I am a Chef in the Modern Era-Chapter 9 - Charcoal Grilled Fish
Chapter 9: Charcoal Grilled Fish
Translated by Starved Rara of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Nothing ever made Lin ShuYi regret more than saving this man. It wasn’t until this day did he realize there were such people in the world. Even though Shen Fu’s wound seemed quite serious, it was just a terrible looking bruise. In fact, it only took him a few days to heal, even though there was still some slight pain, it wasn’t an inconvenience in any way. Only when Lin ShuYi mentioned he could leave did he immediately lay down on the spot and say his body was sore all over. Lin ShuYi knew he was pretending, but he couldn’t anything.
A scholar had bumped into a warrior. He was unable to reason with an unreasonable person. Alas, he finally understood this powerless feeling. After two days, Lin ShuYi achieved a new skill, which was to ignore Shen Fu. Only when Lin ShuYi treated him as air did he finally stop feeling itchy to bite someone.
Shen Fu’s injuries may not be severed, but in the last two days, he was in pain whenever he moved. That was the reason why even though he was faking most of the time, Lin ShuYi couldn’t really throw him out of the house. Lin ShuYi didn’t know how he got those injuries and Shen Fu never mentioned it. But looking at it, it seemed like it was horribly intentional, Lin ShuYi felt that he wasn’t a good man.
He knew one thing or two about this world, if Shen Fu was a good person, how could someone would beat him without any reason?
Like usual, when Lin ShuYi went out, he would lock Shen Fu in his room. Shen Fu still didn’t mind. He smiled and waved goodbye to Lin ShuYi and then nested on the sofa and watched TV in boredom. This little thing was so boring ah, he didn’t even have a computer. Tsk tsk, how did he live through the day before?
Ling ShuYi was in a restless mood these two days. Even old man Yang noticed something was wrong. He thought that Lin ShuYi must still be sick. So, he asked him if he wanted to take one or two days off.
“It’s alright, it’s just…” Lin ShuYi remembered Shen Fu’s provoking smiling face and he grit his teeth. “It’s just that I saw a very loathsome thing.”
Old man Yang felt this a bit hilarious. Lin ShuYi always looked so smart and sensible in front of him, this fang baring appearance was something he should be showing at this age, no matter what he was angry at.
He may have been angry, but Lin ShuYi never forgot to feed Shen Fu three meals per day, but all the meals were clear soup noodles. Shen Fu, who was praising him at first, finally broke as soon as he saw the noodles, “Why is it noodles again? I ate so many of them that I want to vomit!”
Although it was delicious, to eat them for three meals a day, for several days, would make anyone want to vomit.
Ra: I understand you, Shen Fu, I understand.
Lin ShuYi glared at him, “Fine, then don’t eat it.”
Shen Fu really didn’t want to eat anymore, so he jumped back onto the sofa, “This is Chaoyang Street, right?”
Not even knowing where he was… Lin ShuYi was more certain that he must have done something bad and was chased here.
Seeing Lin ShuYi ignore him, Shen Fu didn’t mind at all. He continued, “If this is Chaoyang street, I actually know a good place.”
Lin ShuYi still ignored him.
“I heard the place serves a very delicious charcoal grilled fish.”
Lin ShuYi’s eyes lit up.
Shen Fu held his laugh in until his insides hurt, but he pretended to sit back, “Forget about it, it’s boring to go alone.”
Lin ShuYi put away the thing in his hand, trying his best to resist the impulse to ask him, but in the end, he still fell for it. He turned around and asked, “Is it really delicious?”
Shen Fu laughed out loud.
Lin ShuYi squinted his eyes. Shen Fu felt a murderous intent in front of him, so he quickly showed a serious face. “Fine, fine. I won’t tease you anymore. The food there is really delicious. I know the place but it’s quite far, do you have a car?” Lin ShuY was silent. “… Forget it, let’s take the bus.”
This was the first time Lin ShuYi let him out of the house, and also the first time Shen Fu managed to learn about his surroundings. Everything was so fuzzy that night that he couldn’t see clearly.
He only knew that this place was probably Chaoyang Street, Lin ShuYi’s home was very poor and he had nothing but a TV. When Shen Fu went out, he pretended to squint, “What a bright sun.”
Lin ShuYi looked at the last dusk of the day, his lips twitched.
Old man Yang knew Lin ShuYi had been packing food home everyday these past few days, he just didn’t ask. So when he saw Lin ShuYi bring someone to XiQin restaurant, he wasn’t that surprised.
“Xiao Yi, this is?”
Li ShuYi didn’t expect old man Yang to not remember who Shen Fu was. For a short while, he couldn’t think of any good excuse. Instead, Shen Fu was quicker, he put his hand on Lin ShuYi’s shoulder, “Hello grandpa, I’m his brother.”
Old man Yang was shocked, brother? Relative? Why had he never heard Lin ShuYi say he had a brother before?
Lin ShuYi was angry at Shen Fu’s blabbering mouth, but he couldn’t say that he picked up Shen Fu on the street. So he gave a nod, “Distant relative.”
Old man Yang felt Shen Fu looked quite familiar, but he only thought he must have seen him some time before, so he didn’t say anything more.
Lin ShuYi went to help old man Yang tidy up all the tables before he opened his mouth. “Grandpa, we are about to go somewhere to eat. Grandpa, do you want to join us?”
Shen Fu felt this was a bit unexpected. He didn’t know why Lin ShuYi would come all the way here and it turned out it was to invite this old man?
Old man Yang was also stunned, he quickly shook his head, “Just go with your brother, I’m not going.” This child Lin ShuYi didn’t seem to have any friends, Shen Fu was the first person he ever saw Lin ShuYi with. He already thought before how Lin ShuYi didn’t behave like a child, never went out to play, never went out with anyone. Seeing a brother step in his life, old man Yang was happy to see Lin ShuYi go out to play. Naturally, he wouldn’t stop them, but he didn’t expect Lin ShuYi would invite him.
Seeing old man Yang not want to go, Lin ShuYi didn’t force him. And then he left with Shen Fu.
“He’s your grandpa?” Shen Fu thought carefully before talking. He already had an inkling about Lin ShuYi’s family situation. A young person living alone without parents, so he was actually living with his grandpa?
“Yeah.” Lin ShuYi nodded, failing to recognize Shen Fu’s meaning of grandpa was different to his.
“Blood-related?”
“Hmm?” Lin ShuYi thought and shook his head.
Why does he treat him so well when they aren’t even blood related? Shen Fu stroked his chin and looked at Lin ShuYi deep in thought.
Lin ShuYi had never been to the place Shen Fu told him. In fact, it wasn’t just that place, Lin ShuYi rarely went anywhere except XiQin restaurant, let alone ChaoYang street. There was a bus stop not far from XiQin restaurant. Although it wasn’t rush hour, since there was a small shopping center near ChaoYang Street, the bus stop was full of people. Both the tall and handsome figures of Lin ShuYi and Shen Fu attracted attention.
They heard whispering between two girls behind them, Lin ShuYi didn’t mind and of course Shen Fu didn’t care any less.
Shen Fu suddenly remembered this important thing, he lowered his head and asked in ShuYi, “That’s right, did you bring any money?”
Lin ShuYi nodded, “What’s wrong?”
Shen Fu smiled, showing his snow-white teeth. “Nothing, just wanted to tell you that I don’t have any money.”
Lin ShuYi’s lips twitched as he gave Shen Fu a fierce glare. Hearing the whispers of the girls behind him become even louder, Shen Fu squinted his eyes and revealed an evil smirk. He put his hand on Lin ShuYi’s leg and heard the girls behind him gasping in satisfaction.
Lin ShuYi didn’t know his intention, but his intuition was telling him Shen Fu must up to no good. He gave the other man a glare, “What are you doing?”
“Taking out the coins. How else can we take the bus?” Shen Fu exposed his teeth brightly, but Lin ShuYi didn’t respond and just let him take out the coins before going straight ahead.
This guy, Lin ShuYi didn’t even react when he clearly heard the discussion between the two girls. Who was gong(top/seme)? Who was shou(bottom/uke)? But to think he didn’t even flinch a little bit when he was teasing him? What a boring guy.
In fact, Lin ShuYi just didn’t understand what they were saying.
When the bus arrived, they got on and Lin ShuYi headed straight for the single seat in the middle, but Shen Fu pulled him back.
Shen Fu raised his head. “That seat is a special seat reserved for pregnant women. Let’s sit at the back.”
Lin ShuYi saw the yellow seat had a “seat for old people, pregnant women and disabled people” sticker on it, but before he turned around to look for other seats, Shen Fu had already pulled him to the back and sat next to him without leaving an open space between them.
The two girls’ eyes lit up when then got on the bus and saw them. They wished they could take out their cellphones and straightforwardly take a picture of both of them. Their rotten girl(fujoshi) aura was all over the place.
Lin ShuYi had a very “disciplined” working and sleeping routine. Shen Fu couldn’t find any better words than discipline to describe it. On one side, he felt like this was more rigidity than discipline. How many people these days went to sleep at eight and got up at five? If it wasn’t for this really young and plump face, Shen Fu would have guessed that living inside this human shell was an eighty year old man.
With his disciplined working and sleeping habit, plus the shaky bus trip, Lin ShuYi began to doze off. His posture was perfectly straight but his eyes were slowly closing. Finally, his head fell onto Shen Fu’s shoulder.
Shen Fu was startled and looked down. Looked like this little thing, who had been looking out of the window, had fallen asleep. Shen Fu smiled helplessly, and then moved a bit aside to make him more comfortable when he leaned on his shoulder.
Shen Fu said it wasn’t far, but actually it was a very long bus trip. From Chaoyang Street to there, it took a full hour. He only woke up Lin ShuYi when the bus was about to reach the destination.
Lin ShuYi was still very fuzzy from his sleep, he raised his head in a daze and said, “Song Yan, I want to eat Furong Soup.”
Who was Song Yan? Shen Fu felt irritated and waved his hand in front of Lin ShuYi’sface, “Hey, wake up, you’re still dreaming.”
Lin ShuYi suddenly woke up.
After getting off the bus, Shen Fu took Ling ShuYi left and right until they reached the one restaurant with the delicious charcoal grilled fish. When he saw the sign “Fisherman’s Dwelling“, Shen Fu stopped walking and turned back to Lin ShuYi with a smile, “Here we are.”
Lin ShuYi raised his head and looked at it. The road they were standing on was different from the bustling scene before. This was clearly a residential area, yet someone opened a grilled fish restaurant here. The location was seemingly ordinary and nothing special, yet surprisingly there were no empty seats inside.
“Welcome. Sir, you came at the right time! The guests from table nineteen have just left. Otherwise, you would have had to wait a little longer.” When the server saw the two handsome men walking in, his facial expression immediately brightened up, he couldn’t help talking a little bit more. “I don’t recognize your face, sir, is it your first time here? If so, then you’ve come to the right place! Our Fisherman’s Dwelling not only serves the most delicious dishes, our fish are also freshly caught! Every single fish is guaranteed to be fresh, I can assure you that you will want to eat more.”
Lin ShuYi’s mind was filled with fish, he simply didn’t hear a word the server was saying. Shen Fu felt this was funny and nodded. “Bring us the menu.”
The menu didn’t have anything too fancy, just a list of various fish species. Tilapia, turbot, yellow croaker, crucian carp, grass carp. From common fish to the uncommon. The price was also listed on the menu with selectable side dishes. The menu had everything and one only need to choose what to eat.
Shen Fu took the menu and handed it to Lin ShuYi. “Order whatever you like.”
Lin ShuYi looked at the menu for half a day without any movement. Shen Fu found it odd, so he knocked on the table “What’s wrong?”
Ling ShuYi looked up, “Which one is the best?”
Shen Fu was speechless.
In the end, Shen Fu was the one who did the ordering. Lin ShuYi. who was having a hard time making a choice, wanted to eat whatever he saw.
When he placed the order, ShenFu suddenly remembered something, he asked Lin ShuYi, “Can you eat spicy food?” Lin ShuYi shook his head. Shen Fu felt a little dizzy inside. “Not even a bit?”
Lin ShuYi thought and nodded again.
Shen Fu slapped his thigh, “Why didn’t you say that earlier?”
Who ate grilled fish without any spiciness!
Shen Fu thought for a moment and stood up. He apologetically said to the server, “Is there anything not spicy? He can’t eat spicy food”
The server shook his head, “We can make without spice, but grilled fish without spice won’t taste as good.”
Shen Fu was about to explain, he saw Lin ShuYi lick his lips, “Is spicy more delicious?”
Shen Fu was speechless once again.
Facts had proved that nothing could beat the mentality of a foodie. Shen Fu knew Lin ShuYi couldn’t handle spiciness at all, and even though it only took one bite for Lin ShuYi to stick his tongue out in pain, he still finished the fish until the last bite. His mouth was burning red, he licked his lips non stop as he squinted his eyes in satisfaction, “Delicious.”
Shen Fu handed over the light fish soup on the side, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “You really are stubborn when it comes to eating. Didn’t you say you can’t eat any spicy food?”
Lin ShuYi nodded, “En, I won’t eat anything that isn’t delicious.”
Shen Fu, once again, could not say a word.
