"Ah! Teacher Zhang!"
Xu Guoqing and Fang Daming immediately recognized her as their Chinese teacher. What was she doing here?
Zhang Xin put her arms around her daughters' shoulders and smiled at everyone, saying, "These are my two kids. I've already understood the rules. The three teams have to answer questions to get this meatball, right? In that case, I'll be on the red team! Classmates, don't go easy on me! Let's begin!"
Xu Guoqing and Fang Daming embraced and wept bitterly: "Heavens above, how could a boss suddenly appear!"
...more than ten minutes later.
Cheng Yingtao shook her head as she looked at the points the customer had handed over: "Yellow team 6 points, blue team 6 points, red team 21 points, this is too bad."
Xu Guoqing, with a long face, handed the meatball to the student behind him in line: "This is not fair! This game should ban cheating!"
Zhang Xin and her two daughters, each holding a skewer of meatballs, said contentedly, "We've bought almost all the meatballs, so we won't participate in your next round of the competition. Good luck, everyone!"
Zhang Ke'ai pulled her mother to Qin Yi's fried noodle stall: "Mom, the fried noodles we ordered are almost ready, come and try them."
It was the first time that Kexin and Ke'ai had ever tried Qin Yi's stir-fried instant noodles, and the little girl was so amazed that she screamed with delight.
"My God! How can there be instant noodles that taste better than braised beef noodles! I guess I'm just too young and haven't eaten enough good food!" Zhang Kexin exclaimed as she ate.
Zhang Ke'ai picked up a mouthful of instant noodles with her chopsticks and held it in the air to observe it carefully: "Every single noodle is evenly coated with the aroma of squid sauce, and it's amber in color. It's also very elastic, and it bounces lively in the air when you pick it up. The taste is simply irresistible. The instant noodles on the hot plate have a strong, homely flavor. This is the immense satisfaction that delicious carbohydrate food can bring."
Zhang Xin nodded in agreement with great satisfaction after hearing Zhang Ke'ai's statement, but suddenly remembered what Zhang Kexin had said: "Wait a minute! How did you know that instant noodles have a braised beef flavor?"
Zhang Kexin, carrying her little schoolbag, darted behind her older sister. "Quick! Help me block the Empress Dowager's wrath!"
"Did you two both eat it? While I was working overtime on the weekend? Was it a two-person or three-person operation? Confess!"
Zhang Ke'ai remained unfazed by her mother's questioning. She slowly backed away, whispering to Kexin, "We can't betray Dad. I'll count to three, and we'll run together. One, two, three! Run!"
...
The food festival will typically last for three hours.
Qin Yi and Cheng Yingtao used up all the ingredients they had prepared in just two hours, and the voting box was bulging. They had no idea how many votes they had.
But since she could only get one banner in the end, Qin Yi wasn't particularly interested.
"Boss, are you sold out already? The food festival still has an hour left, I was planning to eat meatballs here until the end!"
"Everything is so delicious! Why don't you open a shop near the school? The rent for shops near our school isn't expensive. Although the location is remote, there are many students. The food in our school cafeteria is terrible. Any shop outside that has even slightly better food is packed after students finish class. We always have to wait."
Qin Yi's eyes lit up after hearing this: "We are currently in the stage of setting up a stall, but we will consider opening a shop later."
"Will we still be able to eat these fried instant noodles and meatballs in the future?"
Cheng Yingtao stepped forward and said, "We will be setting up a stall near the school to sell meatballs. You can scan our shop's WeChat QR code to order in advance."
Qin Yi winked at Cherry Girl, "You can add these classmates on WeChat, I'll pack my things."
After a while, Qin Yi and Cheng Yingtao loaded all the tools onto the van, then handed the ballot box to the stage staff. With half an hour left before the event ended, the two strolled hand in hand through the food street.
It's nice to buy something from someone else's store occasionally, since we've sold out all our own stuff.
Qin Yi and her friends ate stinky tofu, bought starch sausages, and lined up to drink Barbie pink milk tea.
"Um... how about we go to the Chinese food section and see what good dishes they have?" Qin Yi suggested changing the venue and checking out the cafeteria area.
Cheng Yingtao frowned as she drank her Barbie milk tea, and wholeheartedly agreed with her sister's suggestion, "Let's go eat some normal food."
The two of them strolled around the cafeteria area again.
A quick glance at the ten national banquet dishes still gives off a very grand feeling.
I just don't know how it tastes.
Qin Yi was thrilled to finally find Kung Pao Chicken without diced cucumber and carrot at the market. She dragged Cheng Yingtao along to buy a serving.
Before buying, she said, "This chef seems pretty good. He seems to have taken into account all the points that need attention in this dish. Let's try it and see how it tastes."
Cheng Yingtao picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks, put it in her mouth, chewed it carefully, and then said, "Sister, I still think yours tastes better."
"Oh? I'll try it."
Qin Yi took a bite of chicken and peanuts, then a bite of chili peppers, seemingly lost in thought.
"How are you feeling, sister?"
Qin Yi was about to speak, but when she looked around and saw that there were still student customers, she realized that this stall was doing quite well in the cafeteria group, so she held back her words.
"Let's go take a look ahead."
Chef Awang breathed a sigh of relief after watching the two girls leave. If they had really nitpicked and said something unpleasant in front of his stall, he would have given them a piece of his mind.
These dishes, served at state banquets, were prepared in culinary school. How many chefs these days can actually cook authentic state banquet dishes? They just pick up ingredients, stir-fry them haphazardly, and try to fool people.
He believed that his cooking was the best in the school cafeteria, and the students loved it. You could tell by the number of people at his stall.
My colleagues were either playing on their phones or secretly dozing off in their chairs. It was a miracle that they even managed to cook the food properly.
He simply couldn't believe that someone could find fault with someone who was already so outstanding.
"Students, happy times always seem to pass too quickly. This year's Food Culture Festival has come to an end. Now, all participating students and teachers, please return to the playground. Members of the vendor and cafeteria groups, please wait on the side. Our staff is counting the votes, and we will soon present banners to the most popular vendors."
Fifteen minutes later.
Principal He Hongbo announced on the stage, holding up a slip of paper: "This year, the most popular stall in the cafeteria is—Chef Awang's stall!"
"The most popular stall among the merchants is Mr. Qin's! Please come up to the stage to receive your awards!"
Amid cheers from his colleagues, Awang was ushered onto the stage.
Qin Yi also squeezed onto the podium from a corner.
The nearby shopkeepers didn't recognize her and whispered among themselves, "Where did this unexpected trouble come from? We've never seen her before."
“I know, I know. She was the owner who sold fried noodles near the school last week. She only sold them for a few days before quitting. I didn’t expect the principal to invite her to participate in the food festival.”
Awang was also on stage, sizing up Qin Yi, thinking: Isn't this the girl who bought two dishes from me earlier and looked embarrassed? So she's actually an assassin from the enemy side, here to taste my food? Hmph, a third-rate cook selling snacks like her doesn't even deserve to win an award with me?
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