I am a Chef in the Modern Era

Chapter 75: Jujube Milk

Translated by Yan of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

People came one after another, and people left one after another. After the last table was sent away, it was already ten at night. Nobody had expected the business to go so well. Even though this was partly due to the help of the gossip microblog, in the end they were still eventually all conquered by delicious food.

Although Lin ShuYi, who ran around the entire day, was tired, ultimately he was still quite happy because the business was booming. He was just a little bit worried about Old Man Yang.

After all, he was old, and he was rubbing his back by the time it was noon, a little bit unable to endure. Finally, he just sat with Grandfather Shen, chatting and taking money.

Xiao Wan’s grandma’s work was also similar. It didn’t seem heavy, but she had to keep bending over, cleaning dishes. As time wore on, her waist started to give out a bit. Tang Shuang temporarily called over two middle-aged women to come help, which finally freed Xiao Wan’s grandma.

And originally, he was planning to invite everyone over to eat at night, but they were so busy that he didn’t find the time to do so. But nobody actually minded that much. They said that the business was more important, and the meal could be eaten at any time.

After being busy all the way until ten at night, Lin ShuYi didn’t have time to think about other things for a while either. He quickly cleaned up before settling Grandfather Shen and the others’ living arrangements. Lin ShuYi felt completely embarrassed that they came and ended up helping out the entire day.

After closing up shop, they headed to Old Man Yang’s house together. The moment Mama Shen entered, she called Papa Shen over into the room, saying that she had something to tell him. When Papa Shen entered, he found that Mama Shen had thrown herself onto the bed. She pointed at her waist and started to moan, “Hurry up, help massage my waist for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve worked like this, my waist is so sore that it feels like it’s gonna snap.”

Papa Shen felt dearly distressed, especially after Mama Shen sucked in a breath of cold air as soon as his hand touched her lower back. Papa Shen felt extremely sorry for her. “Why didn’t you say so sooner? Look how much it hurts.”

Mama Shen grimaced in pain under Papa Shen’s massage, while she said, “Aren’t we helping out our daughter-in-law? Today was so busy, how could Xiao Yi take care of it all by himself? He didn’t actually tell me to do all that much, it’s just that it’s been so long since I’ve worked that I became like this after standing for an entire day.” After her left side felt better, she pointed to the right. “And also, now I can also feel worried for our daughter-in-law. If he’s still this busy in the future, I’ll be so distressed.”

Papa Shen felt like her reasoning was sound. Lin ShuYi had also bustled around the entire day, and he was the chef at that, so he was definitely extremely tired as well. But in the end, he still felt sorry for his own wife, since didn’t Lin ShuYi also have Shen Fu?

After kneading for a bit longer, Papa Shen got up and said, “Wait a moment, I’ll go find a towel and warm it up as a heat compress.”

Mama Shen waved her hand. “Go, go.” When Papa Shen reached the doorway, Mama Shen spoke again. “Hey, wait a second, don’t tell Xiao Yi my waist hurts. I can tell that Xiao Yi already feels very apologetic today.”

Even though Papa Shen understood completely, he still couldn’t help but get jealous. “I got it, only you love our daughter-in-law dearly.”

Mama Shen mumbled to herself with conviction, “Of course, if I don’t love my daughter-in-law dearly, then who will I love.”

Husband, you still have a husband!! Papa Shen roared inside his mind, expressionlessly, before he went out to pour water and find a towel.

Shen Fu and Lin ShuYi hadn’t left yet.

Lin ShuYi helped massage Old Man Yang’s waist. Shen Fu stood to the side, and when he saw his dad come out, he asked, “Where’s Mom?”

Papa Shen remembered Mama Shen’s orders and said, “She’s asleep, I’m looking for a towel to wipe her face with.”

Lin ShuYi glanced at Shen Fu. Old Man Yang stood up. “I’ll find a new one for you.”

Papa Shen went to get a towel with Old Man Yang.

Lin ShuYi tugged Shen Fu and headed towards the room Mama Shen was staying in.

Shen Fu quirked his lips, knowing what Lin ShuYi wanted to do.

In reality, Lin ShuYi had discovered that Mama Shen probably wasn’t feeling too good by mid-afternoon, but she also seemed as if she didn’t want to let him find out. She would occasionally rub her waist, and when Lin ShuYi saw, he just pretended like he hadn’t noticed anything. Lin ShuYi felt both moved and worried, but he couldn’t persuade her to leave.

Lin ShuYi knew that she had probably asked Papa Shen to massage her back after she tugged him into their room the moment they got back. Mama Shen definitely also told Papa Shen not to say that she was feeling unwell after he came out. Thinking of this, Lin ShuYi’s heart was simply about to melt because of this “mother-in-law.”

Lin ShuYi knocked gently against the door after walking over to the room.

There was some rustling from inside before Mama Shen spoke. “Come in.”

Clearly, she wasn’t asleep.

When she saw that it was Shen Fu and Lin ShuYi, Mama Shen smiled immediately. “It’s already so late, why aren’t you two going to sleep yet?”

At such a critical moment, Lin ShuYi floundered and didn’t know what to say. Luckily, Shen Fu understood and spoke for him. “It’s been a long time since you’ve worked. Your waist must hurt after today, right?”

Mama Shen’s eyes widened. “How did you two know?!” She thought that she had hidden it quite well. When she saw Lin ShuYi looked at her with eyes that were clearly damp, she stood up uneasily. “I’m actually fine, I just stood too long…”

Lin ShuYi rushed forward and hugged Mama Shen, who stiffened in shock.

After a long pause, she reached out and patted his head. “Look at you, child…”

“Auntie, when I finish getting these rooms ready, you guys should come and live here with us.”

Mama Shen’s eyes lit up. “Okay, okay.”

For a split second, Lin ShuYi thought about just how good his luck had to be for him to meet such a good family.

Mama Shen patted him and said, “But before that, do you want to first get your wedding up and running?”

Lin ShuYi: … “Auntie, there’s no rush for that.”

Mama Shen: “There is ah, so that way you can call me Mom.”

Lin ShuYi: …

Shen Fu: … Mom, you really don’t need to help out with the proposal.

The first thing Papa Shen saw when he walked in was his daughter-in-law hugging his wife. He immediately grew jealous. He made a show of coughing a few times. “Um… you woke up?”

Mama Shen, who hadn’t slept at all, was completely confused.

“That’s good. I got some water and a towel for you, you can wipe your face with it.”

Mama Shen, who was just preparing to take a share, didn’t realize at all that Papa Shen was helping her hide the truth from the other two, because Lin ShuYi and Shen Fu already knew. So Mama Shen completely forgot about how she had just asked him not to tell Lin ShuYi, and since she couldn’t understand Papa Shen, she said, “I’m about to go take a shower, why wipe my face?”

Papa Shen’s eyebrows leaped, and he unobtrusively pointed at his own waist, indicating to Mama Shen: didn’t you not want them to know? Why aren’t you playing along at all.

When Papa Shen pointed, Mama Shen finally remembered what the water was for, and she suddenly saw the light. “Oh, the hot compress. Why didn’t you just say so sooner? Xiao Yi, come and help massage me for a while before putting it on.”

Papa Shen: …

Why did he even try! Hah? Why in the world did he try!?

Lin ShuYi obediently went and helped massage Mama Shen’s waist.

Unlike Papa Shen’s technique, which only used force but had no skill, Lin ShuYi had specially studied how to massage acupuncture points because he had often helped massage his great teacher back then in order to improve blood flow and relax the muscles. So, it was obvious when an expert was at work.

Even though Papa Shen’s massage was still fairly comfortable, the most important point was that it also hurt a lot. Lin ShuYi’s felt completely different after just a short while. He didn’t seem to use a lot of strength, but the places that he massaged all relaxed inexplicably. Not only did it not hurt, her waist that had been overexerted seemed to recover its original state after being massaged, and it stopped aching.

By the time Lin ShuYi finished, Mama Shen felt so good that she fell asleep.

Papa Shen stood to the side, overpoweringly jealous. He secretly decided that after he went back, he would find an old healer and properly learn how to massage!

“I pressed all of Auntie’s acupuncture points on her back. If you help put a hot compress on her back for another fifteen minutes, she should be fine when she gets up tomorrow.”

Papa Shen nodded.

“Dad, then we’re heading back first.” Shen Fu said.

They bid farewell to Old Man Yang and Grandfather Shen before heading home.

As soon as they entered, Shen Fu suddenly bent down and scooped up Lin ShuYi. Lin ShuYi reflexively looped an arm around his neck, before he asked, “What are you doing?”

“I wanted to do this on the way here.” But with Lin ShuYi’s personality, he definitely wouldn’t have agreed, so Shen Fu could only wait until they got home.

“Today, you were the one who was actually the busiest and did the most. Unfortunately, I couldn’t help you, and you were busy up until now. If you didn’t sincerely like it, I would just rather you close the shop and forget it.” Shen Fu placed Lin ShuYi down on the couch, crouching down after and taking off Lin ShuYi’s shoes and socks.

Lin ShuYi felt a bit stupefied. “What are you trying to do?”

Shen Fu got a basin and filled it with water before putting it in front of Lin ShuYi. “Foot bath.”

Ever since they entered, Shen Fu had been frowning, clearly looking very worried. Clearly it wasn’t very good to show such an expression outside, but in reality he was almost worried to death. Before, when they were helping out with Old Man Yang’s shop, Lin ShuYi had also been busy, but he could always take a rest. In addition, there were much less people before, and the dishes were a lot simpler, unlike today when they were busy from morning till night, without even time to rest or eat.

Even though Shen Fu was very distressed, Lin ShuYi wanted to laugh for some reason. He allowed Shen Fu to press his feet into the basin, before Shen Fu even started to lightly massage them for him without any particular technique.

“I have to earn money and repay you, because I still owe you so much money.”

Lin ShuYi was still in the mood to banter, but Shen Fu didn’t find it amusing at all. “Do we have to divide what’s mine and what’s yours so clearly?”

Lin ShuYi nodded cautiously. “En, we have to.”

Shen Fu’s brows crinkled.

“Only if we divide it clearly can I prove that I’m not with you because of your money.”

Shen Fu was startled before the corners of his mouth slowly lifted. “I know that.”

“Other people don’t.” Lin ShuYi’s expression was grave. Even if there were a hundred people and eighty of them were in support, there would still be twenty people gossiping around. And the people gossiping were doing so simply because Lin ShuYi’s background was seen as completely undeserving of Shen Fu’s. In an era where people no longer revered tales like Cinderella and her prince, Lin ShuYi’s story and circumstances could be shortened into social climbing. “I don’t actually care about what others think, but I still want to stand openly and honestly at your side.”

Shen Fu was stunned again, before he finally chuckled lowly and drew Lin ShuYi into his embrace.

How did he think that he liked Lin ShuYi more? Clearly, Lin ShuYi was also trying his best to think about their future. “Alright, after the foot bath, go to sleep early. You still have to earn money to repay me tomorrow.”

“En.” Lin ShuYi nodded before he glanced at the hand that Shen Fu had placed on his shoulders. “Wait a moment.”

“En?”

“Did you wash your hands?”

Shen Fu: …

After the foot bath, Shen Fu wanted to carry Lin ShuYi into the room again, but he was stopped by Lin ShuYi. This had to be an addiction to carrying him. Afterwards, Shen Fu went to do something in the kitchen. He seemed to be stirring something in a cup, and Lin ShuYi could also hear the sound of a blender.

Lin ShuYi flipped over, curious as to what Shen Fu was doing in the kitchen. After a long while, Shen Fu came in, carrying a cup of something unknown.

“Jujube milk. Drink up, it’ll help you sleep.”

Lin ShuYi was busy the entire day, so his appetite was a little worse for the wear. A cup of sweet jujube milk was just what he wanted, and he gulped it down immediately before falling back on the bed and falling asleep quickly.

As Shen Fu watched Lin ShuYi sleep soundly, his heart ached. Where was that little account book that Lin ShuYi tracked his money with? Could he just go and add a few more strokes of money to it!?