Chapter 94
Little Lan’s roast duck stand was like a heavy punch in the face to Old Song and Old Hu.
The long queue, which had seemed endless just moments ago, shrank drastically in the blink of an eye, leaving only a few clueless onlookers still waiting in line—many of them didn’t even know what they were queuing for.
Of course, there were still some who came specifically for Zhu Yuan’s roast duck, like the father and daughter near the end of the line.
“Nannan, you wanted to eat Zhu Yuan for your birthday earlier, but Daddy couldn’t get a reservation for you. Today, we’re lucky to have found them setting up a stand outside.”
The middle-aged man, dressed in a suit, held his daughter’s hand, his joy obvious on his face.
Earlier this year, his daughter’s only birthday wish was to try Zhu Yuan’s roast duck. The man was a self-made entrepreneur, and now his business was thriving, so the price of the duck was no problem for them.
However, they had been turned away from Zhu Yuan because they lacked the social connections to the upper class.
Not being able to fulfill his daughter’s birthday wish had always been a regret in the man’s heart.
But today, as he picked up his daughter for lunch from school, he happened to spot the head chef from Zhu Yuan, Master Song, setting up a roast duck stand right outside, with no reservations needed—just pay and get a duck!
The man immediately brought his daughter to join the queue.
Although the smell from the nearby “Little Lan Roast Duck” stand now overwhelmed the aroma of Zhu Yuan’s roast duck, the man wasn’t swayed.
He had no particular obsession with food, only wanting to fulfill his daughter’s wish to try Zhu Yuan’s roast duck. No matter how delicious the other roast duck smelled, it wasn’t from Zhu Yuan.
“Dad, do you think 4,000 yuan is too expensive?”
The middle school-aged girl hesitated, glancing at her father and then at the long line that was now forming at the “Little Lan Roast Duck” stand.
For some reason, the other roast duck smelled even better…
But she kept this thought to herself, not saying it out loud.
“It’s fine if it’s a bit expensive, sweetheart. If you want to eat it, of course, Dad will buy it for you,” the man patted his chest. “Don’t worry, Nannan. Just eat and don’t worry about the money. See? We’re almost at the front of the line!”
The girl nodded, her thoughts heavy.
As He Duojin and the tourists from the travel group left, the line grew even shorter, with only a few people left in the queue.
An aunt carrying a basket had made it to the front of the line.
She looked to be in her fifties and was holding a Teddy dog. With a cheerful expression, she asked Old Song and the others, “What’s your stall selling?”
Usually, this type of customer—clearly an ordinary person—wouldn’t get much attention from Old Song and his apprentices. They would dismiss them entirely.
But today was different. If they couldn’t sell all these ducks, they’d lose over 200,000 yuan!
So, Old Song forced a smile and explained to the aunt, “We’re Zhu Yuan’s roast duck. It’s 4,000 yuan per duck. Let me give you one to try. It’s normally available in limited quantities!”
As he spoke, he signaled to his apprentices to quickly pull a duck out of the oven and hand it to the aunt.
—At this point, they couldn’t be picky; if they could sell one duck, it was better than nothing!
However, upon hearing Old Song’s words, the aunt’s expression changed drastically. She waved her hand, as if rejecting something dirty, and refused to take the roast duck. “I thought you were handing out free eggs… If I’d known, I wouldn’t have wasted my time!”
4,000 yuan for a roast duck? Who would buy that!
She wasn’t that much of a fool.
The aunt didn’t take the duck, but one of Old Song’s apprentices, thinking the duck had been handed to her, let go of it, causing…
Thud.
The whole roast duck fell to the ground.
The side that had been facing up was already charred and darkened. When it hit the ground, the charred side cracked.
The little Teddy dog in the aunt’s hand sniffed the air, tilted its head curiously, and walked forward to take a bite.
The aunt: “…”
Seeing the turn of events, Old Song and the others froze for a moment before they quickly concealed the pleased expressions on their faces.
Old Song and his apprentices scrambled to grab the aunt, shouting loudly, “Auntie, your dog just ate our roast duck! You can’t just deny it! 4,000 yuan, pay up now!”
The entire queue in front of Zhu Yuan was drawn to the commotion, with curious onlookers turning to watch.
The aunt, holding a basket, twitched her mouth as she looked at her little Teddy dog, exasperated. “Qiu Qiu, how could you be so unpicky? We always give you the best dog food, and now you’re picking up trash to eat outside…”
Upon hearing this, Old Song’s nose nearly bent with rage. “Who are you calling ‘trash’ when talking about our roast duck?!”
Most of the customers with normal reasoning had already left for Little Lan’s stand, and only about a dozen people remained in the queue, many of whom, like the father and daughter, had come for the fame of Zhu Yuan.
These people were mostly well-dressed middle-class individuals who weren’t rich enough to become VIPs at Zhu Yuan. For them, eating Zhu Yuan’s roast duck was a status symbol.
Although the roast duck that had fallen to the ground looked charred and suspicious, it was still Zhu Yuan’s famous roast duck—perhaps it was a special cooking technique?
So, several people couldn’t help but speak up in defense of Old Song:
“Auntie, don’t slander us. This is Zhu Yuan’s roast duck, passed down for generations. How can you call it trash?”
“Exactly, if it was really bad, your dog wouldn’t just gobble it up without a second thought.”
“I bet you can’t even afford the 4,000 yuan and are trying to avoid paying?”
“Quick, apologize and pay Chef Song!”
Encouraged by these words, Old Song puffed out his chest, regaining his confidence. He began looking down on the crowd again. “Hurry up and pay, or we’ll call the police.”
Under the pressure from so many voices, the aunt became flustered. She moved her lips, unsure of how to respond.
But before she could say anything, the next moment—
Under everyone’s gaze, the little Teddy dog that had eaten the roast duck suddenly changed its expression.
“Woof Woof… yue!”
It seemed like the little Teddy was clearly disgusted. With a ‘yue’ sound, it opened its mouth wide and spit out the piece of roast duck, exactly as it was, without any chewing.
—The piece of roast duck had barely been chewed. The charred surface looked like burnt charcoal, and the inside of the duck was still raw, oozing with blood and giving off a foul smell of burnt and bloody meat.
The little Teddy made several ‘yue’ sounds, completely spitting out the whole roast duck, and then kicked the duck away with its paw, sending it flying. “Woof!”
Zhu Yuan’s roast duck—even dogs won’t eat it.
Old Song: “…”
The crowd: “…………”
The aunt quickly picked up her little Teddy, angrily saying, “Look, what kind of roast duck is this? Burnt on the outside, raw on the inside. If my Qiu Qiu gets sick from eating this, I’ll make sure you pay!”
With that, she hurried off toward the nearby pet hospital, carrying her little Teddy.
The crowd stood in stunned silence.
—Even those who were blind to what had happened could now clearly see just how bad the quality of the Zhu Yuan roast duck was.
In reality, Zhu Yuan’s roast duck had been famous for years, and Old Song was their head chef. Normally, the roast ducks he made were not top-tier, but at least they were cooked properly and tasty.
However, because he usually prepared roast ducks for high-profile people, today, when he suddenly had to serve the ‘common people,’ he looked down on them. He felt that a street stall didn’t deserve his expertise, so he didn’t put in much effort. Most of the process was handled by his apprentices, who were resentful under the hot sun and didn’t care much for making delicious roast duck.
Additionally, they had stuffed the oven full of ducks in hopes of making money.
The roast duck that had been bitten by the Teddy dog and then spat out was burnt on the outside, raw on the inside, and bloody—this was worse than what amateurs could make.
Now, even the people who had been defending Old Song earlier couldn’t help but fall silent, their faces showing discomfort.
The roast duck was so poorly made that even they—who would normally blindly praise anything with the name “Zhu Yuan”—couldn’t find anything to say in its defense.
And indeed, this was literally the kind of roast duck that even dogs wouldn’t eat.
Who would be willing to pay 4,000 yuan for a roast duck that had been spat out by a dog, with a charred exterior, raw interior, and blood streaks on it?
They might have been naïve, but they weren’t blind…
Old Song wiped the sweat from his forehead. Forget about asking the aunt for the money—he quickly ordered a few apprentices to clean up the roast duck from the ground.
He pulled another roast duck from the oven and, with a forced smile, said to the crowd, “Thank you all for your support! Today, there’s no limit on how many roast ducks you can buy! If you want five or six, or even ten, feel free!”
Old Song recognized a few of the people in the crowd. Some had even come to give him gifts—alcohol and cigarettes—asking him to pull strings for them to secure a duck reservation. At the time, Old Song had refused, proud of his position.
Who would have thought the tables would turn today?
Old Song couldn’t help but grind his teeth, feeling deeply displeased inside, but his smile remained warm and enthusiastic.
…However, those who had just been defending Old Song earlier quietly took a step back.
Someone awkwardly chuckled and said, “I suddenly remembered I have something at home.” “Yeah, haha, I actually already had lunch, so I’ll pass on buying today.” “I’ll come back next time…”
One by one, they all left the queue.
The father and daughter were the first to leave.
They didn’t say a word, merely exchanged a look, their mouths twitching as they glanced at the charred roast duck, before quietly exiting the queue and heading toward the already long line at Little Lan’s stand.
In the blink of an eye, the last few people in Old Song’s line also left.
The queue was completely empty.
Looking at the more than fifty roast ducks in the oven, all left unsold, Old Song and his apprentices collapsed in despair onto the ground.
Old Song muttered to himself, “How could this happen? This is the recipe of the imperial kitchen from hundreds of years ago. If it were back then, I would have been the imperial chef…”
His voice was picked up by the camera recording nearby.
Old Hu, holding the phone for the live stream, trembled as he watched.
With the start of the “My Little Darling is Three and a Half” livestream, the traffic in their own livestream room plummeted. Just like the queue at the roast duck stand, most of the viewers had been drawn away to the other livestream.
The remaining viewers were mostly just watching for the drama.
Hearing Old Song’s words, the viewers couldn’t help but mock:
[“Imperial chef”?! Wake up! The Qing Dynasty has been gone for how many years now?!]
[Zhu Yuan is ridiculously overpriced and has bad attitude—serves them right (flipping the bird)! Go watch the other livestream with the baby photos. The roast duck there looks amazing!]
[Did anyone else notice the big shot who turned and left with a sour face in the corner? That looked like Madam Huo… isn’t Huo family another major client of Zhu Yuan? I heard Young Master Mu just canceled Zhu Yuan’s VIP status recently. Maybe Madam Huo did the same?]
[If Madam Huo also cancels, Zhu Yuan’s probably going to go bankrupt soon~]
…
Nearby.
Madam Huo had originally asked her bodyguard to wait in line for her while she stepped aside to handle some business calls.
When she returned, she was stunned to find that not only was there another line in front of her, but the queue she had been in was shrinking rapidly, while the new line was quickly growing longer.
Madam Huo froze for a moment before she noticed the front of the queue she had been in—
“Zhu Yuan Roast Duck.”
Madam Huo: “???”
She had waited in line for so long, only to find out it was Zhu Yuan Roast Duck? When did she ever need to queue for Zhu Yuan Roast Duck when she wanted to eat it?
She had queued… for the wrong place!
So Madam Huo going be the last one to take Jian Yunlan’s roasted duck or missed out again by being in the queue or her bodyguards couldn’t resist and each eat a portion of the roasted duck?