Free Web NovelChapter 49: Chapter 49: Sister Ling, Where Are My Noodles
He poured oil into the three large woks, one after another.
After putting on the badge, Su Chen discovered its special effects weren’t limited to playing darts; they were also remarkably obvious when he was just cooking.
When the oil was about sixty percent hot, he added a large amount of chopped green onions to each of the three woks in sequence.
Boosted by the badge’s effect, every flip of his spatula was perfect. There wasn’t a single wasted motion. His movements were so fluid they were a pleasure to watch, leaving the Xinghui employees completely dumbfounded.
’Is he really the boss?’
He only staggered adding the ingredients to the three woks by a few seconds. Su Chen used this brief interval of a dozen or so seconds to create a seamless workflow!
Once the green onions were flash-fried, he poured the beaten eggs into each wok. Over the high heat, the fragrance of the searing onions mingled with the aroma of eggs and began to fill the kitchen. This simple step alone was enough to make the employees, who had been moving things all morning, start to salivate.
It was such a simple process—heating oil, adding green onions, and then scrambling eggs. It looked like something anyone with hands could do. In fact, most of them made this kind of simple dish at home.
So why did it produce such a mouth-watering aroma in Su Chen’s hands?
They could never imagine this was the result of Su Chen having done it thousands upon thousands of times, mastering the heat and the timing of the ingredients’ cooking to near-perfect precision!
When the eggs were scrambled into fluffy curds, he added warm water to each of the large woks. Su Chen let out a sigh of relief. "Just wait for the water to boil, then we can cook the noodles."
He said this to Aunt Fang, who was usually in charge of this part.
"Right, don’t cook too many noodles. Just stick to the usual ratio."
This kind of "wok-broth noodle" was different from noodles with thick gravy. If you cooked too many noodles, they would easily soak up all the broth. This dish was best enjoyed half-broth, half-noodles; that’s what really hit the spot. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
"That’s it?" Wang Rui’s eyes were wide. "That’s way too simple, isn’t it?"
Xiaobin, standing to the side, commented, "Brother Xiaobo used to say the same thing, right up until he tried it at home himself."
Cooking the noodles didn’t take long. Five minutes later, Aunt Fang turned off the heat on all three woks.
"Get a bowl for President Ling first!" Zhang Li said, holding a huge bowl. "More broth, please. She doesn’t eat much."
The other Xinghui Company employees started to arrive. No arrangements were needed; everyone instinctively formed a long line starting from the kitchen door. Aunt Fang was in charge of serving the noodles, and Wang Rui proactively helped deliver them.
All of this was secretly being observed by one person.
It was none other than Zhang Li!
’It only takes Boss Su fifteen minutes to make a pot of noodles, but it’ll take me at least twenty minutes to eat a bowl this big!’
’If that’s the case...’
Zhang Li said, "I have a small appetite too. Just give me half a bowl."
The logic was simple. The three large woks could only feed about forty people, and there were still over thirty people behind them empty-handed.
By the time Boss Su finished a new batch of three woks, if she hadn’t finished eating yet, she definitely wouldn’t get a second bowl. So, by only getting half a bowl, she could perfectly time it for the next round!
’I’m so smart!’
Zhang Li silently gave herself a thumbs-up for her clever little plan. She left the kitchen carrying one bowl full of soupy noodles and another bowl that was only half-full.
Looking at the thirty-odd people still waiting in line, Su Chen sighed, "This money is so hard to earn!"
Aunt Fang: ???
’Boss, are you okay?’
’You were busy for maybe ten minutes, made almost two thousand yuan, and you’re saying it’s hard to earn?’
’If this isn’t easy money, then what about me? I work myself to the bone cleaning all month, and you only pay me twenty-five hundred. What’s that, then?’
’A raise!’
’I have to get the boss to give me a raise!’
After quickly rinsing the three woks, Su Chen began a new round of cooking.
The restaurant’s two large round tables and small square table were packed with people. There was no sound of conversation at all, only the sound of frantic slurping!
Zhang Li brought the two bowls of noodles to Ling Shuyu’s "new office." "Sister Ling, time to eat~"
Ling Shuyu put down the projector remote. "Noodles? Didn’t you say there was eggplant too?"
She hadn’t tried the noodles yet, but she knew the eggplant was delicious.
"It was steaming just now. I’ll go check if it’s ready!" Zhang Li hummed a little tune and happily ran back to the kitchen.
The atmosphere at Delicious was just too wonderful for her. Even though she had only been helping out for a morning, she didn’t feel tired at all. On the contrary, she felt quite happy.
When she got to the kitchen, Zhang Li saw that Su Chen was already starting to scramble the eggs for the next batch.
’Just as I estimated!’
’My colleagues in the dining area haven’t even finished half their bowls yet. I’ll go back, finish my half-bowl, and come back just in time for the freshly made noodles. Perfect~’
"Aunt Fang," Zhang Li ran over, "is the garlic eggplant ready?"
"Wait a little longer. The eggplant needs to cool down before it can be hand-shredded. If it’s not ready, we’ll just have it for dinner instead of lunch. It’s no big deal."
"Oh, okay." Zhang Li skipped out of the kitchen again. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
As she passed through the office area, she noticed that some colleagues who couldn’t find seats in the restaurant had simply sat down at their "new workstations" to eat their noodles.
Zhang Li even took a stroll down the aisle between the newly installed desks. This scene of frantic slurping was something she could never have imagined in Xinghui’s own cafeteria.
"Time to go eat noodles with Sister Ling!"
Zhang Li happily pushed open the conference room door and saw Ling Shuyu sitting prim and proper in front of her laptop. For a split second—and she wasn’t sure if she’d imagined it—she caught a flicker of evasiveness in President Ling’s eyes.
"Sister Ling, you’re already finished?"
Ling Shuyu grunted in affirmation. "It was mostly broth with just a few noodles. I only had a few bites."
"I know you have a small appetite, so..." Zhang Li sat down at the table. "Sister Ling, where are my noodles?"
On the table sat two bowls, both completely empty.
She was stunned. Zhang Li was well and truly stunned!
’I was only gone for a trip to the kitchen, and I just took a quick stroll through the office area, right?’
’Where are my noodles?’
"I don’t know. I was busy working on a PowerPoint. You should ask if anyone else saw them." Ling Shuyu said this without her face flushing or her heart racing, even looking a little bit innocent.
"Oh..." Zhang Li dumbly picked up the two empty bowls. "Sister Ling, do you want more? I can get you another serving."
"If there’s eggplant, I’ll have some of that. But no more noodles, thanks. You know I don’t have a big appetite."
Only after Zhang Li left the conference room with the bowls, looking confused, did Ling Shuyu rub her stomach and let out a sigh of relief.
’This ocean bowl really is huge!’
’Damn it, how did I end up eating one and a half bowls of noodles!’
’If I keep this up, I’m going to get fat, aren’t I?’
When Zhang Li returned to the kitchen, there was one question she still couldn’t figure out.
’Why am I so unlucky?’
’Every time I’m about to eat, my delicious food just vanishes into thin air.’
AAAAAH!
’This is so frustrating!’
"Aunt Fang, another bowl of noodles!" Zhang Li said angrily after scanning the code to pay 22 yuan.
"Atta girl, young lady! Eating two bowls of noodles all by yourself!" Aunt Fang had a special fondness for kids with big appetites.
Zhang Li was too fuming to speak. After Aunt Fang finished serving her noodles, she glanced around warily, didn’t even go to the dining area, and snuck into a corner of the kitchen to hide by herself.
"CHOMP, CHOMP... SLUUURP..."
’This is so good!’
