Chapter 58: Pork Liver and Celery in Brown Sauce
Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
After experiencing the temptation of delicious food for several days in a row, Shen Fu’s resistance to good food had gone up. It was nice to have good food every day, but stuffing himself every day? Not so much.
The good thing was that Lin ShuYi’s experiments were ending, so he could finally stop. The menu was about set, now all they had to do was make a few featured, delicious-looking dishes.
Thus, XiQin Restaurant approached it’s second opening. Though it was still that XiQin Restaurant of the past, everything about it had changed. Old Man Yang’s intention was to have a grand second opening to get their name out there and make sure everyone knew that they were no longer that little noodle bar of the past.
Speaking of the noodle bar, in the month or so that XiQin Restaurant had been under renovation, there had been no end to potential customers visiting in hopes of a meal. Some were regulars from the past while others had heard of the restaurant and tagged along.
Seeing that XiQin Restaurant was still under renovations had them all disappointed. However, Old Man Yang had told them that they would be expanding their menu, but if they liked noodles, they’d still have them. Lin ShuYi had decided so.
So a lot of them had said that they would definitely come for the second opening.
The day of the second opening had been decided as November twenty-first, a few more days from now, but everyone said that Lin ShuYi should make an announcement as soon as possible.
Using Weibo, of course, which was the fastest way of getting word out.
Unfortunately… Lin ShuYi didn’t have weibo.
He only used his phone for two things right now, making calls and playing games. His games were of the simplest kind, like Anipop. Never mind Weibo, he didn’t even have QQ.
Xiao Wan bravely raised her hand to volunteer herself. “I have one; just leave it to me. But, brother Xiao Yi, give me your phone for a moment.”
Lin ShuYi took out his phone, confused at what she wanted with it.
Xiao Wan took it happily and looked through it. Lin ShuYi’s didn’t even have a pin to protect it, never mind any other forms of privacy and security. You could get anything you wanted from it. Though his phone was mostly blank with barely any useful information stored. Xiao Wan headed directly for the photos, trying to see if there was anything they could use for publicity, but the (10) on it had her heart falling. It was unlikely there was anything useable amongst those ten photos he had.
Lin ShuYi leaned over. “What do you want with the phone?”
Xiao Wan sighed. “Wasn’t there a girl last time who uploaded a photo of you and the storefront? There were quite a lot of reposts on it. I wanted to take a leaf out of her book, but you don’t have a single photo of yourself in your phone. Don’t you ever take selfies?”
Lin ShuYi stared back blankly.
It seemed like he didn’t even know what a selfie was.
“How about you take one now?”
But Lin ShuYi shook his head. “It’s fine.” Xiao Wan had showed him that Weibo post before; there had been all sorts of comments under it. He didn’t really want to use this sort of method to get their name out there. If they wanted XiQin Restaurant to gain fame, then it would be through their culinary abilities and not through someone’s face.
To the side, Shen Fu thought of something, eyes rolling thoughtfully. “What about the photos I took with your phone in the past two days?”
He pointed at the phone in Xiao Wan’s hand. It should be in there. Those ten photos were all taken by Shen Fu. If he hadn’t taken them, then there would be a total of zero.
Seeing Shen Fu stretch out his hand for the phone, Xiao Wan handed the phone over. After Shen Fu found the photos, he flicked through them before settling on two of them and showing Xiao Wan and Lin ShuYi. “Let’s use these instead of photos of you.”
Xiao Wan looked over curiously and found that it was a dish. An ancient style plate decorated on the edges with ridges that formed a beautiful pattern held a mouth-watering culinary creation.
Xiao Wan couldn’t stop drooling at the sight. “When did you make this, brother Xiao Yi?! Why didn’t you inform me about this?!”
Lin ShuYi chuckled. “This was from the day we went to buy cutlery. Weren’t you in school that day?”
Xiao Wan hung her head in mourning. Two seconds later she continued drooling over the dish. “What is it that you made?”
There was both green and red in the dish, and you could almost smell and taste the fragrance just from a picture.
Shen Fu teased her, smiling in amusement. “Pork liver with celery in brown sauce. The celery was crunchy and fresh, the pork liver tender and fragrant. He steamed some rice that day, too, and invited your grandma and Grandpa Yang to eat together. It was delicious.”
Xiao Wan balefully glanced at Shen Fu, drooling even more.
Shen Fu burst into laughter.
Even though she knew that continuing to look at the photos was torture, Xiao Wan still flipped through the rest of the photos, drooling all the while. As expected, it was all food that Lin ShuYi made. Two of the photos were clearly taken hurriedly as well, with Lin ShuYi’s hand still holding the side of the plate. His pale, delicate hand added to the beauty of the dish.
Xiao Wan’s eyes rolled contemplatively, getting a lightbulb moment. “I’m sending all these photos to myself, yeah?”
Lin ShuYi nodded, not minding. It wasn’t like he knew how anyways, so Xiao Wan could only do it herself. Xiao Wan sent the photos to herself as she mumbled, “We need one of the storefront, too.”
So she hurried outside to take the photo.
That night, Xiao Wan went on her own Weibo account and uploaded the photos one after the other along with a short message, “I’m drooling all over the place just looking at these! Too bad I was at school that day!! Thankfully the grand opening is a Sunday! Hahahaha! Let me laugh up at the sky in joy.”
Then she mentioned a few schoolmates who had been to XiQin Restaurant before, immediately getting a few comments.
[You guys renovated? So pretty! Are those two handsome guys still there? Don’t tell me he’s the who made those dishes!! Question: does he have a GF yet? Does he need a busty, pretty girlfriend who’s very good at eating?]
[Holy crap!! What a beautiful hand! *Licks screen* It’s that cute guy isn’t it?! I remember him!! What about the other one? How come he’s not in the pics? And these dishes!! I’m eating instant ramen right now!! So mean!!! It’s suddenly so much harder to continue eating this!!]
[I want to go! You have to tell me when the grand opening is! I’ve already prepared all the pocket money I got this month!]
[Plus one for checking out the cute guy, yet there’s no proper photo, sad.]
[XiQin Restaurant!! Finally, it’s opening! I’ve been waiting for so long!]
In the end, even those they didn’t recognize came commenting.
[These dishes look amazing. That hand is so beautiful, too. I bet he’s cute.]
[Such a beautiful hand, so good at cooking, marry me!!]
[A must repost. I’ve got to show my BF that it’s no good if he can’t improve!]
[Please tell me the time and place, you can count me in on checking out the cute guys! Time and place, generous blog owner!]
[XiQin Restaurant? Seems kinda familiar…]
…
Et cetera, et cetera.
Xiao Wan had been expecting a lot of interaction with this post, but not this many! It didn’t take long for the repost count to break ten thousand, and then quite a few people came to ask for the time and place. Though most of them were young women, there were quite a few that were actually just interested in the food. The post quickly became hot on Weibo.
As expected, these days, the world was ruled by lovers of food and admirers of beauty.
Soon enough, people near ChaoYang Street started coming over to check out the restaurant though it hadn’t even opened yet. The one that happened to see Lin ShuYi and Shen Fu couldn’t help but feel wowed, proceeding to take their commentaries to Weibo with a secretly taken photo.
It was a profile shot of the two, who seemed to be talking. Shen Fu was smiling, eyes curved in mirth and a hand ruffling Lin ShuYi’s hair. The entire scene instantly seemed very gay.
Thus even more people reposted, adding a link to Xiao Wan’s Weibo post, too. It blazed through Weibo, but in the end, it still swerved from Lin ShuYi’s ideal path, and kept being pulled into more and more of a tangent.
It ended with someone saying [Grand opening on November twenty-first!! The chef is super cute!! And he’s got a super sweet gong!! It’s a must see!!!]
It was just that Xiao Wan went to school right after posting the Weibo and missed the blow-up. Shen Fu and Lin ShuYi on the other hand, well, they barely went on Weibo, so it wasn’t until a few days after everything blew up that Shen Fu got wind of it, and through a call from his grandfather, too.
As soon as he picked up, he was met with cursing. “Didn’t I tell you to bring him back to meet us? What on earth are the two of you doing over there, not coming back?! And making it so that everyone knows now!? You just can’t sit still without making things a big deal, can you?!”
He had already agreed that they could be together, but to him this wasn’t anything to be proud of. Apart from those necessary, the less people knew the better. Yet these two went and announced it to everyone, and now everyone knew. If it wasn’t for him overhearing their cleaner’s daughter secretly gossiping about it over the phone, then who knows how far the word would’ve spread?
Old Master Shen was about ready to erupt with rage!
Yet Shen Fu was nothing if not confused.
What on earth was Old Master Shen all up in arms about?
“What does everyone know?”
Old Master Shen felt like he would have a heart attack from anger any minute; he thought that Shen Fu was playing dumb so he raised his voice even further. “Go look up XiQin Restaurant! It’s trending and you’re playing dumb with me…”
Shen Fu narrowed his eyes, interrupting his grandfather’s yelling, finger in his ear as he said, “Wait a moment, let me go and take a look…”
And then he hung up.
Old Master Shen was going to have a heart attack with how much he worried.
Shen Fu quickly opened up a browser on his phone and searched up XiQin Restaurant. Unsurprisingly, he was met with many hits.
#Cutest chef and his sweet gong ##Where is XiQin Restaurant ##Count me in on checking this out ##Man in the know reveals the two’s identities#
Attached was the photos Xiao Wan uploaded, though the one that stood out the most was the secretly snapped photo.
Shen Fu: …
Who the fuck did this?!
Not long later, Chen Fang called as well. “I’ll give you a hundred points on this PDA, but how come you’re coming out of the closet so high profile and all? Aren’t you afraid of being lynched by your old man?” Then came very unsympathetic laughter.
Shen Fu: … Fuck off.
Clicking into the link, Shen Fu realized that Chen Fang hadn’t lied. Since there was a photo, their identities were easily pulled up and revealed. Lin ShuYi couldn’t avoid it either. Then there was a huge following complimenting them on how well they suited one another. Surprisingly, there weren’t many attacks on them, after all, a single secretly snapped photo of them couldn’t prove anything, but in the eyes of all these clueless people, it became a high profile way of coming out of the closet.
Shen Fu: … Who the fuck did this?!
This was absolutely… great!!
Joy flooded Shen Fu’s features. Now his old man would definitely give up on trying to make him leave Lin ShuYi, no? He could pursue Lin ShuYi openly now! He didn’t have to fear his old man deciding to take back his words!
“What’re you looking at that’s made you so happy?” Lin ShuYi pushed open the door, entering the room, only to be met with the wide, somewhat creepy smile on Shen Fu’s face.
Shen Fu put his phone away into his pocket. “Nothing.” This was something that Lin ShuYi was better off finding out himself. After all, it wouldn’t be good if Lin ShuYi thought he had planned this.
Lin ShuYi closed the door and took off his coat, hesitantly saying to Shen Fu. “I feel like there’s been more people than normal around the restaurant recently.”
Shen Fu: …
“And it feels like a lot of people keep staring at me.”
Shen Fu: …
Lin ShuYi recalled the creepy smile Shen Fu had before and looked over suspiciously. “This doesn’t have anything to do with you, does it?”
“With the sky as my witness, I promise you it doesn’t!”
Shen Fu: …