Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 452 - 385: Temporary Stopover (Part 2)

"Isn’t that a bit embarrassing?" Chen Mo directly stuffed the money into the guy’s shirt pocket. "Of course, you have to pay for a meal."

The round-faced guy took the money out again, left one bill, and handed the remaining four back to Chen Mo. "Even if you pay, that’s too much. Come on in and have a seat."

Chen Mo followed the guy into the courtyard. This courtyard was quite different from those in the north, relatively more comfortable in layout, and both the courtyard walls and eaves were more exquisite.

There was a table set up in the courtyard. Although he didn’t know why they were eating outside, Chen Mo respected the local customs and stood by the table waiting for the host.

The guy ran inside, and Chen Mo could faintly hear murmuring sounds in the local dialect, not understanding a single word. Then a family of four came out of the house.

Two elderly people, two men.

"Please sit down, guest. Jianhong already mentioned it, we’ll just add an extra pair of chopsticks."

Chen Mo didn’t sit down, but nodded gently, "Sorry for the intrusion."

"It’s okay. There have been a lot of people doing live streaming and things like that in recent years. We’ve often seen people acting crazy and dumb in the village, even begging for food at homes. It’s uninteresting."

The round-faced guy looked at everyone standing. "Sit, sit, sit! Why is everyone standing? Hurry up and sit down to eat."

Chen Mo also sat down with everyone else. The guy turned his head, "Buddy, my name is Sun Jianhong, and this is my brother Sun Jiante."

"Hello." Chen Mo nodded hello, and Sun Jiante also smiled and said, "Get your chopsticks ready. If you really want to try our Dongyang local delicacies, you’re in the right place today!"

"Oh? How so?" Chen Mo was a bit curious.

"We are having buckwheat ’haozi’ today."

Chen Mo was stunned, thinking he misheard, "Buckwheat noodles?"

After all, coming from a major noodle province, whether it’s wheat, yam, soybean, or buckwheat noodles, I’m quite familiar with them, at least when it comes to eating.

"No, it’s buckwheat ’haozi’."

This time Chen Mo was sure he hadn’t misheard, "Buckwheat, rat?"

These are clearly two unrelated words, why could they be combined?

"Yeah, haven’t you eaten them before?" Round-faced Sun Jianhong looked surprised, as if not having eaten this was an unbelievable thing.

"The ’haozi’ you’re saying, does it mean rat?"

Sun Jianhong thought for a while, then nodded affirmatively, "Yes."

Chen Mo’s heart sank, a hint of hesitation flashed across his mind, and then he said, "Oh right, I forgot something in the car, excuse me..."

"Time to eat!"

Chen Mo really wanted to flee. He wouldn’t have imagined encountering such absurdity in Zhejiang without even setting foot in Guangdong!

But before he could get up, his words were interrupted by an elderly woman who had just gone in and now came out, holding a large basin, very large!

With a thud, she placed it right in the middle of the table, and the soup splashed a bit onto the table.

Chen Mo swallowed his saliva.

Not out of fragrance, but rather a bit of panic.

The basin was full of soup, making it impossible to see what was inside the soup’s depths, but given how certain Sun Jianhong was, it must be the rat!

Oh heavens, there are so many delicious foods in the world, why would anyone choose to eat rats? Is it unavoidable?

Chen Mo still thought about escaping, only to see the elderly woman continuously ladling out five bowls with a big spoon. When the contents, along with the soup, were poured into the bowl, Chen Mo finally saw clearly.

Beneath the soup surface, something furry and spiky was hiding, do they eat rats without even skinning?

The amazement of Dongyang began from this moment!

When the bowl of dark white soup was placed in front of Chen Mo, he could also feel four pairs of highly expectant eyes.

Looking up, he had previously thought this family of four seemed extremely kind and approachable, but now, in a daze, it felt like he had stumbled into a monster’s lair.

"Guest, give it a taste?"

"Huh?" Chen Mo snapped back to reality, meeting Sun Jianhong’s expectant gaze. "Oh! Oh, alright."

He picked up the chopsticks with some difficulty.

As soon as they barely dipped into the bowl, he felt the chopstick tips hit something, and just by barely dipping in, meaning the woman gave him the most substantial serving!

At this moment, a thousand thoughts flashed through Chen Mo’s mind, but ultimately, under the expectant eyes of others, he picked up a fuzzy piece. As it emerged from the soup surface, Chen Mo grit his teeth and looked carefully.

"This?" Chen Mo looked suspiciously at Sun Jianhong.

The round face grinned, "How about it, buddy, doesn’t it look like a rat? My mom makes it the most rat-like in the village. Try it, it’s delicious. If I don’t eat it for two days, I feel very uncomfortable."

Chen Mo looked down again, utterly shocked.

This was no rat; it was a buckwheat dough ball!

It just wasn’t clear how it was made, but somehow the surface of the dough ball was covered in many fried little noodles, from afar it really looked a bit like a rat.

Seeing this, Chen Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time harbored some complaints about the names our ancestors left for these foods.

No wives in wife cakes, no fish in fish-flavored shredded pork, just forget about that.

Buckwheat ’haozi’, cat ears, yam noodles, what kind of names are these? For people who haven’t seen them, they’d really think they’re made of the corresponding ingredients!

Can you eat cat ears?

How many cats would it take to make one dish?

After confirming it’s not a rat, Chen Mo wasn’t worried anymore, he just picked up the "haozi" and put it into his mouth!