Spicy Tuna Pasta with Spicy Sauce

The McDonald's of Chinese Budget Dining—Sally Duck.

2013.

A plate of Roman-style bacon carbonara pasta cost just ten yuan.

A student-priced pork trotter rice from the backstreet eateries also went for ten.

But this price was available to everyone.

Two people sat facing each other, two large menus resting on the table.

Jiang Yunlu picked up the menu and flipped it open.

"The dishes... are so cheap," she couldn't help but remark.

Though she often had meals delivered from home these days,

she also frequently went out to eat at the backstreet stalls with Wang Qin and the others.

So Jiang Yunlu had a clear grasp of market prices.

Despite being a young lady from a wealthy family, she never looked down on these humble street-side joints.

In fact, she enjoyed them thoroughly.

As she scanned the menu, Jiang Yunlu muttered under her breath,

"This is probably the cheapest Western food I've ever seen."

Lin Mo didn’t respond. Instead, he stood up and walked over to the self-service drink station, returning shortly with two glasses of fizzy orange soda, placing one in front of Jiang Yunlu.

"Aren’t these drinks an extra six yuan?" Jiang Yunlu frowned. In her eyes, the "all-you-can-drink" deal wasn’t worth it.

She looked at Lin Mo with sparkling eyes, her tone laced with playful scheming.

"How about you drink enough to make it worth it for me?"

Lin Mo chuckled and couldn’t resist patting the girl’s head.

"Don’t overthink it. It’s just six yuan. Let’s focus on ordering."

Just as Jiang Yunlu rubbed her head and continued wrestling with the menu, a father and son walked in.

The father’s jacket looked well-worn, a jingling set of keys hanging from his waist.

The son, likely in his early teens, couldn’t hide his excitement.

They were the picture of an ordinary working-class family.

The moment they sat down, the boy grabbed the menu and declared loudly,

"Dad, I want the super-duper chicken steak!"

The father grinned, his face crinkling with laughter. "Sure, sure! Since your mom’s not here tonight, we’ll splurge a little. Order whatever you can finish!"

"Yay!" The boy clapped in delight.

Lin Mo glanced at the pair and smiled.

Though Sally Duck was mockingly called the "McDonald's of Chinese budget dining," it was, strictly speaking, a place that served decent Western-style meals at rock-bottom prices.

The phrase "order whatever you want" might sound trivial, but to that child, it meant the world.

Lin Mo’s gaze returned to Jiang Yunlu.

"In that case, I’ll have the seaweed salad, the Flaming Spicy Tuna Pasta, and the black pepper burger."

The moment the words left his mouth, Lin Mo suddenly stood up, circled the small square table, and sat right beside Jiang Yunlu.

Feeling his sudden closeness, Jiang Yunlu stiffened, caught off guard by the abrupt proximity.

"Don’t you want to try the escargot? It’s great with bread."

"Uh... sure, let’s try it."

Jiang Yunlu’s cheeks flushed pink, a hint of bashfulness in her voice.

Lin Mo then pointed at the five-spice sausage on the menu.

"I really like this one. Let’s get it too."

In a daze, Jiang Yunlu only registered that the distance between them was now much closer than when they were sitting across from each other.

Still, a small gap remained.

Nothing like the closeness they’d shared back at school.

Once their order was finalized, Lin Mo returned to his seat and called the waiter over. Jiang Yunlu took small sips of her Fanta.

In a corner of the restaurant, the female assistant snapped a few more photos—all of the two sitting together.

"Ah, they look so good together. But if I send these to Mr. Jiang, he’ll probably lose his mind."

After some deliberation, she decided to only send the photo of them sitting across from each other.

Sure enough, a reply came instantly:

"Where are they eating?!"

"It’s Sally Duck. Are you coming over, Mr. Jiang?"

Silence followed. No response for a long while.

Meanwhile, Lin Mo’s phone buzzed. He picked it up to see a furious message from Old Jiang:

"You take my daughter to a place like this?!"

Lin Mo was well aware the assistant had been snapping photos, but he didn’t care.

He just hadn’t expected Old Jiang to confront him directly.

So he replied:

"How many years has it been since our people could finally eat their fill? And you’re already looking down on restaurants that feed them affordably?"

That shut him up.

Having fended off the old man, their food arrived quickly.

Though Sally Duck followed a fast-food Western dining model, it was actually the pioneer of pre-made meals.

To ensure consistency across all branches, the chefs here were essentially just oven operators.

The salads came pre-portioned—when a customer ordered, they’d scoop out a serving of seaweed strips and drizzle on some dressing.

Most other dishes worked the same way.

But the place was undeniably cheap, clean, and hygienic.

Lin Mo glanced at his phone, then at Jiang Yunlu.

How is it that father and daughter are nothing alike?

"What’s wrong? Is Xie Yuling texting you to go home?"

Lin Mo paused. Jiang Yunlu rarely brought up Xie Yuling in front of him.

She must have assumed the message was from her, seeing him smile at his phone.

Lin Mo couldn’t help but laugh.

"Want to know who texted me?"

Jiang Yunlu sniffed and turned her head away.

"Not really."

"Fine, suit yourself."

With that, he set his phone down and dug into his tuna pasta.

The girl’s eyes kept darting to the device.

But in the end, she didn’t reach for it.

A while later, another notification chimed.

Jiang Yunlu’s attention snapped back to it.

Lin Mo deliberately picked up his phone with exaggerated slowness.

"Let’s see who it is now."

Unconsciously, Jiang Yunlu leaned in slightly, as if trying to peek at the screen.

"Someone’s dad just scolded me for taking his daughter here to eat. I fired back, and he realized he was being unreasonable, so he apologized."

Lin Mo grinned at her.

Jiang Yunlu immediately knew it was her father causing trouble again.

She stomped her feet under the table, visibly annoyed.

"Did he say anything weird?"

"Of course not. If he had, I’d have reported him to his daughter."

Jiang Yunlu smacked his arm in mock irritation.

What Old Jiang had actually said was:

"I worked my ass off so my daughter could live a better life! Don’t you dare try to win her over with this cheap crap!"

Well, I’ll pretend I didn’t see that. No need to tattle.

You’d throw a fit if I actually acted like some troublemaker.

Meanwhile, the assistant, unable to hear their conversation, only saw Lin Mo sliding his phone toward Jiang Yunlu.

She quickly messaged Jiang Chengshan:

"Boss, Lin Mo just handed his phone to the young miss. It looked like she was checking up on him."

Back in his office, Jiang Chengshan erupted:

"Lin Mo, you little @#$%&!"