Chapter 13: A Pot of Freshness

The next day, a group of grandfathers and grandmothers gathered at Nanlai Restaurant with a certain momentum.

Nan Tu could still recognize some familiar faces from back in the day and was surprised. “Grandma Zhao, Grandpa Qiao, Aunt Ma…?! What are you all doing here? Please, come in!”

Grandpa Qiao slowly walked in, holding a birdcage. The bird in the cage puffed up its chest and called out, “Let’s eat, let’s eat!”

“You’ve grown into a young lady!” He said with an admiring tone, “I heard you opened Nanlai Restaurant. I always said Nanlai Restaurant would have someone to carry it on, but your grandpa never liked to hear that. I was clearly praising you!”

Pan Yueyi’s grandmother, Zhao Sufen, was momentarily dazed when she saw Nan Tu, as if she were back in the small, bustling Nanlai Restaurant from back then, with her not-so-old husband by her side and her daughter just having given birth to a little girl, flustered and acting like a mother.

Time flowed on like a river, and before anyone noticed, it had passed so far.

“It really is you. When your grandpa was sick, we, the neighbors, went to visit him. He only worried about you, asking us to take good care of you. We promised him we would. Look at us now, we’re all getting old and muddled. You’ve been running the restaurant for a while now, and we didn’t even know. If it weren’t for Yueyi buying yam peaches from your place, I wouldn’t have recognized the taste right away and realized Nanlai Restaurant was back in business!”

Speaking of yam peaches, Nan Tu’s eyes reddened slightly. Every time her birthday approached when she was a child, it wasn’t just her who looked forward to it. On her birthday, she was the most notable kid in the area. Everyone who recognized her would wish her a happy birthday as she walked along the streets near the restaurant.

It’s easy to imagine that her grandfather’s passing had been like a massive structure collapsing, leaving Nanlai Restaurant as a memory. Reopening it was simply her way of trying to reclaim the feeling of having a home again.

She sniffled, explaining, “Although I’ve been working these past few years, I couldn’t let go of Nanlai Restaurant. We’ve only been open for a month or two, and I’m just glad people are coming to support us. My cooking may not be great; I’m afraid you’ll all laugh at it.”

“We could never doubt your skills. Back then…” Aunt Ma hadn’t finished her sentence when a sharp voice cut through from outside, “Where’s the owner? Come out right now!”

Nan Tu looked up and saw a woman with her hands on her hips, glaring at the restaurant entrance. Xin Huan stood beside her, looking anxious.

Xin Huan had just seen the woman and was about to remind Nan Tu that this was the same person who always spied on the restaurant from across the street. But since Nan Tu was talking to the old neighbors, she couldn’t get a word in.

However, this time, the woman had marched straight into the restaurant!

“I’m the owner, what’s the matter?” Nan Tu walked over, thinking the woman looked somewhat familiar.

“You’re the owner?” The woman paused for a moment, squinting her drooping triangular eyes. After a brief moment of gathering her strength, she unleashed a barrage of complaints, “My grandson ate here yesterday, and after, he had stomach pains all night! It must be your food, you’re selling rotten vegetables! How could you sell such expensive food with such bad ingredients? How heartless are you? My poor grandson suffered all night, his face was pale this morning, and he couldn’t even walk properly!”

Nan Tu was about to respond, but Aunt Ma quickly stepped forward. “Sun Yinfeng, I saw your grandson just fine when I came in, he was even competing with the other kids to climb trees!”

Sun Yinfeng was taken aback when she realized someone knew her, and she froze. “I’m talking about what happened last night! It’s already noon now, of course, it’s not as bad, but the fact that my grandson ate bad food last night should not be ignored!”

“Oh,” Aunt Ma said indifferently, “So what did your grandson eat?”

Flustered by seeing a familiar face, Sun Yinfeng forgot most of what she had planned to say. Her eyes darted around, and she pointed to a pot of food on a nearby table. “It was this. I can’t remember the name, but it had seafood in it. Seafood that’s not fresh could kill someone! How can you run a restaurant like this? My poor grandson…”

She suddenly began wailing, and tried to fall to the ground. Xin Huan acted quickly and caught her. Sun Yinfeng hadn’t expected that this young woman could hold her back. After a few attempts, she realized she couldn’t escape and muttered angrily to herself, “This little girl is really strong! She’s destined to spend her life washing dishes and cleaning!”

The other customers in the restaurant, witnessing this scene, put their chopsticks down, not daring to eat until Nan Tu provided an explanation.

“Our ingredients are absolutely fresh, especially the seafood. It’s guaranteed to be purchased on the same day. Aunt, are you sure your grandson ate this ‘One Pot Fresh’ yesterday?” Nan Tu said calmly.

“Of course!”

Aunt Ma, who was standing by, felt something was fishy.

By coincidence, she knew Sun Yinfeng, and even more coincidentally, she didn’t trust what Sun Yinfeng said. They lived in the same building, and this person had gained a notorious reputation in their neighborhood. She often dug through trash bins for empty bottles and pieces of paper, turning the bins upside down and leaving the mess behind, which led to frequent arguments with the cleaners. Half the neighborhood could hear it all.

At first, Aunt Ma felt sympathetic, thinking Sun Yinfeng was so frugal because her family was struggling, so she took her home to get some discarded cardboard boxes. To her surprise, Sun Yinfeng took them and then complained: “Is this all? I had to make a trip for this?”

This really annoyed Aunt Ma.

On one hand, there was Sun Yinfeng, who didn’t get along with her, and on the other hand, there was Nan Tu, who she had watched grow up. Naturally, she instinctively sided with Nan Tu.

Over the years, the few younger ones she could remember their birthdays were: her little granddaughter, two grandsons, and Nan Tu.

Wasn’t this like her own children?

So, while Nan Tu was speaking, she quietly slipped out from the side.

“If our food caused any health issues, I will take full responsibility for the medical check-ups and recovery costs, and I will compensate according to regulations. But there’s a problem, Aunt. Our menu often changes, and ‘One Pot Fresh’ is a new dish introduced today. How did your grandson eat it yesterday?”

Sun Yinfeng was stunned.

She quickly tried to cover up, “Who remembers all these strange names you come up with, ‘One Pot Fresh’ and ‘Two Pot Fresh’? Anyway, they ate here yesterday, and after eating, he got sick!”

She secretly thought that if she could roll around on the ground and stomp her feet, it would have more effect. Standing up straight like this made her seem much weaker, and her pressure on the other side was reduced.

At this thought, Sun Yinfeng turned and glared at Xin Huan, who was holding her back.

Xin Huan, without mercy, glared back and silently mouthed, “You’re talking nonsense!”

“You little girl…” she was about to reach out to pinch Xin Huan, when Aunt Ma’s voice came.

“Your grandma’s inside, she’s going to buy you a big meal, hurry up, hurry up!” She said, leading Sun Yinfeng’s grandson, Tao Tao, in.

When Sun Yinfeng heard this, she immediately got anxious and was about to give Tao Tao a signal, but Grandpa Qiao quickly stepped forward, blocking between them, preventing Sun Yinfeng from approaching.

Aunt Ma asked, “Tao Tao, do you remember what you ate last night?”

Tao Tao thought for a moment, “It wasn’t good food, it was noodles, not tasty.”

“Didn’t you eat seafood? Who made that noodles? Your grandma said your stomach hurt, didn’t let you climb trees, and told you to go home and lie down.”

“Grandma made it. The beans in the noodles were sour, I didn’t eat them, grandma ate them, then she got a stomach ache. I’m not hurt, I don’t need to go home and lie down.”

Sun Yinfeng’s face turned red and white.

The truth was revealed, and the elderly neighbors took turns saying, “Isn’t this a scam? They didn’t even eat here, but she says the child ate and got sick. Shouldn’t this be reported to the police?”

“It’s clearly extortion. Not only could she be sentenced, but there’s also a fine!”

“Running a restaurant is tough. She sees the young owner and thinks of doing something shady. At her age, she’s so shameless!”

A group of elderly men and women stood in front of Nan Tu, chattering, which scared Sun Yinfeng so much that she turned and ran with her grandson. This made Nan Tu, the actual party involved, feel like a little chick protected under the wings of a mother hen, not affected by any storm.

*

Later, after Sun Yinfeng fled in a hurry, the customers could finally eat in peace. Nan Tu sent a plate of cold dishes to every table to calm the nerves. This move was too clumsy and was easily exposed. Seeing that no one believed her, Nanlai Restaurant wasn’t impacted negatively.

Nan Tu felt she should not know Sun Yinfeng, so she said to the people who helped earlier, “I don’t know how I offended her, but if she wants to extort money, I have surveillance footage as evidence. They didn’t even eat here yesterday, no matter where she goes, she won’t succeed.”

The neighbors also speculated, “Someone who would do this might not be thinking clearly. She didn’t even realize there were cameras. If you’d been eager to settle, she might have just taken the money and left.”

“Could it be that another restaurant owner nearby hired her to cause trouble? Nan Tu, you’re not the type to offend anyone, but since you’re running a restaurant, there’s definitely someone who dislikes you.”

There was a possibility of that, and Nan Tu looked worried.

Aunt Ma didn’t want Nan Tu to be on edge all the time. She slammed the table and stood up, “Don’t worry, I’ll go find Sun Yinfeng and ask her directly. She’s not cut out for secretive work!”

After a while, Aunt Ma returned, her face showing anger, “She’s an ungrateful wolf!”

It turned out that when Nan Tu first opened her restaurant, the customer flow was slow, and there was leftover food she didn’t want to waste. She once saw Sun Yinfeng rummaging through the nearby trash bins, thinking she was struggling, so she gave her some food.

Recently, since Nanlai Restaurant’s business had improved, there was no need to give away food. Sun Yinfeng had been waiting for free vegetables but didn’t get any. Seeing the bustling restaurant, she immediately understood what was going on. Feeling resentful, she decided to cause trouble to hurt the restaurant’s business, hoping to get free vegetables again.

The neighbors were furious, “What kind of person is this? Not thinking clearly!” “A kindness for a grain of rice, a hatred for a bowl of rice!” “No, this is clearly the story of Mr. Dong Guo and the Wolf!”