Chapter 300: Bun Storm

PS: Two chapters later, sorry.

Ever since Ma Ma Zhaodi entered the Central City, his asset points began to inflate at the speed of a balloon.

"I still don't understand why you don't sell more."

On the street corner in the center of the Central City, Liu Zi held two extra-large thermal buckets, advising Ma Ma Zhaodi: "Pack up after half a day; how can you make big money like that?"

"Where is the ambition? Where is the fighting spirit? And where are the remaining buns?"

"Remaining? There are none left."

Ma Ma Zhaodi rolled his eyes: "You BYD, finding me is like finding a wild map boss; the moment the stall refreshes, you plan to clear me out. I just don't get it. You bought a pot of meat the day before yesterday; even if you made all of it into meat-filled buns and ate it three times a day, morning, noon, and night, one or two hundred would make you sick of it. Where is the mood to buy buns?"

"Heh, look at you talking." Liu Zi smiled disdainfully: "That little bit of meat and bread could last three days only because we rationed it. Now the fridge is empty; if we don't go out and buy something, the kids will starve to death."

Ma Ma Zhaodi's mouth twitched: "How did such a big pot of meat not last three days? How much the hell did you eat every day?"

"That just shows your superb skills."

Liu Zi sighed: "The Central City is a big city, not some American small town. Old Ma, do you think there are that many international students in the city?"

"How many? A few hundred?"

"I don't know either." Liu Zi slapped his thigh: "Regardless of whether there are a few hundred, as long as there are twenty, that big pot of meat-filled buns, if rationed, is just a three-day affair."

"Can I be just one mouth? That is dozens of international students up and down the school, starving and waiting, their earnest hope."

"Dozens of people? Can you imagine? Usually, at home, being able to make instant noodles counts as a great leap in survival skills, but after coming here, every day is the same old stuff: fried chicken and burgers, burgers and fried chicken. Vegetables and fruits are ridiculously expensive, meat dishes are monotonous; we eat until we want to vomit."

"One day, we simply couldn't bear it anymore. We craved food from our hometown, scratching our hearts and claws with longing, but we had no money, so everyone started learning to cook."

"When they smelled that pot of meat I brought back, they were like nm wild wolves off the leash, eyes glowing green. I didn't even have time to hide it; ten minutes after I got back, I was forced to sign the 'It is better to share the joy than to enjoy it alone' unequal terms."

"That shows great initiative."

Ma Ma Zhaodi sighed and opened the steamer basket nearby; billowing white steam rose up along with the scent of wheat.

Beautiful white buns lay in the misty steam; since the filling was generous, the sauce had already overflowed from the pointed pleats, while the rest was buried under the soft bun skin, soaking into the dough, creating eye-catching patches of golden-red on the sides of the buns.

Obviously, when the bun skin carries an oily color, it indeed makes people very appetized.

"What filling is this?"

"Sauce meat and mushroom." Ma Ma Zhaodi answered: "Behind there are chive and egg, pork and scallion, and spicy tofu."

"Brother, Brother Ma!"

Liu Zi's eyes filled with tears: "Without you, this family would fall apart!"

"Whether it is this 'family' or this 'bucket', I think that is still debatable."

"Damn! Found it! Found it! This is the stall mentioned in the telegram!"

While the two were talking, suddenly several more people ran over to the food cart, shouting. Ma Ma Zhaodi looked at Liu Zi beside him: "Found people to start a raid again, right?"

However, Liu Zi's expression was extremely Solemn.

"No, this batch of people was not brought by me."

"Boss, fellow countryman!" Those few people also each held a thermal bucket: "How much are the buns?"

"Don't you check the filling before eating buns?"

"It's already good to have proper buns to eat; who the hell checks the filling? Besides, the group chat said your meat-filled buns are incredibly delicious, so the other things must be good too."

Screwed, there's a traitor in the organization!

Hearing this answer, Liu Zi's heart trembled. Someone was here to raid the wild map boss, and they were very determined. A formidable rival, an absolute formidable rival.

"Alright, although you didn't ask, I'll still say it." Ma Ma Zhaodi answered: "Sauce meat and mushroom, chive and egg, pork and scallion, spicy tofu."

"Damn, big brother!"

The newcomer bowed his head: "From now on, you are my biological brother, though not by blood!"

"No need, no need..."

Ma Ma Zhaodi scratched his head and asked: "How many do you want?"

"How many do you have?"

Ma Ma Zhaodi really wanted to reply "as many as you want," but he was quite afraid the other side would reply "as many as you have, I want them all."

"Buns take more effort than meat-filled buns." He said: "But the production capacity is higher. I'll still charge you five dollars each—these are big; one fills a small appetite, and for a big appetite, about two should be enough."

"Bring three thousand dollars worth."

"? Why are you all so rich?"

"What rich? We are group-buying; we are starving, brother."

Isn't that convenient? These two use idioms with such tacit understanding.

Ma Ma Zhaodi looked at Liu Zi beside him, who wore a pleading expression, and shook his head: "At most half a cart of buns for you, about a thousand dollars; he needs half a cart too."

"Alright..."

Both groups thought to themselves that two hundred was acceptable, so they acted incredibly fast; in less than ten minutes, the buns on the cart were packed into the buckets.

At the same time, the second batch of latecomers asked: "Big brother, where will you do business this afternoon?"

"Rest at home this afternoon. If I don't go home, what would I do?"

"Did you sell out your buns?"

"I'll sell again tomorrow."

Just as the three parties stared at each other with wide eyes, finally a local customer ran over.

"Hey, Old Ma."

Regular customer Lisa (actually only bought once) ran over happily: "I haven't seen you set up a stall recently; I thought you quit."

"Prepared all day yesterday." Ma Ma Zhaodi answered: "Making buns at home; I originally thought I made enough, but it didn't even last one morning."

"Buns... what are they?"

"Ahem, sorry, I misspoke." Ma Ma Zhaodi suddenly realized and immediately answered with a Solemn face: "It is a special food from our region, fully named Chinese-style handmade breakfast filled pancake—of course, if you want to eat this for lunch and dinner too, that's no problem."

"Sounds pretty good." Lisa's nose twitched as she caught the mouthwatering scent of buns, along with a hint of braised meat: "How much?"

"Sold out — they bought them all." Ma Ma Zhaodi shook his head: "How about you ask them if they can spare a couple for you?"

Lisa Snaat turned to look at the two groups of students, but her usually foolproof method of leveraging her looks to negotiate completely failed to work this time. Both groups clutched their insulated buckets tightly, each one staring at their own nose and their nose staring at their heart, pretending they couldn't see the blonde beauty right in front of them.

Compared to an unfamiliar beauty, buns were more important.

(End of chapter)