Indescribably Delicious Food Invades Shrek

"Food service really was a grueling business."

Huo Yuhao shook his head, gazing helplessly at the packed stalls. He had come out at the crack of dawn, after all. Even if picking up things like the barbecue grill had delayed him a little, the place should not have filled up this quickly.

He followed the crowd toward the side for quite a while before finally spotting an opening at a corner. There were not many vendors here yet. Perhaps because it was too far from the school gates, the early-arriving vendors did not particularly like setting up here.

Without wasting much time, Huo Yuhao laid out the metal grill oven specially made by a craftsman, the iron rack, the various seasonings, and the cleaned, gutted black carp one by one. Starting a fire was even easier for him. Before long, several chunks of charcoal were glowing red inside the grill oven.

The grill oven was fairly large and could hold six fish at once. He immediately began grilling them.

Before long, a rich aroma drifted through the air. It worked better than any advertisement. Not only the students coming out of the academy, but even the surrounding vendors could not help casting curious looks in his direction.

That was why Huo Yuhao did not mind setting up in a slightly secluded spot. Fine wine feared no deep alley. His grilled fish had lured Old Man Du Busi over from several miles away, so he naturally was not worried about whether he could attract students who were only a few hundred meters from the school gates.

"Little brother, how much is your grilled fish?" a male student in a yellow school uniform came over and asked.

Huo Yuhao replied enthusiastically, "Senior, our grilled fish is five silver coins each, or three for one gold soul coin. Everyone who has tried it says it's great, everyone who buys it says it's wonderful. Men who eat it grow stronger and healthier, women who eat it become prettier, and children who eat it never want to leave. If you want to know whether this little grilled fish is really that good, just try one and you'll find out."

Huo Yuhao's smooth sales pitch made the senior in yellow laugh. He readily took out five silver coins and paid for one to try. The other nearby students, seeing such an interesting new stall, also gathered around to watch. They wanted to see what kind of review this brave first taster would give.

This was exactly the effect Huo Yuhao wanted. When he and Huo Yun'er had wandered Snack Street yesterday, he had deliberately studied the traits of particularly successful food stalls. Among them, calling out to advertise clearly drew in far more customers.

So Huo Yuhao had specifically paid attention to the prices of those foods and came up with a pricing scheme that was slightly more expensive but offered discounts for bulk purchases. He had also casually conveyed that through his sales pitch.

People liked getting a bargain. Five silver coins for one grilled fish was a price that many students, even those who were not short on money, still found a little expensive.

But once Huo Yuhao followed it up with three for one gold soul coin, everyone immediately felt that the price was entirely reasonable and acceptable. Although each black carp had only cost him one copper coin, buying more grilled fish came with a discount!

After taking the five silver coins handed over by the senior in yellow, Huo Yuhao grew even more serious about grilling the fish. He even circulated the bit of Soul Power he had just recovered and activated the illusory Vertical Pupil between his brows to inspect the fish's doneness.

Very soon, when Huo Yuhao handed a grilled black carp to the Yellow-clad Student, everyone else's eyes naturally fell upon him as well.

A faint sheen of oil flowed over the golden-brown black carp, while a rich fragrance continuously burst forth from its belly. A light layer of pinkish-red chili powder covered the fish, adding several more degrees of deadly temptation to the entire grilled fish.

When his teeth came into contact with the fish, there was even a faint crackling sound. The fish skin had been roasted completely crisp without being even the slightest bit burnt. Beneath that crispy skin was tender, juicy fish meat that had fully absorbed the flavors.

After just one bite, the Yellow-clad Student's eyes went wide.

The tenderness of the fish, the crispness of the skin, the fragrance of perilla, the exquisite flavors of the Secret Sauce all blended together, along with that thin layer of chili powder. The perfect flavor of the fish meat and skin carried all sorts of intensely impactful, utterly unheard-of spice fragrances, exploding in the student's mouth like a Fixed Soul Guidance Cannon Shell.

Without bothering to praise it, the Yellow-clad Student directly tossed out a gold soul coin and reserved three grilled fish. Then he opened his mouth wide and began wolfing them down, caring nothing for his manners.

The other students who had been observing for some time instantly understood what was happening. The first batch of black carp Huo Yuhao grilled was snatched up in an instant. But there were too many monks and too little porridge. The explosive reaction to that first grilled fish suddenly drew an enormous flood of customers to Huo Yuhao. Despite being several hundred meters from the school gates, his stall was still surrounded so tightly by food-loving students that not even water could pass through.

One grilled fish after another came out of the oven. Huo Yuhao grilled each one with great care and did not lower the quality just because there were so many customers. Every student who received a grilled fish ate with immense satisfaction, and some even asked to reserve grilled fish for the next day. After weighing it over, Huo Yuhao still decided to serve customers according to the queue.

After all, grilled fish tasted best fresh out of the oven. If someone came too late, the flavor would suffer by the time they ate it.

Huo Yuhao did not grill a great number of fish each day. He had only prepared two hundred black carp. Although he grilled at a fairly good pace, he still spent the entire morning working nonstop before he finished them all.

"Brother, are you coming back this afternoon? Seriously, brother, your grilled fish is so damn amazing. I think I'm already addicted."

A Purple-clad Senior had bought six grilled fish from Huo Yuhao in one go and eaten to his heart's content. He was now helping Huo Yuhao pack up his stall.

"No, I'm planning to find a secondhand Soul Tool Repair Shop this afternoon and work as an apprentice. I want to learn more about Soul Tools so it'll be easier for me to apply for Special Enrollment in the Soul Tool department at our school later. But aside from grilled fish, I'll probably sell some other things in the future. I should also start setting up after school in the afternoon instead."

Huo Yuhao's clearly organized plans for the future made the senior in purple give him a thumbs-up. Then he volunteered, "I just finished my advancement exams yesterday, so I've got nothing to do all day today. I'll come take a look around with you."

"I know the owner of a secondhand Soul Tool Repair Shop. He's my childhood buddy, and he's also a senior graduate from our school. His skills are solid. The Soul Tools he repairs come out looking brand-new. I heard someone once even sold a Soul Tool he repaired as ninety-nine percent new stuff. Damn, just think how solid his reputation must be."

The Purple-clad Senior was sturdily built, over six feet tall, with muscles all over his body. Every feature on his face suggested that he was an excellent young man, and one look was enough to tell that he had a warm heart.

He wore his hair in a bun and had gold jewelry around his wrist and neck. He looked like the sort of kid who had grown up on the streets. Perhaps his words and actions were a little crude, but once he considered you one of his own brothers, he would definitely be the kind of person who would take a knife for you.