Liang Hanwen tallied up the menu choices, then waved at Xiao Dong, "Do we need to book this private room?"
"Yes, there are still two private rooms available upstairs. How many people are you expecting, and when will you need it?"
"About thirty people, all Lin Ji fans. We’ve arranged to have dinner together here tonight; we’ve already set up the group chat... Do you have a private table big enough for us?"
Xiao Dong replied, "Our largest private room can seat thirty-two people. It’s a bit of a squeeze, but we can fit thirty-five or thirty-six. It should meet your needs."
Upon hearing there was a suitable private room, Liang Hanwen said, "Then let’s book it... Oh, and please note down the dishes we’ve ordered so we don’t have to go over them again tonight. Calculate the total, and I’ll pay for it now."
Xiao Dong was a little surprised but quickly noted down the dishes, calculated the total, and proactively offered a discount.
After settling this, she went to the front desk and thoroughly explained the reservation details to Song Tiantian, "I didn’t expect the shop’s fans to actually want to have a gathering here and even pay upfront. Seeing how straightforward they were, I offered a discount on my own initiative."
"You did the right thing; a discount is indeed warranted." Song Tiantian then went upstairs to report to Lin Xu.
Since so many dedicated fans were coming to eat, had booked the restaurant’s largest private room, and paid for their meals in full, it was only right to offer them a few complimentary dishes. However, she couldn’t decide exactly what to offer, and with Shu Yun not around, it was best to let the boss make the decision.
Lin Xu, who was at the kitchen door, was somewhat surprised after hearing Song Tiantian’s report. He hadn’t expected netizens to choose his restaurant for a gathering and immediately book the largest private room.
He took the order slip and said, "I’ll think about what extra dishes to add for them. When it’s less busy tonight, I’ll go to the private room and have a couple of drinks with them. They’ve come all this way; we can’t disappoint them."
Then he lowered his head and started studying their order. This looked like an order for a large group. It had a mix of meat and vegetarian dishes, both hot and cold, and even several dishes of similar types and flavors.
After reviewing it, he instructed a kitchen assistant, "Go buy four lamb racks, and make sure they’re fresh."
It was a bit late to roast a whole lamb, and roasting a lamb back would also be challenging. However, grilling lamb racks was definitely doable. Lamb racks don’t have a lot of meat, so they’re easy to marinate and grill. If they started preparing them now, it wouldn’t delay dinner.
Initially, Lin Xu planned to buy two lamb racks, but on second thought, he realized that for over thirty people, it wouldn’t even be one rib each, so he added two more.
Tonight, three roasted lamb racks would be sent to the private room, and the remaining one would be a treat for the film crew. After all, this was the first joint effort between the ’Silly Squad’ and the ’Slimming Squad,’ and they were working hard to promote the restaurant, so they definitely deserved a reward. For them, the best reward was undoubtedly succulent grilled lamb racks.
I wonder if they’ve come up with a catchy name for the film crew... Lin Xu mused.
The ’Silly Squad’ on one side, the ’Slimming Squad’ on the other... if you combine them, would it be—the ’Saori Squad’?
In Saint Seiya, a single Saori required the five young heroes to risk their lives to save her. If there were a whole team of Saoris, wouldn’t those five just defect immediately?
No, no, that name isn’t good.
Let’s just call them the ’Fat-Loss Squad.’
People say a name should represent an ideal or an unattainable goal. Well, losing fat is the eternal ache in this group’s heart, so it fits the main principle of naming.
Lin Xu let his thoughts wander for a moment before returning to his work in the kitchen.
When the lamb racks arrived, he first used a small knife to score each lamb rack, cutting partway through the meat between the bones but leaving the ends connected to make grilling easier. After preparing the racks, he rinsed them under running water for an hour. Then, he placed them in a marinade made from puréed onions, celery, carrots, cilantro, and other vegetables.
「Huixuan Building.」
After finalizing all aspects of the shoot, Zeng Xiaoqi stood up and turned off the recording camera, "If this video blows up, we should release these behind-the-scenes clips to show everyone the power of brainstorming."
Dou Wenjing exclaimed, "Exactly! We need to show how hard the behind-the-scenes team worked."
Dundun, who had been napping, woke up and hopped off the conference table. Shu Yun quickly scooped the cat into her arms and said, "Since everything’s settled, let’s go shoot. Let’s start by filming Dundun playing with the cat teaser. Then, when it’s time for Dundun to eat, we’ll steam some fish. That way, we can seamlessly transition to filming the eating scene."
"Okay, okay, let’s get going then."
After much discussion, the group decided to go to the West Fourth Ring Villa for shooting. The villa was spacious and filled with toys; in fact, an entire room wasn’t enough to hold all of Dundun’s toys and supplies.
Old Mr. and Mrs. Shen’s habit of buying toys without regard to cost perfectly illustrated what ’grandparental doting’ means.
Shen Baobao rubbed Dundun’s head, "When we get to the villa, Mommy will personally steam some fish for you, okay?"
The little furball, who had been resting quietly in Shu Yun’s arms, immediately struggled upon hearing this.
Completely oblivious to the cat’s look of protest in its eyes, a certain stepmother surnamed Shen continued happily, "HAHAHA, look how happy Dundun is! As long as you want to eat, Mommy will cook delicious food for you every day. Aren’t you looking forward to it?"
Dundun struggled for a good while, then finally kicked its legs out vigorously.
This kitty... only begs for a swift demise!!!!
Zeng Xiaoqi handed the compact camera, which had just recorded their discussion, to Shen Baobao, "This camera is quite easy to operate. Take it home and see if you can film some more behind-the-scenes footage of Dundun tonight. I’ll use the professional camera when we’re at your villa later."