Food: Randomly set up stalls, even the little guy is drooling.

Wednesday evening at 7:15 pm.

Zhang Jiahao jumped off the bus, still holding a steamed bun he bought from the cafeteria in his mouth.

He swallowed the bun in a few bites and walked confidently towards the riverbank. Yesterday, he queued for two hours early and was the first to buy a steamed bun.

Although I had class in the eighth period today, I bought some steamed buns and rushed over. I was only a dozen minutes late, so I should be in the top ten, right?

He turned the corner and froze.

On the open ground of the dock, neat rows of small plastic stools, in red, blue, and green, were arranged in an S-shape. Each stool had someone sitting on it, either looking down at their phone or chatting in twos and threes.

The line stretched from where the steamed bun shop usually set up its stall, and there were at least forty or fifty people in it.

"Young man, want a stool?"

Zhang Jiahao turned his head and saw an old man carrying a pink plastic stool standing next to him.

"Ten yuan each. The owner won't be here for another two hours, so you can move them while you wait. It's not tiring." The old man was very skilled at his job. "After you're done, I'll wait over there and buy them back for five yuan each."

"This..." Zhang Jiahao's Adam's apple bobbed, "Are they all here to buy cornbread?"

"Otherwise what?" The old man clicked his tongue and gestured with his chin toward the front of the line. "See those guys carrying equipment? They're all livestreamers. They arrived around 6 o'clock. And those guys in orange shirts, YY delivery guys, see? They're obviously personal shoppers."

The old man also shared some gossip: "Yesterday, two people opened accounts for 300 each, and some people were unwilling to sell."

Zhang Jiahao glanced at the old man speechlessly, wondering if he even knew that the person in front of him was the one in question.

"Do you want one?" The old man didn't give him time to hesitate, urging him, "If you wait any longer, there won't even be any stools left. I only have a few left."

Zhang Jiahao took out his phone and scanned the code. Another 10 yuan was missing from his two-digit green bubble wallet.

He fell silent when the old man handed him the stool.

Pink, a garish pink.

"Are there no other colors?"

"This is it, take it or leave it." The old man took the money, picked up a pink plastic stool from the side, and wobbled out, calling out as he went, "Plastic stools for rent, last few, first come, first served."

Zhang Jiahao quickly ran forward and joined the last line. Unsurprisingly, he had just counted; he was number forty-nine.

He had actually given up hope. Yesterday, Boss Lu had only made 20 steamed buns, and everyone before him seemed determined to get them. He felt like it was impossible for him to get one.

Yesterday, he got a wild vegetable bun. He presented it to his ex-girlfriend Gao Ruoxi like a treasure, successfully removing the "ex" and turning her into his current girlfriend.

At that moment, Gao Ruoxi took a bite of cornbread and burst into tears.

"What's wrong?" he asked the other person nervously, wondering to himself if this thing was overpriced and actually so bad it was unpalatable.

As Gao Ruoxi ate, she muttered, "I miss my grandma."

Zhang Jiahao finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Your grandma can make these cornbreads too?"

Gao Ruoxi had just begun to feel touched, but all of that feeling vanished with those words.

"Zhang, Jia, Hao, you've ruined my memories! Tomorrow, I still want to eat a wild vegetable steamed bun!"

Zhang Jiahao really wanted to uninstall his mouth; why was he so annoying?

Doesn't he know that Gao Ruoxi misses her grandmother the most? And he thinks he's being funny?

He had only himself to blame. In an attempt to atone for his mistake, he once again came to queue up early to buy steamed buns.

Come to think of it, he hadn't even tasted the buns at this shop yet, but he already became a regular customer.

"How much longer...?" he heard a girl in front of him complain softly. Her boyfriend had his arm around her shoulder and was also looking at his phone. "Sigh, probably another hour or so. I'll play a game with you."

"I've been standing here by the river in the cold wind, just to have a steamed bun."

As Zhang Jiahao listened, his initial anticipation gradually faded. He took out his phone and opened his chat with Gao Ruoxi. The latest message was from when he had just set off.

"I'm off to queue! I'll definitely get you some steamed buns today!"

Gao Ruoxi replied with a cat nodding emoji.

The first day I bought it, I felt only the sweetness of giving for love, but coming back to queue up again, I felt like I was losing out.

He typed helplessly, "There are so many people... Even if I come two hours early, I might not be able to buy cornbread. Is it okay if I can only get steamed buns?"

He sent the message and waited a while, but there was no reply. She was probably busy. Zhang Jiahao locked his phone, put it back in his pocket, and looked up to see Han Caiwei getting out of a taxi.

He remembered her because, objectively speaking, she had a girl-next-door look, the kind of girl that any guy would immediately think of as his ideal woman.

However, no matter who it is, once they arrive here, all that remains is shock, bewilderment, and disbelief.

Han Caiwei, who is also a repeat customer, arrived late today, or rather, she had clearly arrived an hour early to queue up.

The worst part was that all the stools were sold out, and the old man who bought the plastic stools still lamented that he hadn't brought enough stools.

"I knew it. Every time a new food comes out, it quickly becomes a hot topic for live streamers and the wealthy." Han Caiwei smiled bitterly, feeling that the time invested was not proportional to the reward.

But if you ask her to spend two or three hundred yuan to hire a proxy buyer, it just doesn't seem worthwhile.

Even if steamed buns are delicious, you can't spend a day's wages on them.

Lu Feng sensed the diners' resentment even before he left his home.

Lu Feng was still at home and had not yet set off when the system triggered a side quest.

Side Quest: The Diner's Dilemma. Diners are paying a disproportionately high time cost to enjoy the pastries, diminishing their enjoyment. Find a way to resolve their dilemma and help them rediscover the pure enjoyment that food should offer.

[Task Reward: None.]

This task came so suddenly that Lu Feng was completely dumbfounded. Did I make them line up?

I don't want them to queue either, but there's nothing I can do about it.

What's most frustrating is that these tasks don't offer any rewards, so there's absolutely no motivation.

Lu Feng stopped what he was doing. He had sold 200 steamed buns today at cost price as a return to the kid. As a result, he hadn't yet made the number he had ordered the day before.

The long queues for steamed buns already breed resentment; imagine the frustration of not getting any. If this problem isn't solved, the consequences will ultimately fall on their own.

However, this kind of problem may stump me, but can it stump my think tank?

The customer I just gave feedback to, kid, it's time to put your new brain to work.

He posted it in the penguin group.

"Lu Feng: The waiting time in line has been too long lately. How can we solve this problem? Urgent, waiting online."

"Zhang Zixuan (Administrator): Boss Lu, you've come to the right person."