Over at the livestream channel, the audience were still wondering how Lin Cheng would cope with these two big dishes:

[How will Lin Cheng deal with this? ]

[Just stir-fry it?]

[You can stir up whatever you want, but what if it fails?]

[If you don’t serve your first customer well, your entire business will be ruined.]

… … 

While everyone was talking, they saw Lin Cheng take out his mobile phone and start searching for ‘how to make salt and pepper pork ribs’ on the Internet.

[WTH? Learn now and do it now? Awesome!]

[Is this okay?]

[Are you sure he can learn it?]

… …

Of course, Lin Cheng couldn’t see the audience’s discussion.

He took his mobile phone and searched for two recipes on the Internet. Among several recipes, he selected the simplest and seemingly more feasible ones. After carefully reading them and remembering the steps and key points, he washed his hands and started working.

Most of the ingredients were already prepared, so he didn’t need to spend much time processing them at this time.

Soon, the sounds of cooking were heard from the kitchen.

After waiting for a while, five dishes plus a soup were completed.

Lin Cheng and Lin Momo served the dishes to the guests together.

Seeing the five dishes and one soup in the livestream, especially the two dishes of ‘salt and pepper pork ribs’ and ‘crispy sweet and sour pork’ cooked by Lin Cheng, many viewers made  sounds of exclamation.

[Holy shit, is this really okay?!]

[It looks okay.]

[Dad Lin is amazing!]

[I feel that if Lin Cheng doesn’t become a star, he can further his studies and become a chef.]

… …

The diners each took a piece of the ‘salt and pepper pork ribs’ to try, and there was a surprised expression on their faces.

“The taste is okay.”

Since Lin Cheng made this dish exactly according to the recipe, the taste is not amazing, but it is not unpalatable either.

As they talked, they took another piece of ‘crispy sweet and sour pork’ and put it in their mouths. It tasted good, too!

No longer disturbing the diners, the father and daughter went to the back of the restaurant.

Lin Momo looked at Lin Cheng with eyes full of surprise and admiration.

Seeing his daughter’s eyes like this, Lin Cheng couldn’t help but smile. Then he pretended to be calm and said, “The basic principles of cooking are the same. It’s not difficult to draw lessons from previous examples.” 

Lin Momo nodded upon hearing this—but still felt that her dad was very powerful.

… …

As the first table of customers ate their meal, a second batch of customers soon came to the restaurant.

Lin Momo did as before, welcoming the guests while leading them directly to the freezer and pantry for them to order.

Different from her previous anxiety, this time, Lin Momo’s expression was obviously much more confident.

“The dishes here are all the freshest. You can order whatever you want. My dad can cook everything!” Lin Momo pointed at the freezer and said to several people. 

In addition to being confident, there was also… a hint of showing off.

Lin Momo’s attitude of asking guests that was more open, casual, and bold caused a burst of laughter in the livestream channel.

[Hahaha, have you noticed that when Momo said this, the expression on Lin Cheng’s face visibly stiffened.]

[Lin Momo’s confidence is a lie.]

[Lin Cheng: Although my daughter’s affirmation makes me happy, this pit is a bit too deep.]

[What if the customer orders a super difficult dish?]

The only good thing was that the ingredients they purchased were all conventional ones, and the guests would not order a full table of Manchu or Han banquets or ‘Buddha will jump over the wall’.

And sure enough, their second table of guests only ordered a few home-cooked stir-fried dishes.

… …

After the second table of guests, several more tables of guests came one after another.

Once lunch hour passed, a total of seven tables of customers had come to Lin Cheng and Lin Momo’s small restaurant.

Since this street was not located in a busy city, there were not many diners here in the evening, and there were only two tables of customers in their store.

Seeing that there were still a lot of ingredients left in the pantry, Lin Cheng simply stir-fried them all and packed them into take-out lunch boxes.

The lunch boxes only cost 10 yuan each, but they were able to sell a lot.

After dinner service, Lin Momo was holding her small account book, with a column for mobile phone for payment on the left and cash on the right—she calculated the accounts with much anticipation.

Before Lin Momo could calculate how much money they made today, Lin Cheng came over and interrupted her.

“Forget about that for now, do it later.”

Seeing Lin Momo’s happy face, Lin Cheng couldn’t bear to tell her the truth: although Lin Cheng has never opened a similar restaurant before—based on his experience in revenue and expenditure—they probably didn’t make any money today. It would already be good if they broke even.

“Go change your clothes, we’re going out,” Lin Cheng said again.

With a day’s experience of operating a restaurant under their belt, the two had made a shopping list—including the seasonings that needed to be replenished, as well as some consumables. Lin Cheng planned to take Lin Momo out to buy what they needed.

“Okay!” When Lin Momo heard that they were about to go out, she became excited and decisively locked their money in the cabinet.

The father and daughter closed the shop and went out together.

…. …

When she walked out the door, Lin Momo pulled Lin Cheng.

“Dad, why don’t we go by car?” Lin Momo asked. She never forgot that her family also has a car now!

Hearing this, Lin Cheng glanced at the van over there and outright rejected Lin Momo’s proposal.

“It’s not far, let’s just walk there,” Lin Cheng said.

If he guessed correctly, this car was a money trap: if the car was just left parked there, it would not incur any additional expenses. But once it was moved, it would most likely incur many expenses, such as repair fees, damage, etc. And the almost certain towing fee once on the road…

… …

With their ‘survival’ experience from the previous two weeks, the father and daughter arrived at the largest wholesale market in City C with ease and confidence.

In the market, the two of them quickly bought all the items on their list.

After buying those things, Lin Momo thought they would go home immediately, but Lin Cheng temporarily stored the purchased things in one of the stores.

“Dad, aren’t we going home?” Lin Momo asked doubtfully.

“Don’t worry, let’s go somewhere first.”

Serve as Contrast Team in a ‘Dad with Baby’ Show translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

---

T/N: ‘Buddha Jumps Over The Wall’ is a soup/stew from Fujian cuisine. The name comes the idea that the dish is so good it would tempt even vegetarian monks to eat it.