I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 206: Chapter 202: Taking the Guests to the Village to Buy Grapes

Hearing this, Xiao Yue asked doubtfully, ”Are Summer Black grapes ripe already?”

Li You nodded. ”One of the farmers’ crop is ripe. He gave me some yesterday. Would you all like to try them?”

”Yes!” Xiao Yue said. ”Summer Blacks are one of my favorite types of grapes. Thanks, Boss!”

Wei Ping, Liu Xu, Zhang Rui’Er, and many others also said they wanted to try some.

Li You nodded. ”Alright, I’ll go get them for you.”

With that, he walked into the kitchen and took out two bunches of grapes from the Storage Pavilion.

Of the grapes Liu Zhanghong had given him yesterday, Li You had brought five bunches with him this morning, leaving the rest at home for his parents.

Now he was taking out two bunches for his customers.

He washed them, arranged them on a plate, and brought them out of the kitchen.

When the customers saw them, their eyes lit up. ’These grapes look amazing. They must be delicious.’

Xiao Yue, Wei Ping, Liu Xu, Zhang Rui’Er, and many others each plucked a grape and popped it into their mouths.

After eating it, Xiao Yue said with delight, ”Delicious! And so sweet. It’s hard to find grapes this good in the market. Boss, your village really grows some amazing fruit! Both the plums and the grapes are top-notch.”

Wei Ping, Liu Xu, Zhang Rui’Er, and the others all agreed they were delicious.

Li You smiled. ”Maybe the soil in our village is just right for these fruits. Of course, the variety and the way they’re grown matter too.”

Xiao Yue nodded. ”That must be it. Are these grapes for sale?”

Li You said, ”They should be. Let me ask for you, and I’ll find out the price per pound.”

”Great. Thanks, Boss,” said Xiao Yue, Wei Ping, Liu Xu, Zhang Rui’Er, and the others.

Li You said it was no trouble at all, then took out his phone and called Liu Zhanghong.

”Uncle Zhanghong, are your grapes for sale? If so, I have some customers here who want to buy some.”

On the other end of the line, Liu Zhanghong was pleasantly surprised. ”Of course they’re for sale! That’s what I grow them for. How many customers are interested? And about how much do they want?”

Li You replied, ”Let me get a tally, and I’ll tell you in a moment. By the way, Uncle Zhanghong, how much are you selling them for per pound?”

Liu Zhanghong said, ”If I take them to the town market, I usually sell them for eight yuan a pound. But since they’re your customers, I’ll sell them for seven yuan a pound. How does that sound?”

Li You said, ”I’m sure they’ll be happy with that. Let me get a count of how many people want some and how much they want. I’ll call you back in a bit.”

Liu Zhanghong said, ”Okay, okay. Thanks for the trouble, Xiaoyou.”

Li You told Liu Zhanghong not to mention it. After hanging up, he turned to Xiao Yue, Wei Ping, and the others. ”Seven yuan a pound. What do you all think?”

Xiao Yue said happily, ”That’s a great price, no problem at all. I’ll take ten bunches.”

Zhang Rui’Er added, ”I’ll take ten bunches, too.”

More and more people, including Wei Ping and Liu Xu, chimed in to say they wanted some as well.

In the end, over fifty people said they wanted to buy some.

As for the quantity, some wanted three to five bunches, while others wanted as many as ten or even twenty.

Li You did a rough estimate and figured it was around 500 bunches in total.

This was definitely a huge order. ’Liu Zhanghong is going to be thrilled,’ he thought.

Just as he was about to call Liu Zhanghong again, Xiao Yue asked, ”Boss, is your village far from here?”

Li You replied, ”Not far. If we take the path, it’s only two kilometers.”

Only two kilometers. That really wasn’t far.

Xiao Yue then asked, ”In that case, Boss, could we go directly to your village and buy them from Uncle Zhanghong, picking them fresh? It’s not that we don’t trust him, it’s just that picking them ourselves from the fields sounds more fun. And we’d also like to see your village while we’re at it.”

Hearing Xiao Yue’s suggestion, Zhang Rui’Er, Wei Ping, Liu Xu, and the others all chimed in to agree.

”Right, right! It’s way more fun to pick them fresh from the fields. We can pick them ourselves—whichever bunches look best! HAHA!”

”And we can check out the boss’s village. Actually, we’ve been wanting to see it for a while now.”

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Even the people who weren’t planning to buy grapes chimed in, ”We’ll go too! We want to see the boss’s village as well.”

Since everyone wanted to visit the village, Li You was happy to oblige. ”Alright then,” he said. ”This afternoon, once the lunch rush is over, I’ll take you to the village.”

”Great! Thanks, Boss!”

”Thanks, Boss!”

Li You told everyone not to mention it, then added, ”I’ll let Uncle Zhanghong know first. By the way, didn’t you all want plums too? Do you want to go to Uncle Jialiang’s place to pick and buy them as well?”

Xiao Yue, Zhang Rui’Er, and the others all nodded eagerly.

Li You nodded, then dialed Liu Zhanghong’s number again.

When Liu Zhanghong learned that over fifty people wanted about 500 bunches, he was absolutely delighted and thanked Li You profusely.

As for everyone wanting to pick the grapes themselves, Liu Zhanghong said that was no problem at all and that he would wait at home for them that afternoon.

Li You relayed the news to Xiao Yue, Zhang Rui’Er, and the others.

Xiao Yue, Zhang Rui’Er, and everyone else were thrilled and full of anticipation!

After that, Li You called Liu Jialiang. He explained that the same customers who bought his plums last time wanted to buy more today. They wanted to come over and pick the fruit themselves. He asked if that was okay with Liu Jialiang.

Liu Jialiang laughed heartily and said of course it was okay. It would save him the work, so he was happy to do it.

’All settled.’ Now he just had to wait until the afternoon to take everyone to the village.

Next, the customers continued to eat their braised chicken while Li You went back into the kitchen. He needed to braise more chicken.

The 20 chickens he had braised earlier were all gone.

After some prep work, another pot of chicken was simmering away.

By now, it was 11:00 AM, and other customers began to arrive for lunch.

Li You’s busy period officially began.

When noon arrived, Xiao Yue, Wei Ping, Liu Xu, Zhang Rui’Er, and their group also started ordering their lunch.

Li You was constantly busy in the kitchen. Except for a brief moment he found to eat his own meal, he barely rested until two in the afternoon.

At 2:30 PM, the last wave of customers—aside from Xiao Yue, Wei Ping, and their group—left.

Now it was time to go to the village. Since the group was so large, Li You decided to take them via the scenic path.

Everyone was happy to take the path.

The scenery along the path was usually much prettier, after all.

”Let’s get going,” Li You said to the group.

Everyone replied ”Okay!” in unison, their spirits high.

That included Wei Ping’s two children.

When they heard they were going to Uncle Li You’s village, they were so excited they started jumping and skipping, insisting on leading the way.

The two little ones took the lead, with Li You right behind them, guiding the large, lively procession on its way.

Along the way, everyone admired the scenery and chatted about the various things they saw.

A tree, a blade of grass, a small bird—everything became a topic of conversation.

Everyone was in high spirits, and of course, Li You was very happy as well.

He loved this feeling.

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A huge thank you to ’The Monkey Who Loves Oranges 123’ for the 100-coin tip!

Thank you, kind patron!

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I haven’t been feeling well these past few days, the reason being that I’ve caught the bug that’s been hard for everyone to avoid lately.

So, the updates have been a bit slow these last few days, and I’m very sorry about that. I want to apologize to everyone. Once I’ve recovered, I will work hard to catch up on releases.

I also hope all of you can take care of yourselves. Your health is the most important thing.

May the virus stay far away from you.

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