After sending thousands of young coconuts to the main store, Li Haochen drove his three-wheeled vehicle to the branch to pick up A Long and the others, who were going to the main store. The branch was not opening until tomorrow, so the three of them had time to come and help.
When Li Haochen arrived, everyone was discussing what takeout to order.
"Ugh, I don't know what to order. We eat this every day, and the beans are growing," one person complained.
"Yeah, I grew a little bean today too," another chimed in.
"Don't talk about yourselves. My stomach feels a bit uncomfortable after eating this for days," Chen He said, patting his stomach with a slight frown.
"What are you talking about? Have you ordered food yet?"
"Haochen, you're here." Murong Yanran saw Li Haochen walk in, poured him a cup of hot tea, and brought it over. "Are you tired?"
"I'm okay..." Li Haochen said, drinking the tea. "What were you just talking about?"
"We've been eating takeout these past few days, and everyone's feeling a bit run down. It's not good to eat like this, so we were figuring out what to do."
"Oh, I see?" Li Haochen stroked his chin in thought. "How about we start cooking meals from now on? The second floor is empty anyway. We could buy some rice cookers and induction cooktops. What do you think?"
Li Haochen's suggestion brightened everyone's eyes, and they all readily agreed.
"That's a great idea."
"I approve."
"But buying groceries will be troublesome. The school isn't close to the market."
"Yeah, buying groceries is a big problem." For a moment, everyone fell silent.
"How about I take charge of buying groceries?" Xiao Nian interjected hesitantly. "The market is right downstairs from where I live, and it's not far from the shop."
"That's perfect, Xiao Nian. Then, the logistics will be handed over to you. You'll have a budget of 200 yuan per day. At noon, you guys from the branch can take an hour's break, come over here to eat, and then go back to watch the shop after you're full." Eating well meant having more energy to earn more money. Considering it was only six thousand yuan a month, spending a little to buy health was a huge profit. So, Li Haochen made the decision on the spot.
"We get to eat too?" The three of them were a bit overwhelmed with joy, their faces lighting up, thinking they had found a great boss.
"Let Shanshan and Qianqian handle the cooking."
"Okay!"
"No problem."
Coming from the countryside, they had learned how to cook and stir-fry long ago. This small matter was certainly not a problem for them.
Li Haochen turned to Xiao Nian and the other two and said, "You guys have a hard night watching the shop. I've ordered takeout for you."
"It's not hard, it's part of our job."
"Brothers and sisters, let's go."
"...?"
"Go where?"
"To my place, I'm cooking. Aren't you coming?" Li Haochen smiled and pulled Murong Yanran towards the door.
"Yes, we must go!"
"Right, let's go eat at the rich guy's place."
Li Haochen and Murong Yanran went ahead. Back at home, while she went upstairs to change, Li Haochen dashed back to his room, locked the door, and slipped into his personal space. He picked up some snails and mussels, and even found a few large whelks in a crevice. Satisfied, he returned to his room.
When he went out, Murong Yanran hadn't come down yet. Li Haochen casually carried the sea snails outside, put them in a basin of water to keep them fresh.
Just as Li Haochen took out the vegetables to wash them, Murong Yanran shooed him out of the kitchen, saying it was her job. Unable to refuse, he let her take over.
Lately, Li Haochen had become obsessed with gongfu tea, even buying a tea set and tea table. He would brew two pots whenever he had time. He learned everything from preparing the utensils, adding tea, waiting for the water, brewing, scraping the foam, rinsing the pot, warming the cups, to serving the tea, all from the internet. He was doing quite well, though his movements were clumsy, and the tea wasn't particularly good, just supermarket-bought black tea at 120 yuan per jin.
As soon as he finished brewing, Chen He and the others arrived. They had come earlier, feeling it wasn't right to come empty-handed. Although Li Haochen wouldn't mind, it was customary to bring something when visiting. So, they had gone to the supermarket to buy some fruit, a bottle of wine, and some soda.
"You didn't need to buy anything," Li Haochen said, slightly chiding them.
"Don't be so formal, everyone. Make yourselves at home," Murong Yanran emerged upon hearing them, wiping the water from her hands, acting like the hostess.
"Yanran, go boil some congee, a lot of it." Then, Li Haochen, wearing a headlamp, picked up a plastic bucket and a shovel and left.
"Haochen, where are you going?" Liang Minfeng asked curiously.
"To dig up some good stuff. Want to come?"
Chen He and the others became interested and followed him.
With the men out, the women naturally helped in the kitchen. Murong Yanran only washed vegetables; she was still figuring out stir-frying, so that task fell to the other three women. She stood aside, watching and occasionally asking for advice, thus learning quite a few stir-frying techniques.
"Third brother, why are we going to the beach?"
"Here, take this flashlight. You'll know when you follow me."
Li Haochen turned on his headlamp, and a dazzling beam of light shot onto the wet sand, making the entire area as bright as daytime.
He turned his head from side to side, and the headlamp above scanned left and right like a radar.
"Heh heh, found it." Li Haochen spotted a fresh sand crab hole in the upper left. He quickened his pace, and Liang Minfeng and the others followed, looking puzzled.
He shone the light into the hole and saw a sand crab nestled shallowly inside. He was immediately delighted and called the others over.
"Got something, heh heh. Everyone come and see. Our goal tonight is to find these holes and dig out the sand crabs inside. At this time, sand crabs are heading to the beach, digging a hole and sleeping, so they're easy to catch. When digging, be careful. Gather the sand in your palm and dig slowly. This prevents the sand crabs from attacking, and also from escaping. Don't underestimate them; their little pincers can do some damage."
Li Haochen explained the process of catching crabs very meticulously. Before long, he dug one out and held it in his hand. It flailed its claws and held its two big eyes high, looking quite cute.
Chen He and the other two found it quite interesting and confidently began searching on their own.
Catching these wasn't difficult; they got the hang of it after a few tries. Chen He and the others gradually started to catch some, though not as many as Li Haochen.
Sand crabs were abundant and plump this season. In a short while, the few of them had caught a small bucketful.
"That's enough, let's go back!"
"Ouch..."
Liang Minfeng was still eager for more when he accidentally got pinched by a sand crab's claw. His entire finger swelled up like a light bulb. His cry in the quiet night was quite chilling.
"Pfft, ha ha ha!"
Liang Minfeng was enraged. He thought, "A mere sand crab dares to challenge Brother Feng?" He wouldn't show it some respect if he were treated like a sick cat?
With a flick, he threw the sand crab onto the ground and stomped on it. With a bang, the sand was kicked up, forming a large pit. He looked around, but there was no sign of the sand crab. He glanced ahead and saw the sand crab scuttling away, even making a couple of threatening movements with its claws. Feeling its dignity insulted, Liang Minfeng's anger surged, and he rushed forward. However, his foot slipped, and he went flying like a cannonball, crashing hard onto the beach and sliding a few meters long.
"Spit, pfft, pfft." Liang Minfeng's face was darkened with sand as he mumbled curses while spitting.
"Pfft, ha ha ha, I'm dying of laughter."
"Fourth brother, is this an evolved version of the 'Falling Goose Style' on Sand? Ha ha ha!"
Li Haochen and the others, seeing Liang Minfeng's antics, burst into uncontrollable laughter, tears streaming down their faces.