Upon hearing the payment notification, Tian Rong immediately placed more than a dozen powder boxes in front of the food preparation counter.
She scalded the rice noodles spoonful by spoonful. The process was actually quite fast, taking an average of 20 seconds to cook a bowl, and she could also cook several at the same time.
But it still couldn't keep up with the pace of customer orders.
It took her almost twenty minutes to make these forty bowls.
After she finished, she saw that there were still people with food carts in the line, and the number of people in the two rows was getting bigger and bigger. She finally understood the anxiety her sister had felt before.
There's just too much rice noodles to cook, there's simply not enough...
Tian Rong and Qin Yi are like rice noodle making machines.
One was frantically stir-frying shrimp, while the other was frantically adding rice noodles.
The lemon tea stall next door also gets a lot of customers because it's next to the rice noodle stall. Some customers who are afraid of spicy food but still want to eat it will buy a few cups of lemon tea to relieve the spiciness after buying the rice noodles.
Those barbecue stalls on the street, however, were in a bad mood as they watched the long queue at the end of the street.
At this time of day, every barbecue stall is usually packed with customers, with charcoal barbecue being the most popular, but other stalls can also get a share of the business.
Unlike today, where people are drawn to the rice noodle stall on the street corner, almost every shop is deserted.
People love to join in the fun, and the more people there are, the more they want to squeeze in.
Just then, someone pushed a food cart from the end of the street.
The car was packed full of three layers of takeout boxes, all of which contained rice noodles bought from the other end of the street.
As the owner of the charcoal barbecue stall, A-Qiang stared at the food truck entering the miss bar, then looked at the abundant food stocked in front of his own stall, his face darkening.
On Friday nights, the owner of miSS bar would order barbecue sets from him as a way of thanking the bar's customers. He attracted many customers with his flavorful ingredients and charcoal-grilled meat.
Every Friday, Mis would have his waiter come to his house to buy dozens of 98-yuan barbecue sets to give to customers who placed generous orders.
Over the past year, Ah Qiang has made a lot of money thanks to this bar.
Although new barbecue stalls occasionally compete with the bar, he always manages to keep the business going, and even Miss Misty is a frequent customer.
He had already decided in his mind that he would provide the bar with a set menu every Friday, so he always stocked up on supplies every weekend.
Someone else snatched it away today!
He couldn't help but resent Miss Mi for not keeping their unspoken agreement, and he also held a grudge against the rice noodle stall on the street corner.
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Qin Yi has been cooking lobsters in the kitchen for three whole hours tonight.
My arms are so sore and my neck is so stiff.
I felt like I was marinated in spicy lobster from head to toe.
So this is what it feels like to have a surge in orders...
The notification sound that I loved most in my past life when I received payment is now something I'm numb to.
Fortunately, Tian Rong helped me tonight, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to manage at all.
She counted the remaining little blue dragons and then replaced the advertising sign with a new one.
[Last 50 bowls of Spicy Lobster Rice Noodles, NT$50 per bowl]
"Just hang in there a little longer, we'll be done for today!" Qin Yi encouraged herself and Tian Rong.
49, 48, 45, 43...
The advertising light board erected outside the carriage is connected to a computer, and it is now displaying the remaining stock of rice noodles in real time.
The people at the front of the line looked relaxed and natural, while the customers at the back looked noticeably anxious.
They were afraid that a large order of dozens of portions would suddenly come in and buy up all the remaining stock, leaving them with nothing to eat that night.
"Ouch! My stomach hurts so much! What did you put in your rice noodles?!" A young man with greasy mouth cried out, clutching his stomach.
"I...I, I didn't put anything in! How are you?" Tian Rong, a young girl, had never experienced anything like this before and was clearly flustered.
Just then, Qin Yi finished cooking all the lobsters and came out. Seeing this, she first comforted Tian Rong: "It's okay, I'll take care of it. You continue cooking the noodles."
Qin Yi observed that the young man had both hands on his stomach, his brows were furrowed, and he looked like he was in great pain.
She walked up to the young man and said softly, "Hello, I'm the owner of this place. Are you having an upset stomach?"
The young man looked up and saw Qin Yi, and was stunned. He obviously didn't expect that the rice noodle stall would have such a young female owner.
But he was still determined to finish the act, and despite the pain, he said, "There's something wrong with your rice noodles. My stomach hurts so much after eating them! Did you... put some banned additives in them?"
The young man shouted that his stomach hurt, and the customers in line all looked over when they heard him.
Some people who are easily swayed by rumors quietly left the group after hearing this.
Lulu was also in the queue. She had been dragged by a friend to get her nails done tonight and was late, so she was quite far back in line. She was worried as she looked at the countdown on the light board, because her mother-in-law was waiting for her to bring back some late-night snacks.
Hearing the boss arguing with a young man, and some people in line leaving because of it, I was overjoyed.
Although it's immoral to think like that, she hopes that the young man will continue to act unreasonably for a while longer, and that there will be more people who don't know what's good for them, so that it will be her turn in line soon!
Qin Yi looked at the young man in front of her and smiled helplessly.
"You! You... what are you laughing at! Such a rude attitude! I'm going to sue you! I have food poisoning!"
"Is this your first time trying to extort money?" Qin Yi cleared the dishes off the table and casually tossed a tissue to the young man.
The young man instinctively caught it with one hand, wiped his mouth clean, but still clutched his stomach, stammering, "Wh...what kind of extortion? Don't try to frame me first!"
"Do you know how long it takes for food to be digested after it enters the gastrointestinal tract from the mouth?" Qin Yi asked.
The young man shook his head innocently.
"Fruits take 30 minutes to 1 hour, vegetables take 45 minutes to 2 hours, grains take 1.5 to 3 hours, and protein takes 1.5 to 4 hours."
"You just finished eating rice noodles and less than 5 minutes ago you started complaining of a stomachache. My food hasn't even entered your stomach yet. Even the fastest-digesting vegetables take 45 minutes to digest. Where did you eat something that upset your stomach and are now blaming me?"
The young man's face stiffened after Qin Yi gave him a thorough explanation.
"Could it be that your rice noodles contain some toxic additives that caused my immediate reaction after eating them?" He was still hunched over in his seat, yelling in pain.
"Is that so?" Qin Yi immediately became serious, staring at him with piercing eyes and said, "In that case, I'll call the police and take you to the hospital for a check-up. I'll have the police take all my food ingredients for testing."
"If the food test results show that my rice noodles are fine, I'll hire a lawyer to sue you for extortion! If you come with me to the hospital for a medical checkup and there's nothing wrong, I'll still sue you for extortion!"
"If my family really did put illegal additives in our house, I will accept the judgment of the law!"
"So! Do you dare to come to the hospital with me!" After saying that, Qin Yi grabbed the young man's collar and pretended to drag him away.
The young man was taken aback by Qin Yi's question.
"Are you crazy?!" He forcefully shook off Qin Yi's grip on his collar, stopped pretending to have a stomachache, and stood up.
“I don’t feel any pain anymore,” he said casually. “I probably caught a chill from the wind.”
He found a gap in the crowd watching the play and immediately darted out.
"Isn't this the guy from the charcoal grill?"
"Oh dear, how could this person be so mean, deliberately trying to ruin someone else's business?"
The onlookers then realized what had happened, but some of them, having been tricked, left the original line to buy rice noodles. Seeing that the owner had few left, they knew they wouldn't be able to buy any no matter how long they queued.
I can only blame myself for not being firm enough. I'll just stomp my feet and go home.
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