Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 305 - 286: Spicy Fresh Fish Hot Pot

It’s actually Boss Xiao Chen!

Old Zhao was initially excited, but then a wave of mixed emotions surged through him as he jogged towards Chen Mo and the food truck. For some reason, the closer he got to the yellow vehicle, the more wronged he felt.

He even started to feel a bit of a stinging sensation in his eyes.

"Oh my, Old Zhao? Long time no see."

Chen Mo stopped stirring the pot, "What are you doing here? And your wife is here too."

Guo Aiping tucked her hair behind her ear and revealed one side of her face, "Long time no see."

Old Zhao leaned both hands on the window sill, completely ignoring the surprised kids and parents nearby. His voice was even slightly trembling, "Boss Xiao Chen, it’s really you! Wow, it truly is you!"

At this moment, no matter how many grievances he had, he felt they were all worth it, especially when he saw Chen Mo stirring the pot of base ingredients, emitting the utmost authentic beef tallow aroma. Despite eating hotpot his whole life, he had never smelled such an authentic scent!

"Boss Xiao Chen, what are you doing here?"

Old Zhao wondered if Fang Zhizhong had invited Chen Mo to Wanglong Mountain, but then thought it unlikely since he hadn’t seen any other familiar faces around, aside from Chen Mo.

"Oh, a colleague’s child is attending a summer camp. Both parents are busy, so I’m here to help out."

Chen Mo chatted with Old Zhao while not missing a beat in his handiwork.

After cooking the base ingredients for almost half an hour, the oil in the pot had turned chili red. Chen Mo scooped a large ladleful into a small bowl, "Once this cools down, take it home with you. It’s my first time making hotpot base. If it’s not good, don’t make fun of me, okay?"

"No way." Old Zhao’s grievances were almost completely gone.

He thought luck was inescapable. All those times chasing Boss Xiao Chen for good food, they’d always end up missing each other due to some twist of fate.

Now, here they were, unexpectedly running into Boss Xiao Chen, and he even got a hotpot base for free. Delightful!

Oh right.

Old Zhao suddenly remembered something and saw that his wife’s attention was on the kids fishing by the river. He immediately leaned forward to share something with Boss Xiao Chen.

"Boss Xiao Chen, let me tell you something."

"What’s that?" Chen Mo divided the hotpot base into portions, leaving some in the pot to be ready for an immediate meal for later.

"When I was in the village, I saw a lot of women."

"What’s up with the women?"

Chen Mo thought Old Zhao was a bit odd. After all, this world is made up of men and women; what’s so strange about seeing women?

Old Zhao patted his thigh, "Ah, what I mean is there are a lot of women over there, not sure what exactly they’re up to, all wearing black..."

Before Old Zhao could finish, he heard a chirping sound and turned to see the group of young women he had spotted at the department store happily making their way over.

Old Zhao desperately signaled Chen Mo to look that way.

But Chen Mo seemed a bit oblivious and didn’t understand what Old Zhao meant.

Old Zhao was anxious beyond belief, lowered his voice to speak, but saw the group walking straight toward him.

’Could it be they heard us talking too loudly just now?’

’That can’t be right; even if they didn’t hear, we didn’t say anything that would cause trouble, did we?’

Old Zhao’s heart began to pound wildly, his gaze following the group, and then he saw...

Chen Mo had just walked out of the food truck, holding a large iron pot filled with fragrant, oil-glazed base ingredients.

He saw the group of young women speed up and run over, surrounding Chen Mo.

One of them reached out to help with the iron pot, while another helped take out trays of fish slices from the operation table at the back. Another even unabashedly pulled out a tissue to wipe Chen Mo’s hands!

"Ah, Xiao Chen, you’ve been busy for so long, must be tired? By the way, is there any fried fish left? You have no idea, my little rascal at home almost cried with craving just now."

"Brother Xiao Chen~ where should we put this hotpot? Is it alright to place it over there? Oh, I see there’s still plenty of fried fish. Can I taste some?"

"..."

Old Zhao stared blankly as Chen Mo was surrounded and pushed forward by the group of women in black. The grievances in his heart, which were about to dissipate, suddenly surged back, and his almost recovered eyes turned sour again.

All that fuss, and it turned out it was all for Boss Xiao Chen?

They bought stockings, changed stockings, all to get some food from Boss Xiao Chen?

It’s only been a few months, and Boss Xiao Chen is already this much further ahead?

Is he even human?

Old Zhao felt like crying, so he followed behind the group to see what was happening.

Surrounded by a group of pretty women, Chen Mo blushed and turned the heat down a couple of notches, "Eat, eat, there’s plenty of fried fish, it’s meant for the kids, everyone please enjoy it, really, have some."

The mothers were happy, cheerfully helping to set up the hotpot and fish slices at the temporary kitchen before each finding their own children.

It’s true what they say; many of today’s parents are actually quite well-mannered.

The group of mothers, along with their kids, didn’t immediately go over to Jingyi’s mother to eat the fried fish. Instead, they went to the river to find Jiang Wenqing, instructing their kids to thank him. Only after getting Xiao Jiao’s consent did they take their children to have the fried fish.

Jingyi’s mother felt a sense of joy seeing so many people enjoy her fried fish.

Especially seeing Li Jingyi, Jiang Wenqing, and their group of five kids now practically stars in the class, she felt even happier.

"Jingyi’s mom, I think we should stop the kids from fishing. The fried fish was just a snack, we should have a proper meal now."

"Yep." Jingyi’s mom looked down at the large bowl of untreated small fish, "Then what do we do with these?"

Chen Mo didn’t say anything.

Gao Le’s Mother came over, "Why don’t you all start eating? I’m just idle anyway, so I can help out with the fried fish."

"Thank you~" Jingyi’s Mother said sweetly, "Jingyi, stop fishing and come over to eat."

"Coming!"

A few kids, including Jiang Wenqing, also ran over. After playing for so long, Jiang Wenqing, who had been isolated at school for a semester, was almost surrounded by classmates all day. The little guy’s face was flushed with excitement.

"Uncle Xiao Chen, what are we eating?"

"This." Chen Mo tossed a pair of chopsticks to Jiang Wenqing, "The freshly caught big fish—fish hotpot."

"Wow!"

The five little ones exclaimed in unison, their eyes filled with joy and excitement, making Chen Mo secretly delighted.

The innocence of children is truly wonderful; their emotional value is off the charts.

Chen Mo’s food cart was well-equipped; five kids, five parents.

Everyone had a set of disposable bowls and chopsticks. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

In the bowl was Chen Mo’s special oil dip.

In fact, it’s not exactly special. In Sichuan hotpot, it’s not much of a secret.

It’s just sesame oil, with some oysters and minced garlic, plus cilantro and green onions.

Northerners aren’t really used to oil dips. Whether it’s Capital City hotpot or Sichuan hotpot, they still prefer sesame paste. Seeing the oil dip made two of the moms look a little uncomfortable.

Chen Mo noticed and said softly, "My hot pot base is quite strong in flavor, and the temperature of the ingredients cooked in this hotpot base is high. It’s hard for the body to absorb the surface beef, and using the oil dip will filter out a lot of the beef."

Even so, this oil dip is still a bit hard to accept for some Northerners.

Chen Mo just shrugged, "You can try it first. Let’s eat!"

On one side, there was the bustling scene of people lining up to eat fried fish, while on the other side, ten people gathered warmly around the fish hotpot.

Old Zhao and his wife watched with a bit of envy, thinking why doesn’t the junior high department host such a summer camp?

But they had just eaten a big bowl of knife-sliced noodles, so they weren’t hungry. Old Zhao remembered Chen Mo just gave him a box of hotpot base, and he suddenly had an idea.

"Click, click, click!"

"What are you doing?" Guo Aiping asked curiously.

Old Zhao was taking photos with his phone of himself, the hotpot table, and the fried fish stand.

"Never mind that. I just want to ask, do you want hotpot tonight?"

"The one Boss Xiao Chen gave us? You mean eat it at home?"

Old Zhao thought his wife was being a bit dull today and smirked, "Why eat it at home? Not only am I not eating it at home, but I’m also inviting people over. Haha... just wait and see."

Remembering all those times, he was kind and helpful, but the fan group always made him miss meals.

Old Zhao suddenly had a plan!

He started posting photos in the fan group.

...

"Uncle Xiao Chen, is this very spicy?"

Jiang Wenqing looked at the bright red soup base with a bit of fear, "I feel like it might burn my tongue off."

Chen Mo laughed, "Just eat it; it’s fine. If it’s too spicy, have an ice cream, and it won’t be spicy anymore."

The five mothers were collectively stunned.

Is this how childless young people think?

Don’t they know that eating spicy food and ice cream together results in an upset stomach?

Even though they wanted to stop this behavior, considering how much Chen Mo helped today, none of the four mothers could bring themselves to speak up. Yet, their exchanged glances were full of helplessness.

Jiang Wenqing didn’t actually go get ice cream, "I’ll try a bite first, and if it’s spicy, then I’ll get some."

Chen Mo picked up a slice of fish, "Watch closely! This fish is freshly killed and cut, and it’s very tender. Just hold the slice in the pot like this—"

Sliced to two millimeters thick, as soon as the fish hit the pot, it curled up. Chen Mo kept it in the pot boiling for about ten seconds, "It’s ready. Try it."

Four adults and five kids mimicked Chen Mo’s actions, each putting a slice of fish into the boiling pot.

With so many slices going in, the pot calmed down instantly, but soon enough, before they could take the meat out, it started boiling again.

"It’s cooked, it’s cooked, hurry and eat!" Chen Mo urged.

The nine people quickly took out the slices and placed them into their own bowls.

As Chen Mo mentioned, the oil dip seemed to really filter the beef. The moment the fish slice met the sauce, some red oil instantly blended in.

Fish dipped with cilantro and green onions, enveloped in sesame oil, carried an aroma of spice mixed with the simple freshness of the fish.

The kids were worried it would be too spicy, but couldn’t stop themselves from swallowing.

Just like the four mothers, wary of the oil dip, thinking it must be greasy, but the aroma was too tempting for their taste buds, they couldn’t resist!

Eat!