Chapter 83 The Gift.

After finishing half a bowl of salted fish and eggplant stew, Lan Jingcheng was satisfied and didn't ask Gu Qingqiu to scoop out any more.

The two chatted for a while longer, and seeing that the shop assistants were almost done tidying up the store, Lan Jingcheng handed the gift bag that she had just placed next to her to Gu Qingqiu: "Qingqiu, this is a gift for you. Try it later and see if you like the taste."

Gu Qingqiu accepted the gift with a smile, very happy: "Thank you, I didn't expect to receive a gift, Jingcheng, you are so thoughtful."

She noticed that the gift bag belonged to a well-known brand and contained a box of 12 bottles of fish maw. The cover prominently displayed the high collagen content.

Lan Jingcheng said, "No, I usually drink this fish maw regularly. It's said to replenish collagen. I eat it for breakfast, afternoon tea, or dinner. I was thinking of bringing a box over for you to try. But seeing how good your complexion is now and how fair your skin is, you don't really need to drink this stuff."

She spoke sincerely in her last sentence. Gu Qingqiu's skin was in really good condition, fair and rosy, and so delicate that you couldn't tell she was someone who cooked in the kitchen every day.

Gu Qingqiu smiled and said, "You flatter me so much that I feel ashamed. Thank you for your fish maw. I will definitely try it out later. Supplementing with more collagen will definitely be beneficial."

Lan Jingcheng smiled and replied, "No need to be polite. Didn't you treat me to a sumptuous lunch? Every dish was especially delicious. I feel so satisfied now. I feel like all the busyness at work and the complicated things in life can be forgiven. My energy and spirit seem to have been restored all at once. I think this meal is even more effective than eating so many bottles of fish maw."

Gu Qingqiu wasn't sure if it was Lan Jingcheng's psychological effect or the tiny bit of spiritual energy in the dishes. Logically speaking, the ingredients should be fresh and nutritious enough, without any impurities. Even with that tiny bit of spiritual energy, one would need to eat Gu's private kitchen dishes continuously to feel any changes in their body. So it was most likely just Lan Jingcheng's psychological effect.

However, energy and spirit are rather mystical and depend entirely on the individual; they can't be judged by conventional standards. She often sees feedback from netizens in the comment sections of Xiaohongshu and Weibo, saying that after eating Gu's Private Kitchen, they feel refreshed, energetic, and less tired at work.

She then said, "I'm so happy that my cooking has such a good effect on you. Please come over for meals often in the future."

Lan Jingcheng nodded: "Don't worry, I'll definitely come over often when I have time. I can enjoy such delicious food and chat with you. I can't miss out on such a worthwhile and enjoyable opportunity."

She thought about her busy work schedule; if she took on several cases at once, she wasn't sure how long she would be busy. When she got busy, she was almost sleeping on a folding bed in the office.

So she asked, "By the way, does your restaurant offer takeout? If so, I can order whenever I want to satisfy my cravings and treat myself to something nice after working so hard."

Gu Qingqiu shook her head: "Our store doesn't offer delivery service. Joining one of the two delivery apps on the market would certainly expand our business, but it's complicated to operate and we'd have to pay commissions, so it's not worth it. My offline business is doing quite well right now, and we're almost overwhelmed with customers. Plus, we don't have enough staff at the store, so we haven't started offering delivery."

"If some customers really want to eat it, they will place an order and ask a delivery person to buy it and deliver it to them. We have encountered quite a few orders that are handled this way since we opened the store."

Lan Jingcheng nodded to indicate that she understood, smiled and said, "Okay, then if I really want to eat it later, I'll place an order and have a delivery person come and buy it for me."

Gu Qingqiu smiled and agreed. After exchanging a few more words, Lan Jingcheng took the initiative to say, "Qingqiu, I won't disturb your rest any longer. I had a very pleasant chat with you today, and thank you for treating me to lunch. I'll come over to visit you again when I have time, or you can contact me whenever you're free."

"Okay, Jingcheng, be careful on your way back. We'll keep in touch." Gu Qingqiu stood up to see her off, then smiled as she remembered the gift, "Thank you for the fish maw too."

After seeing Lan Jingcheng off at the restaurant, the two waved goodbye. Watching her gradually disappear into the distance, Gu Qingqiu smiled and turned back to the restaurant.

Sister Zhou and Sister Tang finished their work, tidied up, smiled and said goodbye, and went home.

Gu Qingqiu nodded: "Okay, you all go back and get some sleep. You've worked hard. See you this afternoon."

"See you this afternoon, boss!"

After Sister Zhou and Sister Tang left, Gu Qingqiu closed the wooden door, took her phone in one hand and carried the ready-to-eat fish maw given to her by Lan Jingcheng in the other, and went upstairs.

She first turned on the air conditioner in the room, then changed into a set of pajamas. Instead of lying down on the bed as usual, she sat at her desk and opened the ready-to-eat fish maw gift box that Lan Jingcheng had given her.

Perhaps she was excited from chatting with old classmates and friends, or perhaps she was happy to receive an unexpected gift; she is not sleepy or tired at all now.

The gift box is dark blue, and the brand name on it looks shiny and high-end. It also introduces that the fish maw has undergone physical impact from flash freezing. Then there are three circles showing that each bottle contains 3300mg of natural collagen and 50g of natural elastin, and it is sugar-free.

Opening the box, there were twelve bottles of ready-to-eat fish maw in four flavors, neatly arranged. Next to it was a long, light blue box. Gu Qingqiu opened the small box first and looked inside. Inside was a plastic spoon used when eating the ready-to-eat fish maw.

She closed the box and put it back, then started studying the flavors. There were four flavors in total: Astragalus Apple, Solomon's Seal Pear, Red Date and Longan, and Sugar-Free Original. The bottles were all uniform blue-capped white glass bottles, with only the bottles sharing the four colors of paper strips (yellow, blue, green, and pink) and the flavor names written on them to distinguish the different flavors.

There was also an instruction manual, which Gu Qingqiu opened and read. It mainly said that these ready-to-eat fish maws are best stored at 3 degrees Celsius and should be taken out and eaten after refrigeration. They can also be heated in 60-degree warm water in the bottle before eating.

After reading the instructions, she closed the gift box, took it to the kitchen, reopened the lid, took out all 12 bottles of ready-to-eat fish maw, arranged them in the refrigerator's crisper drawer, and then went back to her room to rest.

In the afternoon, Gu Qingqiu prepared the dishes as usual. When it was time for the restaurant to open in the evening, wave after wave of customers came to dine. There were still many people queuing outside the restaurant, making it very lively.

They were busy until almost eight o'clock before the three of them finally found a table in the dining area to sit down and eat.

Dinner was the same as lunch, with the same dishes, but everyone enjoyed it.

Sister Zhou and Sister Tang never get tired of the food at their restaurant. Don't you see how many people travel from far away just to eat this meal? And this is their work meal, it's free!

Besides, the menu changes daily, so it's just two meals a day, lunch and dinner, which is no problem at all. In fact, being able to eat your favorite dishes a second time in the evening is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Gu Qingqiu had even less of this worry. She loved eating the meat dishes she made herself, and while enjoying the delicious meat dishes, she felt proud of herself.

After finishing their meal, Sister Zhou and Sister Tang went about their own business, while Gu Qingqiu went to the restaurant to get some fresh air, leaned against the door frame, checked her phone for a while, and then went on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book).

I was busy chatting with Lan Jingcheng at noon, and after going upstairs to take care of the gift, I took a nap. I woke up in the afternoon, drank some water to catch my breath, and have been busy ever since. I haven't had time to check the feedback from netizens after posting today's notes.

She clicked into Xiaohongshu, first clicking off the 99+ likes, follows, and comments in the message section, which made it look much better. Then she clicked into the homepage to see the comment section of today's post, which was also very lively.

[Newbie here: Hehehe, I successfully checked in at Gu's Private Kitchen today. The meal felt like a gourmet feast, no less than those five-star hotels, and it was very delicious!]

To be honest, when I think of fish head soup, I usually think of fish head and tofu soup. I think Gu's Private Kitchen used to serve this dish, but today's is gastrodia elata fish head soup, which is also particularly delicious. The soup made from simmering fish head is milky white, rich, and fragrant, with a fresh and flavorful taste. Gastrodia elata mainly adds a sweet and fragrant flavor to the soup, giving it a slightly sweet taste. There are also some other medicinal herbs, and the soup is very mellow and fragrant when simmered together.

Today they also had braised pig's trotters with sand ginger. I tried this dish because I regretted missing the braised pig's trotters before, and it was really amazing! The pig's trotters were fatty but not greasy, tender and fragrant, and the pig skin was chewy and sticky with a bit of gelatinous texture. It felt like it was full of collagen. With a hint of the spicy aroma of sand ginger, the pig's trotters were not so greasy. It was very good with rice when eaten with the sauce.

The sesame chicken is also very fragrant. Cut into pieces, it's easy to eat. The skin is crispy and slightly caramelized, while the meat inside is tender and juicy. The sesame aroma accompanies every bite of the chicken, making it a very flavorful dish and a perfect accompaniment to rice. Of course, there's an even more rice-friendly dish: salted fish and eggplant stew!

The salted fish itself is very salty and fragrant, with a hint of plum flavor. It has a chewy texture, allowing you to taste the individual strands of fish. The eggplant, soaked in the savory sauce, is tender and flavorful, and absolutely delicious with rice. At the bottom of the pot, there's plenty of minced meat, also savory and flavorful, with the aroma of salted fish and the fresh fragrance of eggplant. Scoop a spoonful into a bowl, mix it with rice, and it tastes even better than fried rice!

The braised lettuce with water and oil is also very good. It tastes like a healthier option with less oil and salt. The lettuce is very refreshing and crisp, which is great for people who are trying to lose weight. It feels like it can scrape away all the oil from the dishes I ate before, such as the braised pork knuckle with sand ginger, sesame chicken, and salted fish and eggplant stew!

Hehe, overall I had a great time with my friends. This meal was absolutely worth the money, it was such a bargain! I'll definitely go back to Jiang City to eat again whenever I have time!

Gastrodia elata and fish head soup.jpg; Sand ginger baked pork trotters.jpg; Sesame chicken.jpg; Salted fish and eggplant stew.jpg; Braised lettuce in water and oil.jpg

[Can you please stop being so forgetful?: Today's dishes were absolutely amazing, still so delicious! I almost ate my way to the top! We ordered Gastrodia elata fish head soup, braised pork trotters with sand ginger, sesame chicken, and braised lettuce in oil and broth. Although I really wanted to try the salted fish and eggplant stew, I didn't dare order too much since I felt the three of us couldn't finish it. All the dishes we ordered were incredibly delicious. The fish soup was very sweet and flavorful, the pork trotters had a wonderful blend of the spicy and savory aromas of sand ginger, and were tender and delicious. The sesame chicken was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the lettuce was very crisp. We finished everything!]

Another lucky little incident: we only realized that a friend of ours had lost her gold bracelet after we left Suli Street. We searched all the way back but couldn't find it. We took a chance and went back to Gu's Private Kitchen to ask the staff if they had seen it. To our surprise, they actually had!

I would like to thank the customer of Gu's Private Kitchen who picked up my friend's dropped gold bracelet. If you hadn't entrusted the bracelet to the restaurant staff for safekeeping, it probably wouldn't have been found by the time we got back. (bows)

Gastrodia elata and fish head soup.jpg; Sand ginger baked pork trotters.jpg; Sesame chicken.jpg; Braised lettuce in oil.jpg; Lost and found gold bracelet.jpg

[Sleep Relieves All Worries: I'm so happy to have eaten at Gu's Private Kitchen today! It was just as delicious as the online reviews suggested, which was a pleasant surprise! The fish soup was very flavorful, and the combination of pork trotters and sand ginger was simply divine. The pork trotters were cooked until tender and savory, with the spiciness of the sand ginger balancing out any potential greasiness. It was the kind of pork trotters I could easily eat several pieces of at once. The sesame chicken was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the salted fish and eggplant stew was undoubtedly a rice-eating machine. My friends and I each ate one or two bowls of rice (covering mouth and giggling.gif)]

Moreover, the restaurant had a great atmosphere. Although there were no private rooms and it was all dine-in service with only seven tables, everyone enjoyed their meal. The customers waiting outside were also very polite, and the staff provided warm and attentive service.

While packing, I received a stylish takeout bag that I'd been eyeing online for ages. I almost got into a fight with my friend over it (just kidding!), haha. In the end, I got it, and I'll be using it to bring my lunch to work from now on. I'll definitely be eating at Gu's Private Kitchen more often!

Gastrodia elata and fish head soup.jpg; Sand ginger baked pork trotters.jpg; Sesame chicken.jpg; Salted fish and eggplant stew.jpg; Braised lettuce in water and oil.jpg; Pretty takeout bag.jpg

Gu Qingqiu couldn't help but laugh when she saw the sentence "fighting with her friend over this takeout bag". Her first thought was, why not ask the clerk to get two more so that she and her friend could each have one?

She clicked on the sub-thread and saw that among the comments of "hahahahaha", "laughing to death", and "OP, you're so funny", some netizens had expressed the same thoughts as her.

The netizen who said "sleeping solves all worries" also replied to the other party.

[Sleep solves all worries: Uh... I just didn't think of it at the time (my brain suddenly stopped working), and besides, the bag I snatched is definitely prettier (cat proudly hands on hips.gif)]

After reading it, Gu Qingqiu couldn't help but nod. Okay, she accepted the netizen's explanation. Perhaps this was just a little fun between her and her friends.

The netizen mentioned losing her gold bracelet earlier, and Sister Zhou had also told her about it. She said that luckily, the customer who found the gold bracelet was honest and returned it to her. She was originally thinking that if the owner didn't come back to claim it today, she would ask her to post it on the official account. Fortunately, the owner came to claim it in time and was very happy and kept thanking her.

Gu Qingqiu only found out about this late; otherwise, she would have definitely told Sister Zhou to give the honest customer a discount as encouragement.

Although the store has security cameras, and the customer said that the footage could be reviewed after the bracelet was lost, it would still be a bit troublesome. If someone else had taken the bracelet, a police report would have been filed, which would have caused a lot of trouble. Thanks to this customer's honesty in returning the lost item, so much trouble was avoided and everyone was happy. Of course, the customer who found the bracelet and handed it over to Sister Zhou should also be happy.

After listening to Sister Zhou's story, she asked Sister Zhou if she remembered what the honest customer looked like. Sister Zhou said she did. Gu Qingqiu instructed her that if she encountered this customer again next time she came to dine, she should give him a 20% discount as a way of thanking him for his honesty.

Sister Zhou was a little surprised when she heard this, but she smiled and nodded in agreement: "Okay, boss, don't worry, I will definitely remember that customer's face. If she comes to dine again, I will give her a 20% discount when she pays the bill."

She was quite confident about this. Generally, unless they came all the way from another province to Jiang City to eat at her restaurant, they would come back for another meal or two after tasting these delicious meat dishes.

All I need to do is carefully remember that customer's face and promptly honor the discount the boss instructed me to give when the customer comes back to dine.

Gu Qingqiu then browsed the comments section, interacting with some of the more witty comments before exiting and checking the messages to see if there were any important messages from strangers that needed replying.

Most of the messages were from netizens expressing their love and anticipation for their own restaurant, praising her cooking skills. Some said that after eating at Gu's Private Kitchen, they couldn't stop thinking about it, and they couldn't stand eating food from other restaurants anymore, no matter how good it was.

Gu Qingqiu watched and laughed, marveling at how enthusiastic and lively the customers at her restaurant were.

There were no important messages that needed replying, so she exited Xiaohongshu and went to check the comment sections of the posts she had made on Weibo that day, picking out some comments to reply to.

After the interaction was over, Gu Qingqiu breathed a sigh of relief, put away her phone, and went into the restaurant, having completed her daily task.

Don't be fooled by the fact that replying to messages and comments seems simple. In reality, it took more than half an hour to reply to both platforms. Sister Zhou and Sister Tang were almost finished with their own tasks and were wrapping things up.

After they finished their work, Gu Qingqiu smiled and said, "You've all worked hard today, go back and get some rest."

Sister Zhou and Sister Tang smiled and nodded in agreement, saying, "Boss, you should get some rest too," before carrying the kitchen waste away together.

After closing and locking the wooden door of the restaurant, as well as the doors and windows of the dining area and the kitchen, Gu Qingqiu went upstairs to her room to rest.

The next morning, after making a phone call to order groceries for the day from her room, Gu Qingqiu changed her clothes and went to the kitchen first.

She took the iron pot and placed it on the stove. She then filled the pot with water from the kettle until it was about five-tenths full, and then turned on the stove.

Gu Qingqiu refilled the kettle with water and put it on the kettle base to boil. She then went over, opened the refrigerator, took out two eggs, and looked at the ready-to-eat fish maw arranged in four rows according to flavor on the crisper drawer. After thinking for a moment, she decided to take the most basic sugar-free flavor.

The bottle of ready-to-eat fish maw was quite cold just from holding the glass bottle. She put it on the dining table to warm it up for the time being. She put the two eggs in her hand into the pot. The water in the pot was gradually bubbling and boiling, just enough to cover the eggs. After covering the pot with the lid, she turned around and went to the bathroom to wash up.

When Gu Qingqiu returned after washing up, the eggs in the pot were already cooked. She lifted the lid, took a clean bowl, scooped out two hot eggs with a large ladle and put them in the bowl. She then took the bowl to the sink (which is also the dishwashing sink) and turned on the tap to rinse the eggs several times before emptying the water from the bowl and placing it on the dining table.

Instead of sitting down, she went back to the kitchen, poured half a cup of freshly boiled hot water into her glass, and then poured half a cup of cold water from the kettle to mix it into the glass to make warm water. Only then did she take the glass back to the dining table.

Gu Qingqiu first drank half a cup of warm water, then peeled and ate two eggs.

She picked up the bottle of ready-to-eat fish maw from the table and looked at it. It was a little cool to the touch, but much better than when it was first taken out of the refrigerator.

Gu Qingqiu unscrewed the bottle cap and heard a click from inside. She remembered seeing a note in the instructions yesterday that said, "If the safety lock in the bottle floats to the surface, do not consume it." This was probably the sound of the safety lock.

She brought the bottle closer to her nose and smelled it; it smelled milky. Realizing she'd forgotten her spoon, she got up and went to open the refrigerator to get the disposable spoon she'd casually slipped in yesterday, intending to try it out as a set.

Sitting back down at the table, Gu Qingqiu used a spoon to scoop a spoonful of juice from the small glass bottle and drank it. It was creamy and tasted like milk, but it wasn't very thick. It was quite sweet, like sugar water, and it was icy cold with a slight stickiness.

She used a spoon to scoop deep into the bottle cap, scooping up a large piece of fish maw. Then, all that was left in the bottle was the sugar water.

Gu Qingqiu decided to eat the large piece of fish maw first. It was soft, chewy, and icy cold, with a bit of a chewy texture, but once you bit into it, you could feel what it meant to melt in your mouth.

And just as the advertisement on the gift box I saw yesterday said, the physical removal of the fishy smell meant I didn't taste much of the fish maw's fishy smell, leaving only a soft, sweet, and fragrant taste.

After eating the large pieces of fish maw, Gu Qingqiu scooped up spoonfuls of the syrup from the bottle and drank it, savoring its milky sweetness and the slightly gelatinous texture of the fish maw.

If you accidentally spill a little sugar water on your hand, you can feel the stickiness. My mother used to make fish maw soup around the Double Ninth Festival, and it also had this texture. After eating it, my mouth felt quite sticky.

After finishing a bottle of ready-to-eat fish maw, Gu Qingqiu felt quite satisfied. She thought it would be great to start her day with such a sweet, delicious, and nutritious breakfast.

She threw away the empty bottle and spoon along with the peeled eggshells, then poured out the water in the pot and rinsed it under the tap.

Seeing that it was still early, Gu Qingqiu quickly cleaned the second floor before taking her phone downstairs to pull a cart and go out to buy groceries.

Everything went smoothly in the days that followed, and business continued to boom. Gu Qingqiu would go to the market every day to buy the ingredients according to the menu she had prepared the night before, and then return to the restaurant to prepare and cook dishes to serve customers.

She was hoping to find a vegetable cutter soon who could also accompany her to shop and help carry the ingredients back. She finally found a suitable candidate on a job fair and invited them for an interview. However, she had to turn them down after the interview.

Gu Qingqiu felt that she could lower her expectations in terms of cooking skills. After all, being a vegetable cutter and purchasing agent didn't require much cooking skill, and she could gradually develop those skills even if she wanted to become a chef in the future.

However, this applicant claimed to be able to do everything during the online interview, but when they arrived on site, they couldn't do anything. I don't expect them to be a great cook, but their vegetable-cutting skills should at least be above average. As a result, the meat they cut was uneven, thick and thin, and the carrots they cut were more like chunks than shreds, all crooked and unsightly.

Gu Qingqiu had no choice but to refuse the other party and continue to wait for the next applicant to arrive.

Before that, we need to pay Sister Zhou and Sister Tang their June salaries.

The restaurant business has been excellent this month, with revenue increasing by 20% compared to May, and profits have also increased.

Looking at the amount on the bill, Gu Qingqiu smiled with satisfaction, feeling that life was worth looking forward to, and that making money brought happiness.

As usual, she went through the process, saved the bills for the month, and also prepared Zhou Jie and Tang Jie's pay slips. She went upstairs to print them out, then brought them down for them to check.

Sister Zhou was still shocked when she saw her payslip for another month: "Boss...is my salary a bit too much?"

Last month's salary was already high enough, but this month's salary is even higher than last month's.

Sister Tang was also surprised and hurriedly asked, "Yes, boss, it seems I gave you too much too."

From the day she was hired to work at the restaurant, she calculated how much she could earn each day and how much she could earn by the end of the month, but no matter how she calculated it, it was never that much.

Gu Qingqiu smiled and explained, "There should be no mistake. You two have both been added to the full attendance bonus this month. In addition, you will be paid triple wages on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. Also, you worked hard on the day you made the zongzi, so I gave you a bonus."

Looking at the extra amounts in the attendance and bonus columns, and the triple pay for the Dragon Boat Festival, Sister Zhou realized there was definitely no mistake.

She was both surprised and delighted. She knew from the last paycheck that her boss was generous, even strictly following the welfare standards of some state-owned enterprises. Refusing now would have been just politeness; who doesn't love money?

Sister Zhou smiled and replied, "I see, thank you, boss. I'm so looking forward to getting a surprise every month when I receive my salary!"

Tang Jie also realized that she was surprised to find that she could get full attendance bonus as a part-time worker. Moreover, the boss even included the time she spent helping out in advance in the calculation of the working hours.

She was both happy and uneasy about taking the money, so she honestly said, "Boss, how about you just keep the daily working hours as agreed before, four hours? If you calculate it too much, I won't feel at ease taking it. I come to help out voluntarily, after all, I eat and drink well here."

Gu Qingqiu smiled and said, "It's alright, I'll just keep it this way. Sister Tang, you've worked very hard here and helped me a lot, so just accept it without worry."

Seeing the boss's firm stance, Sister Tang smiled and nodded in relief, saying, "Okay, thank you, boss!"

Gu Qingqiu encouraged them: "You've all worked hard this month, go back and get some rest. In July, with the summer vacation, business should be even better, and we might be busier then. Let's all keep up the good work."

Sister Zhou and Sister Tang received unexpected wages, which made them full of energy. They both said that being busy was okay, as good business was the key, and they would work hard.

Gu Qingqiu smiled and agreed. After they left, she closed the doors and windows and went up to the second floor. Standing by the window, she looked at the night view outside. The tall buildings in the distance were brightly lit, and she could vaguely hear the cheerful laughter coming from the low buildings near Suli Street.

With the moon and stars shining brightly, she was also looking forward to the arrival of July.