Chapter 128 The Wooden Gourd
Lin Jingyuan believes that Song Ji's sour fish soup is a dish that you can never get tired of. The sour fish soup originated in Quanshui Town, but after Song Xinran's culinary improvements, the flavor is richer and more natural. The fish slices are tender and the fish soup is sour and spicy, perfect with rice.
Ever since he ate Song Ji's sour fish soup, Lin Jingyuan has rarely eaten fish in Quanshui Town.
After finishing his meal, Lin Jingyuan even packed up the sour fish soup to take home.
Song Xinran couldn't help but gasp. The fish slices were all gone, leaving only the fish soup. She didn't mind packing it up and carrying it all the way back. However, Lin Jingyuan was both a business partner and a customer of the restaurant. Although the two had frequent interactions and were quite familiar with each other, Song Xinran didn't say anything and simply brought him a takeout box.
Lin Jingyuan poured the fish soup into a disposable lunchbox himself, saying, "Next time I come to Song Ji for dinner, I'll have to bring my own lunchbox. I always have to take it home with me."
Song Xinran couldn't help but chuckle: "President Lin, Song's is a proper restaurant, after all. We wouldn't be so stingy as to not use a takeout box, especially for a big customer like you."
Lin Jingyuan said, "This is also about reducing waste and protecting the environment."
Song Xinran smiled and said, "So it turns out that President Lin is a practitioner of sustainable development."
"Manager Song always speaks with such profound meaning," Lin Jingyuan said. "Don't call me General Manager Lin anymore, Manager Song, just call me by my name."
Song Xinran: "Then you shouldn't call me Manager Song anymore."
Calling someone by their first name is the proper way to treat someone as a friend.
Since that day, Lin Jingyuan has visited Song's shop much more often, and once he even brought Song Yu a wooden gourd.
The wooden gourd is slightly smaller than a child's palm. Its entire body is covered with light brown wood grain. The gourd's belly is round and plump, with full and just the right amount of lines. There are no sharp edges or corners. The slender neck is upright but not stiff, and the curve is smooth and rounded. It feels heavy in your hand and is very cute.
Song Yu really liked the wooden gourd. She held it in her hands, turning it over and over to examine it. She gently stroked it with her fingers, treating it with great care. She looked up at Song Xinran and whispered, "Mom."
Song Xinran naturally understood what she meant. Song Yu had been a well-behaved child since he was a child. Even if someone gave him something he really liked, he would ask Song Xinran for her opinion as long as the person was an elder or her friend.
Although he is still very young and doesn't fully understand the specifics, he roughly knows that his mother's friends and his own friends are different. If they are his own friends, he will accept and reciprocate in his own way.
Song Xinran rubbed his head and said with a smile, "You should thank Uncle Lin."
Song Yu knew that her mother had allowed her to accept the gift, and her eyes sparkled as she looked at Lin Jingyuan: "Thank you, Uncle Lin, I really like this gourd!"
Song Xinran recognized that the gourd was not made of any precious wood, but its cute shape made it very appealing to children.
If it were in a store, she would buy it for Song Yu. She could repay the favor later by finding a place to do so. If it was too expensive, Song Xinran would not let Song Yu accept it.
Lin Jingyuan bent down slightly and smiled, "The greatest value of this gourd is that Xiao Yu likes it. What else does Xiao Yu like? I'll make one for you next time."
Song Yu wasn't a greedy child, and shook his head: "I'm happy with just one gourd."
Suddenly sensing something in his words, she asked him in surprise, "Did Uncle Lin make this himself?"
Lin Jingyuan laughed and took the opportunity to pinch Song Yu's cheek: "You found out, little Yu is so smart."
Song Xinran stood to the side without saying a word. What was there to praise? Lin Jingyuan had already made it clear in his words. His angle for praising the child was truly unique.
But Song Yu was quite receptive to this. She smiled gently, her little face flushed, and handed the wooden gourd to her with both hands: "Mom, look."
Song Xinran took it and had to admit that the wooden gourd looked quite pleasing to the eye. Lin Jingyuan had a good eye for aesthetics. She was also curious: "Didn't you study agriculture? How come you can polish wood?"
Lin Jingyuan said, "I learned it from someone. An older brother from our village who worked outside came back. He was a carpenter in a furniture factory. This time when he came back to his hometown, he didn't plan to go out again. He even brought all his tools back with him. He likes to polish these woods after he finishes his work in the fields. I found it interesting, so I learned to make a gourd."
Hearing his words, Song Xinran was even more surprised, and rubbed the gourd in her palm: "Is this the first time you've made this?"
Seeing that he could do this so well on his first try, Song Xinran thought that Lin Jingyuan also had a talent for woodworking, and that it might become a hobby in the future.
Lin Jingyuan said, "This is my first time making wooden gourds, but it's not the first one. You can visit the demonstration field base when you have time, and you can also come to my house. All the gourds I make are at home, so you can clearly see how they have evolved from strange shapes to their current well-proportioned state."
"So you're giving this gourd, which has such sentimental value, to Xiao Yu?" Song Xinran still found it unbelievable. Putting herself in Xiao Yu's shoes, she would definitely keep something she learned to make for the first time carefully and wouldn't give it away.
“I think children would prefer gourds. It doesn’t mean much for an adult like me to keep them. Things only have value when they are in the right hands.”
Lin Jingyuan also had his own ideas. Although Song Xinran found it strange at first, she could understand after hearing what he said.
Song Yu was absolutely enamored with the wooden gourd. He held it in his hands and looked at it again and again. Finally, he said to Song Xinran, "Mom, I'm going to go play with Fufu."
Song Xinran knew he wanted to show Fufu his new toy, so she nodded in agreement.
"Shouldn't you be very busy lately? How come you still have time to do carpentry?" Song Xinran chatted with Lin Jingyuan.
Lin Jingyuan said, "No matter how busy I am, I need to rest. I'll just take a break from my busy schedule. Besides, my older brother who came back from out of town this time is special. We used to play together a lot when we were kids. He's four or five years older than me. Later, I went to university while he was working outside. He got married and had children, so there are even more places in life where he needs money..."
Lin Jingyuan explained in detail that this fellow villager had some leg problems and could only do some less physically demanding jobs when he went out to work. So he worked as a sander in a furniture factory. However, the workplace was very dusty, which caused great harm to his health over the years.
“Yuanben Xunwei has been open for several years and has gradually grown in scale. The company is now relatively stable. Recently, we have partnered with some restaurants, which have a higher demand for ingredients. Many of the young and middle-aged people in our village who used to work outside have also returned. My older brother just came back because he was worried that he couldn’t earn as much money at home as he could outside. He also wanted to practice his cooking skills all the time so that he could go out and earn money if he couldn’t make money at home.”
Song Xinran laughed and said, "So you went to comfort him by learning how to make wooden gourds from him?"
Lin Jingyuan said, "No, I told him to keep in touch, and if the company goes bankrupt in the future, I'll go out and work with him."
His serious yet joking remarks were quite amusing. Song Xinran laughed and went along with it, saying, "I'll take over when things get tough. We can run the restaurant and supply the food at the same time, doing both."
Lin Jingyuan clicked his tongue lightly: "Manager Song is really ambitious."
Song Xinran said, "Yuanben Xunwei provides high-quality ingredients, so I am naturally confident that we can grow bigger and stronger and make more money."
Lin Jingyuan: "Then I'll have to put in more effort to do a good job, so that when we face a bankruptcy crisis in the future, Manager Song can get up to speed and make money more quickly after taking over."
Song Xinran couldn't stop laughing. Although it was just a joke, she was happy to hear about how much money she made.
After laughing for a while, she suddenly said, "However, it is true that there is a sense of crisis and discomfort when you first return to your hometown from another place. Once you receive the money from the purchase of the ingredients, you will naturally feel at ease. No amount of verbal comfort is as effective as the actual situation."
Lin Jingyuan was slightly taken aback, his gaze slowly falling on her, the corners of his lips curving slightly, his voice and tone carrying a certain relaxed pleasure: "Yes, that's what I think too."
*
Fu Fu was extremely fond of Song Yu's wooden gourd after seeing it, and even begged his grandmother to buy him one.
Grandma Fufu dotes on her granddaughter and bought her one from a craft shop. But no matter how Fufu looked at it, she felt that Song Yu's wooden gourd was more beautiful, with a rounder belly and a more endearing appearance.
Perhaps this is why what we can't have is always the best.
After learning that Song Yu's wooden gourd was a gift from Uncle Lin, Fu Fu kept an eye out for Uncle Lin's appearances. Finally, when she was having dinner with Song Yu at a shop, Fu Fu met the legendary Uncle Lin. Without thinking, she rushed over to him, acting like a girl on the wind.
"Uncle Lin, do you remember me?" Fu Fu ran up to him and introduced herself. "My name is Fu Fu. I eat here every day. I've seen you before, Uncle Lin, you're super handsome!"
Even children know to praise someone and provide sufficient emotional value before making a request.
Lin Jingyuan often visited Song Ji's restaurant and had naturally met Fu Fu before, but this was their first conversation, and it was also the first time he had met such a friendly and outgoing young girl.
He nodded and smiled, "Hello Fu Fu, I remember you."
Fu Fu chuckled twice and took out a piece of chocolate from his pocket: "Uncle Lin, this is for you."
Lin Jingyuan was flattered. Snacks were hard to come by for the children in the village, as they themselves were already lacking in material things. Fu Fu's generosity was unexpected: "Thank you, Fu Fu, but I don't need any."
Fu Fu didn't care about anything else and directly stuffed the chocolate into Lin Jingyuan's hand. Then, thinking that they were already very familiar with each other and that receiving a gift meant they were very close, she could say as a matter of course, "Uncle Lin, can you give me a wooden gourd too?"
“I really, really like it. I love Song Yu’s gourd! Song Yu also likes it. I know it was made by Uncle Lin himself. You can’t buy it outside. My grandma took me to many stores, but we couldn’t find the same gourd.”
Lin Jingyuan raised an eyebrow and looked at Song Yu: "Does Xiao Yu like it very much?"
Song Yu nodded slightly, a little shyly.
Lin Jingyuan said, "Okay, I'll bring Fufu a wooden gourd next time. What other wooden products would Xiaoyu like? I can make them for him."
Song Yu wasn't greedy, and she had heard her mother say that Uncle Lin was busy with work: "One wooden gourd is enough."
Fu Fu excitedly raised his hand: "Can I? Can I? Can I have a wooden bird?"
Lin Jingyuan said, "I'm sorry, Fufu, Uncle Lin hasn't learned how to carve such high-end wooden products yet."
Fu Fu wasn't disappointed: "Okay, Uncle Lin, you have to keep up the good work, keep learning and improve every day!"
This is also a reversal of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
Lin Jingyuan smiled and said, "Okay, I will definitely study hard."
*
More than a month later, Su Hang finally returned to Song Ji's place.
As soon as he entered, Pang Ru saw him: "Su Hang, you haven't been here in a long time! I haven't missed a single episode of 'Food Detective,' it's super good!"
"Thank you," Su Hang said. "I've made a reservation. Where is it?"
Pang Ru took the initiative to lead him to a seat by the window, where he could see the golden ginkgo leaves outside, a truly beautiful view.
This dining spot with such a great view not only had Su Hang there, but also Song Yu and Fu Fu at the table behind him.
Hearing the faint, familiar child's voice, Su Hang stood up, walked to the desk behind him, and greeted them, "Fu Fu, Xiao Yu, good afternoon."
Usually, the two children eat at a table by themselves, but today was a little different. A young man was with them. The man sat in the middle, and Fufu and Songyu sat on either side of him, talking enthusiastically with bright smiles on their little faces.
Clearly, when Su Hang came last time, his two clingy children had already moved into someone else's arms.
Upon hearing Su Hang's voice, the two children looked up and greeted him happily, "Hello, Brother Su Hang."
Then she turned back to Lin Jingyuan and continued talking: "Uncle Lin, can you make wooden spoons? That's amazing!"
"Uncle Lin can even make wooden bowls, that's amazing!"
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