Chapter 24: Is This Scent My Imagination?
The next day, he still prepared sixty lunchboxes, but this time the distribution was twenty for the Zijing Garden construction site and forty for the Hai City Library construction site.
This time, he ran into an acquaintance. It was the honest-looking man he had met while scouting the construction site, the one who had been squatting by the entrance eating a chicken drumstick lunchbox.
Xu An recognized him, and the honest-looking man clearly remembered Xu An as well, walking straight toward him.
"I knew it. A kid like you asking so many questions, you weren’t really thinking about coming to work on the site," the man teased, eyeing the lunchboxes at Xu An’s stall. "What kind of worker doesn’t ask about his salary but can’t stop talking about food?"
"Hehe," Xu An chuckled, trying to laugh it off. He opened a lunchbox and asked, "Eight yuan for one. Three dishes and a soup. Want to try it? It’s a much better deal than that chicken drumstick meal you had before."
"Alright, I’ll take one. Let’s see how good your cooking is."
Seeing the man buy a lunchbox, a few of his coworkers who were behind him all came forward, grabbed a lunchbox each, and paid.
’Four sold right after opening. That’s a great start! A really good omen.’
A tall young man walked out of a somewhat run-down building diagonally opposite the construction site. He wore a plain white T-shirt, light blue jeans, and had neat, short hair. He looked like an office worker.
The young man’s name was Ding Nan. He was a recent college graduate who had found an administrative job in Hai City and become a nine-to-five office worker.
He quickly adapted to the rhythm of office life, but there was one thing he couldn’t get used to: eating lunch.
Back in school, he had mostly eaten in the cafeteria, where three or four yuan was enough to get a full meal. Such low prices led him to believe that, out in the real world, a meal would cost six or eight yuan at most.
But after he started working, Ding Nan discovered that meals outside cost more than just six or eight yuan. They started at ten yuan, and if you wanted something decent, it was twelve.
’Fine, it’s expensive. A man’s gotta eat, after all. But it was also disgusting!’
Today, for instance, his supervisor had praised his work. He was feeling great and wanted to treat his hard-working self to a nice meal.
After looking around, he chose a restaurant with Western-style decor. The storefront was clean and tidy, and the owner had a refined air, looking every bit the master chef. He went in, sat down, and ordered the twelve-yuan deluxe pork chop over rice.
The deluxe pork chop over rice that arrived did not disappoint.
The golden-fried pork chop was cut into even pieces and laid over plump, glistening rice. A rich black pepper sauce gave the pork a new soul. The soft-boiled egg was cooked to perfection, wobbling at the slightest touch of his fork. Two stalks of choy sum, a vibrant and dewy green, added a splash of bright color to the dish.
’Everything was perfect.’
Ding Nan happily speared a piece of pork chop and brought it to his mouth, his eyes curving into crescents as he prepared to savor the delicious treat.
’GRIND... SQUEAK... CREEEAK... NGH!’
Veins bulged on his temples. His teeth felt like they were about to come loose, but the piece of pork chop between them wouldn’t budge an inch.
’Ptui!’
After another failed attempt, Ding Nan finally gave up on the pork chop and switched his attack to the soft-boiled egg beside it.
The moment his fork touched it, the egg went FWOOP and slipped away. He tried again with more force, and the once-perfect soft-boiled egg turned into a messy puddle of white and yolk.
Speechless, he moved his fork toward the choy sum. ’This can’t possibly be a problem, can it?’
He took a bite. ’It’s raw. The choy sum is raw. RAW!’
Ding Nan dejectedly put down his fork. He finally understood why this restaurant, which looked so appealing, was completely empty.
’Because the food here is all for show! You can look, but you can’t eat!’
’The owner must be ridiculously rich, just opening a restaurant to kill his long, boring hours.’
Of the entire twelve-yuan deluxe meal, the only edible thing was the glass of lemonade. Not only did it fail to fill Ding Nan up, but its faint sour taste only made him feel hungrier.
’This time, I’m going to find the busiest place to eat!’
Stepping out of the restaurant, Ding Nan began his search anew.
Just as Ding Nan reached a group of construction workers, the light turned green. The whole group surged across the street, and Ding Nan, caught in the flow like a baby chick, was swept along with them to the other side.
Once they reached the other side, the workers scattered, leaving a bewildered Ding Nan standing alone.
Xu An saw the dazed Ding Nan and called out enthusiastically, "Hey, man! Lunchbox with three dishes and a soup for eight yuan. Want one?"
’Eight yuan for three dishes and a soup?’
Curious, Ding Nan edged closer, wanting to see what the three dishes were. The moment he saw the container of sticky rice meatballs on top, he was completely captivated.
’Eight yuan... only eight yuan... should I risk it?’
The little devil on his shoulder urged him to pull out eight yuan and buy the lunchbox immediately.
However, a lingering shred of reason in his mind snapped him back to his senses at the last second.
"Sir, you don’t use gutter oil for these lunchboxes, do you?"
Xu An chuckled at the question. He pulled a receipt from his pocket and held it out for Ding Nan to see.
"This is the receipt for the oil I bought yesterday. If you want, I can show you more. I’ve kept the receipts for every single ingredient I’ve bought since I started this stall.
Gutter oil has a strong smell; it’s only used for really oily, salty dishes. Do these sticky rice meatballs look like the kind of dish you could make with gutter oil?
Besides, it wouldn’t make sense to switch to a different oil for just one dish to save a few pennies. With that much trouble, I might as well have just made two more lunchboxes."
Ding Nan couldn’t be sure if the receipt was real, but he felt that a liar wouldn’t be able to speak with such firm conviction. Besides, the young man in front of him looked barely twenty, even younger than himself. He probably hadn’t learned the deceptive ways of a crooked merchant yet.
He decisively pulled out a ten-yuan bill and handed it to Xu An, receiving a lunchbox with three dishes and a soup, along with two one-yuan bills in change.
Xu An’s was a temporary stall with no seating, so Ding Nan had no choice but to take the lunchbox back to his desk at the office.
On the very top was a container of winter melon and pearl barley bone soup. Inside were two large chunks of winter melon, enough pearl barley to coat the bottom, and a small piece of meat. For a complimentary soup, this portion was already more than generous.
Beneath the soup was a whole container of sticky rice pearl meatballs. Six plump, chubby meatballs were coated in a layer of translucent, jade-like sticky rice and garnished with a sprinkle of chopped green onions.
’It smells so good!’
Suppressing the urge to dig in right away, Ding Nan opened the container beneath the meatballs. One half held stir-fried eggplant in sauce, and the other half held home-style tofu—both classic dishes that go perfectly with rice.
’At the very bottom was a container packed to the brim with rice. This portion is easily enough for two meals!’
With all the containers opened, Ding Nan snapped apart his disposable chopsticks and dug in with gusto.
’The sticky rice pearl meatballs—delicious!’
’The stir-fried eggplant—so delicious!’
’The home-style tofu—still so, so delicious!’
’The winter melon and pearl barley soup is light and sweet. Drinking it made his whole stomach feel wonderful. It’s amazing!’
After stuffing himself, he found there was still a lot of food left, but Ding Nan realized he was full. He couldn’t eat another bite!
’I haven’t even eaten half of this! How can I be full already? Damn it!’
Looking at the leftovers, an idea suddenly popped into Ding Nan’s head. ’What if... I save the rest for dinner at home tonight?’
’That way, I won’t have to worry about dinner.’
No sooner said than done. Ding Nan deftly packed up the remaining food and stashed it in a corner of his cubicle.
He even set a special alarm on his phone to remind himself to take the lunchbox home when he got off work.
His colleague in the next cubicle spent the entire afternoon with their nose twitching.
’Why do I smell sticky rice pearl meatballs? It must be my imagination... definitely my imagination. But the smell is so vivid. How strange.’