Already Sold Out
This wave of people were the Aunties Sun Miao and Su Ruixi had encountered the first night when they were camping in the desert. Sun Miao had followed one of the Aunties to their campsite, only then realizing they were five old sisters1 who had joined hands to travel to Xin Province2 together.
They didn’t walk over because Sun Miao was setting up a stall, but because they saw Sun Miao from a long, long way off—the young girl who had helped them that night.
The Auntie had a bit of old flower eyes3, which is farsightedness, so she was able to see Sun Miao from a long, long way off. After spotting Sun Miao, they walked up quickly. Only when they got close did they realize Sun Miao was running a stall, and they also saw the sign placed on Sun Miao’s stall…
Mm, well, it was a bit hard to comment on.
The Aunties swallowed back all the words they originally wanted to say. Before arriving at Sun Miao’s stall, they were thinking: I wonder what the young girl is selling; if the price is okay, we’ll buy a few things to support her. They guessed that Sun Miao was likely just selling some small jewelry or something similar.
For a stall run by this kind of young girl, lined with a red and white checkered tablecloth, it was likely stuff costing ten or twenty-something kuai4. They estimated that transporting it from the east would add a bit to the price, so at most it would be forty or fifty. Everyone helping out to buy one or two items would count as slightly repaying the favor they owed the young girl.
As a result, they didn’t expect it—she was selling Dapanji5! And it was so expensive!
The price of Dapanji around here was all about the same, one portion at 108 or 128; slightly more expensive ones were 188 tops6. But this young girl, right off the bat—hey, 588! Even in their home city, Dapanji couldn’t be sold for that expensive.
The Aunties wanted to speak but stopped, stopped but wanted to speak again, but in the end, they didn’t mention buying the Dapanji. They just exchanged a few pleasantries with Sun Miao and prepared to leave. However, just as they were about to go, one Auntie couldn’t be pulled away at all; she just stood there, staring at the Dapanji in front of Sun Miao with a burning gaze.
This one was the Auntie who had been left behind to keep Su Ruixi company that day.
“Cui7, what are you doing? Not leaving yet?”
Auntie Cui didn’t speak either, just staring at the Dapanji. After a while, she finally raised her head. Sun Miao looked at those eyes; inside, two words were written all over them—So greedy for food.
At this moment, Auntie Cui opened her mouth: “Young girl, did you make this yourself?”
“Yes.”
Two words made Auntie Cui firm in her resolve to buy the Dapanji. She unconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva: “Come on, give me a portion! You pick for me, I want a tasty one.”
“They are all the same taste, I guarantee it.”
But under Auntie Cui’s repeated pleading, Sun Miao still picked one out—one where the chicken was heavier.
When she picked the chickens, she had chosen ones of consistent size. But these ten chickens weren’t cloned, so there were inevitably some differences8 between individuals; naturally, some were slightly heavier, some slightly lighter; some would be fattier, some leaner. Sun Miao asked Auntie Cui if she usually liked eating fatty or lean meat, and then picked one out for her.
Auntie Cui immediately and readily paid the 588, then carried the Dapanji dangling from her hand9 with satisfaction, pulled her good sisters along, and went straight into the hotel. The second floor of this hotel was for dining, while the floors above were guest rooms, and since its reputation was very good, many people would come here to taste the local cuisine.
It looked like Auntie Cui’s group had originally intended to come to the hotel to eat anyway.
As they walked, the other Aunties were still asking Auntie Cui: “Cui, what are you doing? Even if you want to thank her, you didn’t need to spend so much money to buy this Dapanji, did you? Isn’t this plainly slaughtering people10? You aren’t usually this generous.”
“What do you guys know?”
Auntie Cui pushed her sisters into the hotel, then went straight to the second floor to find a seat. After ordering dishes and everyone sat down, Auntie Cui finally spoke slowly: “To tell you the truth, that day when I was left there sitting with that other young girl, they had roast lamb chops on their bonfire. That fragrance, that sizzling oily look—it has made me crave it until now.”
“Also, the other things, like the tin foil vegetables11, were also delicious. I smelled the scent; that taste was like a little hook, constantly hooking me, I couldn’t even sleep well at night.”
Auntie Cui was telling the truth; for the past two nights, even in her dreams, it was that soul-entangling, dream-circling12 taste. It smelled so good it could kill her, just too fragrant; in her dazed state, drool13 had soaked a pillow.
“Is it really that delicious? Ei, didn’t you go over there last time too? Did you smell it?” They asked the Auntie who had driven Sun Miao. The Auntie recalled for a moment and replied: “Back then, I was single-mindedly focused on starting the fire; where would I have the leisure to care about anything else? Let’s not talk about this—isn’t the Dapanji right in front of us? Cui bought it, let’s taste it.”
By now, two cold dishes had also been served, so they simply opened it up directly. Saying more wouldn’t be as persuasive as tasting it personally.
Auntie Cui couldn’t control her saliva anymore either; the more she spoke, the more she wanted it. Although there were no roast lamb chops, the Dapanji surely couldn’t be too bad. Her movements were agile as she untied the outermost plastic bag and then opened the lid of the disposable food container.
No one expected that the Dapanji, which had been wrapped up tightly, would have such a distinct fragrance the moment the restraints were removed.
The spices were heavy, so the fragrance naturally hit them in the face. To be honest, the group of five had been traveling in Xin Province for a while and had eaten all kinds of Dapanji, but this was the first time they encountered one with such a rich and aromatic scent. The most key point was, one sniff and you could tell it wasn’t the kind of scent made by adding a lot of ready-made seasonings, but rather made by adding daliao14 and simmering slowly yourself.
The more they smelled it, the more saliva secreted in their mouths.
Auntie Cui couldn’t hold back; she reached out her hand directly and launched an attack on the Dapanji. After her, her old sisters followed close behind. Some picked up chicken, some picked up potatoes, but without exception, as soon as it landed in their mouths, their faces revealed that kind of particularly enjoyable expression of satisfaction.
That expression was like a spring breeze brushing against the face, making their whole being ripple with delight.
But the next moment, also without exception, they all opened their mouths wide and started “si-ha“15 a few times. This chili was fragrant, spicy, and carried a bit of numbing sensation; it wasn’t that it was hard to accept, but rather it made people unable to resist eating it again and again. It was just that eating too much, too quickly, added to the heat, how could they not go “si-ha si-ha“?
But even so, it couldn’t make them stop. Instead, every single one of them couldn’t resist wanting to eat a few more bites. It was one of the more steady Aunties among them who raised her hand and asked the waiter to bring a bowl of rice.
Dapanji just had to be eaten with rice!
Before the rice arrived, their own small bowls were already a mess; the originally clean bowls were full of soup juice. Adding rice at this time would inevitably stain it with the soup juice in the bowl. Auntie Cui and the others felt that wasn’t enough; holding spoons, they scooped out a spoonful of soup juice and spread it directly over the rice.
The rice in Xin Province was made very well, each grain plump and round; fresh out of the rice cooker, you could still see the steam. Now wrapped in the soup juice, it turned a deep brown, looking even more appetizing. Holding the spoon, they dug out a mouthful and stuffed it directly into their mouths.
Sure enough, they weren’t wrong—this thick soup juice was exceptionally xiafan16, making people unable to stop, bite after bite.
Under the collision of chili and chicken, a layer of fine sweat soon seeped out on the Aunties’ foreheads. While sucking in air trying to alleviate the spiciness in their mouths, they desperately ate the Dapanji, as if they hadn’t eaten a meal for five or six days.
Sun Miao’s Dapanji was a generous portion, but it couldn’t withstand the fact that there were many Aunties, and they ate exceptionally fast. In less than ten minutes, the entire plate of Dapanji was eaten completely clean. Only a little soup juice remained, coating a bit of garlic bulb and onion floating at the bottom of the box. But even with just this, the Aunties looked at it and didn’t plan to waste it; they prepared to ask for a bit more rice to eat right along with it.
Before the Aunties could even raise their hands to ask for rice, some young people darted right up in front of them.
“Auntie, excuse me, I wanted to ask, where did you buy this Dapanji? You guys were eating it with such relish, we got a craving too.”
Because Auntie Cui and the others were holding takeout boxes, everyone knew this Dapanji definitely wasn’t bought inside the hotel. Their commotion was too big; the other diners around had just watched them wind curling the remaining clouds17 to finish a portion of Dapanji. Watching others eat so deliciously, it was inevitable that they would feel very crave-y too.
The Aunties didn’t plan to hide it either; after all, this Dapanji was so tasty, and enjoying it alone isn’t as good as enjoying it with others18, so they directly told the young people where they bought it.
Auntie Cui was afraid the young people would give Sun Miao trouble, so she said a sentence in advance: “This Dapanji is sold pretty expensively, it costs 588 a portion.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay, there are many of us, AA19 to buy one portion to taste is fine too.” They thanked the Aunties again and hurriedly went downstairs to buy it. Some people were smarter; they had pricked up their ears nearby, listening to their conversation. At this moment, they also directly sent people to follow that group of young folks to go buy it immediately.
Sun Miao was still running her stall, bored with a hundred nothings20, when she saw a group of people suddenly run down; at a glance, there were estimated to be ten or twenty of them. Sun Miao didn’t expect these people were looking for her at first; she thought it was a batch of people who had finished eating or finished playing and were preparing to leave.
But they looked around at the shop entrance, and the eyes of the few girls in the lead lit up the instant they saw Sun Miao.
Mm, confirmed the visual: under the street light, a young girl, using a red and white checkered tablecloth.
A dark, tumultuous mass21 of people walked quickly directly to the front of Sun Miao’s small stall, which actually made Sun Miao feel a bit stunned. The girl in the lead didn’t even look at the sign, but asked directly: “Are you selling Dapanji? One portion is 588, right? Is there any left? Give me one!”
Behind her, her companions were also chattering away: “Is it tasty? If it’s not tasty, we’re coming back to get our money refunded! It’s so expensive, costing 588.”
Regarding this point, Sun Miao could actually guarantee it: “As long as you can eat spicy food, you will all think it’s delicious!”
The young girls bought a portion and then turned around and left. The others following behind them hesitated a bit, but as soon as they thought of the satisfied looks on those Aunties’ faces in the restaurant just now, they gritted their teeth: They just had to see what kind of delicious Dapanji could make someone reveal such a satisfied expression!
So, under the Aunties’ live carrying goods22, Sun Miao’s remaining 8 portions of Dapanji were sold out very quickly. Those who were slow to act could only stare eye-to-eye with Sun Miao and hear Sun Miao say: “Sorry, it’s already sold out.”
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