At that moment, Li You walked over as well.
When Li You drew near, Lin Guodong smiled. "Xiaoyou, I’ve brought more crayfish."
Li You smiled back. "Uncle Guodong, thanks for your hard work."
He then peeked into the bag.
The crayfish looked excellent.
At the same time, the system also assessed the crayfish’s quality, determining it to be medium-grade.
Excellent!
"Uncle Guodong, how many catties is it this time?" Li You asked.
Lin Guodong said, "73 catties."
Li You nodded. "Okay. I’ll transfer the money to you now."
Seventy-three catties came to a total of 1,022 yuan.
Li You didn’t plan on weighing it himself.
He trusted Lin Guodong.
After receiving the payment, Lin Guodong was overjoyed and thanked Li You profusely.
Li You told Lin Guodong there was no need to be so formal, adding that this saved him a trip to the market for crayfish.
It was a good thing for him, too.
Then he added, "Uncle Guodong, is anyone in your village selling free-range eggs?"
"Free-range eggs?" Lin Guodong replied. "Xiaoyou, you want to buy some? How many do you need?"
Li You said, "I’m looking to buy them regularly from now on. But they have to be genuinely free-range. I’ve just launched a new tomato and egg soup that requires them."
At these words, the eyes of Xia Xiaoyue, Ling Xiaoru, Mu Qingye, Yu Wei, and the other girls lit up.
’I can’t believe the boss’s tomato and egg soup requires authentic free-range eggs.’
’Is this the kind of strict standard a top chef has for their ingredients?’
’No wonder his food is so delicious.’
Lin Guodong, on the other hand, nodded and said, "Most of the eggs in our village are free-range, and some folks are willing to sell. Xiaoyou, I’ll spread the word when I get back. If anyone wants to sell, I’ll have them bring the eggs straight to you. How does that sound?"
Li You nodded. "Of course. I’ll leave it to you then, Uncle Guodong. As for the price, I’ll make sure it’s fair for everyone."
Lin Guodong chuckled. "I’m sure everyone trusts you completely."
After that, Lin Guodong took his leave.
After Lin Guodong left, the girls turned their attention back to the crayfish in the bag.
Xia Xiaoyue said, "Boss, since your crayfish are all caught by villagers in the paddies, do you ever go back and catch them yourself when you’re free?"
Li You replied, "I actually haven’t gone to catch them myself yet. But I wouldn’t rule it out. If the mood strikes me one day, I might just head back to the village to do it."
At this, the eyes of all the girls, including Xia Xiaoyue, lit up once more.
Xia Xiaoyue then asked, "So, are you in the mood today?"
Hearing her ask, the other girls also looked at Li You expectantly.
Li You chuckled. "What’s this? You’re all interested in catching crayfish?"
"We are!"
All the girls answered in unison.
Li You nodded.
He wasn’t surprised that the girls were interested in catching crayfish.
In fact, he was quite interested himself.
That included fishing for them.
Back when he was a kid, eating crayfish wasn’t popular yet. Even so, he and his friends would often go fishing for them just for fun.
Let alone now that they were so popular.
’So, are these beauties hoping I’ll be in the mood to go back to the village and catch crayfish today so they can tag along?’
Li You asked, "Are you hoping to come back to the village with me to catch crayfish?"
The girls all nodded eagerly.
Then, Mu Qingye said, "I’ve never gone into a paddy to catch crayfish before. I’ve never fished for them, either. Before today, I didn’t even know you could fish for crayfish."
"I’ve never gone into a paddy to catch them or fished for them. I didn’t know you could fish for them either."
"Me neither."
"..."
Many of the girls said the same.
Xia Xiaoyue said, "It’s not just you guys. Even I’ve never done it, and I spent plenty of time in the countryside as a kid. Crayfish weren’t popular back then, so very few people bothered catching them. I knew you could fish for them, but I’ve never tried."
Yu Wei and Ling Xiaoru both added that they’d also spent a good amount of time in the countryside as children but had never gone into the paddies to catch crayfish or fished for them.
Then, all the girls turned to Li You with hopeful expressions.
Li You chuckled. "All right. I’ll take you all back to the village this afternoon to catch crayfish."
"That’s great!"
"Thank you, Boss!"
"You’re the best, Boss!"
"Boss, we’ll give you all the crayfish we catch."
"..."
The girls were buzzing with excitement and anticipation.
Seeing the girls so happy put Li You in a great mood as well.
He was now quite excited about it too.
’Taking this group of beauties back to the village to catch crayfish should be fun.’
’But when the time comes, will these beauties really dare to get into the paddies?’
At this thought, Li You let out a mischievous chuckle and added, "But are you sure you’ll dare to get into the paddies? Aren’t you afraid of leeches? Or reaching into a crayfish hole and finding a snake?"
As soon as he said that, the previously excited girls all shivered.
Leeches? Snakes?
That... That was...
They hadn’t thought about it that much, but now that Li You mentioned it, they realized they might have been a bit naive.
’If there are really leeches and snakes, how could we possibly dare to go into the paddies?’
Those were the things they feared most.
Mu Qingye asked, "Boss, are there really snakes in crayfish holes? If so, how can you still dare to catch them?"
Li You burst out laughing. "I’m just messing with you. There won’t be any snakes in the crayfish holes. Once you spot one, you can just stick your hand in and feel around. Of course, you have to be sure you’ve got the right hole. Just don’t mistake a snake hole for a crayfish hole, that’s all."
The girls all rolled their eyes.
’Isn’t that the same thing?’
’What if we misjudge and stick our hands into a snake hole thinking it’s a crayfish hole...?’
’It’s too terrifying!’
The girls shivered again and again at the mere thought of it.
Seeing their reactions, Li You was secretly amused. He continued, "But you don’t need to worry. Crayfish holes are very easy to recognize. It’s almost impossible to mistake them. I can check for you. Once I give the all-clear, you can reach in and grab them."
The girls shook their heads vigorously.
Li You continued, "As for leeches, those are real. But there’s no need to be scared. They don’t usually bite. And even if you’re unlucky enough to get bitten, it’s not a big deal. You’ll lose a little blood at most, and it won’t even hurt. Afterward, you just need to clean the spot with some antiseptic."
The girls kept shaking their heads. All talk of going into the paddies to catch crayfish had stopped.
This left them feeling a little dejected.
They really had been interested in catching crayfish.
Seeing this, Li You laughed. "I was just teasing you. Catching crayfish in the paddies is really nothing to worry about. Besides, even if you don’t want to get in the water, we can still fish for them! Fishing for crayfish is actually more interesting and fun anyway."
Hearing this, the girls’ excitement returned.
’That’s right! We can still fish for crayfish.’
’Fishing for them does seem more fun.’
"Boss, let’s head back to the village this afternoon then. If we decide not to go into the paddies, we’ll go fishing instead. How does that sound?" Xia Xiaoyue suggested.
Li You nodded. "Sounds good!"
"Great!"
The girls were once again filled with excitement and anticipation.
And so it was settled.
Afterward, Li You picked up the crayfish and headed into the restaurant.
The girls all followed.
Once inside, Li You handed the crayfish to Da Bai and Xiaohai, telling them to clean them when they had a moment.
By now, it was almost 11:00 a.m.
The girls couldn’t wait to eat some spicy crayfish.
’Let’s get fifty catties, then.’
With over twenty of them, they’d need at least fifty catties just to have enough to go around.
They would also order a few bowls of salty braised pork belly and some servings of the tomato and egg soup, along with some rice, to try the two new dishes of the day.
That would be about right.
Li You told the girls to wait a moment, then went into the kitchen to get started.
Because he had already prepared a large batch of semi-finished spicy crayfish, making fifty catties at once wouldn’t take too long.
He worked with three large woks at once.
Before long, fifty catties of spicy crayfish were ready.
They were served on massive platters.
It filled ten platters in total.
When all ten massive platters of spicy crayfish were set out on the tables, the sight was spectacular and tantalizing, even though they were spread across several tables.
They had truly achieved crayfish freedom.
The girls were ecstatic at the sight and couldn’t wait to dig in.
Just then, other customers started trickling into the restaurant.
They couldn’t help but be stunned by the scene: ten huge platters of crayfish spread across several tables, being devoured by a group of gorgeous, vibrant young women.
A scene like this was a rare sight!
You could probably only see something like this at the boss’s place.
The whole scene was truly tempting.
But was it the spicy crayfish that were so tempting, or the beautiful girls?
Who could say?
...