Chapter 261 - 250: The Longjing Shrimp Competition (Part 2)

Chapter 261: Chapter 250: The Longjing Shrimp Competition (Part 2)

Still, he decided to go with the flow.

He slowly made his way back to the restaurant and then to the Hundred Fruit Garden. After choosing a good spot, they all worked together to plant it.

The fourth type of wild fruit was now in place in the Hundred Fruit Garden.

Everyone was overjoyed.

Li You announced that he was treating everyone to dinner that evening—all of them together.

Chen Wen, He Xianfei, Yu Hong, and Qu Feng repeatedly declined. They said they had only tagged along to dig up the Goumi berry tree for fun and excitement, and hadn’t really helped much. They insisted there was no need for Li You to treat them, especially since he hadn’t specifically asked them to come.

Chu Yiwei and Lin Xin also said he didn’t need to treat them. They had helped even less.

But Li You insisted that help was help, no matter how big or small. Besides, his main reason for treating them was to have another lively get-together.

Meals were always more interesting and atmospheric with more people, after all.

Finally, thanks to Li You’s persistence, everyone agreed and expressed their thanks.

They were all quite happy about it. Of course, they also enjoyed the lively atmosphere of a big meal.

It was now five in the afternoon, just about time to start preparing the food.

With so many people, he’d need to make a lot. Plus, there would be other customers later. Time was a bit tight.

So, Li You told everyone to make themselves at home while he went into the kitchen to get busy.

Including himself, there were nine people in total. They would definitely be drinking, so there had to be plenty of food.

He would prepare one whole braised chicken, and about thirty braised chicken feet. Then he’d add ten kilograms of spicy crayfish, nine servings of Chopped Pepper Fish Head, five orders of mapo tofu, five of stir-fried shredded potatoes, and two pots of tomato and egg soup.

’That should be enough.’

He got to work.

Soon, customers started arriving. Li You prioritized cooking their orders.

Even so, he had all the dishes for his party ready by six-thirty.

He brought the food to the table, and the meal began.

With no other customer orders for the moment, Li You joined them.

The bowls were filled with alcohol.

Chu Yiwei and Lin Xin didn’t drink. The rest of them did.

When He Xianfei, Yu Hong, and Qu Feng saw that the two beauties, Ye Shengge and Ling Xiaoru, were also drinking, they couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.

Delicious food, fine alcohol, and beautiful women to drink with—even before the meal had truly begun, the mood was already incredibly pleasant.

As for Chen Wen, he had already had drinks with Ye Shengge and Ling Xiaoru last time.

"Boss, come on, let me toast you first! Thanks for your hospitality!" Chen Wen said, raising his bowl to Li You.

Li You replied, "Not at all, not at all. Let me toast you, Master Chen. Thank you for your help this afternoon."

After that, He Xianfei, Yu Hong, and Qu Feng exchanged toasts with Li You.

Finally, Chen Wen, He Xianfei, Yu Hong, and Qu Feng toasted Li You, Ye Shengge, and Ling Xiaoru together. It seemed they were treating both Ye Shengge and Ling Xiaoru as the hostesses of the restaurant, which made the two women a little embarrassed.

They continued to eat and drink.

Seeing what was happening, the other customers eating in the restaurant also came over one after another to offer toasts.

After receiving the toasts, Li You, Chen Wen, He Xianfei, Yu Hong, and Qu Feng returned the gesture to each of them.

The entire restaurant was bustling with energy.

Time slowly passed. By eight o’clock, the sky had grown quite dark, but the restaurant was still as lively as ever.

Chu Yiwei and Lin Xin said their goodbyes to Li You and the others.

They wanted to leave before it got completely dark.

Otherwise, they’d be a little scared on the way back after nightfall.

Li You walked the two of them to the parking lot.

They got on their respective electric scooters and left under Li You’s watchful gaze.

Afterward, Li You returned to the restaurant.

Ye Shengge and Ling Xiaoru also bid farewell to the group and went upstairs.

Li You stayed to chat and drink with Chen Wen, He Xianfei, Yu Hong, Qu Feng, and some of the other customers.

It wasn’t until nine o’clock that the customers finally began to leave one by one.

Chen Wen, He Xianfei, Yu Hong, and Qu Feng also said their goodbyes to Li You, once again thanking him for his hospitality.

They were all staying at a hotel in town. Chen Wen called for two motorcycle taxi drivers to come pick them up.

After everyone had left, Li You closed the shop and went upstairs.

Ye Shengge and Ling Xiaoru had both already showered and were sitting on the sofa watching TV.

Their two pairs of long legs were especially eye-catching. It was time for the three of them to be together again.

The night was as wonderful as ever.

...

「The next morning.」

Li You, Ye Shengge, and Ling Xiaoru got up one after another.

Just as Li You came downstairs and opened the shop’s door, Chen Wen, He Xianfei, Yu Hong, and Qu Feng arrived.

After a round of greetings, Chen Wen said, "Boss, the two sets of stoves and the ingredients for the Longjing Shrimp are all ready. They’ll be delivered soon."

At 10 a.m. today, Li You and Yu Hong were set to have a Longjing Shrimp cooking competition.

Li You nodded. "Thank you for your hard work, Master Chen."

Chen Wen replied, "It’s nothing. I’m sure the competition between you, Boss, and Master Yu will be spectacular."

Both Li You and Yu Hong said they would give it their all.

Then, Li You added, "You all probably haven’t had breakfast yet, have you?"

The four of them nodded, confirming they hadn’t eaten.

They had come specifically to eat noodles at Li You’s place, so of course they wouldn’t have eaten elsewhere.

Li You wanted to treat each of them to a free bowl of noodles, but all four insisted on paying for their food today.

Li You didn’t insist.

All four of them ordered a large bowl of Yangchun Noodles.

It was Yu Hong’s first time trying the Yangchun Noodles here.

The flavor of the noodles left him stunned once again.

’It tastes too good!’

Even in Zhejiang Province, he had never eaten Yangchun Noodles this delicious.

Yangchun Noodles were far more popular in Zhejiang Province than in Chuansheng Province. Logically, the noodles from Zhejiang should be much tastier than those from Chuansheng.

And perhaps, setting aside the noodles here at Boss Li You’s place, that was true. But his Yangchun Noodles possessed an unparalleled flavor that even those in Zhejiang couldn’t match.

Yu Hong was filled with emotion. ’Perhaps the Yangchun Noodle masters from our Zhejiang Province should all come here to learn a thing or two.’

After they slowly finished their noodles, a small truck pulled into the parking lot.

The stoves for Li You and Yu Hong’s competition had arrived.

Two workers who came with the truck moved the stoves to the designated open space, then took their leave.

The designated space was a short distance in front of the restaurant, next to the Hundred Fruit Garden.

The whole group, including Ye Shengge and Ling Xiaoru, gathered around the stoves.

They were two sets of canister-style gas stoves.

"Boss Li, Master Yu, these two sets of stoves are identical. You can each pick one now. Once you’ve chosen, please inspect it to see if there are any problems," Chen Wen said.

Both Li You and Yu Hong nodded.

Since the two sets of stoves were identical, either one would be fine.

Li You and Yu Hong each randomly selected a stove and began to inspect it.

After a thorough inspection, they found no issues. Next, they tested the flame.

The flame was fine, too.

All that was left was to wait for the ingredients.

At that moment, customers began to arrive in succession.

They had, of course, come specifically for the competition between Li You and Yu Hong.

Seeing the two sets of stoves already in place, the customers were pleasantly surprised. ’So the stoves are all set up already!’

More and more customers arrived.

Chu Yiwei and Lin Xin arrived, as did the teachers from the school, including Zhang Qinghe, Cai Peng, and Lai Xu.

Deng Luping, Zhao Yu, Xie Hai, Wang Dongliang, Liu Yiquan, and other bosses from the town market arrived as well.

The scene was already starting to feel like a sea of people.

Everyone gathered around, excitedly discussing the event among themselves.

Who would win and who would lose this competition? Or would they be so evenly matched that it would end in a draw?

The answer would be revealed very soon.

Finally, the ingredients arrived.

Live river shrimp, Longjing Tea, eggs, starch, lard, salt, MSG, Shaoxing wine, and more.

Not all of these ingredients had to be used; it was up to the two contestants to decide which ones they needed.

Chen Wen said, "Due to time and resource constraints, the quality of the river shrimp and Longjing Tea isn’t the best. I’m afraid you’ll both have to make do."

Both Li You and Yu Hong said it didn’t matter.

As long as they were competing with ingredients of the same quality, the absolute quality wasn’t that important.

...