Gourmet Food Supplier - Chapter 37

Gourmet Food Supplier

Chapter 37- An increase in living expenses

When Wu Zhou arrived at the shop with his girlfriend, he bumped into some of the people who had left earlier in the morning at the entrance.

“Boss Yuan, you finally opened your doors.”

“Why didn’t you open for business this morning, Boss Yuan?”

“Boss Yuan, since you didn’t open this morning, can I order the soup dumplings now?”

Wu Zhou had yet to speak when a few of the people who entered together with them began to throw a bunch of questions at Yuan Zhou over on that side.

“Mu Mu, let’s sit here.” Shielding his girlfriend, Wu Zhou astutely sat them down in the two seats closest to the end.

“This shop is really small, there are only eight chairs.” Zhuang Xinmu had constantly been surveying the small shop ever since they entered.

Her impressions could be summed up into one word: small. It was simple and ordinary.

That lasted right up until Zhuang Xinmu’s eyes landed on the menu on the wall, and only then was it revealed that the extraordinary part of this shop was its prices.

Did this shop take itself to be a fancy hotel? ￥188 for egg fried rice, ￥288 for an egg fried rice set meal. In regards to this, Zhuang Xinmu could only laugh at Yuan Zhou’s ruthlessness.

Using strength to pinch Wu Zhou’s arm, Zhuang Xinmu gritted her teeth and asked, “Is this the shop where you normally eat?”

Her expression implied that if Wu Zhou dared to say yes, she would tear him to pieces.

“Mu Mu, let’s eat first. You’ll understand after you eat, just trust me.” Wu Zhou knew that no matter how he explained it, she would still be unable to accept this deliberately provocative price.

He could only placate her first. As long as she ate it, his girlfriend would definitely understand.

“Hmph, it’d better be that way.” Zhuang Xinmu snorted, and let Wu Zhou off for the time being. Outside, Zhuang Xinmu still gave Wu Zhou face, intending to ‘torture and interrogate’ him once they returned home. The impression that she had of this shady shop in her mind was actually that it was atrocious.

Yuan Zhou, who had been bombarded with questions, peacefully stood by as if he had entered a state of zen.

The questions continued until it all unified into one: “Boss Yuan, why didn’t you open for business this morning?”

“Because I overslept.” Yuan Zhou replied, unfazed.

It was fortunate that Wu Hai had already finished eating and left, that these few people had only waited for a short while and that the crowd of people who had waited for such a long time had yet to return; otherwise, Yuan Zhou, with his self-righteous reason of oversleeping, might have been torn to shreds by those people who had been waiting to eat the soup dumplings.

“Boss Yuan, don’t you know you’ll easily lose us like this?”

“Don’t you know that doing this isn’t good?”
”
“Can’t you at least look a bit like you’re ready for business? You should be waking up early every day to start your business!”

Those few people had fallen silent for a moment before they all spoke up suddenly, rebuking him in low voices.

“Mhm, what do you want to eat today?” Yuan Zhou turned a deaf ear to them, abruptly changing the subject.

“You’re too much, Boss Yuan. I’m demanding two servings of egg fried rice to compensate for my wounded spirit.” Seeing that Yuan Zhou did not budge one bit, the others could only directly put forward their own requests.

That’s right, the solemn mood they had feigned earlier was also merely because they wanted an additional serving of egg fried rice.

As for actually not returning and such, that could wait until they lost their five senses.

As a bystander watching this scene for the first time, Zhuang Xinmu’s impression of Yuan Zhou fell by yet another fraction. Just like the Korean entertainment companies operating under the ban of Korean entertainment*, it simultaneously gave rise to a feeling of curiosity as well. What these few people had made a ruckus to request was, to her surprise, merely to obtain another serving of egg fried rice. This was very unfathomable to Zhuang Xinmu.
TL Note: From July 14 2016, China has prohibited all hallyu, or Korean Wave (K-pop), content in the country in response to the THAAD American missile defense system that South Korea was planning to build.

“No.” Yuan Zhou mercilessly rejected this reasonable request, while ruthlessly saying, “People are already starting to wait outside.”

The few people used a ‘you’re heartless, shameless, and aggravating’ expression to look at Yuan Zhou.

Yuan Zhou’s face was impassive, his expression not changing the slightest.

“Egg fried rice combo…”

The people were overpowered by Yuan Zhou’s overused yet still impenetrable expression, and they settled with ordering their meal.

“Boss Yuan, I also want two servings of the egg fried rice set meal.” Wu Zhou promptly stated when Yuan Zhou looked over.

Yuan Zhou nodded, heading off to prepare the meals.

“Just ordering the fried rice was enough, this one is ￥100 more expensive.” Zhuang Xinmu said discontentedly.

“No worries, everything in here is delicious. Furthermore, it comes with soup. Didn’t you like drinking soup?” Wu Zhou tugged on Zhuang Xinmu’s hand to appease her, thinking for a moment, before saying resolutely, “I’ll let you drink my soup too.”

“Look at your appearance. It’s just a bowl of soup, but it’s as if you’re cutting off your flesh.” Zhuang Xinmu unhappily retracted her hand.

“Ai…. Mu Mu, you’ll understand in a moment.”

“Hmph.”

A young couple’s quarrel was exactly groundless arguments like this. But for people in love, “pretending” was the norm.

“Enjoy your meal.” Yuan Zhou said as he served up the food for the eight people.

“Thank you Boss Yuan. Right, this is my girlfriend.” Wu Zhou shifted the food in front of Zhuang Xinmu, all while proudly introducing her to Yuan Zhou.

Yuan Zhou’s response was to stoically give a nod of his head.

As for in his mind, what kind of mental response do you want a bachelor to have? However, Yuan Zhou thought that the almighty FFF Inquisition* was an excellent group.
TL Note: The group from Baka To Test To Shokanjuu, which punishes those that had gotten attention to girls.

Zhuang Xinmu looked at this egg fried rice with knitted brows. She discovered that it seemed like there was no egg inside, only that the rice was actually golden-yellow. There wasn’t even any chopped onion or ham adorned on it, and the seaweed soup was also in a very small bowl. With big mouthfuls, it would be all consumed in two or three gulps. As for the pickled radishes, there were even less. She could clearly count how many pieces there were.

This was the first time she had seen an egg fried rice such as this. There was only the practically non-existent egg, and rice.

“Mu Mu, this is for you.” The first thing Wu Zhou did was to pass his bowl of seaweed soup to Zhuang Xinmu.

Zhuang Xinmu didn’t reject it. A boyfriend’s kindness was something that she still had to accept when it was time for her to do so, to say nothing of a mere bowl of seaweed soup.

Seeing that his girlfriend had yet to move her mouth, Wu Zhou said, “Mu Mu, quickly give it a taste. It really is delicious.”

“Mn.” Zhuang Xinmu replied, scooping up a spoonful and bringing it to her mouth.

*Whoosh*

In a flash, the deliciousness swept through her mouth. In reality, Zhuang Xinmu couldn’t cook much. All she was good at was stewing soup, which she learned to make to nourish her boyfriend who frequently had to work overtime. As a result, her first reaction when she saw the golden egg fried rice was that it didn’t have any egg.

Delicious, too delicious.

Now, Zhuang Xinmu felt that the egg fried rice that she had eaten in the past twenty-something years were surely cheap, counterfeit products.

If those weren’t fake, then how could this egg fried rice be so delicious? This was simply a divine existence.

Interpreting it in a certain way, Zhuang Xinmu had truly assumed correctly. This egg fried rice was indeed called a divine-class egg fried rice.

There was still the seaweed soup.

*Fuu*

In a single gulp, she drank almost half of the seaweed soup. This time, she completely understood why her boyfriend had made such a reluctant expression just a moment ago when he said he would let her drink his soup. Because she simply did not want to waste even a drop of the soup right now. When she thought of how she still had another bowl which she could drink from, her joy felt as though it would overflow.

Drinking the seaweed soup and eating the egg fried rice, she understood very well why the pickled radishes, who was not inferior to the two, only had ten-something pieces that she could clearly count. It was normal for such tasty food to be few in number.

With one set meal in her stomach, as well as a bowl of her boyfriend’s seaweed soup and pickled radishes, Zhuang Xinmu felt that her boyfriend really did love her the most. He was willing to part with such delicious food to let her eat it.

Happiness comes at a time when no one notices. Zhuang Xinmu suddenly thought of such a line.

“Next month, you can have four thousand and eat something better, such as this place.” said Zhuang Xinmu heartily.

“But what about buying a house? Wu Zhou was delighted at first, but then he recalled the most important thing in their life and asked hesitantly.

“It’s alright. We’re still young, it won’t hold us up.” Zhuang Xinmu said affectionately while hugging Wu Zhou’s arm.

“Mn. Thank you, Mu Mu, for being willing to wait for me.” Wu Zhou wholeheartedly embraced his girlfriend’s shoulder.

“Mhm! Then give me your soup to drink next time too, alright.” Zhuang Xinmu smiled slyly, like a small fox snatching chickens.

She was a maiden who had been conquered by culinary skill.