I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 298: Chapter 282: Boss, Just Start Selling It Tonight

From Ling Xiaoru’s expression, Li You could guess what she was thinking.

He smiled faintly. ”It’s not that I’m a master at brewing tea,” he said. ”It’s that the quality of the leaves themselves is exceptional.”

Guyi added, ”This is the finest West Lake Longjing Tea. I’ve never seen any of such high quality before.”

”West Lake Longjing Tea? So that’s what this is.” Ling Xiaoru’s eyes lit up. ”I get it now! This is the tea you use for the Longjing Shrimp. It’s so delicious—no wonder the shrimp tasted so much better this time. These leaves must be incredibly expensive, right?”

Li You said, ”They certainly aren’t cheap.”

But Guyi said, ”It’s not a question of price. It’s something money can’t buy.”

Ling Xiaoru nodded. She knew some teas were simply priceless.

But the owner had managed to get some. ’He really is no ordinary person.’

’Wait a minute... isn’t 88 for a serving of Longjing Shrimp made with tea like this way too cheap?’

Ling Xiaoru voiced her doubt.

Li You assured her it was fine and that the price was right.

Ling Xiaoru nodded. ’If Li You says it’s fine, what more is there to say?’

Then, she turned to Guyi. ”Elder Gu, may I treat you to dinner tonight? I’d like to make a reservation with you now.”

Guyi chuckled. ”I feel like I never have to pay for my own meals here. It’s almost embarrassing!”

Ling Xiaoru replied, ”It just shows how hospitable we are here in Wenxian Town! Elder Gu, you have to give me this opportunity.”

Guyi nodded. ”Well, in that case, I’ve just saved myself the cost of another meal.”

Ling Xiaoru was delighted. She then turned to Li You. ”You have to join us too, boss!”

Li You laughed. ”You can count on it.”

”Wonderful!”

Now even happier, Ling Xiaoru picked up her teacup and took another sip.

She had quickly fallen in love with this tea.

The three of them chatted over tea, and before they knew it, it was five in the afternoon.

The dinner crowd started to trickle in.

Once again, a new group of customers expressed their hope to treat Guyi to a meal.

Everyone considered it an honor to treat Guyi to dinner and share a drink with him.

However, Guyi had already promised Ling Xiaoru, so he had to politely decline their offers.

The customers weren’t disappointed when they learned why.

Since Ling Xiaoru had made an advance reservation for tonight, they decided to do the same.

They made a reservation for noon the next day.

Upon hearing this, Guyi thanked everyone once again for their warmth and accepted their invitation.

He had accepted everyone else’s invitations, so he could hardly refuse this one.

Seeing Guyi accept, the customers were all delighted and began looking forward to the next day’s lunch.

Observing the scene, Li You laughed. ”Elder Gu, it looks like you really won’t have to pay for your own meals anymore.”

Guyi said, ”Everyone is so generous. I should find a time to treat them all in return. But that’s a lot of people. Boss, do you think you could handle a crowd that big?”

Li You replied, ”I’d need to prepare in advance. Besides, there probably wouldn’t be enough room inside; we’d have to set up extra tables outside. It’d basically be an outdoor banquet.”

Guyi said, ”We’d almost certainly need to add tables. Do you have any extra ones, boss?” 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

Li You said, ”Not at the moment. But I’ve actually been planning to buy more tables and chairs for a while now. It’s always good to have extras on hand for situations like this.”

Guyi said, ”Well, that’s perfect. Once you’re ready, boss, we can discuss how to arrange it. If it’s not possible this time, I can treat everyone the next time I visit.”

Li You nodded. ”Alright.”

With that, Li You went into the kitchen to start his work.

Guyi and Ling Xiaoru continued to sip their tea.

It was still early, so there was no rush to eat.

At six-thirty, Ling Xiaoru ordered Cabbage in Supreme Broth, three Chopped Pepper Fish Heads, Mapo Tofu, half a Braised Chicken, and a Tomato and Egg Soup.

It was more than enough food for the three of them.

However, Li You also brought them a complimentary serving of Longjing Shrimp.

Of course, the portion wasn’t as large as the one from that morning—it was a standard serving size.

Ling Xiaoru and Guyi were both pleasantly surprised.

Ling Xiaoru thanked him profusely.

At that moment, there were other customers in the restaurant.

When Li You set the Longjing Shrimp on their table, it immediately caught the attention of the other patrons.

Thanks to the previous Longjing Shrimp competition against Yu Hong, everyone in the restaurant recognized the dish instantly.

’Is Longjing Shrimp on the menu now?’

All the customers were thrilled. They had been anticipating this dish for quite some time.

Only a lucky few had managed to taste the Longjing Shrimp during the competition. The vast majority hadn’t, and they had all been eagerly waiting for Li You to add it to the menu so they could finally satisfy their craving.

’Has he finally put it on the menu?’

”Boss, is Longjing Shrimp on the menu? When did you add it? How come we didn’t know?”

”This plate of Longjing Shrimp looks even more delicious than the one you made at the competition!”

”I agree. It looks so appetizing.”

”Boss, how much is a serving of Longjing Shrimp?”

”...”

Amid their excitement, the customers quickly began firing off questions.

Li You answered each question in turn. ”The Longjing Shrimp will be officially on the menu tomorrow. Today, I just invited Elder Gu and Miss Xiaoru to have a taste test. As for the flavor, it is indeed much better than the version I made during the competition. That’s because the quality of the ingredients is far superior this time. And finally, the price will be 88 per serving.”

At 88 for a single serving, the price alone was steep, to be honest. Most of the customers couldn’t quite bring themselves to spend that much.

However, everyone knew Li You must have a good reason for setting such a price. It meant the dish was genuinely worth it.

It might even be a bargain, just like the Cabbage in Supreme Broth.

All the customers knew that the restaurant’s price for Cabbage in Supreme Broth was incredibly low for its quality.

Therefore, not a single person questioned the price.

If one person couldn’t afford it, they could split a serving among a few people. That’s what many of them did when they were craving Cabbage in Supreme Broth—they’d find a few friends to share an order.

And Li You’s claim that this version of Longjing Shrimp was even more delicious only made the customers more excited.

’So our eyes didn’t deceive us,’ they thought. ’Looks like our ability to judge a dish has improved a lot.’

Of course, the customers weren’t surprised. Everyone knew that Li You had extremely high standards for his ingredients.

Better ingredients naturally meant better flavor.

It was officially launching tomorrow. That was great news. The long wait was finally over.

But even though tomorrow was just around the corner, nobody wanted to wait another minute.

It would have been one thing if they hadn’t seen the dish at all. But now that they had, the craving was unbearable. There was no way they could wait until tomorrow to eat it.

So, the customers chimed in one after another, ”Boss, why wait for tomorrow? Just start selling it tonight!”

”Yeah, boss! You’re clearly all prepared. What’s the point of waiting until tomorrow?”

”There’s no difference between launching it tonight and launching it tomorrow.”

”Boss, we’ll take a serving over here! One serving!”

”We’ll take one over here, too!”

”...”

Everyone was clamoring to order a serving of Longjing Shrimp.

Seeing the commotion, Li You said, ”How about this? The official launch will still be tomorrow. However, I can make a couple more servings tonight for everyone to have a sample. How does that sound? Just like I did when I launched some of my other dishes.”

The customers were all thrilled to hear this.

Of course that sounded good!

...