Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 104

After watching the movie, the three of them returned to the port and took the ferry back the same way. Then Zhang Wei took them to the downtown area.

“It’s noon, I’m so hungry. Tiantong, do you want to eat roast goose rice or barbecued pork rice? For roast goose rice, go right. For barbecued pork rice, go left.” Zhang Wei pointed to the intersection.

“Which one tastes better?”

“They are both delicious, but I heard that the master chef who made the roast goose passed away, and now his son has taken over. I wonder if it will still be as delicious.”

“Then let’s eat roast goose.” An Yinong clapped his hands.

“Why? Shouldn’t we go eat barbecued pork rice?” Zhao Gang felt strange.

“Wei already knows that barbecued pork rice is delicious. But I don’t know if roast goose is still as delicious. If we go to eat roast goose now, will we feel nervous and expectant?

“If it doesn’t taste good, don’t worry about it. If it tastes good, just keep eating it. How is it?”

This logic was really strange, but they can’t tell what’s wrong with it.

Zhang Wei and Zhao Gang thought about it and said, “Okay, we’ll listen to you.”

So they went to Luo Ji Roast Goose Shop. This was a typical place where people lived upstairs. There were many working women in Hong Kong and many families had dual-income. When there was no one to cook, they would get take away meals from this kind of food store.

The entire roast goose shop was no more than 50 square meters, not including the kitchen. The 50 square meters were filled with stools and tables, which were still not enough for everyone to sit, and there were also many folding tables and chairs outside.

“There are so many people.” They found an empty seat and sat down. Looking at the diners’ expressions, they knew that the new boss’s cooking skills were pretty good.

“Hello, are you three here? What would you like to eat?” A young woman in a green jacket came over and asked them what they wanted to eat with a smile. She spoke the local dialect haltingly, so she must have just arrived.

This was the place with the largest number of Singaporeans. One can hear four or five different dialects on one street.

“Three servings of roast goose rice, and three servings of roast duck legs.” Zhang Wei, who was treating guests, bid farewell to his two banknotes. His generosity was no less than that of the hero in the movie who just bid farewell to two silver ingots.

At the same time, Zhang Wei took out a small note and handed it to the waiter, “What’s the soup today?”

“Thank you. Today’s soup is pork ribs and kelp soup.” The waitress quickly put away the money after receiving the tip and turned around and shouted, “Table nine, three servings of roast goose rice and three servings of roast duck legs.”

“Okay, table number nine, three servings of roast goose rice, and three servings of roast duck legs.” The cashier behind the counter lowered his head and wrote down the order.

“Do I have to tip at roadside restaurants?” An Yinong asked as soon as the waiter left.

“Of course, they don’t get paid much, their income all depends on tips. If you’re in a hospital and you tip too little, the nurse won’t even look at you. And in those big restaurants, if you tip too little, they’ll secretly spit in your food.” Zhang Wei said as a matter of course.

Zhao Gang also added: “When I go to the toilet in the hotel, I also tip the toilet cleaning lady.”

“How much tip do you usually give?” An Yinong, who didn’t know the tipping system, asked humbly.

“One tenth of your order. But some places charge a little more, like big restaurants and hospitals. Even if you ask the nurse to pour some water, you have to give two dollars. Hey, have you never given a tip before?” they were surprised.

“I rarely went out alone before.”

“I understand,” Zhang Wei nodded, “Young Master.”

An Yinong smiled and looked elsewhere. To the left of Luo Ji Roast Goose was Feng Ji Toast. Toast was bread, and that shop should be making simple Western sandwiches or something. To the right of the roast goose shop is Zhang’s Sauce Shop. Some housewives came in with baskets and left with bottles of sauce. There were also watch repair shops, shoe shops, hair salons…all the fumes of the world seemed to be concentrated in this small corner.

“Meow.” Something soft suddenly touched An Yinong’s calf. He was startled and took a closer look. It was a cat, a fat orange one.

“It’s the cat that the previous store owner kept. It’s eaten so much that its fur is all shiny and greasy.”

Zhang Wei saw this usually cool cat rubbing against An Yinong and said, “You are really popular with animals. How many cats and dogs have followed you along the way?”

“I can’t help it. Who told me to be likable?” An Yinong even laughed at himself.

“You are so narcissistic.”

“What do you mean by narcissism? I call it ‘self-awareness’.” An Yinong was using idioms inaccurately.

“Your parents must be very pretty and handsome, right?” Zhang Wei asked curiously. “In fact, we noticed you when you transferred here. Even students from the next class secretly came over to see you. But before that, we always thought you were the kind of young master who was difficult to approach.”

After all, there aren’t that many students in government schools who have drivers to pick them up every day, and he was so pretty…

“Later they found out I was a poor student so they secretly threw little notes at me?” An Yinong held his face. When he smiled, his eye bags were very obvious, making his eyes look bigger and sparkling.

Zhang Wei’s face suddenly turned red: “Smile at girls, not at me.”

Zhao Gang laughed loudly at the side, but Zhang Wei pressed his head and said, “You’re still laughing!”

“Tiantong, how does it feel to be a rich young master? You must have no worries.” Zhang Wei said with some envy. Money can solve ninety-nine kinds of worries, and the remaining one that money cannot solve cannot be solved without money either.

But An Yinong thought of the original owner’s parents who were about to divorce, and the shackles of “idiot” on the original owner, and his smile faded slightly: “Maybe there are rich people without worries, but it’s definitely not me.”

“So what’s bothering you?”

Even Zhao Gang looked over. The life of rich people was so glamorous. What worries do they have? Were they worried about driving a red sports car or a blue sports car to school?

“I also encounter the troubles that you encounter. For example, what are you going to do when you grow up. I get dizzy when I see words, and I almost faint when I read an article. I can’t do many jobs. I am a poor student.” An Yinong laughed at himself.

“Besides, don’t relatives and friends compare with each other? How many points did your son get in the exam? What school did your son go to… At times like this, I can only keep silent.”

Zhang Wei and Zhao Gang, who also had average grades and felt they had no hope of going to college and were already thinking about what kind of jobs they would have in the future, were suddenly struck by the feeling: “It turns out that even if you have money, you can’t escape these things.”

“Yeah. But I’ve found a job I want to do.”

“What?”

Two heads came over, but An Yinong pushed them away one by one: “I want to draw comics.”

“Wow!” All four eyes lit up. “You’re not just talking, are you? Do you really want to draw a comic?”

In fact, the profession of cartoonist sounded very glamorous, but there were many problems when one actually did this job. For example, the income was very unstable, the results were sometimes good and sometimes bad, which was a test of one’s mentality, and there were many other problems such as talent, whether one had a keen sense of smell, etc. But in the eyes of these two students, this was a very cool and trendy profession.

“Is it a martial arts comic like the one in ‘Xia Dao’?” Zhang Wei asked, and the next second he was pushed away by Zhao Gang.

“It must be a gang comic like “Qinglonghui”. Haven’t you seen the gangsters drawn by Tiantong? They look so majestic with a cigar in their mouths.”

“Anything is fine, Tiantong. No matter what comics you draw, I will buy them as soon as possible!” Zhang Wei thought for a moment and emphasized, “Even if I don’t buy my goddess poster, I will buy your comics.”

An Yinong was about to say something.

“Three servings of roast goose rice and three servings of roast duck legs for table nine.” A handsome guy holding a tray came out and interrupted their conversation. The waiter placed the bowls and plates and arranged the chopsticks for them one by one.

In addition to a large plate of roast goose rice and a whole roast duck leg, each person also had a bowl of soup. Although it was a soup, the content had not cut corners at all. It was made with spare ribs and kelp, sprinkled with a little dried shrimp and chopped green onions, and it was fragrant and sweet.

An Yinong picked up his chopsticks and looked at the roast goose rice in front of him. It was a large plate with a small mountain of rice in the middle and the oily and crispy roast goose, chopped into several pieces of the same width and placed on top. Under the golden crispy skin was juicy goose meat, which was fragrant. Next to the roast goose was half a boiled egg and some green vegetables. The snow-white rice was topped with brown sauce, which smelled rather sweet.

“It smells so good.” Zhang Wei took a deep breath, picked up his chopsticks and started eating. Zhao Gang did the same. They could no longer speak. They could only hear the sound of them tearing the crispy skin and tender meat with their teeth.

An Yinong picked up a piece of roast goose and put it into his mouth. With a slight “crack”, the slightly sweet crispy skin broke. When he bit down with his teeth, the delicious juice splashed out.

He originally thought that the essence of the goose roasted in this way would be the crispy skin, and the meat would be a little inferior. But this piece of roast goose meat overturned his stereotype. The skin and meat were just right. The whole piece of roast goose meat had a crispy and tender taste, not too old or dry, and was salty and sweet.

“It’s delicious.” He exclaimed. The delicious dish plucked the strings of his guitar in his mind, and a string of musical notes emerged.

“Isn’t it delicious?” Zhang Wei ate without even looking up. “I’ve eaten roast goose from all over the streets and alleys here, and this one is the best. I was worried that no one would take over after the old chef left, but luckily the young chef has learned his trade. I’ll come here often to take care of his business in the future.”

An Yinong also memorized the address of the store and packed a portion to take back in the evening for Grandma Lian to try. At this time, there was a ping-pong sound behind them. An Yinong looked back and saw five or six young men wearing cotton-linen Tang suits and holding weapons in their hands. Some of them even dyed their hair.

One of them was holding a baseball bat and was hitting the outdoor tables, which scared several guests. The waiters were also frightened and hid aside, not daring to say a word.

“Don’t look, it’s the Crocodile Gang.” Zhang Wei quickly pressed down An Yinong’s head and said in a low voice, “If you look at them, they will be unhappy.”

Crocodile Gang? An Yinong thought the name sounded familiar.

After a while of knocking, the boss came out and forced a smile: “Brother Wei, are you here for dinner?”

“You haven’t paid your protection fee this month? I brought a few brothers to patronize your business.” The man called Brother Wei had a strange hairstyle, with a row of hair in the middle and empty space on the left and right sides. He looked ferocious.

“No, Brother Wei, our store had already paid it a week ago. Did you…remember it wrongly?” The boss clenched his fists and tried to force a smile on his face.

“Your father paid it a week ago. Is your father opening the shop now? You are opening the shop now.” Brother Wei took a puff of cigarette and blew out two smoke rings. “The shop has a new owner, so of course I have to pay it again. You don’t understand this rule, do you?”

“I understand. I was negligent.” The boss turned around and signaled to his wife with his eyes, and then instructed the waiter in the store, “Why don’t you pour tea for Brother Wei and the others?”

“No thanks.” Brother Wei put out his cigarette in the tea that the waiter had just poured. “We are easy to talk to. You follow the rules and we will do it according to the rules. Don’t make things difficult for us.”

“Yes, yes.” What could the boss say? He could only go and get the money, apologize in a nice way, and then send the plague away.

After everyone left, the boss said to the frightened guests: “I’m sorry for scaring everyone today. I’ll give each table a serving of ginger milk.”

“No need, we are all neighbors, no need to spend money.”

“Yeah, it’s those street thugs… Hey, we all know it’s not easy for you to open a business.”

The diners all comforted the boss who had suffered financial losses, and at this time An Yinong finally remembered what the Crocodile Gang was.

“It seems to be the same gang that kidnapped the original owner.”