Chapter 489: Chapter 401: Are You Going to Book the Entire Night Market Street? (Part 2)

Cheng Xiuli’s relaxed expression vanished completely.

Whenever she hears about Clear Soup now, she gets a headache. Chen Mo did provide the recipe a couple of days ago, but while cooking it, you can’t leave the pot unattended and have to watch it constantly.

Moreover, during the latter stages of cooking, you have to repeatedly use minced meat to filter the broth. Bao Shuai already stayed up late making two pots—though the taste is decent, it ultimately isn’t as clear as Chen Mo’s Clear Soup.

"Boss Xiao Chen, can’t we just use water directly?"

"We could, but then the taste would be no different from those common street food stalls," Chen Mo replied frankly.

The logic is simple: to taste better than others and to have better business, you definitely have to put in more effort than others.

Seeing that Cheng Xiuli’s lips were a bit chapped, clearly, she also hadn’t rested well these days, Chen Mo said, "It’s already quite late, and I haven’t had lunch yet, so let’s have lunch and dinner together."

Cheng Xiuli was surprised, "Really? Can I eat with you?"

"That’s what I mean."

Chen Mo didn’t prepare anything else, directly scooped a small bowl of minced meat from a large bucket, started boiling water, and simultaneously began heating the stored Clear Soup. "Let’s just eat these meat slices with some rice."

"Mm-hmm! Whatever you make is delicious!"

...

Qian Zhijie never expected karma to catch up with him so quickly.

After confirming there were no food safety issues with Chen Mo’s snacks, Qian Zhijie felt extremely uncomfortable sitting at his unit, like sitting on pins and needles.

His whole body itched as if covered in insects, and his mind was filled with thoughts of rabbit heads and tofu pudding. He needed to eat a few more bowls to feel relieved.

The worst part was the latent hemorrhoid, which he had hoped would disappear with some rest. After last night’s indulgence, it not only didn’t get better but became... larger and more swollen!

"Damn it, ugh..."

Qian Zhijie shifted in his seat, attempting to find a more comfortable position.

His apprentice, Zhang Xiaobin, noticed something was off and asked quietly, "Master, is it getting worse?"

Qian Zhijie nodded silently.

"Ah?" Zhang Xiaobin was shocked, "That won’t do at all, let me take you to the hospital!"

In the past, someone in Zhang Xiaobin’s family had undergone the same surgery, so he knew how terrifying it could be if delayed. It was best to nip it in the bud.

"No need, it’ll go away in a few days," Qian Zhijie insisted stubbornly.

"But Master, if you keep dragging it out..."

Qian Zhijie raised his hand to interrupt him, "Alright, I know. But even if I have to do it, it won’t be today."

"Why not?"

"We have other plans today." Qian Zhijie quickly thought of an excuse, "I promised you and Old Zhao that I would treat you to dinner last night. If I got the procedure, we couldn’t eat. So, I’ll treat you to dinner tonight, and we can do it tomorrow. It won’t matter if we wait a day or two."

Zhang Xiaobin finally relaxed, genuinely worried about his master’s health.

Qian Zhijie checked the time, "Almost time, go inform Old Zhao, let’s eat."

"Will do! Oh, Master, where are we going to eat? Should we go back to that barbecue stall from last time?"

Qian Zhijie shook his head, "No, today we’re going to eat on Night Market Street."

Night Market Street was also fine.

When this group went out to eat—especially with acquaintances—they generally didn’t go to big restaurants. They preferred open-air dining settings like food stalls.

Firstly, it was more comfortable. Secondly, with the usual work stress, they liked to have some beer with their meal, especially in this hot weather.

Night Market Street was a good place, offering hundreds of different kinds of street food.

When Zhang Xiaobin informed Zhao Wenping, he told him to meet up with Qian Zhijie first, then headed to a nearby supermarket to buy two cases of chilled beer, as it was cheaper than buying at Night Market Street.

"Let’s go!" Climbing into the car, Zhang Xiaobin shouted excitedly, "Nobody goes home until we finish these two cases of beer!"

Qian Zhijie smirked. Three people, two cases of beer? Who were they looking down on?

Pressing the accelerator, they headed straight for Night Market Street.

At that moment, on Night Market Street, Chen Mo had just finished setting up his stall.

Eleven different flavored meal boxes were ready to go, neatly arranged in a large box. Under the food cart were two large tubs of mixed minced meat, exuding a cool air.

On the counter were two large pots. One contained Clear Soup, now holding at a simmering, almost-boiling state as Chen Mo required. The other held water, which was turned off once it reached 80°C.

Whenever the temperature dropped by about 5 degrees, he’d turn on the heat to raise it again.

For convenience, he had placed a kitchen thermometer at the pot’s edge to monitor the temperature of the water inside constantly.

"Boss Chen, I bet tonight these meat slices will sell like crazy!" Cheng Xiuli stood beside Chen Mo, rubbing her stomach. "How about this: I’ll handle the payments and packaging today?"

"Sure."

Chen Mo agreed. Lately, he’s noticed Sun Jianhong seemed a bit listless, without knowing what was on his mind. Even though these snacks were clearly profitable, he always seemed uninterested.

He even occasionally asked, "Bro, you’re so good at cooking, how do you think I could improve that preserved egg of mine?"

Now it was time to set up the stall, and Sun Jianhong had simply disappeared! It was good to have Cheng Xiuli’s help.

"By the way, Boss Chen."

"Hmm?"

Cheng Xiuli pointed three stalls away from Chen Mo’s, "That’s Yingzi’s parents. I went to Dashuang Village again today, and they finally agreed to give it a try."

"Oh?" Chen Mo was quite surprised, stepping out from behind the cart to take a closer look. "Wow, they brought Yingzi along?"

Cheng Xiuli also stepped out, standing next to Chen Mo as they both looked at the stall, "You wouldn’t believe it, ever since this couple returned, Yingzi hasn’t left her mother’s side except for school—not even a step."

Chen Mo saw that the woman was busy placing a condiment box filled with cilantro and green onions on the counter. Little Yingzi was not idle either, helping to take disposable meal boxes out of a large cardboard box and lining them up neatly on the counter.

It seemed they had chosen to sell rabbit heads.

"Boss Chen, I’ve been thinking that for snacks like rabbit heads, it would be best for our company to provide the raw materials, like pre-marinated rabbit heads, pre-cooked Clear Soup, and pre-made chili oil."

"Customers who join our company can just pick up the ingredients and start their stalls every day. Your snacks—if we only provide technical support—might not maintain quality in the long run."

Teaching vendors how to make these snacks, as Chen Mo had done with Bao Shuai and his team, required quite complex procedures. Even professionals like Bao Shuai had to invest a lot of time in making them.

In the future, if more clients joined, mass production with mechanization might be much better.

And these snacks often contained dozens of different ingredients and spices. If there’s no quality control, vendors might easily cut back on seemingly less important ingredients over time, eventually hurting business.

"That could work. Although we’d earn less, at least the work would be much easier."

Regarding Cheng Xiuli’s company matters, Chen Mo didn’t interfere, focusing more on whether the couple would stay here.

From the current situation, with her mother’s protection, Yingzi seemed to be doing much better than before.

"Alright, let’s get to work too!"

Chen Mo returned to the stall and hung up the sign he had made for the day.

[Fuding Meat Slices: 10 RMB/portion]

Below the price list, various flavors were listed.

Spicy, curry, sour and spicy, savory, and so on.

As soon as he hung up the sign, Chen Mo got his first customer.

"What? Boss, why did you change the menu again today? Where’s the tofu pudding?"

Chen Mo pointed to the stall next door, "Over there."

Zhao Ming scratched his head, "And the rabbit heads?"

"Over there."

"Is the tea egg still available?"

Chen Mo pointed at another nearby stall, "There."

Now that Zhao Ming knew for sure that Chen Mo’s snacks had no quality issues, he felt reassured eating them.

Hearing that all his favorite snacks were still available and that this suited-up boss was continuously releasing new ones, Zhao Ming looked at Chen Mo in confusion.

"Boss, are you trying to take over the whole food street?"

Chen Mo rubbed his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed by Zhao Ming’s comment.

Cheng Xiuli, on the other hand, clenched her fist.

That idea might not be that far-fetched, after all?