Running a Night Stall and Got Spotted by a Beautiful Superintendent - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: You Have a New Dispatch, Please Check.

As the early summer night fell, the Lan River, which spanned across the urban district, connected the lights of thousands of households.

The night market built along the river was bustling and crowded. Bright red signs and the sweet, spicy, numb fragrance extended for a hundred meters, with all kinds of fried foods, lo mei, rice noodles, grilled skewers, and ice-cold beers and drinks dazzling the eyes.

Deep within the night market, a long queue stretched out in front of a certain fried rice noodle stall. A few diners lazily sipped their cold herbal tea, walking up to the stall with curiosity: “A newly opened fried rice noodle stall? I haven’t seen it before.”

Standing behind the stall was a tall, slender proprietress. With a lift of her hand and a drop of her spatula, the hot, spicy fermented black bean sauce enveloped the beef, bursting with fragrance under the fierce fire. Crisp bean sprouts and fresh rice noodles were tossed into the pot, tumbling continuously, before a handful of emerald-green garlic leaves was scattered just before plating, perfect in color, aroma, and taste.

Her pair of cold-white arms was baked slightly red by the furnace fire, thin and slender yet possessing strength. Hearing the diners making conversation, Chen Mu lifted her eyes to greet them: “Have a taste, everyone. If it’s not delicious, it’s on the house.”

“Ho, the boss has a huge mouth!”

“Since you say so, then I really must have a taste.”

“We can count as local old gourmets ourselves, little boss, don’t speak big words.”

Chen Mu curved her brows: “After placing the order, trouble yourselves to put the chopsticks in the tea bucket. It will be ready in a moment.”

The so-called ordering was merely going through the motions. She had no menu here, just a single dish—fried rice noodles.

The round-faced fat brother opposite couldn’t help but feel curious: “These fried rice noodles of yours aren’t considered cheap, yet quite a few people are queuing.”

The pleasant-faced older sister on the side pointed at the sign with a beam of smiles: “Exclusive secret spicy black bean sauce, smells so fragrant. The proprietress looks unfamiliar, why did a young person come out to run a night stall instead of going to work?”

Chen Mu had no leisure to cope with this idle chatter, her spatula almost swinging out sparks: “Please sit first, everyone. I’ll call you when the noodles are ready.”

Not going to work? She only let out a secret laugh in her heart.

How could the diners know that the proprietress currently immersed in frying rice noodles was, not long ago, a data worker within a first-line CBD.

Four years ago, right upon graduation, Chen Mu entered an enviable tech giant. The decent status and ultra-high premium were in truth condensed from countless nights of working through the night until dawn. Capital stressed efficiency and standardization, not allowing any single node to be absent for even a minute or a second.

Initially Chen Mu also agreed with this concept, until she couldn’t help but be absent, only then waking up completely to realize that it was nothing but a thorough obedience test.

A few months ago, her maternal grandmother required someone to accompany and care for her during a general anesthesia surgery. Her eldest sister had many household matters, her youngest sister had a tight schoolwork schedule, and her parents weren’t around either. Having never taken a vacation in four years, she went to find her supervisor.

Who could have expected the unsmiling supervisor to turn his hand and offer a stream of reprimands, even taking the opportunity to dump the pot for the project delay onto her.

Chen Mu returned to her workstation and fell silent for a long time. The supervisor even thought she would continue to swallow her anger and bury her head in hard work, when a resignation letter with restrained phrasing and clear logic, plus a project review email, was sent to the entire group’s mailbox, with HR and secondary leadership thoughtfully cc’d as well.

Seeing her reaction was so resolute, the supervisor shifted to advising her with deep meaning and gravity: “Chen Mu, have you thought it through? Sometimes a person must learn to make trade-offs. Do you think I haven’t suffered grievances? Besides, doing this will put you on the blacklist…”

Padata.

Chen Mu unclipped her orange-red work badge and lightly tapped it on the desktop, saying nonchalantly: “I’ve thought it through.”

A week later, she rushed back to Lan City People’s Hospital, honestly accompanying her grandmother through the hernia surgery.

Her grandmother asked her merrily how she had the leisure to accompany an old woman like herself. Chen Mu lowered her head and spun a lie, saying she wanted to go out and play for a while to take a long vacation.

The old lady poked her forehead, seeing through it without speaking it out: “Then you play first. When you get tired of being idle, just return to the ancestral house. It’s just a bite of food, after all, grandmother can afford to feed you.”

Chen Mu didn’t speak, arching into the old lady’s embrace with half a drop of tears to act spoiled.

Having let herself fly free for more than three months, Chen Mu began to ponder where her future path lay. She had already developed an instinctive resistance toward redundant code and report sheets, just like how once cattle and horses have witnessed the grand grassland, they can never walk submissively into the reinforced concrete again.

Chen Mu wanted to start a business. She loved to eat since childhood, and having lived independently early on, she also possessed a hand of good culinary skills. After several rounds of bitter thinking and deep pondering, she decided to start her grand culinary blueprint from a night stall with lower investment.

Lan City was situated on the border, with a damp and hot temperature. Local people held a preference for eating rice noodles—eating them in the morning relieved hunger, and eating them at night relieved cravings. It was precisely this word “craving” that hooked many local people to her night stall.

“Boss, two fried rice noodles!”

She lifted her eyes to take a look. Standing facing her were three young, lively girls, looking by their appearance like students from the university on the opposite bank.

Chen Mu nodded, looking behind her back by some ghostly stroke of character. It happened to be midnight. Quite a few local people came out to eat late-night snacks after playing cards, and around the vicinity were a few more middle-aged men and women gathered in groups of threes and fives.

The girls picked a clean table and chairs to sit down. A girl sporting a braided plait turned back and stood before the stall, clutching her phone and stealthily adjusting the angle.

Chen Mu slanted a cold eye at the reflection of the camera lens, asking in a low voice through her mask: “Student, are you taking a picture?”

“Ah?” The girl lowered her hand in panic, blinking her large eyes that resembled Bambi the deer, “S-sorry…”

“No matter.” Chen Mu clanged twice against the edge of the pot. A cloud of white steam rose with a cila sound, and the spicy, fragrant, delicious fried rice noodles fell into the platter along the momentum, “It’s ready. Eat up and head back early.”

The braided girl did not delay in calling her companions. The two carried the platters and ran away in a panic.

Chen Mu had just prepared to turn off the fire when another shout transmitted from before the stall: “Hey! Two fried rice noodles, one portion no chili, one portion extra chili!”

An unaccountably sour, decayed, foul stench rushed into her nasal cavity through her mask. These two people before her eyes had obviously drunk a lot of alcohol.

The person speaking was short and fat in stature, his face flushed red, wearing a loose, striped Polo shirt. The thin, tall male beside him lifted his phone and paid the money.

Chen Mu couldn’t help but knit her brows, silently reciting twelve times that the customer is God.

She lowered her head to turn the fire up. Just as she was about to sear the pot, a loud shout suddenly transmitted from behind her: “What did you say!”

The voice was somewhat familiar. Chen Mu followed the sound and turned her head, seeing those three girls from just now. The one leading them had long hair and white clothes, currently spitting toward the two middle-aged men next door: “On what grounds are you cursing people?”

The braided girl who was standing before the stall just now sat in the corner, keeping silent and wordless, a terrified and bewildered expression on her face.

The surrounding diners were attracted in succession, staring fixedly without shifting their eyes.

Chen Mu turned off the fire. The moment her front foot stepped out, she was grabbed right away by Sister Zhang from the neighboring stall.

Sister Zhang pinched her wrist, her mouth carrying a heavy Hucheng accent: “Don’t go minding it, they don’t even recognize you. Just do your business and it’ll be good!”

Chen Mu didn’t express whether she agreed or disagreed, pointing from afar at those two middle-aged men and shouting: “You two come over and wait!”

Immediately, she scooped up a large half-spoon of spicy black bean sauce and threw it fiercely into the pot, choking herself until she couldn’t help but dry-cough a few times. When that fat man came over to carry the platter, he even measured her two glances with bad intentions.

Chen Mu was too lazy to pay him any mind, casually turning off the stove and dropping the lamp. Just as she was preparing to clean up the stall and close for business, a sharper shout suddenly transmitted from behind her again: “Hey, what are you doing!”

She turned her head fiercely, only to see that fat man currently swaying around the three girls’ table while holding his platter.

The white-clothed girl held her waist and cursed furiously with a rush of fire: “You foul rogue, apologize quickly!”

The other two girls bore traces of tears at the corners of their eyes, shrinking back and hiding behind the white-clothed girl.

That fat man revealed a mouthful of yellow teeth, suddenly stepping forward to lift a wisp of the white-clothed girl’s hair tip: “Aiya, what happens if I touch it once? Coming out late at night is all for playing, why be so stingy.”

“You!” The white-clothed girl lifted her hand and swung, already so angry her entire body was trembling, “Stinking shameless wretch, you wait, I want to call the police!”

Yet her hand was trembling terribly. With a guangdang sound, her phone rolled down onto the dining table.

“Haha, didn’t you want to call the police? Call them quickly then!”

The two middle-aged men looked at each other and laughed loudly. Seeing that they extended their arms, they were about to lean toward the girls again.

Suddenly, a silver light flashed past!

The oily, shiny iron spatula, stained with fresh red spicy black bean sauce and a few pieces of crisp, tender bean sprouts, impressively blocked between the fat man and the girls.

Chen Mu said to the fat man who was full of playfulness: “Eating is eating, don’t create unpleasantness.”

Before she could finish speaking, she felt a sticky gaze sweep her up and down completely, her entire body instantly feeling as if it were stained with syrup that couldn’t be peeled off.

Seeing the situation, the fat man immediately switched his target, holding the platter and lifting it before her eyes: “Yo, isn’t this the night stall proprietress? I see these fried rice noodles are very ordinary, but the person is quite extraordinary instead, does everyone say so, haha?”

Chen Mu’s height was a full 170 centimeters; planting herself there, she was half a head taller than him. Without changing her expression, she pushed the platter over, looking down at that person’s half-bald crown: “Scram.”

Crackling sparks exploded in the air, causing everyone to stop their chopsticks in succession. Neighboring Sister Zhang was so anxious she stamped her feet right in place, disregarding her hands full of oil sparks to hurriedly fish out her phone.

Right at the quarter past midnight, the electronic broadcast inside the dispatch hall of the Lan River Police Station suddenly resounded—”You have a new dispatch, please check.”

On-duty people’s cop Tian Jingjing was currently doing push-ups, sweat beads the size of beans crashing all over the floor. Hearing the central notification, she immediately leaped up and jogged to the office: “Gu Xian, there’s a dispatch!”

It wasn’t until she was dragged onto the police car by her that Gu Xiyan learned that Old Li, a veteran officer aged forty-eight, was unwilling to go to the noisy night market, consequently ordering the two young superintendents to go to the scene.

Bearing a forehead full of anger, the gas pedal beneath her foot was stepped on until it was flying: “Why hasn’t Old Li retired yet? Doing nothing but digging pits for people.”

Little Tian in the passenger seat had just confirmed the scene location, turning her head to complain to Gu Xiyan: “Are you crazy, Gu Xian? If he retires, then our patrol sector has to be replanned again.”

“I’m so hungry, wow. Let’s bring back some late-night snacks after finishing the call in a bit.”

Gu Xiyan took advantage of waiting for a red light to knit her brows, tearing open an alcohol wet wipe to wipe the steering wheel until it was gleaming bright: “Tian Jingjing, remember to wash your hands next time you eat buns.”

“I can’t even distinguish whether this car smells like smelly feet or chive and egg.”

Officer Little Tian in the passenger seat let out a guilty “Mhm,” pointing at the green light to shift attention: “Look, look, look at the light!”

She had a face full of grievance. Gu Xian’s small mouth was simply full of venom.

The police station was merely a ten-minute drive away from the bustling Lan River Night Market. After parking the car, the two young superintendents plunged headfirst into the bustling market.

“Which one reported to the police?” Gu Xiyan peered at Stall No. 0136 in the dispatch notes—four large characters on the sign, “Yiban Fried Rice Noodles”.

This boss truly enough lacks culture, she muttered secretly.

“Me.” Crisp, clear.

Gu Xiyan lifted her eyes to see a girl of upright stature, wearing a black T-shirt, walking toward her.

That person gathered her hair in a low ponytail, wore a black mask, and within the restrained corners of her eyes beneath thick brows was locked a smear of deep tranquility, completely incompatible with the atmosphere in the bustling market.

A gust of slightly cool wind rolled through the hot and dry air. Gu Xiyan couldn’t help but take two more careful glances.

No… why is this person still clutching a spatula in her hand?

She gestured for Little Tian to turn on the law enforcement recorder. The two walked before the girl and performed a hand salute: “Hello, Lan River Police Station Officers Gu Xiyan and Tian Jingjing. Because of what matter did you report to the police? Explain the situation briefly.”

“Hello, Officers,” the girl opened her mouth, “It was me who reported to the police, but I am the stall owner, not the party involved. You have to find these few to understand the situation.”

Finishing speaking, she extended her hand to point at those two middle-aged men not far away.

Gu Xiyan immediately grasped her meaning: “Then that’s fine. You leave your contact information. If there is a need, we will call you to the station to assist in making a statement.”

Just as the two officers were understanding the situation, that fat man was still cursing the girls without letting go, his speech crude and unbearable to the ear. The surrounding people all minded watching the excitement, no one stepping forward to stop him.

Gu Xiyan couldn’t help but knit her brows, immediately walking with strides like a flowing stream before the middle-aged man to display her officer ID: “Hello, now warning you to cease insulting the parties involved. Let’s go, proceed to the police station to handle it.”

That fat man was full of alcohol qi, his face red like pig liver, yet facing the law enforcers, he let out a contemptuous spit: “Yo, does your police station have no men? How come you called two little girls over? Truly losing the face of us men!”

Gu Xiyan moved her hand without showing any sign to her police belt, her tone turning sharp and fierce: “Now warning you, do not obstruct police officers in the execution of official duties, honestly return to the police station with me!”

Before the words fell, that fat man suddenly slanted his two eyes, and without a cold warning, unexpectedly crashed straight toward Gu Xiyan!

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