Chapter 28
As soon as Lin Huiling left, the people sitting at the temple started chatting again.
"Everyone eats at home. Who would go to a box restaurant? It's not like we have so much money that we don't know where to spend it." Li Kunan said leisurely while crossing his legs.
Li Kunan is in his sixties. He usually eats at home with his wife and hardly ever eats out throughout the year.
Li Yaqi is over 60 years old this year. He and Li Kunan usually sit in front of the public temple and chat when they have nothing to do. His wife has passed away for many years. He has two sons, who give him some living expenses every month, and he buys groceries and cooks for himself.
"If you have money, you can go to a restaurant. Who would eat boxed lunches? Boxed lunches are only eaten by working people who want convenience and cheapness." Li Yaqi looks down on eating boxed lunches. Sometimes when he is too lazy to cook, he will not choose to eat boxed lunches, but go to a restaurant to eat stir-fried dishes.
"I heard that Old Wu and his friends had box lunches at a box restaurant today, and they all seemed to praise the box lunches as being delicious." Li Kunan said gossipingly.
Today he met Lao Wu and his friends at the intersection who had just returned from eating box lunches at the restaurant. Lao Wu kept praising the box lunches for being delicious, which made him a little curious.
Li Yaqi said disdainfully: "Old Wu and his friends used to have a good relationship with Old Chen. Of course they would go to support Old Chen's granddaughter when she opened a box rice restaurant, but you only have to believe half of what they say."
Li Kunan nodded: "That's right, they have such a good relationship with Old Chen, how could they say that Old Chen's granddaughter's lunch box is not tasty."
The two sat and chatted for a long time, complaining that the boxed lunches were not tasty and they would rather cook their own meals.
At 5pm, the Kangle Box Restaurant opened on time. As soon as it opened, a number of guests came in, many of whom were residents of nearby communities.
"Boss, the two girls in our community's property management really like your boxed lunches. They introduced us here."
"I was too lazy to cook yesterday, so I came out to look for food and happened to see your box lunch restaurant was very busy, so I came in to join in the fun and bought a box lunch. I didn't expect it to be so delicious. I came here early today on purpose."
"Boss, our son loves your lunch boxes. After eating your lunch boxes, he doesn't want to eat the food I cook anymore. He asked me to buy lunch boxes for him."
There were also some guests from Yaocheng Village and the neighboring villages, and everyone lined up consciously to buy lunch boxes.
"Kang Le, we have watched you grow up since you were a child, but we didn't know that your cooking skills were so good."
"Xiao Le, your lunch box restaurant is so popular, your grandfather would definitely be very happy if he knew."
Chen Kangle was very happy to see that many of his familiar elders liked the lunch boxes he made.
There are more customers in the afternoon than at noon. Chen Kangle stayed outside for a while and then went into the kitchen to prepare some dishes. At noon, new dishes are the best-selling ones. In the afternoon, customers may switch to other dishes. Chen Kangle predicts that braised pork trotters and crispy pork may be the best-selling ones in the afternoon.
Because braised pork trotters and crispy pork are the most filling, these two dishes have always been best-sellers and have remained popular for a long time.
In the afternoon, Li Kunan and Li Yaqi were idle again, chatting in the public temple. At about six o'clock in the afternoon, Li Kunan prepared to go home to cook.
"You guys chat first, I'm going home to cook."
Usually his wife cooks for him, but today his wife went to his eldest daughter's house to visit their grandson, so Li Kunan has to cook dinner for himself.
Because his wife knew that he was not a good cook, she had already prepared the meals and he only had to heat them up when he got home.
Li Kunan returned home and found that he had forgotten to close the door when he went out. As soon as he entered the house, he saw two chickens on the dining table, pecking at the food happily.
"You bastard, how dare you steal my food?" Li Kunan angrily picked up a broom and drove the chicken out.
Li Kunan walked over to the dining table and took a look. His wife had prepared chicken stewed with mushrooms and fried papaya for him. Both dishes had been pecked by the chicken, and the food on the plates was in a mess. Some chicken and papaya were scattered on the table. What was even worse was that there was a pile of chicken shit in the fried papaya, which was extremely disgusting.
"You rubbish, I'll kill you tomorrow." Li Kunan cleared the table while cursing. The food could not be eaten.
There were some salted fish and papaya in the kitchen. Li Kunan originally planned to cook them himself, but he was too lazy to do it after washing the pot.
At this time, Li Kunan thought of Chen Kangle's box lunch restaurant. When chatting in the public temple this afternoon, Lao Wu told them that if he didn't want to cook in the afternoon, he could go to the box lunch restaurant to buy box lunches. It was convenient, delicious and inexpensive.
Lazy Li Kunan didn't want to cook for himself, so after thinking about it, he decided to go to the box lunch restaurant and buy a box lunch to eat.
Not long after Li Kunan left, Li Yaqi also got up and walked home. He didn't have a wife to prepare dinner for him, so he had to go home and cook. He heated up the pork left over from lunch and stir-fried some vegetables.
When Li Yaqi walked home from Gongmiao, he would pass by Hedian Restaurant. A few minutes after six o'clock, the entrance of Hedian Restaurant was filled with workers riding electric bikes.
Li Yaqi stood outside the box-shaped lunch restaurant and watched curiously for a while. There was already a long queue inside the restaurant, and many workers were rushing in one after another.
"Look, there are so many people queuing up. It's all your fault that you had to go to the bathroom just now, otherwise we would have been queuing inside."
"It only took me two minutes to go to the toilet, but I didn't know that there would be so many people lining up if I was two minutes late. If I had known this would happen, I would have held my pee and come here."
"It's so annoying. Look at all the people. I'm almost starving, and yet I have to wait in line for so long."
Two workers who arrived late started arguing at the door, and then hurried into the lunch box restaurant.
The more Li Yaqi looked, the more curious he became. He felt a little restless, but he remembered what he had said in the public temple today. He had just said that boxed lunches were not good things. If he went in now, he would be slapping himself in the face.
After thinking about it, Li Yajiang decided to go home and cook for himself. "What's so good about the boxed lunch? I'd better go home and cook for myself."
Li Yaqi tried hard to convince himself.
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, someone called him, "Seventh Master, come over and have your lunch too."
The person who called him was Wu Guangzu from the same village. Wu Guangzu had already gone to the box lunch restaurant to eat lunch at noon, and came again in the afternoon as there was no one at home to cook.
Just as Li Yaqi was about to deny it, he was pulled into the Heshi restaurant by Wu Guangzu.
"Mr. Seventh, hurry up, there are already many people queuing up." Wu Guangzu pulled Li Yaqi into the He Rice Restaurant.
Li Yaqi and Wu Guangzu were at the end of the line. Since they were already in, they decided to buy one to try. Li Yaqi decided to stay and queue up to buy lunch boxes.
About a minute later, Li Kunan also walked into the lunch box restaurant. While waiting in line, he saw a familiar figure in front of him, "Seventh Master, why are you also in the lunch box restaurant? Didn't you say you don't like lunch boxes?"
Li Yaqi heard the voice and turned around to see Li Kun arranged in the back. He smiled a little embarrassedly, then pointed at Wu Guangzu and said, "Azu was the one who pulled me in."
"Ah? Mr. Seventh, I pulled you in because I saw you standing alone at the door of the Box Food Restaurant." Wu Guangzu didn't know what was going on, so he told the truth.
Li Yaqi didn't know what to say for a moment. He looked at Li Kunan and quickly changed the subject to Li Kunan, "Why are you here at the box lunch restaurant? Didn't you say you'd rather cook at home than eat box lunches?"
"I came here out of necessity. All the food in my house was eaten by the chickens, so I came here because I had nothing to eat." Li Kunan laughed.
Li Kunan was also unwilling to admit that he wanted to come over to eat the boxed lunch. He was really curious about what the boxed lunch would taste like.
"If you don't have food to eat, you can go to a restaurant. Why are you coming to a box restaurant?" Li Yaqi asked with a sly smile.
Li Kunan responded quickly, "Because the box lunch restaurant is very close and I'm too lazy to walk, I chose the box lunch restaurant. It's just a meal anyway, so a box lunch will be fine."
Seeing the two men being so stubborn, Wu Guangzu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He didn't want to expose them, so he said directly: "Since we are here, the boxed lunches in our restaurant are delicious. I'm sure you will praise them later."
"Let me tell you, the sweet and sour pork in our Heyan Restaurant is super delicious. You must order it later. The crispy and fragrant stir-fried pork intestines are also delicious. The vegetables include stir-fried sweet potato leaves, spicy and sour potato shreds, and cold seaweed salad. They are all delicious." Wu Guangzu began to seriously introduce the Heyan Restaurant's dishes to Li Yaqi and others.
After listening to Wu Guangzu's introduction, Li Yaqi and the others were not particularly excited, but when they saw the dishes in person, they were instantly attracted.
The rosy and shiny braised pork trotters, the crispy and stringy sweet and sour pork, the colorful tiger skin chicken feet, the colorful fish-flavored shredded pork...
Li Kunan and Li Yaqi both swallowed their saliva at the same time and looked at the dishes in front of them with shining eyes.
The two hesitated for a long time before ordering, because every dish looked delicious and it was difficult to choose.
Finally, Li Yaqi ordered tiger skin chicken feet, fish-flavored shredded pork and stir-fried sweet potato leaves, while Li Kunan ordered sweet and sour pork, curry chicken and cold seaweed salad.
Wu Guangzu had sweet and sour pork, pan-fried saury and braised eggplant for lunch, so he ordered other dishes in the afternoon, including stewed chicken with potatoes, tiger skin chicken feet and mapo tofu.
Wu Guangzu bought two servings and wanted to take one back for his daughter, so he left first.
As there were many customers in the box lunch restaurant, Li Yaqi and Li Kunan did not want to compete with the workers for seats, so they packed their lunch boxes and prepared to take them to the temple to eat.
The two of them carried their lunch boxes and walked quickly towards the public temple without saying a word in tacit understanding.
There is a big loquat tree outside the public temple, and there are several stone benches under the loquat tree. Li Kunan and his friends sat on the stone benches and opened their lunch boxes impatiently. The fragrance instantly hit them.
"Master Seven, my lunch box smells so good." Li Kunan smelled the sweet and sour flavor of the sweet and sour pork and the rich curry.
"Mine smells good, too!" The rich aroma had already mesmerized Li Yaqi. He quickly took out his chopsticks, picked up a handful of shredded pork with fish sauce and put it into his mouth. Instantly, the salty, spicy, sour, fragrant and sweet flavors filled his entire mouth.
The shredded meat is tender and not dry, and it is very fresh and fragrant when eaten. The fungus, carrots and green peppers have fully absorbed the aroma of the soup and ingredients, and are crispy and delicious with rice.
"The fish-flavored shredded pork is so delicious and not greasy." Li Yaqi started eating with big mouthfuls.
Li Kunan on the side was eating curry chicken. This was Li Kunan’s first time eating curry. He didn’t even know what curry was, but he particularly liked this special taste. The tender and smooth chicken paired with this special taste was mellow and rich, and very delicious.
"Master Seven, this chicken is delicious. The yellow stuff inside tastes so special and fragrant." Li Kunan said as he ate.
"That yellow stuff is called curry. I've eaten it before. It's really special." Li Yaqi also smelled the rich aroma of curry. He had eaten curry chicken when his son took him to a restaurant before.
As he spoke, Li Yaqi picked up the tiger skin chicken feet from his lunch box and said, "Look at my tiger skin chicken feet. The skin is so beautiful, soft and delicious."
The two of them became happier and happier as they ate. No one would have thought that they, who had just complained about the bad lunch boxes at the public temple this afternoon, would now keep praising the lunch boxes for being delicious.
Over at the Heya Food Box Restaurant, the customers in the store also kept praising it.
At around 7:30 in the evening, Chen Kangle had sold all the food.
After packing up and cleaning, Chen Kangle finally sat down to rest around eight o'clock. Today was the first day of the Heya Restaurant's opening. Compared to the days when he set up a stall at the entrance of the construction site, it was not much easier now. He was still busy all day long.
But now I feel more relaxed. I don’t have to worry like before when I was setting up the stall, whether it would suddenly rain or whether the urban management officers would suddenly come. I was tired both physically and mentally.
Chen Kangle lay on the bed, looking at the white ceiling, and began to imagine the future. Based on the current sales of the Box Restaurant, he should be able to pay off all his debts this year.
The next day, Chen Kangle began to prepare seaweed and pork soup.
Cut the tenderloin into thin slices, add an appropriate amount of egg white, and mix well. Boil water in a pot, add ginger slices and soaked seaweed and boil. After the water boils, turn to low heat and add the meat slices into the pot one by one. Cook until the meat slices are cooked through, add salt and chicken essence to season, sprinkle with some chopped green onions after cooking and serve.
Chen Kangle uses high-quality dried seaweed. When selecting seaweed, he first looks at the color of the seaweed. Seaweed with bright color tastes better.
The key to making seaweed and meat soup is to maintain the freshness of the seaweed and the tenderness of the meat. In order to maintain the freshness of the seaweed, you can put the meat in when the seaweed is half cooked. This way, the seaweed will have a strong freshness.
In order to increase the tenderness of the meat slices, the meat slices should be cut very thinly, so that the meat slices can be cooked quickly and the cooked meat slices will not be hard or tough.
After preparing all the dishes, Chen Kangle added to the menu: seaweed and pork soup at 2 yuan a bowl.
Since it was his first time buying soup, Chen Kangle didn’t know how many customers were willing to pay an extra two dollars for a bowl of soup, so he didn’t prepare a lot.
As soon as the customers entered the store, they saw that there was a new dish, seaweed and pork soup.
"Wow! Boxed rice restaurants actually sell soup. I have never tasted soup made by the beautiful boss. I must buy a bowl to try it."
"Two yuan a bowl, seems pretty cheap, two meat dishes, one vegetable dish and a soup is only 16 yuan, what a bargain!"
"Finally there is soup. It will definitely be nice to drink a bowl of hot soup after eating the lunch box."
What Chen Kangle didn't expect was that most customers were willing to pay two more dollars to buy a bowl of seaweed and pork soup.
Soon, half of the bucket of soup prepared by Chen Kangle was sold. Taking advantage of the fact that there were not many customers, Chen Kangle hurried back to the kitchen and took out the seaweed to prepare another bucket of seaweed and pork soup. Fortunately, it didn't take long to cook seaweed and pork soup, and a bucket was cooked in a short while.
Just a few minutes after twelve o'clock, more customers came to the lunch box restaurant, and Chen Kangle went out to help again.
The popularity of seaweed and pork soup exceeded her expectations. When scooping the soup, Chen Kangle would try her best to put meat slices in every bowl of soup to avoid the situation where there was not a single piece of meat in a bowl of soup.
With the seaweed and pork soup, the guests seemed to enjoy the meal more today.
"I like this soup, it's fresh and sweet, and it makes me feel warm inside."
"Our boss Chen is really honest. There are a lot of meat slices in the two-dollar bowl of soup, and the soup is rich in flavor. I remember that the soup I drank in the restaurant before had at most two pieces of meat, and it tasted like water."
"After eating the delicious box lunch, drinking a sip of the fresh and sweet soup is so refreshing. The meat slices are smooth and tender, and the seaweed is fresh but not fishy. It tastes really good."
The first soup dish launched was well received, and Chen Kangle plans to launch new soups frequently in the future.
Xiao Rong, who had a lunch box from Kangle yesterday, couldn't stop herself from asking her son to bring her a lunch box in the afternoon. She also asked her son to remember to bring her a lunch box today.
Of course, Guo Shujie is happy that his mother likes the Kangle lunch boxes so much.
Today at noon, he came with a few brothers to eat lunch as usual. After eating the lunch, he lined up to buy a lunch for his mother.
Guo Shujie remembered that there was delicious seaweed and pork soup in the Heyan Restaurant today, so he sent a message to his mother.
Guo Shujie: [Mom, today the Heyan Restaurant has delicious seaweed and pork soup, do you want to try it? ]
Xiao Rong quickly replied: [Drink, your mother loves soup the most.]
When eating out, Xiao Rong and her friends would always order a pot of soup, which was very appetizing to drink before the meal.
Guo Shujie ordered stir-fried pork intestines, curry chicken, garlic water spinach, and seaweed pork soup for his mother. Then he remembered that his mother seemed to have never eaten the tea eggs in the Heya Food Box Restaurant, so he bought another tea egg.
Holding a full lunch box, Guo Shujie said happily: "I think my mother will definitely like today's seaweed and pork soup. There is no reason for her not to like such a delicious soup."
"Brother Jie, your mother has really good taste. I recommended Kangle lunch boxes to my mother, but she looked disgusted and said she didn't want to eat them." Ou Lingyi recently recommended the lunch boxes from the Heya Restaurant to his mother, but his mother refused without even a second's consideration.
Zheng Lizheng also echoed: "My mother is the same. She doesn't want to eat when she hears it's a box lunch. She is even more disgusted when she finds out it's a small box lunch restaurant in the suburbs. Forget it, if they don't want to eat, then forget it. I don't want to force them. It's their loss if they don't eat anyway."
Lu Zhaoyang: "Your mother will definitely regret it in the future. My mother likes Kangle lunch boxes very much now. She said she would bring her sisters over to eat today."
At first, Lu Zhaoyang's mother also disliked it. After all, these rich ladies usually eat at high-end restaurants. They definitely don't want to eat the boxed lunch from ordinary boxed lunch restaurants. Lu Zhaoyang tempted his mother to try a piece of crispy meat first, and the piece of crispy meat conquered his mother's taste buds. Now he feels that his mother loves Kangle boxed lunch more than he does. Not only does she drive over to eat it herself, but she also introduces it to the rich ladies around her.
Xiao Rong also recommended Kangle lunch boxes to her sisters yesterday. Most of her sisters are wealthy ladies who eat at big restaurants or hotels every day. They may have never eaten food from a small restaurant in their lives, so it is impossible for them to eat lunch boxes.
So no matter how Xiao Rong recommended it, they were unmoved. Later, Xiao Rong was too lazy to waste her breath, because it took fate to eat something super delicious, and if they didn't eat it, it proved that they were not destined to have delicious lunch boxes.
These two days, Xiao Rong did not go to high-end restaurants with her sisters to eat, but waited at home for her son to bring back lunch boxes.
Usually her husband is out for social events and her son is out eating, drinking and having fun with friends, so Xiao Rong rarely eats at home. She always eats out in restaurants with her sisters.
Originally, Xiao Rong planned to ask her sisters to go for a box lunch together, but unfortunately none of her sisters wanted to go. Xiao Rong was too lazy to go to the suburbs so far away by herself, so she asked her son to bring back some for her when he went to eat.
At about 12:30 noon, my son came back with a box lunch.
Xiao Rong opened the fast food bag and saw the seaweed and pork soup inside, "It's seaweed and pork soup!"
It looks like a very ordinary bowl of seaweed and pork soup, but it is very filling, with plenty of meat and seaweed.
"Don't be fooled by the fact that this bowl of seaweed and pork soup looks ordinary. Once you drink it, you will know that it is not ordinary at all." Guo Shujie was savoring the sweetness of the seaweed and pork soup in his mind.
"Then let me try it." Xiao Rong opened the lid of the fast food box, and a faint aroma of seaweed wafted out.
"It smells really good, fresh and not fishy."
Xiao Rong raised the bowl and took a sip. The warm soup went down her throat, instantly moistening it, leaving her with a refreshing and sweet taste.
Then taste the smooth seaweed in your mouth, which is full of freshness. The thin slices of meat are extremely tender, and the rich freshness bursts between your lips and teeth.
If you taste it carefully, you will find that the soup is clear and has a sweet aftertaste, which makes you want to drink a few more sips.
Xiao Rong finished the bowl of soup in one gulp. Her entire stomach felt warm and she felt very satisfied.
"I like this soup. Although the taste is not super strong, it is very mellow, and the light sweetness warms the heart." After drinking a bowl of delicious soup, Xiao Rong's appetite was whetted. She opened the lunch box and started eating.
Fragrant and crispy stir-fried pork intestines, rich and fragrant curry chicken, crispy and refreshing garlic water spinach, and finally a tea egg with a strong tea aroma.
Xiao Rong put down her chopsticks with satisfaction, "Delicious lunch boxes are different. Every bite is a pleasure."
"It's a pity that this box lunch restaurant is in the suburbs. If it were in the city, it would definitely be the most popular restaurant in the city."
Xiao Rong has eaten at many famous restaurants in Hai City. The chefs of many of these restaurants may not be as good as the owner of the box meal restaurant. She thinks that such a delicious box meal restaurant should be famous all over the world instead of being hidden in a remote suburb.
"I also want Mr. Chen to open a store in the city, so that I don't have to go to the suburbs every day and can eat delicious boxed lunches in the city."
Guo Shujie recalled that he had been planning to lend money to Chen Kangle to open a store in the city, but was rejected by Chen Kangle. Chen Kangle did want to open a store in the city, but she wanted to earn enough money by her own ability before opening one.
The rent for shops in the city is high. If Chen Kangle wants to open a shop in the city on his own, he may have to wait for a while.
Guo Shujie thought about it and realized that right now the Kangle Box Restaurant is only popular in a small area. If it becomes popular in a large area, Chen Kangle will be able to quickly earn enough money to open a store in the city.
In order to allow Chen Kangle to open a store in the city earlier, Guo Shujie came up with a solution.
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