Chapter 378 - 196: Yay! I Can Hug It to Sleep Every Day

Chapter 378: Chapter 196: Yay! I Can Hug It to Sleep Every Day

He didn’t quite believe Zhou Yan could succeed. His own master had made many attempts back in the day, but he could never replicate the flavor and texture, so he eventually had to give up.

The two chatted idly on the way, and before long, they were back in town and went their separate ways.

"So, was the family search successful?" As soon as Zhou Yan arrived at the restaurant, Mrs. Zhao, Comrade Zhou, and Zhao Hong gathered around him, mid-snack on melon seeds, their faces filled with curiosity.

"It was!" Zhou Yan said with a smiling nod. "Mr. Qian returned with his mother’s jade pendant, and my grand-uncle recognized it as an item belonging to my Master’s sister. The name and the keepsake matched, so the search was a success."

"That’s wonderful! He didn’t come all this way for nothing," Zhao Hong cheered, clapping her hands.

Mrs. Zhao smiled. "Your Master’s own sister, huh? In that case, it’s a good thing we didn’t take his money yesterday. Otherwise, that would have been really awkward."

"Exactly," Zhou Yan agreed wholeheartedly.

At dinnertime, Lin Zhiqiang came in with his two children and made a point to ask Zhou Yan about the progress of Qian Siyuan’s search for his family.

"Lin, he’s found them," Zhou Yan said with a smile. "His mother was my Master’s sister. He met with his maternal uncle yesterday. From here on out, it’s a family matter for them to handle."

"That’s fantastic!" Lin Zhiqiang clapped his hands together.

"Now that he’s found his family, will your business partnership go through?" Zhou Yan asked curiously.

"Hard to say." Lin Zhiqiang shook his head with a smile. "Business is a matter between the two companies. Finding his family counts as a personal connection, but whether that translates into a partnership still depends on if our products are competitive enough."

Whether the partnership worked out or not, he was still very happy. There was a certain satisfaction that came from doing a good deed.

Lin Zhiqiang left, fully satisfied, and a smile crept onto Zhou Yan’s face as well.

It was true—doing a good deed really did improve one’s mood.

As closing time approached that evening, a bicycle slowly came to a stop in front of the restaurant.

Zhou Momo scampered inside, calling out happily, "Brother! Mama! Papa! Did you miss me?"

Zhou Yan, who had just untied his apron and come out of the kitchen, smiled and swept the little girl into his arms. "Did you have fun in the countryside?"

"Uh-huh, so much fun!" Zhou Momo bobbed her head. She fumbled around in her pocket with her little hand, pulled out a hard candy, and offered it to Zhou Yan as if presenting a treasure. In her sweet, childish voice, she said, "Brother, this is for you! It’s orange-flavored. Sweet and sour and yummy!"

Zhou Yan unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth. It was indeed an orange-flavored hard candy, sweet with a hint of sour. He smiled and nodded. "Mmm, it’s delicious."

"Hee hee." Zhou Momo’s smile grew even wider. She pulled a handful of candy from her pocket and gave one to everyone, having already learned the joy of sharing.

"Brother, did that uncle from yesterday find his mommy’s home?" Zhou Momo asked, running back to his side and looking up at him with concern.

"You still remember that, huh?" Zhou Yan was a little surprised. ’It wasn’t just Qian Siyuan who had been thinking about the little girl; she had been thinking about this matter, too.’

Zhou Momo nodded. "He was so sad. He didn’t even know where his mommy’s house was, and he cried. That’s why I drew a picture for him, to hope he would be a little happier."

"You’re such a good girl. Don’t worry, he found his mommy’s house. He even found his uncle and his cousins," Zhou Yan said, smiling as he patted her head. ’This little one really is an angel.’

"That’s so great!" Zhou Momo clapped her little hands, then turned to Zhou Yan with wide, pleading eyes. "Brother, Zhen’s cat had kittens! Four little kittens, and they’re so cute! Can we keep one?"

"Absolutely not!" Before Zhou Yan could even open his mouth, Mrs. Zhao’s voice rang out. She looked at Zhou Momo with a helpless sigh. "A restaurant is no place to keep a cat. If there’s cat hair everywhere, the customers will just shake their heads."

Zhou Momo’s lip jutted out in a pout as she stared at Zhou Yan. "Brother..."

"Our restaurant really isn’t suitable for a cat. The kitchen has to be kept clean and sanitary, and cat hair is hard to manage," Zhou Yan said gently.

"But... but cats are our friends! And it can catch mice," Zhou Momo tried to argue.

"If you want to play with kittens, you can just go to your grandma’s house. When you’ve had your fill, you can come back home. If you raise a little kitten here, what are you going to do when it wants to cuddle up and sleep with you every single night?" Mrs. Zhao said with a smile.

Zhou Momo froze for a second, then her eyes lit up. "Really? Yay! Yay! I could hug it to sleep every single day!"

Mrs. Zhao: ...

Zhou Yan couldn’t help but laugh, too.

The little girl got along great with the tabby cat and the big goose, Dabai, at her grandmother’s house. She had a total soft spot for fluffy little creatures. ℴ

’Getting a cat wouldn’t be that hard, though.’

’Raising a cat in a small town is different from in the city. They’re usually indoor-outdoor cats; you just have to give them a bit of food each day.’

’You let it out to run around during the day, and it comes back whenever it wants. You don’t need to prepare a litter box or anything, since it’ll find a spot outside to do its business.’

’Cats are wary of strangers, so it probably wouldn’t hang around the restaurant when it’s full of customers anyway.’

’Though, I’m not sure if the local vet station has deworming medicine and vaccines these days. If the little one is going to be cuddling it every day, I should definitely find out about that stuff.’

’It’s not like we have to be overly precious about it, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.’

Seeing that Mrs. Zhao wasn’t on board with getting a cat, he figured the matter would require further discussion.

’After all, she was the one who ran the show in this family.’

Zhou Yan changed his clothes and went for a quick run. After returning and taking a shower, he battled Comrade Zhou for three rounds, tallied the day’s accounts, and then headed upstairs to bed.

He locked his bedroom door from the inside and lay down on his bed. With a sense of anticipation, Zhou Yan opened the entry for [Snowflake Chicken Porridge].

Knowledge flooded his mind. It was so much information that his brain began to throb with a dull ache.

Zhou Yan closed his eyes, letting his body go limp on the bed. Images flashed through his mind: the entire history of Snowflake Chicken Porridge, its origins, and all the methods and techniques for its preparation.