Chapter 133 is now complete.
The streets of Suli were still bustling at night. Other restaurants were brightly lit, with staff busy serving customers. However, the lights on the first floor of Gu's Private Kitchen were off, with only one room on the second floor still lit.
After a busy day, Gu Qingqiu took a shower and dried her hair. She had already planned tomorrow's menu and was sitting on the headboard playing on her phone.
She was casually browsing the recommendations section on Xiaohongshu, and the big data analysis showed that content related to Gu's Private Kitchen was being recommended very frequently, because she was using the restaurant's official account.
Gu Qingqiu saw a comment from a netizen saying that they would be willing to work overtime all night as long as they could eat Gu's private kitchen when they came to Jiang City on a business trip. She couldn't help but laugh out loud.
This generation of netizens is quite interesting.
She browsed here for a while before switching to her personal account to continue browsing Xiaohongshu. The recommended content here was more diverse, and thanks to big data, it mainly featured content she usually liked, which was quite interesting.
Over the years, Gu Qingqiu has become more clear about the boundaries between work and life. Because the small attic is used to entertain customers on the first floor and live on the second floor, her work and life are integrated. However, once she finishes get off work and the restaurant closes for business, apart from preparing the menu for the next morning in the evening and making advance reservations for meat in the morning, she has no further involvement in the restaurant's operations.
Even when the restaurant was booming over the past three years, she managed it steadily, gradually increasing the number of tables served during lunch and dinner from twenty to twenty-five. She and Wang Meiyu were able to handle the food preparation and cooking in the kitchen with ease, while Sister Zhou and Sister Tang were also able to manage the cleaning and tidying up after serving customers in the dining area.
The fixed Tuesday rest day has never changed. Any temporary changes are due to holidays, when business hours are adjusted to better serve customers, and the rest day will definitely be made up later.
Gu Qingqiu felt that her weekly day off gave her a chance to completely relax after a long and tiring week. After resting both her body and mind, she was able to recharge and return to her busy work in the kitchen with a passion for food in the new week.
The restaurant is currently operating well. Sister Zhou, Sister Tang, and Wang Meiyu have a strong sense of belonging to their jobs. Gu Qingqiu gives them raises and benefits every year, and everyone is full of energy at work, leaving a good impression of excellent service on customers.
It is worth mentioning that during these three years of cooking, Gu Qingqiu continuously used spiritual energy to remove impurities from the ingredients. When the dishes were finished cooking, tiny specks of spiritual energy would condense, unintentionally bringing delightful physical changes to countless customers who dined at Gu's Private Kitchen.
This cultivation method of constantly using up and regenerating energy is effective. In this world where spiritual energy is scarce, it has been able to gradually accumulate into a vast ocean. Gu Qingqiu successfully broke through to the first and second levels of Qi Refining and is now at the third level of Qi Refining.
Every breakthrough was a pleasant surprise, and she was already very satisfied. Her body was in peak condition, with sharp hearing, keen eyesight, and heightened senses. Combined with the simplest self-defense techniques she had learned in the cultivation world, she was invincible in fights.
Thinking of this, Gu Qingqiu's eyes and brows filled with a smile.
She looked inward at her dantian, where the tiny speck of spiritual energy had been steadily condensing, expanding, and growing into a sphere. Now, it had completely transformed into a large cauldron that perfectly matched her profession, which looked rather comical. Gu Qingqiu found it quite rare.
Just then, a WeChat notification sounded, indicating that someone had sent a message. She knew without even thinking who it was.
Without hesitation, Gu Qingqiu put down the vlog she was watching halfway through, clicked on the WeChat message notification pop-up to jump to the corresponding chat box, and saw the newly received message.
[Chen Zhi: I went to my parents' house for a while after leaving the restaurant, and I just got home. Are you done with your work?]
Chen Zhi was Gu Qingqiu's classmate in the first year of high school. Going back a little further, the two were classmates in the same junior high school but in different classes. Gu Qingqiu didn't know him in junior high school, she only knew that there was someone in Class 5 who had particularly good grades. It wasn't until she got into a prestigious high school that she found out that only four of her junior high school classmates got into this high school, and she and Chen Zhi were in the same class.
Chen Zhi was one of the tallest students in his class during high school. He was slender and looked particularly good in his blue and white school uniform. He had excellent grades and loved playing basketball during breaks. He even broke the school's long jump record at the school sports meet.
Gu Qingqiu had also developed a vague affection for him at that time.
She truly realized her feelings for him in the second semester of her first year of high school when she accidentally twisted her ankle during a PE class, resulting in a fracture. She had to wear a cast, which made it inconvenient for her to go to school. Since the classroom was on the second floor and there was only a staircase and no elevator, her homeroom teacher asked Chen Zhi to help carry her up and down the stairs every day.
Chen Zhi was also very responsible. Every day, he would wait downstairs in the teaching building to carry her upstairs and carry her downstairs after school.
With the hazy feelings of adolescence and this unexpected help, when Gu Qingqiu felt the warmth emanating from those slender but increasingly mature broad and strong shoulders, and heard her own heart pounding, she was absolutely certain—she had fallen for Chen Zhi.
However, Gu Qingqiu was too well-behaved back then. She liked him but had no intention of dating him. After the division of arts and sciences, she and Chen Zhi were no longer in the same class, and even their classes were no longer on the same floor. Naturally, they had less contact and gradually became classmates who would nod and greet each other when they met, and then go their separate ways.
High school is a stage where exam papers fly by, all for the sake of the college entrance examination. The teachers and classmates in the classroom become the people you spend more time with at that age. Gu Qingqiu buried herself in her studies and kept this feeling buried in her heart. When she tried to dig it out after the college entrance examination, it seemed that she didn't feel the same excitement as before.
When Gu Qingqiu was in college, she didn't think about relationships at all because of family changes, let alone the decades that spanned the cultivation world. If Chen Zhi hadn't come to the restaurant, she would have almost forgotten about him.
But on that very day, after Gu Qingqiu finished cooking another plate of meat and vegetables, she placed it by the glass window, wrote the table number on a piece of paper and put it under the plate, and then casually glanced at the outer dining area and recognized him dining with his friends.
The man, wearing a gray crew neck sweater under a black trench coat, had a smooth and distinct facial contour. His short black hair made him look particularly refreshing. With his sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, one could vaguely see the spirited demeanor of a high school student.
Gu Qingqiu was simply marveling that the boy she once liked hadn't grown up to be unattractive; in fact, he seemed to be getting even more handsome. She didn't think about going out to say hello; she turned back to the stove to continue cooking, her mood inexplicably lifted.
Three days later, in the evening, she saw Chen Zhi come to eat alone again. He came in relatively late, so he was only just finished eating when all the other customers had left. He took the initiative to greet Gu Qingqiu as she came out of the kitchen.
Looking back, that night was magical. It was just a casual reunion between former classmates after many years. Chen Zhi was more talkative than when they were in school, maintaining a proper balance in his words without losing his intimacy. They chatted about their current situations, and he took his leave at the right time so as not to disturb Gu Qingqiu's rest and dinner.
It was only then that Gu Qingqiu learned that news of her opening a restaurant had already spread to her high school alumni group, and that Chen Zhi knew she was the owner of Gu's Private Kitchen when he came to eat there.
For the next period of time, Gu Qingqiu often noticed Chen Zhi coming to dine. Sometimes he came with friends and colleagues, and sometimes he came alone. Most of the time, he came to eat in the evening.
I don't know how this person has so much free time. No wonder he's the boss of a startup company. His working hours are so flexible. He can always manage to get one of those twenty-five tables in line for a meal.
The two had exchanged WeChat contacts back in high school, but Chen Zhi never took the initiative to contact her when he came over. It was as if he was just there to have a delicious dinner at Gu's Private Kitchen. Occasionally, when he ate late, he would greet her warmly and chat for a few minutes.
Gu Qingqiu could sense the other party's gentle, patient, and tolerant willingness to interact.
To be honest, she's busy with restaurant operations, purchasing, preparing ingredients, and cooking every day. After a long day in the kitchen, if someone's advances are too aggressive and cause problems in her life, she will refuse without hesitation, even if that person is someone she used to like.
Chen Zhi's behavior was just right. It has to be said that when Gu Qingqiu came out of the kitchen after finishing her work and saw such a handsome face smiling and greeting her, she felt somewhat relaxed.
She didn't mind these interactions, and gradually she and Chen Zhi not only chatted when they bumped into each other at restaurants, but also exchanged messages on WeChat. If their rest time coincided with Chen Zhi's, they would also go shopping and sightseeing together.
With her restaurant business thriving and her work and life going smoothly, Gu Qingqiu thought that starting a relationship might not be so bad. Even after all these years, she still felt a spark for Chen Zhi.
So, on a beautiful spring day the following year, with a gentle breeze blowing, Chen Zhi presented Gu Qingqiu with a bouquet of Scottish green roses and confessed his love. Gu Qingqiu smiled and accepted the bouquet.
The relationship progressed smoothly yet enjoyably. Chen Zhi was very understanding of her work, knowing that Gu Qingqiu was busy at the restaurant. Whenever he had time, he would rush over to the restaurant to wait for her to finish and have a meal and chat together. He also tried his best to accommodate Gu Qingqiu's rest time, and the two of them would explore some interesting alleys and old shops in Jiang City together.
We usually keep in touch via WeChat messages or video/voice calls. Busy work schedules and distance are not a problem; as long as we're willing, we can be together anytime.
Just now, Gu Qingqiu smiled after reading the message Chen Zhi sent. Even though they had met at dinner tonight, she still couldn't help but make a voice call.
The call connected quickly, and a clear, pleasant voice came through: "Hello, are you resting after finishing your work?"
Gu Qingqiu leaned against the headboard and replied with a smile, "Yes, I'm done with work. I've even decided on tomorrow's menu. Guess what dishes are in it?"
...
As the moon and stars faded and the hustle and bustle of Suli Street gradually subsided and quieted down, the whispers of young couples quietly flowed under the night sky.
As the sun rises again, Gu's Private Kitchen begins its new day of business, and it remains as lively as ever.
(End of article)
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