Chapter 4

Luna shot Mr. Lambert a look, and his face darkened, every word dripping with threat.

"What's this supposed to mean? Trying to dine and dash in my restaurant? Pay up now, or I'll have your school come collect you!"

I tapped a fingertip lightly on the receipt.

"Premium abalone, wholesale cost eight-eighty a pound. This plate used about half a pound, and you're charging seven thousand eight."

"Premium lobster, wholesale cost eight hundred a pound. This plate you're charging us eight thousand."

"Premium crab, wholesale cost five hundred a pound…"

"Mr. Lambert, the cost of these dishes is barely over a thousand. You quote a sky-high fifty thousand. Aren't you afraid of breaking the law?"

Hearing me name the exact wholesale prices, his eyes flickered, guilt showing through.

He jerked his chin up and shook a fist, defiant.

"What law am I breaking? It's my own restaurant. I'll charge whatever I want!"

I let out a soft laugh.

"The law requires every menu to display clear prices. Otherwise it's fraud."

"But the menu you just handed me had no prices at all."

He opened his mouth to speak. I cut him off again.

"And about that word, 'premium.'"

"The ingredients you used are the lowest grade on the market. Nowhere near premium."

"Passing off cheap goods as premium already counts as fraud too."

"If you insist this meal costs fifty thousand, then I'll just have to call the regulatory bureau."

His expression shifted again and again. "What does a little girl like you understand! My goods are imported from overseas. That's exactly what they're worth!"

Luna and the others came back to themselves and stared at me, displeased.

"Florence, could you not embarrass yourself? These are all top-quality goods."

"Eating out in Bayport just costs this much. It's not like those third-tier cities you come from."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Whether this restaurant uses premium goods or cheap ones, I know all too well."

I took out the supply invoices with Mr. Lambert's signature and laid them on the table.

My parents own the largest seafood company in Bayport. Ninety percent of the restaurants here buy their stock from us.

Yesterday, the moment Luna named the restaurant, I sent it to my parents, and sure enough, this place was one of our accounts too.

Sweat the size of beans rolled down Mr. Lambert's forehead. "Where did you get these fake invoices? These are forged!"

I gave my phone a little shake. "Then let's call the regulatory bureau and have them inspect your goods."

He panicked, glaring at Luna in a fury.

Luna hurried to grab my arm. "Florence, why are you being such a killjoy? A perfectly nice meal, and you have to make a scene…"

I cut her off, my tone all confusion.

"You're locals. Whether or not we're getting cheated on this meal, you two know better than anyone, don't you?"

"So why aren't you helping your own classmate? Why do you keep taking the crooked owner's side instead?"

"You wouldn't happen to be… his shills, would you?"

Luna froze.

"No, we were just trying to explain how things work here…"

I waved a hand. "Then let the regulatory bureau explain instead."

"If you keep getting in the way, I'll have to consider calling the police to look into whether you're the owner's accomplices."

"And if you are, even if the police don't lock you up, I'm sure the school will have something to say about it, right?"

Mr. Lambert lost it, slamming his hand down on my phone and demanding of Luna in dialect,

"What's going on here? You brought people to trash my place?"

Luna and the others had long since panicked.

"I didn't expect her to be this stubborn either… Forget it, just say you got the bill wrong earlier. Smooth it over first…"

I looked at them with a smile and asked, in dialect, one word at a time,

"Bit too late to say it was a miscalculation now, isn't it?"