Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 255 - 177: The Sakura General Facing a Bottleneck Seeks the Great Xia Food Truck

Amber and Jade, who had just finished work, met at the familiar subway entrance and headed straight for the busy food truck.

"Hey, Lunard, how's business after these few days? It looks pretty good, doesn't it?"

Seeing the two of them, Lunard's face broke into a smile: "Not bad, not bad, just about the same every day. You two haven't been around for a few days, are you tired of it yet?"

Ever since Lin Chen introduced a few new flavors, the business was best in the first week, but now into the second week, the regulars' enthusiasm has started to dwindle.

There's no helping it; no matter how delicious the new flavors are, if you eat them every day, they turn into the usual flavors, and there's always a day you get tired of them.

"It's fine, we're not that picky, and we don't come every day, so we don't get tired of it that fast. Let's have one of each of the three new flavors first."

Jade could place an order with eyes closed without even looking at the menu, while at the same time, his gaze drifted to the Sakura Food Truck nearby, where business was noticeably not as good, with only a few occasional customers.

With the price set here, the target audience is different, so it's normal.

"Alright then, still mild spicy?"

"No, medium spicy this time."

"Alright then... huh?"

Lunard looked up, puzzled: "It's only been a few days, and your tolerance for spice has gone up?"

"Kind of, hahahaha." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Jade and Amber glanced at each other knowingly, a smile playing at the corners of their mouths, and Lunard couldn't quite figure out the meaning hidden in their smiles.

Then, they saw Amber pull out his phone, swipe a few times, and bring the screen over.

Curious, Lunard leaned his big head over.

On the screen was a dazzling array of seafood, perfectly colorful, sprinkled with crushed white sesame seeds and chopped green and red peppers, and a layer of translucent red oil floating on the sauce.

Although he hadn't seen these ingredients before, just at a glance, he immediately recognized that this must be something made by Lin Chen.

"Have you been to Dieppe??"

No wonder they hadn't been around these days—they were off having feasts.

With Lin there, who would remember his burritos?

"Yeah, I'm telling you, the environment over there is amazing; the restaurant is filled with greenery and flowers, Lin offers breakfast and lunch buffets during the day, and you have to book in advance for the live-cooked dinner, it's really impressive."

Amber proudly flipped through the photos, making Lunard drool hungrily.

He's been busy all day long, from day to night, making plenty of money but finding no joy in life, and sometimes even having to deal with challenging customers' negative emotions.

Maybe... it's time for a long-overdue vacation?

But if he takes a vacation, what will his loyal customers do without anywhere to buy food?

As he thought about it, his gaze landed on Neo beside him.

His eyes lit up.

Isn't this kid still here!

Although sometimes he's lazy, and his hands aren't the quickest, at least he's willing to work, which is why he's stayed until now.

Neo was busy stir-frying meat when he suddenly shivered, feeling a chill down his spine.

"Boss, if you have something to say, just say it, don't look at me like that, it's scary."

"Neo, how long have you been working with me?"

"I think it's been almost a year, right?"

"Hmm, with this much time, you should be about ready to hold down the fort on your own. I'm thinking of giving you a few days to try operating solo."

Lunard patted his shoulder with a half-smile: "Do you have the confidence?"

"Don't just look at the process being the same, the difference between having me here and not having me here is huge, especially in terms of psychological pressure."

"If you can manage to go solo, you'll be considered a competent food service operator and not have wasted your effort over this period."

Neo wasn't quite sure what was happening, but being young and passionate about making food, he readily agreed without much thought.

"Don't worry, boss, I guarantee I'll get the job done!"

Amber and Jade watched the old guy put on quite a show in front of them, blinking, but didn't intend to expose him.

He's the boss, he can do what he wants, unlike the two of them who need to work to support their families.

"Here, your burritos are ready."

Lunard skillfully wrapped up the three burritos that Neo made and handed them over, winking at the two discretely.

"When I get back, I'll come up with some new flavors, and you'll have to help me taste them."

"Of course!"

Nearby in the food truck, where there were no customers, Hanama Ai rested her chin on one hand, idly looking around from the window. She saw Lunard stepping down from his food truck, waving to Neo, and then leaving with two familiar figures, and blinked in confusion.

"Mr. Nakamura, has Lunard ever left by himself before?"

"No, that guy is more dedicated than we are, and if he does leave, it's only temporarily; he'll be back within a few minutes."

"I thought so too."

She didn't think much more about it, continuing to daydream there.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

A half-hour passed, and Lunard still hadn't returned.

As night fell.

Around nine, just as they'd sold their last sushi and were about to pack up, they happened to see Neo driving the food truck alone past them, disappearing at the end of the street.

"?????"

"Mr. Nakamura, Neo drove the food truck off by himself! And in a different direction than usual!"

Nakamura Arita was equally puzzled; this was the first time he'd seen something like this in the past two years.

Though curious, he wasn't overly surprised, continuing to pack up with his head down: "Why worry so much about others? Maybe they have something to do, let's just finish up quickly and get off work."