Gourmet: The Master Chef Just Wants to Leisurely Set Up a Stall - Chapter 57

It took no more than ten minutes for all the parents to collect their orders, chatting briefly with Zhao Xiaojing before reluctantly leaving.

Looking down, she saw that only one bag was left—twelve pounds of squid tentacles, marked for customer number twelve.

“Hey, boss. I’m number twelve,” Guo Gaoang approached after everyone else had gone, curious to see if the boss would recognize him.

“Alright, this is yours.” Without missing a beat, Zhao Xiaojing grabbed the bag and handed it over.

“Boss, do you remember me? Aren’t you someone named Jing? Weren’t we high school classmates?” Guo asked directly when he realized she didn’t recognize him.

“Oh, really? My name is Zhao Xiaojing. Were we classmates?” Zhao Xiaojing squinted at him, still not recalling who he was.

“Yes! Zhao Xiaojing! That’s right! I’m Guo Gaoang. Back in the day…” Guo became excited as he confirmed her identity and began reminiscing about their school days.

“Right, right… I remember now.”

As Guo spoke, memories of their shared high school days slowly resurfaced for Zhao Xiaojing.

“Oh, and by the way, I owe you an apology. It was my ex-girlfriend—she’s a bit unstable and sent those crazy messages… about this!” Guo scratched his head awkwardly, realizing that Zhao Xiaojing seemed confused. He pulled out his phone to show her.

“Oh, this! I just deleted it back then to avoid any hassle.”

Zhao Xiaojing laughed awkwardly. At the time, she thought the messages were from someone mentally unwell. Since she couldn’t remember whose WeChat account it was, she decided to delete the contact for peace of mind—but she didn’t mention that part.

“Do you have any idea why she went after you like that? It still baffles me.” Guo asked, still puzzled by the whole situation.

Zhao Xiaojing pulled out her phone and unlocked it, searching for something. “I think this might be the reason,” she said, handing the phone to Guo.

Upon seeing the screen, Guo finally understood—and felt even more frustrated with his ex.

It was a photo of a bowl of sweet soup that Zhao Xiaojing had posted on her Moments.

One day, Guo had been scrolling through WeChat, bored, when he came across the photo of what looked like a delicious dessert in his feed. His instincts as a food blogger kicked in, and he immediately commented three times in a row, asking where the shop was located.

Later, Zhao Xiaojing had replied that she made it herself. In response, Guo had jokingly written, “Please open up shop right where you are.”

And that was it.

“This… I’m really sorry for all the trouble she caused you. Let me add you back as a friend.” Guo apologized again, pulling out his phone to re-add Zhao Xiaojing.

“It’s okay, no worries. I’d almost forgotten about it.”

“You’re doing amazing things now! That Qingbuliang you posted looked so good—I ordered several bowls of sweet soup from different places that same day. Are you selling this now?”

“I plan to, but I’m not ready yet.”

“Really? Let me know when you start selling them! Your version looks really authentic—the ingredients are just like what I had when I visited Hainan!”

With the misunderstanding cleared up, Guo asked about Zhao Xiaojing’s recent activities, and the two chatted for a while before parting ways.

As soon as Guo left, he excitedly pulled out his phone and dialed Wei Liguo’s number.

Beep… beep…

Meanwhile, in a café, Li Jingying’s expression grew darker as she listened to Wei Liguo taking the call.

Wei Liguo, looking increasingly uncomfortable, glanced at her nervously from time to time.

When Guo mentioned Zhao Xiaojing’s name again during their conversation, Wei quickly changed the subject and hastily ended the call.

“Jingying, this has nothing to do with me, right? You heard it—it was his idea to bring her up…”

“Doesn’t your friend know you have a girlfriend? Didn’t you block him from seeing your Moments last time?”

“Of course not! How would I know what he’s thinking? He must’ve missed it…”

“He missed your Moments? But he didn’t miss chatting with you outside of it either, did he?” Li Jingying glared at Wei Liguo. “Or maybe he knows you too well. The second he hears anything about your old crush, he rushes to tell you!”

“What old crush? I’m only interested in you. Whatever happened between me and her is ancient history! It’s been over for ages! Who knows what Guo’s problem is—you shouldn’t be mad at me because of something he did, okay?”

Wei Liguo scooted closer and wrapped his arm around Li Jingying, sweet-talking her.

“So you’re saying he knew about your relationship and still brought this up on purpose?” Li Jingying shot him a suspicious look.

“I have no idea what his deal is! I can’t exactly ask him that, can I? Look how I’ve barely been responding to his messages! Isn’t it always him reaching out first?”

Li Jingying remained silent, though visibly less tense. Seeing this, Wei continued reassuring her until they eventually made peace once again.

Later that evening, after returning home, Li Jingying scrolled through Douyin with a cold expression.

Last time, she had noticed that Wei Liguo was following someone who had posted a video of Zhao Xiaojing’s skewer stall. She’d unfollowed the account from his profile but later searched for it herself and followed it using an alternate account.

The account owner updated frequently, and Li Jingying had been quietly stalking the posts ever since. She knew that Zhao Xiaojing hadn’t returned to set up her stall at the school gate.

It still made her seethe with anger every time she remembered losing 30,000 yuan to those five people because of Zhao Xiaojing’s skewer business.

Initially, she’d been smug when Zhao disappeared from the school gate, thinking that her intimidation tactics had worked—that Zhao was too scared to continue. In her mind, the money had been well spent.

But now, not only had Zhao Xiaojing reappeared in Wei Liguo’s life through another route, she was gaining even more prominence!

Gritting her teeth, Li Jingying searched for the skewer vendor’s account. As soon as she clicked on it, she saw a newly posted video from today—and sure enough, there was Zhao Xiaojing again, along with her stall cart!

Furious, Li Jingying slammed her phone onto the table.

After calming down a bit, she picked it back up and crafted a message under the guise of a loyal customer. She privately messaged the account holder, eagerly asking for the updated location of the skewer stall.

Then, she switched to her small account and searched for Guo Gaoang’s page. Seething with anger, she scrolled through his posts and left another wave of nasty comments…

…

Meanwhile, back at home, Zhao Xiaojing sat down to carefully calculate her earnings.

Today had been her first official day selling these semi-prepared skewers, and the parents in the group chat had been enthusiastic—together they had ordered 103 pounds of food.

The squid tentacles had been bought fresh from the market early in the morning. Zhao Xiaojing chose medium-sized ones of higher quality, costing 45 yuan per pound wholesale.

Once coated in batter and fried, each pound of squid reduced to about seven-tenths of its original weight. She had bought 150 pounds and fried them all. After weighing the finished product, there was nothing left over.

Including oil, flour, seasonings, and packaging costs, each pound of squid tentacles ended up costing about 71 yuan. She sold them at 100 yuan per pound.

Additionally, cleaning and preparing squid tentacles was tedious—they needed to be peeled, boned, and have their beaks removed. With time running short, Zhao Xiaojing hired an aunt from the market to help out for 300 yuan.

Even though squid tentacles were relatively expensive, she managed to cut down her profit margin as much as possible. Despite that, today’s net profit still came out to nearly 2,700 yuan.

And this was just the first day. As more customers joined in over time, profits would only continue to increase.

If things kept going at this pace, repaying the 80,000 yuan by the end of the year seemed completely doable!

Zhao Xiaojing felt like she was dreaming. Clutching her chest to calm her racing heart, she tried her best to stay composed.