As night fell, the city's pedestrian street lit up with colorful lights, creating a beautiful city nightscape.

This year's food festival lit up the residents' night life with excitement.

Many residents came with their families to stroll the night market and enjoy delicious food, relieving the day's busyness in a relaxed way.

The booths that sold well gained reputation through word of mouth from customers, or just by the long lines in front of them, indicating that the food must be pretty good.

So!

The Delicious Restaurant booth became the first choice for many new customers.

The business was still booming, with multiple long queues extending far beyond the neighboring booths.

"Hmm, I'll take two bowls of nourishing fish soup, two portions each of lotus leaf sticky rice steamed ribs, braised pork trotters, braised chicken wings, braised chicken legs, braised chicken feet, and braised goose feet."

"I'd like three bowls of nourishing fish soup, a roast duck, three portions of lotus leaf sticky rice steamed ribs, and three of each braised dish."

"I'll have one portion of each braised dish."

"Wow, this booth is doing really well. I'll also buy some to take home for my family to try."

"This booth's food was highly praised by Master Wei Mingguo, so of course it's popular... so, buddy, let me advise you! You should buy a few more portions to take home; if you only get one, your family might fight over it since it won't be enough…"

"Really! Then I'll take three portions!"

...

The speed of serving at the Delicious Restaurant booth was fast.

Lin Yuhan and Yan Ming, a young couple, took on different tasks; one was mainly responsible for greeting customers and handling cashier duties, while the other focused on picking out braised dishes and packaging them.

As they say, couples who work together don't tire as easily.

The speed of serving the braised dishes was blazing fast!

Meanwhile, Huang Tao continued his role as a chef, slicing fish fillets on one side and roasting duck on the other.

Ding Suqin was busy packaging while also managing the supply of ingredients.

Ji was responsible for putting ducks in the automatic roasting machine.

Everyone!

Was methodically busy with their work.

While Huang Tao was busy, Ma Deqiang and Lin Duzhu arrived together.

They had just arrived nearby.

Both couldn't help but twitch their noses, sniffing the aroma in the air.

Ah~

The unique fragrance of the braise, rich and mellow!

It smelled amazing!

Ma Deqiang, enjoying the scent, squinted his eyes and remarked, "Still the same familiar flavor, the same familiar taste…"

"Old Ma, stop reminiscing, your words are just attracting more people to queue up… let's hurry…"

Seeing other diners flocking to Huang Tao's booth, Lin Duzhu quickly pulled Ma Deqiang to join the queue.

Both of them were past organizers of the food festival.

Especially Ma Deqiang.

He was one of the speakers at every food festival's opening ceremony.

He also often appeared on the local news channel.

Now, his presence naturally caused quite a stir.

"What's going on, even Deputy Director Ma Deqiang from the Bureau of Commerce is queuing here?"

"It's no surprise, Deputy Director Ma must be here for the delicious food at the Delicious Restaurant booth."

That makes sense.

Even Master Wei Mingguo and the chief editor of "Food and Beauty" magazine were impressed by the food at the Delicious Restaurant booth, so it's natural for the Deputy Director from the Bureau of Commerce to queue up after hearing about it.

After a small commotion, everyone continued queuing.

On his side, Huang Tao continued serving food at a fast pace.

Only two roast ducks were left.

There were only a dozen nourishing fish soups and lotus leaf sticky rice steamed ribs left.

Not much of the braised dishes were left either.

Once these were sold out, it would be time to close up.

Even though there was still a large crowd at the food festival tonight, all the dishes prepared for the festival were almost sold out.

The staff also had a long day and needed rest; he had to go back to the shop to cook some fresh brine.

Most importantly, Xuanxuan and her parents had also been here all day and were getting a bit tired.

As the last bowl of nourishing fish soup was sold…

A familiar yet cold system prompt suddenly echoed in his mind.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations to the host for successfully completing the "Challenge of Ten Thousand": Attracting 10,000 customers with nourishing fish soup.]

[A lottery chance has been awarded to the host (PS: The host can enter the lottery screen and draw at any time at their will.)]

Having been mentally prepared, Huang Tao wasn't surprised by the system prompt, and he appeared to be in control.

Though he was eager to enter the system page to draw a prize and see how his luck was today,

What would he win?

He thought it wasn't appropriate to do it while slicing roast duck.

If he got too excited and accidentally sliced his hand, that would be really bad!

In the end.

Rationality prevailed over impulse.

There was no rush; finishing the current task first and drawing later was not too late.

He continued focusing on slicing the roast duck.

Soon enough, it was finally Ma Deqiang and Lin Duzhu's turn.

Ma Deqiang said with a smile, "Boss Huang, I just saw that your shop's business is really good!"

"All thanks to the two of you," Huang Tao replied with a smile.

Ma Deqiang responded, "It's mainly because your food is so delicious!"

Lin Duzhu nodded in agreement, "Yes! People come for the food you make."

The three exchanged a few pleasantries before getting back on track with the conversation.

"Boss Huang, give me two bowls of nourishing fish soup, half a roast duck, two servings of lotus leaf sticky rice steamed ribs, and two portions of all the brine-flavored dishes."

"I'm sorry, you two, the roast duck and nourishing fish soup are already sold out."

Huang Tao responded with a smile and then checked the other dishes.

Of all the dishes, there was only one brined duck neck left.

"Sorry, you two! The only thing left in brine is the duck neck, and the lotus leaf sticky rice steamed ribs are also sold out. How about you come back tomorrow, and I'll save some for you?"

Ma Deqiang and Lin Duzhu felt a wave of disappointment upon hearing this news!

Lin Duzhu couldn't help but blame Ma Deqiang: "It's all your fault, Old Ma. Lingering around like that, if you had lined up faster, we wouldn't have missed out..."

"How can you blame me, I didn't mean to either..." Ma Deqiang

The customers still in line were all excitedly stretching their necks to look at those stainless steel trays inside the stall upon hearing that everything was sold out.

"What? The night market of this food festival has just started! And you're already sold out?!"

"Boss, why did you make so little? I haven't even gotten a taste yet!"

"Exactly, the food festival ends at ten at night! Ending at just past six is way too early..."

"Boss, can't you make a bit more..."

"..."

The customers behind, drooping their heads, wore expressions of disappointment.

They complained to the boss about not preparing more for the food festival!

Huang Tao: "..."

He had already prepared enough, planning to sell until around 8:30, but it ended more than two hours earlier than expected.

Sigh!

It was all because these customers were too enthusiastic, he really had no choice!

"Hey, Deputy Director Ma, do you still want this last brined duck neck? If not, I'll take it!"

"Give it to me too! I need a snack with my drinks!"

"Give it to me! My granddaughter loves the brine-flavored dishes from this place. After trying it this evening, she's been asking for more!"

The customers in front of the delicious food didn't care at all whether the person in front of them was a leader.

At this moment, all they saw was that last brined duck neck.

"Everyone, don't fight over it, I'll take this duck neck."

Ma Deqiang quickly responded as if worried it would be snatched away.

Better than nothing!

Huang Tao gave a look, signaling Yan Ming to pack that brined duck neck.

Then handed it over to Ma Deqiang.

He intended to give it away, but since Ma Deqiang insisted on paying, he let it be.

There were still dozens of customers who hadn't been able to buy anything lingering around the stall, feeling it was a shame.

They were hesitant to leave, hoping that Huang Tao would make more tomorrow.

That way, they could buy more.

"Boss, you must make more tomorrow! What time are you coming to set up the stall tomorrow? I'll definitely come and queue first."

"Oh dear, my granddaughter was just thinking about eating the brine-flavored dishes from this place. If I can't buy them, who knows how she'll fuss when I get back..."

"Boss, you definitely must make more! I'm thinking of bringing my father-in-law over to taste it tomorrow!"

"..."

Listening to these customers' wishes, Huang Tao nodded and replied, "Alright, I'll try to make more tomorrow. But if you come at this time during the day, you should be able to buy some. After 6 PM, it's hard to say."

"I'll be setting up at around 8:30 in the morning, so you can come a bit earlier to line up."

His words satisfied the customers.

Since the boss himself promised to make more tomorrow, they would just come and queue during the day.

At night, they definitely wouldn't be able to buy any!

"Alright, everyone, let's disperse for now and come back early tomorrow."

"Alright, I'll come and queue at 8 tomorrow."

"That's no good, I'll be here by 7:30."

"You guys are really getting competitive here..."

The customers who didn't manage to buy anything all gradually dispersed.

Ma Deqiang and Lin Duzhu left with the last brined duck neck.

They planned to come back tomorrow!

After all, this one brined duck neck wasn't enough to satisfy the two of them!

…

As Huang Tao got some downtime, he intended to tell Xuanxuan to wait until he finished tidying up, then they could leave together.

But then he saw Xuanxuan, with her little head raised, gazing up at the starry sky.

Her little pink face was radiating with a sweet smile.

He understood.

She was missing her mom.

She wanted to share the events of today's food festival with her mom...

His heart fluttered slightly but he didn't step forward to disrupt the moment.

He told Ding Suqin beside him, "Let's pack up and head back to the store!"

"Alright, let's tidy up the stuff quickly."

Ding Suqin nodded and, with Yan Ming and the others, started packing up the cooking utensils.

The food festival organizers didn't provide a storage area nearby, so all the equipment used to prepare food at the stall had to be moved back to the store intact.

They divided the tasks among themselves to load all the equipment onto a small truck.

Once they were done.

Lin Jingsong and his colleague drove up in a taxi to the food festival.

Huang Tao asked his parents to take Xuanxuan and the other four employees back to the West City Old Street Delicious Shop with them.

He also rode along with the truck to make sure everything got back safely.

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