Chapter 54: A Sudden Stroke of Inspiration

The meat used in Roujiamo is stewed pork in Master Lu's style.

This is somewhat different from the braised pork Chen Zhou usually makes.

Because when making this stewed pork, scallions and ginger are omitted, dark soy sauce is not added, and sugar is not caramelized.

Instead, it relies entirely on spices (Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamom, black cardamom, and fennel seeds) and aged master broth to bring out the rich color of the meat.

However, due to time constraints, Chen Zhou could not prepare an aged master broth just yet, so he still added caramelized sugar to enhance the color.

Even so, the final result was quite satisfying.

After three unattended hours of slow-cooking in the electric pressure cooker, the pork reached the exact texture Chen Zhou had hoped for.

Outside the kitchen,

Chen Taotao took a little longer taking off her shoes since Ms. Lin wasn't there to help her.

Her exclamation of "It smells so good!" came a bit late.

By the time the little girl walked into the kitchen, she had missed the pleasing sight of Chen Zhou lifting the stewed pork out of the pot.

All she saw was the meat resting on the cutting board.

The lean meat fell apart at the mere tap of a knife's back, and the fatty meat did the same.

The light-brown pork skin trembled slightly on the board.

Because it had just been scooped out of the pot, wisps of steam were still rising from the freshly cut meat.

It looked exceptionally appetizing.

Ms. Lin managed to keep her composure. Walking over to Chen Zhou, she used a pair of tongs to help take the baked flatbreads out of the oven.

As for Chen Taotao, her mouth was literally watering.

Viewing the kitchen counter from her height, all she could see was a small mountain made of meat.

She tugged at Chen Zhou's shirt:

"Daddy, I want to taste a piece of meat first."

Chen Zhou looked down and not only spotted the drool at the corner of the little girl's mouth, but also fancied he saw little stars twinkling in his daughter's eyes.

There was simply no reason to refuse.

He quickly picked out a small piece—complete with skin, lean meat, and fat—and fed it directly into his daughter's mouth.

"Nom."

Taotao had to be careful not to burn herself.

And Chen Zhou had to be careful with his fingers.

On the other side, Ms. Lin had already taken over the work at the cutting board.

Slicing the flatbread open right down the middle so that the two halves matched almost perfectly was effortless for her.

Next came stuffing the meat inside.

Pure lean meat wasn't the best; a balance of fat and lean was the ultimate standard.

Of course, a small spoonful of steaming hot broth ladled straight from the pot was indispensable.

Allowing the broth to wash over the surface of the stewed pork one last time, it slowly seeped into the crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside flatbread.

This was the taste of home.

Holding the Roujiamo in her hand, Lin Yifan found her thoughts drifting to the train tickets Chen Zhou had booked for her that morning.

She praised him:

"You really are quite good at this."

Approval secured, no more words were needed.

Lin Yifan didn't usually eat a heavy dinner, but today she finished an entire, densely stuffed Roujiamo.

Chen Taotao knew she couldn't manage a whole one.

Insisting on having her flatbread sliced cleanly down the middle, she opted for just one half.

Ms. Lin had to pinch the half-bread tightly to prevent the meat and broth from spilling out, feeding it to her bit by bit.

Chen Zhou ate one as well.

While eating brought personal culinary satisfaction, watching his wife and child enjoy the food was a spiritual delight.

Before he knew it, Chen Zhou felt his passion for cooking growing stronger by the day.

At first, he cooked out of sheer necessity for survival, but now he had learned to love the entire process.

Cooking for his family was a form of daily companionship through three meals a day.

As for cooking for customers, even if praise wasn't always delivered in person, watching the number of positive reviews soar while running his stall provided the clearest and most positive feedback imaginable.

That evening, Ms. Lin made a phone call home and later relayed her mother's words to Chen Zhou:

"My mom said the Roujiamo you made is good enough to open another restaurant."

His mother-in-law was a cheerleader at heart; she hadn't even tasted it yet.

Even so, her remark gave Chen Zhou some food for thought.

If he were to introduce Roujiamo to his breakfast shop, it might be a bit too much for just Chen Zhou to handle single-handedly in the kitchen.

After all, he still had to wrap and steam buns.

Judging by the customer traffic from his previous street-vending days, he was already kept plenty busy. Turning around to chop meat and bake flatbreads on top of that simply wasn't realistic.

However, the Roujiamo sparked a new inspiration in Chen Zhou.

Would steamed buns with pre-cooked meat fillings be viable? It seemed like a plausible idea.

Moreover, if the meat filling was already fully cooked, it could even shorten the steaming time for the buns.

The dough wrappers for the flatbreads wouldn't need to be baked for now either.

That way, he could add yet another variety of filling to his steamed buns.

Chen Zhou looked happily at his wife: "I'm thinking of trying something new."

Lin Yifan glanced at Chen Taotao, who was teasing the cat in the living room, and lowered her voice: "What is it?"

Chen Zhou: "Wrapping the stewed pork inside steamed buns."

Upon hearing this, Ms. Lin let out an acknowledging "Oh."

"That actually sounds pretty good."

Remembering the neighborhood residents' group chat, Chen Zhou snapped a photo and posted it there.

It was a good way to maintain a warm relationship with his customers:

"Neighbors, my shop is planning to introduce a new type of pre-cooked meat bun. Any suggestions? [Picture]"

The neighbors in the chat, who had been eagerly awaiting the reopening of his shop, instantly sprang back to life:

"This stewed meat looks amazing. Steamed buns with pre-cooked meat filling are bound to be delicious."

"Is this legal?"

—"I mean, the bun filling looks totally right, but posting this at this hour—is that right?"

Not A Foodie: "Whatever is making my mouth water today, I will eat back tenfold when the time comes."

Zihan's Mom: "Boss, I remember your ID used to be your apartment number. Why did you change it?"

Chen Zhou: ......

He really needed to speed up the process of opening his shop.

If only he could open a municipal service hall himself. Why did administrative procedures have to crawl at a snail's pace?

...

The next day,

Tapping into the peak morning work hours, Chen Zhou once again found himself at Window No. 8 of the municipal service hall.

His last visit had been about a month ago, and by now, he had already successfully opened his shop.

Unless you paid close attention, the expressions of the staff behind the windows all seemed remarkably similar.

Their faces practically read: You'd better get your paperwork right the first time.

Yet, recalling how unhappy he used to feel working his corporate office job, he could understand it to some extent.

Behind the glass, the young woman mentioned in the intel had Chen Zhou hand over his documents and materials one by one.

After a thorough inspection, she suddenly looked up and said to him:

"Hey, I remember you. You were here last time."

Chen Zhou nodded. "Yes, I was. I came to process my street-vending paperwork."

The young girl remarked with genuine admiration:

"I had no idea your business was doing so well. How long has it been since then, and you're already opening a storefront? Has it even been a month?"

"Just a little over a month."

Attracting customers was part of the self-cultivation of every small business owner.

Chen Zhou invited her warmly:

"Feel free to drop by and try some when you have time. My shop is located right at the commercial base of Sunshine City residential area, closest to the south gate. We mainly sell steamed buns."

The young woman at the window glanced over the rental agreement he had submitted and smiled:

"It's all on here. Everything is in order. Just head back and wait for the on-site verification."

This was the first time Wang Yi had felt a spark of genuine curiosity about someone handling paperwork.

No matter what kind of business they were conducting, this Mr. Chen always handled things briskly, and the documents he prepared were impeccably complete.

It even brightened her own mood for the workday.

Besides, in just one short month, he had gone from street vending to opening his own brick-and-mortar shop.

It was clear his business must be thriving.

And the steamed buns... they probably tasted fantastic, too.