Gourmet: Midnight Vending

After the food cart sped up at a deserted corner, Chen Mo found himself in a parking lot once he steadied himself.

"Is this a way to avoid parking fees?"

[You this...]

Chen Mo chuckled twice, thinking to himself that at Pang Donglai, people with receipt tickets can apparently get their parking fees waived.

But it's indeed a strange mentality; thousands of yuan on lamb doesn't make you blink, yet a two-yuan parking fee can make you heartache for half a day. If something online costs a bit more, it's fine, but six yuan for shipping? Sorry, goodbye.

Chen Mo followed the crowd into Pang Donglai. With this supermarket becoming a popular online spot, many now treat it as a tourist attraction, which explains why despite being so early, it's already packed.

With no need for anything else, Chen Mo headed straight for the supermarket.

He charged straight to the meat section. After all, this is a supermarket; freshly slaughtered chicken was out of the question. Chen Mo examined several kinds of frozen chicken carefully. As expected, things here are slightly pricier for a reason. While the chicken isn't quite the Qingyuan Chicken from Yueyun Pavilion, it's still pretty decent.

Chen Mo stacked fifty chickens into his shopping cart all at once.

Couldn't stack them; couldn't stack them at all!

Chen Mo applied some of his structural mechanics knowledge, and now he's pushing a cart full of frozen chickens. The height of the whole chickens completely blocked his view, making it look quite spectacular.

Then he headed to the condiment section to pick out the spices necessary for Bang Bang Chicken one by one.

.....

"Look quickly!"

In the parking lot, as soon as Su Shasha got out of the taxi, a streak of yellow flashed across her vision. She excitedly pointed to the other side, "Brother Xiao Chen really came to shop at the supermarket!"

"Tsk, isn't it fate? How about it, Yingqiu, why not just go for it this time?"

Lu Yingqiu tucked her hair behind her ear, "Don't speak nonsense."

Then she walked confidently towards the supermarket entrance, with Su Shasha and Yino exchanging a smile and following her immediately.

Unlike Chen Mo, who had a purpose, the three girls were just there for novelty. In reality, if you don't need anything specific, Pang Donglai isn't that different from a regular supermarket.

After wandering around the jewelry and cosmetics store on the first floor for a while, Su Shasha insisted on going to the supermarket to buy snacks, saying Yingqiu is heading back to her hometown soon and might get hungry on the way.

That was indeed the case.

In the final days before graduation, the three dormmates had mostly figured out their paths: Su Shasha going home to focus on government exams, Yino returning home for work and matchmaking, and as for Lu Yingqiu...

"Yingqiu, I'm telling you, learn to make mutton soup from my Yu Province and open a restaurant with your family. Guaranteed to beat your second uncle's place!"

"Oh, stop your nonsense." Yino linked arms with Lu Yingqiu, "I think you should just find a job in Zhengzhou first. What can you do about things back home? Your brother's health will surely get better, don't worry too much~"

Lu Yingqiu nodded, staying silent as she continued into the supermarket. Her mind, however, carried burdens not meant for her age.

The trio headed straight for the snack section, and Su Shasha picked up whatever she saw, tossing it into the cart with a loud bang.

As she tossed things in from the front, Lu Yingqiu walked behind, shaking her head and putting snacks back on the shelf, leaving only items like small bread that could quickly satiate hunger.

Suddenly, Su Shasha stopped abruptly.

"Look! That person bought so many chickens!"

The other two looked in the direction of Su Shasha's finger, mouths forming simultaneous "o"s!

Not just them; even other passing shoppers pointed and giggled at the massive pile of chickens.

"Whoa, is that guy learning to build a house? Why buy so many chickens; can he finish them?"

"Tsk! If he goes to Pizza Hut for all-you-can-eat fruit, he'd make an awesome nine-tiered tower for sure."

"Oh my God, that's gotta be around fifty chickens! Do out-of-towners shop at Pang Donglai like this?"

"Or maybe he's a shopping agent? I heard there's now a business of Pang Donglai shopping agents in small counties, and it's doing quite well."

Chen Mo didn't mind the pointing fingers and tucked the giant plastic bag filled with his required spices on the pedal behind his cart.

And now, he was going to check out and load all these items onto the food cart. It's not that he couldn't buy in batches, but given that business starts at ten in the morning, time was indeed a bit tight.

Su Shasha, not only looking like an elementary school student but also having a similar mindset, always wanted to join in on fun things.

She ran over to the towering stack of chickens, "Hey, how come it's Brother Xiao Chen?"

Chen Mo turned his head, "Well."

Turns out there really is some affinity here.

But then again, thinking it's just fate didn't seem right after all, everyone had mentioned they'd be shopping at the supermarket, and meeting there was the most normal thing in the world.

"Here, let me help you." Su Shasha didn't even wait for Chen Mo to say [Okay] before reaching up on her tiptoes to take down the top chicken and throw it into her cart.

Yino and Lu Yingqiu saw this and joined in to help.

With many visitors watching, the fifty chickens were split into four shopping carts for transport, which, though still impressive, at least wasn't as outrageous.

They made their way through checkouts to the parking lot, with Chen Mo standing on the food cart while Su Shasha and the other two passed items to him inside.

"Brother Xiao Chen, why did you buy so many chickens? Are you planning for a long journey?"

Yino was also excited, "But if you eat only chicken on the road, wouldn't it get boring?"

Lu Yingqiu didn't speak, but her eyes were evidently filled with curiosity, awaiting Chen Mo's answer.

[Clue character Lu Yingqiu, familiarity +1]

Oh?

Chen Mo noticed the words floating past his eyes. He didn't expect this was possible?

"As everyone knows, what I drive is not an RV, but a food truck. So buying so many chickens is for street vending, which makes sense, right?"

Street vending?

Su Shasha almost jumped up, "You mean cooking delicious food and then setting up a stall by the roadside?"

Wasn't that obvious? Chen Mo didn't even want to comment on this girl.

"It seems kind of fun." Yino was also somewhat interested in this activity, "Can you take us to see it?"

"Yeah, yeah, Brother Xiao Chen, take us to set up a stall with you." Su Shasha hugged a chicken, "I can help too! I ate your hot pot yesterday, so today I'll help you set up the stall!"

Chen Mo's gaze went past the two and fell on the girl in the back.

Lu Yingqiu only felt a bit itchy on her soles, pretended not to see Chen Mo's gaze, and turned her head, but the blush on her face gave her away.

"Sure." Chen Mo stuffed the chickens into the cabinet, "But street vending isn't that fun, if you want to experience it, get in the car."

Su Shasha and Yino had no reservations, perfectly showcasing the traits of college students who are sociable and unscheming, as they skillfully climbed into the food truck.

Lu Yingqiu stood below, softly saying, "I'll take the front seat."

Yino bit her lip and secretly laughed, pushing Su Shasha onto the bed in the back, leaving the front passenger seat for Lu Yingqiu.

Chen Mo got in, started the engine, turned on the navigation, and headed to the resting spot from the night before.

Mainly, if staying in the city, Chen Mo wasn't sure where it would be okay to set up a stall, and if any trouble arose from it, it would seriously affect his mood.

It's much better outside the city, where basically no one manages it.

Da da da!

As soon as the car started moving, the three girls' phones began ringing incessantly.

Yino: Is Yingqiu afraid Brother Xiao Chen will sneak a peek at your feet today?

Su Shasha: Haha! The feet of my darling Yingqiu are the prettiest, I love to look at them too!

Yino: Just look, Yingqiu, what's there to be afraid of? Looking won't make a part of you fall off.

Lu Yingqiu recalled Chen Mo's occasional glances last night and felt her heart racing again.

Lu Yingqiu: I changed my socks, they don't look good.

Chen Mo focused intently on driving, regretting why he hadn't bought sunglasses?

Can a normal person really resist looking at jeans on a one-sixty-five-girl?

Luckily, the food truck was fast enough, and before long, they arrived outside Huaxi Resort.

The three girls leaned on the windows to look outside, "Gosh, spending a day here must cost a lot, right?"

Huaxi Resort, also known as Huaxi Hot Spring Resort.

Seeing from outside, it looked grand and majestic, and even the hotel entrance had an expensive feel to it, with signposts pointing to the hot spring area, dining area, entertainment area, and so on.

Chen Mo chuckled, "If you don't stay overnight, it won't cost much."

A truly expensive hot spring resort wouldn't have stalls selling swimwear at the entrance.

Chen Mo parked next to a stall selling skewered chicken for one Yuan each.

The stall owner, Li Xiaobo, curiously looked at the unfamiliar yellow food truck, feeling that compared to others, his food truck was a bit simple.

"What's the use of a good food truck? Doesn't this thing cost hundreds of thousands? What could he sell to earn that back?"

Li Xiaobo, with his years of street vending experience, immediately assessed, thinking this food truck owner was probably fooled by some franchise and was a pitiful person.

And as Li Xiaobo continued to watch.

He saw...

A girl jumped down from the front passenger seat, standing about one-sixty-five, her jeans showcasing her perfect figure, with a delicate face showing no trace of makeup.

"Street vending with such a pretty girl following? Could I have been mistaken?"

Before Li Xiaobo could ponder further, another girl jumped down from the passenger seat. Though not as tall as the previous girl, her attire of a hoodie and loose sweatpants exuded youthful vitality, giving her a unique charm.

Li Xiaobo took a deep breath, "Setting up a stall with two girls in tow? Is there no justice?"

But what use are two girls? Li Xiaobo sneered, the most important thing in street vending is whether you can sell your things; later, let these two girls see, he's the true king of street vending!

Then he saw...

A pair of black high heels landed on the ground, white calves emerged from the front passenger seat, the toes with red nail polish hooking up the shoes before slipping them on, and then their owner slowly stepped out.

Yino tugged at the hem of her skirt, expertly tying her hair back with a hair tie that slid off her wrist to bind her hair.

Li Xiaobo was rendered speechless from staring.

Three...

Three of them?