Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 296 Chinese-style handmade pure meat burger, also known as roujiamo (Chinese meat sandwich).
P.S.: Chapter 2 will be a little later, sorry.

A hamburger truck?

Lisa subconsciously looked in the direction of the car. In fact, she wasn't the only one; many pedestrians on the street couldn't help but look over.

In the United States, street vendors don't shout out their wares; they attract customers through displays or clothing. You rarely hear vendors hawking their wares on the street, which makes the activity around the hamburger truck all the more noticeable.

Seeing the hamburger truck on the roadside, Snart frowned slightly. It wasn't that he had a problem with hamburgers, but because he had lived in this city for a long time and had scouted the area near the city center countless times, he had never seen this food truck that suddenly appeared here. It was something that suddenly appeared today, something he had never seen when he scouted the area.

Perhaps this food truck could affect his heist plans, or perhaps not, but in any case, the feeling of this unexpected turn of events made him somewhat unhappy—as he said, the unknown means uncontrollable, the uncontrollable means risk, and he hated risk.

But Lisa had already run over in two strides, clearly not being too impressed with her brother's "uncontrollable risk theory".

When he saw customers coming in, the Asian man next to the food cart immediately stopped shouting. He knew that there was no such thing as "hawking" in the United States, and his shouting just now was just an itch to do it. When he had a stall in front of him, he could hardly resist the urge to shout a few times.

“Hey, your food truck is really special.” Lisa came to Ma Zhaodi’s three-wheeled vehicle and looked at the unconventional food truck with great interest—one person, one pot, and a pile of flatbreads, with the business license displayed on top of his head. This thing is actually legal and compliant.

Ma Zhaodi removed the grate from the large iron pot next to him, and the braised pork underneath floated on the broth. The five-centimeter square pieces of foreleg meat were three fingers wide and had skin on. They were marbled with fat and lean meat, with distinct layers. They had been soaked for several hours to remove the blood and were now completely free of any fishy smell.

Two spice packets containing scallions, ginger, garlic, and various spices were placed in the pot along with the meat chunks and simmered over medium-low heat for two hours. The rock sugar inside had completely melted, and the cooking wine had evaporated.

At this point, the meat chunks have been soaking in the broth for a total of five hours since they were put into the pot. They have been thoroughly infused with flavor, turning into a bright reddish-brown color. The skin is as clear and transparent as amber. When you pick up a piece and place it on the cutting board, you don't even need to cut it. Just press it gently with a knife, and the fatty part will break into a fine paste, while the lean part will become tender and juicy shreds.

The spiciness of star anise, the sweetness of cinnamon, the gelatinous aroma of pork skin, and the flavor of Baiji buns all blend together—judging from appearance and smell alone, this pot of meat is already quite appetizing.

Lisa couldn't resist taking a sniff, her eyes immediately drawn to the cutting board. Ignoring the enticing aroma of meat, she asked, "Didn't you say you were selling hamburgers? What kind of hamburgers? Where are they?"

"Isn't this it?" Ma Zhaodi waved the baiji biscuit in his hand: "It's just two pieces of bread and a piece of meat, how can it not be considered a hamburger?"

"This is not what I expected."

"I can just add some pork skin for you." Ma Zhaodi picked up the cleaver and gently sliced ​​off a piece of trembling, dark red pork skin like jelly on the knife, which was then placed inside the steamed bun.

Lisa hesitated for a long time. Although this thing looked like a carb bomb, it was really too fragrant, and the stall looked quite clean. Although it might not suit the eating habits of all Americans, she sincerely wanted to try it.

"Okay, one please."

"Chinese-style handmade pure meat burgers, Five-Knife Joy, honest and fair to all ages."

It's not that the system is completely honest; the system's purchase prices don't include the logistics costs of real-world purchase prices. In reality, Ma Zhaodi buys ingredients and spices at almost wholesale prices, and there are no expenses for storage or freezing. Therefore, the profit per serving is about four dollars.

If it weren't for Ma Zhaodi's advanced culinary skills and the fact that he personally handled most of the preparation process, the system wouldn't even recognize his five-dollar price tag—selling ready-made products directly from the store, or simply processing them before reselling, wouldn't earn him any asset points. "Even setting up a stall requires emphasizing handcrafted work?"

“In the United States, anything that emphasizes the word ‘handmade’ can command a higher price.” Ma Zhaodi gave a polite smile: “This is a local specialty, something you have to experience.”

He's really figured out the concept of combining Chinese and Western styles.

Snart also came to his sister's side at this time. As an intellectual genius in the criminal world, a perfectionist who is meticulous and nitpicks, and a notorious thief that the Central City Police Department can never catch, he always has a high level of prestige and a cold and hard temperament.

But then again, even the most sophisticated person needs to eat, and he's already used to a nomadic life. After all, a boy who ran away from home with his sister at eighteen has already endured all kinds of hardships.

"I'll have one too."

"No problem, please eat while it's hot, otherwise it won't taste good."

Ma Zhaodi accepted ten dollars, and the system immediately credited him with one hundred dollar asset points. This was his first pot of gold today—enough to recoup the cost of the entire batch of ingredients.

Of course, to recoup the cost of this heavily modified three-wheeled vehicle, it would probably need to sell half a pot of it.

Lisa took a bite of the warm baiji burger. Small crumbs crumbled from the crispy crust, the inner layer of dough absorbing some of the gravy, and the fat from the pork seeped into the center. The fibrous texture of the lean meat and the wheat aroma of the burger were perfectly balanced, while the springy skin added another layer of texture—but she didn't want to delve too deeply into the flavor of this Chinese-style handmade pure meat burger. She simply took a second bite, and then a third…
Ma Zhaodi casually took out the gourd, took a sip of wine, and then stuffed it back in: "Welcome to come again next time, both of you. My name is Ma Zhaodi, you can call me Lao Ma—remember to tell your friends about my little shop!"

In the short time it took to say a few words, Lisa had already eaten half of her roujiamo (Chinese hamburger). Clearly, her attention was focused on the roujiamo in her hand, and she hadn't listened to anything Ma Zhaodi was saying.

Snart stood to the side, taking small bites of his roujiamo (Chinese hamburger), eating leisurely, his gaze occasionally sweeping over the business license hanging on the three-wheeled vehicle.

Strange, he thought to himself. Although the licenses looked genuine and normal, the stall always gave off a sloppy and careless feeling.

He asked Ma Zhaodi, "Why do you have a liquor license?"

"Hmm? Do I?"

Ma Zhaodi scratched his head and walked around to the front of the car to look at it: "Oh, I have it."

So he stood back behind the car and calmly replied, "No problem, I have some."

It's not that he has a bad memory; there are too many permits required to set up a stall. So he simply spent a few days inputting his stall information into the municipal database—that's how he got his identity anyway, it was just a convenient thing.

(End of this chapter)