In Huacheng, early June was already sweltering. By early morning, the sun was high in the sky.
At one corner on the edge of the food plaza, a husband-and-wife couple selling Tujia-style savory sauce pancakes slowly made their way to the plaza with all their equipment. The two were always hardworking, preparing to set up their stall early every day. Today, however, someone had actually arrived before them.
That person’s stall happened to be right next to theirs. The male owner secretly sized it up a few times, and the more he looked, the more puzzled he became.
Bo Zai Gai? Never heard of it.
Looking at its appearance again, it was just a rice cake with a bunch of beans inside. What was there to eat?
Even so, he still smiled and greeted the owner of the Bo Zai Gai stall. After chatting for a few sentences, he began trying to get acquainted with her.
The stall owner casually asked, “Is business good around here?”
The female owner smiled. “There are a lot of people in this plaza. It’s much better than the place where we used to set up our stall. As long as the food tastes decent, business definitely won’t be bad.”
That was true, but there was one important thing she hadn’t mentioned.
Good taste was certainly important, but the food being sold also had to be appealing.
She had heard of Bo Zai Gai before. It was a traditional snack from Huacheng, after all. But how many stalls in the entire food plaza actually sold traditional Huacheng food?
Obviously, the tourists who came to this plaza weren’t particularly interested in that sort of thing.
It was a major taboo to speak too deeply with people one had only just met, so the couple didn’t say anything more. They silently began setting up their stall.
Meanwhile, the big brother running the grilled-skewer stall across from them was also secretly sizing up the person selling Bo Zai Gai.
Based on his years of experience judging people, he could tell at a glance that she had received quite a bit of education. She was probably a fresh college graduate who hadn’t found a job, learned a few things online, and then decided to start a business by setting up a street stall.
Young people these days loved meat and spicy food. Rich in oil, heavy on spice, and heavily salted—that was the mainstream flavor young people chased after.
Bo Zai Gai? What young person would want to buy that?
Besides, this Bo Zai Gai was only 3.5 yuan apiece. Wasn’t that a little too cheap?
As the saying went, cheap things were rarely good. Could this person be using artificial coloring and flavoring to make them?
He was certain that within two days, this stall would have a new owner.
As for Xia Yongen, she naturally had no idea what the others were thinking.
She simply sat on her low plastic stool, fanning herself while waiting for customers to arrive.
Before long, the food plaza began filling with people.
Xia Yongen paired two pieces of Bo Zai Gai together and stacked them on the table into the shape of little towers. From a distance, they were quite eye-catching. Quite a few passersby stopped in front of the stall for a few seconds, whispered to one another, and then quickly walked away.
She didn’t take it to heart and simply continued calling out to passersby.
When the grilled-skewer vendor saw that she hadn’t sold a single piece of Bo Zai Gai, he couldn’t help shaking his head.
Young people really had it tough when it came to “starting a business”!
As he thought this, he turned his attention to the customer in front of him.
“Miss, how about some grilled squid? It’s delicious—fragrant and spicy! I guarantee you’ll get addicted!”
Lin Yuanyuan, who was passing by the grilled-skewer stall, stopped in her tracks. She looked at it for a few moments, shook her head, and walked away.
The squid in the freezer was barely the size of a child’s palm, yet it cost fifteen yuan. The larger ones cost thirty-four yuan or more.
Besides, her throat already felt like it was smoking. She had absolutely no desire to eat anything that might make her feel even more overheated.
Lin Yuanyuan was a sophomore in college this year. She had come to Huacheng during summer vacation to visit her cousin. Early that morning, the two sisters had gone out together to stroll around this historical and cultural district.
After only half an hour of walking around, she was already drenched in sweat. All the makeup on her face had melted, and she had used an entire pack of tissues just wiping away the sweat.
While her cousin went to buy some water, she wandered over to the food plaza to have a look around.
After making a circuit, she discovered that almost all the snacks sold in the plaza were fried, grilled, or spicy. Just looking at them made her throat feel like it was on fire.
She swallowed, trying to moisten her dry throat, when she heard a young woman call out to her.
“Traditional Huacheng snack, Bo Zai Gai! Freshly made this morning! Miss, would you like to try one?”
Seeing that the stall owner was a girl about the same age as herself, Lin Yuanyuan stopped walking and lowered her head to examine the Bo Zai Gai in front of her.
The rice cakes were topped with plump mung beans, and just looking at them made her feel refreshed and cool. Every little Bo Zai mold had been wiped spotless on the outside, and the entire stall was clean and tidy.
And it only cost three yuan fifty. Even if it didn’t taste good, she wouldn’t exactly be losing out!
So she ordered a mung bean Bo Zai Gai.
After taking the Bo Zai Gai from Xia Yongen, Lin Yuanyuan didn’t even have time to take a photo before biting into it.
With just that one bite, she felt like her whole body became much more comfortable.
The Bo Zai Gai was slightly moist, with a hint of coolness. It was incredibly refreshing in the heat!
The rice cake was springy yet pleasantly smooth. It didn’t feel sticky in her mouth when she chewed it. Instead, it had a slight chewiness, and every bite brought a cool, refreshing mouthful of mung beans.
The fragrant sweetness of the rice batter and the delicate sweetness of the mung beans complemented each other perfectly.
Lin Yuanyuan had eaten Bo Zai Gai several times before, but none had ever been as delicious as the one she was eating today.
In less than three seconds, she had finished the entire Bo Zai Gai.
Xia Yongen looked at her with a beaming smile.
“Is it good? Would you like another one, this time with red beans?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Lin Yuanyuan said while chewing.
Just as she took the red bean Bo Zai Gai, her phone rang.
Her cousin, Li Minyao, was calling.
“Yuanyuan, where did you go?”
“Cousin! I’m at the food plaza. Come quickly! There’s a place here selling Bo Zai Gai, and it’s absolutely delicious!”
Li Minyao frowned.
“Bo Zai Gai?”
She immediately said, “Can you even eat the Bo Zai Gai they sell at the plaza? Couldn’t it be dyed with artificial coloring?”
Lin Yuanyuan continued chewing on the other end of the phone.
“Cousin, hurry up and come over. It’s really delicious! You’ll know once you try it!”
After hanging up, Li Minyao hurriedly quickened her pace.
As a local of Huacheng, she naturally knew that the food plaza sold nothing but internet-famous foods, which had absolutely nothing to do with Huacheng’s local specialties. On top of that, the prices were ridiculously expensive.
There was no need to think about it—her cousin had definitely been tricked!
Actually, it had been many years since she had eaten put chai ko. There were still people selling put chai ko at street stalls these days, but one look was enough to tell that they were made with tapioca starch or water chestnut flour. Although they looked crystal-clear and translucent, they simply didn’t taste right.
That kind of traditional put chai ko had long since disappeared.
Li Minyao hurried to the food plaza. After walking around several times, she finally found Lin Yuanyuan, who was already eating her third put chai ko.
Lin Yuanyuan quickly stuffed a red bean-flavored put chai ko into her hand.
“Cousin, you finally came! If you’d taken any longer, this one would’ve ended up in my stomach too.”
Li Minyao looked at the little stall suspiciously, then glanced at the price.
Only 3.5 yuan each. Could they really taste good?
Still, they didn’t look like they had been made with some random mixture of starches. And the little piece of put chai ko was packed full of red beans. They certainly hadn’t skimped on the ingredients.
She leaned closer and took a sniff. There was a faint fragrance of rice coming from the put chai ko.
Under Lin Yuanyuan’s expectant gaze, Li Minyao gently took a bite.
“Mmm!”
Her eyes immediately widened as she looked at Lin Yuanyuan.
“This taste—”
It was almost exactly the same as the put chai ko she used to buy outside her school when she was a child!
Many years ago, when she was still in elementary school, she would go to the auntie selling put chai ko by the school gate every day after school. She would buy one, eat it as she slowly walked home, and savor it along the way.
After all these years, she had thought she would never be able to taste that familiar flavor again. Yet she never expected that today, an inconspicuous little stall could make put chai ko this delicious.
Lin Yuanyuan nudged her arm.
“Cousin, see? I told you!”
Li Minyao nodded repeatedly. On her way there, she had already drunk half a bottle of mineral water, but the weather in Huacheng was simply too hot. Even after drinking water, her throat still felt dry enough to smoke.
After eating this put chai ko, however, her throat immediately felt much more comfortable.
She ordered another mung bean one and another red bean one, then took out her phone and snapped several pictures of the stall.
Hearing Green Bubble’s payment announcement, Xia Yongen couldn’t help smiling.
When she had come to the plaza the previous evening, she had already noticed that many of the foods sold there were far too heavy and heat-inducing. They might sell reasonably well at night, when the weather wasn’t quite as hot, but during the day, who would want to eat such things under the scorching sun?
There was a dessert stall in the plaza that was doing particularly well, so Xia Yongen had concluded that her own business couldn’t possibly be too bad either.
In just half an hour, she had sold six servings.
With a smile, Xia Yongen saw the two cousins off.
Watching the two of them leave while chatting and laughing, the grilled-skewer vendor couldn’t help thinking, So people really are buying this put chai ko thing?
Especially that young woman just now—she had clearly noticed his stall first. Instead of eating his grilled squid, she’d gone off to eat that artificially colored stuff?
Well, fools weren’t easy to come by.
He wanted to see just how many of these things the stall owner could sell in a day.
Meanwhile, the husband and wife selling sauce-flavored flatbreads had become curious about the taste of the put chai ko.
They had watched Li Minyao and Lin Yuanyuan eat it with their own eyes. Their expressions and the way they spoke certainly hadn’t looked fake.
Could this put chai ko really be that delicious?
After leaving the food plaza, Li Minyao posted on Little Green Book:
“Traditional Put Chai Ko That Tastes Exactly Like Childhood! I Finally Got to Try It Too!”
The accompanying pictures were the ones she had just taken at Xia Yongen’s stall, along with a long recommendation.
“Huacheng locals don’t lie to other Huacheng locals. This place uses really good ingredients. The put chai ko is pleasantly chewy and absolutely delicious!”
She normally loved browsing social media. Although she didn’t have many followers, whenever she came across something fun or interesting, she couldn’t help posting about it.
She never expected that not long after she posted it, the post would receive more than a dozen replies.
“Is it in that food plaza? Is the food there really good?”
“It’s right near my house. I’m heading there now!”
“Is it near Shangxiaba Subway Station? Which exit is closer?”
“Why are there only red bean and mung bean flavors? Do they have osmanthus?”
“It’s so cheap? Don’t tell me it’s another one of those trashy things made by mixing together some random starch batter?”
…
Meanwhile, Xia Yongen naturally had no idea any of this was happening.
After Li Minyao left, she gradually sold another four pieces of put chai ko.
Before long, it was noon.
She pulled a plain white steamed bun from her pocket and had just taken a bite when she saw a man approaching from a distance.
“Boss! One mung bean and one red bean!”
Xia Yongen promptly handed over the two pieces of put chai ko. After chatting with the man for a few moments, she discovered that he had specifically come to support her business.
“I just came across that post while browsing at home. When I saw that this place was only a few minutes from my house, I figured I had nothing else to do after lunch, so I came over to take a look.”
Only then did Xia Yongen realize that the two sisters who had just left had actually promoted her on Little Green Book.
The post already had more than a hundred likes and over twenty comments. A minute later, another new comment appeared:
“I just went to buy some. It’s really, really delicious! I bought a few extra to take home for my daughter.”
After the man left, new customers soon arrived at the stall.
Xia Yongen had no choice but to set her steamed bun aside and calmly package the put chai ko for the customers.
An hour passed, and every piece of put chai ko at the stall had been sold out.
“Ah! I took the subway for forty minutes to get here. How could they already be gone?!”
“Boss, are you coming back later?”
“If only I’d walked a little faster just now. Sigh!”
…
Even Xia Yongen hadn’t expected that it was only a little after one in the afternoon, yet all the put chai ko she had prepared for the day were already gone.
Judging from today’s situation, tomorrow’s sales would probably be even higher. It seemed that she’d need to prepare ingredients for at least eighty servings of put chai ko tonight.
Sure enough, the moment the stall opened the next day, five or six customers had already shown up.
“I was in line yesterday, but I was the last one and didn’t get any. Today I finally got to try them!”
“This place is way too generous with the ingredients. One of these is perfect for breakfast!”
Although Xia Yongen’s stall was tucked away in a relatively remote corner, every passerby would notice the same thing:
Why were there always two or three people standing in front of that little stall?
And so, more and more people were drawn over.
Before noon even arrived, all eighty servings of put chai ko had been sold out again.
Xia Yongen stretched lazily and began packing up her stall.
The grilled-skewer vendor looked at her with jealousy.
Ever since this woman had arrived, his grilled-skewer sales had plummeted.
For some reason, even though many customers were drawn over by the enticing aroma of his grilled squid, most of them would still choose to stop in front of her stall.
Why did she get to sell her food so effortlessly while no one even cared about his grilled skewers?!
Meanwhile, the husband and wife selling sauce-flavored flatbreads handed Xia Yongen a large portion of their flatbread, along with a box of cold dishes.
After these past two days, they had come to genuinely admire Xia Yongen. Seeing that she dressed simply and ate nothing but steamed buns with plain water for every meal, they couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.
Xia Yongen refused several times, but in the end, she accepted their kindness.
The cold dishes contained shredded cucumber, lotus root slices, bamboo shoots, and peanuts, all topped with a layer of fragrant chili oil. Just looking at it, she could tell it would be delicious.
Thinking that she wouldn’t have to eat steamed buns for lunch anymore, Xia Yongen was in an excellent mood. She hummed a tune as she pushed her cart back to Rongxing House.
Over the past two days, she had sold a total of 130 servings of put chai ko. After deducting the 200 yuan rent for the two days, she had earned 255 yuan in total, not counting the cost of ingredients.
Although it wasn’t much money, this was the very first income she had brought to Rongxing House!
Just then, the system’s notification suddenly sounded.
【Congratulations, Host, on completing the mission! The “Put Chai Ko (Osmanthus/Mango)” recipes have been unlocked.】
At the same time, the system panel was updated.
【Name: Xia Yongen】
【Age: 22】
【Identity: Heir to Rongxing House】
【Main Mission: Revitalize Rongxing House】
【Teahouse Rating: Lv.1 Street Stall】
【Stage Mission: Sell 500 servings of put chai ko within three days】
Xia Yongen asked the system, “Do these three days include today?”
“Yes, Host! Please work hard to complete the mission!”
She secretly rolled her eyes.
What time was it already? How could she possibly have enough time to make another batch of put chai ko?!
In other words, the time limit for this mission had effectively been reduced to two days.
There wasn’t much foot traffic at the food plaza on weekdays. Since that was the case, she would have to find another place to set up her stall starting tomorrow.
Author’s Note:
None.