I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Some of the remaining guests continued to play games, while others kept watching Li You weave the fish trap.

By 4:30 in the afternoon, the fish trap was nearly finished, with only the final opening left to be sealed.

Sealing the opening was a crucial step that required a high level of skill. Li You wasn’t the best at it, so he could only manage a passable job.

Finally, the opening was sealed. The entire fish trap was now complete.

Although it was still a bit rough, Li You was quite satisfied. At least it looked much better than his previous one.

Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, and Ling Xiaoru were also very happy, as they all felt a sense of involvement.

“It looks much better than the last one.” All three of them shared this sentiment.

The guests who were still there were also pleased, offering their own comments.

“It looks pretty good. While it can’t compare to the exquisite work of a master weaver, reaching this level of skill is already very impressive.”

“It’s definitely a lot better than the last one. The improvement is obvious.”

“The boss has some real skill. He’s better than ninety percent of young people.”

“Be bolder—I’d say more than ninety-nine percent. How many young people these days have even seen this craft, let alone know how to do it?”

“Speaking of which, that’s a bit of a shame.”

“…”

A wave of regret washed over the guests. Li You also lamented the fact for a moment, then placed the fish trap against the wall.

It was already past five in the afternoon, and guests would be arriving for dinner soon, so he decided against going to the canyon to swap the traps.

He would do it tomorrow instead.

Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye decided to stay another night and return to school tomorrow.

Li You was very happy to hear that.

The two also said they would treat Li You and Ling Xiaoru to dinner that night.

Li You had treated them to dinner the previous night, so tonight, they wanted to return the favor.

It was a matter of courtesy, after all.

Li You had no objection to this. Both Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye came from well-off families.

…

Six in the evening.

Guests began ordering dinner, so Li You went into the kitchen and got to work.

Meanwhile, Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, and Ling Xiaoru went upstairs. They had already ordered their dinner: five pounds of spicy crawfish, plus one order each of Nine-Turned Pork Intestines, Longjing Shrimp, Chopped Pepper Fish Head, stir-fried bitter melon, and stir-fried shredded potatoes.

Li You would prepare their meal during the lulls in cooking for the other guests.

By nine o’clock, the last group of guests had finished their meal and left. The dishes Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye had ordered were also ready.

There was also leftover mushroom soup from lunch.

They closed up the restaurant and sat down to eat.

They could enjoy a little alcohol with their meal. Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye each had half a bowl. They felt a little tipsy, but it wasn’t a big deal.

…

「The next day.」

「Morning.」

After having breakfast and finishing his kitchen chores, Li You planned to go to the canyon to swap out the fish traps.

Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, and Ling Xiaoru wanted to go with him.

They had all gotten up rather early that day.

“Boss, how about we also catch some crabs for lunch while we’re there?” Ling Xiaoru asked.

The last time they ate crabs, they had talked about going to the canyon again sometime to catch more.

Today was the perfect opportunity. Since Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye were there, it was a great chance for them to try the crabs as well.

Li You nodded. “Of course we can.”

Ling Xiaoru was delighted.

Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye, however, were a bit skeptical. “You mean those crabs in the canyon’s shallows?” they asked. “Don’t they have hard shells and very little meat? Can they really be tasty?”

Ling Xiaoru said, “Xiao Yue, Qing Ye, you wouldn’t know, but if you prepare them right, those crabs are actually delicious and full of flavor. The boss, Teacher Chu, and I caught a bunch to eat last time.”

Hearing this, both Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye’s interest was piqued, and they became very excited. “In that case, let’s go catch some for lunch!” they said.

Ling Xiaoru nodded. “Let’s go, let’s go, hurry up! Boss, come on! Oh, right, I’ll grab a bucket to put the crabs in.”

With that, she walked to a spot outside the restaurant where buckets were kept and picked one up.

Li You smiled faintly, picked up the fish trap he had woven the day before, and said, “Let’s go.”

“Alright!”

The four of them set off. Soon, they arrived at the spot in the canyon where the fish trap was set.

“Let’s see what the old trap caught first. I’ll go get it,” Ling Xiaoru said.

She then walked over and lifted the old trap from the water.

A look inside revealed a pretty good catch.

There were over a dozen stream stone fish, two carp, two crucian carp, and a few crabs. There were also plenty of small fish and shrimp.

They decided not to keep the small fish, shrimp, and tiny crabs.

They put the stream stone fish, crucian carp, carp, and the four remaining edible-sized crabs into the bucket.

Mu Qingye looked at the stream stone fish in the bucket and asked, “Is this about as big as this type of fish gets?”

Li You replied, “More or less. They can get a little bigger, but not by much.”

Mu Qingye nodded. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this fish at the market. I’ve never had it before. Is it any good?”

Li You said, “This fish is very demanding when it comes to water quality, so it only lives in a few areas where the water is exceptionally clean. You really don’t see them for sale in markets. As for the taste, it’s delicious. It’s considered a very high-quality type of fish.”

“Really?” Mu Qingye said. “I’ve never tried it.”

Li You then asked Xia Xiaoyue and Ling Xiaoru, “Have you two ever had it?”

Xia Xiaoyue said, “I think I probably had it when I was a child, but I don’t really remember it. I definitely haven’t had it since growing up.”

Ling Xiaoru added, “I probably had it as a kid, too, but I don’t remember it either.”