sbdcsierra Chapter 11 Mr. Liu, the Truck Driver
Chapter 11 Mr. Liu, the Truck Driver
"Honey, can you stop talking so dramatically?" The woman glared at him reproachfully. "You're scaring the boss again."
The man burst into laughter, in a good mood: "It's my fault!"
Before long, Lu Yuan brought out a large iron platter, piled high with bright red lamb, and its aroma wafted over instantly.
The man was already impatient, rubbing his hands together as he waited.
Finally, after Lu Yuan put the plate down, she couldn't wait to pick up a piece and put it in her mouth.
This time he chewed very slowly, fully appreciating the deliciousness of the lamb.
Just then, a semi-trailer truck loaded with coal drove up to Wang Facai's door next door.
Wang Facai was initially annoyed by Wei Yinghong's pot of fried dough sticks, but when his own shop finally started to get busy, he immediately went to greet her.
The driver, Mr. Liu, was a man from Northeast China who specialized in hauling goods along National Highway 109. He hadn't planned to eat in Luwangtan Village, but a strong aroma kept luring him in, and he inexplicably stopped the car.
At this moment, Wang Facai also came out to greet them, his face beaming with a warm and fawning smile:
"Thank you for your hard work, driver. Welcome to our restaurant for a meal. I will do my best to provide you with warm and attentive service!"
Wang Facai was very proud of this story, which he had pieced together from several TV dramas.
"Don't be in such a hurry!" Master Liu, with a heavy Northeastern accent, said, "Let me ask you, is that delicious smell wafting down the street from your house?"
"No, really..." Wang Facai didn't understand what he was going to do.
"No way! That's definitely not it!" Chef Liu pointed to the large iron pot at the entrance of Xiao Lu's Farmhouse Restaurant. "That's clearly the smell wafting from their pot!"
"What do you mean?" Wang Facai was both confused and annoyed.
"What I mean is, get out of my way and stop talking nonsense!" Master Liu closed the car door and walked towards the next door.
This time, Wang Facai was completely enraged: "You stop right there!"
"What's wrong?"
"Why did you park your car in front of my house when you went to his house for dinner?"
"Nonsense, there are only parking spaces for cars in front of the gate, how could I possibly park there?" Master Liu looked at Wang Facai as if he were an idiot.
Wang Facai's mind was about to explode. Was there no law in this world?
Is this what you, Lu Yuan, meant by drawing up parking spaces? That's ruthless!
Lu Yuan hadn't really thought that way. He had no idea how big a parking space to mark for large trucks, and just thought that large trucks could park anywhere in the open space.
Following the aroma, Master Liu walked over to the large pot, pointed at the fried dough, and said, "Sister, can I have a dough to try?"
Wei Yinghong responded in the same way Lu Yuan had greeted her that morning: "Okay, brother, why don't you go inside and wait? There's herbal tea and a flush toilet where you can wash your hands."
"That's great!" Master Liu's eyes lit up when he heard that he could wash his hands.
You should know that the most inconvenient thing for truck drivers on the road is water. Although there is a water tank in the truck, they dare not use it freely. Moreover, stagnant water will be very hot in the summer, and it is not as refreshing as the running water under the tap.
They have to find a suitable place to wash their face and hands properly each time.
As soon as he entered the house, Mr. Liu smelled the pungent aroma of stir-fried lamb and found that Manman's family was excitedly showing off the lamb.
This scene left Master Liu completely stunned. He thought to himself, "Wow, is this how rich people eat?"
The family was clearly wealthy and influential; the man wore a well-tailored suit, and the woman wore a dazzling gold bracelet.
For a moment, he was curious to find out what this thing was that could turn a perfectly good family into this state.
So he said to Lu Ying, who was pouring him herbal tea, "Little sister, tell your chef to make me one of these too."
Following the direction Master Liu pointed, Lu Ying saw another table serving spicy stir-fried lamb and immediately asked, "Would you like one jin or two jin?"
"How about a pound to try first?"
"Okay!"
Lu Ying was overjoyed; this was her first order. She immediately ran to the kitchen to boast, "Brother Yuan, the order's here! One pound of stir-fried lamb!"
Lu Yuan had been so focused on cutting up the sheep's neck that he hadn't paid attention to what was happening in the front hall. After hearing Lu Ying's report, he gave her a thumbs up.
"Yingying is amazing!"
He genuinely thought Yingying was very good, because when the first table asked about the portion size, she remembered to ask the customer how many pounds of meat they wanted.
After Mr. Liu went to the toilet and washed his face, Lu Jie brought out a fried dough stick to the table first.
The freshly fried dough sticks, drained of excess oil, are so tempting; just the aroma alone makes my stomach rumble.
Master Liu couldn't resist taking a bite. It was so crispy that he almost cried, yet the inside was incredibly soft and fragrant the more he chewed.
Before long, Lu Jie was asked to bring over a plate of stir-fried lamb.
The intense aroma of fireworks, combined with the boundless fragrance, instantly captivated his sense of smell.
He doesn't actually eat mutton much. Firstly, he doesn't have the habit of eating mutton in Northeast China, and secondly, he was scared by unscrupulous merchants in the north and doesn't dare to try it again.
But today's lamb was truly different; just the smell made him salivate.
Finally, the lamb was served. He picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. At that moment, his taste buds were finally satisfied.
He even felt a sense of pleasure he had never experienced before.
One piece after another, Mr. Liu ate the lamb with the fried dough, feeling that all these years of driving on National Highway 109 had been a waste of his life. Why didn't he discover this shop sooner?
At another table, the man and woman devoured a second plate of 2 jin (1 catties) lamb.
They had eaten at almost every high-end restaurant in the northern region, but none of the dishes had brought them such exquisite deliciousness as this stir-fried lamb.
The man stood up, patted his stomach, and let out a loud burp; he hadn't eaten this much in a long time.
I got carried away with my emotions and acted too impulsively. I only realized after ordering that I couldn't possibly eat it all.
But it would be shameful to waste such delicious food, so he and his wife forced themselves to finish all the lamb.
When the man came to the cashier to pay, Lu Ying immediately quoted the price: "95 yuan in total."
The man took out a blue bill, placed it on the table, and waved his hand, saying, "Keep the change, consider it a tip."
The people at the door were also somewhat surprised when they heard the checkout message.
They thought 25 yuan per dish was expensive enough, but they didn't expect that the other people's table spent almost 100 yuan.
What if we sold noodles?
These three people can only afford to eat 20 yuan worth of food at most; the difference is just too obvious.
"Boss, fry me another pound! This meat goes by so quickly, it'll be gone in no time!"
Master Liu eats very quickly, and he doesn't pay much attention to his table manners. He slurps his noodles with loud, slurping noises.
But he also possesses the enthusiasm inherent in the genes of people from Northeast China, and he can say the opposite of what he means, which is quite effective.
While Lu Yuan continued cooking, Chef Liu dashed out the door. As he ran into Wei Yinghong, he said, "Don't worry, sister, I'm not running away. I'm just going to get something from the car."
A moment later, Mr. Liu got out of the car with a mobile phone, pulled out the antenna, stood at the entrance of Xiao Lu's farmhouse restaurant, and made a call:
"Who is it, Lao Liu? Are you with the rest of the convoy?"
"Together? That's perfect. Tell everyone that from now on, we'll eat at the Luwangtan Village section of Jinling Town on Highway 109."
"There's a small farmhouse restaurant called Xiao Lu at the very end of the village. The food is so authentic, absolutely delicious! I was so hungry I was practically rolling on the floor, it was so incredibly good!"
"By the way, you can park your car in front of Wang Facai's Home-Style Restaurant next door. There are only small parking spaces in front of Xiao Lu's house, and it's not good to block their way!"
It's not even 11 o'clock yet, so even if no one has started eating at Wang Facai's house, they shouldn't be in a hurry.
However, Lu Yuan's family already had two tables of guests, and coupled with the fact that he had just been bullied by the truck driver, he was inexplicably irritable.
What's even more infuriating is that the rude truck driver actually called other trucks to park in front of his house. That's just too much of a bully!