The next morning, Ning He was awakened by the heat.
Clearly, the temperature inside the shelter had risen again. Although the climate control and ventilation system were running at full capacity, this extreme heat wave was exceptionally fierce, and the indoor temperature had already broken through thirty degrees Celsius.
Ning He checked the time: five in the morning.
Given this situation, the freezers would be requisitioned at any moment, and they needed to accelerate their operations.
It just so happened that Connie and A Huai had also been woken up by the heat. The three of them put their heads together, got up immediately to wash their faces, drank a bowl of congee, and started working.
With yesterday’s experience, the trio’s coordination today was even more seamless.
All ingredients needed to be used up; there was no need to save anything.
Fortunately, Ning He had planted a few more tomatoes; the ten or so pounds she brought this time could barely keep up with Connie’s large basin of minced meat sauce.
They consumed all the onions, carrots, cabbage, scallions, and garlic, added three lemons, and finally prepared one large and one small basin of tomato meat sauce.
Then, the three of them began making the mayonnaise.
The emulsification and whipping of egg yolks were truly exhausting for the arms. Even for A Huai, he had to take a break after working continuously for fifteen minutes. The three of them had to take turns.
It was already hot, and by the time the mayonnaise was finished and the remaining noodles were kneaded, they were all soaked through, as if they had been fished out of water. Fortunately, all the preparations were done; when the customers arrived, they would only need to boil the noodles.
Checking the time, it was exactly eight o’clock.
Other stalls in the dining area were also showing signs of movement. Everyone was successively taking ingredients out of the freezers to perform some pre-processing.
But everyone had a worried look on their faces, clearly lacking confidence in the upcoming sales.
Sure enough, no one came during breakfast time. Connie simply arranged for the three of them to take turns going to take a shower. When they came out after showering, they bumped into the administrator appearing with a team of security personnel, taking away all the freezers.
“This time we won’t even break even,” the uncle selling skewers sighed.
With the hot weather, skewers were even harder to sell; having ingredients stuck on their hands was almost inevitable.
The middle-aged woman selling clay pot dishes also had her brows locked tightly.
The clay pots were piping hot, and in this temperature, everyone wanted to steer clear of them.
Aside from the stall selling braised pig liver, all other stalls had many ingredients placed beside them. Just taken out of the freezers, they were still faintly emitting a chill. To extend the storage time as much as possible, ice packs had been placed inside and covered with lids.
But that would only delay things for a few hours at most.
Seeing this scene, Ning He felt a bit strange.
“Even if the freezers have to be requisitioned, isn’t it a bit unreasonable to waste so much food like this?”
Even arranging to sell everything at a steep discount would be better than letting it spoil and throwing it away.
This was the apocalypse, where food was scarce; it was too unreasonable, wasn’t it?
“Don’t worry, someone will come to collect it; it’s just not time yet.”
Connie glanced across the way, giving Ning He a meaningful expression.
Just as Ning He was about to say something, a series of footsteps came from the corridor not far away. Everyone subconsciously looked toward the sound.
Upon seeing that the people were coming from the third-ring district, Ning He and the others withdrew their gazes.
They wouldn’t come to this side to eat anyway; there was nothing to see.
Lytle led a few old companions to the third-ring dining area. After searching a circle, they did not find the sign for Jin’s Meat Sauce Noodle House.
“That’s strange. That kid Jack clearly said it was in Dining Area 8. Did he remember it wrong?” The old man scratched his chin, feeling puzzled.
Following behind him, a portly middle-aged man wiped his sweat and said “ha”: “Tell me, Lytle, did you get it wrong? I’ve eaten at every restaurant with any skill in the city, and I’ve never heard of any Jin’s Meat Sauce Noodle House.”
“Exactly. Besides, the standard of the third-ring restaurants is just like that; how good could it be? You must have been fooled. Sigh, I ran all the way here for nothing, and I’m covered in sweat!” an old man leaning on a cane muttered with dissatisfaction.
“Forget it, forget it. Since we’re here, let’s just eat something. But these stalls are selling things that are either fried or boiled; looking at them really doesn’t give me any appetite!”
The group wandered through the pile of dining carts in the third ring. What appeared on the menus was either fried chicken cutlets, deep-fried pork chops, or fish ball soup bubbling with steam.
For people lacking oil and water, it was indeed attractive, but for guests like them, the names alone made them lose their appetite. Even as the shopkeepers greeted them enthusiastically, they couldn’t stir up any interest.
“The weather is too hot. Looking at these things makes me unable to eat. I think it’s better to just go to the old place and grab a bite,” the portly middle-aged man suggested, truly feeling uncomfortable from the heat.
“Wait a moment, look over there!”
The gray-haired old man walking at the very end suddenly pointed at a small stall opposite and exclaimed, causing everyone to look toward the sound.
The sign standing on the small stall caught their attention immediately, with a few clear words on it:
Jin’s Meat Sauce Noodle House
Lytle’s spirits were instantly lifted.
“Let’s go, let’s take a look!”
Ning He and Connie noticed the group of people heading toward their stall. Realizing something, they looked at each other, and a hint of pleasant surprise couldn’t help but well up in the depths of their eyes.
“Hello, what would you like to order?”
As the people approached, Connie greeted them enthusiastically.
Lytle scanned the menu, his brows furrowing again as he muttered in a low voice.
“Why isn’t it here?”
Ning He was standing nearby and heard this clearly. She quickly reacted and hurriedly said:
“Our shop just released two new items: one is tomato meat sauce noodles, and there is also a five-color salad with mayonnaise. They are very popular. Would you like to try them?”
Lytle’s eyes lit up.
“Sure enough, I didn’t find the wrong place; it is here! Young lady, give us one portion of each of these two things for everyone!”
A big spender!
A big deal!
“All right! Just a moment, you all, it will be ready right away!”
Connie also reacted and immediately led them to sit down nearby, also pouring each of them a glass of water infused with mint and leftover lemon slices.
Five elderly men dressed in decent clothes squeezed together, sitting around the crude table with old plastic chairs and cheap paper cups.
Looking at that small noodle stall again.
The space was too small, and everything was squeezed together.
Tsk, how shabby!
Could anything made by such a small restaurant be delicious?
Except for Lytle, everyone had the same thought in their minds.
The temperature was still above 30 degrees. Even sitting still, one would sweat.
The fattest middle-aged man really couldn’t take it and picked up his cup to drink some water.
Although the water wasn’t iced, the refreshing feeling of the mint and lemon still made him feel comfortable and refreshed.
For an unknown small restaurant to be able to take out costly lemon water to treat guests, it wasn’t bad at all.
After the few drank the water, their attitude toward the small noodle stall improved slightly.
“Your meals are here!”
A crisp voice rang out, and soon the table was filled with food boxes.
For convenience, Connie brought disposable boxes. Compared to the exquisite tableware used by the restaurants across the street, they weren’t in the same league at all.
But the people at the table had already had their attention drawn by the pungent, delicious aroma and couldn’t care less about the issue of tableware.
Lytle was the first to react, testing the taste of the salad first.
The moment the smooth and delicate mayonnaise entered his mouth, he knew that his trip this time hadn’t been in vain.
Seeing him gnawing on the salad all by himself, his old companions looked at each other in surprise. They each took a taste, and then all revealed the same stunned expression.
“How is it? I didn’t say wrong, did I?” Lytle watched their reactions, looking smug.
“It’s alright. Let me try these noodles.”
The gray-haired old man next to him said this, picked up his chopsticks, tossed the noodles in the box a few times, and then picked up a mouthful and sent it into his mouth.
“How is it?” the old man leaning on the cane asked somewhat impatiently.
The gray-haired old man closed his eyes, feeling the rich sauce, meat aroma, and fruit fragrance filling his mouth, a look of enjoyment appearing on his face.
Before he could answer, everyone understood. They one after another picked up their chopsticks and started eating. The next moment, aside from the sound of eating noodles, there was not a single other sound at the table. Everyone focused on burying their heads in their food, unable to spare even a moment to say a few words of evaluation.