The next morning—
Ye Jiujiu walked to the refrigerator full of confidence, already imagining the giant lobster, plump grouper, and majestic king crab that should be waiting inside. She rubbed her palms together, blew on them for good luck, and swung the fridge door open.
Her smile froze.
Inside was… a mountain of brownish-red seaweed. Nothing else. Just seaweed packed to the brim like it was staging a takeover.
She stared blankly.
Where were the lobsters? The grouper? The king crab?
Forget that—she would even accept a few whelks or clams!
But no.
Today, the universe apparently decided she needed fiber.
Her gaze fell on a few limp green seaweed strands stuck to the dragon beard vegetable like decorations no one asked for.
"Is it all seaweed today?" She looked at the overstuffed fridge, utterly speechless. Customers might tolerate exotic seafood menus, but an entire menu made of vegetarian seafood? Absolutely not.
With a sigh, she grabbed the dragon beard vegetable and yanked it out.
Scrraaape—
Something hard scraped against the refrigerator shelf.
She turned the vegetable over and her eyes instantly lit up.
Several palm-sized orchid crabs were clinging to it like stowaways.
Mood restored.
She carried everything to the sink and shook the seaweed vigorously. The orchid crabs tumbled into the sink with a clack. A second shake sent down clams, prawns, and snails raining like loose change.
"So many hidden inside?" Surprised, she dug through the seaweed again and found two tiny silver fish no wider than her finger.
After confirming that the refrigerator held no more surprises, she collected everything into a large stainless-steel basin. When she turned back, she spotted several escaped clams on the floor and quickly picked them up.
Just then, her sharp ears caught a faint rustle inside the fridge door compartment. She opened a spice jar and found—
A tiny octopus squeezed inside, its round head swiveling inside the cramped space.
"There's even an octopus today? Just… a very small one."
She grabbed a plastic bag and slipped it over its head before it could react.
The next second—
Psssshhh!
Complete darkness.
Ink everywhere.
"If I hadn't covered it, I would've become a Barbie Q," she muttered in relief.
She rinsed the little troublemaker thoroughly and tossed it into the sink with the others.
The bulk of today's goods were sea lettuce—nearly fifteen pounds of it. The crabs, prawns, clams, and others were all normal market size this time—tiny compared to the massive creatures she'd received before.
With limited quantity and no standout items, she really didn't know how to craft today's menu.
As she stood there thinking, a knock sounded at the back door.
Only one person usually knocked there—Grandma Liu.
Jiujiu closed the fridge and hurried to open the door.
"Grandma Liu, were you looking for me?"
"Your grandma asked me to make extra chili sauce before. It's finally ready, so I brought it over."
Grandma Liu handed her a large 5-liter glass jar filled with bright red chili sauce. It looked fiery enough to wake the dead.
"And I brought some vegetables too."
She passed over a heavy basket packed with corn, cucumbers, eggplants, and loofahs.
Jiujiu couldn't help laughing.
"Grandma Liu, you brought so much again. I haven't even finished the batch you gave me a few days ago."
"If you can't finish them, just sell them. Saves you a trip to the wholesale market."
Jiujiu did want to… but at most she would slice them into flower shapes to decorate plates.
"Really, Grandma Liu, you should keep them. It'll be a waste if I can't use everything."
"Fine then," Grandma Liu said, taking out one ear of corn and handing it to her. "Take at least this. It's sweet corn—crunchy and delicious."
"Thank you."
Remembering the pile of dragon beard vegetables in the kitchen, Jiujiu went back inside and returned with three kilograms.
"Grandma Liu, take some of these home. They're sea-grown and good for lowering blood pressure and blood lipids. You can boil them, make a cold dish, or cook them into porridge."
Since Grandma Liu normally took medicine for her blood pressure, she accepted them gratefully.
"Thank you, Jiujiu."
"You're welcome."
After sending Grandma Liu off, Jiujiu returned to the kitchen, boiled the corn, and nibbled on it while studying the menu.
Once she decided on today's dishes, she ordered supplementary ingredients and began preparations the moment the delivery arrived.
There was so much dragon beard vegetable that she split it into two portions—one for cold salad, and one to boil into jelly. The jelly required no grinding: just cook until thick, pour into bowls, let it cool slightly, then chill it in the refrigerator to set.
She also planned to make Tom Yum Goong.
The heart of the dish was the sour-spicy broth. While restaurants usually used ready-made paste, Jiujiu chose to make hers from scratch using the fresh shrimp she'd received.
She tied on her apron, washed lemons, curry fruit, tomatoes, onions, and chilies, chopped them, boiled them into stock, added minced shrimp, and simmered it gently.
A rich, sweet aroma filled the kitchen—sour with lemon, slightly tangy with tomatoes—utterly mouthwatering.
At exactly 11:30 a.m., the restaurant opened.
Jiujiu expected the chubby boy from yesterday—who'd sworn he would come eat seafood every day—to show up first. But he didn't appear.
Instead, Grandma Yang returned, accompanied by the little girl and a young woman—the child's mother.
"Boss, we're here again," Old Mrs. Yang greeted warmly.
"Welcome." Jiujiu smiled, noticing that Yueyue looked much livelier today.
"Yueyue seems much more energetic."
"She's much better now," Grandma Yang said. "After going home yesterday, she kept thinking about the food here. Since her mother had time today, we came again."
"Please, have a seat."
After they sat, Jiujiu handed them the menu.
The mother, Li Juan, took the tablet and scrolled through it. Today's menu was noticeably different—and much shorter—than yesterday's.
Cold Mixed Asparagus Ferns — 88
Sad Jelly Noodles — 88