"Whoa, I just stepped out for a little while, and there are so many people in line again?"
Second Uncle was carrying a bag of pitch-black pears, and as soon as he turned in, he saw a crowd surrounding the food truck again.
After the last ti at Tiantongyuan, Second Uncle had built up so tolerance for such situations.
"Make way, everyone, make way, hot water coming through..."
Second Uncle shouted as he squeezed forward; there was no way around it, the crowd was too thick.
As he squeezed through, soone started protesting loudly from the line.
"Hey, old man, why are you cutting in line?"
"Yeah, isn’t it ti you learned to behave better as an adult?"
"Can’t you see everyone is queuing? Can’t you set an example as a Southerner?"
Second Uncle explained, "I’m not cutting in line, this is my family’s business. If I go help my nephew sell things, you all can buy your stuff sooner."
That seed to work; once people heard it, they made way for him, and he managed to squeeze onto the food truck.
Wang Fan felt relieved as he saw Second Uncle return.
The crowd was too enthusiastic, and it was really a bit overwhelming for him alone.
He was still scooping at when soone unknown tossed money into the cash box, leaving him flustered and at a loss.
Second Uncle put down the frozen pears, picked up his little loudspeaker from the sofa, and got off the truck again.
"Testing, testing..."
After testing the sound, Second Uncle started shouting through the loudspeaker, "Ladies and gentlen, don’t push, let’s queue up nicely and take turns."
Unfortunately, no one paid attention. Instead, the crowd grew even more aggressive.
Second Uncle scratched his head, glanced at the line, and suddenly his eyes lit up. He picked up the loudspeaker again and shouted, "Everyone, please queue up nicely, especially you guys from the Northeast. The Southern girls and lads are guests here in the Northeast; it’s not right to squish our guests like this. There’s always another day to buy the food, so let’s all be gentlen and let the ladies go in front since they usually don’t eat much."
Surprisingly, this change in approach really worked. So locals from the Northeast listened to Second Uncle’s advice and moved from the front to the back of the line.
One by one, there were fewer people in front; with so leading by example, the others felt embarrassed to keep pushing. Soon enough, they ford a long queue.
Wang Fan gave Second Uncle a thumbs up in his heart; as expected, he’s a pro at handling this kind of work.
He took a mont to look at the queue, and then couldn’t help but scratch his head again.
The line was really long, with a rough estimate of about 50 people, and it seed to be growing longer. The thirty-sothing pork knuckles in his pot might not hold up.
Closing his eyes, he quickly added an order for an extra 100 pounds in the system.
"Hey big brother, just get us two single portions, with half portions of rice, any more and we won’t finish it."
The first in line were two petite girls, both wearing white down jackets and white bunny-ear hats, looking very cute.
Wang Fan nodded, scooped out a pork knuckle, placed it on the cutting board, and with one move of the knife on the skin, it went straight down to the bone.
With a slight twist of the knife, the entire pork knuckle lay flat on the board.
The rich aroma of the at spread, and the two white bunnies couldn’t help but stare hungrily at it.
Wang Fan’s knife didn’t need to chop; just a gentle slice and the at fell off easily.
The electronic scale showed a plastic bowl without the tare, and when he placed the at on it, it showed 120 grams. He then picked up the small bowl, poured it into a rice container, and only after that scooped up so sauce to pour over the at.
Second Uncle watched with satisfaction; making money is good, but not at the cost of integrity.
Standing on the steps of the food truck looking down, Second Uncle noticed sothing interesting.
The line had a clear division of colors from front to back.
The smaller, more petite ones lining up at the front were all dressed in white or light colors, while those who were clearly from the fertile black soil at the back wore black, brown, or other dark colors.
The ones at the front had more soft features, each with an air of delicate elegance. Those at the back had large eyes and high noses, with pronounced features.
Second Uncle stroked his chin, wondering if he should find a Southern girl companion for his nephew?
But after thinking about it, he dismissed the thought, reminding himself he’s an open-minded elder. If his nephew wants to date soone, he can; if not, he won’t ddle.
Wang Fan noticed, too, that these Southerners seed more lively than their Northern counterparts. After buying, the two white bunnies were hopping away, sothing you rarely see in the North.
He glanced toward the Ice and Snow World, thinking perhaps this vibrant world was to thank.
"Boss, give a pound of pork knuckle."
"I want half a pound."
"I’ll take three ounces."
"I want half a pound."
"I’ll take a pound, and give a leek too."
...
Shen Yu and Zhou Ruoqing were almost ecstatic.
Instead of going ho for the New Year, they had co straight to Harbin for fun. They hadn’t expected to find the long-lost rice noodle guy here!
Standing in line, Shen Yu had already taken out his phone and sent a ssage in the group chat.
"Guess who I caught? Haha!"
Everyone was basically on break and staying at ho, so there was plenty of ti. As soon as he sent the ssage, he got a quick reply.
A user nad Muran directly replied, "You sound so sneaky; did you catch your boyfriend cheating?"
Another user nad Flowing Gold Years also replied, "Get lost above; how can you talk about our beautiful group leader like that? Careful she’ll kick you out. Group leader, didn’t you go to Harbin for fun? Did you catch a celebrity?"
Shen Yu didn’t tease them any further and raised his phone to snap a picture of Wang Fan, then sent it to the group, saying, "You might not believe it, but I actually caught the runaway rice noodle guy in Harbin, hahaha. But he’s not selling rice noodles now; he’s selling braised pork knuckles instead. I’m in line right now, let show you how hot his business is."
After sending the ssage, he took a few more pictures front and back and posted them in the group.
These pictures caused a stir, and the whole group went into an uproar.
"No way! I went to Tiantongyuan yesterday, and now you’re telling he’s in Harbin?"
"What exactly is this guy going to sell? First rice noodles, then stead buns, now braised at?"
"The main thing is, it seems everything he makes is really tasty. There were lines for his rice noodles, lines for his stead buns, and now there are lines for his braised at."
"Group leader, can you try to add the boss when you buy? I can’t find him anywhere, I almost went to the TV station to post a missing person ad."
As Shen Yu was sending ssages in the group, he slowly moved forward, snapping a few more pictures of the braised pork knuckles over the heads of those in front.
The soft, bouncy knuckles instantly made everyone in the group get excited.
"No way! If pork knuckles at ho looked this good, I wouldn’t be sick of at right now!"
"The boss’s skills are truly top-notch; how can this not be delicious?"
"Strongly suggesting the group leader buys an extra one, I’ll give you my address, and you can mail it to ."
"I want to eat this, T-T."
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