Food Intelligence King

Chapter 174 Misunderstanding
The market reports of a surge in diners were confirmed on the last day of the intelligence period.

Chen Zhou had increased the amount of food he prepared that day.

Logically speaking, small portions of dishes are not made to order; customers only need to select their dishes, then serve them and get their rice.

The food should be served very quickly.

But the sheer number of people coming was overwhelming.

The queue quickly stretched outside the store.

Just then, Zhang Jing arrived with good news, saying that the rental issue had been completely resolved.

Chen Zhou also asked her to help open the door next door so that the customers would have a place to stay temporarily.

The junior sister called out to him from inside the shop:

"You can go to the rental and sales center next door. There are seats there too. It's affiliated with our store."
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"We can eat there, right?"

"No problem, it's just a little walk around, there are sofas and chairs inside."
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"Ok."

Customers who couldn't fit in the community canteen came to the temporary restaurant next door.

However, there are bound to be people who can't distinguish between left and right.

He should have turned right, but he turned left and carried his tray into the tobacco and liquor store.

Old Meng was naturally very polite.

He was entertaining customers with a meal. It turns out that when he was in prison, he even put up a small umbrella in front of the door.

Looking at the slightly bewildered customer, Lao Meng greeted him:

"Come, sit down, let's eat together. I got my food from next door too."

"Okay!"

The customer looked at the person opposite him and realized that the food was almost identical to his own.

I felt relieved.

I had a meal with the owner of the tobacco and liquor store.

Halfway through the meal, I even took a drink from the beverage counter.

Old Meng and the other party had a very pleasant conversation. He had recently watched food variety shows and also learned about food production processes.

He had a lot to say.

Finally, we were able to have a chat over dinner.

He introduced some local culinary improvements. Then he talked about the cooking skills of the Chen brothers next door.

"Wok hei" is a very unique concept in Chinese cuisine.

Mentioning this term should conjure up images of stir-frying over high heat.

Actually, the scientific reason behind it is that when sauces and ingredients are quickly stir-fried in a hot iron wok, the Maillard reaction and caramelization reaction produce this unique flavor.

You can tell it's different just by smelling it.

It wasn't steamed, boiled, or pre-cooked.

The guest nodded in agreement and focused on eating.

"It goes well with rice."

It really goes well with rice.

The small-portion dishes are designed to be perfect for serving with rice.

Shredded pork with garlic sauce and scrambled eggs with tomatoes are served in a rich broth.

Braised pork belly and hot and sour shredded potatoes are savory and appetizing.

They can all make people unknowingly finish a serving of rice.

This rich flavor experience and sense of satisfaction is something that many exquisite dishes cannot provide.

Even on the rice plate, each person's own world is fascinating.

A bite of rice, a bite of meat, and then a bite of refreshing vegetables.

Several different flavors and textures blend and interact in the mouth, giving you a sense of participation and self-creation.

Everyone orders different dishes, and the order in which they eat the dishes is also different.

How to eat it is up to the customer.

Although it's called a small-portion dish, it's cooked in a large wok over a high flame, giving it a more rustic and lively feel.

This might be what the guy across the street was talking about as "wok hei" (the smoky aroma imparted by a hot wok).

But whether it's metaphysics or science, a thousand words can't compare to a customer's simple comment: "Delicious!" or "It goes well with rice!"

However, this customer forgot to pay for the drink when he left.

Old Meng had been chatting with someone for a while and almost forgot, so he quickly reminded him, "Brother, this drink is on me."

The customer waved his hand: "No need, no need, I'll just scan the code."

As they spoke, they walked toward the community canteen.

But then he suddenly remembered that this was a tobacco and liquor store, so it was very likely that he had gone to the wrong place.

So he quickly came back and finally cleared up the misunderstanding with Lao Meng.

The customer was a little embarrassed:
"I thought you two were a family."

Old Meng laughed and said, "It should be the rental and sales center next door on the other side. I talked to the owner, and he said he was planning to rent it out in the next couple of days."

The customer thought to himself, "This guy's explanation of the dishes was so professional; only an insider could make them like that."

At the same time, a heated discussion broke out in the owners' group.

This time, the conversation started with small portions of food from the community canteen.

However, the topic of discussion was not the community canteen.

The group members had already predicted that business would be booming in the next few days. The photos of the packed restaurants I posted, even though I'm not a foodie, are perfectly reasonable.

But Wotu Laoge, who pays close attention to housing prices, discovered something interesting in the photos.

"Look, why are there so many people at the rental and sales center?"
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Are you here to buy a house?
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Wow, that's great news!

Despite its name, the rental and sales center is only responsible for renting and selling shops.

It's not even near any residential area.

Manager Gao, who was the only one who knew the general situation, remained silent because Zihan's mother hadn't spoken.

The group chat became quite lively for a while.

Community canteen.

After the busy business was over, Chen Zhou did a quick calculation.

Today, we sold nearly two thousand yuan worth of small-portion dishes alone. It's safe to say that we've achieved a major breakthrough.

He has cooked the fish-flavored shredded pork dish several times.

However, there were also some business losses.

There might be one plate lost, or maybe three, but no more than five. I'll have to count them to find out the exact number.

Needless to say, this is the extent of the losses that my junior sister told Chen Zhou.

Besides grasping the overall direction of business operations, Chen Zhou has already assigned a lot of work to the store's employees.

He no longer pays much attention to this trivial matter.

However, the junior sister was responsible for purchasing the tableware and also for organizing and putting it into the sterilizer after closing the store.

Zhao Yilin was very clear about the amount of tableware.

At least the store uses an even number of dishes, but today after Xiao Hou washed the dishes in the dishwasher, the two stacks on the left and right were not the same height.

Despite repeated adjustments, it's still uneven, one high and one low.

This must be an odd number.

My junior sister checked both neighboring houses, but she still couldn't find it.

She even felt somewhat guilty about it.

"Boss, deduct it from my salary."

At this point, she stopped calling him "senior brother" and adopted a contrite attitude.

But who doesn't break a bowl while eating? Let alone running a shop. Chen Zhou laughed.

"Why deduct anything? Just consider it a wish for peace and safety every year."

"Thank you, senior brother!"

With her personality, the junior sister wouldn't blame herself too much.

This was a little incident today.

The main problem is that too many customers come here at once.

Since the store already sells very well, the staffing will definitely need to be adjusted.

Things should get better once Zhang Jing starts work in the next couple of days.

At that time, there will be someone specifically in charge of the front desk cashier and checkout, so that the front desk can be kept busy.

Let's leave it like this for the next two days. Once the hype dies down, we'll break down the wall, do some simple renovations, and also get some tables and benches.

Tables and benches are quite necessary.

It can be included in tomorrow's targeted intelligence report.

At noon, the couple had a brief conversation before taking their respective breaks.

To be precise, the chat, which was originally scheduled before the afternoon nap, was postponed until after Ms. Lin woke up because Chen Zhou was busy with business.

There was no phone contact this time either.
Ms. Lin sent her husband a fresh screenshot of the comments section, where the commenter appeared calm and collected.

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Yu Xianglusi: "Excuse me, I took the plates from your restaurant back. When I came to my senses, I was already more than 100 kilometers away."

Your family's food is especially delicious! [Drooling]

As for the plates, I'll mail them back to you. Actually, it would be better if I transferred the money to you. I'll keep the plates; they're quite good quality.

Replies to this comment: -
"You're going to make me laugh to death, you even stole their plates back."
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A woman as serene as a chrysanthemum: "No need to trouble yourself, you can keep it. [Laughs while covering mouth]"
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"That's a very clever plan!"

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After the screenshot of the comment, there was also a screenshot of a private message.

Yu Xiangru's private chat with Ms. Lin.

The other party seemed quite serious.

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Yu Xiang Lu Si: "Boss lady, we need to follow each other to transfer money, I'm really sorry. Please follow me back."

The proprietress remained as serene as ever, telling the other party to "keep it as a souvenir."

Yu Xiang Lusi: "Thank you for wishing me great success in my business."

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After looking at the two screenshots, Chen Zhou roughly understood the whole story.

He said to his wife, "We've solved the case. My junior sister spent ages looking for this plate."

Ms. Lin sent me several emojis that I couldn't make in my daily life.

(End of this chapter)