"Honey! Honey! You're finally willing to forgive me?"
Shi Lei excitedly answered the phone, his face full of joy, only to be met with a cold voice.
"What did you just say about the future?"
Shi Lei paused for a moment, trying hard to recall the promise he had just made.
There's no way around it; when men try to appease women, they subconsciously make many promises, and then don't keep any of them.
After thinking it over, Shi Lei thought she might be referring to one of them, "I said I'd take care of all the meals at home in the future! Three meals a day are all on me!"
"Speak up, I can't hear you."
Shi Lei awkwardly looked around, as his stance of kowtowing to the car had already attracted a lot of attention, with some people even filming him with their phones. Now he had to speak louder?
Damn it, let it be embarrassing then!
Shi Lei mustered up his courage and gave it all he had, "Honey! I swear! I'll handle all three meals a day in our house from now on! Four dishes and a soup every meal, and no repeats for a month!"
Whoa!
Shi Lei's loud declaration indeed attracted even more attention, but as long as he wasn't embarrassed, others wouldn't be either.
Only then was Hao Jia satisfied, "I recorded it. Remember what you said today; if you don't follow through, I'll..."
"I'll stop feeding your son!"
Shi Lei nodded fervently like a lapdog, "Okay! Okay!"
He thought to himself, at least it's the son who'd be hungry, not me.
Only then did Hao Jia's expression soften a bit. She opened the car door, jumped out, and handed an empty plate to Shi Lei, "I still want some fish."
"Alright! I'll go buy it now!"
Shi Lei cheerfully ran to Old Uncle to fetch a fish, not even bothering to weigh it, swiftly handed over a hundred and fifty Yuan, and then ran back to the yellow food truck, "Honey, you go sit in the car with the AC on, don't get overheated!"
Initially, Shi Lei wanted to jump the queue, but upon seeing that the people in front were all police officers, he hurriedly stepped back and obediently stood in line.
"The pot can only cook three fish at once. Although Boss Xiao Chen's skills are quite good, the cookware is limiting," Shi Lei noticed Chen Mo's gradual progress, pondering this as he stood by the food truck, "Boss Xiao Chen, do you have any extra knives?"
Chen Mo was busy simmering the fish skin on high heat and didn't respond at once. Not until he confirmed the fish soup was done did he take a breath, "Yes, what's up?"
"Lend me a knife, I'll gut the fish myself and save you some trouble later."
"You're still eating?" Chen Mo was quite surprised.
You fooled your wife like that, and you still have the nerve to eat fish?
Shi Lei smiled, "It's not for me, my wife wants to eat more."
Chen Mo found a vegetable knife from the cabinet, "Use this then."
"Got it."
No matter the circumstances, Shi Lei was a former youth champion, whose achievements came from rising up through the kitchen ranks. Gutting a fish was no big deal for him.
Even though the vegetable knife wasn't ideal, it was usable.
Finding no suitable spot nearby, Shi Lei opened his car's trunk, laid out a piece of cardboard, and began gutting fish.
Chen Mo finished serving three fish, but the platters were insufficient, so they had to use old noodle bowls instead.
Putting the big fish into the bowl curved its body, then pouring the thickened broth on top, finally sprinkling cilantro, which released an enticing aroma as the hot soup scalded it.
Liu Yang held the fish and sniffed, "This fish really smells amazing, it's well cooked for sure."
Another police officer already started eating, "Who knew Yellow River Carp tasted so good? No wonder it's expensive!"
"It's not the carp that's good; it's how well the boss cooks it."
Three police officers dug into their bowls heartily, not needing rice, treating the fish as the main course.
Liu Yang went further, tearing off the fish head, nibbling on the bones, making slurping sounds that made a few staff at the toll station impatient.
At this point, someone from the onlooking crowd couldn't hold back any longer.
Yu Hui stretched his neck and stood on tiptoe, "Boss, how do you sell your braised fish?"
Chen Mo pointed to a truck in front, "The fish belongs to that old Uncle, I only cook it. Cooking one costs 20."
On hearing this, over ten people ran towards the truck.
Old Wang was quietly heartbroken, his mind a jumbled mess, wondering what to do if all the fish died.
His son was about to enter high school and needed tuition; his old mother at home needed medicine every few days.
The already tight family budget was now facing more troubles, where would he find money to compensate the consignor?
Actually, Old Wang knew full well that he couldn't blame the toll station.
It was his own fault for trying to save a bit of insignificant money by neglecting to maintain the freezer. At this moment, he even thought about rushing onto the road to get hit.
At least that way, he'd leave some money for his family!
Yu Hui was the first to run over, "Sir, how much are you selling these fish for?"
Old Wang looked up blankly and found a crowd gathered at some point, their eyes full of hope.
Selling fish?
Old Wang glanced at his hands, which held money bought for sympathy by the police and toll workers.
It totaled about a thousand Yuan.
But this shipment was worth fifty thousand!
Suppose...
Old Wang looked at the dozen people before him, if he couldn't sell at Chen Mo's given sixty Yuan, even fifty would make each fish worth fifty or a hundred Yuan.
Another thousand?
'Maybe...' Old Wang suddenly felt a glimmer of hope, though he didn't dare hope to recover the full fifty thousand.
But to get some of it back would be something!
"These fish..." Old Wang's voice was hoarse, "Fifty per kilo."
Yu Hui shaded his eyes with his hand to look into the cargo container, "I'll take one. How do we get it, need to climb up to fetch it?"
"I'll do it, I'll do it!"
When one sees hope, they're filled with strength, Old Wang became lively, promptly climbed onto the truck's side ladder, grabbing a fishing net.
Looking down, there were over twenty people under the truck now.
Glancing to the distance, the young fellow in the yellow food van was furiously moving his hands on the workstation.
He gritted his teeth, "The fish are big, so let's not weigh them, eighty per fish okay?"
The people below had long grown impatient.
Turning to see the second group already eating, with fish so large, who would fuss over sixty or eighty?
Everyone confirmed they had no issue, urging Old Wang to catch the fish.
Old Wang flipped his body, reached into the front cabin to pull out a thick stack of plastic bags, hanging them by his waist.
Skillfully catching fish, placing it in a plastic bag, then filling it with water using a large ladle.
He bent down slightly and hung the bag off the truck, Yu Hui gratefully received the live fish, looking at it against the sun, indeed the Yellow River Carp's surface gleamed with a golden shine.
"Damn, this fish is really a Yellow River Carp! And a very fine one!"
When it comes to fish, that's Yu Hui's area of expertise, as an avid angler he'd travel between cities to Qu Shui just to fish for these carps.
The outcome wasn't as expected.
That reservoir, though large, Yu Hui and his friends fished there all night and half a day but never caught a single one.
"All the fish I couldn't catch, you managed to scoop up, huh? Damn, let me eat one to vent my anger first."
Yu Hui headed towards the food truck, carrying his plastic bag.
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