After Ma Liewen and Chen Shengfei had settled at a quiet table in the corner for a while, Gao Yaoyao brought over some sliced Quality 2 watermelon and Quality 2 strawberries.
"Mr. Chen, Mr. Ma, here are your watermelon and strawberries." Gao Yaoyao smiled warmly and said sweetly, "The kitchen's already preparing the rest."
"Mm!" Chen Shengfei nodded, then said to Ma Liewen, "Old Ma, try the watermelon and strawberries. They're really good."
As he spoke, he picked up a wedge of watermelon and started eating.
Seeing that, Ma Liewen picked up a wedge too. After one bite, his eyes lit up. "There's something special about this melon!"
Watermelon was a common fruit, and he'd eaten plenty of expensive varieties. But he'd never tasted anything as delicious as the melon in his hand. It was as if his taste buds had been awakened in an instant; after one bite, a sweet, fragrant aftertaste lingered in his mouth.
Ma Liewen picked up a strawberry and popped it into his mouth. This time, he couldn't help praising it. "Old Chen, you were right. Besides the fish, there really are other good things here. This watermelon and these strawberries are unbelievably delicious. I'd always thought I'd tried every kind of fruit. I've even had those Japanese specialty watermelons that cost a hundred dollars a pound, but compared to this, they're nothing."
Chen Shengfei smiled. "That just goes to show our country's watermelons aren't inferior to theirs. We just haven't promoted them as well. These days, people only pay attention to special imported varieties, without realizing that plenty of things we grow ourselves are even better."
"That's a very philosophical way of putting it. I agree," Ma Liewen said, giving Chen Shengfei a thumbs-up.
A little later, the kitchen assistant brought out the fish. They'd used a wild crucian carp weighing over ten pounds to make fish head soup, steamed fish, and braised fish.
"Old Ma, give it a try!" As Chen Shengfei spoke, he filled a bowl with fish soup. He took a sip and looked blissful. "Classic."
"Old Chen, aren't you laying it on a bit thick?" Ma Liewen teased.
Chen Shengfei only smiled.
Ma Liewen filled a bowl with fish soup too and began to eat. Before long, an incredulous look appeared on his face. "Old Chen, this is fish soup? From that wild fish we saw earlier?"
"What else? Look how big it was!" Chen Shengfei replied with a smile.
"Holy shit..." Ma Liewen swore, then fumed, "So this is what wild crucian carp is supposed to taste like? That owner of Baixiang Pavilion must think I'm an idiot! Last time, he got a five-pound wild crucian carp and bragged about how rare it was, as if he'd done me some huge favor."
"That five-pound wild crucian carp didn't come close to this! And he said a famous chef had cooked it himself. He must've passed off some artificially raised fish as wild. Otherwise, two wild fish wouldn't taste so different."
"If I ever go back to Baixiang Pavilion, I'll be an idiot. I'll have my assistant cancel my membership as soon as I get back."
"Uh, have some more. You'll see that this fish has more going for it than just its flavor." Chen Shengfei was taken aback, unsure how to explain.
He'd eaten plenty of wild fish himself, but compared to the fish at Boss Qin's place, they were all garbage.
The problem probably wasn't Baixiang Pavilion. He suspected Boss Qin had either added some special ingredients or used a secret recipe—or perhaps the fish was a special variety they didn't know about. Otherwise, how could it compare to top-tier food therapy?
As Ma Liewen ate, he soon began to feel something unusual. A faint warmth started flowing through the meridians and blood vessels in his body, making him feel as if everything inside him had become more open and clear.
"Old Chen, is this food therapy?" Ma Liewen had seen plenty in his time and quickly caught on.
"It's no worse than Xue's food therapy in the capital. Would I have brought you here otherwise?" Chen Shengfei smiled, then raised his brows at him. "And there's something even better."
That left Ma Liewen thoroughly astonished.
At first, he'd thought nothing of this mountain resort. It was too shabby. But now he realized how shallow he'd been.
His opinion of the place had completely changed—and it wasn't just because of the delicious watermelon and strawberries.
This fish was undoubtedly top-notch. The warmth inside him and the feeling of comfort throughout his body were impossible to fake.
If it was as good as Xue's food therapy in the capital, as Old Chen said, then in a place with better, more luxurious decor, this one fish would probably come with a food-therapy ingredient fee in the tens of thousands.
The key was that Old Chen had said the resort had something even better.
For some reason, Ma Liewen was starting to look forward to it.
If the people in the city found out, they'd probably be stunned.
He, Ma Liewen, was actually looking forward to what this little mountain resort had to offer!
Even he found it hard to believe.
A little later, they brought out a plate of Chinese yam, a plate of okra, and a plate of broccoli.
"Old Chen, these are the good things you were talking about?" Ma Liewen asked, looking doubtfully at the three plates of very ordinary vegetables.
Because of what he'd experienced earlier, he didn't rush to judge. Instead, he picked up his chopsticks and tried all three dishes.
After a while, he felt something unusual again. That warm sensation around his lower back had returned.
"Old Ma, feel it?" Chen Shengfei asked with a mischievous grin. He could feel the warmth around his own lower back too. "Now you know why my wife's been so gentle and in such a good mood lately, right? It works as well as little blue pills. And the best part is, getting your nutrients from food has no harmful side effects. It's actually good for you."
"Holy shit..." Ma Liewen swore again. Only then did he remember that regular okra and Chinese yam had similar effects, just nowhere near as noticeable.
He instinctively picked up his chopsticks and kept eating.
He was already forty, and his wife was more than ten years younger than him. She was always stewing tonic soups for him, which really hurt his pride.
The more he ate, the stronger the warmth and comfort in his lower back became as the food digested.
By the end of the meal, Ma Liewen was so full he could only burp.
"Miss, come over here for a moment." Ma Liewen beckoned to Gao Yaoyao.
"Sir, what can I do for you?" Gao Yaoyao immediately stepped forward.
"Where's your boss? I'd like to meet him," Ma Liewen said.
"Please wait a moment, sir." Gao Yaoyao said, then took out her phone and called Qin Lin.
As soon as Qin Lin got the call, he came over.
When Ma Liewen saw Qin Lin, he greeted him with great enthusiasm. "Boss Qin, do you have any more of this okra and Chinese yam? I'd like to buy some to take home."
Qin Lin still had plenty of Quality 2 okra. He'd stored a lot in the game over the past month, harvesting more than ten pounds a day. He still had around three hundred pounds.
Since the game's storage worked in a special way, nothing inside spoiled, so he wasn't in a hurry to take it out.
This was the perfect opportunity to do someone a small favor.
Still, seeing Ma Liewen's eagerness, he put on a troubled expression. "Mr. Ma, this specially cultivated okra is hard to come by. It's still in the cultivation stage, and the daily yield is limited. Even this resort doesn't have enough to meet demand."
It was the same old tactic: make something seem scarce to raise its value.
After getting all he could out of President Chu, he understood that principle even better.
"Boss Qin, if you have any, please set some aside for us," Chen Shengfei added.
Hearing Chen Shengfei speak up, Qin Lin seized the opportunity to say, "Since Mr. Chen's asking, I'll see if I can get a few pounds of okra. But you'll have to wait a while. As for the Chinese yam and broccoli, I probably don't have any left today. I can get a few pounds tomorrow."
"No problem. Old Ma and I can wait a night," Chen Shengfei said, clearly pleased by Qin Lin's response.
After all, when you asked, Old Ma, there wasn't any. But when I, Old Chen, asked, there was.
"Right, we can wait a night," Ma Liewen agreed with a nod.
He and Chen Shengfei were meeting to renew their cooperation. They'd worked together for so long that all they needed to do was sign and discuss a few details. They could do it anywhere; they'd just have to sign the paperwork back in the city later.
But he definitely had to take some of these good things home. He was too busy to come here every day.
Then he remembered something. "Boss Qin, do you take advance orders? Get me a membership card first. I'll put five hundred thousand on it."
"..." Qin Lin was at a loss for words. Ma Liewen had thrown him completely off guard.
He didn't offer advance orders or membership cards, let alone a way to deposit five hundred thousand.
In all his life, he'd gotten membership cards at plenty of places, but he'd never put more than a thousand on any of them.
Before you continue