NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Feedback
Thirty minutes later, the siblings were hard at work as they squeezed and smacked a large ball. It was hung using a strong rope and there was a large pot placed underneath.
Lukas looked up at the cloth both and took a deep breath before he nodded at Nina who replied by pouring steaming hot water over the ball. At first, it soaked up the water and after a few seconds, it began to drip red liquid.
Nina immediately stopped while Lukas placed a thick wooden plate with multiple holes on the pot. It had four hands at the sides that helped it rest over the pot. In a way it looked like a plus sign with a huge plate in the center.
The cloth ball was lowered onto the wooden plate and then, Lukas placed a similar plate on top but this one had no holes in it. Then, he made sure that every thing was fine before he began to push down on the wooden plate.
As the cloth got squeezed, it released aromatic red liquid that dripped into the pot. The siblings repeated this process until the liquid coming out of the cloth looked diluted enough.
Once done, Lukas untied the cloth and tossed all the fibrous hard stuff into the waste bucket with a sigh.
He didn't like wasting it but he had no choice. Without a blender, it really was hard to make use of it. Especially in a gravy that was supposed to be smooth since that's how the locals liked it.
The strained liquid began to simmer and Lukas turned to look at his sister who was busy trying to add water into the mashed potatoes to make it thinner. It took her five more minutes but once she was done, with the help of Lukas, the mashed potatoes went into the extremely flavourful liquid.
"Finally. One last step remaining." he said as he added more water and began to mix it with a large stick. Soon, the gravy came together, looking like a thick and creamy red sauce.
He let the gravy simmer for thirty whole minutes before he took a spoonful to taste.
"Heh, we've perfected this." he said as he turned to his sister and watched her repeat his actions before nodding with a satisfied expression.
The two of them grabbed a cloth each, folded it and then used it to protect themselves from getting burnt while they moved the hot pot outside.
Right beside their base of operations, they saw a four wheeled cart waiting outside. On it sat a familiar face, Robinson. Seeing the two come out, he hurriedly stood up and grabbed a cloth of his own to help move the large cylindrical pot onto the cart.
Once that was done, the wooden box filled with bread was also moved onto the cart. Nina stood on the cart to make sure the gravy didn't spill while Lukas and Robinson pulled the cart towards the best spot for business.
"What's the time?" Lukas asked as he glanced at Robinson who hesitated for a moment before he took out a small pocket watch and checked the time.
As he did this, Lukas felt a higher resistance as he pulled the cart but it wasn't enough to stop him completely.
"We have fifteen more minutes until six."
The trio continued moving and after a few minutes, all of them were utterly surprised to see a huge crowd. It was right in front of a carriage station in Baker's Cross, a place where every single working person would have to come if they wished to get to work efficiently.
"Looks like giving out free samples for the past few days really helped…" Robinson said as he felt weirdly excited. For the past five days, he had worked tirelessly to distribute free samples to the people of Frascine Town but he did not expect so many people to actually come to the place while also following all the instructions.
Lukas wasn't immune to the shock as he also hadn't expected to see so many people. While he was confident that he could be able to sell most of his food, it was through selling to people as they moved to their work one by one or to small groups.
Such a big crowd waiting just for him, was unexpected to say the least.
While both Lukas and Robinson stared at the crowd with their mouths open, Nina stood still like a stone statue. Her lips quivered slightly for a moment before she let out a soft sigh. Unfortunately, exhaling didn't help stop her hands from shaking.
"Let's…. go." Lukas said softly as he resumes pushing.
As he got close, he began to make out some of their words.
Godly. Blessing. Taste. Mug. Apostle. Gravy.
A minute later, they were at their planned location but were surrounded by pure chaos.
Seeing the people crowding around the cart, he took a deep breath and yelled, "MAKE A DAMN LINE!! NO PUSHING AND THOSE WHO DID NOT BRING THEIR OWN MUGS, STAND ASIDE."
It took some time to have some order but once it was achieved, Lukas got Robinson to stand by the cart to collect the money. Nina cut up the bread into three equal parts while Lukas used a large ladle to pour the gravy into the mugs that people brought.
Everyone's mugs resembled beer mugs that one could get at a bar, made from wood and they also had a nice durable handle. One by one, the people carried a mug full of gravy in one hand and a bread in the other while they moved to the side to dig in.
[Ding! Receiving feedback for cooking…]
'Oh?' Lukas stared at the screen in front of him while he poured gravy into the mugs like a repetitive robot.
Not knowing the reason for the sudden development, he decided to finish serving all the people first. Bit by bit, the line shortened and from the side, he saw multiple carriages appear. The ones who had finished eating or still had food in their hands, got in.
As for those who still didn't receive their food, they completely ignored the carriages.
'These guys… are they going to walk to their work just so they can eat this? Crazy people for sure.'