
On the way, his wife kept asking him about the restaurant: "What kind of restaurant is it? How can the food treat hair loss?"
The man thought about it and described it to his wife: "That restaurant just opened on the mech parts street. It's called 'Medicinal Cuisine and Tea.' From what the owner said, both the tea and the dishes have a certain healing effect."
"That magical? There must be many people then?"
His wife imagined it, but her vision was quickly shattered: "No, when I went in, there were only three people. And one of them looked like a plant!"
"Ah?"
His wife was left somewhat incredulous. Her husband's years of hair loss problems had not been solved by major hospitals, but by a restaurant with hardly any customers? Was this really not a joke?
Soon, they arrived. Walking into the mech parts street, the wife walked ahead quickly, eager to see what this establishment was like.
"Medicinal Cuisine and Tea! This is it."
His wife pointed at the shop sign and said. However, when she saw the people inside, she was surprised. She patted her husband's arm and asked, "Didn't you say it was a deserted shop? There are so many people here so early in the morning, is that what you call deserted?"
The man looked at the people coming and going in the shop. Some bought something at the counter and left. Others sat down, waiting for the waiter to take their orders.
He was also surprised, stammering, "This... this is different from when I came!"
At that moment, Boss Zhao happened to see him and greeted him at the entrance of the 'Wen Xin Tang': "Hi! How's your hair? Did the medicinal cuisine work!"
The man awkwardly waved back at Boss Zhao and said quietly, "It's... it's much better."
Seeing her husband greet someone from the adjacent shop, his wife asked, "Who is that? Do you know him?"
His wife assumed it was a shop her husband frequented, after all, he often came to this street.
However, she didn't expect her husband's smile to be stiff as he replied, "He's that plant I told you about..."
Looking at her husband's awkward smile, she roughly guessed the situation. She playfully poked him with her index finger and said, "You know, aside from mechs, you haven't got anything right! Let's go in quickly, it looks like we'll have to queue."
"Alright." The man sheepishly touched his head.
Sister Ting recognized him and came forward to greet them.
"Good morning to you both."
The man looked at the scene in the shop and sighed, "So many people, are there any seats left?"
Sister Ting asked, "Just the two of you?"
"Yes."
"May I ask if you would mind sharing a table? As you can see, there are no seats."
"Of course, as long as there's a place to sit," the man's wife answered first. They had come to eat, and sharing a table didn't matter.
So, Sister Ting led them to a table with an elderly couple and asked for their consent. The elderly couple didn't mind sharing the table either, so they let them sit down.
Sister Ting first poured a cup of beauty and nourishing tea for the man's wife. Seeing Sister Ting about to pour tea for him, he asked, "Is it the Five Black Tea?"
Sister Ting replied, "Yes."
The man then asked, "I want to eat what I ate last time, there was something called 'Double Black Soup', and I don't know the name of the other one. It was also stir-fried with dark leaves, do you know?"
The man only remembered the Five Black Tea and Double Black Soup, and then described the other dish he had eaten a couple of days ago to Sister Ting.
Sister Ting told him, "That was Stir-fried Purple Seedling Shoots."
Hearing the familiar name, the man quickly said, "Yes, yes, that's it. Cough cough, then recommend two dishes for my wife, please. After all, she probably doesn't need to eat this!"
Sister Ting, trying her best to suppress a smile, recommended dishes to the man's wife before leaving.
The elderly couple next to them, having overheard their order, the grandfather curiously asked, "It seems you're not here for the first time. What kind of effect did you order?"
The man didn't mind and openly pointed to his hair, saying, "For growing hair. Look at my hair, isn't there new growth? I ate here two days ago. Today I found my hair growing, isn't it magical!"
The grandfather wasn't particularly excited. He also recommended to the young couple, "What's this to you? My legs haven't been doing so well lately. After eating a meal, my legs feel much lighter, and I can walk an extra two li."
"Really!"
"That's great!"
Seeing the young couple echo his sentiments, the grandfather continued to recommend, "This 'Grandpa's Tea', I drink it every day. I even sent a box to each of my old buddies!"