Chapter 53: The Past between Xu Le and the School Belle

“Brother!” Xu Tian said coquettishly at the top of her voice. “Hurry up, we have to go to school in an hour. I might be late!”

“Half an hour will do.”

Xu Le reassured her and started to quickly handle the ingredients. Suddenly, a sneer came from above his head. He looked up and the school belle pointed at the computer used for collecting cash and said, “Your menu is all on electronic display. Just open it and add a few lines of words on it. There’s no need to write it by hand.”

Xu Le blinked his big innocent eyes, as though saying, ‘I am just a child, I don’t know anything, so what?’

The school belle pointed at herself and said. “I’ll help you modify it?”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Anyway, Xu Le was not short of customers. He kneaded the dough and split it into two halves. One half of the dough was used to make shreds and he started to make the Konjac noodles. The other half was kneaded into long strips and flattened. Then, he rolled them up along the middle and coated with oil before placing into the oven. This way, he could make the crispy flatbread. The customers who had gone out to shop after eating walked back and realized that there were two more dishes on the menu. They were not hungry, but they could not resist their cravings and walked in.

They ordered two more new dishes to try. Xu Le brought out the largest container in the store—a stainless steel basin to hold the hot chili oil.

It seemed that he had not paid attention to the amount of chili oil he had just made and had overproduced them. However, there were still many customers coming to the restaurant. Judging from the crowd, there was no need to worry about not being able to sell all of them. The fragrance of the chili oil rushed straight into the nose. It was strong and fragrant. When the fragrance spread out, even people on the street could not help but turn their heads to ask where the smell came from.

Due to insufficient time, the braised meat could not be stewed for a long time. Xu Le immediately prepared the sauce and put it into the pressure cooker to stew. Under the intense pressure, the hind leg meat in the pot quickly melted and became flavorful.

He stirred the Konjac noodle, accurately noted the time to take out the crispy and hot flatbread from the oven. Then, he minced the meat and green peppers in the ratio of 2:8 and placed them into the Pork Flatbread.

“All done!” Xu Le heaved a sigh of relief. He wanted to find a towel to wipe his sweat, but realized that he had forgotten to bring it with him that day. Just as he was about to go around the table to get a napkin, he suddenly felt a cold sensation on his forehead. It turned out that the school belle had casually pulled out a wet napkin to wipe his sweat. She even showed concern by saying, “It’s too hot in the kitchen. You should lower the temperature of the air conditioner a little. You’re such a young child, there’s no need to work so hard.” Xu Le clenched his fists and did not retort. He had been busy for the entire morning. Cooking was hard work and he was already hungry, so he planned to sit down and spend 10 minutes to have a meal with his sister before dealing with those orders. Xu Tian seemed to have a good relationship with the school belle. After sitting down, she kept praising Xu Le for making such delicious prawns in the morning and how he was so good at cooking!

The school belle smiled politely. She obviously did not believe her. She looked at Xu Le.

Xu Le immediately pointed at the door and said, “It’s written on my sign.”

“How did you know I was going to ask you about your age?”

The school belle was stunned for a moment before she laughed. She picked up a piece of Konjac noodles with her chopsticks but did not hold much hope. After putting it into her mouth, it was fragrant and soft. It was chewy and not lacking in elasticity. Most importantly, the chilli oil, which had an overly spicy fragrance, wreaked havoc in her taste buds. She made a ‘mmhm’ sound and was almost moved to tears. She tried two more mouthfuls of the dough and cucumber strips. She was so excited that she even gave a thumbs up and said a tone of praising a child, “Great! You’re really awesome!”

With that, she buried her head in her food again. Under the temptation of the delicious food, she quickly gave in and ate more than half of the Konjac noodles in one go. Then she ate another bowl of Pork Flatbread. The flatbread was golden and crispy, and the meat inside was fragrant. The fat intensified the fragrance of oil. It was fat, but not greasy. The lean meat was distinct, but not dry. This was the exquisite part of Pork Flatbread. It looked simple and ordinary, but it was just like the tomato egg soup in Xu Le’s restaurant. The two ingredients were always the best combination!

The school belle was slim and had been on a diet all year round. Originally, she could not finish a serving of Konjac noodle and Pork Flatbread. Besides, Xu Le had given her a large serving, which was even more than other stores.

As it was too delicious, she buried her head in the bowl and finished it. There was not a single bean sprout left at the bottom of the bowl. She looked up and smiled at Xu Le. Just as she raised the corner of her lips, a tear slid past her dimples.

“Sister, don’t cry!”

Xu Tian panicked and frantically grabbed a tissue to wipe her tears.

Xu Le was stunned. He did not know how to coax a girl at all. After a long time, he asked dryly, “Are you homesick?”

The school belle held back her tears. Her eyes were still red.

She said, “When I was in kindergarten, my mother set up a stall at the school gate to sell Konjac noodles and Pork Flatbread. When I was young, I always refused to eat what she made and wanted to eat hamburgers. After two years, she passed away. My father, stepmother, and my sister moved here, and have never returned to the city, so I never ate these two things again.”

When she entered the shop that day, she suddenly wanted to eat these two dishes. However, when she saw that they were not for sale in the shop, she was about to change to another one when Xu Tian urged her to order them. When she saw Xu Le making it, her eyes turned sour. Now that she tasted a familiar taste, the suppressed longing surged into her heart because of the delicacies.

“I was too young when she died. My family was poor then, and I didn’t even have a picture of her. I couldn’t even remember what she looked like.”

Only a familiar feeling was left on her taste buds. Xu Le heard the system beep twice and 100 Gourmet points were added.

Perhaps this was the power of food. Food was also a legacy of civilization and love. As time passed, it became new again. The school belle gradually restrained her emotions and waved her hand to apologize, indicating that she had lost her composure. The moment she went out, the wind lifted the corners of her skirt.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Le felt as if he had returned to the university life of many young people. However, there were customers in front who were walking towards him to order dishes. The prime area outside the door was bustling with traffic and everyone was walking forward.

There were too many people and events. No matter how much he would like to reminisce them, he could only look forward. “Two servings of Konjac noodle, one serving of tomato egg soup, and one serving of Mapo Tofu Rice.”

Xu Le gave the numbers and received the money. “Alright, please wait a moment.”

He lit the fire, heated the pot, poured the oil, listened to the chemical reaction of the food in the pot, and concentrated on cooking. Perhaps this was the best life he would have and that was the meaning of life.

The newly added dishes sold like hotcakes, and after the ingredients were prepared, the production was very convenient and fast.

When it was time to close the shop at night, Xu Le was smiling happily as he checked the bill. Looking at the extra 3,000 yuan he had earned, he was happy.

At this rate, he would be able to repay the mortgage soon!

At 10pm.

Zhang Heng came as planned. Eight chefs walked out of the extended Bentley.

Xu Le looked across the counter and muttered, “Are you sure it’s not overloaded with people?”

Zhang Heng brought the chefs over and introduced Xu Le to each of them..