CHAPTER 512: 510, TURN LONGING INTO MOTIVATION!

Does Luofeng really care about those few tens of yuan?

He doesn’t care at all, alright?

Let alone 45 yuan.

Even if it were 450,000 yuan, Luofeng wouldn’t even bat an eyelid.

What Luofeng enjoyed was simply the experience itself.

"Boss, let me tell you a story. These dishes are all from Little Brother Hot Pot!" Luofeng began to narrate.

"Their hot pot restaurant? It’s notorious for using gutter oil. Except for a few flagship stores, all the others do it. And the gutter oil from the flagship stores? They even send it to the other branches," the boss complained.

"They once offered us 300,000 yuan to advertise for them. We were planning to go try their food, approaching it with a serious and responsible attitude, but then the gutter oil issue came up," Luofeng complained.

The boss looked at Luofeng skeptically. "They offered you 300,000 yuan for advertising?"

"Yeah. Here, let me introduce you. This is my girlfriend; she’s a well-known vlogger on YouTube and Bilibili," Luofeng said, making the introduction.

"This young lady must be missing a pair of glasses!" the boss joked.

"Hey, I’m not joking with you. My girlfriend really is a vlogger, and I was even thinking of having her do a feature on your place. You think I’m joking?" Luofeng retorted.

"Young man, don’t pull my leg. Where would I get the money to pay you for advertising?" the boss said with a laugh.

Luofeng shook his head helplessly. "You just treated me to dinner, so naturally, we’ll promote you for free. However, whether we actually do or not still depends on your cooking skills."

Luofeng continued, "If your food tastes good, of course, we won’t ask for an advertising fee; we’ll help you by featuring you. If it doesn’t taste good, like that Little Brother Hot Pot, we wouldn’t touch it even for 300,000 yuan!"

"Alright, you have to trust my skills. I’ve been a master chef for fifteen years; I’m incredibly consistent!" the boss exclaimed.

"Please, stop bragging. If you mess this up later, we won’t do a second tasting!" Luofeng joked.

"I definitely won’t mess it up!" the boss said.

While the boss and Luofeng chatted, he simultaneously selected the ingredients Luofeng had brought over.

He would re-cut any pieces that were too large, processing them again with his knife skills.

Then he sorted the ingredients into four categories.

Each category required a different cooking time.

The ingredients that needed the longest cooking time went in first, and those that cooked quickly went in last, ensuring optimal texture for everything.

Such small details might not definitively prove his skill, but they at least showed he was very meticulous.

That’s why, while the gutter oil made the hot pot inedible, taking the vegetables to avoid waste was acceptable.

"Will you film the details of me preparing the dipping sauce?" the boss asked.

"A secret recipe?" Luofeng said with a laugh.

"It’s not about a secret recipe. I just mean, if you’re going to film, I’ll make my moves look cooler, you know, Salt Brother style!" the boss spoke up.

"I advise you not to get carried away. Just focus on preparing the dipping sauce. After all, I just bragged to my girlfriend about your place. If you mess up, won’t I look like a complete idiot?" Luofeng grumbled.

Liu Hanyan listened as Luofeng and the boss bantered, thinking this side of Luofeng was so genuine. She found herself liking this Luofeng even more, feeling it brought them closer.

"By the way, your dipping sauce is pretty good. Aren’t you afraid of others studying it if it’s filmed?" Luofeng asked curiously.

"That just shows you’re a layman. If a secret recipe could be figured out just by watching a video, could it still be called a secret? Wouldn’t any customer learn it just by watching me a few times?" the boss said with a laugh.

"Is there some trick to it? If you can talk about it, please do. If not, then just pretend I never asked," Luofeng spoke up.

"Of course, I can. Let’s take the simplest example: salt. How much salt exactly goes with how many ingredients? Even if you figure that out, what happens if you change salt brands next time?" the boss said. "Different brands have varying levels of saltiness, and even within the same brand, batches can differ. All this requires a master chef to personally taste and develop an intuitive understanding to use salt precisely."

"The same applies to chicken powder, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and so on; they all have similar issues. These things might seem trivial, but combined, they’re crucial!"

Luofeng laughed. "So, you do have some skills. I initially thought you were just Bronze-tier, but it seems you might be King-tier?"

"Just tell me this, is our Instant Spicy Steampot delicious?" the boss queried.

"Stop bragging and let my girlfriend try it." Luofeng actually already knew the answer. If this Instant Spicy Steampot weren’t delicious, he wouldn’t have brought Liu Hanyan here in the first place.

"I’ll wait for you guys to make the video. If it really brings in good returns for me, you’ll be VIPs from then on, with a 12% discount," the boss said.

"I thought you were going to say it’d be free," Luofeng teased.

"Free is impossible. After all, I run a small business, and life is tough!" the boss teased back.

「In less than twenty minutes.」

The Qingshui Instant Spicy Steampot was served.

Luofeng and Liu Hanyan began to taste it.

Liu Hanyan first tasted the romaine lettuce.

The romaine lettuce hearts, boiled in plain water, were cooked just right.

They were neither undercooked, which would make them too raw and bitter, nor overcooked, which would ruin the texture.

Combined with the handmade dipping sauce, it was very numbing and spicy, suiting the tastes preferred by most young people today.

Liu Hanyan silently gave the romaine lettuce a high score in her mind.

The second dish they tried was tripe, an ingredient that truly tests a cook’s control over the heat.

But the boss’s skill was evident; there was no raw taste, yet it retained a crisp and satisfyingly crunchy texture.

Liu Hanyan couldn’t help but praise it, "Big King, I think the boss’s cooking is excellent. It could at least rank in the top ten."

"Not bad!" Luofeng agreed.

「Some twenty minutes later.」

Having finished their meal, they inquired, "Boss, what’s your surname?"

"My surname is Wang. You can just call me Master Wang."

"Hmm, I do recall your surname is indeed Wang!" Even though Luofeng used to come here often and the owner recognized him, he hadn’t been quite sure of the surname.

"Right, my name is Luofeng!"

"I know. Boss Luo’s son, right?" Master Wang said with a smile.

Luofeng was also a bit surprised.

He actually knows me? It seems Dad is quite well-known.

"This is Liu Hanyan, my girlfriend!" Luofeng introduced.

"So, how were my cooking skills, young lady?" Master Wang asked with a smile.

Liu Hanyan nodded. "Of course, they were great! Is it alright if we schedule a shoot for tomorrow? Our team has four people, and they have all the necessary equipment. We might take up some of your business space during filming."

"No problem at all! I can even close the shop tomorrow to accommodate you!" Master Wang said, chuckling.

"There’s no need to close. We’ll come over at noon to prepare, and then we can shoot in the afternoon," Liu Hanyan said.

"Then everyone should come for lunch tomorrow, my treat, to thank you all!" Master Wang said.

"We’ve wrangled another free meal," Luofeng laughed.

After they had settled everything, Luofeng naturally took Liu Hanyan back to Rainbow District.

All those days of longing now had to be channeled into motivation!