Chapter 162 Guangyuan Tower

There are two large buildings in Shenzhen: Fuyun Building and Guangyuan Building.

Fuyunlou is the place where the old man ordered food when He Caiwei and her mother came to Pengcheng. In the past, a banquet with ten dishes would cost twelve silver dollars, and four or five of the ten dishes were seafood.

Moreover, because it was imperial cuisine, the food was quite exquisite and delicious. However, after the company merged, the head chef resigned, and the food prepared by the current head chef is not as delicious. Therefore, Fuyunlou's business is not as good as before.

Guangyuanlou was originally run by a chef. After the company merged with it, the chef remained, so Guangyuanlou is now doing much better business than Fuyunlou.

However, it is quite expensive. The price of a typical dish is twice that of a regular state-run restaurant. Just like before, it is only affordable for relatively wealthy families.

When factory leaders in Shenzhen want to host a dinner party, they usually choose between Fuyunlou and Guangyuanlou. After all, these two restaurants were so famous that hosting guests there was a real status symbol.

"Mom, let's go, let's go. My brother is waiting for me at the door. Originally, the minister was going to treat us, but then my brother came over and said he would treat us. So, we can't be the ones who get invited later than them, right?" He Caiwei changed her clothes and pulled her mother out.

When the mother and daughter went outside, Lu Qingfeng was already waiting there.

"Brother, let's go."

“Auntie, we’re going out to eat tonight. Why don’t you and Grandpa join us…” Lu Qingfeng thought they could set up another table; it wouldn’t make any difference.

"We won't go. The food is already prepared, and it would be a waste not to eat it. We can go together next time you have a holiday." The food at He Yuping's house is already prepared, and the younger generation is having a gathering. It would be uncomfortable for the elders to go, so let's just forget about it.

"Then, Auntie, we're leaving."

"Okay, take it easy..."

When Lu Qingfeng and his group arrived, none of Minister Xu and the others had come over yet.

Lu Qingfeng had a private room arranged for him, took the menu and ordered a few of Guangyuanlou's more famous dishes. He would order the rest when they arrived.

"Brother, you sit here. I'll go out and see if Minister Xu and the others have arrived yet..." He Caiwei planned to go outside and wait for Minister Xu and the others.

"Okay, you wait here..." Lu Qingfeng wouldn't let the little girl wait outside. This place was full of all sorts of people, and his little girl was too beautiful; her looks might be at risk at this time.

"No need to go, no need to go, we're here. Sorry, sorry to have troubled the factory director to wait for us." Just as the two of them were thinking of going outside to wait for someone, Minister Xu and his group arrived.

These people lived relatively close to each other, and they came in together at the entrance of Guangyuan Tower.

"Let's take a look at the menu first and see what everyone would like to eat. I ordered four dishes, which are the signature dishes of Guangyuanlou. Today they have beef brisket noodles, so everyone ordered one serving of beef brisket noodles, one roast goose, one bamboo fungus and dried scallop soup, two servings of water spinach, and one oyster omelet. I don't know what else you would like to eat? Please take a look at the menu and order a few more dishes..."

Minister Xu was stunned by the factory manager's extravagant spending; a serving of beef brisket noodles was quite large, and they couldn't possibly finish all these dishes.

Minister Xu quickly called the waiter over and asked him to change the beef brisket noodles. This beef brisket noodles is Guangyuanlou's signature dish. In the past, a serving of beef brisket noodles was a large bowl, but the bowls used to hold the noodles have been getting smaller and smaller. Now, a serving of beef brisket noodles is a clay pot, which is about the amount of three bowls.

One serving per person is far too much for them to finish. There's still so much food on the table; even if each of them had two stomachs, they still couldn't finish it all.

"Factory Director, those beef brisket noodles are served in clay pots, each pot containing at least three large bowls. Ordering one pot per person along with so many other dishes is simply unacceptable. Please return them immediately. We only need two pots. How about this: return those beef brisket noodles, and then stir-fry some shredded potatoes and a cabbage. That should be fine." Minister Xu had eaten with them before and knew the tastes of these people in the finance department.

Lu Qingfeng initially thought the beef brisket noodles were served in individual bowls, but it turned out to be like this. The little girl next to him just covered her mouth and chuckled without reminding him, seemingly wanting to see him make a fool of himself.

The dishes were served quickly, and the meal was filled with laughter and conversation. Everyone's preconceived notions about the factory manager were overturned; he was actually a shy young man who even got embarrassed when the topic of marriage came up.

Then, somehow the conversation drifted to the issue of age. It was only when this topic came up that Lu Qingfeng realized that everyone here was referring to age in the traditional Chinese way (or lunar age).

However, marriage is based on actual age, meaning that if you are 18 years old, you have to wait until you are 19, and if you are 20 years old, you would be 21 here.

Others might change their age, but his daughter definitely wouldn't change her age for marriage, so he can only wait another year.

Because Minister Xu was not in good health, they did not drink alcohol. After the meal, everyone dispersed. They came out a little late, and there were no more buses running. So the two of them decided to take a walk. On their way back, they strolled slowly.

Lu Qingfeng originally wanted to hold the little girl's hand, but when he thought about the way people were looking at him, he pulled his hand back.

"Brother, what's wrong with you today? You seem a bit strange..." He Caiwei looked at her brother as he came out of Guangyuan Tower, looking somewhat sullen and puzzled.

"No, the food at Guangyuanlou is quite good. We can bring Grandpa and the others over for a meal tomorrow since it's a holiday. Especially the beef brisket noodles; the beef brisket is stewed to perfection, and Grandpa can eat it too." Lu Qingfeng had just thought of this while eating the beef brisket noodles. The beef brisket was tender enough, and since Grandpa is old and doesn't have many teeth left, he needs to eat something that's very tender so he can chew it.

"Sure, Grandpa used to really like Fu Yun Lou's food. When I was 5 years old, the first meal I had here was a meal at Fu Yun Lou, which Grandpa ordered."

"Later, my grandpa and I went there twice more secretly. My mom always said that we were wasting food, ordering so much food and not being able to finish it, but we always got scolded every time we came back. So my grandpa and I went there secretly. Later, when the company merged, the head chef of Fuyunlou retired. The current head chef's cooking is not good. No, it's not good. It can't satisfy my grandpa's appetite, so we stopped going there."

“I haven’t been back to Kyoto much these past few years, so I haven’t thought about taking Grandpa out to eat. I just got paid today and have a day off tomorrow, so I can take him out to try something. Brother, when you look at the menu tonight, do you see any seafood dishes? Grandpa has been really into seafood since he came here. Back then, about five out of ten dishes on the west side of Fuyunlou were seafood. I didn’t look very closely just now, so I don’t know if Guangyuanlou has any seafood dishes. After all, fewer people go to the sea these days, so there probably aren’t many options.”