Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 298 The Steamed Bun Storm
P.S.: Chapter 2 will be late, sorry.

Since Ma Zhaodi entered the central city, his assets have been expanding at an inflating rate.

"I still don't understand why you don't sell more."

On a street in the city center, Liu Zi, holding two oversized insulated containers, advised Ma Zhaodi, "How can you make big money if you only sell for half a day and then close up shop?"

"Where is your ambition? Where is your fighting spirit? And where are the remaining buns?"

"What's left? There's none left."

Ma Zhaodi rolled his eyes: "You guys are looking for me like you're looking for a wild boss. As soon as the stall refreshes, you plan to buy it all. I just don't understand. You guys bought a pot of meat the day before yesterday. Even if you made it all into roujiamo (Chinese hamburger), and ate roujiamo three times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, you would get sick of eating a hundred or two. Where would you find the mood to buy steamed buns?"

"Ha, look at what you're saying." Liu Zi laughed disdainfully: "That little bit of meat and steamed buns can last for three days only because we've been eating sparingly. Now the refrigerator is empty. If we don't go out and buy some more, the children will starve to death."

Ma Zhaodi's lips twitched: "How come such a big pot of meat couldn't last more than three days? How much did you eat every day?"

"Wouldn't that make your skills look superior?"

Liu Zi sighed: "Central City is a big city, not some small American village. Old Ma, how many international students do you think there are in the city?"

"How many? Hundreds?"

"I don't know either." Liu Zi slapped his thigh: "Whether there are hundreds or not, as long as there are twenty, that big pot of sandwiches can be eaten sparingly in three days."

"Can I be just one mouth? I am the mouth of dozens of students who have stayed at school and are crying for food. I am their fervent hope."

"Dozens of people, can you believe it? Normally, being able to make instant noodles at home is considered a great improvement in one's survival skills, but after coming here, it's the same few things every day: fried chicken and hamburgers, hamburgers and fried chicken. Vegetables and fruits are ridiculously expensive, and the meat dishes are monotonous. I'm sick of eating them."

"One day, we couldn't stand it anymore. We wanted to eat food from our hometown so badly that we were itching to eat it, but we didn't have much money, so we all started learning to cook."

"When they smelled the pot of meat I brought back, they were like wild wolves that had broken free of their reins, their eyes gleaming with greed. I didn't even have time to hide it before I was forced to sign the unequal 'sharing is worse than enjoying alone' clause just ten minutes after I got back."

"That shows you have good hands-on skills."

Ma Zhaodi sighed and opened the steamer basket next to him, and the rising white steam wafted out along with the aroma of wheat.

Beautiful white buns lay in the rising steam. Because the filling was generous, the sauce had overflowed from the pleats, while the rest was buried under the soft bun skin, seeping into the dough and giving the sides of the buns bright golden-red patches.

It's obvious that when the bun skin is oily, it does look very appetizing.

"What kind of filling is this?"

“Braised pork and mushroom,” Ma Zhaodi replied. “There are also chives and eggs, pork and scallions, and mapo tofu.”

"Brother, Brother Ma!"

With tears welling up in her eyes, Liu Zi said, "Without you, this family will fall apart!"

"Whether it's this 'home' or this 'bucket' is still open to discussion."

"Holy crap! Found it! Found it! This is the stall mentioned in the telegram!"

As the two were talking, several more people suddenly ran noisily to the food truck. Ma Zhaodi looked at Liu Zi beside him and said, "You're looking for people to start a group again, aren't you?"

However, Ruko's expression was extremely solemn.

"No, I didn't hire these people."

"Boss, fellow villager!" The group, each holding a thermos, asked, "How much are the steamed buns?"

Don't you check the filling when you eat steamed buns?

"It's good enough to have decent steamed buns to eat, who the hell cares about the filling? Besides, someone in the group said that your roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) is incredibly delicious, so your other dishes must be just as good."

Maru, there's a mole within the organization!
Hearing this reply, Liu Zi's heart skipped a beat. Someone was trying to steal the boss from the wilderness map, and the newcomer was incredibly shrewd. A formidable rival, an absolute formidable rival.

“Okay, even though you didn’t ask, I’ll still tell you,” Ma Zhaodi replied. “Braised pork and mushroom, chives and egg, pork and scallion, and mapo tofu.”

"Damn, bro!"

The visitor immediately bowed and said, "From this day forward, you are my half-brother!"

"It can't be that bad."

Ma Zhaodi scratched his head and asked, "How many do you want?"

"How many do you have?"

Ma Zhaodi really wanted to reply with "I have as many as you want," but he was quite afraid that the other person would reply with "I want as many as you have."

“Steamed buns take more effort to make than roujiamo (Chinese hamburger),” he said. “But the production volume is higher, so I’ll give you five dollars each. These things are big; one is enough for a small appetite, and two should be enough for a big appetite.”

"Give me three thousand yuan."

"How come you're all so rich?"

"What do you mean 'rich'? We bought it in a group, and it's practically starving, bro."

What a coincidence! These two use idioms so perfectly in sync.

Ma Zhaodi glanced at Liu Zi, who was pleading beside him, and shook his head, saying, "I'll give you half a cart of steamed buns at most, probably a thousand yuan. He also needs half a cart."

"All right."

Both groups thought two hundred would be acceptable, so they worked incredibly fast, and in less than ten minutes, the buns on the truck were packed into the bucket.

Meanwhile, the second group of people who arrived later asked, "Brother, where are you doing business this afternoon?"

"Go home and rest this afternoon. What else am I supposed to do if I don't go home?"

"Have you sold out of steamed buns?"

"I'll sell it tomorrow."

Just as the three parties were staring at each other in disbelief, a local guest finally came over.

"Hey, Old Ma."

Lisa, a regular customer (who had only bought from her once), ran over happily: "I haven't seen you setting up your stall lately. I thought you had quit."

“I spent the whole day preparing yesterday,” Ma Zhaodi replied. “I was making steamed buns at home. I thought I had made enough, but I couldn’t even make it through the morning.”

"What is a steamed bun?"

"Ahem, sorry, I misspoke." Ma Zhaodi suddenly realized his mistake and immediately replied with a serious expression, "It's a local specialty food, called Chinese handmade breakfast pie—of course, if you want to eat this for lunch and dinner as well, that's fine too."

"Sounds good." Lisa's nose twitched as she smelled the enticing aroma of steamed buns and a hint of braised meat. "How much?"

“They’re all sold out. They bought them all.” Ma Zhaodi shook his head. “Why don’t you ask them if they can spare two for you?”

Lisa Snatt turned to look at the two groups of people who had left, but her usually effective method of negotiating by showing her face was completely ineffective this time. Both groups hugged their thermos containers tightly, keeping their eyes down and pretending not to see the blonde beauty in front of them.

Compared to a beautiful woman I don't know, steamed buns are more important.

(End of this chapter)