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Chapter 25: Capital Problem!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Hello, little Master Chef, theres no need to be nervous. Were from the city enforcement team.”
The man in the city enforcement uniform smiled and said.
Xu Le immediately felt shy when he heard the city enforcement officers call him “Little Master Chef”.
“You can just call me Xu Le.”
“Okay, little… Xu Le friend. Were here to make some law enforcement suggestions based on the city management rules.”
This was also the first time the city enforcement officers were dealing with children at work, so they were slightly nervous.
“The business here is too good. There are many customers who dont have seats and can only eat by the roadside with their bowls. The number of people queuing often exceeds a hundred. Its too crowded for this food street, and its very easy for traffic problems to arise.”
Xu Le frowned after hearing the city enforcement officers suggestion.
The city enforcement officers were right.
His food stall only had one table and four stools, and the number of customers that came every day could exceed a thousand people at times. If all of them crowded on this street, it would indeed affect the operation of the entire food street.
“Buddy Xu Le, based on our suggestion, its best for you to open a proper store. It will be beneficial to your future development and reduce the pressure on the city management.”
Xu Le fell into deep thought.
The city enforcement officers words were very clear.
With his current business model, it was obviously not going to work. He had to rent a store.
But renting a storefront meant spending money…
He still needed to rent a venue and renovate it.
Even tens of thousand might not be enough.
After the city enforcement officer left, Xu Le sat alone on the chair and fell into deep thought.
When his parents left, they did not leave behind any savings.
There were only a few thousand dollars in the bank account.
Xu Le had been working hard for the past few days. His total income was about 40,000 yuan, but he still had to pay the rent at home.
If he wanted to rent a storefront… after Xu Les rough calculations, it would take at least 200,000 yuan.
Two hundred thousand…
Xu Les face was filled with bitterness.
Even if his business was booming now, it was still just a food stall after all. He was the only chef.
Being able to earn a few thousand dollars a day was already the limit.
If he wanted to save up 200,000, he would need a month or more.
He was just a child, and the bank could not provide him with a loan.
This time, the city enforcement officers had come here to give him some suggestions.
But that might not be the case next time.
What made Xu Le even more worried was that there would be hundreds and thousands of people crowding in front of his snack stall every day. What if there was a safety hazard
As a vendor, he had to take responsibility.
“F*ck, will I go to jail”
Xu Le suddenly felt nervous at this thought.
The opening of a store was imminent, but… how should he settle the issue of insufficient capital
Xu Le could not think of any good ideas.
However, he could not waste any time. Xu Le sat in front of the food stall and immersed his consciousness into the system space to continue practicing his culinary skills.
Xu Le understood that cooking was his greatest asset.
As long as he had the culinary skills, he could never starve himself.
…
“Little Master Chef Little Master Chef”
Xu Le, who was practising his culinary skills in the system space, suddenly heard a voice from outside.
And that voice… sounded familiar
Xu Le left the system space curiously and slowly opened his eyes.
What greeted his eyes was a slightly plump and honest-looking man in a white chefs uniform standing in front of the food stall.
Wasnt this the Heavenly Restaurants chef, Zhang Tong
Xu Le was quite fond of Chef Zhang.
After all, after eating the Golden Egg Fried Rice cooked by him last time, he had written an article with several thousand words on Weibo. The whole article was praising Xu Les culinary skills.
The article was also forwarded by Cai Lan, the Hong Kongs Food God, causing Xu Le to become popular even in other fields.
When Xu Le saw Zhang Tong at the snack stall, he thought that he was there to taste the new dish again.
“Great Chef Zhang, what would you like to eat this time”
“Dont… dont.” Zhang Tong hastily waved his hand and smiled embarrassedly. “Little Master Chef, dont call me Great Chef. I cant afford to be called that.”
Zhang Tong said that from the bottom of his heart.
After eating the bowl of Egg Fried Rice, Zhang Tong deeply felt that his culinary skills were far inferior to Xu Les. He even had the thought of becoming his disciple.
“One serving for all the dishes.” Zhang Tong said expectantly.
To his surprise, Xu Le shook his head again.
“Its not business time yet.”
“Theres still an hour.” Xu Le could not help but smile as he pointed at the signboard beside them.
It was written clearly.
Business hours—
Lunch: 10:30 – 13:30 PM
Dinner: 5:30 – 8:30 PM
It was only four in the afternoon and it was not time for the food stall to open for business yet.
Zhang Tongs expression froze.
He was too unlucky. He had been to Xu Les snack stall twice, but he did not even get to eat the famous Oil Doused Noodles.
“But… Ive got a little leftover dough, so Ill reluctantly make you a bowl.”
Xu Le sighed and stood up reluctantly.
“Thank you, little Master Chef!”
Zhang Tong smiled.
For the past few days, he had been thinking about this bowl of oil doused noodles that he had not eaten.
It was a pity that the business hours of Xu Les food stall clashed with his working hours, so he had not tried it yet.
Zhang Tong liked to cook and eat.
In his opinion, the most important thing in life was to eat and enjoy good food.
For someone like him who loved delicious food, Xu Les oil doused noodles were extremely lethal.
A few minutes later, the noodles were served.
Xu Le sprinkled his secret sauce and then added a spoonful of boiling vegetable seed oil.
Whoosh—
As the oil splattered everywhere, Zhang Tongs eyes glowed.
“Have a taste.” Xu Le pouted and placed the noodles in front of him.
Zhang Tong didnt stand on ceremony. He picked up his bowl and started eating.
After two mouthfuls, he ate more than half a bowl.
While eating, Zhang Tong explained his purpose for coming here.
“Master Chef, the 12th Shanghai Food Exhibition is going to be held soon. Theres a cooking contest. Do you want to participate”
“A cooking contest”
Xu Le was stunned after hearing that.
However, he shook his head and said, “Im just a kid. Why would I participate in a competition”
Xu Le was speaking the truth.
All he wanted to do was to run his own food stall and cook well. As for competitions, so what if he won the championship It was just a title.
“Thats true… with your great cooking skills, you may no longer care about these useless titles.”
As he said that, Zhang Tong had finished the oil doused noodles.
“But I need to work hard. The prize money for first place is 300,000 yuan, which is equivalent to half a year of my salary.”
Zhang Tong put down the bowl and turned around to leave.
“How much is the prize money”
“300,000”
Xu Le was stunned.
“Chef Zhang, come back!”
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Novel Bin 