Chapter 365: Ingredients Not for Sale

The moment the thought of being a slacker crossed her mind, Shen Lu cursed herself.

‘How can I just seize the opportunity to slack off just because the shop’s defenses are maxed out?!’

‘Are the supplies fully stocked?’

‘Have I saved up enough reputation value to buy Fu Cheng’s prosthetic limb?’

‘What?’

‘No? And I still dare to slack off?’

Speaking of reputation value, its growth rate was truly frustrating.

Compared to the popularity value, the difference between the two was as vast as that between the clouds and the mud.

‘I have to come up with some way to raise this reputation value.’

For the moment, Shen Lu couldn’t think of any good ideas.

「The next day」

The wind weakened further, dropping to around level three to four, and more people began to venture outside.

Shen Lu immediately ordered more ingredients. If nothing went wrong, business should be excellent today.

Everyone else seemed to realize this too. That morning, they were all so busy they were run off their feet, but someone still came to pay a visit.

Li Long had originally planned to come over yesterday morning and had even asked his assistant to clear his schedule. But then, Lin Xin suddenly felt unwell, which gave him a terrible scare.

He rushed her to the hospital for a check-up, and the doctor announced that Lin Xin was pregnant.

The news left the couple both shocked and overjoyed. Li Long asked the doctor in detail, worried that since Lin Xin was in her forties, it would be considered a high-risk pregnancy and whether there would be any dangers.

The doctor told him not to worry, but that Lin Xin was a bit weak and needed proper nourishment, recommending a pile of nutritional supplements.

Lin Xin was discharged that afternoon. When Li Zexing learned he would have a little brother or sister in about eight months, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

He thought, ‘Speaking of which, if I take this kid out with me in the future, people who don’t know any better will definitely think it’s mine, won’t they?’

Originally, with his beloved wife pregnant, Li Long planned to put off work to stay home and accompany her. But by chance, he saw the test report.

It was the report from when he was trying to determine if there was anything wrong with Shen Lu’s food. All the nutritional data on it were excellent.

Li Long had a flash of inspiration. The supplements from the hospital were medicine, after all. How could they compare to healing through food?

That’s why he decided to make a trip over this morning, wanting to ask Shen Lu about the source of her ingredients.

Shen Lu really didn’t want to see him, but he was Li Zexing’s father, and it would be rude not to. So she swallowed her impatience and went.

Li Long was middle-aged but had aged very well. He had the image of a suave and successful businessman, with a full head of hair and no potbelly.

“Mr. Li, hello.” Shen Lu invited him to sit and served him a cup of hot tea.

After taking a sip, the look in Li Long’s eyes grew more profound.

“Good tea.”

Shen Lu just smiled and didn’t reply.

‘I’m not in a good mood right now,’ she thought. ‘There’s no way I’m going to say something like, ‘If you like it, Mr. Li, take some home with you later.”

A man like Li Long could naturally tell that Shen Lu was displeased.

“The day before yesterday, Ah Xing brought home a few takeout dishes from your shop. They were delicious.” Seeing this, he didn’t waste any more time and stated his reason for coming. “I wonder if it would be convenient for Miss Shen to introduce me to your ingredient supplier?”

Shen Lu looked up. ‘Seriously, mister? You’ve really got some nerve asking that.’

‘The last person who asked me to do that had their family utterly destroyed, you know?!’

“It’s not convenient,” Shen Lu refused bluntly. “I don’t have the authority to do that.”

“Is it the Yun Family?” Li Long asked.

The Yun Family?

A flicker of confusion crossed Shen Lu’s mind. The name seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.

In Li Long’s eyes, Shen Lu’s silence was a tacit admission.

“I see. I was being presumptuous.” Li Long thought for a moment before making another request. “In that case, could I purchase some ingredients from you, Miss Shen?”

“Mr. Li, what is it you’re really after?”

“It’s like this. My wife has been unwell recently. She tried the dishes from your shop a couple of days ago and found the ingredients to be excellent. I was hoping to buy some to take back and cook for her.”

The baby was less than three months along, so to be safe, Li Long didn’t mention the pregnancy, only that Lin Xin was unwell.

‘Sell ingredients?’

Shen Lu rejected the idea without a second thought.

‘Even though Li Long would be buying the ingredients to cook for Lin Xin, and Lin Xin is an ordinary person who wouldn’t count toward this week’s mission quota… it’s all the same whether she eats my cooking or food made from my ingredients. But what if other people start copying him? Wouldn’t my place turn into an ingredient supply shop? I run a small restaurant, not a grocery store.’

“I can understand how you feel, but my shop only sells prepared dishes,” Shen Lu politely refused.

Li Long’s expression soured slightly. He felt that both his attitude and his wording had been perfectly polite, yet she wasn’t giving him any ground.

This was a frustrating setback for a man who was used to always getting his way in the business world.

Unfortunately for him, Shen Lu had Fu Cheng behind her. Fu Cheng was on good terms with Li Zenan and was also the grandson of the current Yun Family Head.

Out of respect for either party, he couldn’t just bully Shen Lu.

“Can I place a regular order?” For his wife’s sake, Li Long had always been a patient man. “I heard from Ah Xing that your shop only serves lunch. I’d like to order a full meal every day at noon. I’ll have a driver come pick it up.”

Shen Lu didn’t agree at once. She thought it over carefully before saying, “Mr. Li, it’s the sand dust season right now, and the weather is unpredictable. I can’t guarantee I can supply meals every single day. If you’re okay with that, you can place an order each morning.”

Li Long was truly displeased, but what Shen Lu said wasn’t without reason.

The weather during the sand dust season was volatile, and her shop was in the Lower City District. If the wind exceeded Level 8, ordinary cars couldn’t drive through the hurricane-force gales.

Li Long agreed. The two exchanged contact information, and Shen Lu sent him the latest menu.

“The menu is updated from time to time. I’ll send you the new version each time it changes.”

“Thank you for the trouble.”

Li Long glanced at it and checked off all the dishes that looked good. “I’ll take all of these with me today.”

Shen Lu took a look. Good heavens, he had ordered more than a dozen dishes.

“Mr. Li, our little shop doesn’t encourage extravagance and waste. It’s better to order only what you need.”

“It won’t be wasted. This isn’t just for lunch; it’s for dinner as well.”

“Alright, then.”

Since he had put it that way, Shen Lu couldn’t really say anything more.

But with this order, only one spot was left out of the three tables available for today. ‘Who will be the lucky one?’ she wondered.

Shen Lu was a whirlwind of activity in the kitchen. To avoid making Li Long wait too long, she prioritized preparing his order.

The takeout containers Shen Lu had bought were decent at retaining heat, but not like the ones the driver, Little Zhou, had brought himself yesterday, which could keep the food as if it had just come out of the wok.

For a dish like Hot Toffee Sweet Potato, for example, the texture would suffer greatly after steaming in a container for an hour.

So, Shen Lu discussed it with Li Long, and they swapped out two dishes that would lose their texture if left sitting for too long. By eleven o’clock, all the food was cooked, packed, and handed over to Li Long’s assistant.

“Next time you come for takeout, you should bring your own containers,” Shen Lu reminded him.

After seeing Li Long off, Shen Lu went back to the kitchen to continue her work. She didn’t even go out to the front when the shop opened for business at eleven, just letting Wang Daguo handle it.

Shen Lu was in the kitchen stir-frying when she suddenly heard a DING from the system. Someone had placed an order.

It seemed today’s third and final table of guests had arrived.