The so-called private home cuisine referred to the food sold by small restaurants that opened especially in residential or office buildings. Usually, such restaurants had no business licenses, waiters, and fixed menus. However, their chefs were quite skilled. The threshold of this kind of business was extremely low. As long as the cooks were good at cooking, it would not take much effort for the owner to run such a business. The only difference lied in the taste of the food.
Huating was a city with a population of tens of millions of people and you could easily find more than ten thousand restaurants that sold private home cuisine here. But few of them could be remembered by their guests. After all, the entry threshold of running such a business was low, so the quality of their food was unavoidably on various levels.
Among countless such restaurants, few were able to make their brands famous. Yu’s Restaurant was one of the few restaurants.
In Huating, Yu’s Restaurant was so famous for its private home cuisine that even the country b.u.mpkin Li Tianlan had once heard of it. Most of what he saw and heard naturally came from his grandfather, Li Honghe.
The old man who was down now had a brilliant life decades ago. He had mentioned the highest-grade Shaoxing wine and red-braised pork several times in Yu’s Restaurant at the border, especially the Shaoxing wine. Its output was limited and much of it would be given annually to the hidden big shots in Zhongzhou State. Thus, the rest of the stock was scarce and it was rarer than 50-year-old Maotai Liquor.
Li Honghe was one of the most powerful people in Zhongzhou State decades ago and he lived in the central government. Therefore, he could receive a dozen jars of the highest-grade Shaoxing wine from Yu’s Restaurant. He had once praised the wine as something that celestial beings could only enjoy. Later, he went to the border because of his son’s case. He then could only drink Er Guo Tou—a kind of wine that only cost people several yuan, once in a while, never mind the highest-grade Shaoxing wine. With a strong addiction to alcohol, he only dared to consume a bottle of Er Guo Tou every week or even every month in Li’s Village. He just took a small sip every time and praised it as the holy product. This old man was content with his lot, but Li Tianlan felt sad every time he saw this scene. Naturally, he was deeply impressed by Yu’s Restaurant that had been mentioned several times by the old man.
The black Audi went round and round in the bustling downtown area of Huating and finally stopped in front of a deep and serene alley.
“Yu’s Restaurant is right in front of us. The car can’t go in and we have to walk another hundred meters.”
Qin Weibai said gently as she held the notebook. She seemed to be in a good mood and put one of her legs on the other. Men would be aroused if they saw her slender and delicate legs. There was a gentle smile on her delicate and dreamlike face. The smile added her a touch of gracefulness.
“Good wine needs no bush. It takes courage to open a restaurant in such a place, even if it’s a restaurant that sells private home cuisine.”
Li Tianlan sighed with emotion as he looked at the scene in front of him. They had long since left the downtown of Huating. This place could not be considered as somewhere that birds would not even s.h.i.t, but no one would deny that it was desolate. There were no upscale residential buildings or large companies nearby. Apparently, ordinary people could not afford the private home cuisine at Yu’s Restaurant, which often cost tens of thousands of yuan. It was tremendously difficult to run such a restaurant in such a place and create a booming business.
“Yu’s Restaurant doesn’t make money from sales. Its private home cuisine has a history of more than one hundred years in Huating. The Family Head of the Yu family of this generation was a chef the second to none in the central government a few years ago. His status is not inferior to that of the chefs in the royal palace in the past. It is said that many leaders in Zhongzhou State have a special liking for his cooking. After leaving the government, the old man opened Yu’s Restaurant in Huating and it soon became famous. However, he only cooks three banquets a day and guests needs to make reservation three days in advance. He never makes an exception. So there is no need to have too many people here and three groups of guests a day are enough.”
Qin Weibai got out of the car with the notebook in her hand and led the way.
“He is a unique old man.”
Li Tianlan replied casually and stared at Qin Weibai’s back spontaneously.
Qin Weibai was still a landscape that would never fade even from this angle of view. Her every body parts would make people indulge in fantasy subconsciously, be it her white and tender neck, slender waist, compact booty, or fine and straight legs.
Two sentences came to Li Tianlan’s mind subconsciously.
Her every move could be written as a poem.
And each of her slightest facial expressions was worth painting.
This kind of charm was formed by nature. It was no exaggerating that her beauty could even wreck the country and bring ruin to the people.
“He’s indeed unconventional. Some time ago, a senior official of Huating accompanied a leader from the capital to dinner, but he was rejected because he did not make a reservation in advance. It didn’t even work after they showed their ident.i.ties. The two officials could only endure it without daring to say anything harsh in the end.”
Qin Weibai said while walking.
“Is he so daring?”
Li Tianlan was somewhat surprised. With a history of more than 2,000 years, the feudal autocratic culture of Zhongzhou State had made the ideology of bureaucracy go deep into every level of this society and it even had become a part of its culture. Everybody knew that this kind of bureaucrat-oriented culture was dross. But it was hard for them to change anything and they still honoured officials.
How did an old man who ran a restaurant that sold private home cuisine have the guts to turn down two senior officials?
This was by no means a matter of principle.
Li Tianlan was deep in thought. The repressed life in the primeval forest from childhood did not make him crazy; instead, it made his mind extremely active and keen. He could think of every aspect of anything, big or small, and take everything into consideration, useful or useless. When he was very young, Li Honghe taught him a most basic truth that it is always right to think more about anything at any time.
What Qin Weibai said seemed very common, but after thinking carefully, Li Tianlan felt that her words meant more than the words themselves and they seemed to carry some profound meanings that were hard to grasp or trace.
“The old man used to be a chef of the central government for many years and he acquainted many senior officials. One of the big shots especially appreciated his cooking. This relationship may not help him do something big, but it will never allow him to be bullied.”
Qin Weibai’s tone of voice became increasingly colder.
“A chef? Even if he was once a chef in the central government, he shouldn’t…”
Li Tianlan muttered to himself.
Qin Weibai smiled and said nothing. While chatting, they had already arrived at the depths of the lane where Yu’s Restaurant was located.
Yu’s Restaurant may sound freaking awesome, but it only had a low-key exterior. It was just a small courtyard with two very old wooden doors and a plaque hanging above it. The two words “Yu family” on the plaque seemed to have become blurred by years of wind and rain.
Li Tianlan suddenly stopped as he glanced at the plaque unconsciously, although he planned to enter the door originally.
His pupils suddenly contracted and he stared at the words on the plaque.
They were so similar to the words “Li family” on the red sandalwood plaque in the watchtower in the campsite at the border!
They were exactly the same, be it the verve or the pattern of the character, and it was obviously the handwriting of one person.
It was his grandpa Li Honghe who wrote the words “Li family” on the red sandalwood plaque and placed it in the watchtower.
Then the plaque with the words “Yu family” in front of him…
Li Tianlan took a look at Qin Weibai next to him.
As expected, she did harbor some ulterior intentions by bringing him here to dinner.
Qin Weibai still stood there quietly, but the look in her eyes was meaningful. She said, “Shall we go in?”
“Fine.”
Li Tianlan replied in a deep voice with a solemn and earnest expression.