Chapter 95: Consider It a Loan
Ye Fan looked carefree and clumsy, but he wasn’t sloppy with his work. After she explained the key points of frying shrimp, he never made the same mistake again.
The one-touch cleaning machine was still tirelessly washing the shrimp, so Shen Lu had to wash the vegetables for the staff meal herself.
However, the ingredients provided by the system were very clean, so a simple rinse was all they needed.
She broke the cabbage into chunks, cut the tofu into cubes, minced the pickled vegetables, and sliced the pork loin into shreds. After chopping some ginger, garlic, and scallions for aromatics, the prep work was done.
Shen Lu taught Cai Su how to stir-fry shredded pork with green peppers while she herself made the pickled vegetable and tofu soup.
Cooking has its basic formulas. Shen Lu wasn’t professionally trained; she was a self-taught enthusiast who enjoyed teaching. After watching countless videos and following many recipes, she had developed her own set of principles.
For a complete novice like Cai Su, it was very useful.
With Shen Lu watching over her, Cai Su’s first attempt at stir-frying didn’t turn out too bad. Of course, a dish of this quality was only good enough for a staff meal; Shen Lu would never sell it to customers.
Needless to say, mealtime was another whirlwind of ravenous eating.
Shen Lu knew everyone was craving a proper meal, so she had intentionally made extra. Each dish was served in a stainless steel basin the size of a pumpkin, but even so, all three dishes and the large basin of rice were wiped clean.
The three men’s appetites were particularly astounding; they polished off nearly two-thirds of the food by themselves.
Ye Fan rubbed his bulging stomach, feeling very satisfied.
’Real food is so much more satisfying. Nutrient liquid is convenient, but it just doesn’t hit the spot.’
Before the meal, Shen Lu had steamed two portions of egg custard. These were for her two patients.
Cai Su went to the clinic to deliver a meal, while Shen Lu went upstairs to feed Fu Cheng. The others could clean up, rest, or keep working if they wanted—they had an hour of free time.
After feeding Fu Cheng, Shen Lu gave him temporary sharing access and asked if there was anything he wanted to buy.
Fu Cheng thought about it seriously for a moment, then slowly typed out a few words.
Fu Cheng: Light Brain.
Shen Lu was surprised. ’She had offered to buy him one before, but he had refused. Why did he want one now?’
"How about you wait a day? I’m going to the Upper City District the day after tomorrow, so I can pick one up for you then. As you know, the things they sell in the Lower City District aren’t as good as in the Upper City District."
Fu Cheng: Okay.
A moment later, he typed again.
Fu Cheng: Consider it a loan from you.
’Shen Lu had already helped him so much. He couldn’t take advantage of her kindness and constantly exploit her.’
’Her kindness, her help—he would repay her for all of it one day.’
Shen Lu understood.
’Men have their pride, after all.’
"Alright. I’ll keep the receipt, and you can just pay me back according to the price on it."
Shen Lu closed the temporary sharing access. "I’m heading out to buy a few things."
Shen Lu took a rickshaw to the supermarket and bought all the small things she was missing at home in one go. She also picked up a few items for the shop. Then she went to the pharmacy and bought a month’s supply of medicine and bandages for Fu Cheng, along with some adhesive bandages and medications for minor ailments like diarrhea and allergies.
’Even though her ingredients and cooking process are absolutely hygienic and harmless, the human body is a strange thing. What if someone has an intolerance or allergy to a certain ingredient?’
’For the sake of her popularity value and satisfaction rating, it was always better to be a little overprepared.’
After putting the things away on the second floor, her break time was just about over.
The afternoon was another round of hard work. To maximize efficiency, Shen Lu fired up all the stoves, frying shrimp on one and braising them on another.
Even so, by eight or nine in the evening, they still hadn’t finished all ten thousand jin of crayfish. There were still over three thousand jin left untouched.
Shen Lu said, "Let’s call it a day. Everyone’s worked hard. Go home and rest. We have another busy day tomorrow."
Mrs. Wang straightened her sore, aching back. She wasn’t in the best of health, and it was her first time working for so long. She felt quite tired.
She and her children finished up with the last of the washed crayfish and cleaned their hands at the vegetable washing sink.
Wang Xiaoci said to Shen Lu, "Boss Shen, we’ll be heading home now. We’ll be back tomorrow morning."
"Okay. Why don’t you come here for breakfast tomorrow morning? It’s going to be even busier and more tiring, and just eating Insect Cakes won’t give you enough energy."
"Can we?" The usually quiet Wang Xiaohui was ecstatic. "We can come over for breakfast tomorrow morning?!"
"Yes, you can. Don’t worry, just come and eat."
Wang Daguo chuckled. "In that case, Boss Shen, you’d better prepare a lot. I have a big appetite in the morning."
He had completely opened up now, unlike before when he was constantly worrying about this and that. Now, he just told Shen Lu whatever was on his mind. He knew she wasn’t the type to haggle over every little thing and would generally agree as long as the request was reasonable.
"I know. You live far away, so hurry on home."
Only then did the four members of the Wang Family leave the shop to go home. Shen Lu had Cai Su fry the last batch of shrimp and put them in the braising liquid. Meanwhile, she kneaded a large basin of dough, covered it with a cloth, and placed it in the refrigerator to ferment overnight.
Ye Fan watched as the white powder and water in Shen Lu’s hands gradually formed a ball of dough, just like playing with clay. He couldn’t help but wonder what it was for.
"Boss Shen, what’s that stuff you were just making for?"
"For steaming mantou tomorrow morning."
’Baozi would be too much trouble. I’d have to make the filling and wrap each one. Mantou is much easier.’
’Plain mantou might be a bit bland, but I have those chilled radish skins. Oh, right, I’ll make some congee too. That’ll be a great breakfast.’
Shen Lu put some mung beans and rice into the rice cooker and selected the congee setting. That was all it took. It would automatically switch to "keep warm" when it was done, so she could just scoop it out in the morning.
"So that’s how you steam mantou?" Ye Fan grew even more curious. "But aren’t mantou round and individual?"
"They are. I have to shape them one by one tomorrow morning."
"Oh, so... can Lin Zhou and I come for breakfast tomorrow morning?" Ye Fan asked shamelessly.
Shen Lu shot him a look. "Your contracts don’t include meals."
They were allowed to eat today because Ye Fan and Lin Zhou had done work beyond what their contracts required.
Lin Zhou said, "We can pay."
"Fine. But you’ll get a standard portion. One serving of food per person, no more."
’What kind of rule is that?’
Ye Fan and Lin Zhou were bewildered. It sounded like she was complaining that they ate too much.
Still, something was better than nothing. The two of them agreed.
Shen Lu stored the remaining three thousand-plus jin of crayfish in the System Warehouse and then cleaned the pantry with Cai Su.
Luckily, the crayfish had been well-behaved and hadn’t chewed up anything she had stored in the pantry. At most, they had just crawled over things and made them dirty.
A quick wipe-down by Shen Lu and Cai Su left everything sparkling clean again. After double-checking the gas and electricity in the back kitchen and confirming everything was fine, Shen Lu dragged her exhausted body back to the second floor.
Grabbing her newly bought pajamas, Shen Lu took a shower.
After frying shrimp all day, her arms were so sore she could barely lift them. She didn’t even feel like blow-drying her hair.
But she still had things to do and couldn’t go straight to sleep.
Slumped on the sofa, Shen Lu edited today’s video while chatting with the system.
Shen Lu: "You guys are pretty smart. I didn’t open for business today, so you didn’t issue a daily task."
[Of course. We are extremely intelligent.]