Song Tan's Notes

Finally, it was Lao Zhao who turned the tide.

He had initially thought that people weren't interested since there hadn't been any reaction, but now he saw even the barbecue stall people crowding over for the fun—

Actually, many of them didn't know what water chestnuts tasted like, but since so many people were scrambling for them, there must be a reason, so they squeezed in as well.

The more people there are, the more anxious they become, and the louder they shout.

The five children, two adults and three children, were instantly bewildered, only Qiaoqiao still had some experience—

But how many will it cost?!

Finally, Old Zhao rushed over, holding a skewer of grilled meat in his hand.
"Limited purchase, 100-50 per person, 50 per person!"

Upon hearing this, Yun Danqing immediately felt aggrieved: "It can't be divided evenly by 50..."

Three for one yuan, how about 50 for 3?

Chen Chi was counting on his fingers, looking aggrieved—he was progressing slowly and wasn't familiar with multiplication and division yet.

Old Zhao quickly and awkwardly changed his tune:
"Then each one sells for 20 yuan! Click click... 63 of them, right? Click click..."

He bit into the cabbage skewer in his hand: "Wow, it smells so good!"
It has all sorts of flavors—sweet, savory, spicy—even the vegetable stalks are delicious, crunch crunch…

He chewed so hard he could barely speak. A regular customer nearby, watching his pathetic state, couldn't help but swallow hard.

"Old Zhao, we're regular customers. You haven't shortchanged me on the price of a single scallion all this time, have you? Can't you get us two skewers of this?"

The barbecue customers, puzzled, also asked, "What kind of seasoning do you use that smells so good? Are you really not planning to do this business?"

Old Zhao cleaned the cabbage skewers, then said with difficulty, "Brothers, it's not that I'm not sincere, it's just that I'm only eating here myself, how can I take more than I eat..."

"We won't take it for free, we'll just pay for it. If you don't let me have a taste tonight, I probably won't be able to sleep."

"Exactly! We know your vegetable prices, so just give us a number!"

Old Zhao was still holding two greasy meat skewers in his hand, hesitating as he thought about how to refuse.

Before he could even process what was happening, a regular customer who had already paid 20 yuan for water chestnuts squeezed through the crowd. Seeing him hesitating, the customer didn't hesitate and took a bite—

"what!"

Old Zhao screamed so loudly that everyone jumped in fright, as if a seven-foot-tall man had been forcibly kissed by a man in the street!
Judging from his heartbroken expression, this was probably worse than being forcibly kissed!

"My mutton!!!"

Even the regular customers looked a little embarrassed.

It was a moment of impulse, truly a moment of impulse! Who told him to wait here for so long, just to smell that alluring fragrance?

Old Zhao is the same; he holds the skewers but doesn't eat them, just walks around in circles. That's so unhygienic!
He wasn't afraid of getting a stomachache, so what was Old Zhao called? Besides, he was disgusted with his mouth and only took a bite of the top piece!

But soon, this embarrassment was replaced by a sense of bewilderment—

"This meat..." Chew, chew, chew.

"Holy crap, this meat..." Chewing...
"Old Zhao..." (chewing)

It's all chewed up.

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

He swallowed it, then froze.

Old Zhao was already looking at him with a pained yet wary expression. Without saying a word, he took two steps back, and then, holding the meat skewers sideways, he put both skewers—well, now one skewer and two-thirds of it—into his mouth.

"How could you do this? I was just trying to help you by limiting the number of purchases..."

After saying that, he realized something was off, so he changed his words: "I came here out of kindness to mediate between you..."

Not right either!
"I came here out of kindness to help you with your orders, how could you treat me like this!"

But the other person stopped answering him and instead stared intently at him again: "Old Zhao, I've been buying things from your shop for so long, and I've gritted my teeth to pay even the most expensive items. But tell me the truth about the meat you ate today, why?!"

As soon as he started complaining, a customer nearby couldn't wait to ask, "Stop with the nonsense, just tell me if it's delicious or not, the aroma is just too tempting!"

But the other person was already in pain: "It's delicious! This food is so delicious. I only took one bite, and the mutton is so tender and fresh, without any gamey smell. It has a different kind of flavor..."

At this moment, his desire to become the richest person in the world has reached its peak.

If he had enough money, he could spend a fortune and surely take over the entire barbecue stall!

But now, watching as Old Zhao swiftly pulled the skewers, leaving shiny, oily marks on his cheeks, he stuffed both skewers of meat into his mouth...

It's even more painful now!

Hearing this, everyone became eager to participate.

The barbecue customers, who were patiently waiting for the child to count the water chestnuts, were all astonished by this scene, and many even took out their phones...

Old Zhao immediately became anxious.

If they were to fight and snatch over a skewer, he would be guilty of a grave sin!

Will this kind of good thing never happen again?

Meanwhile, Song Tan, who was watching the commotion from a distance, said softly, "Brother Yanping, it's your turn."

Her cousin was clumsy at cutting meat and washing vegetables tonight, and he wasn't as efficient as the plumber when it came to carrying buckets of water. So all he did was chat with people.

But you raise a brother for a thousand days, only to use him for one.

This was Zhang Yanping's moment to shine. He did nothing but slowly walk over carrying a gleaming stainless steel basin—it was metal and looked intimidating.

Moreover, because it is a thin basin, it makes a loud sound when tapped, but it has little to no harmful effect, making it both safe and secure.

Most importantly, the underworld boss was reluctant to admit it: when a customer got really agitated, he could dump a basin on his own head...

Thinking about it that way, he felt much safer, so he shouted:
"What are you doing!"

In short, the scene fell silent at that moment.

The headlights provided by the plumbing shop owner shone from behind, the reversed light making his figure appear even more imposing.

The faces, half-lit and half-shadowed, took on a fierce and menacing appearance under the streetlights, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Two customers who had just turned from the alley to buy water chestnuts paused, then turned back silently into the darkness.

As Qiaoqiao counted the water chestnuts—since there was a limit of 20 yuan per bag, they would just put 63 in each bag—

He hesitated, then frowned.

Brother Yanping looks so fierce, will people stop buying water chestnuts?
Old Zhao also felt a jolt, looking at his bare iron skewers, then at the customer who had just eaten his skewers, and then at the menacing-looking Zhang Yanping...

"Never mind," he turned and pushed Zhang Yanping back, "It's not easy for anyone..."

"Everyone just loves your barbecue so much..."

"I didn't mean to buy it, no! I just got carried away praising it and couldn't stop..."

In the crowd, many people took out their phones and started typing rapidly:

Don't come here! The skewers here are fucking delicious! But the people running the skewers are black!

The person on the other end of the phone was also shocked: "Shouldn't we call the police?"

The person who sent the message hesitated for a moment, then sniffed again, and looked ahead at the person who was still hesitant, unsure whether to buy water chestnuts:
Forget it, they're grilling skewers by skill—and I haven't even bought any water chestnuts yet!

friend:……

In short, the lively atmosphere suddenly cooled down, but Qin Beibei and the others were completely oblivious. Seeing that everyone was not moving, they raised their voices and shouted again:
[Water chestnuts for sale! 3 for 1 yuan! Fresh, tender, crisp, and sweet water chestnuts]

Hehe, it's her turn to shout!
……

Even more bewildered than the customers who couldn't get their barbecue were the people in the livestream room:

[Qiaoqiao, do you remember when you were live streaming?]

It's so late at night, can't you show me something worth watching? Just staring at a basket of water chestnuts won't do.

What was all that noise about? There were too many people talking, I couldn't hear them.

[It seems like there's some kind of adjustment to the purchase restrictions, and we still have to buy other items...]

[Holy crap! Does Teacher Qiao mean we'll have to buy other items to qualify for a purchase from now on?]

That's probably the gist of it. They're already hard to buy, and now they're putting on that luxury goods act...

What is "goods allocation"?

[So, in the future, if you want to buy a pound of his white fungus, you first have to buy two ounces of tea, three packets of dried sweet potatoes, and four portions of potatoes before you're even eligible to buy the white fungus...?]

【? ? ? 】

【You still don't want this kind of delivery arrangement?!】

[Yes! I can!! I accept! I can even have two!]

[What? You've already started packing orders? Is this a legitimate live stream? What kind of stuff are you selling? Are there really this many different ways to sell agricultural products now?]

[I just arrived, but something feels off about this live stream.]

I agree. It's one thing for the camera to be focused on a few baskets of water chestnuts, but they were constantly being sold inside, and the water chestnuts were disappearing little by little right before my eyes.

Am I the only one who thinks it's abnormal that these things are selling so quickly so late at night?

There were many people talking, and it was very noisy, like some kind of mobilization meeting. They even started talking about barbecue...

【What kind of streamers does your small live streaming platform promote? I clicked in and saw they have over 130 million followers!】

Is this live stream legitimate?

Qiaoqiao was sweating profusely from her busy work, surrounded by the now quiet crowd, and was almost numb from counting.

Fortunately, Zhang Yanping had enough of a deterrent effect; many people had already quietly left without buying anything, while only Lao Zhao's customers continued to stream in...

There are so many! There are just too many people buying them!

Big hands and little hands alike grabbed into the basket, counting and filling it up. Even the most greedy He Tuoluo couldn't smell the aroma of barbecue anymore.

They were surrounded by many adults, all of them tall and numerous, and the aroma was completely absorbed before it even reached them.

Oh dear, all he could see in the crowd were legs, legs, legs, legs...

He Tuoluo became anxious: "How much did we make? Is it enough for us to buy kebabs tonight?"

Yun Danqing had long been numb to the calculations, and even Chen Chi was numb to flipping the QR code back and forth. At this moment, he just looked down at the water chestnuts left at the bottom of the basket.

The children, having practiced enough, said, "We don't have enough for twenty yuan..." (End of Chapter)