I Am A Chef In The Modern Era

Translated by Yan of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Lin ShuYi brought Grandfather Shen to see XiQin Restaurant during the afternoon.

Lin ShuYi had told Grandfather Shen long ago about how he had borrowed Shen Fu’s money to open the restaurant. Before Grandfather Shen could even speak, Mama Shen spoke first. “When you two get married, what’s his will become yours, so what’s the point of allocating it so thoroughly?”

Lin ShuYi was slightly startled, before he said, “What’s his is his, what’s mine is mine. It’s not because of his money.”

Mama Shen started before she laughed till she was shaking. “I know that you’re not with him because of his money. You know, Xiao Yi, how are you so adorable?”

Grandfather Shen also started chuckling. “Okay, let’s go. Aren’t we going to the restaurant?”

Shen Fu walked out from inside, puzzled. “Why is everyone having such a great time?”

Nobody answered him. He turned to look at Lin ShuYi, but ‘I don’t know either’ was written all over Lin ShuYi’s face.

They took a stroll over to XiQin Restaurant. It was almost opening day for XiQin Restaurant. Everything was bought and prepared long in advance. Since Old Man Yang heard Xiao Wan say that charcoal bundles could get rid of strange smells and formaldehyde, he asked Xiao Wan to buy some charcoal bundles for him, placing it in all corners. Even though the renovators had said over and over that they were using environmentally friendly material that didn’t cause pollution.

The trees and flowers that Shen Fu had ordered from the flower and bird market had also been sent over when they weren’t there. All they had to do was open the doors and start welcoming customers.

Grandfather Shen was very satisfied with XiQin Restaurant. From the renovations to the fixings to the décor, they were all very much to Grandfather Shen’s liking. He made a few laps around the interior, braced against his cane. After he finished assessing it, he said to Lin ShuYi, “I actually like the renovation a lot. The architect designed it?”

Lin ShuYi nodded obediently before he shook his head again. Grandfather Shen was confused.

“The architect was in charge, but he didn’t come up with most of the creative ideas.” Shen Fu adjusted the scarlet bush lily in the corner as he interrupted into their conversation.

“Then who was it?”

Shen Fu pointed at Lin ShuYi, as if he was showing off and had his greatest wish fulfilled. Lin ShuYi nodded seriously.

Grandfather Shen was shocked. XiQin Restaurant’s interior was mostly in the traditional style, but it wasn’t completely out of place with the rest of the big city’s atmosphere either. Instead, it melded the two together perfectly. Grandfather Shen wouldn’t be too surprised to find out that this kind of design came from a renowned expert, but upon finding out that it came from Lin ShuYi, Grandfather Shen was very amazed.

After all, Lin ShuYi had never learned how to design before. Grandfather Shen shot an eye at Lin ShuYi, not batting an eyelid. He felt like this ‘grandson’s wife’ was basically a crouching tiger, hidden dragon.

“Our Xiao Yi is truly too incredible.” Shen Mama was the only one who didn’t approach problems based on common sense. Her line of thought was so fast that Papa Shen simply couldn’t keep up, so he could only watch as his own wife became their son-in-law’s number one fan. “Good-looking, good at cooking, clever and even knows how to design. He’s basically unequalled!”

When Papa Shen heard that, he shared a look with Grandfather Shen. They silently added on one more line: he also knows calligraphy.

Shen Fu also added on one more line silently in his mind: he can also ride a horse.

With all these added together, no matter how you looked at it, those didn’t seem like things that an eighteen-year-old boy who had just graduated high school and didn’t even go to college would know.

While Shen Fu felt as if he had picked up a treasure once again, his heart also ached. He had been completely honest with Lin ShuYi about everything, but Shen Fu didn’t know when his wife would finally tell him about himself.

The three of them silently added up the sum in their minds, before they changed the topic together.

“This flower…”

“That sign outside…”

“That screen upstairs…”

The three of them: …

They didn’t even have the most basic of coordination. That was enough.

Mama Shen grew unhappy. “Why do you have so many questions? From my point of view, this restaurant is great. The day it opens, I’ll definitely come to cheer it on.”

After finishing looking at XiQin Restaurant, they went back again. On the way there, they met many girls who seemed to be specially on their way to see XiQin Restaurant. When they saw Shen Fu and Lin ShuYi, they all looked as if they had seen a ghost, before they huddled together and started murmuring to each other.

The four men who all knew the reason why remained silent, ignoring them. Mama Shen was the only one who hadn’t seen the microblog, so she said, confused, “They all seem to know Xiao Fu and Xiao Yi. They even know their names. Have you two already been affectionate in public to this degree? Were there so many people who read that gossip tabloid?”

Shen Fu and Lin ShuYi shared a look and decided that it would be better not to explain this. After all, if Shen Fu had to explain this, then he would have to bring up how he and Grandfather Shen were like chicken and ducks speaking to each other. It was quite a large misunderstanding, so it was very shameful.

Now that they had seen XiQin Restaurant, Grandfather Shen prepared to stay for the night before heading back to H City. Even though Old Man Yang didn’t mind at all, Grandfather Shen still felt like it would be inappropriate to stay too long. What’s more, Grandfather Shen wasn’t completely at ease leaving Shen Yan all by himself preparing for that large project, so he negotiated that the three of them should leave the next morning.

Before leaving, Grandfather Shen and Old Man Yang chatted till midnight. Nobody knew what they talked about, but the next morning when Old Man Yang got up, he seemed much more relaxed and content.

When Mama Shen left, she also carried away an entire jar of lemonade that Old Man Yang had given her. Even if it was like this, Mama Shen still felt a bit unwilling and unhappy to part. Just where in the world did this kind of faint sadness in her heart come from, as if she was marrying off her daughter?!

When he saw his wife frowning, Papa Shen felt distressed and tugged her to him, continuously comforting her, “When their restaurant opens, I’ll bring you over again. It’s not like they won’t ever come back again, they’ll come back when they’re not busy, okay?”

Mama Shen was still unhappy and didn’t want to pay attention to him.

Lin ShuYi revealed some emotion for the first time and went up and hugged her. “When it opens, Shen Fu and I will come to see you. Or you and Uncle can come over and play as well.”

Mama Shen returned the hug for a moment, gratified. “Our Xiao Yi is still the most considerate.”

Papa Shen: … cheeks streaming with tears.

All the way up until the car left, as Papa Shen watched his own slightly unhappy wife and Lin ShuYi, who kept waving outside the window, he thought guiltily, How come I feel sort of happy, as if I’m being relieved from a burden? Really, he shouldn’t, ah, he shouldn’t? However, they hadn’t had time just for the two of them for a while, so how should they spend it? As he thought, he still felt a little excited.

This was the first time Lin ShuYi, who had swiftly gotten used to the Shen family in just a few days, felt like it was truly a bit lonely at home.

After he told that to Shen Fu, he remained silently outside for a little bit before he answered evasively, “Do you like kids?”

“Huh?” Lin ShuYi didn’t really understand.

“Plump and fair little kids that look like buns, do you like them?”

Lin ShuYi thought a bit. Before this, he had never thought about getting married, though he had occasionally wondered what he would be like if he had kids one day when he saw other people’s homes filled with relatives back then. If he thought that, then that must mean that he really liked kids, right?

Lin ShuYi gave a noise of assent. “I do.”

Shen Fu grew silent outside again.

And then what? What did liking kids have to do with it feeling lonely at home?

After a long pause, Shen Fu spoke again. “Then let’s raise one. It’ll be best if they’re like you, not like me.”

Lin ShuYi laughed. “I understand now. But how can they be like me?”

Lin ShuYi knew that this country had well-developed adoption systems, but how could an adopted child be like him? If he really had to choose, he would prefer the child to be more like Shen Fu. Lin ShuYi’s personality was too stuffy; Shen Fu’s was better, more charming.

“En, they probably won’t look like you, but if their personality is like yours, then that’ll be very good.”

“They can call me Dad, and also call you Dad. We can teach them how to read and write. You like to eat sweet things so much, so they should also like it a lot once they grow up. Didn’t we buy an oven? You can make them lots and lots of cupcakes, they’ll definitely like it a lot.”

As Shen Fu spoke, Lin ShuYi kept searching back through his memories.

He didn’t actually look forward to children that much, but now that Shen Fu said it, he suddenly felt like if they really had such a life, then that would be fantastic.

As Lin ShuYi thought about it, he fell asleep.

Shen Fu quietly slipped in through his door and sat by his bed, tugging the blankets up a bit, covering up the collarbones that Lin ShuYi had accidentally let slip.

He really didn’t want to destroy the atmosphere and say that, when he brought up the topic of children, all he could think about in his mind was that he wanted Lin ShuYi to give birth to one for him.

No, that wasn’t important. What was important was what had to be done before one could give birth!

Shen Fu, whose entire brain was filled with erotic garbage, really, really felt like he was about to snap.

When Shen Fu got up the next day, Lin ShuYi had already gotten up. He clearly had good dreams the entire night, and he was making breakfast in the kitchen, refreshed.

The sweet smell saturated the entire living room, and it was clear that it was the smell of dessert.

Shen Fu entered the kitchen wearing his pajamas. Sure enough, Lin ShuYi was baking cupcakes.

Even though it was first thing in the morning, that was very much like him to do so. “You’re up? I heated up the milk. First go and wash up, and then we can eat.”

Shen Fu didn’t want to drink milk, nor did he really want to eat breakfast. He wanted to eat someone.

Especially when Lin ShuYi turned and shot him a beaming smile. Shen Fu couldn’t help but like out a ‘fuck’ before he strode into the bathroom.

People with morning wood, so unfair!

Lin ShuYi, who didn’t notice whatsoever, continued to bake the cake in high spirits.

Most likely because he had dreamed about what he was thinking about during the day, he truly had dreamed about a little bun that they adopted. The little bun whose eyes looked very much like Shen Fu’s, the little bun who used a sweet, child-like voice to call him Dad. Lin ShuYi felt like even though it was a dream, his heart was about to collapse.

So, when he got up, he was in a hurry to find a recipe to make cupcakes.

Before they officially took in the little bun, he had to promote his cooking in this area. What if the little bun really did like to eat desserts a lot when they arrived, just like what Shen Fu said?

Thinking of that, Shen Fu decided that he might as well eat cupcakes every single morning from now on.

He had found the recipe for the cupcakes on his phone. Because this was his first time making them, he had looked at the recipe three times before he turned off his phone and went to work.

From beating the egg whites, beating the egg yolks, sifting the flour, mixing and folding the batter together, to finally putting it in the oven—he didn’t look at his phone again.

When it was done baking and he took them out, there was very little difference between them and the pictures of the cupcakes on the phone.

The so-called “natural genius” was probably just like this.

There was quite a bit of milk in the cupcakes. Not only did it smell fragrant and sweet, it tasted even more fluffy and exquisite in the mouth, melting the moment you took a bite, the aftertaste rich and aromatic.

Shen Fu ate quite a bunch, even though he wasn’t fond of sweets.

“Do you think, if we were to adopt, there would be a lot of procedures to go through? Will a relationship like ours have obstacles?” Lin ShuYi suddenly asked.

Shen Fu curved his eyes with laughter. “Do you want a child?”

Lin ShuYi nodded.

Shen Fu was about to tease him and say that we can make one ourselves when Lin ShuYi said, “Then I can make cupcakes for them every single day.”

Every day?!! For them to eat?!!

Shen Fu, who felt completely jealous, wanted to retract what he said just then. He didn’t know if it was too late or not.