Gourmet: Midnight Vending

Chapter 467 - 391: Hope This Works! (2)

The recipe for skinless tea eggs isn’t some kind of secret, in fact, it’s quite simple: five-spice seasoning plus cola, with soy sauce and salt added when boiling the eggs.

Even the most ordinary households can easily put together this kind of seasoning.

The real key to making skinless eggs is to crack the egg while it’s still raw, and you can’t crush it while cracking it, which is a step that stumps many people.

After cracking, you still have to peel the shell, which stumps even more people.

As the eggs with some shell peeled off cook, you have to expertly control the heat to prevent the temperature from getting too high, causing the egg whites to expand and squeeze out from the membrane, which is not something ordinary people can do.

So Chen Mo was quite uncertain about what exactly Cheng Xiuli wanted to do, so he decided to agree to her request and see how things go.

"Then wait for me on the roadside outside the parking lot, I’ll go get my car."

"I also have a car," Cheng Xiuli said briskly. "How about we meet up at Dashuang Village?"

"Okay. Just navigate directly to the Big Windmill Kindergarten in Dashuang Village."

"Oh?" Watching Chen Mo’s departing back, Cheng Xiuli thought this young man was quite interesting.

Wearing a suit to set up a stall in the hot weather, he sold everything clean in less than an hour, and instead of cooking more eggs, he just packed up and left. And then he’s heading to a kindergarten in the village?

All of this made Cheng Xiuli very curious about Chen Mo.

Of course, she was most curious about the recipe in Chen Mo’s hands.

The catering company run by Cheng Xiuli mainly focused on training, advertising online and finding customers interested in learning snack-making skills, then training these customers on how to make snacks.

The training fees were charged according to the type of snack.

Thus, gathering famous snacks from all over the country was part of Cheng Xiuli’s job.

Cheng Xiuli quickly found her car, glanced at the packaged tea eggs on the passenger seat, and in the end, she didn’t rush off but peeled all the egg shells first, then slowly drove along the navigation route.

"Jasmine tea eggs are the best, the inherent egg flavor complemented by a subtle floral fragrance, these two surprisingly go so well together?"

"The Longjing flavor is good too. Initially, it’s the five-spice tea egg flavor, followed by a faint tea aroma, tsk."

Eating along the way, by the time she reached Dashuang Village, Cheng Xiuli reached with her right hand to the passenger seat but found it empty.

"Did I finish them all?"

Recalling that she had bought thirty eggs, Cheng Xiuli then realized, "Did I eat thirty eggs on the way here?"

The blame was on how delicious these eggs were!

Despite their tastiness, because they were mixed with juice, they were easy to eat without feeling dry, and their texture was excellent, which is why she unknowingly finished them all cleanly.

Arriving at Big Windmill Kindergarten, Cheng Xiuli was still pondering why the young boss had to come here. Once her car was parked, she saw a yellow food truck at the kindergarten entrance.

Around the food truck were several yellow tables and chairs, with more than a dozen little girls sitting around the tables, concentrating on something, seemingly playing a game involving painting plaster toys.

"Is this his second business?"

Cheng Xiuli strode towards the food truck, and it was only when she got closer that she saw that the little girls were focused on facing an egg, carefully peeling off the cracked egg shell with tweezers.

So that’s how it is!

Recalling that the tea eggs she bought had partially missing shells, Cheng Xiuli suddenly understood, "Boss, does that mean you’re hiring these little girls to help you?"

Chen Mo quickly waved his hand, "Please don’t say that, I’m just playing games with them!"

Only then did Cheng Xiuli realize her words were inappropriate, and mentally labeled the young boss as "cautious."

"So..." Cheng Xiuli glanced at the Chinese characters outside the yellow food truck, "Boss Chen? Would you be willing to share the tea egg recipe you sold at the stall today? I can offer you this amount."

Cheng Xiuli held up one finger.

Ten thousand yuan?

A price neither too high nor too low.

"I can, but my skinless egg formula is not really a secret. The main thing is the method, which not everyone may learn."

"You don’t have to worry about that," said Cheng Xiuli, "We have very professional cooks at our company. I’m confident that as long as you explain it clearly, they can learn it."

What Cheng Xiuli didn’t mention was that it would be better if people couldn’t learn it practically.

If that were the case, the company would develop a piece of equipment specifically for making this kind of tea egg, which would allow them to earn extra revenue apart from the training fees.

They knew how to make money through this process.

"Let’s see about that, I might be busy soon." Chen Mo took the egg Xiao Ling handed over, checking it. This girl’s shelling speed was faster today, and she did it perfectly.

"Do you want a potato cake, or do you want two Yuan?"

Xiao Ling, sweating lightly on her nose, said, "Can I eat a potato cake first and then peel another egg?"

"Of course you can." Chen Mo handed the well-baked potato cake to Xiao Ling, then gave her a cracked egg.

At this moment, a kid with a runny nose ran over, "Uncle, I need to pee, I want a potato cake!"

"Not today." Chen Mo rejected flatly.

The little boy clutched his crotch, "I haven’t peed all day, I’m just waiting to eat a potato cake after school."

"Still no."

Seeing Chen Mo’s firm refusal, the boy clutched his crotch, bent over, and returned to find the old grandpa collecting pee.

Chen Mo speechlessly watched a group of kids surround a bucket to pee, wondering what was going on.

"Uncle, is this egg okay?" Lost in thought, another little girl cautiously approached with an egg.

Chen Mo had an impression of this little girl; her name seemed to be Xiaoying, yesterday’s first customer, the little girl scolded by her grandma for being a waste of money.

"Of course, you want a potato cake or a cash exchange?"

For some reason, Chen Mo would unconsciously speak in a softer voice and use more childish language when talking to children.

Yingzi licked her lips and eyed Xiao Ling’s potato cake, "I want..."

"You already had one yesterday, you want to eat again today?"

Before Yingzi could finish speaking, her grandmother interrupted her, smiling at Chen Mo, "Boss, my granddaughter wants money, not a potato cake."

Then she rubbed her hands, slightly embarrassed, and asked, "Can I do this work?"

Chen Mo’s eyebrows nearly twisted into a copper lock!

"Ma’am, you can do it, but I must say first, you’re an adult. If you damage my egg, you have to compensate me with one."

"Ah? This..." The old woman hesitated.

Chen Mo said sternly, "And this game is something I’m playing with the kids. As an adult, you’re not qualified to make decisions for your granddaughter, otherwise, I reserve the right not to play games with your granddaughter in the future."

Then he handed a packed potato cake to Yingzi, "Here, eat!"

Yingzi was noticeably delighted, but the joy quickly diminished. She looked anxiously at her grandma.

The old lady, rendered speechless by Chen Mo, had to glare at Yingzi, "Eat, eat, that’s all you know! Your mom’s remittances are not enough to feed you! Hurry up, eat, and then continue peeling eggs!"

Yingzi seemed accustomed to such accusations, not too upset by her grandmother’s scolding. She took her potato cake to join Xiao Ling, chatting enthusiastically as they ate together.

At this moment, Chen Mo seemed to realize something.

But couldn’t quite articulate it.

Watching the whole scene unfold, Cheng Xiuli heavily sighed, "I think I know why you wanted to set up a stall at the kindergarten. You feel sorry for these little girls, right?"

Chen Mo shook his head, "Not sorry. I find these old folks annoying."

Cheng Xiuli seemed to catch on to something important.

"But doing this is useless for you."

"Why?" Chen Mo, with no children at home, couldn’t quite understand, "As long as the little girls prove their worth to be no less than boys, isn’t that enough?"

Cheng Xiuli shook her head, "Don’t believe me? Just watch."

Chen Mo didn’t respond this time, genuinely interested to see why Cheng Xiuli said this.