Tiger Skin Chicken Feet?
Lin Xu was a bit surprised.
He'd seen so many braised snacks before the lucky draw.
How come he just happened to draw chicken feet?
But thinking it over carefully—
Right now, it seems like this is the only braised dish that fits the shop's needs.
The customers want something to go with their drinks, and after drinking, they still want to eat noodles.
The other braised things either don't work as a drinking snack,
or they fill you up too much, leaving no room for noodles afterwards.
Only chicken feet—
Gnawing on them is super satisfying.
And after you're done, you don't really feel full at all.
You still eat just as much of the main dish as you would anyway.
"Guess that's settled then. I'll buy some chicken feet wholesale tomorrow morning."
Lin Xu made up his mind in secret.
Then he shifted his attention back to the real world.
And kept busy making noodles.
8 p.m.
Lin Xu, now with his clothes all soaked through, turned to his customers with an apologetic look:
"Sorry, everyone—all our noodles and toppings are sold out today. There's barely any chili powder left either. If you want to eat, try coming again tomorrow."
He leaned tiredly on the worktable.
Sweat poured down his face.
The customers saw how beat he was, and they were understanding:
"We'll come earlier tomorrow, take care of yourself, Boss Lin."
"Yeah, take care. If you need to hire someone, just do it. One person working this much is too much to handle."
"Don't prep so much tomorrow, Boss Lin. Get some rest too."
"Seriously, you need to rest. If you keep pushing like this, your body won't hold up."
All their chatting and concern moved Lin Xu deeply.
He smiled and said,
"I'm fine, I'll be back to normal after a little break. No need to worry, everyone."
After the customers went home in twos and threes,
Lin Xu tidied up the kitchen.
Set the chairs and tables straight.
Then grabbed his sweaty clothes and took the subway back to school.
He got to the men's dorms for the finance department.
Lin Xu made his way up to the fifth floor.
He'd just taken out his keys, ready to open the door to room 504,
when the door to the next room suddenly swung open.
His classmate Sun Minghao stepped out shirtless, carrying a takeaway bag—looked like he was about to toss the trash in the hallway.
When he saw Lin Xu—
Sun Minghao asked curiously,
"What've you been up to these days, Lin Xu? You're out early, back late, even the canteen auntie says she misses you. She asked today where that handsome boy from finance went."
Lin Xu gave a tired smile:
"I opened a little restaurant. Been busy there all day."
"Where at? What's it called? Man, why didn't you tell us? We'd have come to support you."
Lin Xu shoved his key into the lock:
"It's on Yingchun Street, called Lin Ji's Food. But you don't need to bother coming to support me—everyone's got enough to do, no need for that kind of thing."
They chatted a bit more,
then he went inside.
He was completely wiped out, and reeked of sweat.
Had to shower and get right to bed.
Once Lin Xu got in,
Sun Minghao figured, since his classmate opened a restaurant,
he should help spread the word.
So he whipped out his phone, opened the big finance department group chat, and quickly sent a message:
"Hey everyone, our classmate Lin Xu just opened a place on Yingchun Street, called Lin Ji's Food. If anyone's nearby, go show him some support!"
The message had barely gone out
when all the lurkers started popping up.
"What? Lin Xu opened a restaurant?"
"Is that the super handsome Lin Xu?"
"No way, for real?"
"Yingchun Street isn't far from my office, Lin Ji's Food right? Let me search if it's on delivery apps."
"I'm not far from Yingchun Street either, I'll check it out tomorrow."
"What made him want to open a restaurant? Isn't food service kind of poor money these days?"
Some classmates were curious,
others were shocked.
For a Finance University grad to run a restaurant—it had that "Beijing University grad selling pork" kind of bittersweet vibe.
People were chatting away,
when a girl named Shen Jiayue suddenly posted a screenshot:
"I couldn't find Lin Ji's Food on the delivery apps, so I searched on Baidu, and guess what—I found out Lin Xu's Lin Ji's Food has its own topic on social media, with over a thousand followers!"
And then—
The discussion in the group totally blew up.
"So when did he even open? He already has his own topic?"
"I thought only big brands like Quanjude had their own topics?"
"How's he pull that off?"
"Is he relying on his good looks to run the restaurant like some fandom business?"
Shen Jiayue kept sending screenshots:
"No one in the topic is talking about how handsome Lin Xu is. They're all calling him Demon King, saying he's the biggest obstacle on their weight loss journeys. Everyone's raving about how good his cooking is."
Then she posted a whole series of screenshots:
"This is Lin Ji's Food's customers doing the Empty Bowl Check-In challenge—everyone has to finish every last grain of rice in their bowl. Can you guys tell what kind of rice dish this is?"
The people in the group were stunned.
"Damn, after eight years of eating rice bowls, I still can't tell what dish this is."
"Does Lin Xu really cook that well?"
"Shit, now I'm actually getting hungry."
"I'm going to go try Lin Xu's food tomorrow, anyone wanna come?"
"I'm in, I wanna try too."
"Me too, me too!"
"..."
Lin Xu took a shower,
then washed his chef's uniform and hung it on the balcony.
Laying down on his comfy bed,
just about to set his alarm for tomorrow morning on his phone,
when suddenly a bunch of notification dings came in.
His roommates, his classmates, and all kinds of group chats—
Everyone was asking about the restaurant.
Some were regretful,
some curious.
After replying to each, Lin Xu checked his social platform for updates in the topic he was following—sure enough, there were new posts.
The topic now had over a thousand followers.
The buzz had gone up too.
Still hadn't broken into the local top 100, but the numbers were way higher than before.
Probably because everyone's posting more updates.
At this point, things under the topic were pretty mixed.
Lin Xu scrolled through.
And saw a new post from a user named Che Zai:
"Hahaha, tonight I finally got to eat Boss Lin's Noodles with Braised Eggplant and Pork Sauce, now I'm an official Lin Ji boy! The noodles were awesome, and the whole customer vibe was so friendly—after dinner, a bunch of customers even volunteered to help out. I love working in a place like this, wish I could transfer to Lin Ji, but Boss Lin won't have me, sob sob…"
Love this kind of work environment?
Lin Xu immediately clicked on the private chat option.
And sent Che Zai a message:
"How much do you make a month right now?"
Che Zai was clearly on his phone, replied in less than a minute:
"Who are you? You know it's illegal to ask about privacy, right?"
Lin Xu smiled wryly.
"I'm Lin Xu, the owner of Lin Ji's Food."
The other party instantly sent a shocked emoji:
"Huh? Boss Lin? Is this for real, you're actually reaching out to me? Right now my monthly salary is 4,500, with a department bonus of 200, so 4,700 total."
Lin Xu frowned.
That little?
No wonder young people these days don't want to be chefs.
Working to death all month for peanuts.
Probably make more tightening screws in a factory, right?
He replied:
"I need a kitchen assistant now. The trial period salary is 6,000, one month trial. After that, starting salary is 8,000 and up. Interested in working at Lin Ji?"