I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 351: Chapter 328: The 2 Uncles Are Too Responsible

”What’s the special treat?” Ling Xiaoru asked impatiently.

Li You pointed to a basin on the cutting board, motioning for Ling Xiaoru to come and see for herself.

Ling Xiaoru walked into the kitchen, went to the cutting board, and glanced into the basin. She gasped in an instant, ”Mitten crabs!”

The basin held four river crabs, a reward from the system. Li You had taken them from the Spatial Fish Pond earlier and placed them in the basin.

He had mentioned this morning that he was going to steam a few for dinner tonight. Since Ling Xiaoru was joining him, it was only natural to share them with her.

Two for each person. That should be about right.

Li You said, ”Technically, they’re not mitten crabs. But they’re even tastier.”

Ling Xiaoru said, ”They certainly look prettier than mitten crabs, and they’re much bigger. Boss, are you really treating me?”

Li You said, ”Of course. Do you like them?”

”I love them!” Ling Xiaoru nodded repeatedly. ”I absolutely love them! Thank you, Boss. Boss, since you’re treating me to these... wait, not mitten crabs, but they are a type of river crab, right? Since you’re treating me to river crabs, let me treat you to everything else. I’ll pay for all the other food and drinks tonight, besides the crabs. How about it?”

Li You smiled. ”Sure! In that case, thank you.”

Ling Xiaoru said, ”Then it’s a deal. I’ll head upstairs first.”

Li You nodded. ”Okay.”

Ling Xiaoru went upstairs, and Li You got back to work.

At eight-thirty in the evening, he started preparing the dishes for himself and Ling Xiaoru.

The four river crabs went into the steamer.

Of course, there were many other ways to cook river crabs, but tonight, Li You planned to use the simplest method: steaming.

This method didn’t require much skill. Whether the steamed crabs would be delicious or not depended almost entirely on the quality of the crabs themselves.

These system-rewarded river crabs were all high-grade quality, so the steamed flavor was guaranteed to be excellent.

Besides the four river crabs, he also prepared a steamed mandarin fish, a steamed perch, a serving of Longjing Shrimp, and a serving of Mapo Tofu.

’This should be enough food.’

The mandarin fish and perch he’d obtained from the game instance today were also high-grade quality. Tonight would be Li You’s first time eating them.

The steamed mandarin fish he’d eaten before was one he had caught himself in the gorge, and it was of medium-grade quality.

As for the steamed perch, that was a gift from Liu Jialiang, and it was low-grade quality.

Therefore, both the steamed mandarin fish and the steamed perch tonight would be much more delicious.

’This is something to look forward to!’

At nine in the evening, the last group of customers finished their meal and left. Li You had also finished cooking all the dishes.

He closed up the shop, and it was time to eat.

「On the second floor.」

Looking at the steamed river crabs, steamed mandarin fish, and other dishes on the coffee table, Ling Xiaoru was ecstatic.

”Boss, I’m digging in.”

Li You nodded. ”Go ahead.”

Ling Xiaoru picked up a river crab first.

Li You took one as well. He also planned to taste the river crab first.

After one bite, he found that the taste was, unsurprisingly, excellent. It was definitely much better than the tastiest mitten crabs on the market.

’If I were to sell these, they would probably go for at least five or six hundred yuan each.’

’After all, some mitten crabs already sell for two or three hundred yuan apiece.’

Of course, this was just a passing thought for Li You. He wasn’t actually going to sell them.

’At most, maybe I’ll see if it’s necessary to sell some in the restaurant from time to time in the future?’

’I’ll decide then.’

By now, Ling Xiaoru had also had a taste. She said excitedly, ”This tastes amazing! It’s so, so much better than any mitten crab I’ve ever eaten. And they’re so big, it’s incredibly satisfying to eat.”

Li You smiled. ”I’m glad you like them.”

Ling Xiaoru said, ”I super love them. By the way, Boss, crabs like these must be very expensive, even for you to buy, right?”

Li You said, ”It’s alright, they’re not that expensive.”

Ling Xiaoru nodded. She didn’t press for a specific price and went back to eating her crab.

As she ate, she also drank, of course.

You couldn’t have a meal like this without some drinks.

After finishing one crab, she tried the steamed mandarin fish and steamed perch.

One taste, and Ling Xiaoru was pleasantly surprised again. ”Boss, why do I feel like both of these fish are even more delicious than last time? Did your skill at making these two dishes improve in such a short time?”

Li You shook his head. ”It’s not that my skill improved. It’s that the quality of the fish themselves is much better today.”

’So that’s why.’

Ling Xiaoru nodded and added, ”It seems the quality of the ingredients really has a huge impact on the flavor of a dish.”

Li You said, ”That’s for sure. Even the best chef needs the best ingredients to create an unparalleled flavor.”

Ling Xiaoru nodded. ”That’s true.”

Li You had also tried the steamed mandarin fish and steamed perch, and the flavor was indeed noticeably better than before.

Of course, this wasn’t surprising.

After all, these were high-grade quality ingredients as determined by the system, second only to premium-grade quality.

’Speaking of which, if both fish were premium-grade, just how delicious would they be?’

’The taste would probably be on a completely different level.’

’Because the gap between high-grade and premium-grade is definitely much larger than the gap between medium-grade and high-grade.’

’It’s like the difference between a champion and a runner-up. Even though it’s only one rank apart, the significance and impact are worlds apart.’

’So, premium-grade ingredients must be in a class of their own.’

’Otherwise, after all this time, I wouldn’t have gone without seeing a single premium-grade ingredient.’

’Not once, not from any system task reward or in any game instance.’

For the current Li You, premium-grade ingredients were still the stuff of legends.

’But I’m sure they’ll appear eventually.’

’I wonder what the first premium-grade ingredient to appear will be?’

’It makes me so curious and excited!’

’I’ll just wait patiently. Perhaps a surprise will pop up when I least expect it.’

He continued to eat and drink.

...

「The next day.」

「7:00 AM.」

Li You got up, and after washing up, he went downstairs to open the shop. He saw Li Zhong and Li Chi already waiting outside.

Li You was very surprised. ”Uncle Zhong, Uncle Chi, what are you doing here so early?”

Li Zhong smiled. ”It’s not that early.”

Li You added, ”How long have you been here? Why didn’t you call me? I would have come down to open the door for you sooner.”

Li Zhong said, ”We just got here a moment ago. Opening up now is fine.”

Li You invited them into the shop and said, ”What would you like to eat? Should I whip up a couple of dishes for you with some rice? It won’t take long to cook.”

Li Zhong said, ”A bowl of noodles for each of us will be fine. We haven’t had your noodles in a long time and have been craving them.”

Li You smiled. ”Alright then, beef noodles it is. I’ll make you an extra-large portion.”

Li Zhong said, ”Yangchun Noodles would be fine too.”

Li You waved his hand dismissively. ”It’ll be beef noodles.”

’They have manual labor to do later, so they definitely need a meat-based noodle dish.’

Li You went into the kitchen and cooked them each a large bowl of beef noodles with an extra-generous portion of beef.

After serving them the noodles, both men said he had added too much beef and that a normal amount would have been fine.

Li You just smiled and said that this wasn’t a bowl of noodles for a customer, but for the masters he was treating, so adding extra beef was only right.

Li Zhong and Li Chi thanked him profusely and then started eating.

’The noodles here are still the best, absolutely delicious.’

After slowly finishing their meal and resting for a short while, the two men walked out of the shop and over to the pond area to officially begin their work.

Li You was in the kitchen doing some prep work for the day’s business.

Once the prep work was done, he would go out to help them.

At 8:00 AM, Ling Xiaoru came down from upstairs. She glanced outside and saw Li Zhong and Li Chi busy at the pond area. She said with some surprise, ”Are they Uncle Zhong and Uncle Chi? Why did they start working so early?”

Li You said, ”It is early. And they probably arrived before seven.”

Ling Xiaoru remarked with emotion, ”Those two uncles are so responsible.”

Li You nodded. ”They really are. What are you having?”

Ling Xiaoru said, ”A bowl of Yangchun Noodles, please. After I eat, I have to get back to my own work. I need to work hard.”

Li You chuckled. ”Since when are you so conscientious?”

Ling Xiaoru rolled her eyes. ”I’ve always been, okay?”

...