I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 308: Chapter 292: Get a Whole Arcade Machine?

After a few more words, the customer said goodbye and left.

Afterward, Li You thought, ’Should I steam and eat these two mandarin fish? Or should I put them in the Spatial Fish Pond to raise for now?’

’Might as well just steam them. It’s been a long time since I’ve had steamed mandarin fish.’

’I’ll steam them tonight when I get back. And eat them with Mom and Dad.’

Although he hadn’t learned the steamed mandarin fish recipe dropped by the system, Li You’s own cooking skills were already quite high.

Even without the recipe, he could still make it taste delicious.

’I won’t put the fish in the Spatial Fish Pond. I’ll just put them in a bucket by the shop entrance so the customers can have a look.’

This type of fish was rather unusual, so he believed many customers would be interested.

And just as he expected.

A short while later, another customer walked out of the shop and quickly noticed the mandarin fish in the bucket. He let out a surprised ”Huh?” and said, ”Boss, what kind of fish is this? It looks so strange.”

Li You’s eyes lit up. ’Finally, a customer who doesn’t know these are called ’sow-shells’.’

’I knew it. It’s impossible that I’m the only one who didn’t know the name ’sow-shell’.’

Then he smiled and said, ”This is a mandarin fish. The same mandarin fish from the line, ’White egrets fly before Xisai Mountain; peach blossoms, flowing water, and fat mandarin fish.’ We call them ’sow-shells’ around here.”

”’Sow-shell’?” the customer said, delighted. ”So this is a sow-shell. I’ve heard the name before, but I never knew what kind of fish it was. I’m glad I finally get to see one today.”

”Well...”

Li You felt a bit helpless. ’Alright, so this customer also knew the name ’sow-shell’, he just didn’t know which fish it referred to?’

At that moment, the customer continued, ”So sow-shells are mandarin fish. This is the first time I’m hearing that. I’ve heard of mandarin fish, too, I just never knew what they looked like. So this is it. Very strange.”

Li You said, ”To be precise, this is a big-eye mandarin fish. There are several other types, like the warped-mouth mandarin fish, spotted mandarin fish, wavy-patterned mandarin fish, dark mandarin fish, and so on. But other mandarin fish generally look like this, too. They just have some minor differences in the details.”

The customer nodded and added, ”So there are that many types of mandarin fish. By the way, was this fish very popular during the Tang Dynasty? Otherwise, Zhang Zhihe wouldn’t have written, ’White egrets fly before Xisai Mountain; peach blossoms, flowing water, and fat mandarin fish.’”

Li You smiled. ”I’d say so.”

The customer asked, ”So, Boss, are you planning to add this fish to your menu?”

Li You said, ”Not for now. I plan to eat these two myself. But I’ll probably offer them in the future.”

The customer said, ”Then I’ll have to order it when you do. I’ve never eaten this fish before.”

Li You replied, ”You’re more than welcome to. This fish is incredibly delicious.”

The customer said, ”As long as you’re the one cooking it, Boss, any fish would be incredibly delicious.”

Li You laughed out loud and made a few modest remarks.

The customer smiled too. ”It’s the truth.”

After that, the customer said his goodbyes and left.

Over the next while, more customers came out of the shop one after another.

Just as Li You had thought, every single customer was very interested in the two mandarin fish in the bucket.

Everyone would stop to take a close look for a moment.

Some recognized them as mandarin fish, while others called them sow-shells.

However, there were also people who neither recognized the fish nor knew the name ’sow-shell’.

This made Li You’s eyes light up. ’Finally, there are people who don’t know the name ’sow-shell’!’

’I knew it. It’s impossible that everyone knows the name ’sow-shell’.’

After all the customers had left, Li You leaned back in his rocking chair and played games on his phone.

An arcade game, *The King of Fighters ’97*.

It was a bit awkward to play on a phone, but it was manageable for a casual game.

Yagami, Clark, and Nakadou Hongwan were the three characters Li You liked to pick the most.

As he was playing, Li You suddenly had an idea. ’Should I get a few arcade machines and put them here at the entrance for customers to play?’

That would add a bit of entertainment for his customers.

Although the customers came to eat, playing a couple of rounds before or after their meal would be a nice way to have some fun.

He believed plenty of customers would be interested.

And arcade games were perfectly suited for this kind of situation.

Even though arcade games had long been made obsolete by time, they weren’t dead yet and still had a certain vitality.

’This could really work.’

The more Li You thought about it, the more he felt it was worth doing. ’Might as well just buy them. They aren’t expensive anyway.’

Besides, buying them online was very convenient.

’I’ll look right now.’

Li You stopped playing and exited the game. He then logged into a certain online shopping app and searched for arcade machines.

A whole bunch of listings popped up. The prices ranged from around 1,000 yuan to over 1,000, and up to around 2,000 yuan per machine.

The price was completely acceptable.

After that, Li You glanced at the space by the shop’s entrance and decided to buy four machines.

’Now to choose which price point to buy...’

After some careful comparison, Li You finally chose the ones that cost 1,500 yuan each.

He bought four and placed the order directly.

After placing the order, the estimated delivery time was within five days. That timeframe was fine.

After that, Li You went back into the game and continued playing.

He played a few rounds, losing more than he won. His skills weren’t that great.

Then he quit the game and closed his eyes to rest for a bit.

...

Time slowly passed. At 5:30 PM, customers started arriving for dinner.

These customers were also all very interested in the two mandarin fish in the bucket.

Everyone, whether they recognized the fish or not, was curious. They all had a lot of questions for Li You.

This made Li You very happy. He even thought, ’Maybe I should wait a few days to eat them? I could just leave them on display at the entrance for a while.’

But of course, that was just a passing thought. He was still going to eat them tonight.

’I’ll close up early later.’

...

「7:00 PM」

Taking advantage of a lull with no customers in the shop, Li You closed the door, took the two mandarin fish and the seasonings needed for steaming them, and rode his motorcycle home.

He was getting off early today.

Twenty minutes later, Li You arrived home.

After Li You parked his motorcycle, his dad walked over and asked, ”What made you decide to come back today?”

Li You had called earlier to say he was coming home tonight and told his mom not to cook. But he hadn’t said why he was coming back.

Now that his dad asked, he took the two mandarin fish out of the storage box on the back of his motorcycle, showed them to his dad, and said, ”Dad, do you recognize this type of fish?”

His dad looked at them and said, ”Aren’t these sow-shells? Where did you get two sow-shells this big?”

So his dad also knew this fish was called a sow-shell.

’How come I’ve never heard Dad mention it before?’

Ignoring that question, Li You said, ”Someone from Taoshan Village gave them to me. Dad, how did you know they’re called sow-shells?”

His dad replied, ”I saw someone selling this fish in town. I heard them talking about it. This kind of fish is pretty rare.”

’So that’s how.’

...