Song Tan's Notes

Outside Yuncheng People's Hospital.

Early in the morning, Minmin's mother, with a frown and a dark face, carrying a bulging bag, got off the bus and stomped into the hospital in a huff.

Minmin, who was standing beside her, glanced at her mother's expression and then whispered:

"Mom, why is your expression changing?"

If someone says they're going to visit a patient but acts like they're visiting an enemy, they might as well not come at all.

Minmin's mother snorted irritably: "Let me tell you, if you hadn't insisted on marrying that young man Lingqi, your father and I would never have agreed to let you marry into such a family."

“Look at your future mother-in-law, what era are we living in? Trying to save money on air conditioning and ending up in the hospital?! Let me tell you, if you ever live with her, you’ll be in big trouble.”

Minmin's mother was furious whenever she thought about it.

How could they not know their own daughter, whom they raised?
With a few thousand yuan in my pocket, I buy milk tea today, new clothes tomorrow, go to the movies the day after, and want to travel every three to five months.

I've been working for many years, but I haven't saved a single penny. I even have to rely on them to help me out from time to time.

But then she found a boyfriend, and people say, to put it nicely, that they complement each other—

This isn't complementary at all! It's the opposite of what's meant by extremes.

If a daughter can make money, then everyone else can save money; not only do they save, but the whole family does too.

Both she and Minmin's father had jobs and received pensions after retirement. They owned a house with no mortgage, and they didn't see anything wrong with their child spending money like this. But they never expected...

In short, she was still furious about it.

Minmin, who was watching from the side, was still feeling weak. After thinking for a moment, she asked again, "Then do you think the Lingqi people are good or not?"

Upon hearing this, Minmin's mother's face froze again.

Zhu Lingqi, that young man, is tall and strong, with dark skin, and has a kind of honest and simple smile.

To say how satisfied I was at first, I couldn't say. At most, I just thought the person looked honest.

At first, the couple thought that the young man was energetic and affectionate, and that he had come all the way from afar early in the morning just to see Minmin, even though they could see her at work.

I later found out that he was a penny-pincher, just to save that little bit of money on breakfast.

But by then Zhu Lingqi had already visited more than ten times, and he had climbed up a ladder to clean up the dead mosquitoes that had accumulated inside the old ceiling light on the roof.

Now her home is spotless, and people in the neighborhood still ask her how she managed to hire a housekeeper and how much it costs per hour.

Putting everything else aside, just looking out, the blue windows of their old residential compound look brighter than those of other houses.

These words left Minmin's mother in a dilemma, unsure whether to be satisfied or not.

Finally, the gifts from her relatives were genuine, and her future child's cousin's family was handsome, so she finally felt at ease.

Before I could even enjoy this peace of mind for a night, I learned that my future mother-in-law had fainted from heatstroke and was hospitalized.

Tell me, aren't you angry?

She was seething with anger, but given their relationship, she felt she had to come and visit.

After thinking for a moment, he paused at the hospital entrance and finally composed himself.

Minmin, who was watching from the side, also breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Lingqi was waiting at the entrance of the emergency building. Upon seeing the mother and daughter, he quickly ran up to greet them.

"Auntie, what brings you here? It's so embarrassing to get up so early... My mom is fine, she's just here to observe."

Minmin's mother glanced at him, thinking to herself that this honest young man knew how to make his parents look good.

What do you mean by "take a look"? Are you just trying to take advantage of the hospital's air conditioning?

But she didn't say anything, only smiled and said with concern, "You've been keeping watch here all night, haven't you? You must be exhausted. Here, Minmin said you love my steamed buns the most, so I specially steamed a big pot this morning and also cooked porridge... Where are your parents?"

Zhu Lingqi happily accepted the things, and led the way, saying, "My parents are fine, they're just about to leave."

Otherwise, with the hospital getting crowded early in the morning, wouldn't they be in the way?
Minmin said she wanted to bring her mother, but the two of them were too embarrassed to say so.

However, upon meeting their future in-laws, the two families exchanged several warm greetings.

While eating her steamed buns and savoring the aroma, Song Hongmei didn't forget to share some good news with them:

"By the way, Tan Tan came to see me last night and said that it might rain in a few days, so it won't be convenient to go to the village to play."

“They’re going to catch fish from their pond to sell these days, Minmin, why don’t you go with Lingqi and take your parents there for a visit?”

"My family runs a bed and breakfast, so I can just book two rooms for you later. You'll have a place to stay, and you won't have to spend any money to go sightseeing."

The aunt had a plan in mind. Since Tan Tan's family's things were so expensive, she didn't actively urge them to buy anything. Instead, she only mentioned food, drinks, and lodging.

On the other hand, I couldn't help but feel heartbroken: If you go there, how can you bear not to buy things?
We definitely can't let them pay this money; we need to give them a token of our appreciation.

Oh dear, just thinking about this makes her heart ache so much she feels like she's going to burst again.

Fortunately, the heatstroke was really over, and he was no longer in pain as he bent over. He just took another bite of the bun with a heavy heart, thinking of his future daughter-in-law, and gritted his teeth to endure it.

But Minmin and her mother both saw her trying to endure the pain. As a result, Minmin's mother's anger, which had been building up since early morning, inexplicably subsided!
She then looked at Zhu Lingqi, who, though stingy, was very capable, had won unanimous praise from the family, and was becoming increasingly pleasing to the eye, and said with a smile:
"Sure, it'd be good to go have some fun... When should we go? Tomorrow?"

Having received the instructions, Zhu Lingqi enthusiastically began to plan:

"Let's go tomorrow! I'll work one more day today, and we can leave first thing tomorrow morning. But it's hot now, and the villagers stop working after nine o'clock. If we want to have some fun, we'll have to get up really early—"

……

The eldest aunt's family had made meticulous arrangements in advance, and Song Tan, after seeing off Brother Zhang, received the news and also told Boss Chang, "Let me catch some fish from the pond for you tomorrow."

We have three ponds at home now, and we take turns tending to one pond a day. The one in the river isn't as urgent.

Boss Chang has made all the preparations.

Including but not limited to, he notified his employees to hold a meeting the day before he received the news, and then all account managers sent messages to the clients they could contact.

Mini-programs, official accounts, and various linked pages are being arranged.

Local tweets—oh, local tweets don't cost money, people will naturally pay for them.

In short, many members woke up to find out that Chang Le Ju was going to hold a whole fish banquet!
Of course, true to their style, this all-fish banquet wasn't called an all-fish banquet, but rather—

【Enjoy the rustic charm of the pond with us】

The detailed introduction is below.

Most of the members were wealthy people in the mountain city, or people who were quite willing to flaunt their wealth. At this moment, they stared at their phones, looking at them again and again.

God!

Chang Letian, who's known for being stingy and releasing limited editions, is different!

There's some kind of pond—oh dear, that's a mouthful! It's this whole fish feast!

Is this still the same fish they usually have to fight over to order, and where there's a limit on the quantity?! Have they given up on their usual routine?
Everyone whispered and pondered for a while:
Based on this pattern, is Chang Letian planning to make a big splash and then run away with the money?
Otherwise, why would they spend so much?

Normally, there are limits on the amount of vegetables you can eat, limits on scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and even limits on salted duck eggs... This fish, which was only available in small quantities each day before, is suddenly being offered as a whole fish feast?
While everyone was discussing enthusiastically, they didn't hesitate to click the registration button.

What? You mean the deposit for a regular member to participate in the whole fish banquet is 1999?

Just kidding, they're all members. If they don't go all out in a situation like this, what's the point of saving their money?

It wasn't until the account manager saw the number of appointments skyrocketing that he started to panic.
"Boss, how about we divide the tiers? We can limit the number of regular VIP slots, otherwise we won't be able to supply enough people if we keep doing this."

Old Chang was only so generous because Song Tan had given him a guarantee. When the account manager mentioned it, he was about to wave his hand and make a big profit.

But then it suddenly occurred to me—

The Song family just wanted to reduce the number of fish in their ponds, keeping only about half, but they didn't say they would sell them all!

And those in the river.

Despite the large area, if it's not fished out in a day, its name won't be on the list yet.

After thinking it over, he quickly changed his tune: "Limited! Limited! Come on, let's discuss the specific VIP slots!"

Since a meeting was scheduled, the chefs, led by Chef Qian, came over grumbling and swearing.

"You can't do this when you have really good ingredients!"

"Exactly! A whole fish feast is impressive and can make a lot of money, but what about next time?"

"Slow and steady wins the race. When a whole fish feast is served, everyone eats it like pigs rooting for food, no longer appreciating it as much as usual, so how can they taste anything?"

Boss Chang immediately broke down: "Does it mean I don't want to sell them one by one? Can you even raise them properly?!"

He tried it; he brought the fish back, kept it in Old Song's water, ran an air pump, and prepared a large fish tank.

The fish didn't die inside, but if you keep it for two days before eating it, the flavor will be a bit off.

Let it rest for two more days, then it will go down to the next level.

In the end, not only did the taste wrong, but the weight was also less. Who can I complain to?
Otherwise, why would he make such a big fuss?

Master Qian had also raised fish in the kitchen, and now that he remembered this, he couldn't help but shrink back guiltily.

He paused, then added, "The fish bones in our river are too small. If they eat too quickly, they'll easily get a bone stuck in their throat. Maybe we should think of a way to get them to eat more slowly?"

Before he could finish speaking, Boss Chang glanced at him with a resentful look—

He's so busy he can't even keep his feet on the ground, he doesn't have time for these little details.

Master Qian immediately shut up and led the group of people downstairs again.

Until someone in the kitchen cautiously asked:

"With so many fish, would the owner be willing to let us buy a few to take home?"

“I eat very well here every day, but my elderly parents, children and wife have never properly tasted this delicious food.”

Upon hearing this, Master Qian straightened his back again:
Yeah, there are so many fish anyway, surely we can give each of them, the head chefs, ten fish? (End of Chapter)