Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 267 - 265: Grilling Eggplant with a Sweet Potato Roaster
After closing up shop in the evening, Chen Mo took stock of the past two days’ gains.
Let’s not even talk about the Experience Value; it requires so much to level up now. The business hours are too short. If it weren’t for making high-priced dishes under immense pressure, it would be hard to level up quickly.
As for the skewers.
"Tsk, going on like this is not going to work."
For two straight days, the lamb skewers sold over three thousand, and the grilled oysters over two thousand. The key is that the mission requires selling at least 20 varieties, each with twenty thousand skewers!
"The main issue is the lack of foot traffic. Although these people eat a lot, no matter how delicious something is, people will eventually get full. Not everyone is a big eater."
But regardless, Chen Mo decided to keep increasing the menu variety.
At least one new category per day, otherwise, just completing this task might take a month or two.
"Two meat dishes – one runs on the ground, the other swims in the water. Then a vegetable to test the waters."
There are so many kinds of vegetables that can be grilled, Chen Mo decided to start with the simplest, least troublesome one—charcoal-grilled eggplant.
Having nothing else to do, Chen Mo couldn’t sleep for the time being, so he lay in bed and sneaked into LuLu’s fan group to eavesdrop on conversations.
He found that Boss Fang’s resort was indeed starting construction. The business in Wanglong Mountain wasn’t doing well and was close to closing. Someone invested money, so the owner behind it couldn’t wait to offer all the necessary incentives.
The regulars in the group were all doing well, except Old Zhao, who seemed to always grumble like a little whiner whenever someone spoke.
After reading the chat logs in the fan group for a while, Chen Mo absentmindedly scrolled through his phone, mainly looking at maps of the country, considering where to go after finishing things in Chengdu.
While studying the map, a message came through.
"Old Jiang? What a surprise."
The relationship between men is unique, where they may not keep in touch often, but whenever they do, the bond doesn’t fade with time.
Boss Jiang: "Where are you these days?"
Chen Mo typed rapidly: "Out of town, what’s up, Boss Jiang? Need something?"
Old Jiang didn’t waste words.
"Isn’t summer break starting soon? My son signed up for a summer camp, and they require parents to attend for the first two days!"
Chen Mo: "Can’t you go? Our company isn’t busy."
Boss Jiang: "Normally that’s fine, but recently our market department took on a task. I might have to go abroad for an inspection around that time. The camp’s first few days focus on outdoor cooking... You know, I’m usually the one who cooks at home. Your sister-in-law hasn’t touched a kitchen utensil in the ten years since marriage. I’d worry people would laugh if they went."
Got it.
Seeing this, Chen Mo understood that Boss Jiang is busy, and his sister-in-law can’t cook, so he’s worried they might starve during the outdoor cooking session.
Well, since the food truck at the unfinished building has a fixed teleport function, he didn’t have to worry about transportation issues.
Chen Mo didn’t think twice, "Deal. Just tell me the time and place. I’ll head back a day or two early. A little outdoor cooking is no big deal!"
Boss Jiang: "Thank you! I’ll forward the notice from the school to you tomorrow."
Putting down his phone, Chen Mo couldn’t help but sigh.
Kids these days have such good lives. Back when he was in elementary school in the village, there was no summer camp.
But back then, there were three long vacations a year: summer, autumn, and winter.
The autumn break was specifically for students to help with the harvest at home.
Living conditions have truly improved!
Lost in thought, Chen Mo gradually fell asleep. The big bed in the food truck was indeed quite comfortable.
...
That night, however, someone found it hard to sleep.
At two in the morning, He Ziheng was still lingering in the Yuan Dongli Fitness Center.
"Awesome! There are over five hundred people in the streaming room now!"
Gu Fang and Liu Yuerong leaned in to look at the screen, and sure enough, there were not only more viewers but also a lot more comments than when the stream started.
"Streamer, share the location. Let’s see if the gym is more interesting or if the barbecue is really that delicious."
"Those grilled oysters do look good, but I’m too lazy to care about my figure, as long as I can eat well, just share the location!"
"Feels like the streaming content is scripted. How can someone not manage ten pull-ups, how unfit can they be?"
Hundreds of viewers were fairly satisfied with the day’s streaming content. After all, the little auntie, a natural entertainer, would occasionally crack some dirty jokes, scaring He Ziheng several times, worried he’d get his streaming room banned.
"Folks, our gym is located at..."
"The barbecue stall is at..."
Without much thought, He Ziheng shared the shop addresses with the fans, and as per Gu Fang’s suggestion, he added, "You’re welcome to come for a challenge anytime! Successfully complete a challenge, and you’ll get a free VIP experience card from the gym!"
Then they initiated a series of advertising activities, all brainstormed by Gu Fang during the night.
Obviously, they worked well. After the stream ended, many people messaged He Ziheng, inquiring about the gym challenge details for tomorrow.
Gu Fang thought about it and pulled Liu Yuerong to start shooting a video in the shop, posting the prepared challenge activities as a video on He Ziheng’s account.
Getting all of this done was already late at night, but even so, the three of them weren’t sleepy. They even felt a bit excited!
Having worked in a gym for so many years, Gu Fang understood one thing fundamentally.
There’s no need to worry about giving away too many experience cards. As long as people are willing to come in and experience it, the sales staff will find a way to keep the customers.
That night, Gu Fang and Liu Yuerong slept soundly, dreaming of booming business starting the next day!
...
In order to complete tasks quickly, Chen Mo added a new tool to the food truck: a sweet potato oven. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
This oven’s structure is quite simple, looking like a large tin box from the outside, with cylindrical drawers on the side. The bottom part can hold burning charcoal.
Street vendors usually use this to roast sweet potatoes. Put raw sweet potatoes in the drawers for slow roasting, and after half an hour, the aroma spreads everywhere.
However, Chen Mo always felt that the most deceptive foods in the world must be fried chicken and roasted sweet potatoes.
Every time he passed by these stalls, the aroma made his mouth water, but buying one to eat was just so-so.
After buying the oven, Chen Mo needed to go to the supermarket to buy eggplants and then to the butcher for beef, also grabbing two whole lambs!
At ten in the morning, Chen Mo stood in the parking lot, holding a cup of carrot juice.
Take a sip, spit it out.
"Damn, it’s terrible!"
"Is it possible that the reason these juices aren’t on the market isn’t because no one thought to make them, but because they’re just awful?"
Cleaning up the cup.
Starting today’s preparations!
