Chapter 154: Chapter 154 Mouth: I want to eat. Butt: No, you don’t.
Ma Junn and his companions walked the streets of Chengdu, soaking in the culture of the city.
They were there for tourism—a group of six, three men and three women, with two couples among them. The other two didn’t find each other attractive enough to bother.
"Let’s go, let’s grab something to eat!"
"Yeah, I’m pretty hungry too."
"Let’s go."
Once they decided, they headed toward a row of greasy spoons by the roadside.
Just then, Ma Junn caught sight of Jiang Feng, who was leisurely greeting customers while sitting on a chair. Ma Junn was stunned.
He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, double-checking that he wasn’t seeing things.
His shock was greater than Shen Teng’s in "Pegasus 2" when he saw the Olympics.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Ma Junn exclaimed in surprise.
"What’s wrong?" the others turned to Ma Junn and asked.
Looking towards where Jiang Feng was, Ma Junn said in shock, "I think I just saw Executive Chef Jiang."
"Executive Chef Jiang? Who? The owner of Jiangyue Terrace?"
"Are you sure it’s Executive Chef Jiang?"
"Stop joking. We came to Chengdu for a trip, how could we possibly run into Executive Chef Jiang!"
"You must be craving Shandong Cuisine!"
The others scoffed, clearly disbelieving.
Ma Junn pointed ahead and said, "Look at the owner of that greasy spoon there, doesn’t he look like Executive Chef Jiang?"
Hearing Ma Junn’s words, everyone turned to look in the direction he was pointing.
They were flabbergasted at what they saw! WHAT THE HECK? WHAT THE HECK! It really is him!
Could this be Executive Chef Jiang’s long-lost twin? Or just two people who look alike? This is too coincidental! Doppelganger in literature?
"Let’s go over and have a look."
The six of them, travel-stained, made their way to Jiang Feng’s stall.
"Boss Jiang?" someone called out to Jiang Feng tentatively.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Feng looked up.
He saw several young men and women who looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere before. Not sure, I should take another look,
he thought."Hello," Jiang Feng greeted warmly, as usual.
"Holy smokes! It really is you!"
"We’re all stunned!"
"How did Boss Jiang end up setting up a stall in Chengdu?"
"I was just saying nobody could find you in our foodie group, and now you’ve popped up here! What a coincidence!"
Ma Junn and the others grew more excited. This was too much of a coincidence.
After all, Jiang Feng was now quite famous in his local city—a dashing chef with a stall, a strong background, and he was young and handsome. He was the embodiment of the popular saying: "He may be out of the scene, but the scene is full of his legends." People would always mention him in casual conversation.
The moment Jiang Feng’s stall was spotted, foodies would swarm over to queue up. Tasting his creations was a matter of luck.
And now, here they were on holiday, bumping into him!
"Hello there."
Jiang Feng remembered; these people seemed like ones he’d seen before while he was running his stall. They’re practically from the same hometown, he mused.
Looking at the bobo chicken on the table, Ma Junn spoke with slight excitement, "Are you selling bobo chicken at your stall?"
"Before, everyone said Executive Chef Jiang’s location appears randomly in the city. Now, it seems he appears randomly nationwide."
"We’re so lucky!"
Then, another person chimed in, "One yuan per skewer, what a bargain!"
"For the six of us, we’ll take 120 skewers."
The person beside responded, "Yeah, let’s just dig in. We’ll count how much we eat."
"I’ve been hungry for a while."
They sat down at the table, took out the bobo chicken, held it over their plates, and began to eat happily.
Ma Junn picked up a skewer of pork crunchy cartilage. The cartilage was soaked in chili oil sauce, and as he picked it up, the chili oil slowly dripped down its surface. You could see the sesame seeds sticking to it.
He stripped the pork cartilage off the skewer in one bite and chewed it contentedly in his mouth.
"CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH."
The cartilage was very crispy, making a cracking sound with every chew. The taste of the meat melded with the sauce.
Bobo chicken, a type of snack, is quite rich and flavorful. With one bite, your mouth fills with fragrant aromas. It was like eating skewers with an exceptionally fragrant dipping sauce, just served cold. After eating it, the flavor continued to linger, leaving the mouth even more fragrant.
"My god, Executive Chef Jiang, you’re truly deserving of your reputation!"
"This is delicious!"
"We had bobo chicken yesterday, too, but that place wasn’t as good as yours!"
"This sauce is too delicious! Why can’t I ever make a sauce this fragrant when I have hotpot?"
The group was visibly excited. This trip was turning out to be a great success.
At that moment, Jiang Feng noticed one of the group sitting at the table. He hadn’t ordered bobo chicken, but had instead ordered a cold noodle dish from the next vendor and made sure to tell them not to add any chili. This person looked at the delicious bobo chicken, a wistful expression on his face.
Jiang Feng sensed his unspoken predicament and could only sympathize.
It was clear his mouth and stomach craved it, but his behind did not.
Some people can’t handle spicy food, and in a place like Chengdu, eating something spicy once would lead to a fiery rear end by the evening. When in Chengdu, one must protect one’s behind.
The others were thoroughly enjoying themselves:
"This skewer is really delicious!"
"Spicy and fragrant, so satisfying!"
They looked at their companion, who had a forlorn expression, and suggested with a laugh: "Zhang Bing, you should try some too! It’s not too spicy and extremely tasty. You’ll regret it if you don’t!"
"It’s such a rare chance to run into Executive Chef Jiang! Are you really not going to try anything?"
"Don’t worry, it’s not spicy."
"Just have one skewer!"
Hearing their coaxing and looking at the bright red chili oil sauce in the bowl, Zhang Bing swallowed hard but still resisted the urge to eat.
Nope, not listening. It’s all just pointless noise to me, he thought.
"You guys go ahead, I’d better not," Zhang Bing replied listlessly.
No can do. I just can’t! If I eat even one skewer, my backside will be spewing fire tonight—the bloody kind!
Sometimes in life, you just don’t have control over these things.
Seeing his plight, the others clicked their tongues in commiseration and continued grabbing more skewers and feasting.
The pot had everything. The meat skewers included: beef, beef tripe, beef balls, Fish Balls, pork cartilage, chicken hearts, chicken cartilage, chicken wing tips, duck tongue, ham, luncheon meat, crispy sausage, and quail eggs. The vegetable skewers offered: black fungus, kelp, oyster mushrooms, dried tofu, potatoes, asparagus lettuce tips, lotus root slices, potato slices, tofu skin, gluten, sticky rice cakes, dried bean curd sticks, cucumbers, cabbage, and baby bok choy.
Whatever you felt like eating, you just grabbed and tucked in.
Though these were cold skewers, the taste was in no way inferior. The group was having a great time eating to their hearts’ content.
Only Zhang Bing was there, somewhat gloomily eating cold noodles. But that was just an unfortunate fact.
As they were eating skewers, more customers kept coming over. Jiang Feng’s business was still pretty good.
When half of the skewers in the bowl had been devoured, Jiang Feng boiled the water in the pot again and blanched a few handfuls of skewers to put in. He made sure there were always enough skewers available.
Soon enough, Ma Junn and his group had eaten a whole tub full of skewers.
"Awesome! This meal was so satisfying!"
"Boss Jiang, could we take a photo with you?" the group asked Jiang Feng.
A customer eating bobo chicken nearby heard them and looked over in surprise. A photo? Why would someone want a photo while eating bobo chicken? Could there be something special about this boss?
Jiang Feng was quite generous. "Sure, no problem."
Then, Jiang Feng counted the number of skewers eaten. Five people ate a total of 205 skewers, which averaged out to over 40 skewers per person—a pretty high number.
After paying, they took a photo with Jiang Feng.
The owner of the greasy spoon next door watched this scene, marveling. This new boss is quite an interesting character. His customers even want photos with him after eating bobo chicken. How come I never get that kind of treatment!
After the photo session, Ma Junn and his friends happily waved goodbye to Jiang Feng and left.
Not long after their departure, Ma Junn entered the "Executive Chef Jiang’s Foodie Group" and sent a message:
"I know where Executive Chef Jiang is, and you guys will never guess!"
Seeing his message, the members of the group responded one after another:
"Where? For real? You have to tell us!"
"It’s not in some wilderness area, is it?"
"Could he be in the mausoleum area?"
"You don’t know jack!"
"Quick, say where it is!"
At this moment, Ma Junn posted the photo they took together in the group.
Seeing the photo, everyone immediately became excited.
"Wow, it’s really Executive Chef Jiang!"
"Finally got to see him!"
"What is this place? It doesn’t quite look like our area!"
"Bro, where exactly is he? @Ma Junn"
Ever since Jiang Feng was no longer the head chef at Jiangyue Terrace, everyone had been guessing about where he might go. Some said he would likely continue setting up a stall, since that was Executive Chef Jiang’s hobby. So, everyone began searching around the city. It was like opening a mystery box or taking part in an interesting event. Everyone always wanted to know where Jiang Feng was setting up his stall and what he was selling. But after searching for several days, no one could find where Jiang Feng was.
That’s why everyone in the group was so excited when Ma Junn shared the news.
Ma Junn didn’t leave them hanging and said straight away:
"Executive Chef Jiang is in Chengdu! We came here on a trip and saw him. It gave me quite a shock; I thought I was seeing things."
"I’ll send you the location."
"He’s setting up a stall selling bobo chicken here!"
"The business is particularly good, lots of people are coming to eat, and there are lots of pretty girls too!"
"Executive Chef Jiang is having a great time!"
Seeing Ma Junn’s words, the people in the group became even livelier.
"How did he end up there?"
"Argh, that’s so far away!"
"I get it. Executive Chef Jiang isn’t short of money. Setting up a stall is his hobby, so he probably wants to relax a bit."
"Do you think he might be setting up a stall to understand the local residents’ tastes before opening a Jiangyue Terrace restaurant in Chengdu?"
"Very likely, he’s full of ideas. I have faith in him."