VFGRC Chapter 11

TL: Moonlit

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The owner of the roujiamo stall couldn’t sell a single roujiamo all morning, so he decided to make one for himself. He sat there eating while chatting with Yu Dong, who sold sugar-coated haws beside him.

“See, what’s the use of making delicious snacks? If the location of the stall is bad, it’s all the same in the end!” The roujiamo stall owner turned his head back and smiled at Yu Dong. “I mean, this teppanyaki stall is just a gimmick, it’s not really tasty. If it were, those students would have flocked to his stall…”

Before the roujiamo stall owner finished speaking, a chorus of voices like tinkling bells rang out around his stall.

“Huh? Where did that stall go? I remember it was right there before, but now they’re selling fried chicken strips…”

“Ning Ning, Ling Zi, forget it. Maybe they’re not setting up today. Besides, I think all these small stalls taste about the same… You’ve hyped up that stall too much, haven’t you?”

Ling Zi anxiously said, “I’m not lying to you, that stall was at this corner…”

“This little girl is right. Look at all the street vendors throughout China. The taste is actually pretty similar, there’s not much difference.” The roujiamo stall owner chuckled, “But it’s quite cold this winter. Do you girls want to try a roujiamo to taste its flavor and warm yourselves up?”

Caught between Ning Ning and Ling Zi, the girl who spoke earlier, Zhao Miaomiao, felt a bit tempted.

Zhao Miaomiao came from a wealthy family and had been pampered her whole life. She was always picked up and dropped off by a chauffeur. Before attending Qingqiao High School, she had never eaten street food.

It wasn’t until Zhao Miaomiao came to Qingqiao High School and, under the guidance of her good friends Ling Zi and Ning Ning, had a few occasions of eating street food when the driver occasionally failed to pick her up.

However, in the eyes of Zhao Miaomiao, who had tasted a variety of delicacies, the street food praised by Ning Ning and Ling Zi was actually quite ordinary in taste.

But teppanyaki was an exception.

Because Ling Zi and Ning Ning had eaten teppanyaki yesterday and couldn’t stop talking about it all day today.

The strong curiosity about “teppanyaki” compelled Zhao Miaomiao to want to taste it and find out how good it really was.

Therefore, after the teacher “briefly” delayed the class for a moment, Ning Ning and Ling Zi dragged Zhao Miaomiao all the way to the corner.

However, the food cart selling teppanyaki had disappeared without a trace.

Zhao Miaomiao thought that since she couldn’t buy teppanyaki, she could at least taste the flavor of the roujiamo…

“I saw the teppanyaki stall owner!” Ling Zi’s eyes lit up. “The teppanyaki stall is just behind these two stalls!”

“Really?”

Among the three of them, Ning Ning, who used to be somewhat shy, immediately squeezed past Ling Zi.

When Ning Ning, in the gap, caught sight of the handsome and charming Yu Bai’s side profile under the beautiful sunset of red and yellow, she immediately squeezed into the gap between the sugar-coated haw and roujiamo stalls and hurriedly ran towards the teppanyaki stall, completely forgetting about Ling Zi and Zhao Miaomiao behind her.

A step behind, Ling Zi shouted, “Oh my goodness! This class, we’ve been delayed for over ten minutes, and there’s already such a long line at the teppanyaki stall! Ning Ning! Hurry up and get in line! When it’s your turn, remember to buy the teppanyaki tofu and teppanyaki rice cake for me too. I’ll transfer the money to you now!”

As Ling Zi spoke, she also squeezed through the gap.

Only the roujiamo stall owner, Zhao Miaomiao, and Yu Dong, who sold sugar-coated haws, were left. They all looked in the direction of the teppanyaki stall together.

However, in the blink of an eye, a long, winding line had formed in front of Yu Bai’s teppanyaki stall. The end of the line was almost reaching the gate of the neighboring kindergarten!

The roujiamo stall owner was dumbfounded.

“Oh, my god!”

He and Yu Dong had blocked the teppanyaki stall almost completely, so when did this many people gather around the teppanyaki stall?

Where did all these people come from?!

…

In fact, all these people… came because of the “mysterious power summoning” of Yao Jia’s teppanyaki tofu.

The parents of this kindergarten were younger, and they were less resistant to street vendors.

After all, which one of them hadn’t eaten street food ten years ago?

Moreover, as urban management matured and developed, the street vendors now were definitely cleaner than before.

Therefore, when the hungry parents learned that there was a small stall at the kindergarten gate that smelled good and had even better food, none of them could resist being intrigued by the teppanyaki.

And as they gradually left the kindergarten to search for food, they coincidentally caught the aroma of the teppanyaki tofu being made by Yu Bai for his first customer—a fragrant scent wafting in the wind and reaching their nostrils.

When the parents hastened their steps and arrived in front of Yu Bai’s stall, they saw the first customer who bought the teppanyaki tofu. As they lifted the tofu and took a bite, a look of enjoyment appeared on their faces…

My, oh my, who wouldn’t be tempted by this?!

Unfortunately, the teppanyaki stall owner only allowed each customer to buy a maximum of three servings of teppanyaki tofu or teppanyaki rice cake, and they could only take a maximum of three skewers of the same item. This was to prevent wastage from buying too much.

The first parent who bought the teppanyaki tofu felt extremely regretful. “Actually, I could easily eat ten servings of teppanyaki tofu alone…”

The customers behind couldn’t help but urge, “Buy it quickly!”

“It’s fortunate that the stall owner only allows one person to buy a maximum of three servings. Otherwise, by the time it’s my turn, there would only be a pan left for me to lick!”

The queue of customers was endless, and Yu Bai was bustling in front of the stall all by himself. He had to handle the money, pack the snacks, and cook the teppanyaki. He was stretched thin.

To make matters worse, after busying himself for a while, Yu Bai looked back at the queue and found that it still stretched on with no end in sight!

At this moment, there were always customers asking, “Boss, how much does the tofu cost?”

However, Yu Bai was busy calculating the money for the customers in front and couldn’t spare any attention for the person asking.

The customer felt neglected and became somewhat impatient. Just as he was about to leave the queue, he lowered his head and met a pair of beautiful ink-black eyes.

It was a cute little child with jade-like snow-white skin, like a white sticky rice cake, even cuter and more beautiful than his own son!

The child looked at him with expectant eyes, blinked those round eyes, and stretched out a small open hand. Their voice was soft and sweet, “Uncle, the teppanyaki tofu only costs five yuan, it’s super cheap! And it’s super, super delicious!”

The customer, who was about to take a step forward, was rooted to the spot by the child’s sweet voice. Instantly, the annoyed expression on his face disappeared, replaced by a silly smile that he himself didn’t notice.

He smiled and said to the child, “Okay! Uncle knows now! Thank you!”

The child, Xing Xing, waved his little hand, revealing two sweet dimples on their cheeks. “No need to thank me!”

Hehe! Xing Xing helped Dad keep one of the customers in line, and the customer didn’t leave!

Xing Xing continued to answer several customers’ questions about the price of the teppanyaki. His little face was busy and flushed, and his legs grew tired.

But… Xing Xing was able to help Dad!

Xing Xing ignored his rosy cheeks and tired legs, busying himself at the stall like a diligent little bee.

Xing Xing rubbed his chubby, warm face with his small hands and raised his little head again.

Xing Xing looked left and right and noticed a girl standing next to Yu Bai’s stall, carrying a backpack and with two twisted braids.

The girl was staring at Dad’s teppanyaki, but she wasn’t in line. It seemed like she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to buy or not…

Xing Xing scratched his head with his chubby hand and ran up to Zhao Miaomiao.

“Miss, do you want to try Dad’s teppanyaki? It’s super delicious!”

Zhao Miaomiao looked at Xing Xing.

The child’s sweet voice was like melted ice cream, sweetening Zhao Miaomiao’s heart.

Super cute.

 

Author’s Note:

Xing Xing: I’m helping Dad with my abilities! I’m not just good at being cute!