Having finished his wash and returned, Li Yifei took the towel given to him by the shop owner and dried his upper body. He wrung his pants a few tis, jumped around outside a bit to shake off the water, then sunbathed for two more minutes before turning back inside. This ti, he no longer slled of fish, and Li Yifei felt much better; after all, he wasn’t soone who enjoyed being ssy, especially since he’d grown accustod to comfort in recent years, becoming a bit finicky.
Sitting at his seat, Li Yifei smiled at Chen Junxiao and said, "Are you feeling hot?"
"Uncle, I’m not hot!"
"Alright, if you do feel hot, you can go wash your face; the water is quite cool," Li Yifei said.
Chen Junxiao grinned, shaking his head.
The woman sat elegantly, quietly watching Li Yifei and Chen Junxiao talk, until Li Yifei raised his head to look at her and said, "Thank you today for decisively buying my fish; it made us a big profit!"
"You’re welco!" the woman said.
Looking at the beautiful woman who was younger than him, or maybe much younger, Li Yifei reminded her: "When we leave, rember the fish is still there; it’d be best for your family to take care of it, otherwise it’ll go bad!"
"No worries, soone will handle it," the woman replied.
"Mm!" Li Yifei nodded; the room suddenly fell silent, and the woman didn’t speak either. When the al was brought over, Li Yifei finally knew what the woman had ordered: a large plate of sliced beef, four ticulously prepared small dishes, and a big bowl of noodles with a small bowl of various condints and seasonings nearby. There were more than a dozen items, showing how exquisite it was. Li Yifei and Chen Junxiao each had four small dishes and a large plate of beef.
"Boss, you’re really generous. I thought she ordered a bowl of noodles, just one dish, and here you brought three with beef and sides..." Li Yifei couldn’t help but say.
The boss grinned, saying, "No problem, no problem, take your ti eating; call if you need more. Miss usually eats like this!" Thinking inwardly, if I don’t serve you this way, how can I tolerate you dirty folk eating from the sa plates as the miss?
Seeing the disdain in the boss’s eyes, Li Yifei guessed what the boss was thinking voluntarily. He said a line out of goodwill, but with the boss like this, damn it, he might as well eat.
Having been busy all morning, Li Yifei and Chen Junxiao were starving. The sll of noodles and at made them drool endlessly. For Chen Junxiao, this much at... she hadn’t seen in years. Even during New Year, it had been many years since she’d eaten at her uncle’s house. He mostly sent her dumplings, so food, even on New Year’s. So the sight of at awakened her genetic craving for it.
Li Yifei also craved at; his body wasn’t completely recovered, and after being busy all morning, he was naturally eager to replenish with food, especially this much beef, high in protein, and rich in nutrition. Li Yifei wished he could eat it all.
The woman opposite picked up chopsticks, scooping so noodles from the large bowl into a small bowl, slowly mixing various seasonings. Li Yifei first helped Chen Junxiao blend hers, and then grasped a few seasonings, pouring so down, stirring with chopsticks, saying to the woman across, "I’ll start eating first; I haven’t had breakfast, really hungry!"
The woman nodded, continuing to elegantly mix the seasonings, while Chen Junxiao also said, "Sister, I’ll eat too; this slls too good!"
"Go ahead!" the woman replied.
A large bowl of noodles, Li Yifei seed to take only two or three minutes to finish. With chopsticks swirled in the bowl, a lift brought it to his mouth, chewing a few bites before swallowing. anwhile, the woman had only taken a small bite, hearing Li Yifei’s sound of drinking soup. She raised her head to see Li Yifei putting down the bowl, swallowing a sip of soup, so red chili oil on his lips, then taking a napkin to wipe his mouth, saying, "Satisfying, the spice is invigorating."
"You eat... quite fast!" the woman said. She enjoyed spicy food, a specialty of this noodle shop, but not pure spice—a blend with flavor, spicy but quickly leaving a lasting impression. However, Li Yifei finishing a bowl so fast left the woman a bit shocked; he ate too quickly, yet didn’t seem bothered by the spice and even said it was satisfying...
"Want another bowl?" the woman raised an eyebrow and asked.
Li Yifei nodded, "I’ll go get it myself, you all continue eating."
With that, he took a bite of beef, chewed a few tis, swallowed, and stood up to go out and find the boss to order more noodles.
Chen Junxiao knew Li Yifei’s appetite, so as he stepped out, the little girl couldn’t help but explain, "Uncle... eats a bit more!"
"Is he your real uncle?" the woman asked.
Chen Junxiao pursed her lips, shook her head, "Not my real uncle!"
With no more questions, the woman continued eating noodles slowly, and when Li Yifei returned, he finished off everything on the plate—the dishes and beef—finally felt his stomach sowhat satisfied, seeing Chen Junxiao didn’t eat much beef. He said, "Feel free to eat, we made money today, we can afford to eat more; we’ll eat it every day from now on!"
"Uncle, I’ve eaten a lot. Can’t eat too much at, otherwise it won’t digest well!" Chen Junxiao said.
"Indeed, but this beef sauce is very tasty, probably due to a few dicinal ingredients, which must be the secret recipe," Li Yifei said, startling the just-arrived owner, wondering how he managed to know the secret ingredients and even na them accurately...
The small shop is popular precisely because the noodles have a secret recipe, including the sauced beef and other dishes, all made with unique formulas. How does this bare-chested man know?
"Are those the dicinal ingredients?" the woman put down her chopsticks, wiped her mouth, and asked the owner.
The owner looked a bit embarrassed but nodded, saying, "Those are indeed the ingredients..."
"Don’t worry, I don’t want them!" the woman declared, which allowed the owner to finally breathe a sigh of relief, saying, "This gentleman is really impressive, being able to taste them, are you in the dicinal herb industry?"
"No, you added too many herbs today, the flavor is too strong. Although the spiciness covers it up, anyone with sensitive taste buds can tell there are several dicinal flavors," Li Yifei explained.
Listening to Li Yifei’s words, the owner wiped his sweat and nodded, saying, "You are really quite remarkable!"
"All right, I won’t take your secret recipe, you don’t need to worry!" Li Yifei waved his hand, suggesting the owner could leave. The owner grinned, only to hear Li Yifei continue, "How about giving a discount on today’s noodles, would that be fair?"
"Huh?" The owner was imdiately stunned and then quickly rembered that today Li Yifei was treating guests. He hurriedly said, "Mister, you’re overthinking it. Miss always eats for free here, even if she offers to pay, I wouldn’t accept it."
"So, I don’t need to treat her?" Li Yifei inquired.
The owner nodded, but the woman suddenly chid in, "Since you’re offering to treat, go ahead, give him a discount, he earned quite a bit from today."
The owner heard this and widened his eyes, thinking that earning money from Miss is really not easy, given her status, anyone doing business with her deals in millions or even tens of millions.
Of course, the owner couldn’t have dread that today’s business was only fourteen hundred and ninety-five yuan.
Li Yifei was unreserved; since he was treating, why not eat more? Even if he consud all the earnings from today, it was perfectly fine since he was enjoying the food, wasn’t he?
When the three finished eating, Li Yifei saw that his dishes were empty, but the woman had barely touched her noodles, beef, and side dishes, and shook his head, saying, "Why didn’t you eat more? It’s such a waste."
Chen Junxiao hadn’t eaten much either; the young girl was used to being hungry, but today, under Li Yifei’s persuasion, she ate vigorously but still couldn’t eat much, so her portion ended up in Li Yifei’s stomach.
The woman frowned slightly, listening to Li Yifei’s sowhat reprimanding tone, obviously unaccustod to it, but instead of getting upset, she pushed the noodle bowl towards him, saying, "If you’re still hungry, you can eat."
The woman had eaten her noodles from a small bowl, so the large bowl was still clean. So Li Yifei responded, "Okay, then I’ll eat it. We shouldn’t waste food, right, little girl?"
This was clearly directed at Chen Junxiao, who nodded firmly, saying, "Every grain in the dish represents hard work!"
"Exactly, so wait a while for Uncle to finish it all," Li Yifei said.
The owner happened to co in, saw Li Yifei standing up to take Miss’s noodle bowl, and couldn’t help but gape, then quickly said, "Mister, you’re still hungry? In that case, I’ll make another bowl."
"No need, I’m full, but seeing leftovers makes my heart ache. Don’t worry about it, just get the bill. Oh, and your sauced beef is quite good, pack five pounds for to take away!" Li Yifei waved his hand.
The owner’s eyes darted as he nodded, "Alright, I’ll go cut the beef."
When leaving, the owner probably thought to himself that he must have been mistaken today; how could Miss allow such a sloppy man to eat her noodles... well, this would never actually happen.
If the woman had directly eaten from the large bowl, Li Yifei wouldn’t have been able to eat her noodles. But fishing them out was okay, so Li Yifei ate a few pieces, wiped his mouth, and finally felt truly full. He found a plastic bag and packed the remaining beef from the plate into it, along with a few other dishes.
The owner returned carrying the packed beef, saw the scene, and his mouth twitched again, only to hear Li Yifei say, "How much in total?"
The beef totaled over seven pounds. Since it was cut for Miss, it was certainly generous in portion and the best parts, so it costs more than fifty per pound, totaling over three hundred, almost four hundred, plus the noodles and side dishes, making this al nearly seven hundred.
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