The sky outside was getting darker, the sunset glow was about to fade away, and the newly lit lights on the old street illuminated the bustling crowd.
Although it was not yet seven o'clock in the evening, all 20 tables in Su Ji Restaurant were already occupied.
Feng Ruoruo stood beside her grandfather, and seeing that all the tables in the restaurant were occupied, the little girl was very happy. She leaned over to her grandfather's ear and said, "Look, grandpa, business is very good today."
Su Jinrong smiled and reached out to touch his granddaughter: "It's all thanks to Ruoruo's father."
Feng Ruoruo said with a smile: "It's also Ruoruo's credit, as well as mom, grandpa and grandma. Grandpa also has credit."
Hearing the little girl recounting the entire family, not leaving out a single one, Su Jinrong's smile widened.
"Also, Uncle Xiaolin."
Grandpa added, and the little girl nodded immediately: "Yes, Uncle Xiaolin is also great, he helped Dad do a lot in the back. Uncle Xiaolin helps Dad, he is very good."
Su Jinrong nodded, he had already recognized Lin Ruifeng.
In terms of talent, Lin Ruifeng may not be as good as Feng Yifan, but he is calmer than Feng Yifan before, and he is a child who is willing to endure hardships.
Su Jinrong has seen too many young people who dream of learning cooking. Many of them are very talented, but many of them fail in the end because of the hardship.
Working in the kitchen is not as pleasant as many people think, using a small stove and shooting a video.
Real work in the kitchen is tedious and boring, and very, very hard.
Many young people who are learning to cook rush into the kitchen with great enthusiasm, dreaming of becoming top chefs and being able to hold knives and spatulas in their hands and work their way around the kitchen.
But once you really enter the kitchen, it may only take a few days before you are defeated by the boring and hard work.
After Feng Yifan, Su Jinrong also accepted several young apprentices.
But none of the young people who came after him could have the fighting spirit that Feng Yifan had, let alone the endurance and spirit of hard work that Feng Yifan had.
So, one after another, Su Jinrong drove away some of the later apprentices.
Because looking at those unmotivated young people always reminded Su Jinrong of his son-in-law, he finally just drove them all away.
After such a long time, the appearance of Lin Ruifeng made Su Jinrong vaguely see the original Feng Yifan again.
The young man who came out from the countryside alone, who was able to calm down, endure the loneliness, and most importantly, who could endure the hardship of working in the kitchen.
Su Jinrong had several apprentices before Feng Yifan, but he finally chose Feng Yifan because of his hard work. Of course, the key reason was that Feng Yifan was the only one who won the prize in the domestic cooking competition at that time.
Recalling the past, Su Jinrong now feels that he was right in judging people.
As the dishes were served table after table, exclamations of delight were heard one after another in the restaurant.
Especially those young diners who are new to the restaurant, when they see the plates of dishes, they really can’t help but exclaim or even scream.
Afterwards, the restaurant was filled with the sounds of various photos being taken, and it was destined that Su Ji’s food would be all over the WeChat Moments again that night.
After a short wait, the dishes for Liu Wanhua and Shen Qingluo's table arrived.
First up were two lighter dishes, stir-fried shrimp and lotus pond stems.
The stir-fried shrimps came up, and the crystal clear shrimps really made Shen Qingluo's eyes go straight. The stir-fried shrimps in front of him were exactly the same as the photos of the dishes Shen Qingluo saw on the Internet.
The shrimps are crystal clear and the presentation is very exquisite, with red flowers and green leaves on the side.
It really makes such a simple and elegant dish look so fresh.
Liu Wanhua saw Shen Qingluo was stunned, and smiled and woke her up: "Don't be stunned, this dish must be eaten while it is hot, and it is most appropriate to serve this dish first."
Shen Qingluo came back to his senses and asked in confusion: "Why is it best to serve this dish first?"
Liu Wanhua smiled and replied: "Because this dish cannot be eaten with other dishes, and it doesn't go well with rice. It is a fresh and elegant dish that should be tasted alone."
At this point, Liu Wanhua picked up the white porcelain spoon in Shen Qingluo's bowl and scooped a spoonful of shrimp into her spoon. Then she picked up the balsamic vinegar on the table and poured some of it on the shrimp.
Liu Wanhua handed the spoon back to Shen Qingluo: "Hey, only by eating it this way can you appreciate the flavor."
Shen Qingluo did not refuse. He took the spoon, looked at it, then opened his mouth and swallowed the shrimp in the spoon in one bite.
The moment you take a bite, you can smell the strong vinegar flavor first, but then the aroma of shrimp comes out.
When Shen Qingluo bit the shrimp with his teeth, the chewy and crispy shrimp seemed to burst in his mouth instantly. The taste of fresh shrimp mixed with the original strong vinegar taste.
This taste is actually very simple although it sounds complex, but it also sounds very complex if you say it is simple.
This was really the first time Shen Qingluo had eaten this dish.
Although she had done some research on domestic cuisine before returning to China, and specifically looked up a lot of her grandmother's memories of Su Ji's dishes based on her grandmother's original description.
As for the stir-fried shrimp, my grandmother recalled: "The shrimp is crispy yet elastic, and chewing it on your teeth reveals a slightly sweet taste mixed with the vinegar. It really tastes wonderful."
Shen Qingluo finally tasted the flavor that grandma described.
Liu Wanhua smiled and watched Shen Qingluo finish his meal.
"How is it? Don't you think that only by eating a dish like this alone can you appreciate its beauty? Only by eating it alone can you feel the magic that belongs only to this dish?"
Shen Qingluo nodded: "Yes, Grandma Wanhua, this dish is really delicious."
Liu Wanhua said, "Well, if you like it, eat more. Eat this dish first, and then we'll eat the others."
A plate of stir-fried shrimps was naturally finished quickly as Liu Wanhua and Shen Qingluo devoured it.
Liu Wanhua also asked Shen Qingluo to taste the lotus stems from the lotus pond.
This dish is similar to stir-fried lotus pond, but Feng Yifan replaced the lotus root slices with lotus stems, and before stir-frying, he lightly fried the lotus stems to lock in the moisture.
Many people may find that a lot of water is produced when stir-frying lotus pond or some vegetables.
This is because it is not first rubbed with hot oil to lock in the moisture.
The plate of lotus stems presented by Feng Yifan in front of me has almost no excess juice, but when I pick up a piece of lotus stem and eat it, I can taste the moisture contained in the lotus stem.
The crisp and delicious feeling of chewing the lotus stems made Shen Qingluo taste very sweet.
Liu Wanhua looked at Shen Qingluo eating and couldn't help but say, "You and your grandma are really alike. Your grandma especially likes to eat lotus stems, and it seems that you like it too."
Shen Qingluo smiled and said, "Yes, my grandma often said when I was a child that I looked a lot like her, so she taught me embroidery."
Liu Wanhua recalled again: "We were really happy at that time, and everyone was carefree every day."
Thinking of the end, Liu Wanhua sighed again: "I just didn't expect that the senior sister would choose to go abroad later, and she never came back after leaving."
Shen Qingluo also looked a little sad, and then said: "Grandma Wanhua, I heard from grandma that my great-grandmother chose to go abroad because she was ostracized by others in the factory?"
Liu Wanhua was stunned for a moment, then continued with a sigh, "Elder Sister was indeed forced to go abroad because of some things."
Recalling that past, Liu Wanhua can only sigh that fate really plays tricks on her.
The reason why Liu Qingru went abroad was because her father was abroad and wanted her to inherit the estate.
Originally, Liu Qingru didn't want to go, because she felt that her father had abandoned her and her mother to go abroad many years ago, and she still had some hatred towards her father in her heart.
It’s just that no one knows who leaked the news, and it was a bloody period in that era.
The last straw that broke the camel's back for Liu Qingru was that her husband could no longer bear the pressure and chose to divorce her.
After suffering such a blow, Liu Qingru had no choice but to take her daughter abroad. Because for her, who didn't even have a job at the time, it seemed that the only option left was to take her daughter abroad.
Liu Wanhua still vaguely remembers that in the middle of the night that she will never forget, the senior sister found her and gave her the embroidery needlework records passed down by her master who had passed away at that time.
After that night, Liu Wanhua never saw her senior sister again, and also lost all news of "Sister Xiaoluo".
Liu Wanhua said this with sadness: "I once asked someone about it, and I got two kinds of news. One was that your great-grandmother took your grandmother to go abroad secretly, and the other was that they had already..."
Without saying the rest, Liu Wanhua looked at Shen Qingluo and said, "But I have always believed that they went abroad."
In fact, Shen Qingluo had never heard her grandmother talk about these things. Maybe her grandmother was still young at that time and she didn’t know many details.
Or maybe, grandma felt that this period was painful in her heart, so she didn't want to mention it to her family.
Now, after listening to Liu Wanhua's story, Shen Qingluo seemed to understand why her grandmother missed China very much after going abroad, and was obsessed with Su Ji, especially her sister Wanhua, but was always unwilling to come back.
Because there were some sad experiences that she could not forget, she was unwilling to come back to face them. She even did not write a letter to Liu Wanhua.
When the two were feeling a little sad, Feng Yifan came out again and served the squirrel mandarin fish on the table.
"Aunt Liu, Ruoruo's sister Shen, I made this squirrel mandarin fish dish especially for you today. I hope you like it. Thank you for making clothes for Ruoruo. I also want to celebrate the reunion of the two of you after many years and three generations apart."
Feng Yifan's words broke the sad atmosphere and brought Liu Wanhua and Shen Qingluo back to their senses.
At this time, look at the squirrel mandarin fish on the table. It is orange-red all over, with its head and tail upturned, really like a squirrel lying on the plate.
Moreover, the temperature of the fried fish body had not completely cooled down, and the sauce poured on it kept eroding it, making a "squeaking" sound, like the cry of a little squirrel.
Shen Qingluo was stunned for a while before coming to his senses and exclaiming: "It's really so beautiful."
After observing for a while, Liu Wanhua suddenly raised a serving chopstick, gently reached under the fish body, and carefully took out a few pieces of rice crust from the bottom.
Seeing the rice crust, Shen Qingluo was a little puzzled: "This, does the squirrel mandarin fish need to be padded with rice crust? Is this how Su Ji does it?"
But at this time, Liu Wanhua's eyes were already wet, and she turned her head to look at Su Jinrong who was sitting in a wheelchair.
Putting rice crust under the squirrel mandarin fish is actually not a Su Ji method.
This was actually the time when Grandma Shen Qingluo and Liu Wanhua came together to eat squirrel mandarin fish. After the meal, they saw a lot of sweet and sour soup left in the plate.
Grandma Shen Qingluo was a little girl at the time, and she couldn't help but say, "It's a pity to throw away the soup. If we can soak the rice crust, it will definitely be delicious."
When Liu Wanhua heard her sister say that, she found Su Jinrong, who was even younger at the time but had already started helping in the kitchen, and got a piece of rice crust.
Later, Shen Qingluo's grandmother dipped the rice crust into the soup in the plate and ate all the food off the plate.
Today, the only person who could think of this is probably Su Jinrong.
Liu Wanhua was really touched. She didn't expect that Su Jinrong still remembered it even after more than 40 years.
Seeing that Liu Wanhua was already in tears, Shen Qingluo asked curiously: "Grandma Wanhua, what's wrong with you? Is there something wrong?"
Liu Wanhua came back to her senses, wiped the tears from her face, and said with a smile: "No, no, I just remembered some past events. This is not Su Ji's way of eating, but the way your grandmother invented it."
Upon hearing that this way of eating was invented by grandma, Shen Qingluo couldn't help but become very curious.
Then, Liu Wanhua smiled and told Shen Qingluo what happened that year.
After hearing this, Shen Qingluo couldn't help but laugh: "Hahaha, I didn't expect that grandma was such a greedy person before. She even wanted to eat up all the soup."
Feng Yifan didn't stay long, because there were still dishes to be cooked in the kitchen. But before returning to the kitchen, he still gave his father-in-law a thumbs up and praised his father-in-law's idea.
When Su Jinrong saw his son-in-law giving him a thumbs up, a smile naturally appeared on his face.
In terms of age, Su Jinrong is much younger than Liu Wanhua and Grandma Shen Qingluo.
When Liu Wanhua asked him for help that year, Su Jinrong was just a primary school student. At that time, Su Jinrong thought that Liu Wanhua was a fairy-like elder sister, so he would naturally help her.
Perhaps in the eyes of many young people today, they would think that Liu Wanhua was the goddess in Su Jinrong's eyes at that time.
You can say that, but in fact it is different. At that time, Su Jinrong's thoughts were relatively simple. He simply thought that Liu Wanhua was beautiful.
After so many years, Su Jinrong naturally still remembers some things that happened back then.
Especially in Su Jinrong's memory, after something happened to Senior Sister Liu Wanhua's family, she once came to Su Ji specifically to order a plate of squirrel mandarin fish, and begged Su Jinrong's father at the time to put some rice crust underneath.
Mr. Su made an exception and agreed.
After the dishes were served, Su Jinrong watched with his own eyes as Liu Wanhua, who was only in her early twenties at the time, ate the entire plate by herself with tears in her eyes.
Shen Qingluo took a bite of the fish and immediately praised: "Wow, Grandma Wanhua's fish is really delicious, not too sweet, with a little bit of sourness, it's really delicious."
Liu Wanhua picked up a piece of rice crust dipped in soup from the bottom, put it in Shen Qingluo's bowl and said, "Try this."
Shen Qingluo picked up the rice crust soaked in soup from the bowl and slowly put it into her mouth. Liu Wanhua was in a trance, as if she saw her sister many years ago, sitting in front of her and eating heartily.