Would I Really Lie to You?

The instant his teeth touched it, an incredibly light, crisp crunch reached his ears, seeming to explode inside his brain-a testament to just how crisp that shell was.

The next second: "Hss!"

The chive pocket had just come out of the fryer, and the juices inside were scalding hot, making Lu Xiaotao jolt.

"How does it taste? How's it different from the ones that cost three yuan each at the end of the street?"

Seeing that this "sucker" had started eating, Jiang Wenyan leaned closer out of curiosity.

These days, with living standards so good, even delicious food was only so impressive. How good could a mere chive pocket possibly taste? He simply couldn't imagine it.

Besides, at ten yuan apiece, Jiang Wenyan thought only a sucker would buy one.

Lu Xiaotao had no time to answer anyone's questions. He merely nodded vigorously a few times in reply.

The heat had already left his head reeling, and the savory fragrance of chives and eggs had him completely in its grip!

The piping-hot juices instantly spread through his mouth. The fresh sweetness of chives mingled with the savory aroma of eggs and the distinctive seafood flavor of dried shrimp-it was so delicious it could practically make his eyebrows fall off.

Once his tongue felt accustomed to the heat, he blew haphazardly on the chive pocket a few times, then hurriedly took another bite.

Beneath the shattered crust was a thin, soft, slightly chewy layer. That very layer seemed to seal all the deliciousness inside this little chive pocket, waiting for someone to explore it.

With skin this thin, any bite reached the filling.

The eggs weren't in chunks but fine, fluffy bits, each only the size of a grain of rice, deftly mingled with finely chopped chives. At a glance, golden yellow and emerald green blended together.

The seemingly solid filling was actually loosely nestled together. His teeth needed no effort; a gentle bite scattered it, and as he chewed carefully, the first thing he tasted was the eggs' tender smoothness and rich oiliness.

Then the flavor of the chives came through, fresh and sweet, without the slightest pungency-only a refreshing fragrance and an endless aftertaste.

The chives were just tender enough, neither so young that their flavor was faint nor so old that their texture suffered. That perfect balance released their fragrance to the fullest.

Together with the toasted aroma, savory saltiness, and oily richness, all the flavors fused and exploded throughout his mouth.

Lu Xiaotao couldn't stop eating, stuffing huge mouthfuls into his mouth. One bite, two bites-how big could a chive pocket be? Before long, he had polished it off.

Feeling a stray bit of chive at the corner of his mouth, he even stuck out his tongue and licked it back in, without a shred of concern for appearances.

Looking at the empty bag, Lu Xiaotao felt hollow inside. He turned toward Shen Chuan, who was scrolling on his phone at the stall, and called, "Boss, another one! No, two!"

Now he no longer thought they were too expensive. With chive pockets this delicious, what was wrong with eating two? He went to work and came home every day, worked like a beast of burden-didn't he deserve something nice, even a ten-yuan chive pocket?

"Holy shit, this thing is a chive pocket?"

"How can it taste this good?"

"Boss, I believe you! You're the God of Cooking in my eyes!"

Lu Xiaotao declared it with boundless enthusiasm, so excited that he practically wanted to put on a performance for Shen Chuan right there.

Not only was he going to eat this delicacy today, he was going to eat his fill in one sitting, until he was satisfied!

Faced with Lu Xiaotao's praise, Shen Chuan mentally ran through lines he could use to show off, then nodded nonchalantly. "I was the God of Cooking to begin with!"

The next second, the system notification sounded. Shen Chuan shifted his toes slightly in embarrassment, repeatedly brainwashing himself: It's all for Show-off Points!

[Ding! Show-off Points +50!]

The sight of Lu Xiaotao wolfing down his food left Jiang Wenyan, who had been watching from the sidelines, utterly stunned.

Hadn't he said he was just going to taste it? This was tasting it?

He was one step away from licking his fingers.

It was mealtime anyway. Jiang Wenyan had brought bread, planning to grab a couple of bites when he got hungry. Suddenly watching this live mukbang left his mouth watering, and he unconsciously swallowed.

All of a sudden, he didn't feel like eating that dry bread anymore.

Wait, wasn't something off? Sure, it smelled good, but surely it couldn't make someone almost lick his fingers. Was this guy a damn shill?

But one shill didn't seem likely to accomplish much. Could it really be that delicious?

"Man, they're ten yuan each, and you're getting two more?" he reminded him when he saw the man immediately pull out his phone to pay.

Savoring the lingering fragrance of the chive pocket, Lu Xiaotao had already entered sage mode. All he wanted was to keep eating delicious snacks; price no longer mattered.

At that, he said with a look of lingering enjoyment, "Dude, you have no idea how good this chive pocket is. The eggs are fragrant and tender, and the chives are sweet, fresh, and full of flavor. One bite-oh my god, it's so fragrant my soul ran off after it."

"Seriously?"

Jiang Wenyan muttered under his breath, feeling that the man was exaggerating a little too much. He began suspecting he was a shill again and nearly asked how much he got paid for doing it.

Perhaps his behavior was so odd that it made Lu Xiaotao anxious instead.

"What do you mean, seriously? Whether something tastes good or not-would I really lie to you?"

As it happened, the dough and filling for the chive pockets were ready, so it wasn't long before both finished frying together. Lu Xiaotao took two paper bags on his own initiative, bagged the chive pockets, and waved them at Jiang Wenyan, one in each hand.

"Look at that golden color, and that skin so thin you can see the filling. With craftsmanship like this, you can tell it's top quality."

Having learned his lesson, he blew on one a few times, carefully bit off a little piece, then pointed the bitten side at Jiang Wenyan and fanned it with his hand.

"Now smell those chives. That fragrance could drive someone wild with hunger! And look at those golden eggs. It's practically fragrance soaring to the heavens and shaking your nostrils, a whole pocket brimming with delicious chive aroma."

Lu Xiaotao had wanted to say more, but as he talked, he made himself hungry. He immediately stopped paying attention to Jiang Wenyan, held up his chive pocket, and began taking huge bites.

Small bites simply weren't possible. He wished he could stuff the whole thing into his mouth in one go.

With three chive pockets in his stomach, Lu Xiaotao had spent his entire dinner budget. Reluctantly, he licked the crumbs that had fallen onto his hand and gazed longingly at the frying pan, clearly not having had enough.

"Boss, you'll still be setting up here tomorrow, right?"

Faced with his customer's reluctance to leave, Shen Chuan nodded in reply, then watched him leave the food street, looking back three times with every step.

Once the man was completely gone, Shen Chuan sat calmly in his chair and casually took a tissue. He appeared perfectly nonchalant as he wiped away his sweat, but inwardly he was shouting, I'm dying from this heat!

These days, money was hard to earn, and Show-off Points were just as difficult!

With the chive pockets freshly fried, a faint lingering fragrance still drifted through the air. Remembering how that man had eaten them, Jiang Wenyan couldn't help swallowing again, temptation stirring within him.

Honestly, the chive pockets looked beautiful once fried, each golden and plump like a full moon. Those bulging shapes in particular made his teeth itch to bite; he wished he could sink his teeth hard into the fattest part and see just how much filling he could get in one mouthful.

Although his own hand-pounded lemonade stall hadn't made its first sale and he hadn't earned a cent, he needed a full stomach to have the energy to work, didn't he?

He might balk at buying a chive pocket for a hundred yuan, but at ten yuan, he could still give one a try.

After agonizing for ages, Jiang Wenyan finally talked himself around. He turned and waved at Shen Chuan. "Boss, could I trouble you for a chive pocket too?"