Chapter 19: Chapter 19 Coming by Reputation
Perhaps because he went to bed early, Chen Yu woke up before four o'clock.
Just as he got off the food cart, preparing to wash up, he saw Tong Ya's car parked to the side.
Tong Ya was dressed in casual wear, wrapped in a coat, shivering slightly next to her car.
"Tong Ya?"
Chen Yu hurried over, "Why have you come so early?"
"Who knows, maybe after a whole day yesterday, my body clock has started to sync up with yours! And I'm not your teacher, so don't call me 'teacher' anymore."
Chen Yu felt a bit embarrassed, "Hurry into the food cart to warm up!"
The heat from cooking all day had kept the interior of the food cart at a constant temperature.
Just as Tong Ya was about to enter the food cart, the delivery guy with the raw materials arrived.
"Wow, boss, no wonder you work so hard, your wife is so beautiful!"
Tong Ya had always been praised for her beauty since she was young and was used to it.
Yet this praise made her feel an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.
Without waiting for Chen Yu to speak, she quickly directed the delivery guys to bring the raw materials inside the food cart, afraid that Chen Yu might break this feeling of satisfaction.
As soon as the delivery guys left, Tong Ya had already put on an apron, helping Chen Yu sort out the ingredients just like yesterday.
"I've been watching you make fried cakes and vegetable pastries these last two days, and there's nothing strange about it, so how come they taste so good when you make them?"
Chen Yu, while mixing the dough, "Are you here to steal the recipe?"
"That depends on whether you're willing to teach me!"
Chen Yu raised an eyebrow, "Actually, it's not that difficult, you just have to control the details of every step of the process."
Tong Ya stuck out her tongue playfully, "That's as good as not saying anything!"
At four in the morning, Zhang Fan arrived at the food cart in a hurry.
"Chen Yu, could you prepare two hundred fried cakes and a hundred vegetable pastries for me? I'm in a bit of a hurry and need to go."
"So sudden?" Chen Yu was surprised; it was his first time seeing Zhang Fan so flustered.
"There's a math competition, and I just got the news, so I hurried over to pick up some breakfast for my colleagues from you."
Chen Yu looked at the prepared raw materials on hand.
"Can you wait for twenty minutes?"
"Sure! I'll come back to pick them up later!"
With that, Zhang Fan paid the money directly.
"Wow, what a lucky start to the day! Such a big order right from the get-go!"
Tong Ya exclaimed, genuinely happy for Chen Yu.
Chen Yu was calmly frying the cakes and pastries in the oil, "Zhang is a regular! He comes every morning and evening."
"Yeah, food carts like this rely on returning customers. These past few days, I've noticed you're getting more and more regulars. Have you thought about hiring some employees?"
Chen Yu shrugged, "It's just a food cart; I can still manage. If I hire others, they might do the job half-heartedly, and the taste would suffer."
"What about me?" Tong Ya suddenly turned to Chen Yu with a playful tone.
"I won't do things half-heartedly, and I'll only cost you some fried cakes and vegetable pastries!"
Chen Yu felt a bit embarrassed; truthfully, he didn't know what to do.
Tong Ya said she was here to help, but after these two days, she was like a full-time employee, guarding the place day and night.
Yet paying her a salary and treating her like a regular employee didn't seem quite right either.
As he was lost in thought, the local net cafe youths had gathered around the food cart as usual.
"Boss, you started cooking so early today."
Chen Yu politely replied, "This is just someone's order, you'll have to wait a bit longer."
"No worries, boss. We can't even get into our game without your rice cakes; we'll wait however long it takes."
When Zhang Fan came over again, Tong Ya had already packed the fried rice cakes and vegetable pastries and handed them over.
"Wow, that was fast! I thought I came early!" Zhang Fan took the bag, seemingly reminded of something.
"Right, the lease on the shop next to me is up in a week. Old Chen, if you're interested, I can talk to the landlord for you."
Chen Yu's face lit up with joy. He was clearly feeling that the food cart was not enough anymore, and if he hit the jackpot with the lottery a couple more times, even if he didn't want to, he wouldn't be able to avoid moving into a shop.
"That'd be great! Thanks a lot, Old Zhang."
"Don't mention it, I'm off now!"
By six in the morning, as always, the food cart was bustling with people.
There was even a foreign tour group that had come seeking its local fame.
Fortunately, both Chen Yu and Tong Ya were fairly competent in foreign languages, or else it would have really been a waste of time trying to communicate.
Tuan Tuan was also fluttering about like a little swallow, moving through the crowd.
Only these past couple of days, with the sudden increase in customers, her writing speed clearly couldn't keep up.
Before long, several minivans parked nearby.
"Is this where you bought it from?" Fang Yuan couldn't believe her eyes: "You can make something this delicious in a food cart?"
The agent beside her was also amazed, "Such a small food cart, and yet it attracts such a huge crowd. It's nothing short of miraculous."
Fang Yuan was a public figure now, after all. She and several actors didn't get out of the car, instead having their staff line up for them.
But when she rolled down the window, she was shocked to find that the person standing at the food cart's counter was none other than Chen Yu.
"How can it be him?" The agent also saw Chen Yu through the window.
In the entertainment industry, the agent might be the only person who knew everything about Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan frowned deeply, her gaze fixed intently on Tong Ya beside Chen Yu.
"Where did this woman come from?"
Seeing Tong Ya, Fang Yuan suddenly felt somewhat ashamed of herself.
In terms of looks, although she wasn't inferior to Tong Ya, Tong Ya had an indescribable quality and charm about her.
What she couldn't accept, though, was how such a beautiful woman could be selling breakfast here with Chen Yu.
A sense of envy emerged spontaneously, and Fang Yuan felt the urge to confront them.
But then she thought better of it. She was already divorced, and the past of this marriage absolutely must not be discovered by others.
Stepping out now would be career suicide.
Fang Yuan's eyes subconsciously wandered to Tuan Tuan, who darted through the crowd like a little swallow, then she promptly urged the driver.
"Forget it, pay for the breakfast and let's go somewhere else to eat!"
"Yuan Yuan, the breakfast here is really good, you can tell by the line..."
"I said somewhere else!" Fang Yuan cut off the driver directly.
The agent quickly tried to smooth things over, "Let's go, this kind of food is too greasy anyway! Yuan Yuan still needs to maintain her figure!"
Perhaps because of the Saturday revelry, there were even more people coming to buy the fried rice cakes and vegetable pastries on Sunday morning than the day before.
They kept at it until noon, when the crowd finally began to dwindle down.
Chen Yu showed no sign of wanting to rest; he just stretched, pulled up a chair, and sat down to continue making the semi-finished products.
Tong Ya, on the other hand, stretched out her own body and then sat down beside Chen Yu, pressing on the spinal area at the back of his head and started to gently massage it.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone