Chapter 189

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Lu Feng

Outside the shop, the diners' queue had already formed a long dragon, winding from the shop entrance all the way to the street corner.

The rich aroma wafting from inside the shop kept drilling into people's noses, causing those diners to drool as they peered toward the interior.

The scalper uncle stood in the tenth position, the upward curve of his mouth impossible to suppress.

When Lu Feng arrived just now, although he was far away, he heard that "only twenty portions" loud and clear.

As an experienced scalper, he immediately knew that today the first twenty positions would absolutely be in high demand.

Among the diners there were also quite a few quick reactors; as soon as Lu Feng finished speaking they rapidly began queuing, yet the scalper uncle still snatched the tenth spot.

The uncle naturally wasn't keeping it to eat the red braised pork himself; it was purely to sell the position.

"This fragrance is absolutely incredible!"

The young man in front of the scalper uncle inhaled hard through his nose, rubbing his gurgling belly, his eyes full of anticipation for the red braised pork.

The diners ahead nodded one after another in agreement; quite a few among them had eaten red braised pork before, but such rich aroma made them feel their previous red braised pork experiences paled in comparison.

Opposite to them, the people queuing at the back weren't so happy.

Because the fried skewers delayed him, Wu Hao looked toward the front of the queue, smelling that seductive meat fragrance in the air, and couldn't help sighing repeatedly: "Done for, done for, with this many people ahead the red braised pork definitely won't be left for me, knew I shouldn't have been greedy and eaten those extra few fried skewers..."

Right then, the scalper uncle cleared his throat and shouted loudly: "Those wanting red braised pork look here! If the price is right, I'll hand over this position immediately!"

The moment those words came out, they instantly drew the attention of quite a few diners; several originally disappointed diners at the back suddenly had a light in their eyes.

The scalper uncle's voice had just fallen when several people from behind quickly walked forward.

"Uncle, sell me this position, will you? I'll offer fifty!"

The foremost young man hadn't even arrived yet, but his voice came through first.

"Fifty?"

The scalper uncle raised an eyebrow, pointing toward the queue behind him — several more diners were still walking this way: "Brother, look how many people are still waiting back there to eat Boss Lu's red braised pork? Today there are only twenty portions, this position of mine, no less than a hundred, non-negotiable."

His voice had just fallen when someone immediately chimed in: "A hundred, I'll take it! Last week I didn't get to eat Boss Lu's pig trotter noodles, I couldn't eat or sleep well for days straight, this red braised pork I absolutely must eat today!"

"I'll bid a hundred twenty! Uncle, I came from far away, sell it to me!"

"I'll bid a hundred fifty!"

Bidding voices rose and fell around them; even the ramen shop boss next door couldn't help shaking his head and clicking his tongue in amazement.

Boss Lu's shop having scalpers — let's not even mention that.

Now there's even an auction going on?

Truly incomparable!

As several diners bid higher and higher, the scalper uncle's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He recalled two weeks ago, someone spent a full two thousand yuan to snatch a portion of crab roe fried noodles from his hands.

But he himself wasn't that greedy; if someone could bid five hundred, he'd feel satisfied.

The diners queuing inside the line couldn't help muttering quietly: "This scalper is too black-hearted, selling a position for hundreds, how much does the red braised pork dish even cost, really don't know what these people are thinking..."

"Three hundred now! Anyone else bidding?"

The scalper uncle heard the discussion in the queue, but paid it absolutely no heed.

As a veteran scalper, if he backed down just because people talked a bit, he'd have been eliminated from this industry long ago.

Seeing the scalper uncle call twice with no response, the young man who bid three hundred couldn't help showing a somewhat smug expression.

Unexpectedly he hadn't been smug for two seconds when a white-collar worker in a suit behind him shouted loudly: "I'll bid three fifty!"

The young man's face stiffened, and he shouted unwillingly: "Damn, so what if you have money? I'll bid three sixty!"

His face looked a bit ugly; the white-collar behind him was well-dressed, looked like his income wasn't low, a formidable competitor.

The white-collar smiled faintly, replying indifferently: "Four hundred! Sorry, having money means you can do whatever you want!"

"I'll fight you to the end! Four hundred one!"

"Four hundred fifty! Boss Lu's red braised pork today is mine! Even Jesus can't stop me! My word!"

…………

At the Food Street intersection, Tong'an Hospital's Zhou Zhengbang accompanied Sun Rongguang walking slowly this way, behind them followed a dejected-looking Zhang Xianyang.

Zhang Xianyang finished his tasks today, and just happened to be preparing to get off work at this time; he packed up, changed clothes, and headed toward Food Street.

Who knew just as he walked out the hospital gate, he ran straight into Zhou Zhengbang and Sun Rongguang.

Last week thanks to these two, Zhang Xianyang didn't get a single piece of pig trotter in his pig trotter noodles; he originally wanted to come alone today, didn't expect to run into them again right after leaving.

Learning Zhang Xianyang was preparing to eat at Food Street, Zhou Zhengbang waved his hand grandly and directly proposed going together.

Zhang Xianyang was unwilling, but one was his superior, the other a medical big shot; he could only obediently follow.

The few of them just came from the hospital side, thinking it was still early from business hours, coming now to queue would definitely let them eat Lu Feng's food a bit earlier.

But just as they turned onto Food Street, Zhou Zhengbang froze.

The queue at Lu Family Restaurant's entrance had long since reached the street end; this scene was just like five minutes before opening.

"What situation? Today they started queuing this early?"

Zhou Zhengbang frowned, subconsciously glancing at his watch.

Right now it's clearly only seven forty, still over an hour from opening?

Immediately after, he noticed in the queue not far from the entrance, a small circle of people were gathered arguing noisily non-stop, but too far to hear what they were saying.

Sun Rongguang narrowed his eyes, looking toward that group's direction, muttering doubtfully: "What are those people doing? Could they be fighting?"

Zhou Zhengbang was not originally the sort who liked to join in the fun, but these people gathered at the Restaurant Door were most likely connected to Lu Feng's business tonight.

He turned back and patted Zhang Xianyang on the shoulder, pointing at the group at the Door: "Xiao Zhang, go see what's going on over there. If they start fighting, go and break it up."

Zhang Xianyang agreed, trotted a few steps over, and squeezed into the crowd.

When he saw the Scalper Uncle in the center of the crowd, he had already guessed eight or nine tenths of it, and after hearing a few more words from the others, he understood in an instant.

Zhang Xianyang squeezed out of the crowd, ran back to Sun Rongguang and Zhou Zhengbang, and smilingly reported: "Sun Lao, Director Zhou, they aren't fighting, they're bidding in an auction!"

"An auction?"

Sun Rongguang furrowed his brow and continued to ask: "Auctioning what?"

"Boss Lu has a new dish today, Red Braised Pork, but there are only twenty Portions, and only those at the front can buy it. Those people are surrounding the Scalper, fighting to buy his spot!"

Zhang Xianyang pointed at the crowd over there still loudly bidding and said.

"Red Braised Pork?"

Hearing those three words, Sun Rongguang's throat involuntarily moved, then he smelled the Fragrance in the air, and a few traces of anticipation flashed in his eyes: "Speaking of which, I haven't eaten this Red Braised Pork for a long time... when I was young, I really loved eating it..."