When it comes to a delicious bowl of noodles, aside from the firmness of the noodles, the most critical element is the broth.

Tu Xiao'an picked up a spoon, ladled some broth, and was just about to take a sip when he noticed the owner hadn't left. Instead, she was watching him quietly. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

It was as if she wanted to see a look of satisfaction on his face.

Tu Xiao'an paid her no mind and took a sip. It was savory—incredibly savory. His eyes widened in an instant. The broth contained a surge of Energy that made all the pores on his body open up, leaving him feeling utterly invigorated.

"Did you make this broth with Snake meat?"

After finishing the spoonful, Tu Xiao'an looked directly at the owner with her widow's face and asked with a frown.

"Well now... you've got quite a sharp palate, young man, to figure that out." The owner with the widow's face looked a little surprised. He was the first discerning customer of the day. She explained, "My shop changes its broth every week. Last week it was made with beef bones. This week, it's a Snake meat broth."

Tu Xiao'an said flatly, "So the shredded meat is also from a Snake, then."

"Naturally. My noodles in Snake broth are incredibly nourishing. They're also an aphrodisiac, you know." The owner suddenly shot Tu Xiao'an a suggestive wink, giving him a look that said, 'You get me'.

AHEM AHEM...

Tu Xiao'an was at a loss for words.

"Go on and eat your noodles, young man. You're the first person to have a sip of the broth and not immediately dive in. Don't tell me you're scared to eat it now that you know it's made from a Snake?"

Tu Xiao'an replied, "It'd be a waste not to eat such an expensive bowl of noodles. I'm just surprised a noodle shop is using Snake broth."

"It was a happy coincidence. I happened to acquire a fine specimen of a venomous Snake yesterday, and in a flash of inspiration, I decided to use it for the broth. It seems to have turned out quite well."

"Can you tell me what kind of venomous Snake it was?"

The owner gave Tu Xiao'an a long look, then placed a finger to her lips and said mysteriously, "Shh... Don't ask so many questions. That's a trade secret."

Since she wasn't talking, Tu Xiao'an could only begin to eat, his mind lost in thought.

At a nearby table, a middle-aged man finished his noodles, drinking every last drop of broth. He let out a satisfied curse, "Holy crap, that was amazing! Hey, lady boss, another bowl!"

The owner with the widow's face turned and said flatly, "If you want a second bowl, come back next week."

"What? I have to wait a whole week for another bowl? Are you serious? What kind of place takes advantage of its customers like this?"

"This is a small shop. If you feel our hospitality is lacking, then feel free to never come back." The owner's expression instantly soured, her demeanor utterly imperious.

"You..."

The middle-aged man was furious. He'd never seen anyone do business this way. It was just too outrageous. Doesn't she know the customer is always right? He roared, "Who do you think you're scaring? I'm doing you a favor by eating your noodles! You ugly woman, with that damned widow's face! You should be glad you don't spoil my appetite! You don't know what's good for you!"

The moment he said this, many of the other customers shot the middle-aged man admiring glances, but they quickly sighed and shook their heads, as if to say, 'You're finished.'

And just as they expected, the imperious owner flew into a rage.

"Big Ox, throw him out! And add him to our blacklist."

The towering, formidable man from the entrance immediately charged over. Without a word, he grabbed the middle-aged man and prepared to toss him far away.

The owner with the widow's face added, "He hasn't paid yet. Make him pay, *then* throw him out. And make sure you throw him far."

"I'll pay! I'll walk out myself! Let's just talk about this calmly!"

The middle-aged man, thoroughly intimidated by the towering figure, quickly backed down.

But unfortunately for him, it was too late. In the end, he was thrown out like a bag of garbage.

The owner's tyrannical behavior was a familiar sight to some of the customers, who now wore expressions of scorn.

'Hmph, serves him right. He wants a second bowl? We all have to suffer through a week-long wait to get ours.'

Even after having the customer thrown out, the owner with the widow's face was still muttering indignantly to herself, "Damn him. How dare he call me ugly. He must be blind! Throwing him out was me being nice!"

"You all tell me," she suddenly demanded, turning to the other customers in the shop. "Am I ugly?"

The customers were struck dumb, glancing at one another while cursing inwardly, 'Don't you have any damn self-awareness about how ugly you are?'

'If these noodles weren't so incredibly, unforgettably delicious, nobody would come near this place. With that widow's face of hers, we'd be lucky not to consider her a bad omen.'

'But no one dared to say that out loud. Speak the truth and you'd be thrown out, blacklisted, and never get to eat here again.'

'But saying she *wasn't* ugly would be a bald-faced lie that their consciences couldn't bear.'

'She wasn't just ugly; she was hideous.'

So, the customers at every table pretended they hadn't heard a thing. They kept their heads down, focused on their noodles, wanting no part of this minefield.

Instantly, the entire shop fell deathly silent. Everyone ate with extreme caution, not daring to make a sound for fear of setting the owner off.

But right then, one defiant voice chose to speak up.

"The lady boss isn't ugly at all. In fact, she's a divine beauty."

A divine beauty?

The owner with the widow's face was overjoyed. Finally, someone with good taste! Her eyes followed the sound to the corner table where the handsome young man who had just arrived was sitting. She immediately sashayed over, a flirtatious smile on her face. "Such a sweet-talker, young man. Just for that, this bowl of noodles is on the house."

Tu Xiao'an smiled. "I'm just telling the truth."

"The truth?"

The other customers gasped, their eyes fixed on Tu Xiao'an's fair face with expressions of utter bewilderment.

'When did such a young man go blind?'

'This owner... having that classic widow's face was one thing, but she was also covered in freckles and wrinkles. She was a complete eyesore. If she walked down the street at midnight, she could probably scare someone to death.'

'Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. But who could blame them, when the owner herself had zero self-awareness and was so ridiculously unreasonable and tyrannical?'

'Dozens of customers were thrown out of her shop every day. She was practically infamous.'

'But no matter how tyrannical and brutish she was, it couldn't change the fact that her noodles and broth were just too damn good. The customers who came had no choice but to swallow their pride and endure the abuse.'

Tu Xiao'an's "truth" made the owner beam. She sat right down in the chair across from him and chuckled. "Young man, are you flattering me so much because you want a second bowl?"

"I haven't even finished this one yet."

She glanced over and saw that the bowl of shredded meat noodles was, in fact, almost untouched. "Is it not good?"

"It's delicious. It's just not my style."

The statement was a bit of a contradiction. If it was delicious, how could it not be to his taste? And if it wasn't to his taste, how could it be delicious?

The owner's arched eyebrows knitted together. She was clearly not satisfied with Tu Xiao'an's evasive answer.

Tu Xiao'an shrugged. "I'm not just trying to flatter you. Every word is true. Not only are you a divine beauty, lady boss, but you also have an incredible figure. You wouldn't lose out to a model in the slightest."

"Giggle... such a silver tongue." The owner giggled, amused by Tu Xiao'an's words.

The other customers were about to shoot Tu Xiao'an a look of contempt, but then they took a second look and realized something. The owner with the widow's face actually had a fantastic figure. She was curvy, tall, and slender. To put it bluntly...

She was stacked, with a great ass and a full chest—a truly demonic figure.

If it weren't for her disappointing, freckled, and wrinkled face, she might actually have been a real beauty. Her body, at least, was flawless.

Many of them silently marveled at the kid's sharp eye. Most people saw the owner's face and immediately lost any interest in looking at her body.