Club

People's tastes in food are completely different.

From very early on, Su Bai had cared deeply about the quality of his diet.

Even when he didn't have much spare cash, he would use whatever ingredients were in the fridge to whip up a late-night snack after coming home from his high school evening self-study.

Ultimately, cooking for oneself is often very cost-effective, and once you do it enough, it doesn't take much time either.

Of course, the taste is another matter. Some dishes are very simple to make, while others are purely labor-intensive. The latter are the ones best ordered when eating out.

People who love to cook don't usually just look at the quality of the ingredients to determine if a dish's price is reasonable when dining out; they factor in the labor as well.

Compared to dishes that rely on expensive ingredients but have simple cooking processes, people who love cooking prefer to order labor-intensive dishes.

Su Bai didn't mind restaurants with high markups, as long as the food was actually good and the service was on point. The problem was that some internet-famous restaurants tasted absolutely terrible. Having just a pretty facade wasn't enough.

For example, the regional cuisine bistros that had become popular everywhere over the past couple of years—Su Bai had a very poor impression of them.

They usually only barely resembled the cuisines they claimed to serve, completely failing to capture the essence of the dishes.

There were even a lot of mismatched re-creations.

Take the classic Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan bistros for instance. They were absolute trash, not even worth a single hair of a local roadside eatery in those provinces.

Su Bai wondered if that older sister who ran the gym was going down this route too.

It didn't seem impossible. This method of fleecing the petty bourgeoisie was quite satisfying. To be honest, if you threw your conscience out the window, it was a pretty good trend to follow. After all, even though the bistro food tasted bad, it was expensive!

Anything associated with a fresh, internet-famous concept was expensive, unreasonably so.

Now, if you were talking about imported, palm-sized carabineros prawns, their rarity and harvesting costs were obvious, so they couldn't possibly be cheap.

Some bistros even specialized in pre-packaged meals. Pre-packaged meals were one thing, but they used the exact same suppliers as cheap group-buy delivery apps...

"What are you thinking? She has standards, okay? She wouldn't open one of those run-of-the-mill bistros," Xia Lin said. "She hired five chefs to cook, all with different styles, and they even rotate shifts."

"Good lord, such a luxurious lineup?" Su Bai couldn't help but click his tongue. It seemed that when a wealthy lady started a business, it was different from ordinary people. Many restaurants couldn't even afford that many proper chefs.

Some well-known chains didn't even have a proper head chef in the kitchen...

"Of course. This bistro is also an exclusive, members-only establishment. It follows the same business model as the gym she opened before. It's actually more like what they call a 'club' abroad."

"Got it."

If that were the case, then there was indeed no need to pinch pennies when it came to costs.

This kind of club was more of a social platform for high society. The membership fees were very high, acting as a barrier to entry. Those who could afford the fees probably didn't care about that bit of money anyway.

Therefore, the services provided had to satisfy the big shots.

It was obvious that Xia Lin really liked bringing Su Bai into her social circle. This was a sign that a woman was very satisfied with her man. If a girl was very hesitant to let you appear in her social circle, even if you were her boyfriend, your status in her heart was probably just so-so.

Conversely, if she was very willing to show you off in public, it proved that you held a lot of weight in her heart.

Su Bai had always understood this point. How should he put it? Human nature was often just like that. The petty calculations of everyday folks were still applicable in so-called high society, just with a slightly different facade.

"That's great then. I'm looking forward to it."

"She knows you like eating meat and seafood, so she specially prepared some for you. You should be secretly thrilled."

"Oh? Really? Not bad at all."

The bistro was located in a quiet spot in the suburbs. Shaded by green trees, the environment was peaceful and elegant. Even the scent permeating the air was refreshing.

The exterior decoration was also of a rather serene style. From a distance, it didn't look like a bistro at all, but rather a teahouse or a flower shop.

Speaking of which, teahouses and flower shops were also experts at fleecing people... The pricing was a dark art, and the quality varied greatly.

Anyway, Su Bai couldn't figure it out. He didn't understand tea, and he understood flowers even less.

They passed through the wooden-beamed lobby and corridors, verified their identities, and entered the interior of the bistro.

"Oh my, welcome, welcome! You're finally here, Lin. You're usually so busy at school, I haven't even had the chance to meet your little boyfriend."

"What little boyfriend..."

"Aww, you're blushing! Hey, there are no outsiders here, no need to hide things from me. Seeing how radiant you look, Lin, you must have been enjoying your handsome little guy quite a bit lately, haven't you?"

The older sister winked at the two of them. Obviously, she was the type with no taboos. Her uninhibited personality left Xia Lin speechless in just a few words.

Su Bai, however, was thick-skinned as always: "Not at all. Her good complexion is clearly the result of Xia's fitness routine—it's all hard work and sweat!"

"Hahaha, really? Is working out that effective? I work out consistently too, so how come I don't have such a radiant complexion?"

"That's hard to say. Maybe Xia is just naturally gifted. Yes, naturally gifted..."

Speaking of this, Su Bai couldn't help but reminisce.

Xia Lin's physical stamina was indeed very capable of satisfying Su Bai's needs. After all, for this kind of combat, both parties needed to be evenly matched in strength for it to be fully enjoyable.

After teasing them for a bit, the Boss Lady looked at Su Bai with an increasingly approving gaze.

This kid was indeed a good match for Xia Lin.

Initially, when she heard that Xia Lin was interested in a boy four years younger than her, the Boss Lady was quite astonished. Could it be that Xia Lin was getting into the raising a boyfriend trope?

It was only when she first met him in person at the gym that she realized this boy was the very mature and emotionally stable type. His bearing in speech and mannerisms was completely worthy of Xia Lin.

Of course, his wealth matched hers too.

If it were solely based on wealth, finding someone to match Xia Lin actually wouldn't be that hard. But overall aura was a very mystical thing; it was linked to looks, but it wasn't just about looks.

Being ugly was definitely out of the question, and even having an overly average face wouldn't cut it. After all, Xia Lin was a natural beauty. With her celebrity-level looks right there, enhanced by her approachable and magnanimous personality, tsk tsk, she was truly magnificent.

As everyone knows, when besties flatter each other, they love to say things like, Ahhhhh bestie, you're seriously so amazing! There's absolutely no man good enough for you!

Most of the time, it was just blowing smoke. What kind of ridiculous standards would mean no man was good enough? That was taking oneself way too seriously.

However, in Xia Lin's case, it was true that very few people could match her. And this wasn't just the Boss Lady looking through a bestie filter.