Chapter 46: Charm of the Clear Broth Noodle Soup
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
While Yuan Zhou was carefully scooping up the jam, he realized something odd. After standing still and thinking for a second, he decided to try again later to confirm his assumptions.
It was quite easy to place two moderate-sized bowls of Clear Broth Noodle Soup and a plate of blueberry jam on the tray.
“Your Clear Broth Noodle Soup.”
Yuan Zhou first carried one bowl of the noodles to the man beside Wu Hai, and then only brought the other one to Wu Hai.
“Your No.13 Specialty Plate and Clear Broth Noodle Soup.”
“Isn’t this blueberry jam?” the man that was served first interrupted and asked.
“Yeah, I think so.” Wu Hai looked at Yuan Zhou doubtfully.
Nevertheless, Yuan Zhou’s reaction was to turn around and place the tray back to its original position and prepared to fry rice.
“I really do believe it is blueberry jam. Boss Yuan, am I right?” the man asked directly after seeing that Yuan Zhou didn’t respond.
“Yes, it is.” This time, Yuan Zhou gave an affirmative answer.
The man looked at Wu Hai proudly and prepared to accept his due praise. However, Wu Hai turned away, pretending not have noticed, and then started enjoying his meal.
Frankly speaking, Wu Hai didn’t have any dishes that he really disliked even though he was picky about the food he consumed. He just had a different preference. For example, he enjoyed eating wheat-based dishes; therefore, would often inquire about the soup dumplings. Now that a new kind of wheat-based dish was served, Wu Hai would definitely give it a try, even if it was just an ordinary plain Clear Broth Noodle Soup.
Wu Hai may had severe gastric, however, he enjoyed eating spicy food, any sort of quite spicy food. In his eyes, noodle soup without chili was no more than a soup filled with dough drops.
Wu Had had a habit of drinking the broth first.
“Whir…”
He picked up the bowl and took a gulp from it.
The broth had a light taste, yet it also contained a strong fragrance of flour and a natural crisp scent of sesame oil. When the gentle oil fragrance blended with the sweet taste of the water rushed down his throat, he felt refreshed instantly.
Wu Hai loved dropping by for a meal most after his work. He would feel spirited after finishing the meal every time, just as if he had woken up from a deep sleep. At the very beginning, Wu Hai thought it was because of the superbly delicious dishes prepared by Yuan Zhou that made him feel content both mentally and physically. However, it turned out the truth wasn’t so simple.
He picked up chopsticks full of noodles. The chopsticks were dark brown while the noodles were slightly yellow rather than the usual white. The heat rising upward from the hot broth enticed Wu Hai to start eating the noodles with a slurp before he had a chance to study them carefully.
With a simple bite, the noodles were easily torn apart. Each noodle had an excellent elasticity and chewiness, thus were easy to swallow. The skills in kneading dough were mastered perfectly by Yuan Zhou, giving it the perfect texture which meanwhile allowed the customer to gulp them down easily.
It was obvious from the taste that only ordinary flavorings were used, but nevertheless, it gave people the urge to keep on eating.
“slurp slurp whir whir”
Wu Hai and the man beside him totally ignored the gazes from Wu Anlu and his colleagues as they concentrated on their meal, giving off loud noises in the process.
“Gu Dong”
Ma Wei couldn’t help drooling, “Is that noodle soup so delicious? Look at how happily they are eating!”
“The Egg Fried Rice is terrific. So the noodle soup should be as well. Look at those two, they almost buried their heads in the bowl,” Xiao Liu said while drooling slowly.
It stirred one’s appetite when observing others eating happily. People would usually eat more when they had meals together with a person that had a good appetite. Having enjoyed the delicious Egg Fried Rice, they now had to watch others enjoy their food while waiting for theirs to arrive. The several people barely held back their urge to drag Wu Hai and the other man away and devour those noodles themselves.
As for the one serving that they had already consumed? These people stated that they had always been hungry and had never eaten their fill.
“Boss, is the Egg Fried Rice done?” Taking a look at his anxious subordinates, Wu Anlu hurriedly urged Yuan Zhou.
“One moment, please.”
Yuan Zhou placed six servings of Egg Fried Rice in two trays, three in each tray, and carried them to the customers.
The several people immediately pounced on each plate before Yuan Zhou had arrived at their side. Of course, each would be grabbing the serving for himself. As for their boss Wu Anlu... who was that? They had no recollection of such a person.
While carrying the plate of Egg Fried Rice in his hands, Wu Anlu thought to himself, “This place isn’t appropriate for a manager to treat his subordinates. A manager would easily lose all respect from his subordinates here.”
With his arms crossed, Yuan Zhou stood at the other side of the table, looking at all the customers fervently eating the dishes made by him in the main hall.
To Yuan Zhou, cooking a serving of Egg Fried Rice was merely a three-minute affair. However slowest one could take to finish that serving is half an hour. The dish definitely tasted better before it got cold.
After finishing up the last rice grain, Wu Anlu took his subordinates back to the company in the afternoon..
“Boss, shall we come back here later on?” Xiao Liu said while walking beside Wu Anlu.
“Yes, it’s quite a good place, boss.” Ma Wei interrupted and said as well.
The other three people all kept nodding their heads to express their consent.
“As if I don’t know what you are all thinking.. We can only come here once a month.” Wu Anlu first revealed a long face before agreeing to their proposal at last.
The several subordinates heaved a sigh of relief. This restaurant may serve top-class dishes but also at a top-class price. With their monthly salary of less than 10 grand, once or twice was still possible for them, but they couldn’t afford any more than that. It was great now since their boss had agreed to treat them once a month.
In a short while, all the customers that needed to get back to work left. Only Wu Hai stayed behind and ordered two more servings of Egg Fried Rice with blueberry jam. This weird combination of several different dishes even surprised Yuan Zhou.
After Wu Hai left, Yuan Zhou shut the door of the restaurant directly. Then he went upstairs to play card games on his computer, preparing to sleep afterwards.
As expected, Yuan Zhou was defeated every single time. With a burning desire to win at least once, he played until it was 4:30 p.m. Then, he ended the game and went to open the restaurant.
Yuan Zhou felt that his IQ not even compare to that of the Alpha Dog that was capable of playing Go, so he decided to continue to game at night. He believed he would definitely win once. If not, it must be the new computer’s problem. After all, he had won a few times using his previous old computer.
Yuan Zhou was quite confident in his IQ. After all, every skill that the system provided was easily learned and mastered easily.
“Kreeen”
The door to the restaurant was opened. This time it was no longer Wu Hai’s face with mustache that appeared, but was instead Yin Ya, whom he hadn’t seen for quite a few days.
Dressed in a gray business suit, Yin Ya stood there elegantly. Judging from the numerous beads of sweat on her forehead, Yuan Zhou realized she had definitely run here in a hurry.
“Boss Yuan, you’re always late to open. Other restaurants have been doing business for the whole afternoon. You, on the other hand, will not open the door until meal time.” After glaring at Yuan Zhou, Yin Ya followed him into the restaurant.
“Miss Yin, you haven’t been here for a while. What would you like to eat today?” Yuan Zhou was familiar with this girl. She was beautiful and seemed to be good-tempered. Besides, she had gotten quite a cute character, which was why he added another sentence.
“Yes, I also feel that I haven’t come here for a long time. I was abroad on a business trip these days,” Yin Ya said lightly and then turned her head to look at the menu on the wall.
“Boss Yuan, Clear Broth Noodle Soup and the plate...” Once Wu Hai entered the restaurant in large and quick steps, he had already started to order the dishes, as if there were severe consequences of ordering late.
“There are so many new dishes. I also want the noodle soup. But what’s with the plate?” Yin Ya asked.