White Ye was holding the instant noodles and was about to return to the car to eat, but since it was cold, he had kept the engine running.
As soon as he entered the car, it felt warm inside. Closing the door, White Ye eagerly took a sip of the soup.
Due to a tight budget, the tomatoes weren't of great quality, but after White Ye's cooking, they were somewhat compensated for. The soup tasted decent.
After drinking the hot soup, White Ye sighed in comfort.
If only he were at home, lying on the warm kang bed, how wonderful would that be.
He imagined himself back home, slurping up noodles with a slurping sound, drinking some soup, and occasionally biting into a piece of egg.
The egg was perfectly cooked — the whites completely set while the yolk remained soft and runny, just the way White Ye liked it.
Fully cooked yolks always felt a bit too dry.
White Ye was already starving. It had been a busy day, and the cold weather only made it worse. After gulping down most of the noodles, he finally had time to enjoy.
At that moment, someone suddenly knocked on his car window.
White Ye, holding the food box in one hand, lowered the window with the other. "What's up?"
"Hey, brother, I noticed you didn't clean up your stuff," the person outside said, stomping his feet.
"I'll clean it up after I finish eating!" White Ye quickly replied.
His father had always warned him to avoid trouble when out alone — it's better to keep things simple.
"No, no, you misunderstood!" The person quickly clarified. "I was wondering if you could make me a bowl of noodles like the one you're having? I'll pay you!"
White Ye hesitated at first, but the last three words changed his mind.
Again, he had been swayed by money!
"Sure, just wait until I'm done eating," White Ye said. "But let's agree on a price first."
White Ye didn't actually know how to price things. He was only responsible for the kitchen work, but he was the one who handled procurement, so he understood the costs involved.
The noodles themselves were very cheap, costing less than a dollar for two packs. Tomatoes, eggs, and vegetables had some cost, but it wasn't high.
The most expensive part was his labor.
It was really cold outside!
"How about twenty?" The person quickly offered.
"Sure! Wait in your car, I'll bring it over when it's ready!" White Ye immediately switched to a friendlier tone.
"You're an interesting guy," the person laughed. "Alright, I'll leave twenty here. I'm in the first black car behind you, the one with a '6' at the end of the license plate."
"Got it!"
[System: Random Task (2) - Sell ten meals within three hours. Completing the task will reward you with a large sum of money and a random rare item drop. Failure will result in a random decrease in funds. Difficulty: ★★]
White Ye quickly finished the remaining noodles and soup, stuffed the twenty bucks into his pocket, and got out of the car.
The onlookers from earlier had already dispersed. They hadn't expected White Ye to come down again for a second round.
White Ye was worried about the gas tank freezing, so he had put it back in the car earlier, but hadn't cleaned up the other stuff.
Now he just needed to take the gas stove out of the car and set it up again.
He was already familiar with the process, having done it earlier.
While using the one-click cleaning function, White Ye had also cleaned the tomatoes he bought this morning — there were probably dozens of them. He had also cleaned quite a few small bok choy.
A bowl of noodles was quickly prepared and packed into a container. The hourglass on top of his head had only gone down a little over ten minutes.
White Ye quickly delivered the cooked noodles to the car behind him, knocked on the window, and the person thanked him before taking the meal and eagerly started eating.
The people in the cars ahead and behind were naturally surprised.
It turned out that this guy wasn't cooking the second batch of noodles for himself, but for the person in the car behind?
So he was selling food?
Suddenly, many people rubbed their stomachs.
In this freezing weather, a warm bowl of noodles would be perfect, even if it was a bit expensive.
A few people immediately started considering it. They had left early in the morning, intending to have lunch in the county, but now they were stuck here and might have to wait an hour or more for the traffic to clear.
At that moment, the first man who bought the noodles was happily eating in his car.
It was just as he had imagined, the noodles were comforting. Even though he had instant noodles and hot water with him, the thought of freshly cooked noodles made the instant noodles seem unappealing.
Twenty bucks would get you a bowl of ramen with meat slices in a regular shop, which wasn't cheap. But the moment he took a bite, he felt it was totally worth it.
The taste was amazing!
As he ate more, he even found two eggs in the noodles.
Biting into the eggs, the yolks were still runny.
The man was even more satisfied. The twenty bucks was well worth it!
But as he continued eating, his window was knocked again. The man hesitated for a moment, then a flash of memory crossed his mind.
He realized that he was the one who had knocked on the window of the young guy earlier when he was enjoying his noodles.
Karma had come quickly!
He helplessly rolled down the window. "What's up?"
"Hey, bro, can I ask if you bought a bowl of noodles from the guy ahead of you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I was thinking of buying one too. What's the price?"
"Well, I've only got half a bowl left," the man pointed to his almost finished meal. "But it was twenty bucks for a bowl."
"What? Twenty bucks for a bowl?" The other person immediately lost interest. "I might as well wait until I get to the county and order a full meal."
Even though it was the end of the year, and people weren't exactly short on cash, twenty bucks for a bowl of noodles seemed a bit too much. Especially when a bowl of instant noodles at a service area only costs ten bucks, and you can sit and enjoy it slowly.
In the county, you could get a decent meal for twenty.
The person had seen the cheap noodles from earlier, after all.
"Hey, don't just dismiss it because it's twenty bucks. He's making noodles for you in the freezing cold. Labor's not free, you know? And the taste..." The man tried to explain.
But the other person had already lost interest, gave a brief wave, and walked away.
A few more people came by asking about the noodles, but as soon as they heard the price, they lost interest.
The man started to get frustrated. He found a piece of paper and wrote, "One bowl of noodles, twenty bucks. Serious inquiries only," then stuck it to the car window. He leaned against the glass and started to nap, ignoring any further knocks.
After selling the first bowl of noodles, White Ye sold two or three more. Twenty bucks wasn't cheap, but he made sure each bowl was perfect, with two eggs in each one.
After selling four bowls, no one else came by.
White Ye was shivering and stamping his feet, but when he saw no one else was coming, he went back to the car.
The inside of the car was warm, but White Ye felt uneasy.
He had made eighty bucks from four bowls of noodles, but the random task was only 40% complete, and an hour had already passed.
If this continued, he feared the task would fail.
Thinking about his small goal of 1072.73 in savings, White Ye felt a pang of regret.
Who will save his money now?