A Valiant Life

There were only three of them and there was no need for so much food. They just wanted to gather around and reminisce about the past.

Xiao Yan was a local from Zhongzhou. She met Bai Ke at a village near Zhongzhou. It was quite interesting. Xiao Yan was working in Zhongzhou and her first job was a service crew in Bai Ke’s shop. They fell in love after some time and she became Bai Ke’s girlfriend.

But Lin Fan viewed it differently. He thought Bai Ke was a witty businessman. Initially, he had had to pay Xiao Yan $2000 a month but he could save on that now. Furthermore, he got himself a girlfriend as well. Where could he find such a deal anywhere else? He still benefited from that regardless of how you were to look at it.

Xiao Yan wasn’t pretty but she wasn’t ugly either. She looked elegant and was friendly. She always had a smile on her face. She was probably the silly girl that laughed a lot back in high school. However, a girl that liked to laugh was usually lucky. It was something that was proven in Metaphysics.

“Lil’ Ke, don’t cook too many dishes. It’s enough already.” There were four dishes and a bowl of soup on the table. There was even a pig’s head. Bai Ke was still busy in the kitchen and he was thinking of cooking another dish.

“Coming, coming!” Bai Ke carried a bowl of spicy duck’s blood and beef tripe soup. Then, he took a bottle of the finest white wine he had.

When Lin Fan saw the bottle of white wine, he trembled. “I don’t drink white wine, I drink beer.”

But Bai Ke wasn’t agreeable to it, “It’s okay. Drink slowly. I don’t expect you to finish it in one gulp.”

Lin Fan didn’t say much. It was the first time meeting him in a long time and they had to have a good chat. Bai Ke opened the bottle of white wine and poured a cup for Lin Fan. It was a small cup which weighed about a hundred grams.

“Young Fan, how’re things in Shanghai?” Bai Ke asked.

“Things are fine.” Lin Fan ate some dishes and asked, “What about you?”

Bai Ke said helplessly, “The business isn’t good these days. There are so many competitors. But it’s enough to make ends meet. Come, try my dishes and tell me how they taste.”

Lin Fan smiled and took a piece of bright red beef tripe. “This dish was your aunt’s best dish. It was delicious. Let me see if you’ve learned well.”

He placed it in his mouth with the chopsticks. Bai Ke smiled at Lin Fan and asked, “How was it?”

Lin Fan placed his chopsticks on the table and raised all ten fingers. Bai Ke was elated when he saw that but then, Lin Fan took away a hand. He waved only five fingers in front of him.

Bai Ke looked extremely helpless as he dragged his voice, “Only 50%…”

Lin Fan smiled. “Alright, it’s really not bad. I remember you couldn’t even cook shredded chicken with capsicum properly. Now, you can prepare a table of dishes. That’s awesome.”

Bai Ke was elated when he heard his compliments. “Of course. I made an effort to learn it. My cooking skills have definitely improved.”

“Here, let’s have a toast.”

Xiao Yan sat beside them and just smiled. She listened attentively and didn’t interrupt them at all. Sometimes, when she heard something hilarious, she would add a sentence or two.

The two of them were talking about their high school days. They were extremely happy reminiscing about the past. They talked about how they skipped classes together. Lin Fan smiled. “I couldn’t get into band one because I followed you guys.”

Bai Ke chuckled, “Keep bragging…”

Then, a customer came.

Xiao Yan immediately stood up and served the customers. One of the customers looked at the interior of the shop and furrowed her brows. “Are we really eating here?”

The middle-aged man said, “This is the one. The other shops are too full. I don’t know how long we’d have to wait before we’d get to eat our food.”

Xiao Yan stood beside them and smiled. The customers were still discussing among themselves. It wasn’t even confirmed if they were going to eat there.

The best time of the day for business for a restaurant was in the afternoon and evening time.

It was almost 7:30 pm and there was only one group of customers. For a restaurant on a food street, the business was considered extremely bad.

In the end, the customers agreed to eat there. It was a four-seater table and there wasn’t enough space. They shifted to another table and it became a six-seater, which was just nice.

Lin Fan looked at Bai Ke. “I’m okay, you can go ahead and cook for them.”

Bai Ke nodded., “Alright, wait here. I’ll be fast.”

Lin Fan looked at the time and realized how bad the business was. Then, he looked at the number of customers outside. There were a lot of townsfolk but none of them noticed this shop. Most of them wanted to go for the nicely decorated shops with signature dishes.

There were more youngsters in the crowds and these unique shops were more popular with them.

This shop looked extremely old and it naturally wasn’t their first choice.

Lin Fan sat there alone and ate the dishes. He wasn’t anxious at all. It was good that they had business. A restaurant owner should be fearful when there’s no business.

But Bai Ke’s dishes were average home-cooked food. They weren’t special and weren’t very appealing to people.

His skills were a part of the problem. The other problem was his shop.

When the cooking skills weren’t that great, the interior of the shop had to be top-notch.

If the cooking skills were awesome, even if the shop just had a table outside, there would be people fighting over it.

Soon, a dish was served. The customers started to eat and Xiao Yan was getting busier.

Then, another group of customers came in.

Lin Fan was feeling pretty good. It looked like Bai Ke’s business was decent, just that the customers were a little late.

Xiao Yan smiled even wider when she saw another group of customers enter the shop. After all, who wouldn’t be happy with good business? However, the two groups of customers started to urge them for their food.”

“Waitress, could you rush our food? It’s been almost twenty minutes. I only received two dishes so far. It’s too slow. Can you just refund us? We want to leave for another restaurant,” said a customer at the first table.

Xiao Yan immediately went forward. “Sorry, these vegetables are fresh and they have to be washed. That’s why there is a delay. I’ll go rush the people in the kitchen.”

“Hurry up please.”

When Xiao Yan entered the kitchen, the customers started to grumble.

“I already told you that we should’ve gone somewhere else. The dishes are taking so long to come and the taste is average. The shredded chicken with capsicum is a little salty…”

“Just put up with it and eat a little. We’ll just wait for one more dish and our soup. We’ll cancel the rest of the dishes. We have to fill our stomachs for our journey later.”

…

Lin Fan didn’t say much as the customers had reason to complain. The dishes were served pretty slowly. Then, he stood up and entered the kitchen.

Bai Ke was extremely busy in the kitchen. The spatula in his hands didn’t even stop moving. When he saw Lin Fan, he said anxiously, “Young Fan, don’t worry. I’ll be there soon. Just wait for me.”

Lin Fan chuckled, “It’s okay. Just do what you have to do. I’m not in a rush. I saw that the customers were in a rush. I’ll cook some food for the customers as a gift for them. Just ignore me and continue with what you’re doing.”

The kitchen wasn’t big but it had two woks.

Bai Ke was a friend of Lin Fan and the restaurant was a place filled with their high school memories. Obviously, Lin Fan wanted it to do better.

What could he do?

The dishes couldn’t be too complicated and there couldn’t be too little ingredients. As for the taste, he thought that his cooking skills were decent enough.

That’s all he thought was needed.

There was a dish in Jiangsu cuisine that was simple, yet difficult to make. It was the Mirror Box Tofu. A traditional Jiangsu dish.