Chapter 17 (1/2)
Translated by Karcessel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
The XiQin restaurant was quiet for a few days. Lin ShuYi thought that since Old Man Yang’s words were so firm, his son shouldn’t dare come again. After all, this is Old Man Yang’s own restaurant, naturally Old man Yang would have the final say on whether to sell or not to sell.
Shen Fu, on the other hand, thought that things were not so simple. Old Man Yang’s grandson especially, though he may have been young, he still had quite a large attitude. However, seeing that not even two days had passed before Lin ShuYi and Old Man Yang put this matter in the back of their heads, Shen Fu felt it was unnecessary to say anything else. He didn’t want to bring their mood down.
A new western-style bakery had just recently opened up on Chaoyang Street, and the desserts they made were especially good. Lin ShuYi only had to go in once to fall in love with their signature chocolate mousse cup.
Shen Fu seemed to have discovered that Lin ShuYi was particularly fond of sweet food. As long as something was sweet, Lin ShuYi was bound to like it, but it seemed like he hadn’t eaten much sweet food before. When Shen Fu bought chocolate for him, Lin ShuYi fell in love after only one bite. Since then, as long as something contained the word ‘chocolate’ and Lin ShuYi saw it, he absolutely must eat it.
And it wasn’t just limited to eating food, if Lin ShuYi even saw a picture on his cellphone, he would stare at it for a long time. Since then, as long as Shen Fu passed by that bakery, he would always go and buy a chocolate mousse cup for Lin ShuYi. He could never help but smile himself when he saw the look of delight in Lin ShuYi’s eyes.
Shen Fu had long since known that Lin ShuYi was very easy to please.
When buying mousse for Lin ShuYi, Shen Fu would also buy some sesame egg rolls for Old Man Yang. Old Man Yang was the complete opposite of Lin ShuYi, he disliked eating sweet things, and towards the western-style desserts in the bakery, there was nothing he liked. It was only the sesame egg rolls in the bakery that he liked, crunchy and not very sweet, with the fragrant taste of eggs.
“One chocolate mousse cup and one sesame egg roll, to go.” Shen Fu stood in front of the counter with one hand in his pocket. His light grey short-sleeved cotton shirt didn’t look to be of particularly high quality, and his pants weren’t any high end goods either, yet just casually standing there, he looked just like a model who walked out of T station on TV. With his eyelashes slightly angled down, he looked breathtakingly handsome.
The girl at the counter, sporting a flushed red face, held up Shen Fu’s order. She thought to herself, this handsome man has been coming here pretty frequently recently, and he always orders these two things. Is this for his girlfriend? If he’s this hot, then his girlfriend must be an incredible beauty as well.
“Here’s your order, please take care…” Her words hadn’t even finished yet when the sharp ring of a cell phone suddenly rang out. She watched as the man in front of her glanced at his phone, and upon seeing the text on the screen, it seemed as if he couldn’t help but smile. This solidified the thought in her heart that this must be a call from the handsome man’s girlfriend.
“…Mn… Anything else you want? Alright, I like eating that too.” Not only was his tone soft, but that slight smile never left his face either.
Upon hanging up the phone, Shen Fu discovered that the girl in front of him was staring at him with a red face, her eyes alight with the flames of bubbling gossip. Shen Fu took his order, and with that smile still at the corner of his lips, turned around and left.
On the way back, Shen Fu picked up some raw chicken feet from the butcher’s. Lin ShuYi said he wanted to braise them.
Though recently Lin ShuYi hadn’t cooked very often, when he did, the aroma travelled far and wide. Old Man Yang even said, if things went on like this, the XiQin restaurant would end up sold with the food. When Lin ShuYi volunteered to cook a dish, don’t even mention Shen Fu, not even Old Man Yang could help but crave his cooking.
Before Shen Fu even stepped foot inside the XiQin restaurant, sure enough, he could already smell the fragrant aroma of Lin ShuYi’s cooking.
Lin ShuYi was currently making the marinade sauce for his braise. A few spoonfuls of dark soy sauce, a few spoonfuls of rice wine, these quantities were all of particular importance. There was a saying that said every family’s marinade had their own flavor, and it was certainly wasn’t lying.
What kinds of seasonings were used; how much of each seasoning was added; what brand of dark soy sauce was poured; these were all key factors affecting the taste. Lin ShuYi didn’t have much of an understanding about all the brands available in the supermarket, he just picked the ones he liked from the brands that Old Man Yang often bought. The rest of the taste just depended on the specific ratios of the seasonings used.
Only after the seasonings were wrapped in a ball of gauze and left to soak in the pot did Lin ShuYi walk out of the kitchen. He was still dressed in that hilarious cartoon apron, but looking at his appearance, Shen Fu thought that he was born to do this kind of craft.
First Shen Fu placed the bag of chicken feet in his hand on the table, than with his other hand, he casually held up the mousse cup in front of Lin ShuYi’s eyes. “Your favorite chocolate mousse cup.”
Lin ShuYi’s eyes lit up, and he rushed over to Shen Fu and said, “Thank you.”
Still as polite as ever.
Then Shen Fu placed the sesame egg rolls in front of Old Man Yang. “Grandpa’s sesame egg rolls.”
Old Man Yang squinted his eyes. “Ah, Xiao Fu is still the best, knowing what I like. But there’s no need to buy this all the time, and besides, it tastes better if it’s eaten only occasionally.”
Although Old Man Yang said this, Shen Fu could still see through him. Old Man Yang has eaten this countless times, and has never gotten sick of it.
With good food on hand, Old Man Yang started chattering. “Today, Old Man Chen from next door brought over some beef that he got from his hometown. This beef is unlike that sold in the market, it’s much more delicious. And the price isn’t even the regular kind of expensive, and I felt that it was a pity to just eat it regularly, so I let Xiao Yi marinade and braise some. I wanted him to make a few dishes that would go well with some beer, drink a few with Old Man Chen, but Xiao Yi said why not braise everything all at once, that it wasn’t anything difficult to do.”
No wonder he asked Shen Fu to buy the chicken feet. Looking at what Lin ShuYi had prepared, with the the beef and the fresh brown eggs and the smoked bean curd, it looked like he was planning on making an Aromatic Mixed Braise.
To be honest, making a mixed braise wasn’t as easy a task as it seemed. If someone ate it the same day they cooked it, there definitely wouldn’t be enough flavor. If they wanted it to be truly delicious, they they would have to start cooking it today but not eat it until tomorrow.
At the beginning of the process Old Man Yang said there was no hurry, but as soon as the aroma started permeating through the XiQin restaurant, he started getting restless and constantly wanted to go in the kitchen and check on the progress.
The marinade sauce had already turned a deep reddish brown color, and the eggshells had already cracked into a flowery pattern, with some lines dark, some lines light. It looked incredibly appetizing. The beef tumbling in the stockpot was blended with the color of the braise, and the bean curds and chicken feet were scattered all around the stew. The fragrance made everyone want to drool.