Chapter 384: Only 1 Umbrella, We Might Have to Squeeze a Little

By the time he returned to the restaurant, it was already past 11:00 AM.

Many of the customers who had come for lunch were already there, playing games in the game area or just chatting and shooting the breeze.

When they saw Li You return with a tree on his motorcycle, they all swarmed around him immediately.

They examined the tree closely, trying to figure out what kind it was.

After staring for a long time, someone who couldn’t identify it asked, “Boss, what kind of tree is this? Is it a fruit tree?”

But someone else recognized it. They answered for Li You, “It’s a Japanese raisin tree. It’s flowering right now. This is what the flowers look like.”

So it was a Japanese raisin tree.

It dawned on those who hadn’t recognized it. They all knew about Japanese raisins and were familiar with them.

If the tree had already borne fruit, they would have recognized it at a glance.

But as it was, they couldn’t tell.

This was perfectly normal.

Japanese raisins are great! They’re very sweet and have a nice texture.

Most of the customers had eaten Japanese raisins before, so they started excitedly chatting about them.

And since Japanese raisins are a type of wild fruit, the tree would be planted in the wild fruit orchard.

The customers all knew this.

“Boss, when are you going to plant it? Right now?” another customer asked.

Li You said, “Let’s not do it now. It would delay everyone’s lunch. I’ll plant it this afternoon when things aren’t as busy.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, Boss! It’s still early. Lunch can wait. Why don’t we plant it now? We’ll help you,” the customers all said.

They were all very interested in taking part in planting the tree. As for lunch… that could wait.

Li You was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected his customers to be so interested in planting a tree.

Seeing how enthusiastic everyone was, Li You certainly wasn’t going to spoil their fun. He smiled and said, “Alright then, let’s plant it now. Thanks for the help, everyone.”

The customers were delighted to hear this, laughing and saying the boss was being too polite—it was just planting a tree.

First, they had to untie the tree from the motorcycle.

A few customers worked together and quickly got the tree untied.

“Come on, let’s carry the tree to the wild fruit orchard.”

“Okay, I’ll help.”

Two customers lifted the tree and started walking toward the wild fruit orchard.

“Boss, where’s your hoe?” another customer asked.

“I’ll go get it,” Li You said.

He then went into the restaurant and came out with a hoe.

“Boss, give me the hoe,” said the customer from before.

“Alright, thanks,” Li You said, handing the hoe to the customer.

After taking it, the customer said, “Alright, let’s head to the wild fruit orchard.”

Li You and the other customers all nodded.

The group went to the wild fruit orchard together.

When the two men who had carried the Japanese raisin tree over saw Li You, they asked, “Boss, where should we plant it?”

Li You thought for a moment, then chose a spot. “What do you all think of this spot?” he asked.

The customers all nodded, agreeing that it was a very good spot.

Since that was settled, this was the spot.

The customer with the hoe said, “I’ll dig the hole.”

“This tree is pretty big, so the hole needs to be bigger.”

“After we plant it, we should probably find a few stakes to support it on all sides.”

“Good idea. That’s definitely necessary. What do you think, Boss?”

“…”

As they dug the hole, they discussed the best way to plant the tree.

Finally, through their combined efforts, the Japanese raisin tree was planted.

A few customers even went and found some stakes to prop up the tree on all sides.

Looking at the newly planted Japanese raisin tree, the customers felt a sense of joy and were very happy.

“It needs to be watered, right? We’ll go get some water,” another customer said.

“I don’t think we need to. It looks like it’s going to rain soon,” said another customer, looking at the sky.

There was a large, dark cloud in the sky.

“It really does look like rain. Good thing I came prepared and brought my raincoat.”

“Rain would be good. It hasn’t rained in a long time.”

“…”

Li You also had a feeling it was going to rain. He’d sensed it this morning when he saw the ants moving their nests.

If it really did rain, it would be quite a coincidence.

The saying that ants moving their nests means rain is coming probably formed slowly from coincidences just like this.

Since it was going to rain, they wouldn’t water the tree for now.

If it still hadn’t rained by evening, it wouldn’t be too late to water it then.

Everyone returned to the restaurant.

The customers began to order, and Li You went into the kitchen to get busy.

About half an hour later, the sound of PITTER-PATTER came from outside.

It was really raining.

And it wasn’t just a drizzle.

Li You walked out of the kitchen to the restaurant’s entrance.

The rain outside was heavy. Raindrops hit the ground, splashing and making a SPLISH-SPLASHING sound.

Li You loved the sound of rain. It was nature’s moving symphony.

Many of the customers inside also came to the entrance.

Everyone watched the rain outside.

“It really is raining.”

“We can go looking for mushrooms in the mountains again tomorrow morning.”

“It hasn’t rained this hard in a while.”

“…”

After talking about the rain for a while, they all returned to their seats to continue eating.

Li You also went back to the kitchen and made himself a plate of Mapo Tofu.

It was time for his own lunch.

‘With it raining so hard, there will definitely be fewer customers. I probably won’t be busy for the rest of the day.’

“By the way, Boss, have you decided on the new dish featuring pork intestines yet?” a customer asked.

When the other customers heard this, they all perked up their ears to hear Li You’s answer.

It was something none of them had forgotten about.

Li You nodded. “I have. Nine-Turned Pork Intestines. I wonder if any of you have heard of it?”

“Nine-Turned Pork Intestines?”