I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

At the same time, a luxury van was pulling off the highway at the Changxi County exit.

Inside the van.

There were five passengers in addition to the driver.

They were all in their forties.

One of them said, "We’re in Changxi County Town now. Almost there. Just another two and a half hours to go."

The other four exchanged wry smiles upon hearing this.

’Another two and a half hours in the car... How is that "almost there"?’

"Old Zhao, are you sure coming all this way for one meal isn’t a waste of time and energy?"

"Yeah, Old Zhao. We left at dawn and we’ve already been driving for three hours. No matter how good the food is, this can’t possibly be worth it, can it?"

"..."

Clearly, these men were on their way to eat somewhere.

And the hours-long drive had four of them thinking this would not be a worthwhile trip.

The man who had spoken first, the "Old Zhao" the others were addressing, just smiled. "For truly exceptional food, a drive of a few hours is often necessary. Trust me, once you taste what they have to offer, you’ll agree that this drive was well worth it."

This was Zhao Yanglin, the same Old Zhao who had previously gone to Li You Restaurant with He Xianfei and Qu Feng to try the boiled cabbage in broth.

Once at Li You Restaurant, he hadn’t just eaten the boiled cabbage in broth; he’d also had twice-cooked pork, stir-fried shredded potatoes, mapo tofu, beef noodle soup, and Yangchun Noodles.

He had also joined Xia Xiaoyue, Lin Guodong, and others to participate in the entire process of Li You making tofu with a stone mill.

The combination of exquisite food and such a meaningful experience made Li You Restaurant unforgettable for Zhao Yanglin.

Today, he was finally on his way back to Li You Restaurant for another meal.

And this time, he’d brought along four old friends who happened to be free.

’Truly exceptional food is meant to be shared, isn’t it?’

His four old friends might think he had tricked them, but that was fine.

Zhao Yanglin was confident that once they tasted the food, his friends would think nothing of the hours-long drive.

Like him, all four of them were extremely passionate about food and constantly searching for the next great culinary discovery.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have agreed to come with him in the first place.

After hearing what Zhao Yanglin said, the four men slowly nodded.

Zhao Yanglin said that for truly exceptional food, a drive of a few hours was often necessary.

They agreed with that point.

Great food isn’t necessarily found only in big cities, nor is it confined to upscale, luxurious hotels.

It could appear in any corner of the world.

’Oh well,’ they thought.

They had already been on the road for three hours; what was another two and a half?

Of course, this didn’t mean they were convinced the journey would be worthwhile.

They still had their doubts.

Zhao Yanglin knew what his four friends were thinking but didn’t offer any further explanation.

After a moment, he suddenly remembered something and turned to one of the men. "By the way, Old Wei, there’s a gorge there with some really unique and beautiful scenery. I think you should take a good look around later. It might be an excellent filming location for a future project."

Old Wei, whose full name was Wei Yang, nodded. "If you’re praising it that highly, Old Zhao, it can’t be half bad. I’ll be sure to take a good look."

"You won’t be disappointed," Zhao Yanglin said.

"We’ll see about that," Wei Yang replied.

Zhao Yanglin nodded. "Of course."

...

「Jiulong Gorge.」

Ye Shengge returned from the market.

"How was it?" Li You asked. "Find anything good?"

"I did!" Ye Shengge said, her mood clearly cheerful. "They had termite mushrooms. Plenty of them, and they looked to be in great condition. I didn’t buy any, though. I don’t know when I’m heading back, and I was afraid they’d spoil. That would be such a shame."

Li You nodded. "Termite mushrooms really don’t keep for very long. Actually, if you want some, we could go look for them in the mountains. These mountains don’t just have Bamboo Mushrooms; you can also find termite mushrooms, chanterelles, green-head mushrooms, and many other kinds."

"Really?" Ye Shengge’s eyes lit up. "Then, Boss, when can we go looking for mushrooms in the mountains? Can we, please?"

Li You nodded. "Of course! But it’s best to go after it rains. According to the weather forecast, we might get some rain in the next two days. We can go the day after it does. We can still go if it doesn’t rain, it’s just better after a downpour. How about we wait and see if it rains in the next two days?"

"Okay! Thank you, Boss." Ye Shengge was delighted and full of anticipation.

Just then, Li You spotted a motorcycle on the road ahead, coming from the direction of town. He quickly stood up, hurried to the side of the road, and shouted, "Uncle Guodong, wait up!"

The rider was none other than Lin Guodong. Seeing Li You, he stopped his motorcycle in front of him. "Xiaoyou, what’s up?"

Now that he was more familiar with Li You, Lin Guodong no longer called him "young man," addressing him as "Xiaoyou" instead.

"Uncle Guodong, wait just a second. I have something I need to trouble you to take back to your village," Li You said.

Lin Guodong looked puzzled. "What is it, Xiaoyou?"

"You’ll see in a second," Li You said. "Just wait here, I’ll run back to the restaurant and get it. Hold on!"

With that, Li You turned and jogged back to the restaurant.

He then picked up a jug of wine he had already prepared.

The wine weighed five catties.

Li You had made a special trip to the town market yesterday afternoon just to buy the jug.

He planned to give these five catties of wine to Lin Guodong, Lin Zhonghai, and the others who had made a special trip the day before yesterday to catch crayfish for him.

’Perhaps Lin Zhonghai had only caught crayfish because Lin Xiao wanted to come eat them for free, but Lin Guodong and the others had done it purely as a gift for him.’

’So, to show his gratitude, it was only right to give them a few catties of wine.’

’Since he didn’t know exactly who had gone to catch the crayfish, he decided not to split the gift up.’

’He would just give them the whole five catties and let them sort it out themselves, whether they split it evenly or handled it some other way.’

Li You had originally planned to give them the wine the next time Lin Guodong, Lin Zhonghai, and the others came to eat.

But since he had just run into Lin Guodong, he might as well give it to him now.

Li You returned to the side of the road with the jug. "Uncle Guodong," he said, "here are a few catties of wine. Take it back for you, Elder Lin, Uncle Zhang, Uncle Liu, and the others to share."

At first, Lin Guodong’s face lit up with delight. The wine was so incredibly delicious that their mouths watered every time they thought about it.

But on second thought, he was startled.

’This must be a five-catty jug,’ he thought. ’Five catties of wine... that’s a thousand yuan!’

’How can I possibly accept this?’

He immediately waved his hands. "No, Xiaoyou, I can’t. This is far too expensive. We can’t take this, we really can’t."

Li You laughed. "Uncle Guodong, have you considered that you all gave me at least fifty catties of crayfish yesterday? Even at twenty yuan a catty, that’s a thousand yuan. I wasn’t shy about accepting them. If you’re so formal now, you’re treating me like a stranger!"

Lin Guodong shook his head. "Crayfish aren’t that expensive. At most, they go for thirteen or fourteen yuan a catty."

"That’s the price in our town," Li You said. "If you took them to Changxi County Town, twenty yuan a catty would be considered cheap. So please, Uncle Guodong, you can’t refuse. Otherwise, you’ll really be making things awkward."

"But... but... that’s not right either!" Lin Guodong said. "Even if crayfish sell for twenty yuan a catty in the county town, there’s no guarantee they’ll sell well! But your wine would sell out instantly."

"Uncle Guodong, you can’t calculate it like that," Li You said. "Anyway, I’m leaving this wine with you to take back. I’m heading back to the restaurant now."

As he spoke, Li You placed the jug on the motorcycle, then turned and walked away.

"Xiaoyou, but... this..."

"I’m counting on you, Uncle Guodong!"

"Alright then... thank you, Xiaoyou. The others are going to be thrilled when they see this wine."

"Haha! I’m just glad you all enjoy it."

"We more than enjoy it!"

Afterward, Lin Guodong carefully strapped the wine jug to the rear rack of his motorcycle, then drove away in a very cheerful mood.

...