Kung Pao Chicken
But even with such ordinary ingredients and no complicated cooking methods, everyone present started salivating after smelling the aroma, with Chen Xiu being the most salivating.
Her mom cooked noodles for breakfast, but she doesn't like dried noodles, so she only ate a small half bowl. She was already a little hungry, but she could still hold on a little longer. Now, however, she felt she couldn't hold on any longer; her stomach was rumbling and churning.
Sun Min, who had also put down her studies and was standing at the kitchen door watching, heard Chen Xiu's stomach growl. Seeing her constantly swallowing, she knew that Chen Xiu must be hungry and craving something. Who wouldn't be craving something?
"Mom, I'm hungry. My cousin and I will eat a bowl of something to tide us over!"
This statement resonated with everyone, and they went from eagerly watching Wang Yao cook to eating while watching.
Apart from Liu Xiangmei, she could only endure it because she still had to learn the next dish.
Compared to the first two dishes, the last dish, Kung Pao Chicken, is a bit more complicated. However, Liu Xiangmei had already deboned and diced the chicken legs and marinated them in advance, and prepared the ingredients such as ginger, garlic, chili, and peanuts. The next steps were to prepare the sauce and stir-fry it in a wok.
Wang Yao's technique was skillful; she cooked the chicken in one smooth motion, reducing the sauce until it was almost gone. After the chicken was taken out of the pot, every drop of sauce coated the chicken evenly, giving it a wonderful aroma.
"Phew~ It's so hot, Yao Yao, you made this chicken so tender!" Liu Xiangqiu praised as she ate.
Chen Xiu, who was standing to the side, had already finished a bowl of rice and was about to scoop up a second bowl when Wang Yao stopped her: "Cousin, I'll be cooking other dishes for lunch, so you shouldn't eat too much now."
Right, it's not lunchtime yet. Thinking of the dishes Yao Yao had asked her two aunts to prepare on the dining table in the living room, Chen Xiu decisively gave up rice, but still couldn't resist taking a small bowl of Kung Pao Chicken.
My aunt was right. The diced chicken was smooth and tender, the peanuts inside were fragrant and crunchy, and the other side dishes were also very delicious. Even the chili pepper pieces were tasty after being dipped in the sauce.
This was Chen Xiu's first time eating Kung Pao Chicken. In her heart, Kung Pao Chicken had become the best dish in the world, bar none.
After they had all finished eating, Wang Yao had explained everything that Liu Xiangmei didn't understand. The only remaining task was to pack the food into boxes.
Wang Yao cooked three large pots of dishes, and her arms were so sore that she didn't want to move, so she was asked to deliver boxed lunches to the landlord downstairs.
"Oh my, I've been smelling it for ages, I'm practically drooling! I'm just waiting for your mom to bring the lunchboxes down and load them into the car!"
The landlord took the lunchbox and immediately opened it to see what the dishes were for today. "What kind of meat dish is this today? It looks very appetizing!"
Wang Yao introduced her to the landlord's sisters, who were also gathered around, smelling, looking, and listening, getting hungrier and hungrier.
They smelled it yesterday and thought it was something they were making for themselves. They didn't expect it to be for sale. Some people even gave Sister Xu a dissatisfied look. This person must have known yesterday, otherwise she wouldn't have waited until today. Knowing it but not telling everyone is really not very nice.
"Young lady, does your family sell boxed lunches? Do you make them every day?"
Seeing a business opportunity, Wang Yao immediately started promoting: "That's right, my mom is currently making boxed lunches and delivering them to construction sites to sell. She's just practicing now, and after school starts, she plans to sell them to students. Students have weak stomachs, so my mom pays extra attention to hygiene and uses only the best ingredients, just in case any student gets sick and causes trouble."
As they were talking, Liu Xiangmei and Liu Xiangqiu came down carrying a large styrofoam box.
At this moment, the person who hadn't planned to buy lunch outside saw that the landlady, Sister Xu, had already started eating. She took bites of stir-fried tofu strips, bites of braised chicken, and finally the most common vinegar-braised potato strips. "Mmm~ these potato strips are so good, sour and spicy, they're appetizing..." she said, and quickly shoveled a mouthful of rice into her mouth.
"Gulp~" was the sound of everyone swallowing their saliva.
"Hey Liu, how much are your boxed lunches? Can we buy some?"
Liu Xiangmei pushed her tricycle out, saying, "I'm so happy that everyone is willing to come. It's three yuan a serving, including two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and rice."
With such excellent skills, three yuan a serving is really not expensive. Everyone saw that Liu Xiangmei and her daughter Wang Yao went to the market to buy a lot of vegetables this morning, so they didn't hesitate at all.
"I want three servings, so give me three pairs of chopsticks!" said Sister Zhang from the convenience store next door.
"There are only two people at home, why do you need three servings?"
“My son is at the police station, I’ll take him there, it’s not far anyway!” Sister Zhang replied.
"Then I'll take five servings, and I don't want chopsticks!"
"One is enough for me!"
...
In no time, everyone gathered around, and some people nearby noticed and rushed over to see what was going on.
Some people, like Sister Xu, started eating as soon as they got their boxed lunches, which conveniently gave Liu Xiangmei and the others free advertising.
The aroma was irresistible, and coupled with her love of joining in the fun, more and more people bought it. With most of the stock already sold, Liu Xiangmei, who was initially very happy, now had to say:
"I'm sorry everyone, we won't be selling the rest. I didn't expect you all to be so enthusiastic. How about this, if anyone still wants some tomorrow, please register with my Yao Yao. I'll make sure you're all ready tomorrow."
"You still have more than a dozen boxes in your insulated box, why aren't you selling them?"
Liu Xiangmei explained, "It's like this, I originally planned to take the boxed lunches I made to the Dongling construction site to sell today. Yesterday, quite a few people there had already made appointments to wait for us, and we couldn't break our promises, so I'm really sorry!"
"Will the dishes be the same as today's? I really want to try Kung Pao Chicken."
Liu Xiangmei said, "What we cook each day depends on what vegetables we can buy, so we can't guarantee that. But we guarantee that the taste of the dishes every day will be good."
The landlord, who had already finished a boxed meal, burped and said, "Xiao Liu, you're too modest. I ate the food from yesterday and today. It's not just not bad, it's excellent."
"Sister Xu, you ate yesterday? What did you eat?"
Seeing everyone gathered around Sister Xu asking questions, Liu Xiangmei quickly took Liu Xiangqiu and left in a flash.
Sister Xu is practically the living advertisement for Liu Xiangmei's family's boxed lunches. "Yesterday's dishes, my favorite was stir-fried garlic sprouts with cured pork..."
After hearing Sister Xu's description, those who regretted not buying it today regretted not buying it yesterday even more. After all, today's buyers could at least look at it and smell it, while yesterday's buyers could only imagine it.
"Kid, did your mom say you should register here?"
Wang Yao: ? ? ?
I don't know! How did it become a reservation system?
But Wang Yao nodded and said, "If you're sure you want it tomorrow, register here and pay a one-yuan deposit."
"Huh? I've never heard of that. Who sells boxed lunches and charges a deposit? You're not kidding me, are you?"
Wang Yao looked innocent. "What could I possibly lie to you about? My family is renting here and can't move out anytime soon. We also plan to do business here in the future. Would we ruin our reputation just to cheat you out of a dollar or two?"
That makes a lot of sense.
Wang Yao continued, "We asked you to register because we were afraid of a situation like today. My mom went to Dongling today, and there definitely wasn't enough boxed lunches to sell. We often don't have enough stock, and then no one will come to buy them in the future. Everyone understands this, right?"
The reason we require a deposit is that our ingredients are fresh every day. If someone impulsively orders today and then cancels tomorrow, we can manage one or two portions for our own families, but any extras will have to be thrown away. We require a deposit to prevent this from happening. After you pay the deposit, I will give you a slip; you can pay the difference and collect your meal tomorrow with the slip.
After hearing this, everyone felt relieved, not only about paying the deposit but also about the quality of their ingredients.
"Alright, alright. If you want to eat, pay up. If you don't want to eat, then hurry up and leave. Why make things difficult for that young girl? One yuan won't make you poor or her rich. What's there to doubt? Yao Yao, go get the things and register."
Following Sister Xu's instructions, Wang Yao went upstairs to get a pen and paper.
Outside the crowd, in a place unnoticed by everyone, Sun Dong listened to the entire conversation.
He came to pick up Liu Xiangqiu today, but he didn't expect to see Liu Xiangqiu leave in a tricycle as soon as he arrived.
After hearing Wang Yao's words, he realized that Liu Xiangqiu had gone to sell boxed lunches with that troublemaker Liu Xiangmei, and he turned around and headed towards Dongling.
But Sun Dong never expected that when he came to find Liu Xiangqiu under the blazing sun, he would see such a glaring scene.
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