Chapter 129 Job's Tears, Melon Peel, and Crucian Carp Soup.
In the following days, Gu Qingqiu communicated back and forth with the interview and video recording team of Jiangshi Culture and Tourism Bureau, represented by Ms. Chen, several times. The other party continuously revised and improved the interview and video recording plan, and finally the final draft was determined.
Ms. Chen said with a smile on the phone, "Thank you so much for your patience and cooperation. I hope the upcoming special interview will go smoothly and pleasantly!"
Gu Qingqiu smiled and said, "I should be thanking you all. With such patience in revising and perfecting the interview and filming plan, the upcoming special interview will definitely go smoothly!"
Ms. Chen said sincerely, "Mr. Gu, please don't be modest. Our interviewing and filming colleagues all admire you very much. The ideas and suggestions for improvement you put forward are all based on the characteristics of Gu's Private Kitchen, and they are also very innovative. We have a feeling that the data from this special interview will be very good."
Gu Qingqiu was equally looking forward to it: "Okay, let's work hard together!"
The special interview video is divided into three parts. The first part is a solo interview with Gu Qingqiu, the soul of Gu's Private Kitchen. The interview is filmed from the back kitchen to the dining area. This part can talk about the mental journey of reopening Gu's Private Kitchen, as well as Gu Qingqiu's cooking skills and expectations for the future development of the restaurant.
Secondly, the filming follows Gu Qingqiu and Wang Meiyu as they go to the market to buy ingredients in the morning, echoing the characteristics of Gu's private kitchen—the menu is made daily based on the fresh ingredients purchased.
Third, the on-screen host queues up to taste the dishes at Gu's Private Kitchen, introduces the dishes of the day and takes close-up shots, and then interviews passersby dining in the restaurant.
All of this content is scheduled to be filmed by November 18th. Then, it will be edited based on the script and the footage already shot. If any footage is missing, we will reshoot it.
On November 18th, Gu Qingqiu got up in the morning and, as usual, called to order meat ingredients. After breakfast, Wang Meiyu arrived at the store first.
The two chatted for a while, mainly Gu Qingqiu reassured Wang Meiyu that she should keep a calm mind and not worry too much about the cameras following them.
Wang Meiyu nodded and breathed a sigh of relief: "Don't worry, boss, I'll try my best to stay calm and not hold our restaurant back."
Gu Qingqiu smiled and agreed, but couldn't help correcting her: "Don't talk about holding us back in the future. We are all important parts of the restaurant, and we are all responsible for our own tasks and doing them very well."
Wang Meiyu grinned: "Okay, thank you for your affirmation, boss."
Soon the interview and video crew arrived: a photographer carrying a camera, an assistant carrying various equipment and tools, and Ms. Chen, who was in charge of the on-camera interview.
Gu Qingqiu greeted them with a smile, and then the group set off for the vegetable market.
Gu Qingqiu and Wang Meiyu pulled the shopping cart with both hands. At first, they would chat with Ms. Chen, the photographer, and the assistant. As they approached the market, Gu Qingqiu and Wang Meiyu took turns walking in front, while the photographer took pictures from behind. Ms. Chen and the assistant naturally followed behind.
This part mainly uses an observer's perspective to film and record the daily routine of Gu's Private Kitchen purchasing ingredients in the morning.
Back at the restaurant, Gu Qingqiu and Wang Meiyu sat down, drank some water, and chatted with Ms. Chen and the other two about the upcoming filming.
Knowing that the meat ordered by a partner merchant would be delivered at 9:30, the photographer set up his camera in advance to film Gu Qingqiu signing for the meat and paying for it.
Gu Qingqiu and Wang Meiyu, as usual, divided the meat into two portions, put one portion in the freezer, and took the rest into the kitchen. After a quick clean-up, they began preparing the ingredients.
The photographer filmed the entire time, while Ms. Chen and her assistant stood next to the photographer, watching the images on the camera screen with smiles on their faces, clearly very satisfied with the footage they had captured.
At 10:20, the three photographers went out to the door to take pictures of customers lining up early. They also told Sister Zhou to close the wooden door of the restaurant and open it at the usual time.
Sister Zhou naturally cooperated.
Chen Zhao stood at the restaurant entrance, intending to be at the front of the queue so he could be among the first to sit at Gu's Private Kitchen.
This is good too. When customers see them at the front of the line, they will be convinced and respect the queuing rules, rather than the restaurant giving them special treatment later so they can skip the line and dine in.
Assistant Yao Sheng stood in line beside her, silently planning the tasting and filming process. He already knew the details of the process before they even left, and now his thoughts were mostly on each dish they were about to eat.
This is Gu's private cuisine, and today we're having a private meal on business!
Photographer Guo Pengfei, carrying his camera, noticed that no customers had come to queue yet, so he walked around along the alley of Suli Street.
They had already taken photos of the scenery along Surrey Street as they walked here, and this time they were just casually looking around to see if there were any interesting spots to take some more photos.
Within a minute of him leaving, customers began to line up outside Gu's Private Kitchen to dine.
Chen Zhao and Yao Sheng kept looking back at the line behind them. In the blink of an eye, there were many more people. It was terrifying. It felt even more crowded than some famous tourist attractions.
Yao Sheng said in a low voice, "Sister Chen, do you think this place might have scalpers offering to queue up for you, just like some popular online restaurants?"
Some popular online stores have limited sales that require long queues, and not everyone has the time to queue up in advance. This has led to the emergence of services like queuing up and buying on behalf of others, which are impossible to stop or prevent.
After all, can you say that others didn't queue? They queued just the same way, only they transferred the slots they could buy to others in a paid way.
The only way that popular online stores can deal with this phenomenon is to limit purchases per person and prevent customers from queuing twice.
Given the current popularity of Gu's Private Kitchen, and considering that it only serves 20 tables of customers during lunch and dinner, it seems highly likely that scalpers and other similar businesses will emerge.
As for purchasing agents, there are already legitimate errand-running and purchasing agent services available. That's not a problem; most stores also offer online delivery.
Chen Zhao also said in a low voice, "That's very possible. On weekdays, not every customer who wants to eat at Gu's Private Kitchen can come and queue up at 10 a.m. Everyone has to work or do other things. If they really want to eat at the restaurant, it's normal to pay someone to come and queue up in advance to reserve a spot."
Looking back now, all you can see is a long, dark line of customers, with groups of them gathered together. Of course, it's normal for some people to come alone to eat, so it's really hard to tell who is a real customer and who is someone else queuing up.
Yao Sheng nodded: "That's true. Whether it's time or money, people always put in the same amount of effort. It's normal if they can secure a dining spot if all goes well."
He glanced around anxiously, "Why hasn't Brother Guo come back yet? It feels like now is the perfect time to film. If it's too late, there will be too many people in line, and we won't be able to capture this scene of people gradually increasing in number."
Chen Zhao calmly replied, "They should be back soon."
As soon as he finished speaking, Guo Pengfei saw her glancing to the right and saw the other person quickly walking over, setting up a camera at a certain distance and starting to film.
They didn't need to help at this stage; Guo Pengfei could handle it all by himself. Chen Zhao and Yao Sheng stood at the front of the line, keeping an eye on his movements.
The customers in line naturally noticed someone filming them, or rather, filming the long queue outside the restaurant, with a very professional-looking video camera. They nudged each other, glancing over and whispering that someone was recording them.
Some people glanced over curiously from time to time, some turned their backs to the camera quietly for fear of being photographed, and some glanced at the camera and then calmly continued chatting with their companions or scrolling through their phones.
Everyone was only briefly surprised before accepting the fact that there was a camera filming them not far away. No one objected. In the era of social media, they just assumed that it was an online celebrity blogger coming to Gu's Private Kitchen to gather material for their visit.
Guo Pengfei kept taking pictures, striving to have more and better material to choose from later. Chen Zhao and Yao Sheng were also very dedicated, queuing up until the restaurant's wooden doors opened at 11 o'clock. They were among the first customers invited into the dining area.
Six groups of customers followed closely behind, happily entering the restaurant and finding their respective tables to sit down, while the customers behind them asked Sister Zhou for their queue numbers.
Sister Tang was about to come over to greet them, but Chen Zhao noticed that Guo Pengfei and his camera were still outside and hadn't come in yet, so he gestured for her to go and greet the other tables first.
Sister Tang smiled and agreed, then went to serve the other table of customers. She naturally knew that the customers from the Culture and Tourism Bureau had come to interview her restaurant, and the boss had instructed her to treat them normally, so she remained calm.
Chen Zhao looked at the menu on the wall. Even though he had seen it once before in the store, looking at it again as a customer gave him a different feeling. The thought of eating the dishes on the menu made him even more excited.
Yao Sheng was in a similar situation; he had heard about Gu's private kitchen for quite some time, and today he was finally able to eat there.
Guo Pengfei carried the camera over and sat down, his mouth full of smiles: "I just shot a lot of footage: customers queuing up, the queues getting longer and longer, the first seven groups of customers happily entering the restaurant when it opened, customers who got a number still smiling even though they had to wait in line, and those who didn't get a number leaving disappointed. It will definitely be easy to edit it later."
Yao Sheng gave a thumbs up: "Brother Guo is really amazing!"
Chen Zhao smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work. Shall we begin recording the part about introducing the food in the restaurant?"
She noticed that Sister Tang had already finished serving several tables of customers, taking their orders and setting out the tableware. She decided to call Sister Tang over after she finished explaining the dishes.
Guo Pengfei was particularly excited, feeling that today's interview with Gu's Private Kitchen would go exceptionally smoothly, and immediately nodded: "Okay, let's begin."
He set up the tripod and camera on the table, adjusted the angle and recording parameters, pressed the start button, and gave Chen Zhao, who was in the lens, an "OK" gesture.
Chen Zhao put on his recording equipment and smiled naturally at the camera: "Hello everyone, Xiao Zhao is back again. I'm sitting in the dining area of Gu's Private Kitchen right now. You should all be familiar with Gu's Private Kitchen. It has been frequently appearing in the lives of local residents in Jiang City recently. Many people have praised it after eating there, and there are also many dining reviews online with continuous positive feedback."
"Ever since I learned about Gu's Private Kitchen last month, a restaurant that's said to have delicious food, I've been wanting to try it, but I haven't been able to find the time. Recently, many viewers have submitted recommendations for Gu's Private Kitchen, which surprised me. I was really hoping the editorial team would select Gu's Private Kitchen, and now my wish has come true. I'm sitting here now, and I'll be able to enjoy some delicious Gu's Private Kitchen soon. Are you looking forward to it? I certainly am!"
"One of the unique features of Gu's Private Kitchen is that the menu for the day is based on the ingredients purchased. Every morning at 10:00, the menu is announced on Xiaohongshu and Weibo official accounts. Customers can open the menu like a blind box. If there is a dish they like, they can go and dine there. Of course, the restaurant is very popular, so it is recommended that customers who plan to dine there come early to queue up, so as not to make a wasted trip if they cannot get a number."
"We were the first to arrive at the restaurant this morning to line up. After all, this meal wasn't just something we wanted to eat at; it was also part of our job. We were pretty lucky; my two colleagues and I were first in line and successfully became the first customers to enter Gu's Private Kitchen. I can brag about this achievement for at least a month!"
"Now we're ready to order. Let me show you today's dishes..." Chen Zhao said, gesturing towards the menu on the wall.
Guo Pengfei also adjusted the camera direction in time, aiming it at the menu on the wall. After Chen Zhao finished his introduction, he adjusted the camera back to Chen Zhao's position to ensure that the other party's upper body could be perfectly captured in the shot.
"Alright, let's call the staff over to take our order now." Chen Zhao waved to Sister Tang.
Just then, Sister Tang finished serving the dishes, chopsticks, teacups, rinsing tools, and tea to another table of customers and hurried over: "Hello, sir/madam, would you like to order anything?"
Chen Zhao nodded: "Yes, one serving of everything, three servings of the tangerine peel red bean soup, and a pot of barley tea."
"Okay, I'll be right there," Sister Tang replied with a smile.
Guo Pengfei controlled the camera to record Tang Jie walking to the cashier to print the order, placing the menu under the glass window, and the process of serving bowls, chopsticks, teacups, scalding utensils, and a pot of barley tea.
Of course, the camera mainly focuses on this table.
After thanking him, Chen Zhao smiled as he rinsed the teacup in front of the camera and said, "This is a local custom in Jiang City. When you come to a restaurant, you have to rinse the teaware in hot water to feel at ease. My two colleagues and I both really like barley tea. It has a barley and roasted aroma, and it tastes slightly bitter with a sweet aftertaste. I would recommend that you try it. After all, we don't usually drink barley tea at home."
While waiting for the food, she introduced the environment of the dining area, including the customers at other tables who were already drinking soup and eating.
Guo Pengfei skillfully controlled the camera lens, recording Chen Zhao's words in sync.
Customers dining in the restaurant naturally knew that the customers at the table against the wall were taking pictures of things, and might even be taking pictures of themselves, but none of that mattered in the face of the rich and delicious soup.
They had noticed the group taking photos and recording videos while they were queuing earlier. They were just social media influencers visiting the restaurant. Gu's Private Kitchen is like a traffic magnet online now, and everyone wants to ride the wave. They had seen this scene at least two or three times when they dined at the restaurant.
The only thing I envy is that they actually got to be the first table to dine. Hehe, but they're not bad either; they were among the first seven groups of customers to be able to go directly into the restaurant to dine.
No one cared about the cameras that might be scanning the area from a distance; everyone was focused on enjoying their meal.
After Chen Zhao gave a brief introduction, the shop assistant brought over a large bowl of Job's tears, melon peel, and crucian carp soup. If it weren't for her years of professional self-control, she would have already been drooling at the smell of the aroma.
After thanking the shop assistant with a smile, Chen Zhao began to introduce the soup: "Everyone should be familiar with crucian carp soup. This time, the Job's tears and melon peel crucian carp soup is actually a medicinal dish with the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying."
"We can see that the soup is milky white and fragrant, with a particularly rich aroma. We can see the crucian carp half-exposed, some of the floating and sinking parts are winter melon peel, and there are bright red goji berries and emerald green scallions as garnishes. As for the Job's tears, they have probably sunk to the bottom."
"I can't wait to taste the delicious food. Let me have a bowl of soup first."
Chen Zhao ladled herself a bowl of soup with a spoon, adding some melon rind and Job's tears. She then drank the soup in front of the camera.
A spoonful of warm soup enters the mouth, fresh and delicious, warming from the tip of the tongue all the way to the stomach.
Originally, after tasting the first bite, Chen Zhao should have immediately shared the taste with the camera. However, he couldn't resist and drank three spoonfuls of soup before looking at the camera.
"Friends, everyone says that Gu's Private Kitchen's soups are exceptional, and this time I truly understand. The soup was a little hot, but still acceptable. The moment it entered my mouth, I tasted its rich and savory flavor, which was very mellow and sweet. After the sweetness, I could taste the fish flavor, but it wasn't fishy at all. This soup isn't just about fish flavor; it also has the fragrance of Job's tears and winter melon peel, as well as the sweetness of goji berries. Oh, and when I was ladling the soup earlier, I also noticed that they added dried tangerine peel to it, so it has a subtle tangerine peel aroma."
"The various aromas blend together to create the delicious flavor of this soup. Just one sip is so fresh it's almost overwhelming. It warms you from the tip of your tongue to your stomach, making you feel incredibly comfortable."
Chen Zhao picked up some more Job's tears and ate them: "These Job's tears taste pretty good. They're cooked until soft and chewy, and they've absorbed some of the broth, so they have a fresh, fragrant, and sweet taste."
She then picked up another piece of melon rind and ate it. After chewing and swallowing, she praised it, "This melon rind is quite delicious. I ate it because I thought the Job's tears tasted good, so I thought I'd try the winter melon rind. The winter melon rind is crisp and refreshing, and it also releases a little bit of the rich juice of the winter melon. It's very sweet. While chewing the rind, you can feel the fragrance of the ingredients themselves, and you can also taste the savory flavor from the soup mixed in. It's definitely worth eating the rind."
"Since the crucian carp was cooked whole in the soup, I didn't eat any fish meat when I was making the broth. Now I'll pick up some chopsticks and try it. Even the ingredients like Job's tears and melon rind are so delicious, I think the fish meat will only be even better." Chen Zhao said, as he picked up his chopsticks and poked the crucian carp in the soup bowl, picked up a piece of meat from the belly and put it in his bowl. After thinking for a moment, he picked up two more pieces of fish meat and put them in his bowl.
She then picked up a piece of snow-white fish and ate it. Just like when she drank the soup, after eating two bites of fish, Chen Zhao looked up and commented, "This crucian carp is really delicious. It's tender, smooth, and fragrant. Every bite is so soft and tender, like eating tofu. When you bite into it, you can taste the rich, mellow, and fragrant soup."
"I just ate two bites of fish, and I can tell that the crucian carp is really fresh. It really lives up to what I read online: Gu's Private Kitchen uses only the freshest ingredients. Now that I've eaten the fish, I can't help but want to drink the soup."
After speaking, Chen Zhao picked up the bowl and gulped down the remaining milky white soup, leaving a portion for the camera to capture. Then, he used chopsticks to finish the remaining fish, winter melon peel, and Job's tears.
She smiled at the camera and said, "This Job's tears, winter melon peel and crucian carp soup is absolutely amazing. It's so fresh and delicious. Even though I just finished a bowl, I'm still craving more. I'm planning to get another bowl now."
After the camera finished recording, she ate a bowl of soup, and then Chen Zhao signaled to Guo Pengfei to end the recording.
Guo Pengfei and Yao Sheng, who had been holding their breath, finally relaxed their straightened shoulders. Guo Pengfei laughed and said, "Xiao Zhao is really amazing. That recording was pretty good. When it's released, netizens will definitely be drooling and wish they could snatch the bowl from your hand and drink the soup, hahaha."
He chuckled to himself, "If I hadn't been busy with work, the aroma of this delicious soup and the sight of you enjoying it so much would have made me want to start eating right away."
Yao Sheng nodded: "Yes, Sister Chen, I was really trying my best to keep my stomach from growling so it wouldn't be recorded and I'd embarrass myself online. This soup looks so delicious and smells so good!"
Chen Zhao smiled and said, "You've worked hard. Hurry up and get your soup, or the staff will be coming to serve more dishes soon."
With the new dishes served, Guo Pengfei had to continue recording, while Yao Sheng had to remain silent and assist Guo Pengfei at any time. It seemed that Chen Zhao was more relaxed, enjoying the new dishes and sharing the deliciousness.
Guo Pengfei and Yao Sheng were startled, nodded in agreement, and quickly picked up their soup ladles to ladle soup in turn.
Having just seen Chen Zhao taste the Job's tears, melon rind, and crucian carp meat, they knew these soup ingredients were delicious. So when they were making the soup, they also added some Job's tears and melon rind, and then used chopsticks to put some crucian carp meat into their bowls, enjoying the soup first.
For a moment, only the sounds of drinking soup, swallowing, and chewing soup ingredients filled the table.
Guo Pengfei drank more than half a bowl of hot soup, his mouth full of fresh, sweet flavor. He then ate two pieces of fish and couldn't help but praise, "This soup is really well made. It lives up to the reputation of Gu's Private Kitchen. No wonder it's so popular online, with so many people submitting articles recommending this restaurant so we can do an interview with them."
To be honest, he didn't know that Gu's Private Kitchen, a delicious restaurant, had just opened in Jiang City. He only went online to learn more after seeing the message from the topic selection team, and the more he read, the more he liked it.
After just one sip of the soup, I'm already convinced that this restaurant is truly excellent and worth recommending. I'll definitely bring my family here to eat here often in the future.
After praising it, he lowered his head and continued to eat the Job's tears and melon rind. Each had its own deliciousness, and they were all soaked in the savory aroma of the soup.
Yao Sheng had already seen photos of delicious food posted by friends after dining at Gu's Private Kitchen on his WeChat Moments, which attracted many likes from mutual friends and the comments were unusually lively.
Driven by curiosity from the excitement, he went online to learn about Gu's Private Kitchen and had always wanted to come and try their delicious food. However, he hadn't had the time until now, just like Sister Chen.
He had resisted the enticing aroma for a long time, but now he drank the whole soup in one gulp. He felt warm and comfortable all over, and his mouth was filled with the fresh, sweet taste.
He then ate the fish, melon rind, and Job's tears, and thought they were all quite delicious. After listening to Brother Guo's words, Yao Sheng praised, "This soup is indeed very delicious. Only fresh crucian carp, Job's tears, and melon rind can make such a rich and mellow soup!"
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