Chapter Thirty-Five: Taking Advantage

  Before each stall, Li Xiaoteng would personally sort and arrange the various ingredients of malatang according to their categories. Vegetables, bean products, konjac, meat, balls, etc. And every time, the arrangement is very neat and pays attention to color matching.

  Colorful ingredients are placed on an ordinary hot pot stall, which can also play a finishing touch. Li Xiaoteng noticed that this is very attractive to customers' eyes.

  Li Xiaoteng believes that in doing everything, details are extremely important. Ninety-nine kowtows have been made, but only the last one is bent on the matter. Li Xiaoteng has experienced a lot...

  Recently, Zhao Baozi has a feeling that Li Xiaoteng, who hasn't been seen for several days, suddenly changed into another person! He became more demanding and picky, which is something Zhao Baozi had never experienced before.

  Guo Sier's mother and second sister were rummaging through the neatly arranged shelves of ingredients, carelessly stirring them up. Li Xiaoteng suddenly fell silent, calmly watching them, just like two old hens pecking at food, stirring up their own labor achievements.

  Second sister and the others were stirring the ingredients, Zhao Baozi glanced at the still unopened pot of soup. He shouted to Li Xiaoteng: "Teng brother, do we need to add some more seasonings to the soup? The flavor seems a bit bland!"

  Li Xiaoteng didn't say a word, gesturing to Zhao Baozi with a wave of his hand. The meaning was: that's it! Nothing more will be added. Zhao Baozi nodded knowingly and said to Er Jie and the others: "Aunts, our pot hasn't opened yet, so we can't have hot pot for now. You two take your time to pick, once you've picked what you want, put it on a plate. When the pot opens, I'll cook it for you..."

  At this time, Guo Sier's mother couldn't take it anymore. She shouted: "Look at your hygiene! Look at the surface of your table! It's almost a desert, all gray! See!" As she said that, she reached out to touch the table surface.

  Li Xiaoteng wiped the stall before, and the bright surface that could reflect people's faces was spotless! Guo Sier's mother looked at her own hands, which hadn't touched any dust, and awkwardly rubbed them together. She immediately said: "Look at your pots, so much grease..."

  Zhao Pàngzi said with a bitter face: "Auntie, there must be chili oil in the hot pot, it's normal for some to splash out..." Er Jie also came over and said: "No way! I think your family's things are not clean! Give me some soup and seasonings. I'll take them home and cook myself!"

  Zhao Pàngzi said with difficulty: "Auntie! Our family has never sold seasonings before, and besides, we don't sell them piecemeal!"

  "Look, we didn't buy less from you! We bought so many spicy hot pots at once! You should give us some soup!"

  The sunset probably didn't want to see the miserable Zhao Baozi arguing with two women, and quietly hid below the horizon.

  Customers came one after another to the night market...

  Some were preparing to solve their hunger at the night market, while others invited three or five close friends to eat and drink together. But when everyone saw Li Xiaoteng's hot pot stall in front of them arguing about something, the vast majority of Chinese people couldn't move anymore.

  In the whole of China, people's biggest characteristic is that they love to watch excitement. The gossip fire of Beijing people has been steadily ranked first in China!

  The more people around, the more they gather. My second sister and her friend, seeing so many onlookers, got even more excited!

  "Neighbors, everyone come and judge for us! I came to their place for dinner, originally we could always pack some food to take away, today they said we need to order soup, and take it back home to cook for the kids ourselves. But their family actually refused to sell to us old ladies! How can they just refuse to give us any, everyone come and judge! How can we still come to their place to eat hot pot in the future? It's not like they're the only ones selling hot pot at the night market!"

  Li Xiaoteng may not even know himself, but his spicy hot pot has quietly become a major highlight of the night market. Many stalls claiming to be "Sai Mala", "Super Mala" and "Abnormal Mala Hot Pot" have quietly set up shop within 30 meters of Li Xiaoteng's hot pot stall.

  Business is far from as good as Li Xiaoteng's. In the past two days, during peak hours of Li Xiaoteng's Spicy Hot Pot, a long queue of over 20 meters can be formed in front of the pot. Not to mention the night market stalls around Dongxing Restaurant! Everyone must order Spicy Hot Pot.

  Legend has it that a big brother, because of an accidental opportunity two days ago, tasted Li Xiaoteng's spicy hot pot. He deeply fell in love with this flavor. Last night, he drove from the North Fifth Ring Road all the way through the entire city of Beijing just to have a mouthful of Li Xiaoteng's spicy hot pot.

  When people become rich, they are envied by others; when they are poor, they envy others.

  Spicy, super spicy, perverted spicy and other spicy hot pot bosses, take a look at Li Xiaoteng's spicy hot pot stall. One by one, they ran faster than rabbits, abandoning their stalls and hiding in the crowd.

  "Guo Si's mother called out, just hitting the soft spot of the spicy bosses. She hurriedly followed up and said: "That's right! We're so supportive of you guys! How come this store hasn't gotten big yet? You're already cheating customers!" "Exactly! You don't even sell soup! Is your family's soup made of gold?"

  "What the heck! What's with the golden fried rice?! The boss is just trying to swindle us!" The skeptical voices of the bosses sparked a heated discussion among the diners.

  At this time, an old customer who often came to Li Xiaoteng's hot pot restaurant shouted loudly: "Look at how little soup is left in the pot for so many people! We won't buy it tonight..." Some old customers chimed in, and some customers who liked Li Xiaoteng's hot pot also echoed: "That's right... that's right..."

  Li Xiaoteng saw the scene was a bit chaotic and really couldn't sit still anymore...

  Originally idle Li Xiaoteng, sat inside swinging his legs lazily. At that time, it was just to see the two old women being troublesome, thinking of hiding for a quiet moment. Who would have thought, things turned out to be like this now. Zhao Baozi's words, Li Xiaoteng didn't miss a single sentence, heard everything. Just as a joke, hehe smiled and it would have passed.

  But never thought that Zhao Baozi would make things turn out like this! Sighed in his heart, got up and hurried over.

  Li Xiaoteng whispered to Zhao Baozi, "Don't talk anymore..." Then he turned to the two women and said, "Ladies, we really don't sell soup heads. It's not that I, Li Xiaoteng, am stingy with this soup! You also saw it, today I only have these, you two don't need to ask for more, one or two bowls, tonight I won't do business anymore. This is soup, not water, if there's none left, just add some water and that's fine. You see, ladies, be convenient, this soup has already been spoken for. I've cooked it well, I'll give you a discounted price, how about it?"

  Li Xiaoteng finished speaking, and the two women's eyes flashed with a hint of sharpness. They asked: "You said that what you added to this soup isn't water?"

  Li Xiaoteng looked at the two of them, seemingly deep in thought, and didn't continue the conversation. Instead, he asked: "What do you two plan to cook? Just these vegetables?" Er Jie glanced at Guo Sier's mother and hastily interjected: "You were just called, but you didn't come! Why are you now rushing over to peel garlic?"

  Li Xiaoteng helplessly said: "Auntie, I was in a bad mood just now. You might not know, but I've been dumped..."

  Next to him, Zhao Pengzi saw Li Xiaoteng's appearance of being at a loss, and rolled his small eyes. Thinking that Li Xiaoteng wouldn't let himself speak, the words on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back again...

  Li Xiaoteng looked at the two of them, who were being stubborn and unreasonable, and indeed felt a bit annoyed. He asked: "What do you two want to order?" The boss of the spicy hot pot restaurant next door, hiding in the crowd, shouted out: "They're asking you to add two ladles of soup, what's wrong with your brain, doing business like this?!"

  Li Xiaoteng didn't respond, looking at the two women with Er Jie. For a moment, it was awkward. Zhao Baozi pulled Li Xiaoteng from behind and whispered: "Why not just give in to them?"

  Li Xiaoteng turned his head and glanced at Zhao Baozi, saying in a low voice: "Give it to your sister! Didn't you see that there's something wrong with this?"

  Zhao didn't see any problem and just wanted to get rid of the two as soon as possible with a mind of "letting things slide". Good, let's hurry up and do business!

  The second sister and Guo Sier's mother were still arguing, it seems that they would not rest until the soup was gone, with an attitude of not giving up!

  Li Xiaoteng suddenly said loudly: "Everyone, let's be reasonable! We're just doing business honestly! They want to snatch our food bowl, and this hot pot relies on the soup head! If we give it to them, how can we do it? Can everyone say that we can give it to him?"

  Li Xiaoteng is also naive. With so many spicy hot pot bosses hiding in the crowd, Li Xiaoteng still asks this question, isn't he looking for trouble himself?

  These spicy and abnormal bosses really cooperated with Li Xiaoteng. As soon as Li Xiaoteng's voice fell, they heard these bosses say: "Why can't you give it to him? You gave him two bowls, what a big deal!" "Yes, yes..."

  Li Xiaoteng rolled his eyes. Just as he was about to speak, Guo's mother shouted: "We are your old customers! If you don't even give us a discount on the soup, then we won't come here to eat hot pot again!"

  "What old customer! You don't even know how much our malatang costs, how can you be an old customer?"

  The spicy hot pot at this time has already started boiling. The thick and fragrant Sichuan pepper flavor, combined with the aroma of spices, is spreading around with the steam.

  A little kid licked his lips and whispered to Zhao Baozi: "Give me five strings of duck blood, two strings of fish tofu, and then bring two strings of oil wheat. I'll eat while watching..."

  Zhao Baozi nodded silently again, but still took duck blood, fish tofu, and green vegetables from the ingredient shelf to prepare a spicy hot pot for Xiao Zai.

  "Second sister took one look and was fed up! She shouted: 'What are you doing?! My business isn't finished yet, and you're already taking action! Don't you have any regard for order and precedence?!"

  They immediately came up and tore Zhao Baozi apart!

  Li Xiaoteng was really angry! Before he could decide whether to go and pull his second sister or scold the street first, he heard someone shouting from the outside of the crowd: "What are you doing? What are you doing?... Stop!" It turned out that it was none other than the catcher and two idle men in charge of this area, commonly known as Er Gouzi!

  Li Xiaoteng took a look and saw that the local constable, Yu Pian'er, had arrived. He hastily shouted: "Constable Yu! You've come! These two aunts are at my place..." Before he could finish speaking, Li Xiaoteng was originally talking to Yu Pian'er outside, but his peripheral vision suddenly caught that the faces of these two women had turned deathly pale.

  Only then did a piece of paper come in, shouting loudly: "Everyone retreats a little! Those who don't eat spicy hot pot can disperse!" He looked at the two women and asked: "Xiao Teng, what's wrong with you?"

  Li Xiaoteng repeated the whole thing from start to finish. Yu Pianer rushed towards the two women, pulling them like crazy, and asked: "Is that what happened?" Guo Sier's mother trembled and said: "Constable! We also want to get a clear conscience! Let us go home and cook for our children!"

  "Wrong! Do you two think I'm a fool? You can doubt my detective skills, but don't insult my intelligence!"

  "They're trying to take advantage! Just buying two pieces of white radish and cheating a big bowl of soup. Go home, make some dishes, and cook them yourself!"

  (In the previous chapters of Madrid, some book friends pointed out that it was too watery. I couldn't help but feel embarrassed~~ Originally thought it was a more exciting foreshadowing, didn't expect everyone to dislike it. Humbly accepting everyone's suggestions. What do you like! What don't you like! Everyone post in the book reviews. I'll try my best to satisfy everyone, but these two days of stock trading really can't be done yet! Under the current poor market conditions, recklessly entering the scene wouldn't be satisfying. Isn't what we're after just a lively and exciting experience? Recently written not too well, didn't dare ask for votes. You collect it first, wait for two days to fatten up before eating meat, haha. Supporting brothers also hope you can cast your precious vote. Thank you everyone~~)