I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 393: Chapter 351: To Envy Lovers, Not Immortals (Part 2)

”Oh, really?” Li You said. ”In that case, why don’t we have some of these fish for lunch today, along with the crabs.”

The three girls were pleasantly surprised. This was wonderful!

’But... a dozen or so fish, won’t that be too few? It doesn’t seem like enough to even put in a pot!’

Li You said, ”There are more than just these. I’ve been raising most of the Creek Groupers I’ve caught in the traps. I have quite a few of them now.”

Hearing this, Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, and Ling Xiaoru were once again thrilled.

This was fantastic! They were going to have Creek Groupers for lunch.

It was something to look forward to!

Next, Li You placed bait into a new fish trap. Then he set the new trap in the same spot where the old one had been.

From today on, it was the new trap’s turn to work.

”What about this old one? Are you throwing it away?” Ling Xiaoru asked, pointing to the old fish trap.

Li You nodded. ”Yeah, I’m tossing it. I don’t need it anymore.”

In truth, the old trap could still be used for a while longer in a different spot. But Li You had no intention of doing so.

One fish trap was enough.

This was also why Li You hadn’t woven any more traps.

He only ever planned on using one.

For now, he left the old trap there. He would grab it when they left and find a place to toss it on the way back.

Next, it was time to catch crabs.

They didn’t need to catch too many this time—forty or fifty would be enough for lunch.

Li You took off his shoes and socks and waded into the water.

Ling Xiaoru, Xia Xiaoyue, and Mu Qingye followed close behind.

Ling Xiaoru had just caught crabs recently, so she knew the ropes. As for Xia Xiaoyue, she had spent time in the countryside as a child and was no stranger to catching crabs in streams.

Getting back in the river to catch crabs now, she felt a flicker of excitement and a great deal of interest.

Mu Qingye had grown up in the city and was completely unfamiliar with catching crabs in a river. This was her first time. She was excited, but also a little hesitant and scared.

Seeing Mu Qingye’s timid expression, Li You couldn’t help but laugh. ”Don’t be scared, Mu. There are no snakes or leeches or anything in this water.”

But that was the wrong thing to say. After he said it, Mu Qingye became even more frightened and started to tremble. Helplessly, she said to Li You, ”Boss, I wasn’t that scared, to begin with. But now that you’ve said that, I’m even more scared.”

Li You let out a loud laugh. ”Don’t worry, don’t worry. Take your time.”

Xia Xiaoyue and Ling Xiaoru both rolled their eyes at Li You, then turned to reassure Mu Qingye that there was truly nothing to be afraid of.

Li You laughed loudly again, then stopped paying attention to the three of them and started to focus on catching crabs.

The three girls were just tagging along for fun; Li You didn’t expect them to catch much.

So, he had to focus on catching more himself.

Soon, Li You started having success.

More and more.

An hour later, Li You had caught over forty crabs.

Ling Xiaoru and Xia Xiaoyue had also done well, each catching a few. The situation was better than Li You had imagined.

As for Mu Qingye, she did well too, catching two. And by now, she wasn’t scared at all.

All together, they had over fifty. That was enough. Time to call it a day and head back.

Back on the bank, they put on their shoes and socks. Carrying the bucket and grabbing the old fish trap, they started walking back.

Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, and Ling Xiaoru were all in high spirits, laughing and chatting about their crab-catching adventure the whole way.

After walking for a while, Li You found a spot and tossed the old fish trap. Then he said, ”By the way, why don’t we invite Teacher Chu over for lunch today too? What do you guys think?”

Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, and Ling Xiaoru all pouted. They knew why Li You wanted to invite Chu Yiwei over for lunch—it was because she was beautiful.

’Aren’t the three of us beauties enough for him? He just has to invite another one.’

However, they weren’t going to object. At the same time, they knew they had no reason to.

On what grounds?

There were none. At least not at this moment.

So they all replied, ”Sure! The more the merrier.”

Li You nodded. ”Alright, I’ll give her a call... Actually, I’ll just send her a message. She might be teaching a class right now.”

Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, and Ling Xiaoru pouted again.

Li You sent Chu Yiwei a message.

Soon, Chu Yiwei replied, ”Well then, I won’t be shy. Thank you, Boss!”

Li You said to the three girls, ”Teacher Chu is coming.”

The three of them nodded. ”Okay.”

After that, they continued on their way, laughing and joking. Their moods were still very cheerful.

They actually quite liked Chu Yiwei. In fact, they were happy they would get to see her.

It was just that Li You personally inviting Chu Yiwei to lunch left them feeling a little sour.

When they got back to the restaurant, it was 11 a.m., still relatively early. But some customers had already arrived. Seeing the bucket full of crabs the four of them were carrying, one said, ”Boss, are you guys having crabs for lunch again today?”

Li You nodded. ”We just went and caught some more. We’ll eat them for lunch.”

The customer gave him a thumbs-up. ”The boss sure knows how to enjoy good food.”

Not long after, more customers arrived. People started ordering and eating.

Li You went into the kitchen and got busy. At the same time, he retrieved about fifty Creek Groupers from the Spatial Fish Pond. He had Da Bai and Xiaohai clean both the Creek Groupers and the crabs.

Although the Creek Groupers were small, they required extra care during cleaning. It was essential to remove all the fish roe.

This was because the roe of the Creek Grouper is poisonous. In severe cases, eating it can be fatal.

Good food is wonderful, but one must master the correct preparation methods.

For Da Bai and Xiaohai, this was an easy task.

Before long, they had cleaned the Creek Groupers and crabs perfectly. All Li You had to do was find some time to cook them.

At 12 p.m., Chu Yiwei arrived. When she met up with Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, and Ling Xiaoru, they greeted each other affectionately.

And the sight of the four of them together, in the eyes of all the customers, was simply the most beautiful scenery in the world.

This was true even for some of the female customers.

Li You found a moment to cook their lunch: spicy mountain crabs, homestyle boiled Creek Groupers, stir-fried bitter melon, and a tomato egg drop soup.

He brought the dishes to an empty table and called Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, Ling Xiaoru, and Chu Yiwei over to eat.

With no other customer orders to cook for the moment, Li You joined them.

Seeing this, the customers in the restaurant weren’t envious of Li You getting to eat the spicy mountain crabs and homestyle boiled Creek Groupers—two dishes they couldn’t order. They were only envious that he got to eat with four absolute beauties.

’This must be what they mean by ”envying the lovers, not the gods,” right?’

’The boss is living the life!’

Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, Ling Xiaoru, and Chu Yiwei were oblivious to the thoughts of the customers in the restaurant. Right now, they were just looking at the dishes on the table with immense delight.

This was the first time both Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye were eating mountain crabs.

Although Xia Xiaoyue was familiar with mountain crabs from her childhood, she had never eaten them before.

These mountain crabs certainly looked delicious.

She picked one up with her chopsticks and took a bite. It was fragrant and crispy—truly delicious.

It turned out that these hard-shelled, less-meaty mountain crabs could indeed be very tasty. It was just that most people couldn’t cook them well.

Next, she tried the Creek Grouper.

This was a fish that none of the four had eaten before.

For Xia Xiaoyue and Ling Xiaoru, perhaps they had eaten this kind of fish as children, but they had no memory of it.

So, they might as well treat it as if they’d never had it.

Each of them picked up a fish and put it in their mouth. You didn’t even have to pick out the bones; you could eat the entire fish in one go.

It was incredibly satisfying and delicious. The meat was exceptionally fresh and tender, leaving a wonderful aftertaste.

It really was an exceptionally tasty fish.

Although the main reason it was so delicious was surely because of Li You’s cooking, the high quality of the Creek Grouper’s meat itself was undoubtedly an important factor.

Otherwise, there would be no distinction between high- and low-quality ingredients.

The four of them ate with great delight, feeling extremely happy.

...