By the time Ma Lu returned to his rented apartment, Old Wang had already processed a Two-Headed Hyena, skinned it, removed the innards and bones, and minced the meat.
He took the plastic bag handed to him by Ma Lu, glanced at it, then turned back into the kitchen.
Ma Lu took a seat on the sofa, pulled out his phone to spat with netizens on a forum, and before he knew it, more than twenty minutes had passed.
It was then that he caught a whiff of an appetizing scent, took a couple of sniffs, and felt his already empty stomach grow even hungrier.
Unable to remain seated any longer, he got up and entered the kitchen, just in time to see Old Wang lift a piece of meat pie from the frying pan.
The meat pie was fried to a golden crisp, still sizzling as it left the oil. After draining the oil, Old Wang placed it on an empty plate, accompanying it with some sliced cabbage, squeezed some lemon juice over it, and finally drizzled it with a spoonful of his special tomato sauce.
Ma Lu was already impatient and fished out some disposable chopsticks left over from a takeaway meal, grabbed the meat pie, blew on it twice, and then took a big bite.
The bread crumbs on the outside gave a crispy texture, crunching between his teeth and sealing the moisture inside the pie.
As the crust broke apart, the juices flooded out like a breached dam, engulfing his whole mouth with a rich meaty aroma.
The minced jackal meat was chewier and denser than pork, providing a more satisfying chew, although some might find it to be a bit tough. But as Ma Lu bit into it, he didn't find it tough; it was slightly crispy with a tinge of sweetness on the aftertaste.
"Ah, it's lotus root; you had me buy lotus root to use here?"
"And onions," Old Wang said.
"No wonder there's no gamy taste, and the lemon juice is a great touch, reducing the greasiness of the fried stuff considerably."
While speaking, Ma Lu took another bite and let out a light sound of surprise.
But this time, he was too busy eating to talk, swiftly devouring the meat pie on his plate.
Still not satisfied, he went on to eat the cabbage on the side as well, licking his lips with longing, "What's the deal with this sauce? Why do I feel it brought out a stronger flavor in the meat pie after pouring it on?"
"It's because I added broth to it, using the bones of the Two-Headed Hyena. However, the cooking time was a bit short; it would have been better to let it simmer for another day and night."
"I see, so my craving for another bite is probably thanks to the tomato playing its part," Ma Lu said, placing his chopsticks down and letting out a satisfied sigh.
"This is the most delicious meat pie I've ever had; if this is only rated at ★☆, I can't imagine how tasty the dishes with more stars must be."
"To taste food with a higher deliciousness rating, you need to gather higher-quality ingredients or improve my chef level to further unlock and stimulate the potential of the ingredients," Old Wang replied.
"Got it, got it, I'll do my best to look for them," Ma Lu said, hooking his arm around Old Wang's shoulder, "But right now, there's something even more important."
"What's that?"
"The deliciousness of the Fried Jackal Meat Cake has completely exceeded my expectations; I think we should set up a stall immediately and let more people taste this delicacy!"
"But aren't we still not finished with the preparations for opening the shop?"
"Hmm, I'll figure something out; for now, you just prepare the ingredients for 100, no, 150 meat pies."
After setting the goal for the first day of business with Old Wang, Ma Lu ate another Fried Jackal Meat Cake before getting to work.
He first tossed a few bottles of mineral water into the freezer, then spent 40 yuan on Jiyou Tongcheng to buy a second-hand gas stove, convinced the guy across the street to give him a connection hose, and even found a seller of oil paper bags, although they hadn't been online for two days.
Ma Lu tried to leave a message for him and then headed straight for the print shop at the entrance of the neighborhood. There wasn't enough time to redesign the signboard, so Ma Lu simply used A4 paper to print out the words "Fried Meat Pie" in the largest font size, bold and in black, and then printed out the QR codes for WeChat and Alipay payments.
He stepped outside and turned towards the two-dollar store around the corner, only to find it was not yet open.
Alright, Ma Lu checked the time; it was only 7:15 in the morning. It seemed a bit too early, so he took the subway to deliver a gas stove and by the time he got back, the two-dollar store had finally opened.
Ma Lu bought some small boxes for condiments, little buckets for sides, and two folding stools, spending a total of 30 yuan. Next door at the convenience store, he bought two packs of cigarettes, and at that moment, a seller on the secondhand marketplace who had been offline earlier finally showed up.
However, he had already left for work, and there was no one at home, only available for transactions in the evening.
Ma Lu thought for a moment and decided to make the purchase, mainly because the seller's price was indeed cheap: 15 yuan for 900 wax paper bags, and the quality seemed good in the pictures.
It seemed he couldn't use them today, but it didn't matter. Ma Lu found a small pancake shop by the roadside, spending 30 yuan to buy 100 paper bags meant for pancakes, and then went on to buy 60 from a scallion pancake vendor.
He had wanted to buy some plastic bags too, but just then, someone came up, asking on WeChat if he was home.
Ma Lu replied with an "I am."
The person with the Hirase Yui profile picture sent another message:
— Do you remember what you promised me? My dad just left. I'll bring a box of figures up, help me find a place to keep them safe.
Ma Lu typed:
— Alright, by the way, Little Brother Yang, do you have any leftover plastic bags from when you were selling spicy seafood? Bring some up with you.
This time, there was a long silence from the other side, and it took half a minute to reply:
— Are you blackmailing me?
— No, no, bring them up, and I'll treat you to a fried meat pie.
— Wait, I'll check.
Seeing this message, Ma Lu was no longer in a hurry to buy plastic bags and headed back to his rental. When he came out of the elevator, he happened to see Little Brother Yang peering around the stairwell entrance with a cardboard box in his arms.
"Relax, your dad won't ambush you here."
"You know nothing about my dad," Little Brother Yang snorted coldly. "Back when I was in elementary school, he'd often ambush me. Pretending to go to work during the summer vacation and then coming back not even ten minutes later, catching me playing on the computer."
"That cunning?"
"That's just how he is. You better be careful around him too." Little Brother Yang was sure it was safe and quickly stepped out of the stairway, urging, "Hurry up and open the door, hurry up."
"Yeah." Ma Lu took out his keys, unlocked the door, and Little Brother Yang briskly dashed inside, setting down the box and nudging at the two rolls of plastic bags secured with rubber bands, "Here, the ones you wanted. Where's the meat pie?"
"Coming up." Ma Lu went into the kitchen and asked Old Wang for help with frying.
Since the meat pie ingredients and fillings were all prepared in advance, it didn't take long to cook them, and they were done in less than four minutes.
Little Brother Yang, as a veteran of the street food business, waited while offering some pointed advice to the newcomer.
"This line of work is not easy. You'll know when you actually start selling. Don't set your expectations too high on the first day; even one customer counts as a victory. What's important is taking that brave first step. Then, you'll find that working this business is even tougher than a regular job."