Chapter 501

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Protagonist:

Lu Feng

Wang Yong over here still didn't know he had been targeted by someone; he carried a tray and, bringing his father along, found an empty dining table in the bustling hall and sat down.

After Wang Yong sat down, he first placed the Red Braised Pork and Fengwei Shrimp in front of his father, then moved the emerald-green Stir-fried Asparagus Lettuce to a spot where Wang Shuisheng could reach it with an outstretched hand, and said with a smile: "Dad, quickly taste Lu Boss's culinary skill, eat more."

Wang Shuisheng hurriedly reached out to block his son's hand pushing dishes this way; his rough palm covered the back of Wang Yong's hand: "Alright alright, it's not like I can't reach it; you eat too, you eat too."

Watching his son be so attentive, the wrinkles on his face couldn't help but smooth out, and his tone was full of relief.

The last time father and son sat together eating a meal this peacefully was when Wang Yong was a senior in college and came home for winter break to celebrate the New Year.

Now, after not seeing each other for more than half a year, although his son looked quite spirited in what he wore, his cheeks appeared a circle thinner than when he was at home back then.

Wang Shuisheng's heart couldn't help but ache a little; he also knew that while making one's way in the city looked like earning more money, it wasn't an easy thing either.

The fragrant rice on the table was grain by grain distinct, crystal clear; as heat curled upward, it even carried a faint floral fragrance.

Those three dishes also looked extremely exquisite, making one want to taste a bite just by looking.

Wang Shuisheng stared at the small bowl of rice in front of him, then sneakily glanced at the prices on the price list on the wall, his throat moved, and he couldn't help leaning toward his son and asking in a low voice: "Son, just this one small bowl of rice, this place sells it for 30 a bowl?"

His tone was full of a villager's disbelief at this rice price.

You have to understand, back in their hometown, 30 yuan could buy over a dozen catties of rice, enough for their whole family to eat for several days.

Yet here in this restaurant, there was only such a tiny bowl.

"Dad, this rice is different from the kind we usually eat at home."

Wang Yong explained with a smile: "Lu Boss uses tribute rice; in ancient times that was what the Emperor ate, and you simply can't eat rice this good anywhere else."

"What tribute rice or not tribute rice, in the end isn't it still just rice?"

Wang Shuisheng frowned and muttered in a low voice: "Since it's all rice, isn't the taste pretty much the same? Why does this place sell it so expensive? It's a bit of a rip-off."

As he spoke, he also pointed at that plate of Stir-fried Lu Hao: "And this, what kind of grass is this? I see not even any seasoning was put in it; the flavor is this bland, how can it be delicious? Just this and it sells for 108 a portion. Although I haven't really seen this grass before, doesn't it look about the same as the weeds growing in the fields back home? If you want to eat it, just randomly pluck a handful and stir-fry it, done; why spend this much money eating it here?"

"Alright Dad, don't be so quick to complain."

Wang Yong was amused by his father's words; he picked up his chopsticks, clamped a large chopstick-load of Stir-fried Asparagus Lettuce, and placed it in the bowl in front of his father: "You just taste the flavor first; once you eat it you'll know, Lu Boss's culinary skill is really out of the ordinary."

Wang Shuisheng waved his hand, also picked up chopsticks and clamped a piece of Red Braised Pork, placed it in Wang Yong's bowl, his tone carrying a hint of reproach: "I can clamp it myself; you eat yours. This green leafy vegetable, your mom and I eat it at home every day, it's not any rare thing. But you working in the city is awfully hard; eat more meat. Look at you, what have you become, so skinny!"

"Dad, I eat here every day; this is your first time here, so you should eat more."

Wang Yong then clamped that piece of Red Braised Pork from his own bowl back into his father's bowl, and incidentally also clamped a Fengwei Shrimp for his father.

Father and son went back and forth yielding like this; before long, the bowls in front of both of them were piled with quite a lot of dishes.

"Alright alright, stop clamping; hurry up and eat. If the dishes get cold they won't be delicious."

Seeing his son hadn't eaten a single bite yet, Wang Shuisheng couldn't help urging him.

"Dad, you eat first; once you eat I'll naturally eat too."

Wang Yong said insistently, his eyes carrying a few degrees of stubbornness.

From childhood on, his father alone shouldered the family's heavy burden; every day before dawn he went to the fields to work, and only at nightfall did he carry his hoe home. Every day, how tired he was, Wang Yong saw it with his own eyes.

Every time the family ate together, Wang Yong also very consciously waited for his father to move his chopsticks first before he would start eating. Now although he had already grown into an adult and could support himself, this habit he had never forgotten.

"Good good good, I'll eat I'll eat, I'll definitely finish it all."

Wang Yong nodded repeatedly in agreement, and while speaking clamped a chopstick-load of Lu Hao and also shoveled a large mouthful of rice.

"How is it, Dad? Is the flavor incredibly delicious?"

Wang Yong picked up his chopsticks, but didn't rush to start eating; his eyes shone bright as he stared at his father's eating appearance, a face full of expectation waiting for his father's reaction.

He knew his father now had stomach trouble; he rarely found food to his appetite, and usually at home he ate very little; therefore, right now he was more or less a bit nervous.

Wang Shuisheng slowly swallowed the food and rice in his mouth; his eyes became much brighter, and the wrinkles on his face smoothed out: "Mm! Delicious! This rice really is different from what we usually eat! Chewing it, it's both fragrant and tender... and this grass, it looked like nothing, but unexpectedly the taste is really good when you eat it!"

As he spoke, he clamped another large chopstick-load of Lu Hao and ate it with rice in big mouthfuls.

The dissatisfaction and heartache that had just risen in his heart because the restaurant's dish prices were too high were at this moment washed away without a trace by the deliciousness in his mouth.

Having lived over fifty years, this was the first time Wang Shuisheng had eaten such delicious food.

He ate while nodding non-stop; the chopsticks in his hand moved faster and faster.

"Alright, if it's delicious then eat more."

Wang Yong spoke while swiftly dividing half of the rice in his own bowl into his father's bowl.

"You're already this old; how come eating a meal you're still like when you were little?"

Wang Shuisheng watched his son's proficient movements and said with some amusement.

When he was little, the food Wang Yong couldn't finish or didn't like to eat, he would always just pour into his bowl, and then Wang Shuisheng would silently eat it up, and never once blamed his son.

Most fathers are not good with words; Wang Shuisheng was this kind of father.

Wang Shuisheng's discipline of Wang Yong used to be very strict; if Wang Yong made a mistake, he would also discipline him severely.

The reason Wang Yong was able to successfully test into a pretty good university in a rural environment that didn't value education all that much was also inseparable from Wang Shuisheng's discipline.

However, what was rare was that when Wang Yong poured the food he couldn't finish into Wang Shuisheng's bowl as a child, Wang Shuisheng also never blamed him for it.

In Wang Shuisheng's view, this was a kind of expression of his son being close to him, so father and son also cultivated this kind of strange tacit understanding.

It was precisely because of this that later on, even when Wang Yong could finish his food, he would still do this.

He felt that doing this seemed to also represent that his relationship with his father was still extremely close.