Free Web NovelChapter 12: Chapter 12: A New Way to Eat Buns
Su Chen, having eaten only one bun, already felt half-full. As he returned to the kitchen to get another...
"What are you two..."
He saw He Shuting holding a bun in each hand.
She had taken a bite out of both, and was hissing as she ate—the freshly steamed buns were clearly still scalding hot.
"So... HSSS!!! Good! Boss, this is so delicious! Hooo..." He Shuting’s mouth was so burned she could hardly speak. She would take a huge bite, then immediately suck in and blow out air, which looked rather comical.
Moreover, the way she was devouring them made her look nothing like a girl who weighed just over a hundred pounds!
"Delicious! Seriously delicious! Boss, how did you make these? I want to learn so I can make them for my son!" Aunt Fang wasn’t faring much better.
She also had a bun in each hand, alternating bites between the two.
If anyone else saw this, they’d probably think it was some kind of mukbang.
Su Chen scratched his head. "But... weren’t you watching me the whole time?"
"I was!" Aunt Fang wasn’t embarrassed at all. "They’re just so good. I’m going to get Xiaobin."
Su Chen lifted the steamer cloth. The steamer had been packed with twenty-four buns, but after he took one, only eighteen remained.
’Tsk...’
’Even He Shuting, with her bird-like appetite, is eating so much. Could it be that these seventy-odd large meat buns won’t be enough?’
Su Chen chuckled in spite of himself. An average of seven buns per person—and buns this big, no less—was no laughing matter. If they really polished them all off, the company cafeteria wouldn’t need to worry about a business model.
Instead, they should consider rebranding as a competitive eating channel!
He put another bun in his bowl, then, after a moment’s thought, grabbed one more on a whim. With two buns in tow, he returned to the dining table to continue his breakfast.
As eight o’clock approached, company employees began to trickle in.
Clearly, the braised eggplant and potatoes Su Chen had made the previous night had left the employees in a state of culinary shock.
The first thing everyone did after clocking in this morning was rush into the cafeteria. Seeing others eating buns, they wore indescribable expressions.
Liu Shengnan arrived relatively late.
Every night, she would video chat with her boyfriend until well past midnight, so she tended to wake up rather late in the morning.
Especially now that the company had no business, Liu Shengnan had taken to skipping her makeup routine at home. She would come to work bare-faced and slowly apply her makeup at the office.
"Buns?" Seeing seven or eight people already sitting at the table, Liu Shengnan pouted. "Boss, is there anything else to eat?"
Su Chen was holding his fourth bun in his left hand and a small pot of vinegar in his right. "Yes, there’s millet porridge," he said, pouring a little aged vinegar onto the filling. "You don’t like buns?"
Liu Shengnan nodded. "I haven’t liked meat since I was a kid, especially fatty meat! Every time I eat fatty meat, I feel nauseous..."
Su Chen let out a sound of surprise.
’That’s a thing?’
’Someone actually gets nauseous from eating meat?’
Seeing that no one seemed to believe her, Liu Shengnan sat down next to He Shuting. "I’m telling the truth. I can eat meat, but not fatty meat. I get nauseous if I eat fatty meat."
He Shuting’s cheeks were puffed out from taking huge bites of her bun, but she still managed to mumble, "You pwor fing."
Liu Shengnan sighed. "Tell me about it. Every time we have buns at home, I only eat the wrapper, not the filling. Thank goodness my dad is happy to eat the filling."
"Then you might as well just eat a steamed bun. Why go to all that trouble?" Director Li chimed in, a rare occurrence.
Liu Shengnan rolled her eyes. "The wrapper soaks up the flavor from the filling! That’s what makes it so good!"
Su Chen licked the meat juices off his fingers. "I’m going to get another one."
He Shuting stuffed the last of her bun into her mouth. "Bawsh! Get me one, too~"
"You’ve already had three..."
"I can eat more!"
Su Chen shrugged. Including Li Mingtao’s wife and son and Aunt Fang’s son, there were now twelve people at the table.
And in just half an hour, these twelve people had already demolished forty buns!
Forty large meat buns!
Each one was the size of a fist and had to weigh at least a third of a pound!
Just then, Li Mingtao finished his third bun. He put down the vinegar pot. "Shengnan, look, how about this?"
Liu Shengnan turned her head, giving him a quizzical look.
"If you like the wrapper, you can just eat that and give the filling to me. What do you say?" fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Liu Shengnan glanced at Zhang Yali first. Seeing that she was simply focused on devouring her bun without any reaction, she finally spoke up. "Really?"
"Mhm." Li Mingtao nodded. "The filling isn’t what I’d call fatty—it’s made from pork knuckle—but it does have a lot of the skin in it. If you can’t stomach that, I can eat the filling for you."
Liu Shengnan hesitated. "Well... all right. I’ll use serving chopsticks, Director Li."
Li Mingtao nodded.
He stood up to go get buns from inside.
As he stood up, he was surprised to find his stomach felt much lighter.
’Huh?’
Li Mingtao took a couple of steps and felt even more unburdened. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
A moment later, they returned. Su Chen had two buns in his bowl, and Li Mingtao had three in his.
"Here." Su Chen said, handing a bun to He Shuting before sitting down to continue eating.
Li Mingtao handed a bun to Liu Shengnan, watching with longing eyes as she broke the perfect bun in half.
Then, with a pair of unused chopsticks, she meticulously picked out all the filling, placing it in a clean bowl before handing it to him.
Having already eaten three buns, Li Mingtao was well aware that the soul of these buns was the meat filling.
But eating the filling on its own wouldn’t be right; it was much more delicious when paired with the wrapper.
He didn’t eat the pork knuckle from the bowl right away. Instead, he first took a huge bite out of the bun in his hand.
Then, with his chopsticks, he began picking up the filling Liu Shengnan had given him and stuffing it, piece by piece, back into his own bun.
’People actually do that?’
Su Chen was taken aback by Li Mingtao’s actions.
’What’s the difference between that and just eating two buns at once?’
He Shuting was also stunned by Li Mingtao’s maneuver. "Director Li, you’re cheating!"
"Heh heh, it’s called a win-win."
Under Li Mingtao’s skillful maneuvering, the originally perfectly-sized meat bun began to bulge.
At first glance, it looked like a bun stuffed to the bursting point.
After stuffing all the filling into his bun, Li Mingtao let out a long sigh of satisfaction and stood up from his seat.
"AWOOOM!"
A massive bite!
The thin wrapper, packed with meat filling... as he took that bite...
Li Mingtao felt as though every pore in his body had opened up in sheer delight!
’How could a bun this delicious possibly exist in the world?’
’The pork knuckle skin, rich but not greasy; the lean meat, bursting with savory juice; that subtle, elusive hint of shiitake mushroom; and to top it all off, the faintest touch of hot pepper.’
’How could all these ingredients possibly combine to create such an addictive flavor?’
The others were a bit dumbfounded as they watched Li Mingtao’s over-the-top reaction.
"Ah, I want to eat just the wrapper too!"
"I’ll do it! I’ll do it! Shengnan, I’ll eat the filling for you!" He Shuting had completely forgotten the three massive meat buns she’d just devoured. All she felt was an overwhelming need to copy Director Li’s move to feel truly satisfied.
"I can help you too!" Aunt Fang’s son, Xiaobin, volunteered, raising his hand.
They were all young, and had already become fast friends over breakfast.
The appetite of a high school boy was truly a terrifying thing. Xiaobin had already put away four buns and showed no sign of being full whatsoever.
This time, Liu Shengnan didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed. "Thank you, everyone!"
She got up and walked toward the kitchen.
