Chapter 15 - 14: A Group of Honored Guests

Chapter 15: Chapter 14: A Group of Honored Guests

The next morning, Ning He was woken by the heat.

The temperature inside the shelter had clearly risen again. Although the climate control and ventilation system was running at full capacity, this extreme temperature attack was unusually fierce. The indoor temperature had already broken thirty degrees Celsius.

Ning He glanced at the time: five in the morning.

’At this rate, the freezers could be requisitioned at any moment. We have to move faster.’

As it happened, Connie and Ah Huai had also been woken by the heat. The three of them put their heads together, immediately got up to wash their faces, mixed a bowl of porridge to drink, and got to work.

With yesterday’s experience, the trio worked together with even greater coordination today.

No ingredients were to be held back. Everything had to be processed.

Luckily, Ning He had grown a few extra tomatoes. She had brought over ten pounds this time, which was just enough to go with Connie’s large basin of minced meat.

They used up all the onions, carrots, cabbages, scallions, and garlic, plus three lemons. In the end, they had prepared two basins of tomato meat sauce, one large and one small.

Then, the three of them started making mayonnaise.

Emulsifying and whipping the egg yolks was murder on the arms. Even Ah Huai had to rest after working continuously for fifteen minutes. The three of them had to take turns.

It was already hot, and by the time the mayonnaise was done and they had kneaded the rest of the dough, they were all drenched in sweat, as if they had been fished out of water. Fortunately, all the prep work was finished. When customers arrived, all they would have to do was boil the noodles.

A look at the time showed it was exactly eight o’clock.

Figures were already moving about at the other stalls in the dining area. Everyone was taking their ingredients out of the freezers one by one to do some prep work.

But everyone wore a worried expression, clearly lacking confidence in the day’s sales prospects.

As expected, no one came during breakfast hours, so Connie simply had the three of them take turns showering. When they came out, they ran into the administrator, who had appeared with a team of security guards to take away all the freezers.

"Well, there’s no way we’re breaking even now."

The man running the kebab stall sighed.

In this heat, kebabs were even harder to sell. It was almost a certainty that his ingredients would be a total loss.

The woman selling clay pot dishes also had her brow tightly furrowed.

Clay pots were piping hot; in this temperature, everyone wanted to steer clear of them.

Except for the stall selling braised pork liver, all the other stalls had piles of ingredients next to them, still wafting cold air after just being removed from the freezers. To extend their preservation time as long as possible, people had put ice packs inside and covered them with cloths.

But that would only buy them a few hours at most.

Ning He found this scene a bit strange.

"Even if they have to requisition the freezers, isn’t it a bit unreasonable to waste so much food like this?"

’Even arranging for everyone to sell at a steep discount would be better than letting it spoil and be thrown away.’

’This is the apocalypse, where food is scarce. It’s just too illogical, isn’t it?’

"Don’t worry," Connie said. "Someone will come to collect it. It’s just not time yet."

Connie glanced at the stall opposite them and gave Ning He a meaningful look.

Just as Ning He was about to say something, a series of footsteps echoed from a nearby corridor, and everyone subconsciously turned toward the sound.

Seeing that the people were coming from the Third Ring District, Ning He and the others looked away again.

’They won’t come over here to eat anyway. Nothing to see.’

Leitel led a few of his old buddies into the Third Ring dining area. After searching around, he couldn’t find the sign for Jinji Meat Sauce Noodle House.

"That’s strange. That kid Jack clearly said it was in Dining Area 8. Did I remember it wrong?" the old man said, scratching his chin in confusion.

Trailing behind him, a portly middle-aged man wiped his sweat and let out a "HA." "I’m telling you, Leitel, you must have it wrong. I’ve eaten at every decent restaurant in the city, and I’ve never heard of any Jinji Meat Sauce Noodle House."

"Exactly. Besides, the quality of the Three Rings Restaurants is just so-so. How good could it possibly be? You were definitely tricked. Ugh, we came all this way for nothing, and now we’re covered in sweat!" an old man leaning on a cane grumbled.

"Forget it, forget it. Since we’re here, let’s just grab a bite. But these places are all selling either fried or boiled food. Nothing looks very appetizing!"

The group wandered around the cluster of Third Ring food carts. The menus offered nothing but fried chicken cutlets, crispy pork chops, and steaming fish ball soup.

This kind of food was certainly appealing to those who lacked oil and water, but for customers like them, the names alone killed their appetite. Even with the stall owners’ enthusiastic greetings, they couldn’t muster any interest.

"It’s too hot. I can’t imagine eating any of this stuff just looking at it. I say we just go to our usual spot," the portly middle-aged man from before, who was really suffering from the heat, couldn’t help but suggest.

"Wait, look over there!"

The gray-haired old man walking at the back suddenly pointed at a small stall across the way and cried out in surprise. Everyone followed his gaze.

The sign standing on the small stall immediately caught their attention. It clearly displayed five words:

Jinji Meat Sauce Noodle House.

Leitel’s spirits instantly lifted.

"Let’s go, let’s go check it out!"

Ning He and Connie noticed the group of people heading toward their stall. Realizing what was happening, they exchanged a look, a glimmer of pleasant surprise in their eyes.

"Hello, what can I get for you?"

As the men drew closer, Connie greeted them warmly.

Leitel glanced at the menu, and his brow furrowed again. He muttered under his breath.

"How come it’s not here?"

Ning He was close enough to hear him and quickly understood. She hurriedly said:

"We’ve just introduced two new items. One is a tomato meat sauce noodle dish, and the other is a five-color salad with mayonnaise. They’re very popular. Would you like to try them?"

Leitel’s eyes lit up.

"I knew I was in the right place! This is it! Young lady, give us one of each for everyone here!"

’A big spender!’

’This is a huge order!’

"You got it! Please have a seat, it’ll be ready in just a moment!"

Connie snapped to it as well, immediately leading them to a nearby table and pouring each of them a cup of water infused with mint and leftover lemon slices.

Five well-dressed gentlemen squeezed together, sitting around a simple table on old plastic chairs, with cheap paper cups.

Then they looked at the small noodle stall.

The space was too small, with everything crammed together.

’Tsk, how shabby!’

’Could food from a little stall like this actually be good?’

Except for Leitel, this was what all of them were thinking.

The temperature was still above thirty degrees Celsius. Even sitting still, you would sweat.

The portly middle-aged man couldn’t stand it any longer and picked up his cup to take a sip of water.

Although the water wasn’t iced, the cool refreshment of the lemon and mint still brought a wave of comfort.

’For an unknown little stall to serve its guests costly lemon water, well, that’s not too bad.’

After drinking the water, the men’s attitude toward the small noodle stall improved slightly.

"Your food is here!"

A clear voice rang out, and soon the table was filled with food containers.

For convenience, Connie had used disposable food containers, which were on a completely different level compared to the exquisite tableware used by the restaurant across the way.

But the men at the table were already captivated by the rich aroma and couldn’t care less about the tableware.

Leitel was the first to react, trying the salad first.

The moment the smooth, delicate mayonnaise entered his mouth, he knew this trip hadn’t been a waste.

Seeing him engrossed in munching on the salad, his old buddies exchanged a surprised glance, then each took a bite themselves. The same astonished expression appeared on all their faces.

"What do you think? I told you so, didn’t I?" Leitel said with a smug look, watching their reactions.

"It’s alright. Let me try the noodles now."

The gray-haired old man next to him picked up his chopsticks, mixed the noodles in the container a few times, and then brought a mouthful to his lips.

"How is it?" the old man with the cane asked eagerly.

The gray-haired old man closed his eyes, savoring the rich fragrance of the sauce, meat, and fruit that filled his mouth, a look of pure enjoyment on his face.

Before he could answer, everyone else understood. They all picked up their chopsticks and dug in. In the next moment, the only sound at the table was that of them eating noodles; not another peep could be heard. Everyone was focused on devouring their food, too engrossed to even spare a moment for a few words of commentary.