Gourmet Food Supplier
Chapter 26: The soup dumplings that stirred up a craze
“Bing bing bang bang.”
Placing it on top of the steamer and beginning the steaming process, the soup dumpling were cooked after approximately eight minutes. Yuan Zhou first adjusted the temperature under it to a constant heat; that way, he did not have to worry about the long steaming time causing its skin to turn old or the juice to leak out.
Taking off the clean, white cloth covering it, Yuan Zhou took out a basket and placed it in front of him. He took out a saucer and poured some vinegar, then sat down and began to sample it.
Its fragrance was truly out of this world!
It wasn’t too much of an exaggeration to say that someone who could originally only eat a bun in the morning would be able to eat three he made.
With one hand holding a pair of chopsticks and the other lifting up a large plate, he carefully picked up the soup dumplings and placed them on the plate. There were enough to fill an entire plate. Using his chopsticks to pick a bit of the skin open, the rich fragrance of the broth mixed with the smell of the dumpling skin flooded his nose and slowly proliferated through the entire house.
“Slurp.”
Not bothering about the heat, Yuan Zhou sucked in a mouthful of soup into his mouth. In a flash, his lips and tongue were enveloped by delicious broth. After he finished sucking in the broth in the entire soup dumpling, the only things remaining inside were the fillings wrapped up by its outer skin.
Only at that moment did Yuan Zhou poured in a little vinegar in the opening he recently made. He then picked up the soup dumpling and swallowed it down in a mouthful.
The light outer skin of the soup dumpling covered the delicious, gigantic fillings. The slight acidic taste inside aroused an even larger more delicious flavor inside it. Eating that soup dumpling was truly both satisfying and addicting.
However, one naturally couldn’t satisfy Yuan Zhou. Unknowingly, he had eaten four soup dumplings already. One soup dumpling was about the size of a fist, and could more or less fill an adult up along with a beverage. However, Yuan Zhou, who had been eating the divine class egg fried rice everyday, had actually ate four of them. One could very well imagine how delicious the soup dumpling was.
“What smell is that? How fragrant!” Each passerby said incredulously as they jogged by or headed to work. As dawn already broke, the amount of pedestrians was only increasing. As for Yuan Zhou, he was currently enjoying the delicious taste of the dumplings within the confines of his shop.
Logically speaking, the most important thing inside the system controlled shop was, no matter the food any customer ordered, the aroma of the food could only be smelled by Yuan Zhou and that customer himself. Only if they were in close proximity could the others smell them. This way, the problem of odours mixing could be avoided and would also not affect the other customers who were enjoying their delicious meals.
Whereas, the reason why it would proliferate through the entire house including the exterior was because Yuan Zhou had not opened his shop yet. Such a situation only occurred as the system judged that it was still not open for business.
At this time, the mobile vendors selling breakfast on the side street had turned into a hotspot. As long as it was someone who caught that odour, their appetite would be unquenchable; people that didn’t eat their breakfast would feel an unendurable hunger in their stomach and the people that had them would feel their saliva overflow.
As for Yuan Zhou, he was still minding his own business and enjoying the delicious taste. As he didn’t open for business, those pedestrians could only wantonly buy a bit of food at the mobile vendors to allay their hunger. Their business, that was better by a fold than usual, made the hawkers beamed with joy. Enduring their urge to eat and swallowing their saliva, they continued on with their business.
Fastforwarding the time to eight o’clock, Yuan Zhou patted his stomach in a perfectly content manner. He opened the doors only after drinking a cup of water and decided to sell the soup dumplings immediately.
When the doors opened, the fragrance that originally congested the hall burst onto the street all of a sudden. The pedestrians on the road were attracted in an instant, not even those mobile vendors were not exempted.
There was a man wearing a suit with a white tie who immediately recognized Yuan Zhou, and had eaten in the shop before, who asked.
“Boss Yuan, what delicious thing have you made here? This taste is simply one of a kind, are you going to sell it?”
Now that someone had asked, the rest of them weren’t in a good position to say anything. Only now had they found out that this originally nameless shop was actually selling something. However, this question was really phrased in a weird manner—what reason was there for a restaurant to not sell its food?
Even if the boss wanted to eat it for himself, he would still have to sell it if the customer wished to purchase it. That was how it was in shops currently.
“I did some soup buns today. Of course I will sell them. The same rule still applies and the price is on the wall.” Yuan Zhou saw that it was someone that had visited his shop, and so replied and pointed at the price list that had been updated.
Just that one look was able to terribly frighten those spectators that entered. What exactly is written on that wall?
Egg fried rice: 188 RMB, Egg fried rice combo: 288, Soup filled dumplings: 66 RMB per basket.
“While this shop might not be a fraud, its prices are truly shady, down to the fen.” An auntie shouted all of a sudden. She had originally planned on entering and being an onlooker, but when she saw the prices, she immediately became akin to a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
TL Note: Lowest form of currency are not penny in RMB, but fen 😛
“Exactly, it’s just a small rundown shop. With these prices, one might even think that he’s running a five star restaurant.” A few aunties also agreed at the side.
As for Yuan Zhou, he returned to the inside of the long and curved table. Seeing that those people were looking up and down with a cold look, he remained silent. These aunties had a principle whereby they would be referred to as tortoises if they do not take advantage of any profits they could get. They wouldn’t listen even if an explanation is given, therefore Yuan Zhou was disinclined to waste his breath.
“That’s not it. Let alone 188 RMB, even if it costs 588 RMB, it will be still worth it to try out Boss Yuan’s skill once.” The guy with a suit and a white tie couldn’t listen much longer and began to explain to those aunties.
“Youngster, you’re afraid that no one knows you’re a hired hand, right? Trying to scam us to eat this pain in the ass egg fried rice.” One of the aunties said incredulously, she had been sizing the man with the suit up and down.
“You…” Just a glance at the suited man was enough to tell that he was usually sitting in the office and wasn’t good at talking with aunties who pestered endlessly. A wave of speechlessness settled in and he was defeated.
Seeing that everyone was about to get into an argument, Yuan Zhou opened his mouth at that moment.
“Enough, those that aren’t eating should get out. I still need to conduct my business here.”
Having already been chased out by the owner in this manner, the aunties in question already knew that the owner didn’t plan on scamming them, and awkwardly left. After watching the commotion through to its end, the hawkers went on with their business, while the remaining seven to eight people whose jobs weren’t too bad, or who were curious, prepared to give it a try.
“Boss, didn’t you say that you’re selling the soup dumplings? Give me a basket first.” A young male who was included among the group, said. He was wearing a tracksuit along with a pair of earphones. One could tell from a glance that he was out for a jog.
“A basket for me too. I want to see how good these soup dumplings, that actually cost 66 RMB per basket, can really taste.” An grandpa who was wearing clean and upright attire said, putting his hands behind his back as he sat down.
“Me too…”
The rest of the few people had also began to order soup dumplings, but only ordered a portion. After all, a price of 66RMB wasn’t exactly cheap.
Among those, there were some that needed vinegars, as well as others that didn’t. Yuan Zhou carried them one by one out and placed them in front of the group. The few people had exactly filled up the eight chairs.
That grandpa was really experienced in eating. He used the chopsticks to gently poke at the skin of soup dumpling in a slow and deliberate manner. Only after discovering that it did not tear, did he use the chopstick to pick it up and place it in his mouth.
His eating methods varied slightly from Yuan Zhou. The grandpa only drank a small amount of the broth after opening a hole at the top. His face revealed an extremely satisfied expression, and he became even more cautious with his actions. He picked up the vinegar in the saucer, and poured it in from the top. After adding it in, he once again began to eat in an unhurried manner. This was the cautiousness and carefulness one would have when they were enjoying top class gourmet food. To the grandpa, only a method like that would allow him to enjoy the flavor it held.
As for the suited man that had raised his voice to help out earlier, he was using a more boorish eating method instead, which didn’t complement his refined looks or his suit at all. One could only see him pick up his chopsticks and directly shove the food into his mouth in one fell swoop, without even bothering to probe it beforehand.
“Huff, huff, huff…”
Indeed, the scalding broth burned him to the point that he was continuously breathing out. It was to the extent where he needed to use his hand to fan his mouth in order to reduce the temperature within. Even when that’s the case, the suited man was also unwilling to let the boiling broth leak out even the tiniest bit. That was because it was simply too delicious, leaking out the tiniest drop was simply a crime.
The soup dumpling had displayed its might!