I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 387: Chapter 347: Weaving a Fish Trap Again

Li You had mentioned he was going to weave another one, but he’d never gotten around to it. Sometimes he just didn’t feel like it; other times, he simply forgot.

’Maybe I should just weave it today.’

’Otherwise, who knows how much longer I’ll put it off?’

”A fish trap?” Xia Xiaoyue asked. ”The one in the canyon right now, is that the same one we saw you weaving the first time we came here?”

The first time Xia Xiaoyue and Yu Wei came here, they had happened to see Li You weaving a fish trap.

Li You nodded. ”Yep, that’s the one.”

”That was a while ago,” Xia Xiaoyue said.

Xia Xiaoyue then told Mu Qingye about how she and Yu Wei had seen Li You weaving a fish trap on their first visit.

Mu Qingye nodded. ”Back then, had your place just opened, Boss?”

Li You nodded. ”That’s right. I’d only been open for a few days.”

Mu Qingye smiled. ”In that case, Xiao Yue must be one of your very first customers.”

”She certainly is,” Li You said. ”So I have Xiao Yue to thank for her patronage.”

Xia Xiaoyue laughed. ”In that case, we’ll stay for dinner tonight before we go. Are you going to give us a discount, Boss?”

Li You nodded. ”A discount? Absolutely. In fact, tonight’s on me. By the way, you all can stay the night and leave tomorrow. It just so happens I’m officially launching a new dish tomorrow. You can try my new dish.”

”What new dish?”

Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye both asked eagerly.

They were obviously very interested.

”Nine-Turned Pork Intestines!” Li You said. ”Ever heard of it?”

They both shook their heads. ”Never heard of it. What kind of dish is that? What does ’large intestine’ mean?”

”It means exactly what it sounds like,” Li You said. ”Pig’s large intestine. Some people call it chitterlings, or just offal.”

”Huh?” They both looked conflicted. ”The main ingredient is... pig intestine?”

”That’s right!” Li You laughed. ”What’s wrong? You don’t like pig intestine?”

They both nodded. ”We don’t. In fact, it’s one of our least favorite ingredients.”

”It seems like most women don’t,” Li You said. ”But it’s good stuff. If you go to buy it, it’s even more expensive than regular meat.”

”That’s true,” Xia Xiaoyue said. ”It is more expensive than meat. But that doesn’t mean it tastes good!”

”Maybe you’ve just never had it prepared well,” Li You said. ”It’s a tricky ingredient to get right, and a lot of people mess it up.”

Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye both nodded. ”That’s possible. So, Boss, what kind of dish is your Nine-Turned Pork Intestines?”

”It’s a famous traditional dish from Lu Province...” Li You said.

He then gave them a rather detailed description of the Nine-Turned Pork Intestines.

Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye both nodded. Based on his description, it sounded like it would probably be delicious.

’Maybe we really should leave tomorrow and give it a try?’

”But Boss, would it be all right for us to stay here?”

”Of course!” Li You said. ”There happen to be two empty rooms upstairs. Teacher Chu occasionally stays in one of them, but she won’t be here tonight, so you can use it.”

”Really?” Xia Xiaoyue said. ”Then we’ll really stay!”

”Of course it’s true!” Li You said. ”Go ahead. I’d be happy to have you stay.”

”Thank you, Boss!”

Both Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye were delighted.

In fact, during the ”King of Fighters ’97” tournament held here, the two of them had almost stayed the first night. But with so many of their classmates heading back, they felt it wouldn’t be right to stay behind, so they ended up leaving with everyone else. Then they had to rush back again the next morning.

This time, they would finally get to stay over for the first time.

”By the way, Boss, is Sister Xiaoru coming over tonight?” Xia Xiaoyue asked.

Li You nodded. ”She’s been staying here every night recently.”

”That’s great!” Xia Xiaoyue said. ”It’ll be more lively with Sister Xiaoru here. I’ll message her right now and tell her I’m staying over tonight too.”

Li You nodded again. ”Alright, I’ll leave you to it. I’m going up the mountain to cut some bamboo.”

”Huh?” Xia Xiaoyue asked. ”Are you going to weave a new fish trap today, Boss?”

Li You nodded. ”No more procrastinating. Otherwise, who knows how much longer I’ll put it off?”

”So where are you cutting the bamboo? Is it far?” Xia Xiaoyue asked.

”Just on the mountain behind the restaurant,” Li You said. ”It’s not far.”

”Then let’s go with you. We’ll go for a walk,” Xia Xiaoyue said.

Then she turned to Mu Qingye. ”What do you think, Sister Mu?”

Mu Qingye nodded. ”Sure! I’d like to take a walk too.”

”Alright, then,” Li You said. ”I’ll go inside and grab a hatchet, and we can head out.”

”Okay!”

Li You walked into the restaurant and got a hatchet.

After he came out the door, the three of them set off.

Going to cut bamboo right after it had rained wasn’t exactly a great idea.

However, the journey wasn’t far, and he only needed to cut down two stalks.

’It wasn’t a big deal.’

”Be careful, the path is slippery,” Li You warned Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye.

”Okay, we’re fine,” they both said.

However, no sooner had the words left her mouth than Xia Xiaoyue cried out, ”Ah!” and started to fall backward.

Li You quickly reached out and caught her, his arm wrapping around Xia Xiaoyue’s slender waist. That was all that kept her from falling.

Once Xia Xiaoyue regained her balance, she said, a little embarrassed, ”Thank you, Boss!”

She wasn’t embarrassed because Li You had caught her, but because she had fallen immediately after saying she was fine.

’That was just too quick.’

Li You laughed. ”The ground is a bit slick after the rain. Just be more careful.”

”Okay!”

They continued on their way.

”By the way, Boss,” Mu Qingye asked, ”is it easy to find mushrooms after it rains?”

Li You nodded. ”It is. The rain makes the mushrooms sprout quickly. If we go looking tomorrow morning, they’ll be very easy to find.”

”Xiao Yue, let’s go looking for mushrooms tomorrow morning. Want to go?”

”Sounds good! I haven’t gone mushroom hunting in years.”

”Then it’s perfect. We’ll go tomorrow.”

”Okay.”

...

Before long, they arrived at a bamboo grove.

This was a small grove, not the large bamboo forest where he had previously taken his customers to find Bamboo Mushrooms and catch bamboo grubs.

That large bamboo forest was much farther away.

Li You circled the grove a few times before finally selecting two bamboo stalks.

”You two should stand back a bit,” Li You told Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye. ”It’s going to ’rain’ when I chop the bamboo, so be careful not to get wet.”

”Then shouldn’t you cover up with something, Boss?” they both asked.

They knew what Li You meant by ”rain.” After the downpour, the bamboo leaves were covered in water. When he chopped the stalks, the vibrations would cause all that water to fall.

Li You shook his head. ”It’s fine. It won’t be that much. You’ll be fine as long as you stand far enough back.”

”Well, you be careful then, Boss.”

After saying this, the two of them retreated to a safe distance.

Li You raised his hatchet and started to chop.

A lot of water came down after the first strike.

This was exactly why chopping bamboo right after the rain wasn’t a good idea.

’But I’m only chopping two stalks, so I won’t get that wet.’

’No big deal.’

’When I was a kid, I used to shake them on purpose for fun.’

Soon, he had successfully felled both bamboo stalks.

He stripped the branches off the stalks and shouldered them for the trip back.

”Boss, your hair and clothes are pretty wet. Shouldn’t you change when we get back?” both Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye asked.

Li You nodded. ”Yeah, I probably should.”

Wearing wet clothes was definitely uncomfortable.

Back at the restaurant, Li You set the bamboo stalks down by the entrance. He went upstairs to change his clothes, and when he came back down, he glanced at the time. It was 4:30 PM.

’Not too late. I can work on this for a bit.’

Li You started processing the bamboo while Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye watched with great interest.

Having woven a fish trap once before, Li You was confident he could make this one even better than the last.

First, he had to split the bamboo into thin strips.

This step required a considerable amount of skill.

Only an experienced and highly skilled bamboo craftsman could split the strips quickly and cleanly.

The strips Li You split were, at best, serviceable.

He wasn’t very fast, either.

By the time customers started arriving for dinner at 5:30 PM, he still hadn’t finished splitting all the strips.

...