Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 248 The Picky and Fastidious Female Guest

The woman wearing a veiled hat also turned towards the restaurant and nodded slightly.

After the woman said something to the driver, he held an umbrella in one hand and supported the other woman, and walked towards the restaurant to a place where there was no water on the ground.

After the woman got off the carriage, the driver and the servant found some gravel, pushed the carriage hard, and placed the gravel under the wheels.

Then they ran to the back of the car and pushed it forward with all their strength.

With a shout, the horse exerted its strength and the carriage was actually pushed up. The coachman hurriedly drove the carriage, following the master, and stopped in front of the restaurant.

At this time, the two people who got off the car had arrived in front of the restaurant. Seeing that there were customers coming, Li and the others no longer stood at the door, but retreated to the side of the door.

Li smiled and greeted: "My ladies, how are you, but what would you like to eat?"

The middle-aged maid took a step forward and looked into the store.

Although this restaurant was simple, it was clean and tidy. There were only two middle-aged men eating inside, and it seemed that they were almost done.

The maid nodded to Li in a somewhat arrogant manner and said, "It's hard to walk on the rainy day. My young lady will take a rest in your shop."

Since setting up the stall, Li has seen more and more people, and he is no longer surprised. He is not angry, but greets with a smile: "Please come this way, sir. The tables and chairs here have just been wiped and are clean."

After saying that, he led the way, leading the two to the side of the store, next to a table and chairs away from the two customers.

Seeing that there were no other guests to entertain, Shen Yu asked Zhou Dalang to go back to the kitchen with him and told him that he wanted to make pickled fish for lunch.

Zhou Dalang said happily, "Is the pickled fish you're going to make as spicy as the boiled fish? It's just right for this weather. I didn't expect it to be so cold all of a sudden after the rain today."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "The pickled fish tastes sour and fragrant, not that spicy."

"Since you like to eat, just pack two fish."

"Mr. Lu's banquet has been postponed. Pick two of the biggest and fattest ones. One for boiled fish and one for pickled fish."

"Yutao can't eat spicy food. If we make boiled fish, she will complain that it's too spicy."

Zhou Dalang smiled innocently: "We can eat it any way we want. Although I have never heard of this pickled fish, the dishes made by the girl are delicious no matter how they are cooked."

As he said this, he took a basin and a kitchen knife, put on a large bamboo hat, scooped two fish from the large basin in the corner, and carried them outside the yard gate.

Shen Yu fished out a piece of pickled cabbage from the jar and was about to wash it with clean water when he saw Jiang coming in from the small door of the shop.

Shen Yu thought she came to get something, but unexpectedly Jiang went to the cupboard in the corner of the kitchen where the newly bought tableware was kept and started looking for it.

Shen Yu felt curious and went over to ask her what she was looking for, and she helped him look for it.

Jiang smiled helplessly: "The young lady outside is fine, but the mother following her is too difficult to serve."

Jiang searched for a while and took out a set of fine porcelain bowls from the back of the cupboard that had never been used. She said, "It's okay for them to rest in the store because the road is difficult to walk on."

"The mother next to the young lady insisted that we pour her young lady a cup of tea. She also insisted that we use new tea sets and let us boil water on the charcoal stove in front of her."

Shen Yu couldn't help but frown and said, "We run a restaurant, not a beverage shop. How can we give her any good tea? Are you being picky on purpose?"

Jiang was washing the tea set and teapot: "That mother said that they brought the tea leaves."

"It's just that there's some fruit tea brewed in the tea set I brought with me. It'll take half an hour to brew before I can drink it, so I'll use our tea set to make a cup of hot tea first."

Among the people Shen Yu came into contact with, Lu Lang had the highest status.

The son of the county magistrate was very particular about food. Apart from his preference for delicious food and his picky manner, he was not pretentious in other aspects.

Shen Yu thought about it and said, "When you open a business, you can meet all kinds of people."

"Since she wants these, send her a complete set of tea sets and let her make tea herself. When she has rested enough, they will leave naturally."

"She's so particular about drinking tea. Maybe she's a noble lady from some family. Be careful and don't offend her."

Jiang nodded and said, "I am awake. Don't worry, young lady. We will definitely take good care of you."

After saying that, he hurriedly placed the washed tea set, teapot and small tea stove on a large tray and carried it back to the shop.

Shen Yu was worried about the female customer who looked important in the store, so he cut the side dishes while paying attention to what was going on in the store.

Zhou Dalang had already cleaned the two fish, and Shen Yu had also cut the sauerkraut and soaked it in cold water.

Shen Yu asked Zhou Dalang to help her light the small stove while she started slicing the fish.

The method of cooking sauerkraut fish is similar to that of boiled fish, except that you have to fry the sauerkraut first, without adding dogwood oil, and then add more pickled ginger and minced garlic.

Shen Yu thought that the steps for making these two dishes were the same, so he planned to divide the cooked fish soup into two portions, one for sauerkraut fish and the other for boiled fish.

After cleaning the fish fillets and coating them with batter, Shen Yu put the bones and heads of the two fish into the oil pan.

Fry until slightly yellow, add some scallion segments and ginger slices, and pour a spoonful of rice wine along the pot to remove the fishy smell. When the wine has almost evaporated, pour in boiling water.

Since he was making fish soup for two dishes this time, Shen Yu added more water. After boiling it over high heat, he skimmed off the foam, covered the pot and simmered it over low heat.

It was already past noon and the rain was getting heavier.

After Zhou Dalang packed the fish, he planned to go to the shop to work. Unexpectedly, when he reached the small door of the shop, he stopped and turned back.

Shen Yu was sitting there watching over the soup pot. Seeing Zhou Dalang coming back, he smiled and said, "Why, are you going to learn how to make it for Madam Cui and Xiaobao? The soup still needs to cook for a while. It's not so soon to start frying the pickled cabbage."

Zhou Dalang looked strange and said awkwardly, "No, it was the lady who wouldn't let me into the store."

"They said that the two female customers didn't allow men to enter. I took a peek and saw that there were no other customers in the store except the two female customers from before."

Shen Yu said "Oh" and said in a nonchalant manner: "Rich people have many rules. You can learn to cook fish here. There won't be any other customers anyway."

As she was talking, Yutao came over with an umbrella. When she reached the kitchen door, she put down her umbrella and sniffed, "It smells so good. Is my sister making boiled fish again?"

Shen Yu smiled and said, "One is for spicy boiled fish, and the other is for pickled fish. Don't add dogwood oil, and you won't feel spicy when you eat it."

Yutao said a little embarrassedly: "It's not too spicy actually, it's just that I've never eaten it like this before. I was sweating all over, and it felt sticky and uncomfortable."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "Some people can eat spicy food, while others can't. Don't force it."

"We are a restaurant anyway, can't we decide what to eat? Don't be reluctant, just eat what you like."