Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 343 - 320: Betting on Himself!

Five minutes later.

Xue Ping and Xue An were sitting at Xiao Huang’s table, their mouths greasy, the fragrance lingering, with a hint of vinegar still wafting through their nostrils. They sat there dazed and expressionless.

For a long, long time.

Yu Hongtao crossed his arms with a slight smirk, "So, how is it? Convinced this time? Know why I told you to take back your lion’s head?"

"Convinced." Xue Ping nodded while sighing, "Truly convinced."

No wonder Master Zhou praised Boss Xiao Chen so highly over the phone. They thought he was merely modifying a famous Huaiyang dish, but it turns out it was purely original!

The meat mixture was unconventional, simmered with soy sauce and served with vinegar—any one of these would be a disruption to traditional Huaiyang Cuisine!

However, Xue An still held onto a bit of dissatisfaction.

The focus points of the brothers differ.

In Xue Ping’s view, they came here today under the banner of restoring Huaiyang Cuisine’s name. Nevertheless, Chen Mo’s cooking was indeed superior to theirs, even better than some Huaiyang masters they had previous tasted.

Maybe vision could deceive, but taste is never a liar.

Thus, Xue Ping believed that they lost their grounds for further argument today, making persistence meaningless.

But the younger brother thought differently.

Xue An said, "Bro, what’s there to be convinced about? We sell ours and he sells his. I admit that this little boss’s are tastier than ours, but since he’s setting up stall here in Yangzhou, aren’t the locals eating them? In my opinion, our lion’s heads will still be more readily accepted by everyone."

Xue Ping sighed, "Well then, let’s do what we ought to do."

Xue An stood up and shouted towards the food cart, "Little Boss, don’t think you can gain everyone’s approval just because it’s delicious. Dare to make a bet with me?"

A bet?

That’s something only Ham Liu and Brother Squid would do.

Nevertheless, Chen Mo asked, "What kind of bet?"

"You sell lion’s heads, I’ll sell lion’s heads. Let’s see which of us sells more by the end of the day."

At this point, Xue An realized that his pricing was lower, which could disadvantage him in terms of revenue comparison, so he quickly added, "Let’s compare who sells more in quantity."

Chen Mo thought, I’ve only made around forty lion’s heads in total, once sold, that’s it. How do I make this bet? 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Well, do you dare or not?"

Chen Mo didn’t hurriedly refuse but instead asked in response, "What’s the stake?"

Xue An thought about it. Betting money was out, as it was meaningless.

Gambling food and drink didn’t carry any significance, they weren’t even acquainted enough to dine together.

Then perhaps...

"If you win, as long as you set up your stall in Yangzhou for a day, we two brothers will work for you for free for a day, deal?"

Chen Mo took a breath, "Does that mean if I lose, I have to work for you?"

"Absolutely!" A confident smile appeared on Xue An’s face, "Of course, we won’t always be setting up stalls and you wouldn’t always be able to follow us, but if you lose, you’ll have to work for us for free for a month, how about it?"

Don’t mention it.

If it’s a wager on money or something else, Chen Mo wouldn’t really be interested.

But talking about free labor.

Hey... Chen Mo actually felt he needed two assistants, especially these two who didn’t seem like complete kitchen rookies and had some experience working in restaurant kitchens. They might actually be quite useful.

"Alright then, set a time. I usually operate no later than 2 a.m. and set up around five or six in the evening. Think it through, how many days are we assessing in terms of business levels?"

Xue An thought about it, those hours weren’t too bad. It was otherwise scorching outside, and there weren’t many people around the Ecological Garden during the day. But this timing was just right.

As for how many days?

A true man seizes the day!

The damn competitiveness suddenly surged within him, "Let’s just look at today."

"Alright, busy yourselves now. After work today, I’ll arrange tomorrow’s work for both of you."

Whoa!

What does that mean?

Xue An looked at Chen Mo unsatisfied, "It’s not even dark yet, and you’re already dreaming?"

Chen Mo smiled silently, just calmly cutting his ingredients.

The variety of ingredients seemed abundant and colorful, Xue An pouted and dragged his brother Xue Ping back to their stall, "Let’s chop more meat mix, when the customers come there’ll be no time."

Xue Ping: ...

The elder brother was a bit dumbfounded.

Frankly, Xue Ping felt his younger brother was betting too much.

If he were an ordinary customer, seeing an 88-yuan rich-colored lion’s head and an 18-yuan regular one, he’d definitely go for the 18-yuan option.

But what if, just what if.

Trying the 88-yuan one, Xue Ping believed that no one could stop at just one; that taste, tsk!

Thinking about it now, he could hardly resist going for two more.

No, eating three more would be a thrill!

But growing up together until now, his brother has already involved him in this wager’s progress, and Xue Ping had no choice but to bite the bullet.

Continue chopping the meat, mixing the stuffing!

Over at Chen Mo’s side, he was handling other ingredients.

Yu Hongtao, after eating a lion’s head, felt a pleasant sensation throughout his body. Whether it was from the satisfying meal or due to the drink, he felt a strange, unexplainable excitement.

"Maybe it was staying up late last night?"

Yu Hongtao got up and asked, "Boss, will the fried rice be ready soon?"

Yu Hongtao thought he’d better finish eating and head home for rest. At his age, he was a bit beyond his capacity keeping up with offline real engagement.

"Starting now."

Using a black spoon, Chen Mo scooped some rice grains from a bamboo sieve, lightly pinching them with his fingers.

Mm...

It was pretty much the desired state.

The surface of the rice grains had returned to life, undergoing the α transformation.

However, after crushing, the interior was still moist and slightly sticky, precisely the effect Chen Mo sought.

No more talk.

Heat the pan and add oil!

Just now, the first ingredient Chen Mo handled was shrimp!

Freshly peeled freshwater shrimp, separated into shrimp meat and shrimp heads.

The shrimp meat was set aside for later use, and the shrimp heads had their oils cooked out and discarded by Chen Mo earlier.

Upon seeing Chen Mo ladle in a scoop of spotless, pure lard, followed by a slightly reddish oil, Yu Hongtao asked, "Boss, what’s that?"

"Shrimp oil."

Whoa!

Yu Hongtao was instantly curious. For someone who loves food, when encountering a familiar delicacy prepared in an unfamiliar way, curiosity piques.

It fills one with anticipation.

"Using shrimp oil for fried rice? That’s the first I’ve heard of it."

"It’s all new to you, isn’t it?"

Using the black spoon, Chen Mo sensed the oil temperature in the pan. When it reached eight tenths hot, almost smoking, he took out another prepared ingredient.

"Whoa, what’s his game now?"

"Just watch."

Chen Mo directly poured the separated golden egg yolk from the bowl into the pan.

Leaving Yu Hongtao increasingly baffled.