I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

After hanging up, Ling Xiaoru told Lin Haibo she would buy the two Wuchang Fish. However, she had to wait for someone to come pick them up, which might take about twenty minutes, and asked if he was willing to wait.

Of course Lin Haibo was willing to wait. He’d wait two hours if he had to, let alone twenty minutes.

Ling Xiaoru was delighted. She said she would pay for them first.

Lin Haibo had already weighed the two fish. They came out to a little over four jin, so he offered to charge for an even four. He asked Ling Xiaoru if she wanted to see the scale, saying he could borrow one from nearby if she did.

Ling Xiaoru declined, saying she trusted him.

Then, Ling Xiaoru paid him eighty yuan.

Now, they just had to wait for Li You to arrive and pick up the fish.

A few villagers passing the entrance saw what was happening. Their interest piqued, they decided to stay and chat, livening up the scene.

Now, they joined Grandpa Haibo in sizing up the newly arrived Li You.

‘The young fellow is quite handsome!’

‘He must be Xiaoru’s boyfriend.’

‘A girl as pretty as Xiaoru should have a handsome boyfriend.’

‘This young man will do. He’s a good match!’

Li You didn’t know what they were thinking. Hearing Ling Xiaoru address the old man as “Grandpa Haibo,” he followed suit. “Hello, Grandpa Haibo!”

This pleased Lin Haibo immensely. He nodded again and again, smiling as he replied, “Hello, hello. And a hello to you too, young man!”

‘What a polite young man.’

Just then, Li You looked into the bucket. They were indeed Wuchang Fish.

“Ingredient: Wuchang Fish. Quality: Medium.”

The system promptly provided its evaluation of the fish’s quality.

‘Medium quality. That’s pretty good.’

‘And that confirms it—these two are definitely wild.’

‘To think the river in this village still has wild Wuchang Fish… that’s amazing!’

‘I wonder if there are any in the deep pools of Jiulong Gorge, or in the river back in my own village?’

‘I’ve never caught one, anyway. And I’ve never heard of anyone else catching one either. There probably aren’t any.’

‘Then again, you never know. I should keep an eye out from now on.’

“Grandpa Haibo, you even managed to catch Wuchang Fish. You must be an incredible fisherman!” Li You added.

Lin Haibo let out a hearty laugh, even more pleased than before. “Just got lucky,” he said. “There aren’t many of these fish in the river. Catching them is pure luck.”

Li You said, “Luck alone can’t be enough. You must have great technique, too.”

Lin Haibo laughed again. ‘Not only is the young man polite, but he sure knows how to talk,’ he thought.

At this point, one of the surrounding villagers chimed in, “Grandpa Haibo’s fishing skill really is one of the best in our village.”

Li You gave him a thumbs-up. “Grandpa Haibo, you’re amazing!”

After some more lively conversation, Li You took a water tank off his motorcycle and transferred the two Wuchang Fish from the bucket into it.

“Did you pay him?” Li You asked Ling Xiaoru.

Ling Xiaoru nodded. “I did.”

Li You nodded. He then placed the water tank back in the storage basket on his motorcycle’s rear rack.

Next…

Just as Li You was wondering what to do next—head back or something else—Ling Xiaoru spoke up. “Boss, have you ever been to our village before?”

Li You shook his head. “No, this is my first time.”

“Well, since you’re already here,” Ling Xiaoru said, “why not come in and look around? Our village is very pretty, too.”

Li You’s eyes lit up. ‘That’s a great idea!’

‘Just this morning, I was thinking about finding time to visit Taoyuan Village.’

‘I didn’t expect the chance to come so soon.’

He was more than happy to. “That would be great!” he said. “I’ve actually been wanting to come and see your village for a while.”

Ling Xiaoru was thrilled to hear that. “Then let’s go! Let’s ride.”

“Alright!”

“Grandpa Haibo, and all you uncles, we’re going to take a look around the village. We’ll be on our way now,” Ling Xiaoru said to the group of men.

“Alright, alright. You two go on ahead,” Lin Haibo and the others replied.

‘Looks like they’ve just started dating. It’s the young man’s first time visiting the village. But why did Xiaoru just call him ‘Boss’? What’s that about?’

None of them could quite figure it out.

Li You and Ling Xiaoru were oblivious to their thoughts. After bidding farewell to the group again, they entered the village, one on a motorcycle and the other on an electric scooter.

They both rode slowly.

Li You looked all around. It was truly beautiful. ‘It’s no less pretty than Changle Village,’ he thought.

Before long, a wide river came into view.

Several people were fishing along its banks.

Ling Xiaoru stopped, and Li You pulled up beside her.

Then, Ling Xiaoru said, “Boss, look, that’s the river. That’s where Grandpa Haibo caught his two Wuchang Fish. A lot of people in our village love fishing. It seems like no matter when you come to the riverbank, you can always find someone here.”

Li You smiled. “That’s nice! When you’re not busy, you can go fishing. It’s fun, and you get to eat the fish you catch.”

Ling Xiaoru nodded. “It’s certainly not bad. Better than playing mahjong, at least.”

Li You said, “Everyone has different hobbies. Some people like fishing, others like mahjong. There’s nothing wrong with that. As long as they’re just playing for fun, it’s harmless.”

Ling Xiaoru said, “That’s true.”

Li You asked, “By the way, did you come back for any particular reason today?”

“Not really,” said Ling Xiaoru. “I just wanted to come back and visit. It’s been almost two months since my last trip home.”

Li You nodded. “You live close enough. You should come back to visit more often.”

“I used to come back almost every week,” Ling Xiaoru said. “It’s just recently that it’s been this long. Come on, Boss, let me show you some other places.”

“Okay.”

The two of them set off again.

…

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