A Valiant Life

“Delicious, simply delicious. I feel like the world is such a lovely place. It’s as if I’m floating in a sky full of stars,” the fashionable youngster said with satisfaction as he licked his lips continuously. The exaggerated facial expression had become a common sight on Cloud Street.

Lin Fan looked at the youngster and smiled. Initially, he didn’t want to sell scallion pancakes but now he realized that the feeling was pretty good. To be able to let others try such a delicacy that shouldn’t even exist on Earth, it gave him a fair bit of satisfaction.

“Little Boss, could you use more dough? Make it bigger. It’s best that you make one that’s as big as the wok,” a white collared worker gestured and said as he stood in front of the cart. He had already queued up several times but now that he finally got chosen, he was extremely excited. He could finally taste the scallion pancake of his dreams.

Lin Fan smiled and said, “They’re all equally big.”

While he was looking at the skillful movements of Little Boss, an aroma filled the air. The man couldn’t wait to try it even though he had never tasted it before. The aroma had already entered his nostrils and filled him. It was as if he was drunk on the smell of the pancakes alone.

Lin Fan placed the pancake into a plastic bag and said, “It’s done.”

This type of delicacy should have been served on an expensive plate together with a glass of red wine. There should have been music playing in the background as a person tasted it. However, the type of plastic bag that was used brought the status of the scallion pancakes down. Even so, it could never make the scallion pancakes taste any worse.

The man couldn’t wait any longer. He immediately took a bite. He wasn’t bothered by the piping hot scallion pancake scalding his tongue. Soon, he let out an exaggerated expression and looked as if he was drunk.

Everyone had a different feeling after tasting the pancakes but regardless of how they felt, the final outcome was that they would feel satisfied and joyous. Their taste buds had been satisfied and it helped them to be in their best mood for the day.

The townsfolk looked enviously at the people that managed to get their hands on the scallion pancakes. It was a struggle for them as they witnessed them eating the delicious scallion pancakes with such joy.

By then, the youngster had already walked to the end of the road but he was stopped by a reporter.

“Hi, may I know if your scallion pancakes are bought from that shop?” The reporter asked.

The youngster asked, “You are..?”

“Oh, I’m a gourmet cuisine reporter and I heard that the scallion pancakes here are extremely delicious. Hence, I wanted to interview you,” the reporter smiled and said.

When the youngster heard that he was a reporter asking about Master Lin’s delicacy, he had nothing but compliments to say.

“You’ve asked the right person. Little Boss’ scallion pancakes can’t simply be described as ‘delicious’. Actually, I don’t even know how to describe the taste. You have to taste it yourself to understand how it feels,” the youngster replied excitedly.

The reporter nodded and replied, “Oh, may I ask why you made the exaggerated facial expression after you ate the scallion pancake?”

The youngster was a little stunned, “I don’t know about that but each time I take a bite of the scallion pancake, I feel extremely happy and satisfied. It’s as if I’m flying in the sky. It’s such a good feeling.”

The reporter smiled and thought that there was definitely a problem with the scallion pancakes.

“Alright, thank you for your cooperation. Looks like I have to interview more people to find out,” the reporter said.

The youngster nodded as he left while continuing to eat the scallion pancake happily.

Then, the reporter waited for another customer and went to interview him. However, the answers that he got had a similar meaning albeit being slightly different.

There’s a problem, there’s definitely a problem.

It felt like they had been eating illegal drugs. Could it be that drugs were added to the pancakes? Then, he took out his phone, dialed a number and said, “Chief Zhang, I interviewed two people consecutively and they both said the same thing. I feel like there’s a big problem.”

“Yeah, I think there’s a problem too,” Chief Zhang said on the phone.

…

Then came the last customer.

“Little Boss, I read about you on the gourmet food discussion forums. I didn’t expect to be so lucky to get chosen on my first try,” the 26/27 year old female replied. She was average-looking but had a nice voice.

“Oh, is that so? Looks like you’re quite lucky,” Lin Fan smiled and replied. Then, he continued with his work.

After making the last pancake, he packed up some things and had to leave for the association.

Those that didn’t get chosen were disappointed, especially those that didn’t get chosen after several tries. They could only witness people enjoying such a delicacy but couldn’t taste it for themselves. It was like torture.

“Alright…” Lin Fan placed the last piece of pancake into a plastic bag and at that moment, a group of uniformed personnel walked over.

A middle-aged man went forward and said, “Hi, we are from the Food and Drug Administration. We received a report that your scallion pancakes contain illegal drugs.”

Lin Fan was stunned as he asked, “The Food and Drugs Administration? What’s the problem with my pancakes?”

“We received a report from the consumers that someone made extremely exaggerated facial expressions after eating your pancakes. It was the same effect as consuming illegal drugs. It causes the people to hallucinate as they make exaggerated facial expressions,” the investigating officer said.

The last customer heard their conversation and thought of the facial expressions of the previous customers. She was a little afraid. She quickly kept the pancake and quietly left the place.

“What do you think you’re doing? How could Little Boss’ scallion pancakes have any problem? The ingredients are bought from me,” a customer in the queue said. He was a vendor in the market and Fraud Tian was the one who frequently bought the ingredients from him. After several purchases, he was familiar with him and he started to deliver the ingredients to them instead.

“Yeah, which immoral prankster reported that? I’ve eaten it on several occasions and I didn’t even have any problems. In fact, I feel even healthier than before.”

“Do you know why there’s such an expression? It’s because they’re simply too delicious. It’s pure enjoyment, do you understand?”

Some of the townsfolk who had tasted the pancakes started to speak. They believed in Little Boss and did not think that there were any problems with the pancakes.

However, some of the townsfolk were frightened.

“Could there really be a problem? I’ve seen the exaggerated facial expressions that people make after eating the scallion pancakes.”

“Yeah, now that I think of it, I’m actually afraid. Could there really be a problem?”

“It’s hard to say. Do you think that there’s any other food in this world that would cause you to crave for it this much?”

“Even the most delicious food wouldn’t have such an effect.”

“I think we shouldn’t try it. There might really be a problem.”

…

Lin Fan smiled and replied, “How can there be any problems with my scallion pancakes? If you don’t believe it, you can bring it back to the labs for testing.”

“Thank you for your cooperation,” the investigating officer said.

“I just made one, you can bring it back to do your tests,” Lin Fan said. He knew that there would be such a problem someday but he didn’t expect it to come so soon.

Anyway, there were definitely no problems with his scallion pancakes. They could test it however they liked.