Only those who had eaten Boss Jiang’s food could truly understand its powerful allure.

"Dad, are there any universities in South City?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I’ve decided! I’m going to apply to a university in South City. After I graduate, I’ll rent a place here and eat Boss Jiang’s food every day. Who knows, maybe I could even date Boss Jiang!"

Zhong Lin cupped her cheeks, looking like a lovestruck teenager.

Zhong Youming was speechless.

’If you come to South City, what about your old dad?’

’I want to eat it too!’

...

It was a little after 7:40.

The last batch of customers in the shop were wolfing down their food.

A beaming Boss Yan walked into the shop, carrying two black plastic bags, and casually placed them on the counter.

He was portly, wearing a gold ring and a silver watch, projecting the aura of a big boss.

"Busy as ever, Boss Jiang. I’ve got your things all ready. Take a look and see if anything’s missing."

Jiang Liu smiled and said, "I don’t think that’s necessary. I trust your character, Boss Yan."

"Haha, you sure have a way with words."

Boss Yan was overjoyed by Jiang Liu’s compliment.

"Just let me know if you need anything else. If that’s all, I’ll be heading out."

As soon as he finished speaking, Boss Yan glanced at a customer eating a shrimp bun, and his feet seemed to take root.

’He was so hungry for them. He hadn’t managed to get in line for two days, and he was even dreaming of the taste of those buns!’

Jiang Liu said, "Boss Yan, would you like to sit down and have some?"

"Huh? Is there still some left?"

"I knew you were coming, so I saved twenty buns and a bottle of juice for you."

Hearing that they were saved especially for him, Boss Yan was thrilled. "Haha, thanks a lot, Boss Jiang! My daughter’s been going crazy thinking about your juice."

"Next time you can’t get in line and your daughter wants some, you can just come by directly. I’ll get you a couple of bottles."

Boss Yan waved his hands frantically. "No, no, that’s not necessary. I’ll just come earlier to line up."

He didn’t dare trouble Boss Jiang. After all, with so many "big shots" watching, if he acted like a clown jumping the line, he’d be made an example of sooner or later.

Just as the last group of customers left, another crowd of customers formed a new line at the door.

It was only four hours, but for food this good, they would wait!

The customers were getting more and more intense, making the new ones question their life choices.

During his break, Jiang Liu opened his phone to scroll through some videos.

Yue Longfan sent him a WeChat message: "Master, Jiang’s Buns has completely blown up in Ba District! A ton of customers are sharing it on their Moments, and it’s gone viral, haha."

"There were over a thousand people in line this morning! I was dumbfounded. It’s even crazier than here in South City."

"Should we consider opening a shop here? So many customers have been begging me for it. They want you to come open a store, and they’re even willing to donate money to help us open one!"

Jiang Liu: "Did my third uncle go today? I’m not planning on opening a shop there for now."

Yue Longfan: "He came. He brought a lot of his colleagues, let them cut the line, and took their money."

Jiang Liu didn’t reply.

[Number of Positive Reviews: 21,568.]

This was the third day. As long as he could reach thirty thousand, he should be able to complete the mission.

Jiang Liu looked forward to unlocking the next delicacy.

Just then, his phone vibrated twice.

An unknown number texted him: "Jiang Liu, you’re still making a hundred thousand a day, right? Not bad. I’ll tell you something: my tenth branch officially opened yesterday. Of course, I’m not texting you just to bore you with this. Don’t you still have three other bun recipes? Let’s make a deal. How about you sell them to me? You name the price."

At that moment, Yang Yixue was sitting by the window of her tenth branch. The staff and chefs had just finished cleaning and were gathered for a training meeting.

She took a small sip of her sweet coffee, the corners of her rosy lips turned down.

Yang Yixue was not in a good mood.

Just yesterday, in addition to her four existing stores, her other six branches had launched.

But one thing made her secretly anxious.

The revenue of her fourth store had begun to decline, and her first and second stores weren’t doing well either.

After much thought and investigation, Yang Yixue had come to a conclusion: Old Xiang’s recipes were terrible. They simply weren’t selling! Aside from the two types of buns made from Jiang Liu’s recipes, the rest of her products were selling very poorly.

Even though she was still turning a net profit each day, for the sake of stable growth, Yang Yixue was determined to root out this problem for good!

Although begging Jiang Liu would be a huge blow to her pride, Yang Yixue still believed that if she offered a high enough price, he would definitely sell to her.

After waiting for a while, Yang Yixue grew impatient and sent another text: "Please reply when you see this message!"

...

Jiang Liu casually blocked the number. ’Damn, what a buzzkill.’

’Is she delusional? She wants to buy my recipes? I wouldn’t sell them to Yang Yixue even if I stopped making buns altogether.’

He felt disgusted.

He sat down, took a sip from a bottle of juice, and after finishing it, went to the kitchen to put the soaking plates into the dishwasher.

Once the shop was tidy, Jiang Liu went out to the wet market and bought ten bright red tomatoes.

He planned to make a pot of dough drop soup for lunch.

Dough drop soup was his mother’s specialty. The ingredients included flour, sesame oil, eggs, scallions, cilantro, salt, chicken bouillon, and other seasonings.

It was simple to make; the only tricky part was the technique for making the dough drops.

The essence of the soup was in the dough drops—they couldn’t be too big or too small.

Jiang Liu had a method for this. He would pour a thinned batter through a slotted spoon, letting it fall like raindrops. This was much more uniform than the traditional stirring method.

Another reason he chose this dish was that he could use the premium ingredients from the Gourmet Album.

For example, the exquisitely cultivated flour was pleasantly chewy and had a delicate fragrance.

The free-range eggs were rich in flavor with no unpleasant "eggy" smell...

As Jiang Liu walked through the wet market, passersby greeted him.

An old woman mentioned she had taken her grandson to line up at his door today, but he hadn’t been open.

Jiang Liu went straight to the Vegetable Boss’s stall and bought cilantro and scallions.

The Vegetable Boss asked curiously, "Boss Jiang, what are you planning to make?"

"I’m going to make some dough drop soup."

"Dough drop soup?"

The Vegetable Boss’s eyes lit up. "Are you going to sell it?"

"That’s the plan."

"Oh, that’s fantastic! I’ll have my wife go line up in a bit. We’ve got to buy a bowl to try!"

Jiang Liu said with a smile, "If you really want to try it, I can give you two bowls. The cost is negligible anyway."

The Vegetable Boss quickly shook his head. "No, no, I’d better line up. You already gave me that delicious bread last time, and I haven’t even had a chance to thank you properly. It wouldn’t be right to take more free food from you."

He didn’t want to end up like Xia Changzhi.

If Xia Changzhi hadn’t been a senior, the other customers would have cursed him out long ago.

After chatting casually with the Vegetable Boss for a few more moments, Jiang Liu returned to his shop with the fresh vegetables.

First, he roasted the tomatoes to make them easier to peel, as the skin would otherwise affect the texture.

Even after being boiled, tomato skin still has a tough texture in the mouth.

The appeal of dough drop soup was that the dough, tomatoes, and egg should all be soft, tender, and smooth.

He minced the scallions and chopped the cilantro into roughly inch-long sections, setting them aside in a bowl.

He took fifteen free-range eggs from the refrigerator and cracked them all into a basin.

...