I am a Chef in the Modern Era

Chapter 43:Purple Yam and Black Rice Porridge

Translated by Yan of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Even though it had already been decided that they were going to H City, Shen Fu didn’t plan on bringing Lin ShuYi home right away. After all, Shen Fu hadn’t thought of a reason to persuade Lin ShuYi to come visit his house yet. Moreover, if he brought Lin ShuYi back too rashly, it was hard to guarantee that his grandpa wouldn’t say something he shouldn’t say because he was given a fright.

In the end, Lin ShuYi was still only eighteen. It was truly a bit too soon to lay a hand on him. But if he didn’t leave his mark, and Lin ShuYi ended up being stolen away by somebody else midway, what would he do? So Shen Fu’s idea was to first channel his everything into Lin ShuYi before Lin ShuYi could love somebody else. Then, he could peacefully wait for his shameless, happy days.

Shen Fu felt like he shouldn’t be too happy with this way of thinking.

On the contrary, Lin ShuYi wasn’t actually in that much of a rush to go out and play. After all, in his heart, right now XiQin Restaurant was the most important, but XiQin Restaurant wouldn’t be fixed for the time being. He didn’t really have anything to do even if he stayed at home, so he agreed to Shen Fu’s proposition to go to H City the next day.

Old Man Yang knew that they were leaving the next day, so he started bustling back and forth, thinking about what he should pack. Even though Shen Fu felt like they didn’t need anything at all, he also felt like there was no harm in bringing along the luggage that he saw Old Man Yang help them pack cheerfully. In any case, he would be driving back himself, so it didn’t matter how many things he brought.

Old Man Yang didn’t know that Shen Fu was going to his old home; he was still under the impression that the two of them were going to go travel with a tour group like the rest of them had.

After he had packed half of the things, he ran out to ask Shen Fu.

“Have you two booked the tour group yet? What train are you taking? Where are you meeting them?”

Shen Fu was currently on the phone with somebody, his features spread in a smile. When he heard Old Man Yang call for him, he turned his head while he told the person on the other end of the phone, “Just wait. Get over there tomorrow and greet me.” Then he hung up the phone. “Grandpa, what did you just say? I didn’t hear you.”

Old Man Yang repeated, very patiently, “Aren’t you two leaving tomorrow? It can’t be that you haven’t booked your tour group yet, right?”

Shen Fu laughed. “Grandpa, we aren’t intending to go with a group. I want to take Lin ShuYi to H City. My home is there, so we don’t need to go with a tour group. I’m very familiar with the area.”

Old Man Yang widened his eyes. “H City?”

Shen Fu nodded.

Even though H City wasn’t the capital city, it was near the seaports, and it was also a major city that went hand in hand with the country’s finance and trade. It was also an important center of shipping, so even though it wasn’t the capital, it flourished a bit more than the capital.

Shanghai was also a city filled with capitalists and the bourgeoisie. Rumor had it that if a sign randomly fell in the middle of the street and hit ten people, eight of them would be rich. So the moment Shen Fu said that that was where his home was, Old Man Yang at last sort of understood what was up with Shen Fu.

But why was Shen Fu bringing Lin ShuYi there?

Old Man Yang was a little suspicious. “Then are you two taking a train there tomorrow?”

Shen Fu shook his head again. “Driving. In any case, it’s not far.”

S City and H City were indeed not far from each other. Even if they left from here, it would only take two or three hours by car.

Old Man Yang nodded. He thought a bit and finally pinpointed what felt slightly off. “Are... you going home?”

“Mhm, I should go back to visit.”

“Are you taking Xiao Yi with you?”

If you thought about it, Lin ShuYi and Shen Fu couldn’t be considered to have a deep relationship at all. Lin ShuYi had merely helped Shen Fu out, and as the two of them got to know each other longer, a bit of a friendship started to develop. But this friendship shouldn’t have reached the point where Shen Fu would bring him back to recommend him to his own parents. After all, if Shen Fu’s family circumstances weren’t normal. How would his parents be your typical people? Lin ShuYi was as different from his family as heaven and earth. It wouldn’t be very good for Shen Fu to just rashly take him there, right?

When Shen Fu heard Old Man Yang ask that, he nodded as if it was obvious. “Of course. Grandpa, you can relax. I will take care of him well.”

Old Man Yang shook his head. “I’m not actually worried about that. I’m just worried that if you take Xiao Yi over so hastily, will your parents dislike him?”

Why did these nervous feelings also seem kind of strange?

However, wealthy people all had some weird customs. Even though Shen Fu’s relationship with Lin ShuYi was quite good, this didn’t mean that Shen Fu’s parents would like Lin ShuYi...

Wait a moment, this seemed even stranger. Wasn’t this kind of ‘worrying about the daughter meeting the parents-in-law’ feeling a little inappropriate?

Sure enough, Shen Fu also laughed. “Grandpa, no need to worry. My parents are both excellent people. What’s more, Xiao Yi saved me. My parents haven’t even had time to be thankful to him yet, so how would they make things difficult for him.”

With Shen Fu supporting Lin ShuYi, who would dare to make things difficult for him?

Old Man Yang thought about it and felt like, as expected, he was overthinking it. If they were just friends, there shouldn’t be a problem, right? But even if this was the case, Old Man Yang still pondered over it and stuffed a few more things into the bags. They were all regional specialties that he had bought on his last trip.

“Grandpa, you don’t need to pack so much.” Shen Fu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Since Xiao Yi is going to visit your family, he can’t just go empty-handed. It’s not like these things are particularly rare. As long as your parents don’t dislike it, it’s fine.”

Shen Fu shifted his eyes and felt like it made sense, so he didn’t try to stop Old Man Yang anymore. His parents definitely wouldn’t dislike it.

Lin ShuYi had gone out for a bit. When he came back, he was given a huge fright by the large and small luggages that Old Man Yang had packed.

“Grandpa, it’s just a few days. What’s the point of bringing so much?”

Old Man Yang stuffed the contents of the luggage down a bit and zipped it up. “Xiao Fu is driving, so it’s not like it’s hard to bring. You can’t just go empty-handed, how impolite would that be.”

Lin ShuYi thought that Old Man Yang was talking about things that he packed for them to eat along the way. He was a little baffled, but Lin ShuYi would never think that there were too many things to eat. So, in the end, he didn’t say anything else. He turned to ask Shen Fu, “Are you driving? The car that you borrowed from your friend last time?”

Shen Fu nodded.

Lin ShuYi’s eyes lit up again. “That’s right, didn’t you say you would teach me to drive last time too?”

Even though he more or less knew the operation principle of these cars and planes, Lin ShuYi was still sort of curious about these things that could run just on gas and four wheels and could also play music and move at lightning speed. Shen Fu said that he would teach him how to drive last time. Even though he, himself, had forgotten. In the end, he was still very excited once he remembered.

Shen Fu thought a little. “Since you like to drive, in the future I’ll take you to the kart racing club. No accidents will happen even for novices.”

Lin ShuYi rubbed his hands together. “Okay.”

Shen Fu grinned as he slung an arm around his shoulders. “Then let’s sleep early tonight. We’ll be leaving bright and early tomorrow, so we’ll be able to get there by lunch. I’ll take you to eat something nice.”

“What?” Lin ShuYi’s eyes gleamed, and his lips were a lovely, vibrant deep pink. It wasn’t a particularly seductive expression, but it made Shen Fu’s throat tighten, and he had to look away, desperately controlling himself.

It still wasn’t time yet. It still wasn’t time yet. It still wasn’t time yet.

After repeating it to himself silently numerous times, he finally let go of Lin ShuYi and scooted a bit to the side. When he spoke, his voice was husky.

“That, you’ll find out once we get there.”

In any case, they had time. Those rascals friends of his could screw off. H City didn’t have a lot of anything except people and food.

Shen Fu’s expression was strange, but Lin ShuYi didn’t notice. After bidding farewell to Old Man Yang, he dragged Shen Fu home.

At night, because of a certain reason, Shen Fu didn’t cause trouble. After Lin ShuYi took a shower, he went to the bathroom obediently. Even though Shen Fu didn’t come out for a long time, by then Lin ShuYi was already asleep, so he didn’t know.

After he came out, he collapsed face-first onto the sofa.

If things continued like this, he wouldn’t be able to take it anymore, but what could he do.

The next day, the two of them truly did wake up fairly early. Old Man Yang also woke early and was currently preparing breakfast for them.

“Xiao Fu ah, where is your car?” Old Man Yang saw that Shen Fu still hadn’t brought over his car yet, and he was a little puzzled.

“Mm, I haven’t gone to get it yet. In a bit, once we’re done eating, Xiao Yi can wait here for me. I’ll get it and come back for you.”

Old Man Yang cooked purple yam and black rice porridge and served it with small pan-fried buns with beef and scallion filling. The skin was thin, the filling thick, and the fresh and aromatic fragrance flowed out upon taking a bite. Lin ShuYi ate his fill at once.

“Even though we’re quite close to H City, you’ll still have to get on the highway when the time comes. At that point, there’ll be nowhere to stop for quite some time, so you should still eat some more.” Old Man Yang knew that there were places to eat along the highway, but he felt like they were both expensive and didn’t taste good, as well as extremely not cost-effective. So no matter where he went, he always had to eat a meal, and then he wouldn’t eat along the way, besides what he bought from the markets.

Shen Fu went somewhere to get the car. It didn’t actually take that long. It was still that unremarkable car, and they put Old Man Yang’s luggage in the trunk before the two of them said goodbye to Old Man Yang and left.

Even though they had been here for quite some time now, this was still the first time they were going far away. Although Lin ShuYi was sitting properly in the passenger seat, he finally peered outside the window.

Sure enough, this world was truly very large. Even with these tools that he could now use to travel thousands of miles, it was still so big that he wouldn’t be able to travel everywhere in this lifetime.

“Is the highway that interesting?” Shen Fu teased him, laughing lowly. This person hadn’t looked at him again since he got in the car.

Lin ShuYi turned his head and shot him a glance before he looked away again. “Concentrate on driving your car.”

He couldn’t be distracted while driving. Did Shen Fu think that Lin ShuYi spent all that time reading over the traffic laws for no reason?

Shen Fu shrugged. He drove for a long while before he looked over and saw that Lin ShuYi had fallen asleep already.

Shen Fu slowed down and draped his jacket over Lin ShuYi before he rolled up the windows on both sides and lowered the music a bit, so Lin ShuYi would be able to sleep a little more comfortably.

But then his phone rang.

Shen Fu immediately answered it. Fortunately, Lin ShuYi only frowned a bit but didn’t wake up.

Chen Fang’s deep voice came from the other end. “Where are you now? They’re already preparing the reception meal for you and your guest.”

Shen Fu glanced at Lin ShuYi, who was asleep, and his lips curled up. “Just wait, I’ll be there in an hour.”

Chen Fang seemed to pass along this information to somebody else, and the sound of heckling and cheers came from the other end. Chen Fang’s voice also seemed to carry a hint of a smile. “It’s at the old haunt. Just bring him with you.”

But Shen Fu frowned. “The old haunt? No.”

Chen Fang was stunned. “What’s wrong?”

“Messy places are prohibited. Find me somewhere quiet to eat. I brought him here to eat delicious food. Don’t make me take care of these useless things. It’ll make him troubled when he sees them later.”

After Chen Fang’s stun, he laughed loudly. “Got it. Aren’t we giving you a reception meal, after all? Even though you didn’t like it before, you didn’t oppose it so much.”

Shen Fu knew that Chen Fang understood what he meant, and he also laughed. “It’s different from before now. At that time, this bachelor wasn’t afraid of going wild with them, but now I’m someone with a family.”

“Alright, that’s enough. There’s no sign of success so far, yet you dare to say you have a family? It’s hard to even say if you can resolve the issue with your old man. Okay, I’m not going to talk nonsense with you anymore. I’ll help find a quiet place to eat for that guest of yours. You really put a damper on these people’s moods.”

He said a few more things and then hung up.

Their old haunt wasn’t somewhere indecent. It was just the place that they always got together before with that horde of young masters. Of course, he was also one of them. However, on the whole, he went a little less than the rest. Now that he had Lin ShuYi, he even more so wouldn’t go.

After hanging up, Shen Fu straightened in his seat and pressed down on the gas before he sped towards H City.

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