Gourmet: Midnight Vending

Chapter 455 - 386: Buying Ingredients for Kindergarten? (Part 2)

And today is the last day.

Chen Mo thought for a moment, then silently returned to the food cart. Since it’s the last day, he might as well set up a stall casually to get back into the swing of things, considering he hadn’t done it for a while and felt a bit rusty.

Then his brain started to come alive.

The entrance of the kindergarten was completely fine for setting up a stall. Although there weren’t many students, he didn’t have much preparation time anyway.

After thinking it over, Chen Mo figured the most popular snack online for school entrances was spicy noodles.

But making those was simply boiling noodles and mixing in spicy sauce bought online, which wasn’t very meaningful, to be honest.

Also, snacks at the entrance of the kindergarten must be cheap. If a snack costs more than five Yuan, parents would think twice, considering the kids would soon have dinner at home.

"It needs to be fast, cheap, tasty, and look healthy and harmless."

Soon, Chen Mo filtered out a snack from his past knowledge—potato pancakes.

"Parents particularly dislike kids eating fried snacks like fries, thinking they’re unhealthy. But if it’s potato pancakes, they’re much more accepting, hmm..."

As soon as he thought of it, he acted on it.

The ingredients for potato pancakes are incredibly simple—just potatoes.

"Jianhong, do you know where the nearest vegetable market is?"

"Vegetable market?" Sun Jianhong thought Chen Mo was getting impatient, "Bro, we can’t go to the market, we have to wait here."

"No, I want to buy some vegetables. While you buy your aged vinegar, I can find time to set up a stall."

Hearing this, Sun Jianhong shook his head with downturned lips, "No way, these kids are picked up by their grandparents. Although they’re willing to spend money on the kids, they don’t have much cash. You won’t make money here."

Jianhong had a point, but Chen Mo wasn’t doing it for money; he had plenty.

"Never mind, just tell me where the vegetable market is."

"Our village doesn’t have a vegetable market, just a small grocery store. I’ll take you there."

As Chen Mo was about to get in the car, Jianhong quickly said, "No need to drive, it’s very close."

Chen Mo responded and followed Sun Jianhong, and in just three or four minutes, they arrived at a small store.

This place sold not only tobacco, alcohol, and snacks but also daily vegetables.

"Boss, do you have potatoes?"

"Yes, over there, help yourself."

Chen Mo went to the corner of the shop where a pile of potatoes lay, all about the same size and looking quite good, a yellow-skinned variety.

This type of potato, with its high starch content, was perfect for making potato pancakes.

Seeing Chen Mo buying potatoes, Sun Jianhong pulled him aside, "Bro, if you wanted potatoes, you should’ve said. We could just get some from home; why bother buying?"

"Enough, don’t worry about it." Chen Mo wasn’t in the mood to explain.

It was just that earlier Jianhong mentioned buying aged vinegar, and Chen Mo felt like he was playing a joke on him.

Is he teasing me?

Chen Mo pointed to a pile of potatoes in the corner, "Boss, I’ll take all of these. How much?"

The shop owner, surprised, paused his livestream, "All of them? That must be over 200 pounds."

"Yes, I’ll take them all."

The owner, perhaps never having had such a large sale in the village, quickly came out from behind the counter, "Normally, I sell them for 1.5 Yuan per pound. If you buy them all, it’ll be 1.3 Yuan!"

Chen Mo didn’t haggle, "Okay, could you deliver this pile to the kindergarten entrance?"

The owner didn’t hesitate, agreed!

He promptly began packing the potatoes into nylon bags, weighing each and loading them onto an electric tricycle at the entrance, "Boss, it’s a total of 235 pounds, 305 Yuan, but I’ll take just 300 from you."

Chen Mo scanned to pay, and the shop owner rode the tricycle toward the kindergarten.

Watching Chen Mo spend money so casually, Jianhong felt a bit envious, "Bro, how do you have so much money? Can you teach me?"

"From setting up stalls."

"Stalls, like those roadside snacks, like mine?" Jianhong’s confidence rose.

"Yes, I started with a small handcart too, gradually made money, upgraded to a better cart, and now I travel the country with this vehicle, still setting up stalls to earn money."

As Chen Mo spoke, Jianhong’s eyes grew brighter and brighter, until they practically shone.

"Bro! Bro! You’re my idol! What you’re doing is my ultimate life goal! Bro, can you teach me how?"

Chen Mo laughed as he walked, "You first handle the three thousand Yuans’ worth of business."

Watching Chen Mo’s back, Jianhong felt a growing sense of reverence.

Yes, weren’t the founders of big companies once poor too? Chen Mo started with a simple handcart, and if others could grow strong, so could I!

Jianhong followed Chen Mo back to the kindergarten entrance, trailing behind as Chen Mo worked.

This left Chen Mo little opportunity to deliver the potatoes to the cabinet for cleaning.

"Jianhong, can you do something else? School’s about to let out; you need to prepare your materials in advance."

"It’s fine; I’ll rush in when school’s out. As long as I offer a price one Yuan higher than others, I can buy it!"

Chen Mo shook his head, "How much money do you have?"

"One hundred!"

Jianhong pulled out a 100 Yuan bill, which Chen Mo had given him while dining out.

Because Jianhong returned 400 and only kept 100, Chen Mo thought he was a decent kid, just a bit unrealistic in his thinking.

"Okay, I’ll give you another hundred. Could you help me wash potatoes?"

"Sure!"

Whatever the idol says goes, and Jianhong rolled up his sleeves, ready to go.

Chen Mo pointed to a large pile of potatoes on the ground, "Wash these potatoes thoroughly clean."

Then he tossed out a large basin and handed him a hose from the cart.

Jianhong eagerly squatted and started scrubbing the potatoes, while Chen Mo casually carried a bag of potatoes back into the food cart, tossed them into the cabinet, and took them out again, perfectly clean and even peeled, with all the small eyes removed.

"High technology for the win."

Having handled one batch of potatoes, Chen Mo transformed the black pot into a square shape resembling a topless box. With the food cart’s doors closed, it was well-concealed, and no one nearby to notice.

He then pulled out a potato shredder, grated one potato, and archived the grated potato.

He poured all the cleaned potatoes into the feeder, producing a basin full of grated potato, and filled it with water to soak, preventing it from turning black.

He checked his watch. Only twenty minutes until school ended.

It was time to begin.

Chen Mo lit the stove. Thanks to the even heat distribution of the black pot, though it was now a meter-square, the flame in the center heated every part of the pot bottom.

Meanwhile, Jianhong continued crouching there, washing potatoes diligently, to learn and earn a hundred Yuan for buying aged vinegar.

He’d bought it before; during school dismissals, the competition was fierce. One Yuan per bottle was standard pricing, but sometimes people would raise it to two Yuan per bottle to sell!

In those cases, Jianhong had to showcase his persuasive skills with the kids and their grandparents.

Two Yuan was his limit; any higher and the effort to set up a stall wasn’t worth it, making it hard to profit.

Jianhong didn’t notice Chen Mo’s activity in the food cart until a loud sizzling sound caught his attention. Turning his head, he saw plumes of oil smoke billowing from the food cart, accompanied by a rich potato aroma.

What was that?

Curious, Jianhong dropped the potatoes and went up to the food cart’s serving window.

Standing on tiptoe, he peeked inside.