Part 2

After finishing the pancake, she and the cameraman filmed a few more shots inside the shop, but deliberately avoided the freezer and the baskets in the back.

Those were parts Director Shang had specifically instructed not to show.

Before leaving, the reporter exchanged contact information with Lin You and told her that once the edited video was ready, they’d let her see it first.

The interview was finally over.

In the afternoon, everyone in the shop got busy again.

Every time the baskets of vegetables were brought out, passersby would stop and come over to buy some.

Fresh vegetables were incredibly hard to come by at the moment. The leaves weren’t wilted and the color was vibrant. People were afraid it would all be snapped up quickly.

Worried they’d miss out, a long line soon formed again, stretching from the breakfast shop’s door all the way to the corner of a nearby street.

More and more people joined the line. Lin You sat in front of the freezer, using the vacuum so long her hand went numb, but she still couldn’t stop.

Also, because too many people were crowded in front of the shop, the breakfast window that was supposed to close in the morning stayed open. People kept coming to buy pancakes and wontons.

Tong Lan stood by the back kitchen window the whole time, constantly preparing food for them.

Lin You hadn’t taught her many items that day, so there weren’t many breakfast options for sale.

However, compared to the rest of the street where everything was closed, having something to eat was already a rare treat, so no one was picky.

And Tong Lan, who kept making these two types of food, became more and more skilled.

Earlier, when cracking eggs, it was easy to break the shells into the bowl. Now, when customers wanted eggs added to their pancakes, Tong Lan could crack two eggs at the same time with both hands, and every egg remained perfectly intact.

Throughout the afternoon, everyone was working nonstop, without any break.

Especially during the time when people were getting off work, many office workers joined the lines to buy vegetables and meals.

Those who were too lazy to cook or lacked ingredients at home, and with food delivery being scarce, chose to buy meals from the shop to take home.

Gu Hong kept running back and forth, delivering dozens of buckets of fresh milk to the supermarket.

Finally, it got dark.

People gradually returned home, and the line in front of the vegetable baskets slowly shortened.

After Qi Kai and Qu Fei finished selling the vegetables in the baskets, they did not restock them.

Everyone finished their tasks and returned to the store to rest on the chairs.

Although it had been a tiring day, everyone was in a good mood.

Perhaps it was because they saw the excited and hopeful expressions of the citizens buying vegetables and food, and they felt that they had done something meaningful.

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After resting for a while, Lin You ate two walnuts and felt a bit more energized.

She suddenly had a new suggestion and said, “Is anyone hungry? I have a grill here, it’s still new and unused. Why don’t we have a barbecue tonight?”

Qi Kai slapped his thigh and said, “Great, I always did the grilling when I went on picnics with my friends. I’m pretty good at it. I’ll show you tonight.”

Gu Hong suddenly remembered something and asked, “Are there any bamboo skewers for the meat in the store?”

Lin You frowned, “Ah, I think there aren’t any.”

Gu Hong said, “I ran several trips to the supermarket today, and I know which one has bamboo skewers. I’ll go buy them and be right back.”

After speaking, he strode out through the glass door, got into the car, and drove off.

Tong Lan volunteered, “Youyou, I’ll help you wash the vegetables and meat.”

After Lin You went into the kitchen behind the curtain, she brought out different types of meat.

These meats were stored in the freezer, and some needed to be defrosted. To speed up the process, Tong Lan took a small basin and placed it under the one holding the meat, using hot water to melt the ice.

Then, she rinsed the meat slowly under the faucet and handed the cleaned pieces to Lin You.

Lin You was responsible for cutting them into small pieces and placing them on different plates for later use.

Now, they were just waiting for Gu Hong to return with the bamboo skewers to start skewering the meat.

After that, Qu Fei moved the barbecue grill from the store, put in the charcoal, and started to light the fire.

But for some reason, the charcoal just wouldn’t ignite.

No matter what method he tried, it would light briefly, then go out.

Qu Fei was puzzled and asked Qi Kai, “What’s going on?”

Qi Kai, having grilled many times before, had some experience. He looked at the recently extinguished charcoal and said, “This charcoal is too solid. You won’t get it to light like this. Take the charcoal out, I’ll light it.”

Following Qi Kai’s advice, Qu Fei took out the charcoal and handed it to him.

Qi Kai returned to the stove, turned the fire up high, and directly used the stove flame to light the charcoal, piece by piece, until it glowed red, then placed it back into the grill.

The charcoal finally started to burn.

Previously, on the street where Lin You’s breakfast shop was located, there were often some small stalls set up at night.

There used to be an open-air barbecue nearby, which tasted really good. Qi Kai mentioned it and seemed to miss it.

“I wonder when that owner will set up his stall again? His secret seasoning was great. Next time he opens, I’ll take you all to try it.”

“The first time I ate it was when I went out with Shang Zhisheng for work. We passed by here and were starving, so we bought some barbecue. I still remember that taste clearly. After that, I was hooked and would occasionally drive over just to eat it.”

Lin You was mixing sauce, holding a small plate in her hand. As she walked out, she kept stirring.

Hearing Qi Kai’s words, she asked, “What secret seasoning? Is it the same as this one?”

Qi Kai looked over and found the seasoning on her plate a bit familiar, so he asked, “What is that?”

Lin You replied, “I know the barbecue stall owner you’re talking about. He used to set up near here, and I’ve eaten there many times. After eating it so much, I figured out the ingredients he added to his secret sauce. This sauce in my hand is made based on his recipe. Once it’s brushed on the meat and grilled, you can try it and see if it tastes the same as what you used to like.”

While they were talking, Gu Hong’s car pulled up in front of the breakfast shop.

The car door opened, and he jumped out from the driver’s seat, holding up the plastic bag in his hand toward Lin You. Inside were a bunch of bamboo skewers.

Qi Kai said, “You bought so many, how are we going to finish them?”

Gu Hong laughed, “It’s good to have more. Next time we want to eat, we can grill right away without making another trip.”

Tong Lan saw him coming and quickly took the skewers, ran to the kitchen, washed them clean, and started skewering meat and vegetables.

However, skewering meat is also a laborious task.

The denser pieces of meat were hard to skewer, so Tong Lan was working slowly.

Gu Hong came over, took the skewer from her hand, moved the plate of meat in front of him, and said, “Let us do it.”

He called Qu Fei over, and the two of them sat in front of the plate and started skewering the meat in earnest.

Qi Kai had almost finished getting the fire ready, and the temperature was just right.

After placing the iron rack on the grill, he went back into the breakfast shop to get the skewers.

He placed the skewers that Gu Hong and Qu Fei had prepared onto the rack and brushed the sauce that Lin You had brought over.

Lin You stood beside him, wanting to help.

But Qi Kai said, “You go rest. We have more strength, moving stuff all day is nothing to us.”

After speaking, he looked at the stool at his feet and said, “I brought this over for you. Just sit here. You and Tong Lan only need to do one thing now—wait to eat.”

Lin You saw that he was guarding the grill and wouldn’t let her help, so she had no choice but to give up and sit quietly by the side to wait.

However, Qi Kai was really quite good. He was extremely skilled at grilling meat.

In just a short while, the fire had already brought out the aroma of the skewers, and the entire street was filled with the scent of roasting.

Lin You noticed that he was handling the doneness of each kind of meat very well and couldn’t help asking, “Do you usually cook often?”

Qi Kai shook his head and said, “The only thing I know how to cook is grilled skewers. This was all practiced from going camping with others.”

Lin You couldn’t help but exclaim, “Then how many times have you gone camping to be this skilled?”

Qi Kai smiled and said, “I wouldn’t call it skilled, I just have a few more friends than others. It’s a pity though, those friends are all out fighting zombies now and I can’t help them.”

Only then did Lin You understand that the friends he went camping with were probably once his comrades-in-arms.