Chen Mo placed the latest batch of three cooked fish into a bowl and handed it to the customer.

Fortunately, the customers here are quite self-aware. Through word of mouth, everyone knows that having a fish cooked only costs 20 yuan.

Some customers took their fish back to their cars, while others simply stood in the shade by the roadside with their bowls and started eating.

"This fish is really good. I feel like the young boss here must have been a chef in a big restaurant before."

"It's indeed done well. I just watched him cook the fish, and it didn't seem any different from the way I cook it. The spices and all weren't much different either, so why does it taste so much better?"

"Oh, if that's what you think, then all those skilled chefs out there would be out of a job. Do you really think they learn for nothing?"

Most of the customers gave high praise to the braised fish. Surprisingly, no one thought to ask Chen Mo if there was any rice in the food truck.

Everyone just held their fish, found a spot to eat, and the feeling of devouring the fish was truly exhilarating.

On the other side, after Liu Yang communicated with Old Wang, the uncle also saw some hope and finally agreed to move the car outside the toll station. However, the car keys were lost in the water tank, so the enthusiastic drivers simply gathered a large group to help push the car from behind.

Clearing up the toll station entrance, the traffic police directed the drivers ahead to quickly move out, and the stationary traffic slowly began to move.

Some drivers were indeed eager to hit the road. After leaving the toll station, seeing people on the roadside with large bowls, greedily eating fish, made them feel quite frustrated. But all they could do was hit the gas and leave as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Liu Yang had already coordinated with the toll station staff and arranged for a few of them to jog over to the kitchen to grab supplies.

It's true what they say, when Huaxia people are organized, their efficiency is top-notch!

In less than half an hour, even Chen Mo and the food truck were relocated to the wide road outside the toll station. Although the traffic at the toll station was slow, it was finally moving.

"Damn, bro, you can really set up your business anywhere. If you manage to sell all this fish, you'll make quite a bit, right?"

Chen Mo gave Shi Lei an eye-roll, "Come on, I'm charging 20 yuan per fish right now."

"So you're charging me 60 yuan per pound?"

"A few years ago, people bought houses for 20,000 yuan and now can't sell them for 10,000 yuan. Isn't that normal?"

Shi Lei was speechless and could only place the fish he had cleaned on the operation table by the roadside, "Hey, this one's mine."

"We're a bit short on seasonings." Chen Mo had brought some down from the truck, but if they were going to cook a lot of fish at once, the amount of seasoning they had would be insufficient.

Liu Yang said, "I'll go buy some now."

Shi Lei grabbed Liu Yang, "Forget it, the nearest place to buy stuff is at least ten kilometers away. How about we borrow some from the toll station kitchen?"

The toll clerk immediately said she could go borrow some, but she wasn't sure what to take.

Shi Lei then went along to help pick out the spices and seasonings.

Chen Mo was busy cleaning fish when Yu Hui, who had finished eating braised fish, strolled over, "Want me to lend a hand?"

"Do you know how to clean fish?"

"Are you kidding?" Yu Hui picked up a fish, "I can't promise I'll catch fish, but I definitely know how to clean them."

As a seasoned angler, Yu Hui could do a bit of everything except catch fish.

Every winter, when he and his friends went ice fishing, they'd take an electric car and buy two live fish from the market before setting out. When they didn't catch anything overnight, they'd plug in the car in the morning, heat up some oil, clean the fish they bought from the market, and cook them.

Then they'd add some soft tofu and baby bok choy, stew a pot of fish soup, and enjoy a hearty meal.

Drinking fish soup wasn't the point. What mattered was when other unknown anglers came over and saw them drinking fish soup, they'd always ask, "Whoa! You've got fish to eat?"

Then Yu Hui and his friends would humbly say, "Hey, it's nothing, we just caught two or three overnight."

Yu Hui and his friends had just returned from Qu Shui and still had fish-cleaning tools with them in the car.

"Okay, if you say you can clean them, then lend a hand, but I can only give you 3 yuan per fish!"

That's quite a bit. If the ladies at the supermarket fish-cleaning section heard this, probably no fish would leave their hands alive today.

Yu Hui waved it off, "No need for money, I'd just be standing around otherwise. How about a free fish for me later?"

"I'll give you a free fish!" Before Chen Mo could say anything, Old Wang, who was busy getting fish from the car, shouted from above, "Free of charge!"

Yu Hui grinned, turned around, and brought over a box from his car.

Chen Mo took a look, impressed—there were electric descalers, various small knives, steel wool, all the essentials, "You seem more professional than me."

Yu Hui was amused, but somehow, those words sounded like an insult to him.

Are you saying I'm just a wannabe with tons of stationary?

Seeing Yu Hui so busy, his two friends came over to help, and the three of them working together sped things up significantly.

In no time, Chen Mo was surrounded by a full basin of fish, easily around forty or fifty.

"Can you handle this? If you trust my credentials as a national champion, I can lend a hand too." Shi Lei came back with a plastic bag full of spices and seasonings.

Seeing Chen Mo stuck, he knew it was a tough spot.

With forty or fifty fish to prepare all at once, anyone would find it challenging.

"Let me think about it."

Chen Mo stroked his chin, looking at the big basin of fish and pondering.

Why does food cooked in large batches not taste as good as food cooked in small batches?

Firstly, large batch cooking isn't as meticulous as small batch cooking when handling ingredients, but that's not something I need to worry about since I'm only cooking fish, not stir-frying vegetables.

Another reason is the larger the pot, the more intense the heat needs to be.

When you add ingredients to the pot, thinking it should soon come to a boil, and it doesn't because too much was added at once, missing the optimal timing—it's simply not managing the heat well, which is why large batch cooking isn't as tasty.

"So if that's the case!" Chen Mo thought, "I might need to change some of the cooking methods and approaches."

Leaving the food truck meant he couldn't rely on his progress bar anymore. Now he could only depend on himself, the skills he had acquired over time, and his culinary knowledge!

"The heat level is not an issue. The cleanliness won't compare to the food truck's capabilities, but at the very least, it needs to lose some of the fishy smell."

Chen Mo gradually started organizing his thoughts on how to prepare the large batch braised fish. Not only did he need to remove any fishy smell, but he also couldn't continue using the frying method. The borrowed large iron pan didn't heat as evenly as the wok.

If he fried the fish all at once, the results wouldn't be very good.

Then, go for deep-frying!

Chen Mo silently nodded, "Would you really be willing to help?"

"Hey, what's there to hesitate about? Everyone is just trying to help this gentleman out of a tight spot. Anyway, my being a national champion has already been exposed, so it's no big deal."

Shi Lei said with a generous smile.

If he couldn't hide it, he might as well show off a little!

And for some reason, ever since Hao Jia got pregnant, Shi Lei's personality had taken a sudden turn for the better. Whenever he encountered strangers in need of help, he was incredibly enthusiastic.

He subconsciously thought, doing more good deeds benefits the child.

It sounds a bit superstitious, but as a prospective dad, he didn't care about whether it was true—just doing it was enough!

"Alright, thanks."

Chen Mo pointed at the fish, "Can you help me with the knife work? Enter at an angle and slice along the bone."

"Got it!"

In no time at all, the roadside near the toll station suddenly became bustling with activity.

A lot of people, each doing their part, spontaneously joined in this seemingly random event.

Seeing this scene, Liu Yang was quite touched!

But also kind of felt...

Why does it seem like an adult version of playing house?

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