Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 304 - 285: An Unexpected Familiar—Old Zhao

Chapter 304: Chapter 285: An Unexpected Familiar—Old Zhao

Gao Le’s mother found a little grove with no people, and quickly put on the extra stockings she brought along.

Both of her stockings were very sheer. Although they were black stockings, they only looked slightly black when worn. Observing the attire of the other four mothers in Chen Mo’s group, Gao Le’s mother was certain of one thing: Boss Xiao Chen liked pure black.

So by wearing the two together, they turned into pure black stockings.

Then she touched up her makeup and lipstick and walked towards the food cart with a swing of her little handbag.

"Um..."

Chen Mo had already added chili and Sichuan pepper into the iron pot to fry the hot pot base. The melted beef fat combined with rapeseed oil kept heating up, and the whole area was filled with the aroma of hot pot.

The scent from making one’s own hot pot base is definitely unmatched by the ready-made products other parents might buy.

Chen Mo stirred the base in the pot with a black ladle without looking up, "You’re here for the fish, right? There’s still quite a lot over there, go ahead and eat."

Gao Le’s mother didn’t expect it to go so smoothly. She thought this parent was easygoing. After thanking him, she took Gao Le to find Jiang Wenqing.

Seeing this, the other mothers looked down at their drooling kids, wanting to speak up but feeling a bit embarrassed.

At this moment, someone checked their phone and whispered to a young mother beside them, "They say wearing black stockings gets you the fish."

"No way? I wore jeans out today and have no black stockings underneath."

"Oh, right, when I just got here, I saw a large department store when passing by the village entrance with my car. Should we go check it out?"

"Really? Do you think wearing black stockings will get us some fish too? Forget the kids, even I am tempted by that fried fish with salt and pepper..."

"Definitely, I just asked Gao Le’s mother. She said she went to that grove to change into black stockings, and got it all sorted out."

"Let’s go to the department store!"

The mothers told their kids to play by themselves in the grove, saying they would go buy something.

The fathers were puzzled, not understanding what the mothers were up to. Their interest wasn’t in the food, and they stood by the river watching the fishing with great interest.

Wu Xiaofeng and his son Wu Jun had been waiting for over half an hour, yet hadn’t caught a single fish.

Meanwhile, Jiang Wenqing’s kids sat by the river, eating fried fish with one hand while casually tossing the fishing rod. A slight flick, and a fish got hooked.

It seemed fishing was that simple: throw the line, reel it in, without any technique involved.

After Jiang Wenqing’s five kids collected a small basin of fish, a parent would take it to Chen Mo to process.

Once processed, they brought it back to be injected, coated, and finally deep-fried.

Five kids, four parents, plus two new kids welcomed into the circle, all gathered happily, eating with great relish!

Chen Mo’s hot pot base would soon be ready. Now he just needed to keep it at a low heat, coaxing out as much flavor as possible from the spices in the beef fat and rapeseed oil.

The large grass carp, over five kilos, had already been processed by Chen Mo with his Black Blade.

Sliced into about two-millimeter-thick fillets, neatly arranged on seven or eight plates, the fish flesh looked as tender as jade. To swish it in spicy hot pot and dip it in sesame oil sauce was a taste Chen Mo didn’t dare imagine!

Furthermore, during his earlier shopping trip, Chen Mo had bought various ingredients, including vegetables and frozen balls, which could all be cooked for hot pot.

For a moment, the afternoon in the summer camp grounds, apart from Wu Xiaofeng, his son, and kids without fish, everyone was immersed in the joy of fishing and eating fish, overjoyed.

...

"Wife, this time you have to listen to me."

Divine Dragon Bay, at the village entrance, Liu Er’s Knife-cut Noodles Restaurant.

A man sat at a round table, with two empty bowls in front of him, looking like he’d just finished his meal.

The man patiently held his wife’s hand, "The Wanglong Mountain Resort project has already started. Let’s not even discuss the fact that the female massage therapists have become official employees! Isn’t that ridiculous?"

"Just look at the current situation. The Wanglong Mountain Resort will be operational in a year. Divine Dragon Bay, right next to it, will definitely have a lot of people. We should just take a shop in the resort, sell swimsuits and other random things, and we will make a fortune!"

The woman sneered with arched eyebrows, "Listen to you? Tell me, which decision of yours in the past few months has been right?"

"Telling me to have surgery for our conjugal life..."

"Shh!!" The man cautiously looked around at the surrounding diners, seeing no one was paying attention, he angrily said, "Can you lower your voice? Why bring this up outside?"

"And isn’t it still just three minutes? Alright, let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about last time. Boss Fang organized a trip to Xuchang, and you had to join in. What was the result?"

"You missed the tour bus, spent your own money to go. By the time you got there, Boss Chen was long gone."

"Now you want to invest in the resort’s shops, with our little savings, you insist on blowing it all, right?"

Old Zhao was left speechless, glanced at the empty wine glass beside the empty bowls, there was no wine left.

He put the glass down, and after a long pause, squeezed out a sentence, "It’s all Dunzi’s fault, promised to wait for me but ran off on his own. Next time I see Boss Fang, I’m going to tell him that the one who snatched his lunch at the bridge was Dunzi!"

Remembering that incident still made Old Zhao angry.

Since the fan group mentioned Boss Fang setting up the resort, Dunzi somehow got tied in with Boss Fang and became the construction manager of the resort, isn’t that ridiculous?

And let’s not even mention He Chunming; he’s now directly the deputy manager of the entertainment section of the resort.

Even Nana, who used to work at the foot massage shop Old Zhao frequented, has now transformed into a team leader in the entertainment section.

Last time Old Zhao saw Nana, he wanted to ask when she’d be available to give him another foot massage. But she shook his hand seriously with a smile and said something about how he must come support their business once the resort opens.

This made Old Zhao feel a bit unfamiliar.

Are they still the same people from the bridge back then?

Back then, everyone waited at the bridge late at night for Boss Xiao Chen to set up his food stall. But now, after Boss Fang’s resort started construction, everyone has work there, except for himself, who hasn’t caught a break.

Even when occasionally chatting in the group, Old Zhao feels like he can’t get a word in, and it’s a really unpleasant feeling.

Just a few days ago, Fang Zhizhong mentioned that the first batch of shops at the resort was going up for sale, and Old Zhao got interested, thinking this is when they’d be the cheapest and he should get one.

At first, he thought he could try running a business himself, or if he was too busy, he could rent it out.

No matter how you calculate, it’s not a loss, but he hit a snag with Guo Aiping because the money is with his wife.

Today Old Zhao brought Guo Aiping to Divine Dragon Bay first, then to Wanglong Mountain, intending to inspect and persuade his wife to pay up.

Seeing his wife so steadfastly unwilling to cough up the cash, Old Zhao tried a roundabout tactic, "Aiping, why don’t we do this? Let’s not talk about buying the place first, let’s just go out and take a walk, see the scenery at Divine Dragon Bay. Didn’t you always say you wanted to take the kids out there for an outing? Today we can check it out."

Guo Aiping gave him a sidelong look and said, "Let’s go then."

The two paid for their knife-cut noodles and left the noodle shop together.

Divine Dragon Bay is not a big village, and it hasn’t been developed. If it weren’t for the national infrastructure push years ago that connected villages, this place would have remained isolated from the world.

The two walked along the village path towards the outside.

"Let’s go check out the riverside, I had a barbecue there with colleagues before, the scenery is nice. This time, when the kids are on vacation, our family can come play." Old Zhao said while leading the way.

They walked to the end of the village and suddenly stopped in their tracks.

"Why are you... staring! You never stare at anything at home!" Guo Aiping wondered why he stopped, and following Old Zhao’s gaze, she suddenly got annoyed, pinching the flesh on Old Zhao’s arm and giving it a full 360-degree twist!

"Ow ow ow..."

Old Zhao clutched his arm but didn’t stop looking.

There, at the entrance of the village’s general store, for some unknown reason!

There were about ten women, dressed in ordinary clothes but exuding a mature charm, chattering and laughing at the entrance.

This wasn’t the point.

The point was that all these women were holding a paper bag that Old Zhao found very familiar, containing stockings inside.

And they seemed indifferent to it, sitting on the bench at the store entrance, taking off their shoes and putting on stockings as if no one were watching.

If it were just one woman, it wouldn’t matter, nothing surprising.

But more than a dozen women putting on stockings at once, who could resist that?

"Are we leaving or not?" Guo Aiping pinched the flesh she was holding again, with another 360-degree twist.

"Let’s go, let’s go..." Old Zhao, slightly reluctant, turned his head, stealing a few more glances.

They look so good!

In his mind, he wondered who was so lucky to be able to hang out with such beautiful women, surely a very capable person, right?

With his thoughts wandering, Old Zhao and Guo Aiping sauntered towards the riverside.

"So many people today?" From a distance, Guo Aiping saw a sea of people by the river, and sometimes there were bursts of cheering from the crowd.

"Let me see."

Old Zhao walked a few more steps, focused his gaze, "Looks like the Experimental Primary School is holding a summer camp, it’s written on the sign."

"C’mon, let’s go join in the fun."

The two continued walking forward. As they walked, Old Zhao stopped again.

Guo Aiping turned around speechlessly to look at him, "What did you see this time?"

"Look!" Old Zhao pointed in bewilderment towards the inner side of the riverbank, "Doesn’t that car look familiar?"

Guo Aiping followed Old Zhao’s finger.

Yellow...

Cute...

Of course, none of that mattered, the main point was.

It was a food truck exuding a spicy and fragrant aroma parked by the woods.

Old Zhao suddenly became excited.

Who else could it be but Boss Xiao Chen?