The food stall nearest the station sold mutton soup.
The mutton soup stall had been open all night. Now, yawning, the owner was still knocking the sheep bones in his pot with a large ladle, coaxing out the last bit of marrow fragrance.
Right beside it was a fried flatbread stall. The owner kneaded the dough, rolled it out, and cooked the flatbreads all by himself, his movements wonderfully deft.
But he had set out only his pan, without so much as a single table for customers.
Nine out of ten customers drawn in by the mutton soup stall on one side and the bone broth egg soup stall on the other would buy his flatbreads anyway, so why bother setting up tables?
That bone broth egg soup beside him took some doing.
It required a large pot, at least big enough for a person to bathe in, and the owner had to use a ladle as long as a shovel to serve the soup.
He also had to spend generously on the ingredients in the soup vat-at least two pork marrow bones, one beef marrow bone, and a plump chicken.
But the owner's secret to a delicious broth was adding five large fish bones fried until deeply browned.
The browned fish bones released a distinctive savory fragrance, adding richness to the whole pot.
Such a huge pot sat over a stove kept at a gentle simmer, so tiny bubbles always rose through the broth. At any moment, it could be ladled into a bowl, turning beaten eggs into egg-drop soup.
Still, the soup was not fragrant enough. To make more money, the owner added several buckets of water, diluting its flavor.
And so the owner had a second secret-a blend of fats to enhance the aroma.
The bowl of