Gourmet: The Master Chef Just Wants to Leisurely Set Up a Stall - Chapter 55

Li Donglai, with a gloomy face, endured the evening until he finally met Zhao Xiaojing at their agreed spot. Feeling guilty, he began to explain the situation.

The customers who pre-ordered yesterday arrived on time, and within two minutes, all the fried goods had been picked up.

As Li Donglai continued explaining, Zhao Xiaojing stood there, her mind also going blank.

She had been so busy the entire day that she hadn’t had a chance to check her phone.

Now, as she pulled it out and checked, she saw that the group from yesterday had grown significantly—there were now forty-three people in it. In fact, as she was looking at her phone, another person joined.

The new members, mostly parents, were flooding the chat with messages asking who the boss was. One of the customers from yesterday helpfully tagged Zhao Xiaojing, and then the barrage of questions began.

Messages ranged from complaints to desperate pleas for more skewers. Alongside these were messages of excitement and praise. Zhao Xiaojing’s inbox was already filled with dozens of new friend requests.

This…

Zhao Xiaojing stared at the constant stream of messages from the parents in the group chat—so many of them reminiscing about her food and eagerly asking where they could buy more fried skewers right away. She felt a mix of emotions.

She hadn’t expected these parents to remember her skewers so fondly after so many days. Some had even waited for her in the alley for weeks.

The canteen work had kept her too busy, leaving her no time to think about the first customers she’d met when she started setting up her stall.

Suddenly, she felt both guilty and touched, along with a bit of confusion.

Initially, she had just run into Li Donglai and, seeing how much he craved her skewers, decided to make a batch for him. The others who ordered were incidental—she had thought the group would disband after today.

But unexpectedly, so many old customers had returned.

After thinking it over carefully, Zhao Xiaojing calculated the workload and timing.

Selling fried skewers was certainly doable—she could marinate the ingredients during her lunch breaks and start frying them after work in the evening.

Thanks to the system’s body-strengthening agent, even with her early mornings and late nights, she hadn’t felt overly tired. Her physical condition could handle it.

But with more people joining and increasing orders, it was becoming difficult to manage alone.

After some contemplation, Zhao Xiaojing sent a message to the group, thanking the parents first before explaining her current situation. She asked for their opinion—suggesting that she could make only one type of skewer each day and allow them to vote on which kind or create a rotating menu instead.

To her surprise, the parents unanimously supported the idea, and some even started sending celebratory red packets in the group.

Unable to help herself, Zhao Xiaojing smiled wryly. It seemed like her plans for a sweet soup stall would have to wait a little longer. For now, she’d return to selling fried skewers—it was still profitable, after all.

The excitement in the group continued to build as more parents joined. Li Donglai took charge and posted a group announcement, organizing a poll among the members. In the end, they decided on a rotating menu, with one type of skewer being made each day.

The newer customers who had joined the group were completely baffled by this arrangement. A small fried skewer stand that required them to refry the food at home—and they were limited to just one type per day? How did this place get away with such conditions?

And yet these people were celebrating it?

Those who bought skewers today quickly went home to refry them, eager to see if the food lived up to the hype. Meanwhile, three skeptical newcomers were left watching in confusion—one of them grumbled and left the group, while the other two added Zhao Xiaojing as a friend and stayed in the chat to observe.

“Is everyone here an actor or are we the only real customers?”

“We’re real! But do you think most people here are planted actors? Like we’re the only actual buyers?”

“Maybe! I’m starting to think this boss probably used to sell real estate or something—getting a crowd to pretend there’s a line just to trick a few real customers.”

“You might be onto something! But come on, these skewers are only like ten or twenty bucks—would they really hire actors for that?”

“You’re right. Let’s stick around and see what happens.”

…

Elsewhere, food blogger Guo Gaoang was editing his latest video when his usual dining buddies called him.

“What is it? No late-night snacks tonight—I’m off alcohol,” Guo answered defensively.

“I’ve got a hot foodie tip for you. You’ll want to treat me to snacks after hearing this,” his friend teased.

“Pfft, you think you know better restaurants than me? I’ve checked out every place you eat at ages ago.”

“This is different! Let me tell you, yesterday I went to the supermarket…”

His friend launched into a detailed account of seeing Li Donglai begging Zhao Xiaojing for skewers and how a crowd of bystanders ended up joining the group chat to buy some.

“Can it really be that good? This sounds way too overhyped,” Guo replied skeptically. “Isn’t this just some small-time operation?”

“It’s true! Those dozens of people didn’t look like actors, and now they’re all in the group handing out red packets. It has to be legit—why else would people be so generous unless the food was fantastic?”

“Hmm, I guess that makes sense.”

“So, what do you say? I’ll add you to the group—you try it out. Then, when you make your next video, you can treat me to these skewers!”

“Fine, add me.”

Intrigued, Guo’s curiosity got the better of him. He abandoned his editing and joined the group via his friend’s invite.

“Is the boss the group admin?” Guo messaged his friend privately after lurking in the group for a bit. All he saw were people raving about how good the skewers were and sending red packets—nothing useful.

His friend sent him a screenshot of the second profile in the group. “That’s the boss—she’s not the admin, though.”

Guo clicked on the profile and was about to send a friend request when he realized something strange. He was already friends with this person… and there were three chat messages from him in their conversation history—all sent by him.

“You know your boyfriend already has a girlfriend—why are you still flirting?”

“Honestly, didn’t your family teach you not to mess with other people’s relationships?”

“Do you understand or should I spell it out for you?”

The third message hadn’t gone through—a red exclamation mark showed it had been blocked.

???

What the hell? Was this his ex causing trouble again?

Who had she pissed off this time?

Guo immediately called his friend.

“Hey, what does this boss look like?”

“She’s really pretty—definitely a beauty. Why, are you interested?”

“A beauty?”

“Yeah! Want to see? I recorded a video yesterday when I thought there was going to be a fight. Haven’t deleted it yet.”

“Send it to me!” Guo demanded, eager to figure out whose toes his ex had stepped on this time.

His friend casually sent over the video.

Guo opened it instantly. As soon as he saw the footage, his eyes widened in shock.

How could it be her?