I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Gazing at the scenery outside his shop, Li You felt a bit dazed.

Although only a second had passed in reality, he had already experienced so much in the world of *Boonie Bears*.

Everything had felt so real, and he already missed it.

Getting along with Bald Qiang and the animals had been such a joy.

He truly hoped he could enter the world of *Boonie Bears* again someday to see Bald Qiang and that lovable bunch of animals.

After a moment of reverie, Li You got up and went to the kitchen.

He needed to put all the fish he’d caught yesterday and this morning into the Spatial Fish Pond.

His original plan had been to clean the fish this afternoon after planting the fruit trees Luo Yunlin had sent over.

But now, there was no need to kill them.

Li You then got to work, moving all the fish into the Spatial Fish Pond.

After he was finished.

’Oh, right, I still have a lottery draw.’

The reward for completing the mission to catch the first sweetfish in the *Boonie Bears* world included unlocking the Spatial Fish Pond and one lottery draw.

With a lottery draw available, Li You didn’t want to wait a single second longer to use it.

"System, bring up the lottery interface."

The very familiar lottery interface appeared before him once again.

The wheel spun rapidly and then came to a stop, the pointer landing on the "Recipe" section.

’A recipe?’

’Not bad, not bad at all. I can add a new dish to the menu.’

’I wonder what it will be?’

’How exciting!’

The familiar, beautiful gift box appeared. After the colorful ribbons fluttered away, the box opened.

"Huoxiang Crucian Carp!"

Li You’s eyes lit up. He had thought of this very dish back in the *Boonie Bears* world when the logging robots dropped huoxiang as an ingredient.

He never expected the recipe to actually show up now.

’Excellent, excellent. Just as I thought before, with the weather getting hotter, Huoxiang Crucian Carp will be an absolutely fantastic dish.’

Not only is it delicious and highly nutritious, but it can also help you cool down, reduce internal dampness, regulate your system, and whet your appetite in the summer heat.

’Learn immediately.’

Soon, Li You had completely mastered the best way to prepare Huoxiang Crucian Carp, along with all other related details.

He looked at the Huoxiang Crucian Carp recipe again.

"Recipe: Huoxiang Crucian Carp.

Ingredients: Crucian carp, huoxiang, cucumber, pickled ginger, pickled chili, green onion, ginger, garlic, salt, doubanjiang."

It required pickled ginger and pickled chili, two ingredients Li You didn’t currently have.

’Looks like it’s time to get a pickling jar.’

’I’ll go into town tomorrow and see if I can find a suitable one.’

’Oh, right. Now that I have tofu, I can officially add Mapo Tofu to the menu.’

’How much should I charge per serving?’

After a moment of hesitation, Li You decided to set the price at 25 yuan.

He added Mapo Tofu to the "Today’s Specials" board.

He didn’t have that many dishes on the menu yet. Once he had more, he could just select a few to offer each day based on what ingredients he had available.

It was 5:00 PM, so he decided to take a short break.

Li You lay down on the rocking chair at the entrance of his shop.

「An hour later.」

Chu Yiwei, Lin Xin, Zhang Qinghe, and the other teachers arrived.

They were all delighted to see Mapo Tofu added to the "Today’s Specials" board.

"Boss, can we get Mapo Tofu today?" the teachers all asked.

They had been looking forward to it ever since hearing Lin Guodong talk about it at the shop yesterday.

Li You smiled. "You can. I have tofu today."

"That’s great!"

The teachers were overjoyed. After a quick discussion amongst themselves, they decided to just have Mapo Tofu and rice for dinner tonight.

There were twelve of them in total, so they would need six servings of Mapo Tofu.

Two people would share one serving.

Ever since Li You opened his shop here, they had been eating out more and more often.

They had to start being a bit more frugal.

Li You asked the teachers to wait a moment, then went into the kitchen. After a flurry of activity, six servings of Mapo Tofu were ready.

He served them to the teachers.

When the teachers saw the dish, they were still incredibly surprised, even though they had been mentally prepared for it to be good.

Although they’d eaten plenty of Mapo Tofu before, a single glance told them that this was going to be much more delicious than any version they’d ever had.

It looked completely different.

They scooped up a piece of tofu with their spoons to taste it. The moment it entered their mouths, they were electrified.

It was numbing and spicy, fragrant and tender, incredibly soft, and a little hot—an exquisite flavor that was hard to describe in words exploded in their mouths.

’This Mapo Tofu is way too good!’

’You could eat several large bowls of rice with this!’

The teachers ate the tofu and shoveled down mouthfuls of rice. It was incredibly satisfying.

Chu Yiwei, Lin Xin, and the other female teachers couldn’t be bothered to worry about gaining weight. They were determined to eat until they were stuffed tonight.

’Then again, with the boss’s shop around, I’m afraid we’re bound to gain weight.’

’We really can’t afford to get any fatter.’

From Li You’s perspective, however, both Chu Yiwei and Lin Xin could actually stand to gain a little weight.

’It’s true that being too heavy isn’t attractive on a girl, but being too thin isn’t good either.’

’Legs as skinny as bamboo poles... how is that supposed to look good?’

Of course, while Chu Yiwei and Lin Xin were on the slender side, they weren’t as exaggeratedly skinny as bamboo poles.

Their legs still looked quite nice.

It was just that they would look even better if they had a little more meat on their bones.

Someone like Ye Shengge or Xia Xiaoyue had the most perfect figure.

Just then, another group of people arrived outside, more than ten of them.

Li You knew them all, as they were villagers from his own Changle Village.

Liu Jialiang was among them.

Li You went out to greet them.

Liu Jialiang smiled. "Xiaoyou, we came here specially to eat at your place tonight. Everyone wants to try your cooking."

Li You had to address this group as "uncles" and "aunts," so he smiled and said, "Uncle Jialiang, and all you other uncles and aunts, please come in, come on in."

After the group entered the shop and saw more than a dozen people eating, they all thought to themselves, ’Looks like Xiaoyou’s business is actually doing pretty well now.’

’I can’t believe Xiaoyou actually succeeded in opening a shop here.’

To be honest, all the villagers were quite surprised.

"Huh? Teacher Zhang. Teacher Zhang, you eat here too?" a villager named Li Donghai asked in surprise, having recognized Zhang Qinghe.

The distance from the town school wasn’t far, but it wasn’t exactly close either. ’He actually comes all this way to eat?’

Zhang Qinghe smiled. "It’s Li Tao’s grandpa. Boss Li’s food here is delicious, so we don’t mind the distance. It’s not really that far, anyway—only a ten-something minute bike ride."

A ten-something minute bike ride was actually quite far in a place like this.

But since Zhang Qinghe said it wasn’t far, Li Donghai could only reply, "You’re right, I suppose it’s not too far."

Then he thought to himself, ’Even the teachers from the town school come all the way out here to eat. No wonder Xiaoyou’s shop is a success.’

’It seems what the families of Li Zhong and Liu Jialiang said about Xiaoyou’s amazing cooking skills must be true.’

The other villagers were thinking the same thing.

When they first heard from the families of Li Zhong and Liu Jialiang how good Li You’s cooking was, they hadn’t really believed it. They had decided to all come over tonight to try it for themselves.

It was also a way to support Li You’s business.

They were all from Changle Village, and Li You was from a younger generation, so it was only right to give him some business.

But now, it seemed Li You’s cooking skills really must be excellent.

And that made them even more eager to try it.

...