RL (AT) Chapter 35: Lin Mo’s Gourmet Shop

Chapter 35: Lin Mo’s Gourmet Shop

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo

 

A few days later, the shop was cleaned up and the layout was in accordance with Lin Mo’s requirements. Getting everything ready, Lin Mo trained Chen Qing and Chen Mu to understand the process. After the shop opened, as Lin Mo expected, not many people knew about it so less than fifty guests came in several days, half of them came frequently after they tried the food for the first time.

Lin Mo didn’t feel anything about this situation, but the traffic should increase in a few days. However, Lin Mo was not worried about this, but someone was worried about him.

Chen Mu sorted the vegetables and put them in the basket on the shelf. After finishing, he glanced at Second Boss, who was sitting at the counter and reading idly. Chen Mu glanced at the door leading to the backyard and confirmed that the big boss was still cleaning the ingredients inside. Chen Mu moved to the counter.

Chen Mu whispered, “Second Boss, we haven’t had very many guests these days. Shall we publicize it like Mingjiu Pavillion?” 

Before that, Lin Mo needed to solve something. Chen Qing and Chen Mu went to Mingjiu Pavillion to find Lin Cheng and after they went there, they knew that they could do more publicity if they wanted more guests.

“Publicize? No, there should be more customers in a few days. When the guests come in, go and entertain them.” Lin Mo finished, saw someone coming in and reminded Chen Mu of his duties.

“Ah? Alright.” Hearing this, Chen Mu hurried to greet the incoming guests.

A few days later, as Lin Mo said, the number of guests doubled. Lin Mo listened to their conversation carefully and heard that they had been introduced to this place by a friend. Lin Mo poured a cup of hot tea, changed to another book and continued to read. He did say that there would be more guests.

After processing the ingredients, Cheng Yan walked into the hall from the backyard. In the afternoon, the sun shone through the hollow layer on the door. Lin Mo lay at the counter, with the open book covering his head. Part of the beautiful sunlight fell on his back.

The sun in late autumn afternoon was very warm. Although Cheng Yan didn’t know why Lin Mo liked sleeping so much, almost half of the time of the day was spent with his eyes closed, of course, only when he was around. However, this kind of weather was really suitable for dozing.

Cheng Yan walked quickly and attended to the guest who came in to check out and took the note in the guest’s hand. He calculated the amount according to the above menu, then showed it and asked the guest to pay.

During the whole process, both of them did not make a sound. The customer was obviously an old customer. He was used to the Second Boss in charge sleeping on the side, and the big boss checking him out.

At present, there were three kinds of food created by Lin Mo: spicy hot pot, all kinds of kebabs and self-service family hot pot. However, the first two were the most popular among the guests. It was estimated that it was not cold enough now.

All the utensils inside were customized by the blacksmith before. The spicy hot pot and skewers were selected by the guests, and the later ones were processed by Chen Qing and Chen Mu. The fire for self-service hot pot was smokeless carbon, and because smokeless carbon was more expensive, the price of this hot pot was higher than others, maybe this was why no one bought it.

Actually, Lin Mo, who was lying on the counter, was not asleep. He was just too idle, and the sun was just warm enough to bask in. So he put his book on his head and closed his eyes to rest. Hearing the footsteps approaching him, Lin Mo was about to take the book off his head and get up to check out the guest when Cheng Yan arrived.

When Cheng Yan arrived, it meant he didn’t need to get up. Lin Mo continued to lie on his face and closed his eyes. Sitting beside Cheng Yan, Lin Mo, who was not sleepy before, was a little confused.

After settling the accounts for several guests, Cheng Yan saw that there were no people. He took the book off of Lin Mo’s head and put it on the back cabinet, bent down and lifted him up to take him to the backyard. On the way, he met Chen Qing and asked him to take his place at the counter.

A few days after the food gossip was spread, Lin Mo found that there were not enough people to look after the place. Lin Mo recruited three middle-aged women; two to deal with the food and one to help in the hall. After the last guest left to check out, he had to clean up the things on the table immediately.

As for other matters, Chen Qing and Chen Mu, the two brothers who had sold themselves to Cheng Yang and Lin Mo, would not be paid money. The other three were hired and were paid monthly. If these three did not work, they could be replaced.

After autumn, in winter, more and more people came to eat hotpot in the food shop. There were also many food shops nearby that followed Lin Mo’s example. But the customers who had come to Lin Mo’s restaurant and tasted it, knew the difference. The price in the other shops were cheap, but the quality and taste were also poor. There was no unique taste that Lin Mo’s Gourmet Shop had.

Finally, the last guest was sent away. The three middle-aged women cleaned the backyard and the hall, and left with the rest of the leftover ingredients given to them by Second Boss.

Cheng Yan closed all the doors to block the incoming cold wind. After walking to the backyard and telling Chen Qing and Chen Mu, Cheng Yan and Lin Mo, who are already dressed, left through the back gate.

Before, Lin Mo wanted to buy a house in town and Lin Cheng also wanted to buy a big courtyard. Every day, Lin Cheng had to go to town and the Academy where Lin Xing and Lin Cheng studied was also in town. It took a lot of time to come from Daling Village in the morning and go back in the evening.

Besides, Xiaoya and Xiaonan hadn’t seen the other adults in their family for a long time, except grandma and their mother. Therefore, it was certain that the Lin family would move to town. Anyway, it was winter now, and they didn’t have to worry about their own affairs.

Since both of them wanted to buy a house, Cheng Yan and Lin Cheng went to buy a big courtyard. The interior environment was good, the house and furniture were semi-new and they could live in it directly after a little cleaning.

So Lin Mo lived with the Lin family again, but now there was an addition to the family, Cheng Yan as Lin Mo’s husband.

Today, Lin Xiu was coming back for his vacation. To be exact, after this winter, Lin Xiu would go to the Imperial City for the exam in the spring. Even Lin Xing and Lin Chen had a few days off. Today, they were going to have dinner together, so Lin Mo and Cheng Yan had to go back quickly.

The house they bought was in between Lin Cheng’s Mingjiu Pavillion and Lin Mo’s Gourmet Shop. It was just a few minutes’ walk away.

After Cheng Yan warmed his pocket, he pulled Lin Mo’s hand and put it in his pocket. Lin Mo was not in good health and his hands and feet were often cold in winter. His feet were still cold when he woke up the next day after sleeping at night. But the good thing was that there was also a natural heating furnace called Cheng Yan. As long as Lin Mo was in his arms, he would not be cold in the middle of the night.

By the time the two of them got home, the others would be ready to eat. When Lin Mo entered the house, he felt a lot warmer. Cheng Yan helped him take off his coat and put it aside.

“Mo’ger and Cheng are back. Go wash your hands and come eat dinner. There is hot water in the kitchen.” Mama Lin stood at the table and put the cooked meat in the pot.

They would have hot pot tonight, divided into clear soup and red spicy soup, after all, children couldn’t eat spicy food.

Seeing Lin Mo coming in, Lin Xiaoya exclaimed happily, “Fourth Uncle, you’re back!” 

“Fourth Elder Brother, hurry up and get ready to eat!” Lin Xing sat with chopsticks in his hand and stared at Mama Lin as she put the ingredients in. Seeing Fourth Brother coming back, he waved at him.

“It’s okay. You eat first.” Lin Mo waved his hand to make them feel free to eat.

“Mom, is there too much pepper in this pot?” Lin Xing saw that the other half of the pot was full of red chili oil floating on it, and felt his tongue tingling.

Lin Chen, sitting next to him, said suddenly, “If you can’t eat spicy food, you can have the other side.” 

“Who… Who says I can’t eat it?” Lin Xing retorted, but there was a lack of momentum in his tone.

On the kitchen side, Cheng Yan ladled warm water into a basin for Lin Mo’s hands. Lin Mo put his hands in the basin to soak, and Cheng Yan put his hands in to rub Lin Mo’s cold, stiff hands.

“Why are your hands still so cold? Do you want to buy some ginseng as a tonic?” Cheng Yan asked as he rubbed them for him.

“What can ginseng do? Don’t bother. I was born with a cold constitution.” Lin Mo shook his head. In his previous life, he had a cold constitution too. In winter, he had to turn on the heater, otherwise, his hands and feet would be cold. It was probably the same in this time.

Cheng Yan didn’t speak. He continued to rub Lin Mo’s hands to circulate his blood. Then he scooped up a basin of hot water and put his hands in it. When Lin Mo’s finger’s flexibility was almost restored, the two men returned to the room, just as the things in the pot were almost cooked. After they sat down, the others began to eat. Cheng Yan helped Lin Mo by grabbing the meat and a lotus root on the spicy side, and then scooped out a bowl of soup for him to start eating.

This soup was specially made by Mama Lin to warm Lin Mo. The other children in the family had to drink a bowl of it every meal. The warming effect was obvious for others, but not for Lin Mo. However, Lin Mo drank it every time in order not to worry Cheng Yan and Mama Lin.

Lin Xing gave Lin Xiaonan meat, a lotus root and Chinese purple yam which were soft boiled, and then looked at the meat in the red soup. He couldn’t help but be tempted to take one. The next second, Lin Xing’s eyes turned red and his mouth was numb.

“You know that you can’t eat spicy food and you’re still trying it?” Lin Chen had no choice but to move his cool water to Lin Xing.

Every time his mouth got so hot that his face turned red after consuming the spicy meal, he wouldn’t touch it next time, then, the time after, he would forget and eat it again.

“Let him try it a few more times, maybe he will be able to eat spicy food later.” Lin Xiu, who was enjoying the spicy food, looked up at Lin Xing and couldn’t help laughing.

“Even Second Brother can eat spicy food. Why can’t I?” Lin Xing filled a cup of cold water and reluctantly dropped a little spicy broth in his mouth. He was unwilling to say he couldn’t eat it.

Lin Mo looked up at Lin Xing and said, “I can’t eat too much either, and Xiaonan and Xiaoya can’t.”

“Fourth Brother is different. Why can Second Brother eat spicy food as a scholar?” Lin Xing said gloomily, Fourth Brother was a ger, and Xiaoya and Xiaonan were children. How could this be the same?

“What makes you think that scholars can’t eat spicy food?” Lin Mo opened his mouth to eat the meat that Cheng Yan fed him, and asked as he chewed it.

“Scholars should be weak… Er…” Lin Xing cut himself off, knowing that Second Brother was here.

“Huh? I beg your pardon? How am I weak?” With chopsticks in hand, Lin Xiu looked up at Lin Xing, who was opposite him. He smiled softly.

“No… It’s nothing. I mean, scholars should not be weak. They have great strength like Second Brother.” Lin Xing hurriedly changed his words, looking serious. He finished saying this and dared not look up at his Second Brother.

Lin Mo looked at his family with a smile in his eyes as he ate, and found that they were all used to it. It was the same with their previous relationship in his past life.