The NO.1 Food Stall in the Wasteland novel Chapter 202

Chapter 202: Chapter 202: Selling Noodles? You’d Be Better Off Feeding Pigs

Shen Lu was startled when she came out to find the waiting area packed to the brim.

She quickly tried to disperse the crowd. ’If everyone is crammed in here, how are the customers who’ve finished eating supposed to leave?’

After a few unpleasant exchanges, they finally managed to clear a path.

Even more fans, their eyes gleaming with anticipation, waited to see the poster in her hands.

Shen Lu didn’t unroll it. She handed it directly to the girl who had won, telling her to take it and leave quickly, and not to have so many people crowding the waiting area.

The girl, surrounded by an eager crowd, left the restaurant and carefully unrolled the poster on the street outside.

It depicted the scene where Li Zexing, as Dog Hero, wore the Biting Inhibitor for the first time. The naive Dog Hero didn’t yet know the inhibitor would be used to restrain him; he thought it was a reward from the Doctor, and his face was lit with a joyful smile.

"It’s this poster!" The girl who won was ecstatic. "This is the exact one I was missing!"

"I love this poster so much! Brother Xing’s expression is so innocent and pure. I’m obsessed!"

"Can I buy it off you? Please, girl, I just need this one to complete my collection!"

"Don’t listen to her, she’s lying! Sell it to me! I’m the one who’s *really* just missing this one to complete the set!"

The girl who won rolled the poster back up. "No way. I would never give away a Brother Xing poster. If you want one, go enter the lottery yourself."

With that, she pushed her way out of the crowd and left without a backward glance.

The fans left behind all turned their gazes toward Little Deer Cuisine in unison. The previously boisterous crowd fell silent.

More than half of them had punch cards, but not everyone came every day to get a punch. After all, you needed ten punches to enter the lottery once, and with so many prizes, there was no guarantee you’d get Li Zexing’s merch.

But today, the very first person to enter the lottery had won a Li Zexing poster on their first try. This created the illusion that his merchandise was easy to get.

Someone broke the eerie silence, taking the lead and rushing into the restaurant.

"Boss, I need to eat!"

The girl was frantic. She had already gotten three punches sporadically. To get to ten on her own, she would need to make a purchase at Little Deer Cuisine another seven times.

If she couldn’t buy someone else’s punch card, she’d have to wait seven days for her one chance at the lottery.

’Heaven knows if someone else will be as lucky as that girl today and win some of Li Zexing’s merch, too.’

’If someone else really does win, that means my own chances will get even smaller.’

’No, that can’t happen.’

The thought of missing out on Brother Xing’s merch made her chest tighten.

The others quickly caught on and swarmed into the restaurant like a plague of locusts, their overlapping shouts demanding food.

This mob of fans was giving Shen Lu a massive headache. She had to resort to using a megaphone to control the crowd, finally getting them in line with a mixture of coaxing and threats.

Those with money to spare naturally ordered set meals, but some who were on a tight budget only ordered a cup of the cheapest mint water.

Shen Lu didn’t care how much the customers spent. As long as she could complete her daily mission and get some more recognition and positive reviews, that was all that mattered. So, she treated everyone with the same level of service.

[DING! Detected sales: Braised Pork Set Meal 500/500, Kung Pao Chicken Set Meal 400/400, Steamed Fish Head with Chopped Chili Set Meal 30/30. Total revenue has reached 99,000 Star Coins, and customer satisfaction is three stars or higher. Mission complete. Reward: one Lottery Ticket.]

Amid the chaos, Shen Lu hadn’t even noticed she’d already completed her daily mission. The Lottery Ticket landed securely in her possession.

’I swear, if Boss Cao hadn’t shown up, I would have completely forgotten he even existed.’

"Boss Cao, don’t just throw baseless accusations at me. If you’re going to say something, you need proof."

"You dare deny it?!" Boss Cao looked as if she’d struck a raw nerve. "You lowered your set meal price to 90 Star Coins, stole every last one of my customers, and you have the nerve to say it wasn’t on purpose?!"

Before she lowered the price, the customers who ate noodles at his stall had figured it wasn’t worth it to split one of her set meals with someone else. On top of that, Boss Cao had added stir-fried bean sprouts as a new side dish, which had helped him barely maintain his business.

But ever since Shen Lu dropped her set meal price to 90 Star Coins, everything changed.

Boss Cao’s customers vanished completely. Not a single person was willing to stay for his noodles. Their logic was simple: 45 Star Coins might only buy half of a set meal, but if you added a couple of Insect Cakes, it was basically a full meal. You even got to eat meat—a much better deal than his plain noodles.

In just two or three days, Boss Cao’s business had completely dried up.

He refused to believe Shen Lu had lowered her prices because of ingredient costs. He was convinced she just wanted to destroy him, deliberately cutting her prices to steal his customers!

Shen Lu was utterly exasperated.

’Does this Boss Cao think too highly of himself? I’ve never once considered him a rival from the very beginning, let alone gone out of my way to target him.’

There was no one else at the entrance, so Shen Lu didn’t mince her words. "Don’t blame others just because things aren’t going your way. Maybe you should take a good look at yourself and ask if you’ve made any real effort over the years, or if your cooking has improved at all."

"In the food business, the most important thing is that your food has to be delicious. Boss Cao, do you know why I’ve never seen you as a competitor?"

"With skills like yours? I could grab a random customer from my restaurant, and they could out-cook you."

"Honestly, you should stop running a stall and selling noodles. Go feed pigs instead. Maybe that’s your true calling."