After spending nearly two hours at the farmers' market, I finally purchased all the ingredients I needed.
He asked the owners of the food stalls to bring the purchased food to the owner of the vegetable stall. Finally, Feng Yifan simply stuffed his bicycle into the van and took the small van of the vegetable stall owner's son back to Su Ji on the old street.
On the way, the son of the vegetable stall owner looked at the full cart of various fresh vegetables and some cooking utensils, and couldn't help but glance at Feng Yifan.
Feng Yifan, who was settling accounts, quickly noticed that the driver was peeking at him, and asked with a smile: "What's wrong? Is there anything wrong with me?"
When asked this by Feng Yifan, Zhang Qiang, the son of the vegetable stall owner who was responsible for delivering the goods, suddenly felt embarrassed.
"No, brother. I just think you look like the great chefs in TV and movies. My dad told me that you came back from abroad. You must have been a top chef there, right?"
Feng Yifan originally wanted to be modest, but then he thought that there was no need for him to be modest at the moment.
Now I am no longer a top chef or a world-renowned cooking god. In fact, I am just a loser who escaped back from abroad.
Thinking of this, Feng Yifan smiled bitterly and said, "Actually, I'm not a top chef. You can think of me as someone who couldn't make it abroad, so I came back in disgrace and tried to make a living at my father-in-law's small restaurant."
Zhang Qiang naturally didn't believe this, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he tried to comfort her.
"Brother, don't say that. I often read the news online. In the past two years, the economic development abroad is indeed not as good as that in China. Let's not talk about other things in China, but the catering industry is definitely booming."
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "Food is the most important thing for people. People in our country are particular about food, so there is nothing wrong with the good development of the catering industry."
Zhang Qiang disagreed and said, "Brother, what you said is not right. This actually shows that our living standard is better."
Feng Yifan nodded in agreement: "Yes, that's right, our living standards are indeed getting better and better."
After chatting with Zhang Qiang for a few more words, the van slowly drove into the alley behind the old street and drove all the way to the back door of Su Ji Restaurant.
After getting out of the car, Feng Yifan remembered that he did not take the key to the back door when he went out, so he had to ask Zhang Qiang to wait at the back. He quickly walked around and ran to the front to open the door.
When Feng Yifan ran to the front door of Su Ji Bistro, he was surprised to find that the door of the restaurant was already open.
As soon as I walked in, I saw Su Ruoxi sitting in the lobby of the small restaurant, carefully braiding her daughter's hair.
"Okay, Dad definitely didn't leave. He didn't take anything with him. Maybe he couldn't sleep, so he went out for a walk."
"Humph, if he leaves again, Ruoruo will no longer recognize him."
Hearing this, Feng Yifan immediately said, "Who said Dad left again? Isn't Dad back? What's wrong? Do you miss Dad?"
Hearing the voice, the mother and daughter turned their heads to look at Feng Yifan who came in.
Feng Yifan clearly saw a hint of surprise in the eyes of the mother and daughter, but they quickly concealed it together.
Su Ruoxi continued to braid her daughter's hair and asked in a nonchalant manner, "Where did you go so early in the morning?"
Feng Yifan smiled and responded, "Didn't the kitchen run out of ingredients yesterday? I just got back and was a little jet lagged, so I didn't sleep well, so I simply got up and ran to the market to replenish the ingredients."
As he spoke, Feng Yifan walked straight to the kitchen, pushed open the kitchen door, and opened the back door of the restaurant as well.
Afterwards, he asked Zhang Qiang, who was outside the back door, to move all the fresh vegetables bought from the car into the back kitchen.
Feng Ruoruo saw her father walking towards the kitchen, and she wanted to follow him to see whether her mother had braided her hair or not out of curiosity.
Su Ruoxi didn't seem to care on the surface, but she obviously wanted to take a look in her heart, so she quickened the pace of braiding her daughter's hair.
When Feng Ruoruo's braid was done, the little girl couldn't wait to run to the kitchen to see. Su Ruoxi followed her, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and she was also a little curious.
When they arrived at the door of the back kitchen, the mother and daughter watched in surprise as Feng Yifan and the young delivery boy moved boxes of various fresh ingredients into the back kitchen and stacked them in the designated place.
At the back, some boxes of different sizes were moved in, which looked like they contained some strange things.
Feng Ruoruo saw the boxes and asked her mother in a curious voice, "What's in those boxes?"
Su Ruoxi wasn't quite sure either, so she could only shake her head at her daughter.
Feng Yifan came in with boxes again. Seeing that the mother and daughter were curious about the piles of boxes, he took the initiative to explain with a smile: "These are some kitchen utensils. We don't have a lot of things in the kitchen, so I bought them all."
Su Ruoxi and Feng Ruoruo, the mother and daughter, really watched the two people move things in one by one. When they got to the back, some very heavy things were carried in together.
Not to mention that Feng Ruoruo was seeing this kind of situation for the first time, even Su Ruoxi almost forgot when was the last time she saw such a scene.
Finally, it took more than half an hour to unload everything from the car.
Zhang Qiang also wiped the sweat off his brow and said, "Brother, you have so much stuff. It feels like you are moving our farmers market back home."
Feng Yifan took out a pack of cigarettes and handed it to the other party, then gave him some money.
Zhang Qiang looked at the pack of cigarettes and said with some embarrassment, "Brother, forget about the cigarettes. It would be bad if my dad found out."
Feng Yifan still stuffed the money into the man's pocket and said, "Take the money and the cigarettes. You've worked really hard today. If your dad blames you, just say I forced them on you."
Zhang Qiang did not refuse. After receiving the money, he did not count it. He just put it in his pocket and said, "Okay, thank you, brother."
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "Why are you so polite? I will have to trouble you again in the future."
Zhang Qiang was also quite straightforward: "Okay, brother, if you need to buy groceries and have them delivered in the future, just call my dad and I promise to deliver them to you first."
Feng Yifan patted Zhang Qiang and said, "Okay, I won't see you off. I still need to clean up here."
Zhang Qiang nodded and said, "Okay, brother, don't see me off. I'm leaving now."
When leaving, Zhang Qiang did not forget to say hello to Su Ruoxi and Feng Ruoruo: "Sister-in-law, let's go.
Goodbye, little beauty."
Su Ruoxi came back to her senses and greeted with a smile: "Okay, drive carefully on the road, thank you."
Although Feng Ruoruo felt a little embarrassed, she still waved to the uncle who delivered the goods to her grandfather's restaurant.
Zhang Qiang walked out the door with a smile on his face, got into the car, started the car and drove straight to the other end of the alley without turning around.
After seeing Zhang Qiang off, Feng Yifan returned to the kitchen and saw the mother and daughter looking at the various ingredients he had bought. Little Feng Ruoruo found some of the fresh fish and shrimp very interesting, in particular.
After hearing the door close, Su Ruoxi turned around, looked at Feng Yifan and asked, "You bought so much, can you use it?"
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "Of course, now that I'm back, Su Ji will have to resume normal operations. From now on, we will only provide fried rice and noodles at noon, and only dishes can be ordered at night."
There are only fried rice and noodles for lunch, and dishes can only be ordered at night. This is an old rule passed down by Su Ji for many years.
The reason is simple. Many dishes need to be prepared in advance, and if you buy them in the morning and prepare them, you may not even be able to make a broth by noon.
So the old rule of Su Ji is that no dishes are served at noon, and dishes can only be ordered in the evening.
Su Ruoxi hesitated for a moment, but still said: "Don't you know that the old street may face reconstruction soon, and Su Ji may not last long, so..."
Before his wife could continue, Feng Yifan rushed to say, "So we should cherish every day. Don't worry, I will also find time to find a new place.
We will resume Su Ji’s business first and bring back all the old customers. This way, when we move to a new location in the future, the old customers will follow us.
As long as I am here, Su Ji will not disappear."