Gourmet: Midnight Vending

Chapter 438 - 379: Dispute Over the Dishes—Winner Takes All!

Li Jingyi nodded thoughtfully, "My mom said that some things seem childish when kids do them, but just right when adults do them. Sigh, adults these days really don’t understand."

"Forget them, let’s keep eating!"

It’s got to be the kids—our dish allocation system is very well-organized, purely based on skill, the faster you are, the more you eat.

If you eat less, you accept it willingly, and can only cheer yourself up secretly, hoping to be faster with the next dish!

Even at a table disliked by kids, a group of adults curiously gathered around to watch.

"Not bad, six palms and four backs, almost fifty-fifty. How do you play this game?"

Wang Heng proudly clinched his fist, "I knocked out half with one move. I know you’re all targeting me, bring it on!"

This commotion caught the attention of Chen Mo on the cooking side, who was curious and wanted to look over but was too busy.

The next dish is a hearty one, almost a must in northern feasts—braised pork with preserved vegetables.

This dish requires a long steaming time and just needs to be served later, but the remaining five dishes include a simple stir-fried vegetable that has to be cooked freshly on the spot, even though it’s the last to be served, Chen Mo needs to start preparing it now.

The remaining three dishes are almost all seafood and also need to be freshly prepared.

"Master Hou, stop watching the excitement, can’t do it without you."

"You brat!" Hou Yao feigned anger, "Did you know I was coming, and skipped all the prep work?"

"Not really, hehe, just got busy and forgot."

Hou Yao took a deep breath looking at the long list of ingredients, "I’m telling you, just based on this dish, put this meal on a menu and it’s definitely worth four or five thousand."

"Thanks for the exaggeration, let’s hurry up!"

While speaking, the table erupted in exclamations, but Chen Mo just glanced and ignored it.

Hou Yao was also busy preparing the ingredients, even as a top-notch Cantonese chef, today he could only play the role of prep cook in this little courtyard.

After two rounds of fierce battles, Wang Heng unbelievably won two rounds consecutively!

During the six-person rock-paper-scissors game, three players were immediately eliminated, and one more was eliminated in the second round, leaving only one opponent left in front of him—Liu Jingqi.

"Didn’t think your luck would be this good."

Wang Heng laughed proudly, "Thanks to everyone letting me win, hehe, shall we?"

Liu Jingqi nodded, "You’re really fighting for that bite to eat, come on, rock-paper...scissors!"

The people at the table almost held their breath, the spectators stretched their necks to see the result.

As the words fell, Liu Jingqi stomped her foot hard, "Damn!"

She had scissors, Wang Heng had a rock.

"Anything else to say? Haha, I declare!"

Wang Heng even moved the plate of Dezhou Roasted Chicken in front of himself, "Let’s start from my direction!"

The other nine people glared at him fiercely, but there was nothing they could do, the winner takes it all.

"Stop yapping, just eat! Remember, only one bite per person!"

Wang Heng circled his chopsticks around the chicken in the air, "Oh dear, which part should I pick?"

The more pleased he was, the more upset his colleagues were.

"Fine, I’ll just pick a chicken leg, see, I’m not that unreasonable, right?"

Then, Wang Heng picked up the protruding bit of the chicken leg bone with his chopsticks, "I only eat one chicken leg, leaving the best wings and all for you, tut tut."

Immediately, he pulled up hard with his chopsticks, and when his proud gaze returned to his hands, he was suddenly dumbfounded.

"Wow!"

"Hahaha."

"Enough with the laughing, only one bite per person, Wang Heng, you’re not thinking of cheating, are you?"

Dumbfounded, Wang Heng was completely stupefied.

All he had on his chopsticks was a chicken leg bone, not a bit of meat, and the chicken leg’s meat was still perfectly in the plate, he!

He had just helped de-bone it.

"No, this doesn’t count, how can a bone count, come on, it doesn’t count."

"Hand it over!"

The colleague beside him didn’t give him a chance, directly snatched the plate from Wang Heng, took a piece of the de-boned chicken leg with their chopsticks!

"Thanks, Mr. Wang."

With that chopstick, not only was the de-boned chicken leg taken, but also some chicken back meat from around the leg.

Next!

Everyone truly had only one bite, when it got to Liao Feng’s turn, they weren’t polite.

Manager Liao picked up the chicken neck and put it on his plate, "Last to eat, but getting a neck is alright, better than just a bone, right?"

The table erupted in laughter again.

Wang Heng sucked the bone noisily in his mouth.

With just that one bite, Wang Heng clearly felt there was almost no resistance as he picked up the chicken leg bone, what does this mean?

It meant this chicken had already reached the level when the bones and meat separate easily, how tender and juicy the meat must be!

Meanwhile, the others at the table were silent.

Liu Jingqi had a piece of chicken breast and was a little dumbfounded, she took a long time chomping before speaking in shock, "This! It’s completely different from the packaged Dezhou Roasted Chicken I buy in the supermarket, they’re like two different species!"

"Yeah..." Fangfang found it hard to believe too, "How’s it made? The outer skin I just ate felt like jelly, the chicken meat was so smooth it seemed like it had no fibers, it just melted away."

"I feel like I just ate a chicken-flavored mousse cake, and one with a liquid center..."

The colleagues chimed in sharing their thoughts on the dish’s taste and texture.

To be fair, the texture and flavor derived from top-grade ingredients ensured that no matter how the chicken was prepared, it retained its original taste.

The unique spice pack provided by the dining cart let the fried aroma and braised fragrance alternate.

One bite is simply not enough!

Everyone felt they could just grab one and take a bite, with no problem.

With the bone in his mouth, Wang Heng could faintly taste what everyone was talking about but had no idea what the texture of this dish was, inducing a mix of frustration and regret!

He never expected that his victory after defeating nine people would only earn him a bone!

"No problem, though I lost this dish, I’m third for the next one, I still have a chance to make a comeback!"

Just as the thought occurred, the helpers emerged with freshly prepared dishes and placed them on the table.

The nine colleagues who were still immersed in the roasted chicken couldn’t help but lose it when they saw the new dish.

"Pfft!" Liu Jingqi chuckled, "Seriously...does this dish even need words? This kind of dish is portioned out, Wang Heng, you don’t plan to take all the meat for yourself, do you?"

Wang Heng clenched his fist, swearing under his breath at his bad luck.

How did braised pork with preserved vegetables suddenly show up?

Ten nearly translucent slices of pork belly neatly lined up, with a layer of saucy preserved vegetables underneath.

And around the meat slices were arranged a circle of ten lotus leaf buns.

Liu Jingqi was right, this is portioned out evenly, if he took all ten slices in one bun, that wouldn’t be funny, he’d likely get assassinated jokingly.

"Of course I won’t, why pass it around? Just one slice each, right?"

Everyone chuckled knowingly and began to serve themselves.

The soft, white, sticky lotus leaf bun easily split in half, a slice of pork belly placed in between, along with some preserved vegetables from the plate’s bottom.

Closing the bun together created a simple version of "braised pork with preserved vegetables in a bun," the most common way for Jingzhou people to eat it.

Liao Feng deliberately only picked up half of the pork slice, wanting to taste the meat on its own.

Holding the bun, he examined it closely.

"Wow."

Liao Feng was genuinely surprised.

Braised pork with preserved vegetables... people his age basically don’t want to eat it since those who frequently dine out like him, middle-aged people, generally have health concerns.

Who wants to eat such a big piece of pork belly?

But this piece of meat was different, unlike any braised pork he’d seen before.

Entirely different!