Qiao Xingguo's hometown is in Jianghan, where the economy is not developed and the number of job opportunities available is very limited.
Most of the villagers in Qiao Xingguo's village went out to work, but Qiao Xingguo and his wife came to work at the Zijing Garden construction site with the villagers.
He was quite satisfied with his salary and benefits, but his only complaint was that the food on the construction site was terrible.
I don't know if it's because of the hot weather lately, but the people working in the kitchen feel stuffy and don't feel like cooking properly. For the past few days, lunch has mainly consisted of noodles, with a pot of toppings, and that's it.
Qiao Xingguo started work at six o'clock and finished work at ten-thirty. He walked with several fellow workers who were also leaving work towards the construction site canteen.
"I don't know what the cafeteria is cooking today. I can't smell anything even though I'm so close." Qiao Xingguo sniffed hard in the direction of the cafeteria, but couldn't smell any aroma.
"If you can't smell anything, that's good. If you can't smell anything, it means it's noodles again for lunch. I just wonder what the topping is today," the coworker next door said cheerfully.
As they spoke, the three of them entered the tin-roofed canteen. Since there were few people around, the ceiling fan on the roof was not turned on, and the heat from cooking in the kitchen made the whole room feel stuffy.
Qiao Xingguo quickly walked two steps to the serving area and peered inside.
Two large pots were cooking at the same time in the kitchen. One pot was cooking rice noodles, and the other pot contained a topping made of shredded wood ear mushrooms, shredded carrots, bok choy, shredded meat, and some other ingredients that were not easily identifiable.
Well, it's noodles again, just as I expected. These people in the kitchen are really lazy.
He was having some doubts, but his hands were not satisfied. He took a medium-sized stainless steel bowl from the shelf and handed it to the lady in charge of serving the food.
The older sister took two large chopsticks of rice noodles from the pot and put them into a bowl, then used a spoon to scoop half a spoonful of topping and poured it over the noodles.
"Add more toppings, please. This isn't enough to mix the noodles properly," Qiao Xingguo said with a forced smile to the woman serving the dishes.
“If everyone orders more, some people won’t have enough to eat.” The older woman put down her spoon and picked up a pair of chopsticks: “I know you’ve worked hard, so I’ve fried some extra eggs for you, one for each of you.”
This fried egg, the egg white is separate from the yolk, and it's perfectly round. It looks quite nice on the surface, but it doesn't taste like an egg at all.
If Xu An were here, he would discover that this fried egg is a semi-finished product, made using Hextech technology.
A regular egg can only make one fried egg, but with Hextech technology, one egg can be turned into three fried eggs. This is harmless to the human body, meets food safety standards, and significantly reduces costs.
From roadside stalls to large chain fast food restaurants, everyone likes to use this kind of fried egg.
The fried egg was finished in a few bites, and the remaining noodles were also gone in two servings, with not a drop of soup left.
After putting down my chopsticks, my stomach felt full, but I still felt like something was missing.
It's been days since I've had any decent meat; the little bit of meat in the topping isn't even enough to fill my teeth.
Or, we could go to a restaurant outside the construction site and get a chicken leg to help us recover.
That's what I thought in my heart, and my body betrayed me. I put the bowls and chopsticks in the recycling bin and walked towards the construction site gate.
The Jiajia Fast Food Restaurant outside the construction site was already open for business, with a few customers sitting inside, but none of them were wearing work clothes or safety helmets.
Qiao Xingguo was also sensible; instead of going inside, he stood at the shop entrance and called out, "Boss, do you have braised chicken legs? How much are they?"
"A braised chicken leg is five yuan, and a box of braised chicken leg rice is eight yuan." The voice came from the cashier, but no one was there.
Qiao Xingguo hissed. Five yuan for a chicken leg? That's a bit expensive.
Just as he was struggling with this decision, a voice came from behind the cashier: "Do you want it or not? If not, don't stand blocking the doorway."
Forget it, it's more cost-effective to wait until my wife gets off work and then come over to get a chicken leg lunchbox to eat together.
Qiao Xingguo returned to the entrance of the construction site and sat in the shade under a tree to wait.
As soon as I sat down, a tricycle rode up and stopped a short distance away, and the bicycle following behind also stopped.
A tall, thin, and somewhat immature-looking boy got off the tricycle. Together with a medium-sized, sturdy boy who got off the bicycle, he helped the two children sitting in the tricycle's cargo compartment off.
The tall, thin boy deftly opened two styrofoam boxes, checked their contents to make sure everything was alright, and then breathed a sigh of relief. He untied a large plastic bag from the front of the vehicle and took out a stack of small, round boxes.
Two children were responsible for handing over the boxes, the tall, thin boy scooped things out of the bucket and put them into the boxes, and the sturdy boy was responsible for putting the lids on the boxes. The group worked together very well.
Qiao Xingguo squinted at the large piece of cardboard in the corner of the tricycle, which seemed to have writing on it.
'Meat patty with egg;'
Eggplant with minced meat;
Cabbage and vermicelli;
Tomato and egg soup is included.
Eight yuan a serving.
Qiao Xingguo's eyes widened in surprise. "Is this for real? So many dishes for only eight yuan? Do you mean I can only choose one or two?"
He stood up from under the tree and walked towards the tricycle.
The tall, thin boy is Xu An, the sturdy boy is Xu Heping, and the two children are Xu Kang and Xu Le.
The four of them set off from Xujia Village at 10:00 AM. Xu An, being strong, pedaled very fast along the way. What would normally be a journey of more than an hour was completed in just 45 minutes.
As soon as I got out of the car, I checked to see if any of the boxed lunches had spilled. Luckily, the road had been repaired two years ago and was very smooth. With the foam box providing shock absorption, not a single boxed lunch spilled in the thirty minutes.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, the four of them filled the boxed lunches with soup.
Suddenly, a burly middle-aged man wearing a hard hat walked over. He didn't say anything, but just stared at them as they worked.
"Big brother, want a boxed lunch?" Xu An handed a soup spoon to Xu Heping, took out a boxed lunch from the styrofoam box, and handed it to Qiao Xingguo, showing him the contents of the boxed lunch.
"Eight yuan a serving, each serving includes a box of rice, a meat patty with an egg, minced meat with eggplant, and cabbage with vermicelli, all of which are dishes that go well with rice."
"Only eight yuan for so much? Are all these meats and vegetables fresh?" Qiao Xingguo was tempted, but worried that the vegetables weren't fresh.
"Don't worry about that. The meat is from the wholesale market, and the vegetables are grown on our own land, which is why it's so cheap." Xu An put away the boxed lunch and put it back in the bag. "I know this construction site will be in operation for a long time. We're not just going to do this once and for all. We want to do business here for the long term and not engage in any unethical business."
While Qiao Xingguo was still hesitating, a noisy commotion came from the entrance of the construction site. A tall, dark-skinned young man led a group of workers toward them, and a large crowd surrounded the tricycle.
It was Uncle Dongliang who brought his workers over; judging by the size of the group, there were more than twenty people.
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