Free Web NovelChapter 7: Chapter 7: 2 Art Students’ First Time Finding Noodles Delicious
Jiulong Gorge.
A little after four in the afternoon, Liu Xu and his friends came to the restaurant again.
They said they were getting ready to head back.
But before they left, they each wanted another bowl of Yangchun Noodles.
This good news made Li You very happy. After showing them to their seats, he went to the kitchen to prepare five bowls of noodles.
This time, they were all large bowls.
Xiao Yue and the other two girls also wanted large bowls.
It was the same familiar, nostalgic flavor.
Once again, the five of them ate with great satisfaction.
After they finished eating, they paid their bill and left.
"Congratulations, Host, for selling five bowls of Yangchun Noodles. Thirty-eight bowls remaining to complete the mission."
He could already see a glimmer of hope.
’I’ll keep up the good work.’
’Hopefully, more customers will show up tomorrow, too.’
’I’ll just stay here tonight.’
The second floor was fully equipped with a living room, bedrooms, a bathroom, and more.
...
「The next day.」
「Early morning.」
Li You woke up early to open the restaurant for business.
After making himself some Yangchun Noodles for breakfast, he grabbed a machete and headed to a bamboo grove not far behind the restaurant.
He planned to cut down a stalk of bamboo to weave a fish trap.
He had decided on this last night before bed.
He would weave a fish trap and place it in the flowing water of the gorge.
Fish could get in, but they couldn’t get out.
That way, he wouldn’t have to catch fish anymore. Instead, he could just go and collect them every few days.
Of course, if he felt like catching fish, he could still go and do that.
It wasn’t about the fish, but the fun of it.
This was a grove of moso bamboo. Li You quickly selected a stalk.
A few swings of the machete brought the bamboo down.
Then, he stripped off all the branches and leaves and carried the stalk back to the front of his restaurant.
Weaving various utensils from bamboo strips is an ancient traditional folk craft.
Fewer and fewer people know this skill nowadays.
It was a real shame.
Li You’s skills were average; he couldn’t weave anything complex, but making a fish trap was no problem.
The fish trap he wanted to make was a long, cone-shaped design, closed at the bottom with an inwardly tapering opening at the top.
It required a certain level of skill, but not too high. Li You could handle it.
’Time to get to work.’
He used a saw to cut the bamboo into several sections, then used his machete to split it into strips. Finally, he separated the green outer layer from the yellow inner layer of each strip.
After all that work, the bamboo strips were ready.
’Time to start weaving.’
Before long, the basic shape of the fish trap had emerged.
Just then, a small car slowly pulled into the parking lot out front.
The car doors opened, and two young women got out.
Then they opened the trunk and took out a pile of things.
One of the items looked like an easel.
’Are these art students here to sketch?’
’Looks like it.’
The two women looked over at Li You, hesitated for a moment, then walked over.
"Boss, can we park our car there?"
The entrance to the parking lot had a sign that read, "Mountain Restaurant Parking."
That’s why the two women decided to come over and ask.
Although they found it very strange that there was a restaurant here, they didn’t ask about it.
Li You nodded. "You can."
One of the women said, "Thanks, Boss."
This woman was very tall, probably at least 175 centimeters, and also very pretty. Seeing what Li You was weaving, she hesitated for a moment before asking, "Boss, what are you making?"
Li You said, "A fish trap. To put in the stream to catch fish."
The two women nodded. Hearing Li You’s explanation, they understood.
Then, the two women said their goodbyes and headed toward the gorge.
Li You was now certain that the two women were indeed here to sketch.
’I wonder if they’ll come back for lunch later?’
Li You looked forward to it.
He continued weaving the fish trap.
Time slowly passed until noon. The fish trap was more than halfway done.
Li You looked in the direction the two women had gone. There was no one there for now.
’I should make something for myself to eat first.’
There were a few eggplants in the Storage Pavilion, which he had picked from his own garden earlier.
’I’ll just stir-fry some eggplant.’
He walked into the kitchen. First, he started some rice in the rice cooker, then took out two eggplants from the Storage Pavilion. freewebnσvel.cøm
Just after he finished stir-frying the eggplant, a voice called from outside the restaurant, "Boss, are you here?"
’It’s the two women from before.’
’Did they really come to eat?’
Li You’s heart filled with joy. He walked out of the kitchen and called back, "I’m here."
When he reached the entrance, he saw it was indeed the two women.
He then smiled and asked, "Are you here to eat?"
The taller woman nodded. "Do you only have Yangchun Noodles?"
Li You nodded. "For now, only Yangchun Noodles."
"Well..." The woman hesitated for a moment, then said, "In that case, we’ll have two small bowls."
"Alright. Please have a seat inside. It’ll be ready soon."
After speaking, Li You turned and went back into the kitchen.
The two women put their things down, entered the restaurant, and chose a table.
The taller woman was named Xia Xiaoyue, and the shorter one was named Yu Wei.
Both were indeed art students from Changxi County. They were currently studying at the Xingshui Academy of Fine Arts in Xingshui City.
Xingshui City was the prefectural-level city that administered Changxi County.
The drive here from Xingshui City was about the same as from Changxi County Town, taking over two hours.
Yu Wei whispered to Xia Xiaoyue, "Xiao Yue, didn’t we agree that if they only had noodles, we wouldn’t eat here? Why did you..."
Xia Xiaoyue gave a wry smile and whispered back, "I felt too awkward to say no. Forget it, let’s just eat. Try to eat as much as you can, and don’t leave too much behind. It would be rude."
Yu Wei sighed in resignation. "Alright."
The truth was, neither of them liked noodles.
The reason they came over was because they felt it would be wrong not to order something after parking their car in the Li You Restaurant’s lot.
So they decided to come and ask if there was anything else to eat besides Yangchun Noodles.
Even though they had seen the "Today’s Special" sign that only listed Yangchun Noodles when they arrived that morning.
But maybe there were other dishes that the boss just hadn’t written down?
’We should go ask.’
’If there’s something else, we’ll eat.’
’If it’s only noodles, we won’t.’
So when Li You said that for now, he only had Yangchun Noodles, Xia Xiaoyue had originally intended to say, "In that case, we won’t be eating."
But she suddenly felt too embarrassed to say it out loud.
It was mainly because Li You’s restaurant looked so desolate. Besides the two of them, there wasn’t another soul in sight.
If she said they weren’t eating, Li You would surely be very disappointed.
That’s why Xia Xiaoyue couldn’t bring herself to say the three words, "we won’t eat."
So, all she could do was order two small bowls.
Soon, Li You brought over two small bowls of Yangchun Noodles.
"Please, enjoy your meal."
"Thank you!"
Then, both Xia Xiaoyue and Yu Wei let out a soft "Huh?"
The noodles actually looked pretty good, and they smelled fragrant.
In that instant, both of them felt an urge to taste the broth.
Parting their red lips, they each blew on their bowls before taking a sip of the broth.
They were instantly and pleasantly surprised.
’This broth is delicious! It’s so savory and fragrant.’
’Who knew noodle broth could taste this good?’
’What about the noodles themselves?’
Both of them suddenly felt a spark of interest in the bowl of noodles before them.
’Let’s give them a try.’
They each took a bite.
Then, their eyes widened in disbelief.
’These noodles are delicious!’
It was the first time in their lives they had ever found noodles to be delicious.
They couldn’t believe that they, of all people, would one day think noodles were delicious.
It was truly incredible.
...
