Chapter 154: Chapter 122: Running into an Old Acquaintance
"Sir, do you think we can finish all this?"
Chen Fei stared at the enormous platters on the table and the goose bubbling away in the iron pot, swallowing hard.
"It’s fine. We can just get the leftovers to-go," Su Chen said, though his own smile felt a bit forced.
He had never imagined the portions in the Northeast would be *this* huge.
The platters were bigger than his head. A dish of sweet and sour pork like this cost just over ten yuan. Anywhere else, even thirty yuan would feel like a steal.
And then there was the Chicken Stew with Mushrooms. Su Chen had assumed it would be made with a few pieces of chicken, but who would have thought it would be an *entire* chicken...
Ah... So, Su Chen learned that when people from the Northeast say "little chicken," they mean a whole one. Anyone visiting for the first time would be just as clueless!
As for the tomato and egg soup, it was more than enough to fill them up, to say the least.
"Well, let’s eat. Eat as much as you can, and you can have the rest for a late-night snack."
Chen Fei froze. A late-night snack for him...
’You’ve got to be kidding... Boss, how can such cold words come from a warm-blooded person like you?’
But, to be fair, aside from the massive portions, the food in the Northeast was actually delicious.
The sweet and sour pork was quite appetizing.
After a few simple tastes, they switched into full-on eating mode. Su Chen fell silent, focusing entirely on his food.
Determined to avoid a late-night snack, Chen Fei also went all out, forgoing rice to focus solely on the main dishes.
"This Northeastern food really hits the spot!" Su Chen said with a touch of pride, patting his stomach and looking at the two dishes and one soup that were now practically licked clean.
Chen Fei was in no better shape. His stomach was perfectly round, and he leaned back in his chair, not wanting to move an inch.
Just then, the waitress who had served them earlier came over. "Hey there, young men. Let me clear these empty plates for you. The goose in the iron pot is just about ready!"
Hearing that, Su Chen remembered he had also ordered the Goose Stewed in an Iron Pot. The large platters had hidden it from view, and he’d completely forgotten about it.
After the waitress cleared the plates and lifted the pot lid, a fragrant cloud of steam billowed out.
It smelled amazing, but Su Chen didn’t have the slightest desire to eat anymore.
"Ma’am, could you pack this goose up for us?"
"HAHAHA! I told you you wouldn’t be able to finish it! You first-timers in the Northeast never believe it. You all have to learn the hard way!" The woman’s laugh wasn’t mocking. Instead, it was warm and genuinely considerate.
"Well, they say you have to see it to believe it. I guess we’re just doing as the locals do!" Su Chen quite liked this kind of atmosphere—no forced compliments, no fake pleasantries.
"Just a moment, I’ll go get a big container for you!" With that, the waitress hurried away.
Once the waitress was out of earshot, Chen Fei pulled a long face and muttered under his breath, "Sir, you’re not really going to make me carry this back to the hotel for a late-night snack, are you?"
"A late-night snack? In your dreams."
Su Chen’s gaze drifted out the window. He saw a woman in an orange sanitation worker’s uniform squatting on the curb, eating a steamed bun with a water kettle in her other hand.
Chen Fei followed his gaze and saw the sanitation worker. He guessed she had to be in her sixties.
"Sir, are you thinking of giving the packed food to that lady?"
Su Chen thought for a moment, then shook his head, rejecting Chen Fei’s idea.
Just then, the waitress returned with a large to-go container. She was about to start packing the goose from the iron pot when Su Chen stopped her.
"Ma’am, let’s hold off on packing it for now. Actually, I was hoping you could do me a favor."
Su Chen explained his idea, pointing to the sanitation worker squatting on the curb...
"Sure, no problem! Leave it to me." The waitress hadn’t expected Su Chen to be so kind.
Instead of just giving the packed food to the sanitation worker, he asked the waitress to invite her inside to eat. It was a small gesture to protect the elderly woman’s dignity.
She could pack up whatever was left and take it home for later. Naturally, Su Chen would cover the entire bill.
After paying, Su Chen nodded to the waitress and left the restaurant with Chen Fei, but they didn’t go far.
They couldn’t hear what the waitress said to the sanitation worker, but a moment later, she was leading the woman into the restaurant.
As they entered, the waitress glanced at Su Chen and gave a nod, signaling that the task was done.
They could hear the sanitation worker repeatedly saying "thank you."
"Sir, that waitress is quite something. She agreed without even asking her boss. What if the boss sees the sanitation worker in there and..." Chen Fei trailed off, unsure how to finish his thought.
Su Chen glanced at him, knowing what Chen Fei was trying to say.
He meant that some customers might be unhappy seeing someone in a sanitation uniform dining inside.
Such incidents were not uncommon. Su Chen had even seen a news report online about a few police officers being told to leave by a Starbucks employee for eating their boxed lunches near the entrance. The story had caused quite a stir online.
If even police officers were shooed away for eating near the entrance, a sanitation worker sitting down for a proper meal inside would surely attract attention.
Of course, one couldn’t generalize, as evidenced by the small restaurant Su Chen had just dined at.
There were two likely reasons why the waitress had agreed so readily.
Either the waitress was the owner’s wife and had the authority to make such decisions without worrying about customer complaints.
The other possibility, which gave Su Chen pause for thought, was that it was normal for sanitation workers to eat in restaurants in the Northeast, at most drawing a few curious glances.
Whether it was the first reason or the second, it was a good thing nonetheless.
"Let’s go. We ate too much. A walk will help us digest." Su Chen patted Chen Fei on the arm as he watched the sanitation worker happily eating through the window.
’It’s not like I was doing a good deed. I just didn’t want to waste food.’
’Just making efficient use of resources, that’s all!’
........
"Su Chen?"
A hesitant and somewhat faint voice called out.
"Hm? Sounds like someone’s calling me." Su Chen stopped and looked around, thinking he might have imagined it.
"Su Chen, over here!"
This time, the voice was much louder. Both of them stopped in their tracks and looked in the direction it came from.
Across the road, a man was leaning halfway out of a second-story window, waving at them.
When Su Chen got a clear look at the man in the window, a surprised expression crossed his face.
"Huh? Is that Boss Yu?"
"Boss Yu? Who’s that, Sir?" Chen Fei asked, puzzled. He’d been with Su Chen for a long time but didn’t seem to recall meeting anyone with that surname.
"He’s a guesthouse owner I met a long time ago on a trip to Lijiang. A pretty good guy."
Su Chen recalled the milk tea-making skills Boss Yu had taught him, which he had long since forgotten. Even the tea Boss Yu had given him had been taken and drunk by his own father.
"Let’s go, we’ll head over!" ’What a coincidence. He told me to call him when I got to the Northeast, and who would’ve thought we’d run into each other on the street?’
’If this isn’t fate, what is?’
When Su Chen crossed the road, he saw Boss Yu standing at the entrance of what looked like an office building, wrapped in a mink coat.
"Su Chen! Why didn’t you call me when you came to the Northeast? If it wasn’t for my sharp eyes, I would’ve missed you!" Boss Yu came up and clapped Su Chen on the arm, his tone tinged with friendly complaint.
"You can’t blame me for that. I just got to Ice City. Besides, how was I supposed to know you were back in Ice City? For all I knew, you could have been in the second home of everyone from the Northeast!" Su Chen teased with a smile.
The "second home" of Northeasterners was, of course, Sanya. Every winter, anyone from the Northeast with a bit of money would run off to Sanya to escape the cold.
And who could blame them? The weather in Sanya was just so warm!
"What do you mean? I told you again and again to call! How is this my fault?"
After he spoke, they both burst out laughing.
Only then did Boss Yu notice Chen Fei standing behind Su Chen. He quickly pulled a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket and offered one with a smile. "And who might this brother be?"
He offered one to both Su Chen and Chen Fei.
Su Chen accepted without hesitation. Seeing this, Chen Fei didn’t dally either. He took the cigarette and introduced himself, "Chen Fei."
Boss Yu seemed to sense that their relationship was a bit unusual, but he didn’t dwell on it and simply ushered them inside.
After a brief introduction from Boss Yu, Su Chen learned that this was a tea room Boss Yu had custom-built for enjoying tea with his friends.
"Tsk, tsk. This is seriously luxurious!" Su Chen was a little shocked by the scene before him.
It wasn’t that he’d never seen a tea room before; his own courtyard house in the Imperial Capital had one that was nearly fifty square meters. But it paled in comparison to this.
It wasn’t that the decor was more luxurious than his in the Imperial Capital, but that the sheer variety of things here was astounding. It was a complete hodgepodge.
There was mahogany furniture, tables and chairs made of red sandalwood, and even a luohan bed!
Several cabinets were filled to the brim with tobacco, alcohol, and tea. Anyone who didn’t know better would think they’d walked into a specialty liquor and tobacco store.
There were also all sorts of jars and containers, as well as an enormous fish tank where two rather impressive-looking arowanas were swimming.
People always say that when businessmen from the Northeast get rich, their first thought is how to live lavishly—building themselves a top-tier tea room or buying a Rolls-Royce, for instance. They don’t think about reinvesting to expand their business like Southerners do.
Su Chen used to think that was just a stereotype, but now it seemed there was some truth to it.
"Have a seat, quick! You have to try my new tea. I had a hell of a time getting this from Yunnan Province. They say it’s a twenty-year-old Pu’er!" Boss Yu carefully retrieved a cake of tea from the tea cabinet.
"A twenty-year-old Pu’er? Is that stuff still drinkable?" Su Chen eyed the tea cake in Boss Yu’s hands, faintly catching its fragrant aroma.
"Of course it is! Pu’er is a post-fermented tea. Only the highest quality leaves and processing techniques allow it to age for twenty years!"
Boss Yu’s tea-brewing skills were as masterful as ever. The whole sequence of scraping, rubbing, shaking, and pouring left Su Chen watching in a daze.
When Su Chen made tea at home, there was none of this complex ritual. He’d just steep the leaves in a hot water pot and pour himself a cup whenever he felt like it.
There’s no harm without comparison. Compared to Boss Yu, what he did wasn’t drinking tea—it was just wasting good tea leaves.
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