Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 367 - 341: Damn It! I Yield...

Zhu Yan dashed over to the next stall, squeezing past the long line to the window. "Boss Xiao Chen~ It’s almost eleven o’clock."

Chen Mo didn’t speak but nodded, still frantically cooking fried rice!

"Um, we agreed to check the sales at eleven, right? Shouldn’t we count tonight’s sales now?"

Bang bang~

Chen Mo tapped the black pan twice with his black spoon, scooped a big spoonful of rice into a bowl, and in five repetitions, five fragrant servings of fried rice were ready.

The first five customers in line happily scanned and took away their own servings of fried rice.

"Right, since it’s the agreed time, let’s check. Xue Ping, come over."

Gao Hao, who was live streaming, ran over nervously, focusing intently on Chen Mo, "Folks, don’t worry, the two bosses are about to tally up the numbers."

The comment section was abuzz.

"What’s there to tally? Obviously, Boss Xiao Chen has the edge."

"Chen Mo’s fried rice speed is incredible. He can make five servings in less than ten minutes, while the other side always has people queued up, but their speed is just too slow!"

"I really can’t believe it, is Huang Bo really a chef? If someone orders ten servings of fried rice at their restaurant, will it take from morning till night?"

"Um... Friends from out of town might not know, at Jingya Pavilion, fried rice is not just about the food. Listening to the chef explain Yangzhou Fried Rice’s creation and cultural history is part of the service."

"So you’re saying one serving at 388 yuan, just listening to him talk is worth 300 yuan?"

At some point, the perspective in the live stream began to shift.

It probably started when the audience reached over two thousand people, especially when many out-of-town viewers joined in. After understanding the situation, many believed that Huang Bo’s fried rice was purely a gimmick.

Eating should just be about eating, why all the fancy stuff?

On the other hand, with Boss Chen Mo, just watching him with the iron wok and spoon, with the flames dancing and steam billowing, it had a true street food vibe!

After a pause, Xue Ping and Zhu Yan both counted the sales at their respective stalls.

Zhu Yan proudly announced, "From six to eleven, five hours~ we sold 50 servings over here!"

Hearing this number, Huang Bo felt somewhat smug.

He could make two servings of fried rice at a time, needing about ten minutes, even after cutting down many explanatory steps. In the restaurant, it would’ve taken fifteen minutes minimum.

Initially, some partial servings weren’t counted in the sales, and he wasn’t that fast at first. So fifty servings was a pretty good result.

"Even if he were faster, he could at most be around ten servings more than me. I’ll try harder tomorrow; it’s not like there’s no chance," Huang Bo thought quietly.

Nobody noticed Xue Ping’s involuntary twitch at the corner of his eye.

Zhu Yan waited for a long time, "Hey, why aren’t you saying anything? How many did you sell?"

Xue Ping put away his phone, "Maybe we should just concede."

"How can that be? Come on, tell us!" Zhu Yan had utmost confidence in her boyfriend.

Of course, if she had to choose, she’d still pick Boss Chen Mo’s fried rice.

This time, the customers in line also stopped complaining about not getting fried rice and became curious. Prompted by everyone, Xue Ping cleared his throat.

"Our sales are, um... two hundred and seventy-six servings..."

Wow!

The crowd on the small street gasped in amazement.

Huang Bo dropped the spoon he was holding and rushed over, "Impossible, you’re making it up, right? Who can fry nearly three hundred servings in five hours? You must have got it wrong!"

Xue Ping, speechless, tossed the phone to Huang Bo.

Earlier this morning when contacting Chen Mo, the boss had already linked him as a store employee and nicely gave him a family card, saying it would be convenient for shopping.

Of course, once this free labor ended, the family card would naturally be unbound.

Huang Bo quickly checked the transaction records on the phone, which was really simple, just a matter of setting the filters correctly.

Seeing the 276 transaction records, Huang Bo blankly counted each amount.

"No way... how’s that possible?"

Chen Mo, somewhere along the way, walked out of the food truck, patting Huang Bo on the shoulder, "You use broth to cook the ingredients, adding broth three times, rice three times, and scallions, all taking time."

"Also, your rice is dry inside and out. To fry it well, you first need to moisten it with broth and then fry it to dryness, which also takes time."

Chen Mo sighed, no longer wanting to tangle with Chef Huang.

After all, the experience value of the food truck was full!

"So, how about this? Tomorrow I won’t compete with you. You set up here and sell on your own from six to eleven, for two consecutive days. Sell as much as you can, and we’ll settle accounts on the third day."

Whoa...

The onlookers were all puzzled, thinking that this small boss was quite bold, actually wanting to compare his one-day sales volume with Chef Huang’s three days.

But thinking again, it did seem reasonable.

After all, Huang Bo barely managed fifty servings in five hours today. Even with another two days, it would be hard to surpass Chen Mo’s sales.

His cooking time was just there; there was no way around it.

Huang Bo’s face turned livid, veins bulging on his neck, ready to say something, but his girlfriend interrupted him.

Zhu Yan handed him the phone, "Elder Qin is calling."

Qin Zhenhai?

Huang Bo shot a glance at Chen Mo, then took the phone, weaving through the crowd to find a corner.

"Hello, Elder Qin."

"Alright, stop embarrassing yourself. It’s over; you should admit defeat."

"But Elder Qin, I..."

"Admit defeat now, then follow Boss Chen Mo and learn well. It’s time to improve the Yangzhou Fried Rice at Jingya Pavilion."

Huang Bo gritted his teeth, "But Elder Qin, if I concede, I fear I can’t return to Jingya Pavilion."

"Don’t worry about that. If you can learn this fried rice, and Jingya Pavilion doesn’t want you, come to me."

Before Huang Bo could continue speaking, Qin Zhenhai hung up the call.

Listening to the beeping in the receiver, Huang Bo, who had been holding a fierce resolve, suddenly relaxed his facial muscles.

Elder Qin’s Yingchun Tea House...

No chef with a slight position in Yangzhou Restaurant was unaware of this place.

The restaurant that was never open to the public.

Achieving a position there wasn’t about earning much, but heightening one’s career to new heights!

It’s said a chef favored by Elder Qin cooked well at Yingchun Tea House and was later invited by a leader to cook at the National Guest House in the Capital City.

This honor alone could let a chef leap a carp through the dragon gate!

But that chef later grew arrogant, came back from the Capital City thinking they had made it, and used all their savings to invest in a restaurant.

The result was poor management leading to its closure, with lots of debts, offending many local restaurants, left with no choice but to leave town, and now no one knows where they are.

Of course, this was just something Huang Bo had heard.

In front of Huang Bo now lay a choice: either keep pushing to fulfill the bet with Chen Mo, risking little chance of winning, no face remaining, only to lose face two days later.

Or lose face now, work for Chen Mo for a few days for free, learn the essence of frying rice, and get a chance to work at Elder Qin’s private tea house.

Huang Bo wasn’t foolish.

He turned decisively, making his way through the crowd. Seeing him approach so fiercely, the Xue Brothers instinctively shielded Chen Mo.

Even the onlookers involuntarily made way.

"No way, are they going to fight?" Gao Hao took two steps back.

Chen Mo watched Huang Bo, unsure what was going on with him but feeling some sort of resolution in him.

In the gaze of more than a hundred gourmets, under the scrutiny of thousands in Gao Hao’s live stream.

They saw.

Huang Bo suddenly cupped his fists, bending slightly.

"Boss Chen, I admit my defeat wholeheartedly!"

"Starting tomorrow, I’ll work with you for free. As long as you’re in Yangzhou, I’ll work with you until then!"

With that, the North Gate instantly fell silent...