Li You returned to the shop with Ling Xiaoru, Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, Yu Wei, and the rest of the girls.
The girls continued to chat about what had just happened, while Li You went into the kitchen.
He was going to braise another 500 chicken feet.
There would be a wave of customers wanting to eat them tonight, and when Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, Yu Wei, and the other girls left, they would probably buy some to go as well.
After a bit of prep work, all 500 chicken feet were in the pot of braising liquid.
Now, he just had to wait for about 40 minutes.
He walked out of the kitchen.
"Boss, have you started braising them already?" Xia Xiaoyue asked.
Li You nodded.
"That’s great!" Xia Xiaoyue was delighted. "When we leave later, we can buy some to take back to school."
Li You thought, ’Just as I thought,’ then smiled. "Of course, you can."
Xia Xiaoyue added, "It’s also getting late. Otherwise, Boss, we’d all want to go back to your village to fish for crayfish."
Li You said, "Maybe next time. Come earlier next time, and then you can go fishing."
"Okay!"
Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, Yu Wei, and the other girls all agreed.
Before long, the aroma of the braised chicken feet began to waft out.
"By the way, Boss, how many did you braise in total this time?" Xia Xiaoyue asked.
Li You replied, "500."
"500 isn’t that many! In that case, after they’re done, pack up 300 for us first. I’m worried there won’t be many left by the time we leave," said Xia Xiaoyue.
Li You nodded. "Alright."
Once the chicken feet were cooked and out of the pot, Li You packed up 300 of them.
...
Time slowly passed until it was five in the afternoon, and the girls began to order dinner.
After eating, they had to head back to school.
Ling Xiaoru ate with them as well.
At the same time, customers from town started trickling in for dinner.
Everyone who entered the shop excitedly asked Li You when they would be able to see Guyi’s painting, the "Nine Dragon Gorge Scenic Map."
Clearly, all these customers had heard that Guyi had painted in the shop today.
They were deeply disappointed they couldn’t witness Guyi painting in person, but being able to see the finished piece was just as exciting.
Fortunately, Guyi had gifted the painting to the owner, who was willing to display it, giving them the privilege of seeing it.
Li You explained that he needed to have the painting mounted first. He expected to officially display it starting the day after tomorrow.
The day after tomorrow?
That was very soon.
The customers nodded eagerly and said, "Great!" They were full of anticipation!
Li You was busy in the kitchen until six in the evening, when he finally finished serving all the customers’ orders.
He walked out of the kitchen.
By this time, Xia Xiaoyue, Ling Xiaoru, Mu Qingye, Yu Wei, and the other girls had finished eating.
After paying the bill, they took the 300 packed-up braised chicken feet and said their goodbyes to Li You.
"Boss, we’ll still miss you after we go back to school this time," many of the girls said.
Li You laughed and said, "I’ll miss you guys too."
"Really?"
"Really."
The girls giggled.
"Boss, I’m heading back too," Ling Xiaoru said.
Li You nodded. Then he took out Guyi’s "Nine Dragon Gorge Scenic Map" and handed it to Ling Xiaoru, saying, "I’ll have to trouble you then, Miss Xiaoru."
Ling Xiaoru carefully took it with both hands and said, "Don’t worry, Boss. I’ll make sure it’s handled perfectly."
Li You nodded. "I trust you, Miss Xiaoru."
Ling Xiaoru left with the painting.
Afterward, more new customers arrived for dinner.
Li You returned to the kitchen and got back to work.
Right now, the topic of conversation among all the customers in the shop was related to Guyi painting there earlier today.
None of these customers had been there at noon.
However, they discussed the process of Guyi’s painting with such vivid detail, it was as if they had witnessed it firsthand.
Listening to the customers’ chatter from the kitchen, Li You found it quite interesting.
This was one of the reasons he was growing to like running this shop more and more.
After another busy spell, he once again served all the customers’ orders.
Then, he stir-fried a portion of twice-cooked pork with garlic sprouts for himself.
It was time for his own dinner.
He walked out of the kitchen carrying his bowl of rice and his dish.
When the customers saw Li You, they called out to him, "Eating now, Boss? Come on, come eat with us! And while you’re here, tell us about Ancient Guyi painting at noon."
Everyone was calling out to him.
Of course, Li You was more than happy to eat with his customers and tell them the story of Guyi’s painting.
So, he chose a table of customers in the middle of the room.
This way, when he spoke, the customers at the other tables could also hear.
With Li You joining them, the customers all grew even more enthusiastic.
Everyone noticed Li You wasn’t drinking.
That simply wouldn’t do.
So they all insisted that Li You drink at least one bowl of alcohol.
Li You readily agreed.
’A bowl of alcohol is nothing to me now,’ he thought.
When the customers saw Li You agree, they all cheered.
The atmosphere in the shop grew more and more lively.
The lively atmosphere continued until everyone had eaten and drunk their fill.
By now, it was almost eight in the evening.
It was time to head home.
After settling their bills, the customers said their goodbyes and left one after another.
After seeing off the last wave of customers, the sky had turned completely dark.
Time to close up, relax, and watch some TV.
There were twenty braised chicken feet left. Li You had purposely saved them for himself to eat tonight.
He had braised a thousand chicken feet in total today, but he hadn’t even eaten two of them himself.
’Man, these braised chicken feet really sell well,’ he mused.
Oh, right. Yesterday, when he was killing chickens in the world of the game *Hot Blooded Legend*, besides getting over 20,000 chicken feet, he also got more than 3,000 whole chickens.
’Maybe I should braise a few whole chickens to sell tomorrow?’
’I could eat some myself, too.’
Li You loved eating braised chicken.
Watching TV while eating braised chicken and drinking alcohol—it didn’t get much better than that.
’It’s decided. I’ll braise some chickens tomorrow.’
’I’ll braise ten. Nine to sell, and one to keep for myself to eat at night while watching TV.’
But for tonight, he would eat the twenty braised chicken feet first.
As for alcohol, he’d already drunk with the customers earlier, so he wouldn’t have any more.
He would drink again tomorrow night.
He closed the shop door. Li You went upstairs to the second floor with the twenty braised chicken feet.
He sat on the sofa and turned on the TV.
’I’ll pick a movie to watch. How about *Jurassic World Dominion*, which came out not too long ago?’ he thought.
Li You quite liked this series.
Soon, the movie started.
Li You ate his braised chicken feet as he watched.
The reviews for this movie didn’t seem to be very good.
However, after Li You slowly finished watching it, he thought it was alright.
Both the special effects and the plot were pretty good.
The new dinosaurs that hadn’t appeared in the previous movies were also a refreshing sight.
Overall, Li You felt it was worth a watch.
’Take a shower, fiddle with my phone for a bit, play some games... and another day will be over.’
’Time sure passes quickly.’
...
「The next day.」
Li You got up, washed up, opened the shop for business, and after eating breakfast, he took out ten chickens from the Storage Pavilion.
He was getting ready to braise the chickens.
Although the pot was large, it couldn’t braise ten chickens at once.
He would have to do it in two batches.
That wasn’t a problem; it just meant braising one more time.
Li You began his preparations.
...