Free Web NovelChapter 32: Chapter 32: A Blast of Friend Requests
The looks on the five people’s faces in the kitchen said it all.
When the soy sauce was poured into the wok, a huge cloud of fragrant smoke filled the kitchen, even with the range hood on.
The aroma mixed within it was so incredible the five employees could hardly believe it.
How much time had passed?
Not even two hours had gone by. How could it be that this pot of Stir-fried Noodles smelled so much more fragrant than the last one, even though it was the same dish?
’The boss’s name isn’t Yuan Zhou, is it?’
Just as everyone was about to step closer to investigate, Su Chen added a large amount of warm water to the wok at just the right moment, suppressing the wondrous aroma.
"Hm? What’s wrong?" Having gotten everything under control, Su Chen was baffled to see everyone staring at him as if he were some kind of monster.
He Shuting was closest to Su Chen. "Boss..."
GULP.
She swallowed unconsciously. "Did you change the recipe? How come it smells so different from before?"
Su Chen nodded. "We were short on noodles, so I bulked it up with eggs. Is the smell really that strong?"
Su Chen knew S Level food would leave people speechless, but he never expected such an intense reaction.
After all, the S Level giant meat buns had been a showstopper from the start, so there was no prior benchmark for comparison. This time, the first batch of Stir-fried Noodles was only A Level, while this new batch was S Level.
The first batch was already delicious enough. With such a stark contrast, everyone now realized there was more to this than met the eye.
"If this weren’t for the customers, I’d have to grab a bowl for myself first, no matter what. Who could possibly resist this smell!" Bai Xiaobo stared eagerly at the pot of broth, which was about to boil. He was already hungry before, and now he was even hungrier!
Liu Shengnan nodded in agreement, all her previous talk about the "bigger picture" completely forgotten. "Boss, are we going to eat this later, too? I feel like if I don’t have a bowl of this today, I won’t be able to sleep tonight."
Su Chen nodded. "Of course. Aren’t you already kneading the dough?"
The water quickly came to a boil. Aunt Fang grabbed the noodles she had cut and evenly dropped them into the pot.
BUBBLE, BUBBLE. Five minutes later, the large pot of noodles was distributed into fifteen new bowls.
From start to finish, the entire process took less than fifteen minutes.
The people outside were growing impatient.
A few of them kept standing up, trying to peer through the glass to see if their noodles were being made. Unfortunately, the frosted glass on the kitchen door blocked their view, and they could only vaguely make out a few figures moving about inside.
"Here it comes, here it comes! It’s ready!" The moment Liu Xia saw the door open, the boredom on her face vanished instantly. She was so excited she nearly jumped to her feet.
"I’m eating first this time!" Wang Rui didn’t stand on ceremony. His seat was close to the kitchen, giving him a geographical advantage. He stood up and took a bowl directly from Bai Xiaobo’s hands.
His reverent gaze and excited expression made it seem as if this wasn’t just a bowl of noodles, but an exclusive gift from the gods to their taste buds! ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
Seeing this, the others also stood up and proactively took their noodle bowls from Xiaobai and Xiaobin.
That made things easier. Bai Xiaobo now only had to return to the kitchen and bring the noodles to the door, which saved him a lot of trouble.
Liu Xia’s seat was not in a good spot, so she was the last to get her noodles.
She grinned, grabbed her chopsticks, and prepared to dig in.
"I’m telling you, Liu Xia, you sure can eat, can’t you?"
Before the noodles even reached her mouth, Wang Rui had already fired a shot at the girl from the warehouse.
"I bet you can’t even finish that bowl. Why don’t you give half of it to me?"
Liu Xia craned her neck to look.
’Holy crap!’
’I just got my noodles, and Wang Rui is already done?’
"Hah! You’re like a wild boar that can’t appreciate refined food. I’ve never seen anyone eat like you. Two huge bowls of noodles aren’t enough for you? Just you watch me eat, then!" Liu Xia said through gritted teeth.
Then, she lifted a clump of noodles to her mouth.
SLUUURP~~~
She even slurped extra loudly on purpose, just for Wang Rui to hear.
’Let’s see him drool over this!’
"Huh?"
That ferocious slurp of noodles didn’t make Wang Rui die of envy; instead, Liu Xia nearly bit her own tongue off.
’The same person made both bowls of noodles, and this one just seems to have some extra bits of egg in it, so why is the flavor so drastically different?’
"SLURP SLURP~~ MUNCH!"
This portion was smaller than the last one to begin with. Liu Xia felt like she hadn’t even begun to satisfy her craving before her chopsticks were just swimming around in the bowl, unable to find a single scrap!
Meanwhile, the lingering fragrance in her mouth was constantly stoking her cravings.
But reason screamed at her: ’No girl eats three bowls of noodles! Aaaah!!!’
Liu Xia silently drank every last drop of the noodle soup from her bowl, secretly loosening her belt in the process.
Only then did she have a moment to savor the aftertaste.
Compared to the previous bowl of noodles, if she had to pinpoint what extra flavor was there, it was probably...
"So satisfying!" A male colleague from HR wiped his mouth with a napkin. "This time it felt like Liu Xia ran a lap inside my mouth while carrying a bundle of fresh green onions!"
’Yes!’
’That was exactly it. The male colleague had perfectly described the feeling Liu Xia had in her heart.’
’It tasted even fresher, more umami.’
’But why am *I* the one running around with green onions?’
’Can’t you guys pick someone else?’
"Haha! No argument here. From now on, Liu Xia is our company’s Sister Cong." Wang Rui seized every opportunity to take a jab at Liu Xia.
"I’m bringing green onions to work tomorrow. If you dare to sleep on the job, I’ll stuff them in your mouth!" the warehouse girl shot a vicious glare at Wang Rui.
The speed at which the second bowl of noodles was inhaled was clearly much faster than the first.
In just five or six minutes, all fifteen bowls in the cafeteria were empty.
"It’s all thanks to Wang Rui. Otherwise, we all would’ve starved this afternoon."
"Does that mean we can come here to eat every day from now on?"
"That would be amazing! I’m having Stir-fried Noodles again tomorrow for lunch!"
"Hey, hey, Wang Rui, share that product manager’s WeChat with me. I want to be able to contact him myself if I feel like a change of pace."
"Yeah, yeah, share it with us too!"
Speechless, Wang Rui pulled out his phone. "Alright, alright, you guys are such a hassle. I’ll send it to our small group chat."
[DING-DONG~~]
"Crap! Retract it, quick! You sent it to the main company group chat!"
"Hiss! Hurry up and retract it!"
"Oh no, I hit ’Delete for Me’ instead! What do I do? This phone is such a piece of junk, damn it!"
Xinghui Company.
Ding-dong~
Ding-dong~
Ding-dong~
Almost every employee—those at their desks, those in the restroom, and those smoking in the stairwell—all pulled out their phones at the same time.
[Wang Rui (General Affairs): /Contact Card]
Everyone subconsciously tapped on the shared contact card.
[A Delicious Product Manager Bai Xiaobo]
[Status: Your satisfaction is our greatest motivation.]
[Our company offers private custom catering. You name the craving, we’ll find a way to satisfy it. Eat happy, eat with confidence, eat with peace of mind.]
[Company Address: High-Tech Development Zone, District A, Building 8, 19th Floor] freewēbnoveℓ.com
Very few people ever sent messages in the Xinghui Company group chat.
Usually, only two departments posted announcements.
The Finance Department announcing it was time to sign for salaries, and the General Affairs Department announcing it was time to pick up benefits.
At this moment, seeing a contact card posted by a colleague from the General Affairs Department, basically no one thought it was a mistake.
In some of the smaller departments, people had already started discussing it.
"Building 8? We’re in Building 10. Isn’t that right across from us?"
"What does ’private custom catering’ mean? Is it a place to eat?"
"Whatever, I’m adding him first!"
"I get it! The new director must have solved our cafeteria problem for us. He’s awesome!"
"Hiss? He solved it that quickly? Instead of fixing our own cafeteria, he just hired another company to provide the service? That’s such a brute-force solution! I love it, I love it!"
"Director Li is playing 5D chess with this move! The cafeteria won’t improve? Fine, I just won’t eat there, right? Ho ho!"
For the Xinghui employees, each of their phones went *ding-dong* once.
But back at Delicious...
Bai Xiaobo stared dumbfounded at the endless stream of "Friend Request" notifications popping up on his phone.
’Wait... did someone paste my WeChat QR code on a telephone pole?’
