I am a Chef in the Modern Era - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Rose Milk Ice Cream

Translated by Yan of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The entire ChaoYang Street knew everything that happened at XiQin Restaurant that night. However, they knew that there was a handsome guy there before they knew that there were tasty noodles.

At the end of the month, when Old Man Yang balanced his books, he was given a fright when he saw that he had made more than five times the usual amount. This restaurant had been open for so many years, but he had never made that much money before in a month. Even though he did typically accept money, he had never calculated it, since he opened the restaurant merely because it was a hobby. It had been open for so many years too, so he couldn’t bear to close it, which was why money wasn’t the most important point. As a result, naturally he didn’t count his money every day, but then when he counted at the end of the month, there was actually so much more.

Old Man Yang was elderly, so he didn’t know the effect of the Internet. Normally he was somebody who didn’t even use a cell phone, and besides the landline in his house, he rarely even called people. So he didn’t know at all that these were the blessings conferred by worshipping those microblogs that had Lin ShuYi’s face on them.

However, even though he didn’t know how his shop grew so popular, he still knew that these were all tied to Lin ShuYi, because the majority of people in the shop were an unending flow of young women. Now, slowly even people who were very far away would run over to come eat, and the amount of young people in the store increased all at once. No matter what, it had something to do with Lin ShuYi.

Lin ShuYi formally took over Old Man Yang’s work at last, and he was completely qualified for the role. Every morning, he got up and boiled the broth and sauce, and Old Man Yang could be a little lazier and sleep in for two more hours.

Old Man Yang carefully counted the money once more before he separated half of it. “Xiao Yi, come over here for a moment.”

Lin ShuYi was currently boiling soup in the kitchen, and he wore a clean white cotton T-shirt, light blue jeans, as well as an apron with a funny cartoon bear on it. “Grandpa, what’s up?”

Old Man Yang beamed at this gentle and handsome young lad, and he handed over the money. “Here’s Xiao Yi’s pay.”

Lin ShuYi narrowed his eyes. The amount of money in Old Man Yang’s hand was at least several times the usual amount, how could he not tell? “Grandpa, it’s too much.”

Old Man Yang stuffed the money into Lin ShuYi’s hand. “What do you mean? It’s not too much. You help out grandpa with everything now, so you earned this money. If you don’t want it, grandpa doesn’t dare to keep telling you to do things.”

In the end, Lin ShuYi wasn’t someone from this world. Even though he knew that money was very useful, he never had an extreme notion of what money was. So in his mind, as long as Old Man Yang was happy, it would be fine no matter how much money he gave him. As a result, Lin ShuYi didn’t refuse it, and he put the money away in his pouch.

When Old Man Yang saw him put it away, he also grew happy. He was already so old now, so it wasn’t as if he sought money. Even though this restaurant was his, and everything that was eaten and used was also his, he was still willing to give Lin ShuYi money. What’s more, the increase in money was partly because of Lin ShuYi’s contribution in the first place.

Lin ShuYi was already thoughtful enough, but Old Man Yang still couldn’t help but think: it would be great if his grandson was as good as Lin ShuYi. If that was the case, he would probably be able to wake up from his dreams smiling.

“Xiao Yi ah, where did you put all your money?”

“In my home.”

When Old Man Yang heard that, he shook his head. “How can you leave it in your home? That’s not safe. How about this, you’re already eighteen years old. Grandpa will take you to a bank in a few days to store the money, and when you need it you can withdraw it.”

Lin ShuYi nodded. “Okay.”

Lin ShuYi had been in XiQin Restaurant for three months now. When he counted the money that Old Man Yang had given him, he found that he actually had more than ten thousand. When Old Man Yang saw that that money had been casually placed in the bedside dresser by Lin ShuYi, it made his heart leap with fear.

“You silly child, how can you put money here? What if it’s stolen?”

Even though the folklore surrounding ChaoYang Street was pretty good, there was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be people with greedy, evil hearts who targeted it.

Lin ShuYi had never considered this. Before, he had just placed the silver he had received inside of a small box and locked it before putting it in a cabinet. He didn’t really see any problems with putting his money here now either.

All in all, Old Man Yang was older, so he carefully found a piece of cloth to wrap up the money in. He wrapped numerous layers around it, and then he placed it in an unremarkable but very sturdy bag. Grandpa and grandson left and went to the bank.

Not far away from ChaoYang Street, there was an X Commercial Bank. It was the closest one, so it was easy to store it and convenient to withdraw.

Since it was still working hours, there weren’t that many people in the bank. However, there were still a few people in the line. This was the first time Lin ShuYi came to such a place, and he was inevitably curious. He looked left and right before he finally took out the pamphlet from next to the seat to read.

“XX Bank current financial management… interest rates… earnings…”

Lin ShuYi read it through once with difficulty. He memorized it all, but he just didn’t really understand it. As he was reading, the electronic voice on the other end had already announced a number. Lin ShuYi looked at the call number in his hand and walked up according to Old Man Yang’s beckoning gesture.

At least 12,000 RMB, all deposited. Old Man Yang decided to use the remaining two thousand to buy a cell phone for Lin ShuYi.

Even though Old Man Yang was old and didn’t need it, Lin ShuYi was still young. He was clever and learned quickly, so he should be able to figure out how to play with it very fast. Only Lin ShuYi didn’t have a cellphone in today’s age. He was smart and thoughtful, and even though he had money he didn’t ask to buy one.

How could he have known that it wasn’t that Lin ShuYi didn’t want to buy one, but rather he had only ever seen cell phones on television. He simply didn’t understand them, so naturally he had no desire to go buy one. After all, he thought that you used cellphones to make calls, but there was nobody Lin ShuYi could call.

Lin ShuYi wasn’t actually that interested in cellphones, but since Old Man Yang said to go buy one, he didn’t refuse. In any case, there was nothing much he wanted to buy besides food. For him, money wasn’t all that useful.

Old Man Yang didn’t really understand cellphones because he was old. He could only listen to the sales assistant’s introductions.

The sales assistant was a young woman, not very old, and she seemed to be here for a summer job. She got a little excited when she saw Lin ShuYi, and she didn’t bother to only introduce expensive ones anymore. She carefully introduced a few cell phones that weren’t expensive but still had pretty good quality, function, and reviews.

Lin ShuYi didn’t understand, but he compared a few cellphones as per the sales assistant’s recommendation before he picked one that was moderately priced but was still pretty good in all other aspects. It had a white case, and it felt like a thin remote control in his hand.

On their way back, they passed an ice cream shop. There was a long line outside, and at once, Lin ShuYi couldn’t walk anymore. He looked back again and again, causing Old Man Yang to also stop and look back.

When he saw that ice cream shop, he laughed.

Lin ShuYi, this child, didn’t seem to have any awareness about money or interest in material goods, like just then when they were buying a cell phone, he had an uninterested appearance the whole time. But he only had a hard-to-describe obsession towards food. As long as there was a line for some place selling food, no matter what it was, Lin ShuYi seemed to look like he was longing to try it.

Old Man Yang finally noticed. “Do you want to eat ice cream?”

Anyway, this ice cream was something that a child of his age should like to eat.

Lin ShuYi nodded.

“If you like it, then go buy some. Grandpa will wait for you here.”

When Lin ShuYi heard that, he walked over to the store. Old Man Yang thought a bit before he called out to him again.

“You can only buy one this time, okay?” If he bought one of each kind again like last time, that would be a disaster.

Lin ShuYi tilted his head, and he finally showed a little bit of the childishness that someone of his age should have. “Grandpa doesn’t want any?”

Everything Lin ShuYi did, he would think of him. Old Man Yang smiled so hard that his eyes curved. “It’s too cold, grandpa can’t eat it. You can just eat it yourself.”

There was a very long line in front of the ice cream shop. During this season, nothing was very popular except for ice cream, which was extremely well-received. Lin ShuYi had never eaten this before either. Even though he saw quite a few things on television, he had actually only ever eaten very few things.

There were quite a few signs hanging above the checkout counter, and all sorts of ice cream flavors were crammed onto the signs. Not only were the names written on them, there were also pictures. Every single one looked extremely delicious, and when Lin ShuYi remembered that Old Man Yang said he could only buy one, he felt troubled.

“Handsome fellow, which flavor do you want?” The young girl selling the ice cream beamed at him and didn’t pressure him. Whenever she saw handsome guys, she was always especially patient.

Lin ShuYi looked at the signs again, but he couldn’t make up his mind.

The young girl laughed and recommended the shop’s flagship ice cream. “Our shop’s chocolate ice-cream brick, strawberry parfait, and rose milk are all quite popular. Which one would you like?”

Lin ShuYi remembered what Old Man Yang had said, and he pressed his lips together. “Is there one that’s the most delicious?”

When the young girl was asked this, she was startled. The people in line behind him also laughed.

“It depends on what kind you like. If you like things with a heavier milk flavor, then rose milk is good. If you want another flavor, there’s strawberry, grape, matcha, chocolate, and blueberry.”

The most delicious? A hundred people all have a hundred different palates. For the young girl, any flavor of ice cream was the most delicious.

“Then I’ll take the rose milk.”

If it was delicious, he’ll buy it every day and eat it. Lin ShuYi smiled.

The ice cream here was all hand made, so even though the price was a little more expensive, the taste was extremely good. The young girl quickly handed over a container. There were beautiful flower patterns on the container, and it was filled with snow-white milk ice cream that was mixed with several tiny rosebuds. The top was coated with an entire scoop of translucent crimson strawberry jam. A plastic spoon was in the ice cream, and it all looked extremely tasty. Lin ShuYi swallowed expressionlessly.

Rose milk was one of the shop’s specialties. The rose jam was handmade as well, and it was lightly sweet and delicious. It also emitted a faint aroma. Lin ShuYi only knew that a rose was a kind of flower, but he never knew that you could also eat it, and that it could taste as good as this.

When Old Man Yang saw Lin ShuYi walk out with curved eyes, he just knew the food this time made Lin ShuYi very satisfied, because every time he ate something he liked, he always had this expression. “Buying a cellphone didn’t even make you this happy, but ice cream can make you so overjoyed.”

“It’s really yummy, does grandpa not want to try a little?”

Old Man Yang shook his head. “What are you holding?”

Lin ShuYi hadn’t noticed himself, but when Old Man Yang mentioned it, he lifted his hand. It turned out that he was still holding the pamphlet from the bank, and he handed it to Old Man Yang to see, but Old Man Yang tossed it in the trash.

“Those things are all made to trick people. It’s still better to store your money in a bank. All the rest of this nonsense is just to scam people.”

Old Man Yang was up in his years, and his views were conservative. Lin ShuYi glanced back and took another look at the pamphlet. He felt like what was written on it wasn’t necessarily unfeasible.