Chapter 318

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Lu Feng

"It's fine, no need to look. The dishes Lu Boss makes are nothing more than being a bit more expensive than elsewhere."

Zhu Chang waved his hand, patted his round belly, and said nonchalantly, "A bit more expensive is fine, but the key is that the taste is worth the price. I just received last month's manuscript fee two days ago. Although it's not much, it's more than enough for a hot pot meal!"

As he spoke, he craned his neck toward the kitchen and sniffed hard several times.

The fragrances of various foods drifting from the kitchen intertwined in the air into an irresistible flavor.

Seeing Hu Xiaoyun still hadn't placed an order, Zhu Chang couldn't help but urge impatiently, "Hurry up and order! I've been smelling the fragrance at the door for ages, and I'm about to starve!"

Hu Xiaoyun stood behind the counter, couldn't help but glance at the price list, and said with a tone of helpless persistence, "Brother Zhu, that's not what I mean. It's not about money. You'll know just by looking. Decide whether to order after you've seen it."

After all, the hot pot the boss launched today looked unreasonable no matter how you looked at it.

Once it's ready and served, he'd inevitably have to explain a whole lot. Better to let them understand first before deciding.

Seeing Hu Xiaoyun persist like this, Zhu Chang couldn't help but mutter, "Could it be that Lu Boss's Spicy Hot Pot has something different about it?"

He turned his head with a puzzled look, his gaze landing on the price list on the wall.

When he finally saw the small print behind the Spicy Hot Pot, his expression froze instantly, and his small eyes, squeezed into slits by fat, involuntarily widened.

"This... this is today's new dish, Spicy Hot Pot?"

Zhu Chang pointed at the small print under Spicy Hot Pot on the price list, his tone full of disbelief: "Am I seeing things? What does that line 'No side dishes, only pot base' mean?"

"Yes, today's Spicy Hot Pot indeed only has the pot base."

Hu Xiaoyun put on a helpless smile: "That's why I wanted Brother Zhu to look carefully before ordering."

"No, this hot pot..."

Zhu Chang felt his brain wasn't enough. He simply couldn't understand how such an outrageous thing could happen in Lu Feng's shop.

He decided to ask clearly first and shouted toward Lu Feng in the kitchen: "Lu Boss! Come out for a moment!"

"Hmm, what is it?"

Lu Feng walked out of the kitchen with a calm expression.

"What does that line of small print under your Spicy Hot Pot mean? Why is it marked as no side dishes, only pot base?"

Zhu Chang pointed at the price list on the wall and asked with a tone full of confusion.

"It means exactly what it says. Spicy Hot Pot only has pot base, no side dishes."

Lu Feng replied with a very serious tone.

His expression made the diners feel he wasn't joking.

"But this is too outrageous! Where's the tripe? Where's the fatty beef? Not even any vegetables? I've never heard of eating hot pot with just the pot base. How is this supposed to be eaten?"

Zhu Chang's face was full of disbelief.

Hot pot, such a common delicacy, he didn't know how many times he'd eaten it.

But he had never seen a hot pot in any shop without any side dishes.

This was too outrageous; if he told anyone, probably no one would believe it.

Originally, he had been quite happy to hear that Lu Feng launched hot pot today.

After all, Zhu Chang was a food lover who couldn't enjoy food without spice.

He had already eaten Lu Boss's Explosive Spicy Fried Noodles twice last week.

Today's Spicy Hot Pot was Zhu Chang's favorite.

With Lu Feng's cooking skills added, this hot pot's taste would definitely be more delicious than any he had ever eaten.

But seeing no side dishes in the Spicy Hot Pot now, he was instantly dumbfounded.

Hot pot without side dishes—is that still called hot pot?

How is this hot pot supposed to be eaten?

Are you supposed to hold the pot base and drink the soup?

Lu Boss wouldn't be joking with him, would he?

The diners behind also started discussing.

"Hot pot without side dishes? I've never encountered this before!"

"What new trick is Lu Boss playing? How do you eat hot pot without side dishes?"

"Is this some new way to eat hot pot? Just drinking the pot base? This is too hardcore!"

"Whoever has a good stomach can challenge it. I'll just order something else..."

Facing the diners' confused voices, Lu Feng still said with a calm expression: "Who told you that eating hot pot must require side dishes?"

This was what the system had asked him back then, and now he used it verbatim on these diners.

Hearing this, Zhu Chang couldn't help but be stunned.

It seemed no one had ever stipulated that eating hot pot must have side dishes.

But without side dishes, what do you eat?

"Lu Boss, but your hot pot has nothing to cook in it. How do you eat it?"

Zhu Chang squeezed out this sentence after a long while.

"Isn't there still the pot base?"

Lu Feng said as if it were only natural.

"You're really going to drink the pot base? Can that taste good?"

Zhu Chang said with a face full of disbelief.

"If you don't believe me, order a portion and taste it, and you'll know."

Lu Feng didn't explain further, looking at Zhu Chang and saying confidently.

Hot pot is this week's Task Dish; no matter how strange it is, it has to be sold.

He also knew clearly in his heart that only the spicy hot pot base wasn't something ordinary people could accept.

Only a seasoned food lover like Zhu Chang might be interested in tasting it.

A diner behind advised Zhu Chang to change to something else, but he didn't have that thought.

He was truly very curious in his heart what flavor the hot pot Lu Feng made actually was.

Zhu Chang stared at the Spicy Hot Pot on the Price List and hesitated for a while.

Forget it, anyway he just received his manuscript fee the day before yesterday.

Besides, the price of Spicy Hot Pot wasn't very expensive for him.

Tasting the flavor was good too; if it really was Delicious... no, was it Delicious to drink?

"Boss Lu, are you sure there are no side dishes in today's hot pot?"

Zhu Chang asked again, unwilling to give up.

He also said the four words "no side dishes" with a particularly heavy tone.

"Indeed there aren't."

Lu Feng nodded, repeating once more.

"Alright, Xiao Yun, bring me a portion of Spicy Hot Pot base!"

Zhu Chang gritted his teeth, as if he had made great Determination, and said loudly to Hu Xiaoyun.

"Okay!"

Hu Xiaoyun was just preparing to place the order when Lu Feng stopped her.

He looked at Zhu Chang, his expression very serious as he said: "You should know the shop's rules; ordered things cannot be wasted. Although this hot pot base doesn't need to be drunk completely, you also can't just drink one or two sips; that also counts as waste."

The Price List on the wall wrote it very clearly.

Spicy Hot Pot: 158 per Portion (only one Portion of base provided, no side dishes.)

Strictly speaking, hot pot base itself doesn't belong to food.

Going to other shops to eat hot pot, there's no saying they require Customers to drink the soup base.

But at Lu Feng's place, ordering and not eating counts as waste.

Lu Feng couldn't let such a thing happen, so he specially reminded him once.