Happiness belonged to everyone else!

The braised-food stall already smelled strongly of braising spices. Earlier, the scallion pancake had been some distance away from them, so its scallion aroma had been less noticeable beneath the smell of the braised food.

Now that they held the scallion pancake in their hands, its fragrance surrounded their noses. The rich scallion aroma instantly overwhelmed every other smell around them. For a moment, it was as though nothing existed in their world except the scallion pancake before them.

Without a second thought, they quickly brought the scallion pancake to their mouths and began chewing.

The next second, one of the men farther back in line, whose turn to buy braised meat had yet to come, spoke up. "Sorry, boss. I misunderstood you. Never mind the braised meat. I'm going to buy a scallion pancake."

With that, he ran off without looking back.

Now it was the braised-meat vendor's turn to be dumbfounded.

He had only wanted to clarify that he wasn't a shill. How had he ended up ruining his own business?!

And after painfully parting with nearly half his scallion pancake, too!

Was it right for his customers to treat him so cruelly?

The braised-meat vendor's face alternately darkened and paled, leaving the remaining customers too embarrassed to leave once they realized what had happened.

"Well, boss, I still want my braised meat. I'll come get it in a bit. How much is it? I'll pay you first."

"Me too, boss. Give me twenty yuan's worth of pork head meat. I'll pick it up later." As soon as this customer finished speaking, he scanned the payment code and took off.

Thank goodness for the braised-meat vendor's generosity. His habitual way of thinking had nearly made him miss out on such a delicacy!

The braised-meat vendor: ...

"Wait, I'm coming with you to line up. Half a pancake isn't enough."

Seeing all his customers run off, the braised-meat vendor picked up the rest of his scallion pancake and followed them.

Meanwhile, Auntie Liao, who sold chive pockets, finally got her scallion pancake too.

Her hopes of learning how he made his chive pockets had fallen through. Before she knew it, she had spent ages watching the flying pancakes, and her turn had come.

After paying, she had just turned around with her scallion pancake when she spotted Old Huang, who also sold scallion pancakes, farther back in the line.

Having run stalls on the same street for so long, the two were already well acquainted.

They spoke quite directly to each other, too.

"Old Huang, why are you lining up too? Don't you sell scallion pancakes yourself?"

Old Huang hadn't expected an acquaintance to spot him as soon as he arrived, and his face flushed red.

They all ran small stalls, and buying food from another stall was nothing unusual. They couldn't just eat whatever they sold themselves. Making it every day, they had long since grown tired of it.

But buying the very thing you sold from someone else was still a little odd.

Old Huang stammered briefly, then figured that since he had already been caught, he might as well straighten up. "Who says I can't buy scallion pancakes just because I sell them? Several stall owners around here bought them and said they were delicious. I wanted to try a fifteen-yuan scallion pancake too."

Auntie Liao looked at Old Huang, then considered her own situation and understood at once.

"Exactly. You have to keep up with the times. Have you learned anything?"

Old Huang pointed at the pancake dough that flew into the air from time to time and sighed. "I can't even make sense of what I'm seeing, let alone learn it."

He had been watching for ages. Since he was far away, he had even recorded a video on his phone to study carefully bit by bit, but the more he watched, the more helpless he felt.

In that vendor's hands, the dough was like a toy. With just a casual press, the ball of dough became as perfectly round as if its outline had been drawn with a compass.

Then he would pinch one corner of the dough and casually toss it into the air, and it could even fly back and forth.

How was he supposed to learn that?

The thing was, he had watched it from beginning to end, then from end to beginning. Old Huang could guarantee that every pancake this vendor made was as round as if it had been machine-pressed. Even after flying out and back, they were all exactly the same thickness.

With that ability, that technique, he deserved to make money.

This wasn't a technique an ordinary person could learn.

Old Huang sighed. "Some money is just destined for other people to earn. Otherwise, why would they call him the God of Cooking? I'd better go back to making my traditional scallion pancakes."

Originally, he had scoffed at this young man calling himself the God of Cooking, thinking that young people these days only knew how to pull publicity stunts. The God of Cooking, running a street stall? His bragging was reaching the heavens.

Auntie Liao still regretted not seeing this vendor make chive pockets. She had no idea what those chive pockets everyone raved about tasted like, either.

At that, she suddenly remembered that because this vendor hadn't opened yesterday, many people had nowhere to buy chive pockets, and even her stall's business had improved as a result.

Today, this vendor had gone a step further and was selling scallion pancakes instead of chive pockets.

Didn't that mean her chive-pocket business would be even better?

Now she had no time to keep chatting. She waved goodbye and hurried back to her stall with her scallion pancake.

Sure enough, she spotted someone standing in front of her stall from a distance. Her eyes immediately crinkled with her smile. Without even stopping to eat her scallion pancake, she hurried to greet the customer.

"Young man, how many chive pockets would you like?"

After asking, Auntie Liao noticed him staring at the scallion pancake in her hand and immediately set it aside, a little embarrassed.

"Haha, everyone says the food at that new stall is delicious. There wasn't anyone at my stall just now, so I went and bought one."

Hearing that made He Wencai even sadder.

He had left that very line.

He had even been among the first to arrive. Thinking he could eat his fill of chive pockets today, he had brought along his secret stash of money.

Yet the vendor was selling scallion pancakes today instead of chive pockets!

Heaven knew how devastated he had been when he found out!

He was allergic to scallions!

He couldn't get those delicious chive pockets, and he couldn't eat the scallion pancakes.

Happiness belonged to everyone else!

"Yes, Boss Shen is such a good cook. His scallion pancakes must be delicious too."

"Ma'am, I'd like three chive pockets."

He Wencai was so dejected that even his voice sounded weak.

Seeing that something was wrong with him, Auntie Liao didn't dare strike up a conversation. She quickly got her pan going and started frying chive pockets.

Before long, more customers who were also craving the God of Cooking's chive pockets came over to buy some.

They were still holding scallion pancakes, praising them as they ate.

"They're so delicious. I thought Boss Shen's chive pockets were already unbeatable, but these scallion pancakes are every bit as good!"

"Too bad we can't have both at once. Otherwise, I can't imagine how happy I'd be!"

"This flavor is fucking amazing! It really lives up to the God of Cooking sign."

"Auntie, two chive pockets, please."

Pleased with the good business, Auntie Liao answered with a smile.

Everyone was beaming except He Wencai, who looked miserable and on the verge of tears.

"Hey, man, I think I remember you lining up near the front just now. Why the long face? Didn't you get a scallion pancake?"

He Wencai was a regular too, so it was perfectly normal for someone to recognize him. After all, whenever he ate chive pockets, he enthusiastically recommended them to anyone who came along.

Seeing him like this, they couldn't help being curious.

"I'm allergic to scallions..."

With his sorrow brought up again, He Wencai felt so miserable that his eyes nearly reddened.

If his dignity as a man hadn't been holding him up, he really would have liked to have a good cry.

"Uh..."

Hearing this, the excited customers couldn't help giving He Wencai sympathetic looks.

To see such delicious food but be unable to eat it-how painful must that be?

They didn't dare imagine it. They didn't dare!