I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 379: Chapter 341: We’re Not Cooking Tonight, We’re Having Takeout

Duan Canghong added, ”Then I’ll have to trouble you, Boss.”

He then took out a bag from his side and handed it to Li You, saying, ”I brought a few dragon fruits over. You can have them, Boss.”

Li You took one look. ’A few? This is clearly more than ten!’

”Uncle Duan, I can’t possibly accept this!”

Duan Canghong laughed. ”They’re from my own farm, not something I went out to buy. What’s the big deal? Don’t be so polite, Boss.”

Li You took the bag and said, ”Then thank you, Uncle Duan.”

Duan Canghong waved his hand, indicating it was nothing.

Li You took out two dragon fruits, handed one to each of the two customers playing games nearby, and said, ”Let me pass on the generosity. Please, have some dragon fruit.”

Both customers were delighted. They took the dragon fruits and said, ”Thanks, Boss!”

Then they turned to Duan Canghong. ”Thank you, Uncle Duan.”

Duan Canghong let out a hearty laugh, thoroughly pleased. ”You’re both too kind,” he said.

At that moment, Li You pointed to the arcade machine and said, ”I’m heading in to cook. Uncle Duan, would you like to play for a bit?”

Duan Canghong replied, ”I don’t know how. I think I’ll go check on how the dragon fruits in your orchard are growing.”

Li You said, ”Sure! Then I’ll have to trouble you to take a look for me, Uncle Duan.”

Duan Canghong said, ”It’s my pleasure.”

After that, Duan Canghong went to the Hundred Fruit Garden, while Li You carried the dragon fruits into the restaurant.

’Duan Canghong had brought so many dragon fruits again. He’s really too thoughtful.’

After placing all the dragon fruits in the Storage Pavilion, Li You went into the kitchen and started to cook.

A short while later, Duan Canghong came to the kitchen doorway and said, ”Boss, I’ve had a look. Your dragon fruits are all growing very well. From the looks of it, they should start bearing fruit this year.”

Li You smiled. ”It’s all thanks to your excellent seedlings, Uncle Duan.”

Duan Canghong replied, ”Good seedlings are one thing, but post-planting care is also very important. You’ve done a great job managing them, Boss.”

Li You said, ”It’s all thanks to the methods you taught me last time, Uncle Duan. If there’s anything I don’t understand in the future, I’ll have to ask for your guidance again.”

Duan Canghong said, ”No problem. You can call me anytime, Boss.”

Li You nodded. ”Thank you so much, Uncle Duan.”

Duan Canghong said he was being too formal. He then stopped bothering Li You and went outside to watch the two customers play their game.

’Watching people play games is actually pretty interesting.’

A little while later, Li You finished cooking all the dishes and had them packed up.

”Uncle Duan, it’s ready.”

”Great. How much is it? I’ll scan the code to pay.”

”450.”

”Alright... huh?”

Duan Canghong, who was about to scan the code, felt that something wasn’t right. He asked quizzically, ”Boss, did you calculate that correctly? It should be more than that, shouldn’t it?”

Li You smiled. ”I gave you a 20% discount.”

”This...” Duan Canghong said, ”How can I accept this?”

Li You replied, ”Uncle Duan, you’re being too formal. Didn’t you see how readily I accepted the dragon fruits you gave me?”

Duan Canghong laughed heartily and said, ”Well then, thank you, Boss.”

He then scanned the code and paid the 450 yuan.

Li You then asked, ”Uncle Duan, did you come on your motorcycle?”

Duan Canghong nodded. ”I have a storage box tied to the back rack. It’s very convenient for carrying these dishes.”

Li You said, ”Then let me help you carry them over.”

”Alright.”

The two of them carried all the food to the parking area.

They placed all the dishes into the storage box on the back rack of Duan Canghong’s motorcycle.

’It really is convenient.’

Duan Canghong swung a leg over his motorcycle and said, ”Well then, Boss, I’ll be heading off.”

Li You nodded. ”Be safe on the road!”

”Will do!”

Duan Canghong rode off on his motorcycle. Li You returned to the front of his restaurant.

One of the two customers who were still playing the game asked, ”Boss, where does that Uncle Duan live?”

Li You replied, ”Changhe Village in Qingshui Town.”

”Qingshui Town?” Both of them were a little surprised. One of them chuckled, ”People are coming all the way from Qingshui Town just to get takeout. Boss, your place is getting more and more amazing!”

Li You smiled. ”It’s all thanks to everyone’s support!”

”No, no, no, it’s all because you’re amazing, Boss. The food you make is just too delicious!”

”But I still couldn’t do it without everyone’s support!”

”Hearing you say that makes us really happy, Boss!”

”It’s just the truth.”

”...”

...

「Four in the afternoon.」

Li Donghai once again came to set up his corn stall outside the restaurant. This time, he brought 100 ears.

Another round of lively greetings was exchanged between Li You, the two customers, and Li Donghai.

...

「Qingshui Town, Changhe Village.」

Outside the courtyard of a two-story farmhouse, there was a pond.

Three men were fishing by the edge of the pond.

These were the three men Duan Canghong was planning to treat to dinner tonight.

Their names were Liu Hong, Wang Zhongyu, and Cai Qingfeng.

Liu Hong and Wang Zhongyu were both from Changxi County. Cai Qingfeng was from Heyang City.

They were all in the fruit business. This afternoon, they had toured Duan Canghong’s dragon fruit farm, tasted the fruit there, and found it to be excellent. As a result, they had reached a preliminary cooperation agreement with Duan Canghong.

When the three men were about to leave, Duan Canghong insisted they stay for dinner before heading out.

The three men politely declined. Their main concern was that it might get dark after dinner, which would make the roads difficult to drive on.

They had to take a stretch of rural road before reaching the main highway.

The rural roads were narrow and not easy to navigate at night.

But Duan Canghong told them he could let them taste a supreme delicacy they had never eaten before, guaranteeing they absolutely would not regret it.

Moreover, they could start eating early. By the time they finished, the sky would still be light.

In the end, the three men chose to stay. A supreme delicacy they had never eaten before... even if Duan Canghong was using hyperbole, they were still very curious to know what kind of food it could be.

The allure of good food is always strong.

Seeing that they had agreed, Duan Canghong was also very happy. He was looking forward to seeing their reactions after they tasted the food from Li You Restaurant.

The more surprised they were, the more satisfied and proud he would feel.

So, he set them up to go fishing in his family’s pond, then rode his motorcycle toward Jiulong Gorge in Wenxian Town.

Now, the three men were fishing and chatting about the promised delicacy.

”What do you guys think this supreme delicacy Boss Duan mentioned could be? Some kind of mountain treasure? Or maybe a type of legally permissible game meat?”

”I have no idea. But calling it a supreme delicacy we’ve never eaten before... that must be Boss Duan exaggerating just to get us to stay for dinner. Still, it shows he’s really sincere, so we should be grateful.”

”Boss Duan has been gone for about an hour, right? I wonder if he went to find ingredients, or to buy them? Or maybe he went to fetch a chef? We should have asked.”

”I don’t know. He said he’d be gone for a while, over two hours. We should just wait patiently.”

”Either way, I’m still quite looking forward to it. I hope Boss Duan can really give us a surprise.”

”Let’s hope so. By the way, there don’t seem to be many fish in this pond. We’ve been fishing for so long, and the three of us have only caught a dozen or so in total.”

”It’s better that there are fewer fish. That means they taste better. When there are fewer fish, they’re rarely fed commercial feed. Fish that aren’t fed are the tastiest.”

”That’s true.”

”...”

...

Time slowly passed. At five in the afternoon, Duan Canghong returned.

After parking his motorcycle in the courtyard, he took all the dishes out of the storage box and arranged them on the dining table.

Then, Duan Canghong walked out of the courtyard to the edge of the pond and said with a smile, ”Sorry to keep you three bosses waiting.”

The three men all replied, ”It’s no problem. You’re the one who went through all the trouble, Boss Duan.”

Duan Canghong waved his hand, insisting it was no trouble at all. Then he asked, ”How was the catch, you three bosses?”

Liu Hong, one of the three, replied, ”Not bad. We’ve got over twenty crucian carp and common carp combined. And probably twenty or thirty yellow catfish.”

Duan Canghong said, ”That’s pretty good. There are also grass carp and silver carp in there over five or six pounds, but they might not be biting in this weather.”

Liu Hong said, ”That’s probably it. I caught a grass carp that was a little over a pound, but I didn’t keep it. I threw it back.”

A grass carp of just over a pound was still too small. When fishing in one’s own pond, no one would keep a fish that size.

Duan Canghong nodded and added, ”The quality of the fish in this pond is decent. You three bosses are welcome to take them home to eat.”

”Huh?” Liu Hong asked, ”Aren’t these fish going to be part of our dinner?”

Duan Canghong chuckled. ”Nope. If we were using these fish for dinner, I’d have to cook them myself. My cooking is just average. How could I dare call that a supreme delicacy?”

Huh?

Liu Hong, Wang Zhongyu, and Cai Qingfeng were all a bit puzzled. They didn’t quite understand what Duan Canghong meant.

Wang Zhongyu asked, ”What do you mean, Boss Duan?”

Duan Canghong smiled. ”We’re not cooking tonight. We’re having takeout. I just went to pick up the food. Now that I’m back, we can eat whenever.”

This left the three men utterly stunned.

They had considered that Duan Canghong might have gone to find or buy ingredients. They had also thought he might have gone to invite a highly skilled chef to come cook for them. But they had never once imagined that he had gone to pick up takeout.

Ordering takeout out here, there would surely be no delivery drivers to bring it to their door. So, he would definitely have to go to the restaurant to pick it up himself.

So, there was nothing wrong with Duan Canghong picking up the takeout himself.

But what kind of takeout could possibly be called a supreme delicacy?

’There’s no such thing as takeout like that, is there?’

Alright. The three of them understood now. There was no so-called supreme delicacy that they had absolutely never eaten before. It was just an exaggeration Duan Canghong had used to convince them to stay for dinner.

It was even more of an exaggeration than they had imagined.

They had originally thought there would be some mountain treasures or game meat. They never expected it to be just ordinary takeout.

However, Duan Canghong’s intention to have them stay for dinner was genuine. And he had even spent nearly three hours just to pick up this takeout order.

This thoughtfulness was touching.

Therefore, not only were the three men not angry, they were actually very grateful.

Liu Hong said, ”Boss Duan, going so far just to pick up takeout... you’re too thoughtful.”

Wang Zhongyu said, ”You really didn’t have to do all this, Boss Duan. Just whipping up a couple of simple dishes would have been fine. You have cucumbers, bitter melons, and tomatoes in the fields over there—all great ingredients.”

Cai Qingfeng also chimed in, ”That’s right, Boss Duan. It really doesn’t have to taste that good. An ordinary meal would have been perfectly fine.”

Hearing them say this, Duan Canghong was very pleased. However, it was clear they all thought he had just picked up some ordinary takeout.

Of course, that was a normal assumption.

And the more they thought this way, the more he looked forward to their reactions once they actually tasted the food.

Duan Canghong was very much looking forward to it!

...

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