Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 373 - 347: The Great Battle Begins
Straight, all straightened up.
Not sure where, but everyone was looking directly.
Gao Hao’s eyes were fixed at the end of the alley, and so were the viewers in the live stream.
If only a single well-dressed girl with a nice figure appeared on the street, men would just sneak a few peeks.
But when a group of such girls suddenly shows up on the street, it’s hard not to stare openly. At a time like this, looks often don’t even matter anymore.
Because there’s so much more to attract the eyes beyond just appearances.
"Yangzi, what’s going on here? Are they shooting a movie?"
Zhang Huixiang swallowed hard, "I came with you, how the heck would I know. Oh no, they’re heading towards us!"
Zhang Huixiang immediately stood up straight, looking around pretending not to have been staring, and Gao Hao similarly tried to act sober, but couldn’t help sneaking glances now and then at the girls.
At the same time, the giggles and chatter of the girls were gradually heard.
Gao Hao: "Their accent doesn’t sound local, could they be tourists from elsewhere?"
"Could be, honestly, I’ve seen elderly tour groups and family tour groups, but this is the first time seeing a beauty tour group."
The live stream was buzzing with comments, urging the streamer to go over and say hello.
But Gao Hao, an engineering nerd who joined the system after graduation, wasn’t the type to casually greet pretty girls, so he just paced left and right trying to look proper, not knowing where to put his hands, feeling utterly awkward.
"Hey, this is it, just like we saw in the live stream, Boss Xiao Chen will set up here later."
"So where do we set up? Right next to Boss Xiao Chen!"
"Sure, everyone, get your tools ready, let’s start."
With He Chunming’s command, the girls opened their luggage cases one after another, under the astonished gazes of Gao Hao, Zhang Huixiang, and hundreds more in the live stream.
They took out camping chairs and set them up properly.
Then pulled out wooden barrels, lined them with clean plastic bags.
Next was folding tables, set up right in front of the chairs.
Finally, they laid white table cloths on the tables and placed a bouquet of red roses.
Gao Hao watched dumbfounded as several boys among them were doing something different.
They were pulling out some posters and advertisement boards from their cases and setting them up.
"Jingzhou City Wanglong Mountain Resort, the only official partner of Chen Mo’s food truck, cordially invites you to experience [Chen Mo’s Set]?"
After reading it, Gao Hao felt he recognized each character, but couldn’t for the life of him understand what it meant as a whole.
None of it mattered, because no curiosity could beat the person on that ad board!
A yellow food truck was slowly driving towards their location, lit by the setting sun.
And behind the yellow food truck, somehow there had already gathered numerous customers, all following the truck, laughing and chatting as they walked over.
"Wow! I thought we came early, didn’t expect all the customers were waiting outside!"
Zhang Huixiang was also surprised, "Don’t you think there are way more people today than yesterday?" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
"Better get in line!"
Gao Hao realized something was off because the flow of people today was just overwhelming; even though the food truck had reached the middle of the alley, the crowd behind was still pouring in like a tide.
If they didn’t secure a good spot, they’d probably get nothing to eat.
Chen Mo parked the truck, got off, and looked astonished at the scene beside him and at the familiar faces.
"Why are you all here?"
LuLu, about to start her live stream, unreservedly took Chen Mo’s arm, "Boss Fang was worried you’d be outdone by the local chefs in Yangzhou, so he brought us here to support you!"
The soft touch made Chen Mo a bit awkward, he subtly withdrew his arm, "No need for that. But still, thanks a lot, Boss Fang!"
Fang Zhizhong chuckled, "Actually, I’m the one who should thank you. Hope you don’t mind us taking advantage of your fame to advertise a bit?"
"Of course not."
After all, while Fang Zhizhong was saying that, he was handing over a fiery red property ownership certificate...
This was what they’d promised earlier in Jingzhou, Chen Mo flipped it open, seeing his own name written on it.
Wow! I guess I’m going to be a landlord now!
"Boss Xiao Chen, today you gotta let me try your new dish!"
Chen Mo noticed the speaker’s face was thin, he thought for a moment, "Old Zhao, how did you lose so much weight?"
"Uh? This!"
"Rest assured, brother won’t let you come here for nothing."
Chen Mo swiftly got back into the food truck, and soon came out with a cup of a dark, solid juice, "Here, have a cup of drink first."
Old Zhao looked at the strange juice, took a sniff.
Pungent but surprisingly refreshing taste!
He took a sip, and the taste was unexpectedly not bad.
Dunzi also came over, "Boss Xiao Chen, the whole crew is here, no way we’re letting you lose. Ready to go?"
"Lose what? Chef Huang is just playing around with us. No one’s placed any bets with us anyway."
Just as he finished speaking, a sound came from behind Chen Mo, a voice through a loudspeaker.
"Is Chen Mo, Boss Chen here?"
"Who’s that?"
From the crowd, a middle-aged man squeezed out, holding a big loudspeaker in his hand.
Huang Bo squinted his eyes slightly, standing next to Chen Mo, he said in a low voice, "That’s Yang Wenhua, head chef at Shuyue Pavilion and the sole maker of Five-Pepper Bun. Quite famous in Yangzhou."
"Shuyue Pavilion?"
"One of the four famous pavilions, best known for its Three-Piece Bun and Five-Pepper Bun."
Yang Wenhua glanced around, seeing many people holding up phones, he continued calmly, speaking into the loudspeaker, "Boss Chen, sorry for the interruption."
"I saw you selling Three-Piece Buns at the Ecological Garden during your live stream yesterday. My boss said... Shuyue Pavilion’s Three-Piece Buns are also great, but how do they compare to Boss Chen’s? So, he sent me over to taste, see, and by the way... have a little competition."
Chen Mo checked his phone, it was 5:50 PM.
The business hours were about to begin.
He didn’t immediately answer Yang Wenhua, instead he went into the food truck to turn on the steamer, "Speak your mind."
Yang Wenhua chuckled, surprised that this little Boss Xiao Chen was such a straightforward person.
"Actually, it’s simple, someone already bet with you before, our Shuyue Pavilion also wants to have a bet with you."
"What kind of bet?"
"The same, I guess. From 6 PM to 11 PM tonight, let’s see who sells the most buns. If you win, I’ll work for you for free. But if I win... of course, we won’t ask you to work for free, we just hope to invite you to Shuyue Pavilion for a meal, help us assess some dishes, and give improvement suggestions, does that sound good?"
Yang Wenhua phrased it nicely, but Chen Mo knew it was just hot air.
It’s obvious, they’re just trying to ride the wave of popularity since the Ecological Garden became a trending topic online.
As for the invitation, it’s just a sweet talk. This indicates they have no intention to lose at all.
"I see now... no wonder there’s such a big crowd today. Tsk tsk..."
Chen Mo looked at the sea of people, and started to understand.
Even knowing these people were just shills brought by the opposition, Chen Mo wasn’t afraid at all.
"Fine, let’s do it. If you want to compete, let’s compete. But I have no time to chit-chat with you now, please make way, I need to start business."
Chen Mo’s indifferent attitude left Yang Wenhua a bit embarrassed.
Before he could say something more, a big guy appeared out of nowhere.
"Boss Chen has accepted the bet, didn’t you hear he needs to start business? Why are you still standing here? Move along!"
Dunzi, with his height and weight, stood there like a bouncer.
Yang Wenhua quietly walked away from the truck, and just a few steps away, Shuyue Pavilion’s staff had already set up their stalls with all the tools they brought.
Chen Mo shook his head, unsure of what to say.
But to the customers present and viewers in the live stream, it meant something different.
In their eyes.
The great battle tonight is about to begin!
