Let's go back to 2008, starting with a recreational fishing park.

But the thought of the sponsorship deal falling through immediately wiped the smile off Su Qing's face.

Jiang Xia glanced at the other person and sighed, "It's alright, let's find a place to eat first, and then we'll ask around to see if there are any other fishing tackle shops."

"Hmm." Su Qing nodded; there was nothing she could do about these things.

It was already late when Jiang Xia took out his phone to check the time and found that it was already past five o'clock.

He decided not to go back today, but to find a hotel to stay in temporarily for the night, and then try his luck in the city tomorrow morning before going back in the afternoon.

Otherwise, a round trip would take four hours, which is too troublesome.

"What do you want to eat?" Jiang Xia put his phone back in his pocket and asked Su Qing.

"Whatever is fine. I don't usually eat out, so I don't know what good food there is," Su Qing said after thinking for a moment.

"Shall we go eat hot pot?" Jiang Xia suggested. He hadn't had hot pot in a long time and was craving it.

"Great! I've never had hot pot before."

Upon hearing "hot pot," Su Qing smiled and happily agreed to Jiang Xia's suggestion.

"What? You've never had hot pot?" Jiang Xia was a little surprised. Shouldn't everyone have eaten hot pot these days?

"That's right." Su Qing nodded matter-of-factly and said, "There are no hot pot restaurants in our town, and I don't go to the county town unless I have to, so of course I've never eaten hot pot."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia felt that it made sense. In 08, although the country had moved beyond backwardness, many children who grew up in villages or towns had not yet experienced some things that would be commonplace in later generations if they did not go out into the world.

"Let's go then, I'll take you to try hot pot today. And let me tell you, it's super spicy!"

As Jiang Xia spoke, he casually hailed a taxi.

"Sir, which hot pot restaurant around here is pretty good?"

The taxi driver was a bald man. Upon hearing Jiang Xia's question, he enthusiastically replied, "There aren't many hot pot restaurants around here. If you don't mind the distance, I'll take you to Shancheng Hot Pot in the west of the city. It's probably the most famous hot pot restaurant in Linjiang!"

"Okay, let's go to Shancheng Hot Pot then."

Listening to the driver's description, Jiang Xia didn't hesitate. If it was delicious, then they would eat there. It didn't matter if it was far away, since she wasn't short of money anyway.

About 20 minutes later, Jiang Xia and Su Qing got out of the taxi.

Looking at the large chili pepper sign of the mountain city hot pot restaurant, Jiang Xia felt it had a pretty good vibe.

As soon as Su Qing and I entered the store, a waiter came to greet us.

"Hello sir, how many of you are there?"

Jiang Xia replied, "Gentlemen, let's find a seat by the window. A small private room would be ideal."

"Okay, sir, this way please."

Jiang Xia and his companion followed the waiter and soon arrived at a small private room.

Because it was summer, the air conditioning was on in the private room. Suddenly going from a hot place to a cold place, Jiang Xia felt a bit cold.

Fearing he might catch a cold, he picked up the air conditioner remote from the table and turned the temperature up a bit.

Then, he picked up the menu that the waiter handed him and started looking at it.

This should be a hot pot restaurant similar to the internet-famous restaurants of later generations. Although the concept of internet-famous restaurants did not exist at this time, Jiang Xia found that there were many discounted set meals on the menu.

"Brother, I recommend you order this 99-yuan set meal for two. It includes two portions of meat and plenty of vegetables. It's a great deal."

Looking at the set meal recommended by the waiter, Jiang Xia shook his head. How could he possibly enjoy only two portions of meat?

Then he looked at the 128 yuan and 168 yuan set meals and found that they were just so-so, with some random dishes added, many of which were not his favorites.

"Forget it, let's just order something dry." Jiang Xia thought to herself. Although it was more expensive, she could choose dishes she liked.

"Qingqing, shall we have both beef and mutton?" He asked Su Qing habitually first, and when she nodded, he began to happily order the food.

Australian Wagyu beef, order!

Fresh tripe, order!

Chaoshan beef balls, order!

After a series of actions, Jiang Xia ordered five or six meat dishes.

Then, he handed the menu to Su Qing.

"Qingqing, look at what you want to eat, and just tick the ones you want on the table."

Su Qing took the menu and was shocked when she saw the prices.

The price of a single dish is quite different from the price of the set meal.

Because many of the expensive dishes are not included in the set meal.

Holding the menu, Su Qing pondered for a while and picked out a few inexpensive vegetarian dishes.

Then, fearing that Jiang Xia might discover something, she handed the menu directly to the waiter.

The waiter took the menu, looked at it for a moment, and then asked, "Sir, I see we haven't ordered any drinks yet. What would you like to drink?"

"What would you like to drink?" Jiang Xia asked Su Qing.

"Anything is fine."

"Orange juice?"

Su Qing nodded.

"Two large glasses of orange juice, please!" Jiang Xia said to the waiter.

"Okay, sir, please wait a moment, the food will be here shortly."

After the waiter left the private room, Jiang Xia led Su Qing out of the room.

"What are we going to do?" Su Qing asked curiously.

Jiang Xia explained, "When you go to make the dipping sauce, you usually make your own dipping sauce according to your own taste when eating hot pot."

"I see."

Arriving at the condiment area of ​​the hot pot restaurant, Jiang Xia took out a small dish, intending to mix it as usual, but suddenly remembered something and looked at Su Qing:

"Qingqing, you recognize all these seasonings, right?"

Su Qing nodded: "Of course I know them, they're just some common ones, right?"

"Then... how about you make it for me?" Jiang Xia looked at Su Qing and inexplicably felt that Su Qing's version would taste better than his own.

"Of course!" Su Qing took Xiao Die from Jiang Xia and started adding various ingredients.

She didn't ask Jiang Xia what he liked to eat. Having been a non-professional chef at the fishing grounds for so long, she knew the tastes and dietary restrictions of everyone there like the back of her hand.

On the other side, Jiang Xia looked at Su Qing intently preparing the dipping sauce and suddenly thought, "Is this the legendary virtuous wife and loving mother type of girl?"

After Su Qing finished preparing the dipping sauce, she noticed that Jiang Xia was looking at her with a strange expression.

She instantly became wary: "Hey, why are you looking at me like that!"

Hearing the sound, Jiang Xia snapped out of his daze and suddenly felt a little awkward, unsure of what to say. Looking at Su Qing's questioning gaze, he thought for a moment and could only say:

"Nothing much, I just think your outfit looks really good today!"

Hearing Jiang Xia praise her clothes, Su Qing said proudly, "Of course, I specially picked these out after you told me you were coming to the city."

Hearing Su Qing say that, Jiang Xia suddenly realized that the other woman was indeed wearing a light brown suit today, which looked quite good.

Seeing Jiang Xia still staring at her, Su Qing snorted coldly, "Stop looking. We see each other every day. Is this the first time you've noticed my beauty?"

"Here's the disc, I still need to adjust my own!"

Jiang Xia took the dipping sauce from Su Qing, gave an awkward smile, and quickly ran back to the private room.

He was afraid that Su Qing would misunderstand if he continued to stand there.