Chapter 21
Zhao Yu opened his eyes dazedly and heard a vague noise coming from downstairs.
The room with the curtains drawn was dark. As the sun set, a faint orange light shone through the gaps in the curtains.
Did she sleep for so long?
Zhao Yu stretched himself and felt his cheeks were burning from sleep and his whole body was warm.
She couldn't remember how long it had been since she had such a sound sleep.
Take a hot bath, fill your stomach, and sleep comfortably in a heated room with soft bedding until you wake up naturally. Is there anything better in the world than this?
...Of course!
Zhao Yu jumped out of bed, ran to the next door and knocked on the door frantically to wake up Song Wei, "Get up! Let's go have dinner!"
Song Wei, who came to open the door, had her eyes closed and her short hair flying. It was obvious that she had also slept for the whole afternoon.
She yawned, her eyes half-closed. "Dinner?"
"Yes! The restaurant is probably ready!" Zhao Yukuang nodded, his eyes sparkling, "I can smell the fragrance."
Sure enough, there was a mouth-watering smell wafting through the corridor.
Song Wei immediately perked up, "Let's go!"
The two sisters walked downstairs hand in hand to find food, but halfway down the stairs they stopped.
Zhao Yu looked at the big "Second Floor" sign that appeared in front of him after he went down one flight of stairs in a daze, and thought he was seeing things.
How come the second floor where they originally lived became the third floor? ?
"Look there." Song Wei gestured.
Zhao Yu noticed belatedly that there was an extra double glass door next to the staircase.
There was a sign on the door:
【Daily business hours:
Breakfast: 8:00~10:00
Lunch: 12:00~14:00
Dinner: 17:00~20:00】
The restaurant was crowded with people. Many people had already taken their seats. In the corner there was a group of people standing together, and no one knew what they were doing.
Zhao Yu and Song Wei glanced at the business hours and hurried over.
I just ran into Shu Mo standing outside the crowd.
"Boss." Zhao Yu greeted him. "I saw the business hours posted outside. Can't you change it to open all day? I want to eat outside of business hours too!"
"I also want to be open all day." Shu Mo said with a bitter face.
Unlike restaurants and hot springs, waiters are required to be on call at all times during business hours, which takes up a lot of manpower. She had no choice but to save manpower by controlling business hours.
——Although she was planning to go to Guangming Town to recruit workers in a few days, new employees meant building new dormitories, which cost a lot of money... no, points. Shu Mo had to save money in every way.
Her efforts did not end there.
Shu Mo pointed to the crowded long table in the corner and introduced it to Zhao Yu and Song Wei, "The food is on the table. You can take whatever you need. You know how to pay. I will serve more food after the current dishes are gone. Don't worry."
Shu Mo had a good plan. She prepared some meals in advance and let customers take them by themselves with their trays. She would then collect the trays at the door. This way, she could minimize what the waiter had to do - she only had to restock the dishes after they were all gone.
The reason why only seven dishes were selected was to avoid waste. After all, this method requires preparing food in advance. Some dishes may be more popular, while others may be ignored, and no one can predict how much will be left in the end.
The gaming backpack was not insulated, so the unconsumed meals had to be thrown away, which was a pity, so Shu Mo wanted to avoid waste as much as possible.
Starting tomorrow, she plans to divide the meals into three categories: breakfast, lunch and dinner, and only provide three to five items in each time period.
...After hearing Shu Mo's words, Zhao Yu quickly put aside her regret about the restaurant not being open all day, and rushed to queue up like a female warrior rushing to the battlefield.
Song Wei followed with a smile.
Several different hot dishes were neatly arranged on the table, covered with transparent heat-insulating lids, which were covered with a layer of steam.
There is a price tag in front of each one.
【Rice: 5 points/bowl】
【Braised spareribs: 30 points/portion】
【Stir-fried pork with pepper: 25 points/portion】
【Tomato scrambled eggs: 20 points/portion】
【Cream of Mushroom Soup: 20 points/serving】
【Barley tea: 5 points/cup】
【Portuguese egg tarts: 10 points/piece】
"Braised spare ribs!!!" Song Wei was completely unable to remain calm.
Zhao Yu also swallowed his saliva unconsciously, "Egg tarts! I remember my mother often bought them for me when I was little."
The taste she thought she had long forgotten emerged from the depths of her memory when she saw the golden egg tarts.
Song Wei made a quick decision, "Buy one of each! We can share them."
"good!"
The dishes sold in the restaurant are of moderate size. One person can definitely be full if he orders two dishes plus a bowl of rice, and there may even be some left over. Three dishes plus dessert are just right for two people.
Not only Song Wei and Zhao Yu, most of the other guests also ordered one of each. When they left, their plates were full and they swayed with every step.
There was one person who came alone. Shu Mo was afraid that he would waste money, so he wanted to persuade him, but he shook his head firmly.
He said with a fearless expression, "Boss, don't worry, I will eat it all even if I die of stuffing!"
Shu Mo: “…”
All right.
Song Wei clicked on the dishes, and a pop-up window popped up in front of her, prompting her to check the type and quantity of dishes she wanted.
She ordered two portions each of rice, cream soup, egg tarts, and barley tea, and after clicking [Continue], the payment page appeared.
[Consumed: 155 points]
【Received: 155 points】
Shu Mo's screen was bombarded with payment information from the very beginning. In order to prevent it from blocking her vision, she had to change the pop-up window to voice reminder mode.
The emotionless female voice repeated in her ear "XXX points have been collected", which made her think of a rich roommate in the dormitory. That roommate’s family owns a shop, and every day her cell phone is diligently shouting “Receive XX yuan via ZhiXbao”, which makes her extremely envious.
Things change over time. She never expected that one day she would get to enjoy such treatment.
And Shu Mo actually found it a little annoying.
She figured it wouldn't be long before she switched back to "don't remind me" mode.
...happy troubles.
After payment is completed, the transparent cover pops open automatically.
With the game system supervising, customers can only take the food they have paid for, and Shu Mo doesn't need to bother watching over them.
The tempting aroma, which could not be concealed even if it was covered tightly, spread out as soon as the lid was opened.
The pungent spicy taste of the stir-fried pork, the sour taste of tomatoes, the rich aroma of the braised spareribs, the sweet scent of egg tarts, and the aroma of freshly steamed rice...all these mixed together make people salivate.
From the moment he found the Nuannuan Hot Spring that night, Zhao Yu felt that the happiest moment in his life was constantly being refreshed.
They each took a dinner plate and put the delicious food on it.
When the last plate was taken away, the transparent cover closed automatically. Zhao Yu followed Song Wei, carefully maintaining balance while looking for a suitable seat.
"This looks like a cafeteria." Song Wei muttered as she looked around.
"Canteen? What's that?" Zhao Yu saw an empty table by the window and said, "Let's sit there."
"Our high school cafeteria was like this before, with various windows selling different meals, and students had to pick up their own meals on trays," Song Wei explained. "The dean would occasionally come on patrol and scold students who wasted food. He was very fierce."
She looked at the bustling restaurant in front of her, recalling her carefree high school life with a smile on her lips.
In those days, the aunties in the cafeteria always served so much food that the students could not finish it, but they usually filled their bags with all kinds of snacks. They also asked day students to secretly bring in snacks from outside. In order to avoid being short of food, they had to find ways to escape the eyes of the dean of studies and pour the leftovers into the泔水桶.
After the end of the world, Song Wei felt heartbroken whenever she thought of the bowls of food that were thrown away.
Who would have thought that the home-cooked dishes that I once "disdained" would become the thing I miss most in the end times.
The two sat down by the window and put the food on the table. Zhao Yu couldn't wait to pick up the bamboo chopsticks, picked up a piece of braised pork ribs and put it on the rice.
Song Wei didn't rush to pick up the dishes, but took a big mouthful of white rice first.
The rice was steamed to perfection, each grain was crystal clear and plump, soft and glutinous with a hint of sweetness. After Song Wei chewed it twice, her mouth was full of rice fragrance, and she quickly put two more chopsticks into her mouth.
She doesn't even need any side dishes, she can eat half a bowl of hot rice!
Zhao Yu couldn't understand Song Wei's love for rice. She couldn't take her eyes off the meat.
The ribs are golden and reddish brown in color and are neatly arranged on the plate. The oily and thick sauce flows to the bottom of the plate, giving off a fragrant aroma.
Zhao Yu tried to pick up the spareribs with chopsticks and put them into her mouth, but since she had been eating canned food with a spoon since she was six years old, chopsticks were not very handy for her. It was okay to pick up something as thin as shredded meat, but it was a bit difficult for her to hold the spareribs steadily and chew them in different directions.
After several attempts, Zhao Yu simply threw down his chopsticks and started eating.
She grabbed the ribs, took a big bite, and her eyes widened instantly, "Wow! So delicious!!"
The ribs were stewed until soft but not mushy, and very tasty. The tip of the teeth sank into the tender meat, easily removing the meat from the bones. The fried layer of sugar-colored sauce was salty and slightly sweet, with a delicate taste. After chewing it twice, the full meat and sauce aroma overflowed between the teeth, leaving an endless aftertaste.
Zhao Yu finished a piece in just a few bites, licking the sticky sauce off his fingertips without caring about his image, and then picked up another piece with chopsticks and continued to eat.
During this time, she also took a bite of rice with chopsticks, and finally understood why Song Wei kept holding the bowl and eating.
The spare ribs only stayed in the bowl for a while before the sauce seeped into the rice, wrapping the shiny rice grains. While being saturated with the aroma of the meat, it could not cover up the sweetness of the rice.
After eating half a bowl of rice with the spare ribs, Zhao Yu took a wet towel from the table to wipe his hands, and looked at the other dishes on the table with an unsatisfied look.
When she looked at it again, she realized that half of the plate of stir-fried pork with peppers had been gone!
Zhao Yu immediately looked at Song Wei.
The next second, she was seen eagerly reaching out for her chopsticks again.
"Is this dish so delicious?" Zhao Yu looked at her empty bowl and opened her mouth wide.
This bowl of rice is steaming! Zhao Yu felt that he would be full after eating just one bowl of that amount.
Song Wei is not one of those who can eat spicy food. The skin around her mouth turned red from the spiciness. She took a deep breath and reached out to pick up the food without hesitation. She nodded vigorously when she heard the words, "Absolutely!"
"You'll know if you try it. It goes really well with rice. I think I can finish two bowls of rice with it." Song Wei looked at the empty bottom of the bowl and stood up. "No, I'll get another bowl."
Zhao Yu looked at the plate of fried pork with peppers with doubt.
Is it really that delicious?
She had never liked eating vegetables since she was a child. Although the time she had to eat vegetables was very short in her short life, the shadow left by green vegetables on the young Zhao Yu stayed with her for a long time.
Looking at the screw peppers on the plate, Zhao Yu was in a dilemma.
To be fair, this dish of stir-fried pork with peppers actually looks quite appetizing. The green screw peppers are cut into long, thin pieces, which do not look difficult to eat. The pork meat is sliced into thin slices, alternating between fat and lean, and evenly coated with the glossy sauce. The edges of the meat slices are occasionally browned and stained with a grain or two of oil residue, but these are the places with the best taste.
She swallowed, and involuntarily stretched out her chopsticks, carefully avoiding the green peppers, and picked up two slices of meat and put them into her mouth.
The well-seasoned meat slices were wrapped in the spicy flavor of chili peppers, and along with the hot oil and gravy, they exploded between the lips and teeth, with a complex taste completely different from the braised spareribs. Zhao Yu chewed faster and faster, and his eyes gradually brightened as he stared at the remaining fried pork with chili peppers on the plate.
The slightly charred part on the edge of the meat slice was just as she expected, and the taste was excellent. Compared with the lean meat, Zhao Yu found that she liked the fat on the meat slice more. The meat slice was fried to be fat but not greasy. When she took a bite, the rich aroma of fat filled her mouth, making it difficult for her, who had not smelled meat for ten years, to extricate herself.
After swallowing it in one gulp, Zhao Yu quickly picked up another piece of meat, then hesitated for two seconds and picked up a chili and mixed it in.
She put it into her mouth along with a large bowl of rice and chewed it twice with her eyes closed.
Then he opened his eyes wide in surprise.
I don’t know if it’s because the shredded peppers were wrapped in the sauce and the fat from the meat, but she could actually accept the taste of the mixture. It had a bit more spiciness than the meat alone, and a slightly bitter fragrance. When mixed with rice, she could finish half a bowl in a blink of an eye.
When Song Wei came back with a new bowl of rice, she saw Zhao Yu standing up.
There was also a circle of red around her mouth, her lips were shiny and oily, and her expression was complicated.
"What's wrong with you?" Song Wei was puzzled.
Zhao Yu: "I just suddenly had a realization that came ten years late..."
——It turns out that it’s not the cooking that’s bad, it’s her mother’s cooking that’s bad!
Zhao Yu's outlook on life was impacted by a plate of fried pork with chili peppers.
She walked away sighing.
Song Wei: “?”
She sat down without knowing why, and was about to continue enjoying her fried pork with peppers, but when she looked again, she found that the plate was empty.
Song Wei: “!!”
She has such a big plate of meat!
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