Chapter 85: Why are boxed lunches attracting so many people?

Chapter 85: Why are boxed lunches attracting so many people?

Grandpa Zhang nodded in agreement: "Yes, we'll come over more often when we're on night patrol. You're a young lady, so you have to be careful."

Su Yingxue's eyes welled up with tears. She nodded, her voice trembling slightly, "Thank you all. I really don't know what I would have done without you." She turned around and ladled some lamb spine soup from the thermos, handing it to Lao Lu and the other drivers, "This soup is still warm. Please try it; it's my way of thanking you."

Old Lu took the soup bowl, took a sip, and his eyes lit up: "Wow, this soup is so delicious! The mutton is stewed until it's tender and not at all gamey. It's even more fragrant than the soup I make at home!" The other drivers also started to try it, praising it as they drank. The tense atmosphere from before was gradually dispelled by the aroma of the mutton spine soup.

The night was still dark, but looking at the group of kind people around her, Su Yingxue felt exceptionally warm inside. She knew that this secluded night market was no longer just hers alone—with these people protecting her, the days ahead would become increasingly secure.

He Mao felt like he'd stepped in dog poop lately, doing even worse than that lame stray cat at the alleyway. His shiny yellow fur was covered in dust, and his ripped jeans, which should have been stylish, now had crooked holes at the knees, revealing purplish-blue bruises on his exposed skin—the result of being beaten up in the suburbs three days ago.

That day, he saw a woman selling food at a stall. Her eyes and brows were so bright they seemed to glow. He couldn't resist going over to tease her a couple of times, and ended up spraying her face with capsaicin. Unexpectedly, a group of truck drivers buying boxed lunches suddenly appeared out of nowhere and quickly pinned him to the ground. When the fists landed, he felt a burning sensation in his nose. He didn't know who had sprayed him with capsaicin again, but his eyes burned and watered.

Before he could even get up, the sound of police sirens drifted over, and he was dragged into the police station with a bruised and swollen face, where he spent two days sitting on the sidelines.

It was already dark when he came out. He Mao touched the swollen bump on his face that hadn't subsided, and the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't swallow his anger. With the few crumpled bills he had left in his pocket, he turned into the smoke-filled mahjong parlor at the end of the alley and immediately saw Wang Chuan leaning against the wall.

Wang Chuan was twirling a baseball bat in his hand, the bat making a soft "tap-tap" sound as it scraped against the wall. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and glanced over, his gaze lingering on He Mao's face for a moment, then asked with a hint of mockery, "Oh, where did you fall?"

"Big Brother!" He Mao rushed over, his voice trembling with tears. "I've been bullied! It was that new female stall owner. Not only did she dare to curse at me, but she also said that our Green Dragon Gang is nothing! She sets up her stall there without paying protection money, and she's so arrogant!"

He became more and more agitated as he spoke, gesturing wildly with his hands, portraying his provocation as the other party's provocation, and his humiliating beating as "standing up for the gang."

Wang Chuan stopped spinning the baseball bat, which slammed into the ground with a thud. His gaze darkened. "She really said that?"

"Absolutely true!" He Mao nodded hurriedly, his hair gel jiggling. "She's a newbie, she doesn't know how powerful you are, big brother! You have to help me save face!"

Wang Chuan stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed and patted him on the shoulder: "Alright, it's easy to get revenge. Give me five hundred yuan, and I'll bring a few brothers over tonight. I guarantee she'll be begging to submit."

He Mao's eyes lit up, and he quickly pulled out the money from his pocket, counted out five bills, and handed them over, his fingers trembling: "Brother, please take the money! Please don't let her go!"

"Don't worry." Wang Chuan took the money, casually stuffed it into his pocket, and waved his hand. "Go back and wait. I'll get back to you tonight."

He Mao left cheerfully, leaving only Wang Chuan and his lackey in the card room. The lackey leaned closer and asked in a low voice, "Boss, are we really going to cause trouble for that woman?"

Wang Chuan chuckled, slung the baseball bat over his shoulder, and turned to walk out the door: "What's the trouble? Isn't that woman a lunchbox vendor? We brothers haven't eaten dinner yet, let's go over and mooch a hot meal."

He paused, then added, "Just swing the stick a couple of times as a gesture, don't actually hit me—this is a civilized society now, and I, Wang Chuan, am a civilized person."

As he spoke, he waved the five hundred yuan in his pocket and winked at his underling: "Let's go to the internet cafe and have some fun first, then we'll go 'get revenge' later."

He Mao waited at home until the moon was high in the sky, with half a pack of cigarettes in his pocket. Every ten minutes, he would peek out the window. The streetlights at the alley entrance flickered, and he couldn't see a single shadow. He couldn't help but take out his phone to send a message to Wang Chuan. He typed "Where is Big Brother?" in the chat box, then deleted it again, finally only daring to send a timid smiley face.

In the internet cafe on the other side, Wang Chuan was typing away on his keyboard. His game character on the screen had just gotten a pentakill. He patted the shoulder of the guy next to him with a cigarette in his mouth and said, "See that? That's what you call getting revenge. It's much more satisfying than arguing with a lunchbox vendor."

The younger brother leaned over and handed him a bottle of iced cola, whispering, "What if He Mao asks about it?" Wang Chuan took a swig of cola and let out a satisfied burp: "Easy, just say that woman packed up early and ran away, and we stayed there half the night. We'll find another opportunity next time."

In the middle of the night, He Mao couldn't stay awake any longer and dozed off at the table. He vaguely heard a knock on the door and thought it was Wang Chuan and his brothers coming over. He rushed to open the door without even putting on his shoes.

Outside the door, only a few fallen leaves were being swept by a draft. He touched the bruise on his nose that hadn't faded yet, took out his phone to ask again, but saw Wang Chuan's post from half an hour earlier—a screenshot of a pentakill at an internet cafe, with the caption, "Civilized people should play civilized games."

He Mao stared at the screen for a long time, finally receiving a message from his older brother at 2 a.m. There were five of them. They grabbed baseball bats and headed towards Su Yingxue's stall.

Su Yingxue's meal today is curry beef rice and fried chicken cutlet.

Su Yingxue poured the pre-soaked rice into the rice cooker, added water to a depth of one finger joint above the rice grains, pressed the cook button, and then turned to prepare the curry ingredients. She cut the beef tenderloin into small cubes of two centimeters, put them in a pot of cold water, added ginger slices and a spoonful of cooking wine, turned on the heat to blanch and remove the blood foam, skimmed off the foam, and then took out the meat cubes and drained them.

Heat a wok with a little oil, add scallion segments, ginger slices and garlic slices and sauté until fragrant. Add the beef chunks and stir-fry quickly until the surface is slightly browned. Then add two tablespoons of light soy sauce to enhance the flavor and half a tablespoon of dark soy sauce for color. Stir-fry evenly and then pour in enough hot water to cover the beef by two fingers. Add a diced carrot and two peeled potatoes. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low heat and simmer for forty minutes.

Once the beef is tender, she lifts the lid, adds two plain curry cubes, and stirs constantly with a spatula to dissolve them completely in the broth. Then she turns the heat to medium and continues to cook for five minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until the broth is thick enough to coat the spatula. The curry beef is now ready.

Next, they started making the fried chicken cutlets. Su Yingxue had marinated large pieces of chicken cutlets in advance. Each one was about the size of a palm. They looked pretty good.