The World’s Most Delicious Beef Pancake
The System hadn’t taught Sun Miao how to make Chestnut Braised Duck, but she could learn from the internet. With a glance at an online tutorial and combining it with the skills she already possessed, Sun Miao could whip up many delicious stir-fried dishes.
Except for some major dishes, the kind requiring special techniques and years of accumulated experience, Sun Miao could handle most things very well.
Her knife skills were also nothing short of amazing now, especially when dealing with ducks. She could perfectly debone a duck, just like “Butcher Ding carving an ox”1; handling a duck was a cinch2 for her.
She bought the chestnuts at the market; they weren’t fresh, though. Chestnuts weren’t ripe at this time; these were stockpiled ones. This would slightly diminish the texture and flavor, so Sun Miao could only rely on seasoning to bridge the gap.
Duck meat has some rather annoying aspects – it easily ends up gamey and tough, and many people can’t cook it well. The key is blanching; most meats need to be blanched after purchase, especially those with stronger flavors.
Sun Miao didn’t stay idle while stewing the duck; she also whipped up two vegetable dishes and a cold salad. The cold salad was made with cucumber, wood ear, and tofu skin3, lightly seasoned because of Su Ruixi’s preferences – no millet peppers or chili powder, just a little minced garlic.
After mixing the cold salad, Sun Miao sighed, “I can’t even imagine how much tastier this would be with chili.” Sun Miao packed up two meal portions and set off for the golf course. She set up her stall at the usual spot again. Perhaps because she had mentioned Manman and Xiaoxiao yesterday morning, they didn’t repeat the stunt of staying up all night to wait for her.
But the Hip-Hop Yabi Duo remained incorrigible4, pulling an all-nighter before rushing over. They hadn’t driven themselves, though – driving after staying up all night? Did they want to keep their lives? They had called a driver to bring them.
Today, the two weren’t in Hip-Hop Mei’s flashy sports car but in a business van. When the automatic door slid open, Sun Miao saw that their steps were somewhat unsteady. Seeing Sun Miao, however, Hip-Hop Mei perked up remarkably, jogging over to ask Sun Miao for Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup and duck parts.
She even pulled the driver down, “This counts as one person, he’s buying one portion of duck parts!”
Sun Miao understood; she was having the driver buy it for her to eat herself. But this didn’t violate the rules, so Sun Miao didn’t refuse. She gave her three portions of duck parts – two for herself, one for Yabi Mei.
“You stay up late every day, you should pay more attention to your health.”
“It’s fine, I’m young!”
They finished their breakfast sitting at the small table. Hip-Hop Mei then packed up another portion of Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup: “I’ll take this back and eat it for lunch.” After that, the two left. Sun Miao served a few more customers, then saw a somewhat familiar car pull over by the roadside.
Hmm, quite familiar. It belonged to Su Ruixi’s scoundrel5 customer, Director Zhang.
The car remained parked for a while with no one getting out. After waiting a bit longer, the car door opened, and Zhang Qiang’s assistant – the same person who had come the night before last asking if there was any Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup left – got out. She asked for one portion. Sun Miao actually didn’t want to sell it to her. But it was crowded in the morning, with people queuing and watching. Sun Miao had no conflict with the assistant, so she certainly wouldn’t confront her directly.
Besides, they were both just working folks; why should one worker make things difficult for another worker?
Sun Miao sold the assistant a portion of Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup. The System piped up in her mind: 【She’s one of that scoundrel Director Zhang’s people! Why did you sell to her?】
“Why would I argue with a fellow worker? If we argue now, the one losing face is the little assistant, not the scoundrel Director Zhang. But you did well, keep reporting back to me later.”
Sun Miao watched the assistant leave with the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup, but her mind was calculating. Sending her assistant over this morning meant she had essentially softened her stance. But after Sun Miao had talked back to her so sharply yesterday, given her personality, she definitely wouldn’t let her off easily.
Right now, there were too many people; she didn’t want to come down and lose face. So Sun Miao decided: she would wait for her tonight.
When there were no people around her little stall later, she’d wait for the scoundrel Director Zhang to come over, and then she could properly handle Director Zhang.
Sun Miao was usually a very peaceful person, but what Director Zhang did was really not decent; otherwise, she wouldn’t be planning this.
Sun Miao didn’t know that Director Zhang had specifically come so early just to eat the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup, having her driver and assistant accompany her to the golf course first thing in the morning.
When she arrived at the golf course, it wasn’t even open yet. It was only because she was a regular customer that the staff member on duty opened the door for her, letting her into her exclusive VIP lounge. Zhang Qiang looked at the Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup before her. The assistant took out tableware from her bag and transferred the soup into their own white porcelain bowl. Only then did this portion of Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup, no longer looking like it came from a street stall, appear no less presentable than last night’s.
Before falling asleep, she had sworn she would absolutely never come to Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar again, but… upon waking up, she still couldn’t control herself. She had come here first thing in the morning, just to eat this Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup.
While eating, Zhang Qiang couldn’t help but mutter inwardly: Smells so good…
Over at Sun Miao’s stall, around eleven o’clock, she saw Su Ruixi arrive. Today, she wasn’t wearing sportswear but had changed into the business attire she wore most often. She wore flat leather driving shoes and got straight out of the car. Sun Miao came over and said to Su Ruixi, “I brought your lunch today,” she hesitated for a moment, then asked, “Do you want to eat together tonight?”
Su Ruixi paused, then nodded, “Okay.”
Actually, eating at noon would have been best. After all, it was just made this morning, so it would definitely still be warm and ready to eat. By evening, no matter how good the thermal lunchbox was, its effectiveness would surely decline, and the food would need reheating. Besides, after sitting in a thermal container for too long, the flavor definitely wouldn’t be as good as it was now.
But the food was made by Sun Miao, and she had invited her to eat together in the evening. Naturally, she couldn’t possibly say, “Let’s just eat at noon.” Moreover, Sun Miao’s cooking held too much appeal for her; even if the taste wasn’t as good as when freshly made, she still wanted to eat it.
Having agreed to eat together in the evening, Su Ruixi ate a portion of Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup and also bought a portion of duck parts. Sun Miao had set aside these duck parts specially for her; otherwise, they would have certainly sold out. Su Ruixi thought for a moment and said to Sun Miao, “Could I leave this portion of duck parts with you for now? It might spoil easily if left in the car.”
“Okay.”
Sun Miao had a large refrigerator here; it wasn’t like she couldn’t accommodate this small amount. She nodded and took it. She even deliberately placed it in a small corner, covering it slightly with something in front, otherwise, others might discover the duck parts Sun Miao had specially saved.
After finishing her meal, Su Ruixi chatted with Sun Miao for a while longer.
Recently, the frequency and duration of their chats had been increasing, which actually made Sun Miao happy. However, the wind was a bit strong today, and the weather wasn’t great. There was no sign of rain, but clouds obscured the sun, making the day gloomy. It was already somewhat cool in the mountains, and the blowing wind made even Su Ruixi feel a bit chilly.
“I heard a customer earlier say the wind was strong today; I didn’t expect it to really be like this.”
“Mm,” Su Ruixi acknowledged. She stayed a little longer, then stood up. “I’ll head inside first.” She pursed her lips, then added to Sun Miao, “Be careful today. If the wind gets too strong, pack up early. You don’t have to wait for me for dinner.”
“Okay.” The smile at the corners of Sun Miao’s mouth was almost irrepressible. Su Ruixi was concerned about her. Watching her get into the car and drive into the nearby golf course, Sun Miao’s smile faded, replaced by worry.
Su Ruixi was worried that Sun Miao might encounter trouble with her stall due to the strong wind, but Sun Miao was actually worried about Su Ruixi too. That Director Zhang clearly wasn’t someone easy to get along with, stubborn and ill-tempered. She had already troubled Su Ruixi for two days; today, the third day, she would definitely continue to cause trouble.
Because of her worry for Su Ruixi, she was somewhat absentminded while running her stall that afternoon. When it reached past four in the afternoon and Sun Miao still hadn’t seen Su Ruixi come out, she grew even more concerned.
Could that Director Zhang be taking out the frustration she suffered at my stall last night directly on Susu-jie?
Just thinking about this made Sun Miao feel restless. At this moment, however, she encountered a regular customer. This customer approached with an aura completely different from other customers – a murderous aura6. Before she even got close, Sun Miao recognized her: it was the customer who had repeatedly discovered her saving Beef Pancakes for Su Ruixi and had asked, “Does only Guang-jiejie7 get these beef pancakes, and we don’t?”
At this moment, Sun Miao also thought of the duck parts hidden in her fridge, feeling a bit guilty: This customer couldn’t possibly catch her secretly saving things again, right?
Besides, wasn’t she supposed to be working today? Why did she just storm over8 like this? What time was it anyway?
The customer who stormed over ferociously truly had a lot to say.
Tong Yuwei9 never dreamed that after just taking the May Day holiday off, she would return to find her recently beloved beef pancake stall gone without a trace. On May 6th, the first day back after the holiday, she deliberately arrived extra early, terrified the beef pancakes would be bought up by others. But when she got there, she found quite a few people had the same idea.
The customers had arrived, but the stall was nowhere to be seen.
The customers waiting for beef pancakes discussed among themselves10: “What’s going on? Miao Miao’s Mobile Food Bar isn’t here yet? What about my beef pancake?”
“What time does she usually arrive?”
“I just asked the sanitation worker auntie; she said she usually comes at seven.”
“It’s already eight o’clock, how come there’s no sign of her?”
Everyone waited quite a while longer. As work time approached, they could only shake their heads, turn to buy breakfast from other shops, and head back to work. Tong Yuwei’s workstation was by the window, and she would occasionally glance downstairs while working, but there was nothing – absolutely nothing.
She comforted herself internally: Maybe the boss just wanted to rest today; she’ll definitely set up the stall tomorrow.
But the second day, and the third day, still nothing. At that moment, Tong Yuwei realized her beef pancakes were probably gone for good.
She was dumbfounded. Her colleagues at the company noticed something was wrong with her. When someone asked what was the matter, she burst out crying with a “Wah!”: “What am I going to do?! The beef pancakes aren’t coming anymore, what will I eat?! Wuwuwu, my beef pancakes!”
Her colleague was startled and tried to comfort Tong Yuwei, “It’s just a beef pancake, it’s not that serious, really.”
Tong Yuwei cried even louder, “You don’t understand—it’s not just any beef pancake, it’s the very, very, very best beef pancake in the whole world!”
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