Chapter One Hundred: The Curtain Opens

  The garden department of the capital city has planted a yulan tree every five meters on both sides of the night market road. The blooming white yulan flowers are particularly dazzling under the glow of the setting sun. The beautiful scenery of the night market also appears ahead of time.

  In just half a month, Dongxing Restaurant became well-known throughout Xingda District thanks to a group of foodies. Even food enthusiasts living in the city center of Beijing knew about Dongxing Restaurant through online forums, where they learned that this place had exceptionally delicious mala hot pot.

  And today, there's another delicious addition. The ordinary lamb skewers were grilled by Lao Da into a fascinating BBQ flavor.

  The young woman pulled her son's hand, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and slowly walked to the front of Xiang Lao Da, who was roasting skewers.

  The young woman hadn't spoken yet when she heard the naughty child's urgent cry: "Mommy, Mommy, I want to eat lamb skewers!"

  The young woman sniffed the faint scent of cumin and the smoky aroma of the sauce, and asked puzzled: "How come our lamb skewers smell so good?" The old man smiled and said: "Our lamb skewers are different from others. Ours is made with over a dozen kinds of sauces to marinate the authentic good lamb meat. Of course it's different from ordinary lamb skewers when roasted!"

  The young woman nodded and swallowed her saliva, asking: "How much is it per string?" Xiang Lao Da hurriedly turned his head and shouted to Li Xiao Teng: "Li Zong, how do we sell our lamb skewers at home?"

  Li Xiaoteng suddenly made a "V" shape with his hand towards Lao Da. Just as Lao Da was about to speak, Li Xiaoteng stood up and walked over to him. He said: "Alright, let's sell the lamb skewers and meat strips for 2 yuan each. The rest of the flatbread, chicken gizzards, and chicken hearts will be sold for 1 yuan. If you want sauce, it'll cost 2 yuan!"

  Li Xiaoteng instructed Xiang Lao Da while turning his head to look at the almost cooked lamb skewers, then said: "Don't sell the first pot! Let's try the flavor ourselves!"

  The kid heard Li Xiaoteng say not to sell it yet and thought the lamb skewers wouldn't be sold anymore. Suddenly, he anxiously shouted at his mother: "Mom, mom, I want to eat lamb skewers..."

  The young woman hastily comforted him in a gentle tone: "Wait until the uncles have roasted these, and then it will be our turn to roast ours. Be good, baby." After finishing speaking, she took out 20 yuan from her purse and handed it to Li Xiaoteng, saying: "Get me ten skewers of meat."

  Time was not long, towards the old man's lamb skewers were roasted, Li Xiaoteng stretched out his hand and took a tray wrapped in plastic bags. He took the meat skewers from Old Man Xiang's hands, turned around and returned to his seat, saying to Yang Biao: "Come on, Biao Ge, try the lamb skewers, how is it?"

  Yang Biao took a string and sucked off half of the meat in one mouthful. After chewing for a while, he nodded and said: "Teng Ge, your skewers are going to be heavenly! They're really delicious. But I always feel like something's missing. It's just that you can't taste it!"

  Kong Zhen and Jiang Di also rushed over, each taking a string to taste. They all said it was delicious. Looking at Zhao Baozi, in the short time others ate one string, he actually ate three strings. While eating, he kept nodding his head and saying: "Teng Ge, the meat skewers are really delicious, how did you make them?"

  Li Xiaoteng didn't say a word. He personally took a string and bit into the meat. The tenderness and taste were okay. The flavor of the marinade was also good, but the cumin flavor was a bit heavy, and the salty flavor was slightly lacking.

  Li Xiaoteng stood up, walked to the oven, lowered his head and counted out ten strings of lamb skewers, just about to put them in the oven. Suddenly, he heard Cui Xiaoyan say: "Give me two strings too!"

  Li Xiaoteng looked up and saw Cui Xiaoyan holding four pieces of money. He was curiously looking at his own lamb skewers. Li Xiaoteng hurriedly smiled and said: "Yanzi, do you want to eat? Why mention money?" Then he took two more skewers and put them on the fire.

  Suddenly, someone on the side shouted loudly: "Old Feng, it's this house that smells of meat skewers!" Two middle-aged men walked over and shouted at Li Xiaoteng: "Young man, give us twenty roasted skewers." While speaking, they took out twenty yuan. This was to be handed over to Boss Xiang, who hurriedly smiled and said: "Sorry, big brother, our roasted skewers are two yuan each!"

  The middle-aged man who was called Old Feng discontentedly said: "Others sell roasted skewers for one yuan, why do you sell them for two yuan?"

  Li Xiaoteng lowered his head, intently fiddling with the skewers in front of him. He didn't even notice the conversation between Lao Da and Lao Feng beside him. Frowning, he carefully watched the changes in the lamb meat on the charcoal fire.

  The mutton was roasted over charcoal, and the dripping oil splattered on the fiery coals, making a sizzling sound. A wisp of smoke rose into the air. The mutton's fragrance, the unique aroma of cumin, and the pungent flavor of spices wafted through the air, suddenly attracting a large crowd of diners.

  Li Xiaoteng focused on the lamb skewers, occasionally picking up a pinch of salt and sprinkling it evenly over the lamb. After flipping them several times, he brushed oil on them again with an oil brush. Only then did he raise his head to ask the young woman, "Sister, do you want chili peppers?" The young woman's eyes stared straight at the lamb skewers as she nodded and said, "Just a little. My baby can't eat spicy food!"

  Cui Xiaoyan sourly said, "Your son can't eat spicy food but you still give him chili peppers?" The young woman glanced at Cui Xiaoyan and hummed softly, not responding.

  Li Xiaoteng hastily asked, "Yanzi, do you want chili peppers?" Cui Xiaoyan seemed to be in a huff and said, "Give me more!" Li Xiaoteng then casually sprinkled some chili pepper powder on. He separately handed the lamb skewers to the young woman and Cui Xiaoyan.

  He turned around and rushed to Lao Da, saying: "I just tried the meat skewers you grilled. The fire control is still good! However, due to the marinating reason, we should not add cumin anymore. Otherwise, it will affect the taste. And the salty flavor should be added a bit more! Our sauce is still relatively light in savory flavor!"

  Old Feng drooled, somewhat anxiously rushing towards Li Xiaoteng and shouting: "Young brother, grill 20 skewers for me!" Li Xiaoteng immediately rushed to Old Big and said: "Master, you come and grill it!" As soon as the words fell, only to hear Old Feng shout: "Young man, can't you just grill it for me? I just want to eat what you grilled!"

  Li Xiaoteng looked at Old Feng with a curious expression, then glanced at the middle-aged man beside him and nodded with a smile. He took over the skewer of meat that Er Ge had handed over and continued to roast it, all within the span of a few sentences.

  There were two or three circles of diners in front of the oven. They all said they wanted to roast skewers!

  Kong Zhen hurried over to maintain order at the edge of the oven. Cui Xiaoyan, who had eaten two skewers of lamb roasted by Li Xiaoteng, stood pale-faced on one side, thinking about something in her heart. As she watched more and more customers gather in front of Li Xiaoteng's stall, she sighed, lowered her head, and quietly walked back to her own stall.

  As the sun sets in the west, the night market becomes even more lively. The most bustling place is naturally this area in front of Dongxing Restaurant. If Yang Biao hadn't arrived early, there wouldn't even be a place to stand. In recent days, Li Xiaoteng's business has been good, and the tables were only packed to capacity, but now there are customers holding plates and standing in the aisle eating lamb skewers and spicy hot pot!

  Zhao Pangzi was busy serving cold dishes and running around the room with beer. Kong Zhen was greeting guests while taking orders and settling accounts at the same time. Even the cool Jiang Di was standing by the spicy hot pot, holding a disposable plastic lunch box, selling turtle jelly.

  Yang Biao was also willing to help, but was pressed down on the table by Li Xiaoteng. Under the pretext of occupying a seat! After all, no one occupies a seat. In the evening, there's nowhere to watch the ball!"

  Some families are happy, some families worry. Cui Xiaoyan looked at the busy Li Xiaoteng with an unspeakable feeling of sadness in her heart. She saw Li Xiaoteng standing behind a long oven, roasting golden pomfret for customers. Looking over at the Shi brothers, one was roasting meat skewers and the other was making spicy hot pot, business was booming.

  Cui Xiaoyan turned around to look at the dining table behind her, which was also almost full. However, on these diners' tables, there were actually spicy hot pots bought from Li Xiaoteng's stall, and even more lamb skewers bought from Li Xiaoteng's side. Only cold dishes and drinks were purchased from the restaurant.

  Cui Xiaoyan's roasted skewers are mostly sold to customers who are short of money and want to eat mutton. Just bought a few skewers from Cui Xiaoyan's roast meat stall. The rest are some customers who can't wait or don't want to line up for a long time, so they ordered some roasted skewers.

  But when these guests smelled the roasted skewers eaten by other diners around them, they tasted their own roasted skewers and found that no matter how they ate, it was not delicious. A guest who had water in his brain even publicly expressed to Cui Xiaoyan that after finishing eating, he would go to Li Xiaoteng's barbecue stall to order some roasted skewers!

  Cui Xiaoyan glanced at the full box of roasted skewers in front of her. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her heart!

  Cui Xiaoyan looked at her oven and suddenly felt that tonight was unusually slow.

  Li Xiaoteng, who had been busy, felt that tonight was really passing too quickly. He felt that there wasn't much time left before the clock struck midnight.

  The screen is playing a sports channel broadcast. The ads are introducing the promotional video of the upcoming match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, which will start in about an hour.

  Li Xiaoteng took a look at the guests eating and found that the peak period had passed.

  He glanced at the empty fish tank and said to the Xiang brothers, "You two masters have worked hard today. I'll go keep my friend company for a while."

  The Xiang brothers hastily rushed to Li Xiaoteng and were polite. They all said that General Li had a hard time today. Li Xiaoteng nodded at the two brothers before walking over to Yang Biao, turning around and bowing.

  "Hey, Dong Ge, that's enough! Come sit down for a bit!" Zhao Baozi handed the bill to Kong Zhen, wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked over.

  He plopped himself down. Excitedly he rushed to Li Xiaoteng and said, "Brother Teng, up till now today, guess how much money we've made!"

  Li Xiaoteng smiled and shook his head. Changing the subject, he said: "Alright! Let's not mention money today. It's been a long time since we three brothers sat together like this. Tonight, let's just watch the game, drink some wine, and forget about everything else!"

  Zhao Pangzi nodded, then got up and pulled Kong Zhen to bring a box of beer. He also asked Jiang Di to prepare some cold dishes, and then said to Yang Biao: "Biao Ge, I really don't want you to leave!"

  Yang Biao nodded calmly. He also said somewhat depressingly: "I don't want to leave Hua Xia either! But dad and mom have passed away, I..."

  The speech had not been finished, when the host's voice came from the loudspeaker: "Welcome everyone to lock in CCTV-5. Tonight at 1 o'clock, the Spanish La Liga will be staged, Real Madrid vs Barcelona. Now on the big screen we can see that the players of both sides have already started warming up at Bernabeu!"

  Li Xiaoteng patted Yang Biao and said to Zhao Duanzi: "Today we don't mention anything! We three brothers just drink, watch the ball, and don't mention sad things!"

  He immediately turned around and said to Yang Biao: "Biao Ge, I helped you win 1,000 yuan, buying Barcelona!"

  PS: The century war is about to unfold. The back has already been written, I don't know if there are book friends who like competitive articles! I will take you through the thrilling experience of a top-level Spanish La Liga match! Want to read ahead and urge more~~~ Hehe.....