Lin Chen took the two packed boxes filled to the brim, weighed them on the scale, added the weight of the pig ears and main food, paused for two seconds, and started mental calculations.
"It's a total of 4 pounds, plus 100 grams of pig ears, altogether 23 euros."
"???"
Boss Brazil looked at him in shock, "Does your scale have a built-in calculator?"
"Huh?"
Lin Chen instinctively glanced down at the cheap, plain kitchen scale, picked it up and showed it.
"You mean this?"
"???????"
Boss Brazil was stunned again.
WTF!
Isn't this just a ten-euro cheap scale you can buy at a stationery store?
So how did he manage to calculate the price so quickly without a calculator?
Amber and a few others behind Boss Brazil were also quite shocked. A couple of days ago, they sold by portions, and nothing seemed unusual, but selling by weight today swiftly exposed everyone's math skills.
Lin Chen quickly realized it, knowing foreigners' poor math skills weren't news to him, this kindergarten math was nothing to brag about.
He swiftly poured the two dishes into a big bowl, scooped a spoonful of fragrant chili oil, a spoonful of garlic paste, a spoonful of sauce, a little sesame oil, a spoonful of crispy peanuts, two spoonfuls of sesame, a spoonful of small chili, and stirred quickly in circles.
His movements were so fast, like a butterfly fluttering through flowers, flashing back and forth under the evening lights, leaving trails.
Before everyone could take a clear look, Lin Chen had already started plating.
"The noodles and stuff will take two minutes, they're freshly cooked. If you're in a hurry, have him deliver them to you later."
Lucas pointed at himself: Me?
But thinking of Boss Brazil's buy-one-get-one-free promise, he nodded without hesitation: "Leave it to me, no problem!"
"Okay, okay, thanks bro!"
Boss Brazil was truly in a hurry. The helper today was a newbie hired just a few days ago, afraid of making mistakes that could ruin his reputation, he rushed back with two boxes of mixed vegetables.
Jiang Shuqi and her two girlfriends, along with Lucas, were very familiar with the cold dishes and each picked the vegetables they liked to hand to Lin Chen for mixing.
When it was Amber and Jade's turn, they looked around curiously with wide blue eyes, other than being able to recognize carrots and cucumbers, they couldn't identify most of the ingredients.
"Hey, don't bother picking, let me recommend!"
Lucas casually grabbed a box, picked some veggies, and introduced them to his friends.
"This is bean curd sheet, also known as dried tofu skin; it's tofu product, really tasty."
"This is black fungus, it's a type of mushroom, crunchy, absorbs the juice, healthy and delicious!"
"This is gluten, it's what's left after removing starch from flour; it also absorbs the juice well, a must-try!"
Sure enough, the two couples each got two boxes full of cold dishes, heavy and aromatic, even those who weren't hungry became famished just from the smell.
"I must say, this Great Xia salad really looks different and smells divine."
Amber couldn't help but swallow, Jade nodded in agreement: "Thank God we aren't allergic to nuts, otherwise missing out on such delicious food would really keep me up tonight."
Both couldn't wait to open their chopsticks, now skilled enough not to need help.
Jade took a chopstick full of familiar cucumber, carrot, and bean sprout strings to test the taste first.
As soon as these cool ingredients hit her tongue, crunching sounds resounded in her ears.
A faint sesame oil aroma mixed with a touch of vinegar and unique oil scent spread in her mouth, she tasted a noticeable pepper flavor, yet surprisingly it wasn't very spicy.
The whole bowl looked red with many chili pieces mixed in, she was prepared for the spiciness, yet what she tasted was pure fragrance.
A few more chews and the crispy peanuts crunched, their rich nutty aroma from frying mingling with occasionally popping sesame seeds, making it incredibly addictive.
Amber, on the other hand, was entirely different.
Given the previous experience with the meat buns, he didn't choose regular vegetables but went for the novel ones.
The strangest looking one: gluten!
This thing says it's tofu, but looks riddled with holes, feels odd when poked, springy, coated with red sauce, which looks spicy.
But seeing his girlfriend eating several bites with no reaction, he figured it's probably just red in appearance, not spicy.
So he bravely picked up a piece and stuffed it whole into his mouth, biting down hard.
"Sploosh——"
A burst of juice exploded in his mouth, rich and deliciously fragrant, with strong nut aroma mingled with various spices shooting straight to his brain, yet unlike Boss Brazil's Ah San's spice pile-up, this was gentle and had a subtle hint of green onion.
One bite and his eyes lit up, instant conquered by this thing, he hurriedly fed a piece to his girlfriend.
"Mmm mmm!! Mmm mmm mmm mmm!!!"
Jade glanced at him, opened her mouth and took a bite.
Her eyes widened unbelievably!
"???????"
"What, what is this stuff? It's insanely good!"
"Gluten, you know, the thing that spins in dough, bun, noodles and bread are made tighter by this. Lately, many foods are going grain-free gluten, that's the stuff."
"Oh~~ so that's what it is?"
For some unknown reason, zero-gluten has recently become trendy in the West, which Asians simply can't comprehend.
Once enlightened, the foreigners instantly got it, then started to wonder.
With such tasty gluten, why hasn't it been seen on the menu in restaurants?
With questions in their minds, the group dug into their bowls as if they hadn't had dinner.
At this time, the main dishes everyone ordered also finished cooking, neatly arranged in a row on the table.
The mix-for-noodles ratio was slightly different from the cold dish mix, needing an extra spoonful of special sauce to highlight the sweet-sour taste and sauce aroma.
Steaming hot noodles mixed with various sauces and red oil, releasing an intense aroma immediately.
"This chili oil is incredible, smells almost identical to what my hometown makes. If we could pour some meat sauce and pea mash over this noodle, wouldn't it be authentic Sichuan noodles!"
Lin Chen's ears perked up, subtly noting the information.
Although he hasn't been to Sichuan and Chongqing, he's watched enough mukbangs.
Seems like the system's recipe is authentic, even gaining local recognition, he figured he should find time to sell some small noodles these days.
Anyway, he's already made a pot of red oil, just need to prepare some ingredients and noodles, convenient, tasty, and filling, most importantly, cost-effective.