With the arrival of Zhou Zi, more and more people came to the farm stay. The front desk was almost overwhelmed, and it was only after Shen Yao sent two more people from the service staff to help that they managed to cope.
The cleaning aunts from the customer service department also spontaneously went down to help guests with their luggage and guide them to their rooms.
Suddenly, the farm stay became lively.
Shen Yao went to help in the restaurant early in the morning. Although there were many ingredients in the backyard, each one still needed to be prepared.
Because Shen Yao was worried that the kitchen would be too busy, she decided to make the dishes in a fast-food style. All the dishes would be prepared, then placed on racks to keep warm. Shen Yao added spiritual spring water to the cooking water, so she wasn't worried about freshness.
These dishes were provided for free by the farm stay. Of course, they also accepted à la carte orders, but there would be an additional charge, and they would decide what dishes to make.
It was still morning, and it wasn't time for lunch yet, so everyone was preparing ingredients.
Today, there were a total of 10 dishes and two soups to choose from. Guests could eat as much as they wanted, but they had to finish it and not waste it.
The dishes today were southern specialties: lotus root stuffed with meat, bitter melon stuffed with meat, steamed pork belly with taro, white-cut chicken, white-cut duck, char siu, blanched shrimp, pickled mustard greens fish, garlic stir-fried choy sum, stir-fried flowering cabbage, and for soup, there was dendrobium old duck soup and a beef consommé.
Among these, the most expensive dishes were probably the two vegetable dishes, as they were all grown with spiritual spring water.
The chickens and ducks were also special. Although they hadn't been raised for a long time, they had drunk spiritual spring water, making them different from ordinary chickens and ducks!
Processing so many dishes was very time-consuming, especially since the chickens and ducks were slaughtered fresh.
It was the front desk that ran over to find Shen Yao, saying they were too busy, which was when she left the restaurant.
As soon as Shen Yao appeared, the previously noisy front desk immediately quieted down, and then erupted into even more intense discussions.
"Oh my god! She's even prettier in person than in the live stream!" This was from Shen Yao's fans.
"This young lady is so beautiful, is she the owner's child?" Bystanders.
"Thanks to Zhou Zi, otherwise I wouldn't have seen such a beautiful young lady. She's simply the goddess in my heart!" Zhou Zi's fans.
...
The discussions were endless. Shen Yao asked them to queue up, and those who couldn't wait could go and enjoy the scenery nearby. They could leave their luggage aside for now.
Shen Yao's role became evident at this point. Many people followed Shen Yao's advice, eagerly put down their luggage, and started exploring. Some also walked up to Shen Yao to talk to her.
The ones who approached Shen Yao were three young girls and two boys, all young, a bit younger than her, and looking shy.
"Da da, hello." A short-haired girl greeted Shen Yao.
"Hello to you too? Let me formally introduce myself, my name is Shen Yao. What are your names?" Shen Yao looked at the girl and felt very fond of her.
"Da da, my name is Xu Yue. These are my friends, Song Meizi, Zhang Tianqi, Zhang Yufei, and Tan Song." Xu Yue introduced them to Shen Yao.
"You don't have to call me Da da. I love you all very much. You can call me Sister Shen or Sister Yao." Shen Yao said.
"Sister Yao."
After chatting, Shen Yao learned that they were on a graduation trip. The college entrance examination had ended, so the friends decided to travel.
Coincidentally, Shen Yao's farm stay had announced its opening, so they booked their stay and flew there to play.
They had been following Shen Yao since she opened her account and were very curious about all the videos she posted.
"Sister Yao, um, can we go to the places you showed in your videos? We'll just look, we won't cause any trouble," Song Meizi said, nervously twisting the corner of her clothes.
"Of course, I'll take you there later." Shen Yao readily agreed.
She could feel the affection these children had for her, and Shen Yao truly appreciated this kindness from strangers.
"Really? Will it be too much trouble for you?" Zhang Tianqi asked Shen Yao excitedly.
"It's okay, there's nothing much I can help with at the farm stay." Shen Yao waved her hand dismissively. She had to admit, she was the most idle in the family; even Mo Xuan had things to do.
"That's great!"
After chatting with Shen Yao for a few more minutes, Xu Yue and the others returned to their rooms. It was the first day of opening, and Da da must be very busy.
Seeing that most of the guests had checked in, Shen Yao left the front desk and went to help in the restaurant.
It was time to prepare lunch, and she needed to see what else needed to be done.
When she got to the restaurant, all the ingredients were already prepared, waiting for the mealtime to start cooking.
Shen Yao was from the south and usually ate rice as her staple food, so today's staple was rice.
When the mealtime arrived, Shen Huaimin and the other chefs began preparing the dishes.
The first to be made were the white-cut chicken and white-cut duck. The chicken and duck were first scalded in boiling water, then put into the pot to cook. The cooking time didn't need to be too long, as white-cut chicken and duck with a hint of blood was the most authentic.
However, to ensure that everyone could enjoy it, they cooked it a bit longer to ensure it was perfectly cooked when chopped.
The soup used for cooking the chicken and duck was not wasted. After removing the oil, the remaining soup was similar to a broth and was perfect for cooking vegetables.
Lotus root stuffed with meat and bitter melon stuffed with meat were more troublesome to make. For the lotus root, tender lotus root needed to be selected to make the stuffed lotus root soft and easy to eat.
The lotus root slices were cut, with the first cut not going all the way through, and the second cut completing the separation. Then, meat was stuffed into the unseparated lotus root, and it could be boiled or steamed.
For the bitter melon stuffed with meat, the bitter melon was cut into sections, and the seeds and white pith inside were removed. Soaking it in salt water could remove most of the bitterness. Then, it was stuffed with meat, arranged, and steamed. (The author dislikes bitter melon, but could accept it when prepared this way.)
The steamed pork belly with taro was prepared in advance, so it only needed to be taken out and steamed.
Several dishes needed to be steamed, so after preparation, they were all put into the steamer together.
When all the dishes were almost done, the vegetables were stir-fried. The vegetables were then flavored with the chicken broth, making them incredibly delicious.
While the restaurant was bustling with activity, the guests at the farm stay were in agony.
The aroma wafted over, causing many who hadn't even had breakfast to salivate. Among them was Zhou Zi.
Zhou Zi was very sensitive to the smell of food. When the first dish came out, he had already gone to the restaurant and was waiting at his seat.
His live stream had not stopped, and he had taken his viewers on a virtual tour of the entire farm stay, even visiting the lotus pond in the backyard.
"Zhou Zi, why are you at the restaurant so early? Isn't lunch supposed to be at 1 PM?"
"Looking at Zhou Zi like this, I'm inexplicably excited!"
"The last time Zhou Zi was this excited was at a Sichuan hot pot restaurant, where he said he was overwhelmed by the aroma!"
"So, I have a bold guess: the food at the farm stay is very good, at least to Zhou Zi's liking!"
...