Chapter 31: You’re Just a Coward
"Boxed lunches for sale! Eight yuan for a three-dish-and-a-soup boxed lunch!"
"Just eight yuan, only eight yuan! You can’t go wrong, you can’t get ripped off!"
"We’ve got delicious sweet and sour pork, savory and tender tofu balls, and spicy fried dried radish that’ll have you begging for more rice. Top it all off with a bowl of Chinese yam and pork bone soup, simmered for three hours—you’ll feel like you’re in heaven!"
Compared to Xu An’s dry, uninspired sales calls, Liang Dani clearly had a lot more flair. Witty remarks and creative spiels flowed from her endlessly.
Drawn in by Liang Dani’s crisp, pleasant, and amusing calls, quite a few passersby couldn’t contain their curiosity and came over to take a peek.
The moment they did, they were captivated by Liang Dani’s stream of compliments, lost all self-control, and obediently pulled out their wallets to buy a boxed lunch before leaving, completely satisfied.
Thanks to Liang Dani, the stall’s main clientele today shifted from office workers to local residents.
In just one hour, including sales to the workers, a total of sixty-three boxed lunches were sold.
A new record high.
At 11:58, Ding Nan’s phone alarm went off right on time.
He quickly silenced the alarm, reached over to tap on Luo Min’s desk, and shot her a look. Time to go, twelve o’clock sharp.
Luo Min was a little baffled. ’It’s just for a boxed lunch, does he really need to be this intense? He even set an alarm for it!’
Though she didn’t get it, she decided to follow Ding Nan’s lead. After all, she had no idea where the stall was.
The moment the clock in the bottom right corner of his screen ticked over from 11:59 to 12:00, Ding Nan’s monitor went dark. He shot up from his chair and dashed for the time clock by the door.
Luo Min was right behind him, executing the same series of moves—screen off, stand, run, clock out—in one smooth motion.
It was only 12:02 when the pair arrived at Xu An’s food stall, but they were met with a crowd much larger than usual, swarming the stand.
They had to use every ounce of their strength to squeeze through the throng and grab two boxed lunches.
After getting their change, they held the meals high above their heads and fought their way back out of the crowd.
They had only wanted to grab a simple lunch, but it felt like they had just survived a massive brawl.
In Luo Min’s memory, the last time she’d experienced a scene like this was at the supermarket during an egg sale, when she was swept up by the swarming crowd and carried toward the egg display.
A kindly older woman next to her, seeing her empty-handed, had assumed she hadn’t managed to get any eggs, and had turned right back around to grab two cartons for her.
The scene at the food stall just now was eerily similar.
Luo Min’s reminiscence was cut short by a fragrant aroma. ’What is that smell?’
It smelled sweet and sour, yet also savory, fresh, and spicy. Where was such a complex aroma coming from?
Luo Min’s nose twitched as she tried to pinpoint the source of the scent.
After a moment of searching, she realized the aroma was coming from the boxed lunch in her hands.
’Don’t tell me the food leaked,’ she thought.
After a quick inspection, she found the container was perfectly intact. Never mind the other dishes—not even a single drop of the soup, which sat right on top, had spilled.
’It smells this good even before I’ve opened it,’ she thought. ’I can only imagine how incredible it will be once I take off the lid.’
Tempted by the aroma, Luo Min quickened her pace. She couldn’t wait to taste the delicious meal.
Back in the office, before she was even properly seated, Luo Min took out the containers from her boxed lunch and arranged them on her desk.
She was most interested in the sweet and sour pork—a genuine, hearty meat dish. Real, solid meat!
The tender pork was coated in a glistening layer of red sauce, with white sesame seeds peeking through.
She popped a piece of pork into her mouth. First came the sweet and sour taste of the sauce, followed by the faint aroma of sesame seeds.
She bit down, breaking through the perfectly fried, crispy-yet-tender coating to reveal the delicate pork within.
The meat was so tender it broke apart with the slightest pressure from her teeth.
As she chewed, the sweet and sour sauce, the aromatic sesame, the crispy coating, and the tender pork all blended together. The more she chewed, the more addicting it became. The combination was absolutely perfect!
After swallowing the piece of sweet and sour pork, Luo Min’s chopsticks moved toward the fried tofu balls.
The tofu balls were fried to a perfect golden brown. The outside was crispy and savory, while the inside was smooth, juicy, and so tender it melted in her mouth.
Even the dried radish, which looked quite ordinary, was incredibly delicious and a perfect accompaniment to the rice.
Finishing the last sip of her yam and pork bone soup, Luo Min felt her life was complete.
For the first time ever, she finished a meal and immediately started looking forward to her next.
It was just a shame the little stall was only open for lunch. If she wanted to eat this again, she’d have to wait until noon the next day.
Luo Min turned to see if Ding Nan had finished eating, only to see that he hadn’t!
He actually had leftovers!
"You’re not going to finish that? You should’ve said something earlier! You could’ve given half to me. What a waste," Luo Min said, her face a mask of distress as she eyed Ding Nan’s remaining food.
"This is my dinner."
?
!
Then it hit Luo Min. Of course! ’I can just buy an extra boxed lunch and save it for dinner!’
’Food this good? I wouldn’t get tired of it even if I had it for two meals straight!’
「Qianhai Town.」
The road layout in Qianhai Town was very simple. A national highway ran along the town’s perimeter, connected to three main roads, each over three meters wide. The rest were all narrow side streets.
Since the Anxin Food Processing Company opened early this year, the rightmost main road had become riddled with potholes and cracks due to the constant traffic of large delivery trucks.
If you weren’t careful walking on it, you could easily trip and take a tumble.
Aside from the large delivery trucks, only those going to the company to procure ingredients ever used this road.
The lack of traffic had turned the road into a new playground for the local children.
The four children Xu An had run into at the blacksmith’s a few days prior were now squatting by the side of this road. Spotting a bicycle approaching from the far end, the boy who seemed to be the leader rubbed his hands together, eager to dash across to the other side.
Just as he was about to take off, the others pulled him back.
"We played this all day yesterday. Bicycles are boring. Let’s make it more challenging."
"Then how do we make it more challenging?" the boy asked, stopping and turning to them seriously.
"What if... what if we switch from bicycles to electric scooters? They’re way faster than bikes. Now, that would be interesting if you could make it across!"
The boy felt that was a little dangerous. As he hesitated, the other kids started to jeer.
"Ooooh, you’re scared! You’re a chicken! A chicken! Woo-hoo!"
The word "chicken" seemed to be the boy’s Achilles’ heel. The moment he heard it, all reason fled. "Who’s a chicken!?" he yelled. "An electric scooter is an electric scooter! I’m not scared!"
Apparently, there weren’t many electric scooters on this road. The four of them squatted by the curb, but after waiting more than ten minutes, not a single one had come by.
The other three grew impatient. They pulled marbles from their pockets and started playing a game under a nearby tree.
Only the boy stayed, his eyes glued to the end of the road, waiting for an electric scooter to appear so he could prove he wasn’t a chicken—he was a real man!