Shen Jiayue looked at the sour plum soup in front of her, her face full of surprise and delight.

The rose-red liquid sat in a crystal-clear glass, looking absolutely magnificent under the lights, especially with the ice cubes adding a touch of sparkle.

And that little splash of vibrant green at the rim gave the sour plum soup a fresh, lively vibe.

Even if you don't take a sip, just looking at it makes you feel totally refreshed.

It's just too pretty, I almost can't bring myself to drink it!

"Wow! This is so good, it's icy cold with a hint of osmanthus, and it feels so refreshing... Yueyue, if you're not drinking yours, can I have it?"

Chen Yan took a big sip with her straw.

She instantly fell in love with the taste of this sour plum soup.

Compared to what my brother-in-law makes, what they sell outside hardly counts as sour plum soup—tastes more like hotpot water!

The moment Shen Jiayue heard her cousin eyeing her glass, she snatched it up, took a big sip with her straw, and her eyes curved into two happy little crescents.

"It's so delicious! Can I have this every day?"

"Of course you can!"

Lin Xu put the remaining crushed ice back in the freezer, saw that fans in the livestream were asking about the price, and smiled as he said:

"These ones are special staff-only versions, not for sale! The sour plum soup we sell at the shop is more down-to-earth—none of this fancy over-the-top presentation..."

As he spoke, he picked up a drink cup from beside him:

"The shop uses these cups, eight yuan each. If you have a group, you can get a pitcher, which serves four cups, and that's twenty-eight for a pitcher—so each cup is one yuan cheaper."

After explaining, he told everyone in the shop to start eating.

"Go crazy with the sour plum soup, guys—there's ice in the freezer, so add more if it isn't cold enough."

Lin Xu brought his plate of spicy poached beef to the table, helped himself to some tiger skin chicken feet and ginger lotus root, then grabbed the rice the delivery guy brought and sat down to eat with Shen Jiayue, Chen Yan, and Grandpa Gao.

Grandpa Gao took a couple of bites of the spicy poached beef and reaffirmed Lin Xu's talent:

"You only watched me do it once yesterday and can already cook it to this level—your talent is absolutely flawless."

Lin Xu picked up some beef tripe for Shen Jiayue:

"It's all thanks to my master's teaching."

Just as he put the tripe into Miss Shen's bowl, she picked up a slice of luncheon meat and gave it to him, making Chen Yan, who was gobbling up her rice, grind her teeth in frustration.

Can't you eat without rubbing your relationship in our faces?

Please, you two, act a little more human!

Chen Yan was honestly peeved by their public displays of affection, but couldn't really lash out, so she took out her pent-up frustration on the spicy beef.

She usually doesn't like food this greasy.

But today, she just couldn't stop eating.

The duck blood was silky, the luncheon meat tender, the intestines fragrant, the beef tripe crunchy—heck, even the usually flavorless fish rolls soaked in chili oil became spicy and delicious.

When your mouth is on fire from all that heat, a gulp of icy, refreshing sour plum soup makes you feel so good, it's like every pore in your body is getting a massage.

"Bro, your cooking is insane! Next time you make something like this for staff lunch, let me know—I'll totally come mooch another meal."

"If you keep eating for free, you're going to eat our business into the ground!"

Boss lady Shen Jiayue shot down her cousin's freeloading right away, with righteous indignation.

That made Chen Yan sputter with laughter:

"You call it 'your home' when you two aren't even married yet? Yueyue, your worship of your husband-to-be is hopeless..."

The other table.

Since the boss and boss lady weren't eating at this table, the staff all felt pretty relaxed.

Digging into the spicy poached beef, savoring all that delicious spiciness.

And washing it down with icy, heat-busting sour plum soup.

This might have been the most satisfying, indulgent staff meal ever.

Xu Xinhua, shoveling a couple bites of rice in, turned to the delivery guy and whispered:

"Are our staff meals at this place always this generous?"

"Yeah, ever since my first day—whatever's on the menu, that's what we eat. In fact, the new dishes are always tested out on us first. The boss says that's the best way to introduce them to customers."

Xu Xinhua was pretty moved by that.

At his last job, the boss would never let them eat like this.

Want to try a dish?

Easy—just wait for the customers to leave and eat the leftovers.

Some places, you can't even eat leftovers. If they can re-sell them, they'll bring it back to the kitchen and make something else to serve to the next group of customers.

"Our boss really is a weirdo in the food business."

Xu Xinhua sighed.

But honestly, the atmosphere at this shop was super friendly, with no office politics. Everyone put their all into their work, not wanting to lose their job.

And the customers treated everyone like friends, too.

No bossing people around, no airs at all.

If the waiters got too busy during rush hour, customers would even help clear tables without being asked.

After lunch.

Customers gradually started coming in.

Everyone got busy with their own tasks.

"Ugh, I'm stuffed again..."

Shen Jiayue patted her flat little belly and turned to Chen Yan, who was also patting her stomach:

"What's the plan now—wanna go somewhere to burn off those calories?"

My parents are out at a dinner tonight, so our chicken feet won't sell today.

"Sounds good! I'll text Wu Kexin and we'll go play tennis, then I'll drive you home."

The two of them went and said hi to Wu Kexin.

Then they headed out by car.

"Is the sour plum soup on now? Give us two to start."

"I'll take three sour plum soups, three small braised pork rice bowls, and six chicken feet."

"One pitcher of sour plum soup, four large bowls of noodles with braised eggplant and pork sauce, and an order of steamed pork ribs in black bean sauce."

"One order of black bean chicken feet and a bowl of rice, plus a glass of sour plum soup."

"…"

Every customer who came today ordered a cup of sour plum soup to give it a try.

Even though eight bucks a cup is pretty steep for Yingchun Street, the higher the price, the more curious people get—and the more they want to try it.

"Holy crap! This is awesome!"

"It really is good—this sour plum soup is something else!"

"Now I seriously can't wait for the spicy poached beef—Panda bro said sour plum soup with the beef is next-level today."

"No idea when it'll be ready, but man, I can't wait!"

Customers were praising the sour plum soup.

But the moment Lin Xu's spicy beef hit the tables, the drinks lost the spotlight.

Everyone wanted to see just how good the spicy beef really was.

8 p.m.

Another day of business done.

Song Tiantian was tallying up the day's accounts when Lin Xu walked over and asked:

"How much did we make today?"

Song Tiantian glanced at the number on the register computer:

"A total of 43,758. That's three days in a row we broke forty thousand—business is getting better and better, boss."

Forty-three thousand?

Still a few grand short of fifty thousand.

Man, I really want to finish my main quest already—then I can unlock three more perfect-level dishes.

Even though I haven't finished updating the menu—

Who doesn't want to master even more recipes?

These perfect dishes are like my secret weapons—the more cards up my sleeve, the more confident I feel.

To finish this quest sooner,

I set a little goal for myself.

Once Xu Xinhua is fully up to speed in a day or two, I'll prep more ingredients and make a push to break the fifty-thousand mark—maybe finally complete that main quest.

While I was still brainstorming how to pull this off,

my senior brother Xie Baomin suddenly called:

"Master just scolded me for not helping out since you're so busy—I'm taking the weekend off, little bro, and I'll come lend you a hand then!"

Lin Xu's eyes lit up.

Seriously, when you're sleepy the universe hands you a pillow.

With senior brother coming over this weekend, that's the day to push for fifty thousand in sales!

——————

Numbers are dropping like crazy, guys! If you've got tickets, please throw a vote my way—monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, I'll take 'em all!

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