Chapter 260 Seeing the Guest Off
Su Xiaoxiao brought three steaming bowls of rice to them.
"Eat slowly. If you're still hungry, I'll get you some more rice," Su Xiaoxiao whispered.
Li Na picked up a spoon, scooped out a large spoonful of meat and rice, and put it into her mouth.
The chicken was tender and juicy, the shiitake mushrooms were crisp and smooth, and the rich, savory sauce exploded on the tongue. That ultimate satisfaction instantly swept away the chill and hunger of the morning.
"My God..." Li Na's eyes widened. "This tastes amazing."
Wang Jia and Chen Min didn't even have time to talk; they kept their heads down and stuffed spoonful after spoonful into their mouths.
The cold wind howled outside, and the three female college students inside the shop were sweating slightly as they ate. At that moment, the price of 88 yuan felt like an absolute steal.
In less than ten minutes, all three large bowls were emptied.
"I'm stuffed." Wang Jia leaned back in her chair and sighed contentedly. "This is a million times better than the twelve-yuan rice bowl at the school cafeteria."
One o'clock in the afternoon.
All the ingredients in the store were sold out.
After seeing off the last table of guests, Su Xiaoxiao hung the "Closed Today" sign on the door.
The three roommates also helped wipe the tables in the lobby before saying goodbye to Su Xiaoxiao and returning to school satisfied.
Lin Fan took off his white apron, washed his hands, took out a clean rag from under the counter, and wiped the water stains off the counter.
The shop returned to quiet.
I had just washed the rag and hung it on the rack to dry when someone pushed open the half-closed glass door from the outside.
A gaunt figure walked in, accompanied by a gust of early winter wind.
The visitor was an old man in his sixties.
He was wearing a faded dark blue jacket and thick-soled reading glasses perched on his nose.
Her hair was gray and somewhat disheveled, and she was tightly clutching a transparent plastic resealable bag in her hand.
He didn't look like a boss who could casually order dishes costing thousands of dollars; he looked more like an old farmer who had just returned from working in the fields.
Su Xiaoxiao was tidying up the chairs when she saw someone come in. She instinctively pointed to the sign on the door:
"Sir, I'm sorry, our shop closes at noon. Please come back tomorrow if you want to eat there."
The old man ignored Su Xiaoxiao's words.
He pushed up his reading glasses, which had slipped down to the tip of his nose, and scanned the empty hall before finally fixing his gaze on Lin Fan, who was standing behind the bar.
He strode quickly to the bar and placed the transparent sealed bag he was holding on the wooden counter.
"Are you the owner of this shop?" the old man asked, his voice a little hoarse, but his words were very clear.
Lin Fan glanced at the sealed bag on the table.
There was nothing else in the bag except half a leftover shiitake mushroom.
Judging from the cut and texture, it was the Lingshan winter mushroom produced by the system farm that he used when making the braised chicken rice bowl at noon.
"That's me." Lin Fan raised his head, looking calmly at the other person. "What is it?"
The old man took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm some agitated emotions. He took a business card from his jacket pocket and handed it over.
Lin Fan took it and glanced at it.
The title on his business card is quite long: Zhou Yumin, Doctoral Supervisor of the Department of Botany, College of Agriculture, Jiangcheng University, and Chief Scientist of the National Edible Fungus Industry Technology System.
"Boss Lin, I'm not eating." Zhou Yumin pointed to the half-eaten shiitake mushroom in the sealed bag, his eyes filled with fanaticism.
"This noon, one of my doctoral students brought a meal back to the lab from your restaurant. I happened to smell it and took a bite."
Zhou Yumin's speaking speed increased.
"Boss Lin, a layman might just be tasting it, but in my eyes, this stuff is definitely something special."
"The cracked texture of this shiitake mushroom's cap, the density of its fleshy fibers, and the original spore aroma it emits are absolutely not the kind of varieties artificially cultivated in greenhouses on the market today."
He rested his hands on the bar counter, leaning slightly forward.
"This fungus has extremely strict requirements for the soil pH, air humidity, and surrounding symbiotic plants in its growth environment. Our agricultural college has spent tens of millions of yuan in research funding trying to recreate this high-quality ancient wild fungus in the laboratory, but all of them have failed."
"Could you tell me where you source your shiitake mushrooms? What is the soil and ecological environment like in the area where they are sourced?"
The hall was quiet.
Su Xiaoxiao stood to the side with a rag, listening in a daze. She only knew that the boss's ingredients were good, but she never expected that it would attract a national-level scientist to his doorstep.
Lin Fan stood still, his expression unchanged.
In fact, he had anticipated this day would come sooner or later, as the store's business became increasingly booming and the high-end ingredients provided by the system were exposed to diners in large quantities.
Business owners prioritize taste and health; at most, they may think that something is expensive or of good quality.
However, once it is spotted by truly knowledgeable academic giants or food testing experts, this perfect ingredient that transcends the common sense of modern agricultural cultivation will inevitably arouse professional suspicion and investigation.
The existence of the system is his biggest trump card, and he cannot afford to make any mistakes.
"Professor Zhou," Lin Fan said calmly, casually placing the business card on the corner of the table, "this is just an ordinary lunch; you're probably overthinking it."
"It's impossible to overthink it!" Zhou Yumin immediately retorted, his tone resolute.
"I've spent my whole life working with mushrooms in the mud; my eyes and my tongue would never mistake them!"
"This is definitely a mutated wild species that can only grow in pristine, deep forests. Mr. Lin, this is of immense value to our agricultural research. If you are willing to provide information on its origin, we can apply for special funding..."
"Professor Zhou, there are rules in the catering industry." Lin Fan interrupted him, his voice not loud, but carrying a cold and unapproachable tone.
He looked into Zhou Yumin's eyes and offered a flawless business excuse.
"Every single key ingredient in this shop is an exclusive source that I bought out at great expense. The source is in a privately contracted forest in a remote mountainous area. This is a core trade secret of my shop."
Lin Fan pushed the sealed bag back to Zhou Yumin.
"You do scientific research, I do business. If I tell you the origin and soil environment, my exclusive supply channel will be exposed tomorrow. That would be shooting myself in the foot."
Zhou Yumin was stunned.
He spent his entire life studying at the university, and was used to everyone sharing their knowledge and expertise.
At this moment, Lin Fan used the cold words "trade secret" to shut her out, and for a moment she didn't know how to respond.
"Boss Lin, I promise I will not leak any trade secrets. We're just going to collect a few soil samples..."
"Show him out." Lin Fan didn't give him a chance to argue further. He turned to Su Xiaoxiao and gave her a brief instruction before turning and walking back to the kitchen.