Old Zhao looked expectantly at his wife.
This moment would determine whether he could prove his innocence!
The foot massage parlor owner, He Chunming, vouched for him, and the female technician vouched for his innocence, but his wife insisted it was just covering up for him and didn't believe it at all.
The small food cart owner provided evidence of his innocence, but didn't say it directly, instead, he delivered a famously philosophical line: currently, only this fried rice could prove Old Zhao's innocence!
A mouthful of rice was sent into his mouth.
This was no ordinary fried rice; this was the [perfect] mixed fried rice, meticulously prepared by Chen Mo, who was tensing his nerves and muscles, using a huge amount of effort!
Guo Aiping looked at Old Zhao angrily, but when the rice reached her mouth, her expression gradually became a bit dazed, her eyes no longer full of resentment, but somewhat puzzled.
Yes, very puzzled.
Her heart was originally full of anger and confusion towards Old Zhao's actions.
But at this moment, Guo Aiping seemed to suddenly... understand.
"How is it, wife? Delicious, right? Isn't it especially tasty?" Old Zhao was both nervous and excited.
Guo Aiping ate a bite of rice, feeling very comfortable just now, but hadn't tasted it properly yet. It wasn't comfortable using chopsticks to eat rice, so she simply brought her mouth to the edge of the carton, shoveling rice with the chopsticks into her mouth.
Hiss...
The hot rice infused with the aroma of pork lard, the two naturally are the most exquisite partners.
Guo Aiping couldn't help but recall her childhood, when not to mention fried rice, even mixing a bit of pork lard into plain rice was incredibly fragrant!
Now that life had improved, pork lard and rice had turned into lard fried rice, and many ingredients had been added.
Cubed ham, diced squid, one used for enhancing aroma and flavor, the other to increase freshness, ingeniously blending and integrating, truly making this mouthful of fried rice endlessly flavorful.
Furthermore, when Guo Aiping had prepared dinner waiting for Old Zhao to return, he didn't show up, instead, she received a payment notification from the foot massage parlor, leaving her without any appetite out of anger.
Now, with a mouthful of the carefree mixed fried rice, Guo Aiping had reason to believe her husband might really have gone to the massage parlor just for this meal.
With her anger subsiding a bit, Guo Aiping's hunger rushed in like a flood, the successive two bites of fried rice seemed to switch on her appetite.
"Wife, wife?" Old Zhao nudged Guo Aiping's leg, "How is it? I didn't lie to you, did I? Is it really yummy? Oh right, I haven't even tasted this fried rice myself yet, could you let me try..."
Bam!
Without even looking, Guo Aiping kicked Old Zhao right on the shin.
"Ow..." Old Zhao clutched his shin, hopping twice in place like a ballet dancer, while the female technicians watching the show stifled their laughter.
Feeling a loss of face, Old Zhao straightened his face, "I said I went to the foot massage parlor just to eat, do you believe me now? Tell me, isn't this delicious meal worth going for?"
Guo Aiping continued wolfing down the rice, knowing she was at fault, she couldn't bother to respond to Old Zhao.
Seeing this, Old Zhao was displeased.
"Hey, I've proven my innocence, why are you still ignoring me?"
Saying this, although Old Zhao was still trying to cozy up and reconcile with his wife, unexpectedly, Guo Aiping gave him another kick, coolly saying, "It's not about the massage parlor now, why didn't you invite me along for something this delicious?"
Old Zhao: ???
He felt something was off, but couldn't figure out what it was?
Pfft...
LuLu and the others, seeing the farce finally ended, couldn't stop laughing at Old Zhao's sorry state. Just then, the five portions of fried rice prepared by Chen Mo were ready.
His brother-in-law took one, while LuLu took four portions.
Chen Mo glanced at the system panel, leaving just a 160 yuan gap needed to level up!
"Hey, young man, give me another portion." Old Zhao waved his hand, then turned to look, seeing his sister-in-law and parents had finished eating, he added, "Let's make it four more!"
It was almost two o'clock.
Chen Mo couldn't afford to wait for others, so agreed and began preparing immediately.
Not only he, even Ham Liu and Brother Squid were now busy beyond measure.
"Damn, in my whole life, I never imagined the day squid would sell the most was when it was used as an ingredient!"
Uncle Liu tore open a pack of ham, arranging the pink starchy sausages on the grill, then adding a bit of vegetable oil, "I didn't expect this either, setting up a stall has turned into a full-time job, let's do it!"
Nearby Rice Bowl Zhang was speechless as well.
He delivered four more servings of white rice to Chen Mo, "Young man, you've almost bought out all my white rice."
Chen Mo snorted, "That's perfect, tomorrow your rice will be freshly cooked."
Rice Bowl Zhang blushed as he put down the white rice.
This wasn't entirely his fault; before, his rice bowl business at the bridgehead sold quite well, but as more and more barbecue places opened on either side of the bridge, his business declined gradually.
The rice cooked the day before couldn't be completely sold by the end of the day, and after all, overnight rice isn't inedible…
But anyway, Chen Mo had nearly cleared out his leftover rice today; without Chen Mo, Rice Bowl Zhang wouldn't be certain if the left-over rice would even still be edible overnight.
Feeling a little bashful, he sniffed the aroma, glancing at the people on the street seats wolfing down food.
In Rice Bowl Zhang's heart, there was a small hint of envy.
The area around the bridge has been here for how many years now, and ever since various roadside night eateries opened up, business for those setting up stalls hasn't been quite good. Having been here for six or seven years, Rice Bowl Zhang hadn't seen so many people eating on the roadside all at once in a long time.
The key point is, these people aren't here to chat or drink, they are genuinely, eating!
Indulgently stuffing themselves with food kind of eating.
"Brother Jiaozi, over at our side, a few other young chefs want to try a taste, once you're done with this batch, could you make another four portions?"
Oh?
Chen Mo's eyes sparkled, nearly twitching from the glimmer.
"Okay, please wait a moment, once it's ready, I'll deliver it."
Just the right amount, exactly four portions!
As the delightful sound of a completed payment rang out, Chen Mo saw the experience bar of the food cart in his mind fill completely!
His hands started moving even faster.
Guo Aiping had eaten two portions of fried rice in a row, and Old Zhao quickly passed over a cup of hot water, which he had just fetched from the convenience store.
"Hehe, wife." Old Zhao shook Guo Aiping's arm playfully, "This time, I'm wrong, I shouldn't have snuck out to eat alone, I shouldn't have..."
"Forget it."
Guo Aiping held the cup of hot water, "I'm at fault too, blowing things out of proportion without understanding the situation first, sigh."
Seeing his wife like that, Old Zhao suddenly felt a protective instinct well up inside, saying fiercely, "It's all the fault of those guys in the car enthusiast group! They're always thinking about going to foot massage places, I'll quit the group right now!"
Guo Aiping: (⊙_⊙)?
"What car enthusiasts group, what foot massage parlor? Come, let me see the chat records."
Old Zhao: 凸(艹皿艹)
...
Zhang Feng, feeling content and comfortable, returned home.
Achoo!
"I didn't catch a cold, did I? Why am I sneezing nonstop today?"
Snuggling into bed directly to sleep!
Currently, nothing else could bring him anticipation in life, but only Xiao Na!
And Brother Jiaozi.