Chapter 1326 - 1326: All In or Nothing

Xiao Feng said this, not as a deliberate attempt to disgust Shao Baxing.

But through observation, he concluded that Shao Baxing was not truly swayed by the allure of gourmet food, nor had he succumbed to the 'true fragrance' theory.

Since he didn't actually want to eat, the purpose of nodding was obvious.

Old Ha and the others weren't affected at all, happily eating away and making loud "smacking" sounds deliberately.

Little did they know, the sound and the wafting aroma had almost made the little girl guarding the basement door cry out of hunger...

"Here, the sausages are grilled, hand them out to everyone." Xiao Feng handed a bunch of sausages to Old Ha.

"Alright!" Old Ha agreed, swallowed the last piece of gluten, and distributed the sausages to everyone.

Xiao Feng picked up the grilled squid, placed it on the grill, seemingly not in a hurry at all.

Of course, that was indeed the case.

After all, whoever is hungry knows, it's never oneself that needs to be anxious.

Before long, Old Ha approached Xiao Feng apologetically, "Sorry, Boss, I didn't save one for you."

The others then realized that Xiao Feng had been grilling skewers all along but hadn't eaten even one.

They exchanged looks and became wary.

Is there a problem!

Or rather, a conspiracy?

Then they heard Xiao Feng say, "No need to apologize, the skewers in your hands are priced at a hundred bucks each. It will be directly deducted from your salary next time."

Upon hearing this, everyone was taken aback!

They had anticipated a problem but... one hundred bucks per skewer, could you believe it?

Is this bird's nest and shark fin, or lobster and abalone?

"Brother Feng, how can lamb skewers be priced the same as grilled gluten?" Hui Shiba questioned reasonably.

Xiao Feng explained calmly, "I have the right to set the price. Similarly, you have the choice to buy or not."

Hui Yi and others looked at each other, all feeling like crying without tears.

Choice rights?

Where are these rights?

For a moment, everyone felt that not only were the skewers in their hands not tasty, but they wished to spit out what they had eaten.

Luckily, they hadn't eaten many skewers, the loss wasn't too big, still within bearable limits...

Wait!

Given Boss Xiao's character, how could he only deduct such a small amount of money?

Just as they were thinking, Xiao Feng handed over the grilled potato slices, "Don't be shy, eat while it's hot."

Everyone recoiled as if those alluringly colored, fragrant potato slices were deadly poison, sticking them would lead to death.

"What do you mean?" Xiao Feng frowned, showing discontent.

Hui Shiqi rubbed his nose and said, "Brother Feng, a hundred bucks per skewer is really too expensive for us, we truly can't afford it."

The others nodded in agreement with this statement.

"Don't worry, I've calculated that with your salary level, you can fully afford it."

Xiao Feng smiled and waved the potato slices in his hand, urging, "Eat while it's hot, later it won't taste as good."

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces turned sour.

They wanted to refuse but didn't quite dare.

"Brother Xiao Feng, you know my family's situation, since you've grilled it, it wouldn't be appropriate for me not to eat, but after finishing this skewer, can I avoid eating more?" Tie Wa said timidly.

Speaking of appetite, there wasn't a single person present who could match Tie Wa.

Meaning, if he truly let go and ate, with one hundred bucks per skewer, he'd eat himself into bankruptcy and incur massive debts...

Incidentally, about Tie Wa liking to say "me" as "俺" (an), Old Ha and Aspergillus oryzae once took great pains to persuade him to change this habit.

But Tie Wa was unwilling to correct it, giving a reason that one had to accept.

This reason that had to be accepted was—to prevent his girlfriend, Chen Li, from overthinking.

Hence, after continuous unsuccessful persuasion, everyone gradually got used to it.

Getting back to business.

After Tie Wa said this, Hui Yi and others' eyes all lit up, promptly expressing that they would stop eating after finishing the potato slices.

Because of this statement, everyone's impression of Tie Wa changed.

Previously, in everyone's mind, Tie Wa was always "honest, big appetite, able to withstand, able to fight, speaks little," but not much associated with "intelligence."

Yet this time, it was precisely the normally not-smart Tie Wa who solved the dilemma with a single sentence.

This might be the case of a fool having one good idea in a thousand...

However, Xiao Feng shook his head, "It's either eat thoroughly or don't eat at all, this is the rule set long ago."

Old Ha and others opened their eyes wide in bewilderment.

Lone Wolf couldn't resist asking, "Big brother, when was this rule set?"

Xiao Feng chuckled and lifted his foot, took out a sign, and showed it to everyone.

The sign had a line written with a marker: Eat thoroughly or don't eat at all!

"Brother Feng, that's a bit unfair," Hui Wu said with a bitter face, "You placed the sign under your foot, deliberately with the written side facing down, how could we possibly see it?"

Xiao Feng slowly shook his head, "You're quite mistaken; I did this to train your observational skills. My aim isn't to pit against you but to leave you with a lesson to remember."

"…" No one even wanted to argue anymore, just felt somewhat puzzled inside.

How could Boss Xiao openly and righteously say such shameless words?

In conversation, the golden needle mushrooms on the grill had already cooked.

Xiao Feng skillfully brushed sauce, sprinkled cumin and sesame, and handed it to Old Ha.

Without much else, Old Ha instinctively distributed skewers to everyone, silently praying that the boss might spare him a few skewers, so he would have nothing to eat.

However…

The prayer did not come true, and looking at the hundred-dollar golden needle mushrooms in his hand, Old Ha was on the verge of tears.

This was incredibly lavish!

The expressions of the others were more painful than crying, even their hands holding the skewers trembled.

Xiao Feng couldn't help but laugh, "Look at all of you, so little ambition. I was merely joking just now. Everyone's been working hard, eat some barbecue, consider it a diversion."

Yet, these words didn't lead to the expected scene of everyone cheering or shedding tears of joy.

The basement fell into a peculiar silence.

The largest sound was merely the oil dropping from the grill onto the charcoal, making a "sizzling" noise.

This lasted half a minute before someone bravely asked, "Brother Feng, are you sure you won't charge us?"

Xiao Feng's face darkened, nodding affirmatively.

He finally understood why such an abnormal situation occurred.

It was similar to how Wang Tingwei could often interpret many unexpected profound meanings from his words and actions, it was the same principle.

Once accustomed to being tricked by someone, no matter what that person said or did, the tricked party would subconsciously consider what kind of trap to expect.

So, the wolf's story has some truth to it...

With Xiao Feng announcing there would be no charges, the atmosphere in the basement slowly became lively.

One ingredient after another went from his grill into everyone's mouths, each genuinely bright smile was particularly sincere.

If these scenes were filmed and paired with a piece of narration, it would be a food show.

And the narration could be [High-end ingredients often require the simplest cooking methods.

After half an hour of busy work, Chef Xiao is embarking on a challenge, aiming with his exquisite culinary skills to make an old man with duct tape on his mouth drool...]