Chapter 22: 19

Chapter 19

Beloved Rock

Translated by boilpoil
Edited by boilpoil

 

Some customers assumed the pretty boy at the door is a waiter, and greets him, or tries to make small talk and ask about any recommended dishes tonight.

However, Mu Mu’er can’t communicate very well, or even know what’s on the menu. Still, he is able to ignore everything, and simply observes everyone while sitting on his rock, and nodding whenever people talk to him.

It makes him look like a guardian defending the entrance, or rather, his treasured rock.

Now, a group of customers approaches. Young girls who are here to visit the legendary handsome owner. So they talk to Mu Mu’er, “hey there. Table for three?”

Mu Mu’er looks up a bit slowly, and repeats the only word he understood, “three…”

Then a girl spots the sign beside that reads ‘Please take a seat wherever,’ and tells her companions, “this says we can take a seat anywhere we like.”

So they do, but the girl turns back around after a few tentative steps, and asks Mu Mu’er, “hey handsome, is the owner here today? He’s here, right?”

Mu Mu’er shrinks a little seeing how excited she looks, as he gauges the danger there may be for his rock, and only gives an answer after thinking a while, “… who?”

The slow and sleepy response amuses the girl, it seems, and she whispers, “you’re pretty fun, too.”

Her companions has noticed her, and turns around to drag her away, while teasing her for falling for a new guy immediately.

Outside, the customers can see the restaurant is already full, and simply takes a seat at the benches outside to wait.

Mu Mu’er remains sitting on a stone for a while, and begins to get anxious. There are only unfamiliar strangers around, and it’s noisy. He subconsciously tries to look for Bai Yao, but he can’t let go of his stone either. He tries to lean as much as possible towards the kitchen while having a tiny bit of his butt still in contact with the stone.

Bai Yao, meanwhile, doesn’t know Mu Mu’er’s struggles in his mind. He’s focused entirely on the meals; there are seven burners on the stove in the kitchen, and when it gets truly busy, every single one of them would be on and cooking. Even if he’s used to this, Bai Yao is still a little shorthanded at times.

When Bai Yao is delivering meals, he sees Mu Mu’er sitting pretty atop that rock and chuckles.

The little sea otter sure loves stuffing things under him. If the rock were any small, he’d just be sitting on the ground, and could be mistaken for a guard dog.

He seems to be doing fine, so Bai Yao continues his busy schedule unabated.

“Woop~” Mu Mu’er makes a slightly saddened vocalisation when he sees Bai Yao observing him for a moment then turning away.

By eight, the restaurant is closed, and Bai Yao goes to lock the door. Instead of cleaning, he first gets to cooking his and Mu Mu’er’s dinner first. He tells himself it’s because he’s also hungry, and definitely not because he’s worried Mu Mu’er is also hungry.

Dinner is a seafood fried rice with eggs and curry; it’s also a favourite item on the menu of the patrons. It was also on the consideration for being the signature dish of the restaurant when it was opened.

Children love it; it’s flavourful but not overwhelming.

Shrimps, dried clam meat, little octopi, mussels and squid legs are dropped in cold oil and stir-fried for three minutes, before cooked rice, fried eggs and curry sauce is added in to be stirred evenly. A little sprinkle of chopped spring onions seals the freshness in. It smells delicious.

Bai Yao makes his own curry, which tastes better than the powdered curry or curry blocks sold in the stores outside, and it’s without weird additives and preservatives.

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He has three varieties of spiciness – none, light and medium. Customers can order to taste, while he himself prefers the light one. It adds a fragrance to the meal.

Considering Mu Mu’er might not be used to spiciness, though, Bai Yao uses ‘none’ for their meal today.

He has poured the fried rice into the dish, and yells out towards the restaurant that dinner is ready, but unexpectedly, there is no response. Not a boy that hops excitedly towards him like a bunny seeing an ear of corn. No one comes after quite some time.

Bai Yao pushes the kitchen open, and finally finds Mu Mu’er in a corner of the restaurant. He’s currently hugging his big stone and pushing it behind a pot of bamboo palm.

Turning into human has increased his strength, allowing the sea otter to move the stone about. Still, it looks strenuous.

“What’s wrong?” Bai Yao is confused.

Mu Mu’er is too busy to answer. He mumbles something, and Bai Yao only hears it when he walks even closer.

“Can’t… here,” Mu Mu’er says, anxiously, “it will break.”

Bai Yao tries his best to interpret the intended meaning. Does he mean he’s worried the customers will accidentally break this ‘tool’ he uses for eating? He’s already turned into a human, but he still thinks like a sea otter.

“Pfft,” Bai Yao couldn’t help but smile.

There clearly isn’t enough space behind the pot of bamboo palm, which Mu Mu’er only realises after quite a while. He turns around, to search for a new space for his stone.

After taking a while scouting, he finds the small restroom near the back on the right side of the restaurant for customers. It’s some ways and a turn away.

He chooses the location without hesitation, and puts the stone there, patting it like a mother would a child into bed, only without the midnight kiss.

… Right in front of the door to the toilet, oh dear.

Bai Yao is thoroughly entertained, but he also can’t laugh openly. His face aches just watching the little sea otter busily moving about.

“Is it safe here?” He asks behind the boy.

“Mm,” Mu Mu’er nods all solemnly, “it is.”

Bai Yao then asks, “should we eat now that it is safe?”

The mention of a meal immediately brings a smile to Mu Mu’er’s face. He hurriedly runs over to a table and sits down without Bai Yao needing to tell him.

Bai Yao actually prefers eating upstairs, but Mu Mu’er is already excitedly seated, so he changes his mind.

He puts the two plates of fried rice on the table, giving Mu Mu’er the slightly more cartoonish plate which has yellow ducks painted on, “eat quickly before it gets cold.”

However, he soon realises Mu Mu’er does not know how to use a chopstick. He’s holding it correctly, but he isn’t able to lift anything up. Bai Yao has already taken quite a few bites when the little sea otter becomes distressed enough to make ‘woop woop’ sounds.

“You can’t use chopsticks?” Bai Yao asks gently. There is a nod, and so he moves to the other side of the table, standing behind the boy to teach him.

He has a large hand, big enough to hold Mu Mu’er’s entirely in his own. With the patience of a saint, he explains exactly how Mu Mu’er needs to apply the force on his thumb and index finger to hold the two chopsticks in place and use the middle finger to steer. He speaks as slowly as he can.

However, he realises the boy isn’t actually listening at all after teaching for a while. He is too distracted looking at the plate of fried rice in front of him; he gulps.

He has to learn how to use chopsticks to be able to eat the fried rice, but Mu Mu’er doesn’t want to learn how to use chopsticks, because he only wants to eat the fried rice.

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