Chapter 1601: He’s Arriving Today. Are We Killing Him?
The tripe floated around in the red soup base, rolling up a coat of delicious red before it was put into Mag’s mouth.
The burst of spiciness exploded in his mouth first, and following that was the crispiness of the tripe. It was as thin as a leaf, but was not tough at all. On top of that, the crispiness made it an enjoyable indulgence.
Other than the spiciness of the soup base, its unique scent also made Mag raise his brows. The 30% difference in taste gave the spicy hot pot a sort of deliciousness in another direction. It was a surprising and delectable taste.
The different groups of spices were blended perfectly together. They did not cover the main spicy taste, and instead added more layers to it.
Mag picked up a long piece of duck intestine, and submerged it in the pot. He dipped it in several times, and the duck intestine started to curl up. After that, he dipped it in his sauce, and put it in his mouth.
The temperature was well-controlled, and that made the crispiness of the duck intestine perfect. The fragrant and spicy red soup got rid of the smell of the duck intestine. At the same time, it also gave the duck intestine a marvelous taste. Its crispiness gave Mag such a wonderful chewing experience he almost started chewing on his tongue.
The half-a-ladle of pig’s brain had been cooking for a while in the pot. Mag bit on the edge of the ladle, and blew on it before sucking the entire thing into his mouth.
The appropriate level of spiciness triggered the taste buds first before the pig’s brain disintegrated in his mouth. Its texture was soft and fine, similar to tofu pudding, but the pig’s brain was thicker and stickier. The fragrance and deliciousness bloomed at the tip of Mag’s tongue, forming an interesting contrast with the spiciness. It was a very unique enjoyment.
The enoki mushrooms and sliced lotus root were put into the pot.
Mag used the sharing chopsticks to pick up sliced beef, and looked at Rena, who was standing nervously at the side. With a smile, he said, “Don’t just watch, sit and eat with me.”
“Oh.” Rena was stunned for a while before she sat in front of Mag, and started dipping the ingredients in the pot.
The hot and spicy hot pot dispelled the chilliness of the winter. It was a moment of scrumptiousness as the red soup base boiled.
Mag used a piece of tissue paper to wipe away the perspiration on his forehead and the oil at the corner of his mouth as he smiled with satisfaction. He looked at Rena, and said, “When the renovation is completed and you hire employees, you can open straight away. If you can keep up this standard for the soup base and ingredients, the business won’t be bad with the price slightly lower than Mamy Restaurant.”
“The red soup base… passed as well?” Rena looked at Mag in surprise, but she was still trying very hard to control her emotions.
“Yes. Your adaptation has been very successful. Even the tiny flaws aren’t able to stop it from shining brightly. This is an entirely new hot pot soup base, and its taste is unique but still delicious,” Mag said seriously with a nod.
Rena’s talent in understanding spices shocked Mag once again. He had to admit that even he could not find such suitable replacements within such a short period of time and ascertain the proper amount of each spice for the soup base.
“Thank you.” Rena finally smiled widely. Her endless hours of hard work had finally paid off!
Mag’s recognition was more important than anyone else’s because he was the creator of hot pot, so no one had more say than he did.
“As for hiring, you might want to consider elves. Firis probably has a lot of unemployed tribesmen. Most of them are rather talented. If they could be put in positions suitable for them, you could reduce the number of manpower while increasing work efficiency,” Mag suggested.
As the factory at the city’s northern area had yet to be completed, there were still around 20,000 unemployed Night Elves there.
Many of them were 6th-tier and 7th-tier magic casters. A 5th-tier water-type magic caster’s spell could complete the work of more than 10 old cleaners, and do an even better job.
With fewer employees, the costs of running the hot pot restaurant would decrease. At the same time, they would not run into chaotic situations of having a lot of staff moving around.
“Hire elves as service staff?” Rena’s eyes lit up. However, she was quickly worried. Would the noble elves be willing to work as service staff in a hot pot restaurant? Would she have to pay them a lot?
“You can ask Firis. Maybe hiring elves as employees isn’t as expensive and difficult as you think,” Mag said with a smile.
“Alright.” Rena nodded. She did feel that she was overly worried and overthinking before she even found out more.
“I should get going. Although I’m already full, I still have to prepare lunch for the rest, and get ready for lunch hours.” Mag glanced at his watch. It was almost 11 am. He stood up and walked towards the stairs while saying, “I’ll do the bone soup for today. You carry on with what you have to do for the restaurant. It’s okay to come a little later too.”
“Okay, then I’ll have to trouble you,” Rena said as Mag left.
“You might want to experiment on the spicy hot pot for that little flaw,” Mag said without turning back.
“Flaw…” Rena looked at the red soup base in front of her that had already reduced by half. She picked up a ladle, scooped up some soup, and brought it to her nose. She closed her eyes and took a serious sniff. She frowned. “Is there something extra or something missing?”
***
“Why isn’t Rena here yet today?” Miya asked after arriving and looking around while Mag was making lunch for them.
“She’d already eaten. I was at her shop just now, trying out her newly developed hot pot. The taste was very unique, and both of us have already eaten our fill,” Mag said with a smile.
“Rena is so capable. Is she already done with the hot pot soup base? Does that mean that the hot pot restaurant will be open soon?” Miya exclaimed in shock.
The others also looked at Mag curiously. The new hot pot restaurant was very big, much bigger than Mamy Restaurant, and that was something to anticipate.
“Yes. Now all that’s left is the renovation and hiring.” Mag nodded. Even the most time-consuming and energy-consuming part, the renovation, was coming to an end.
“That’s so exciting. I hope Rena’s hot pot restaurant can show all those cheap hot pot restaurants with poor food quality what it means to be a real cheap hot pot restaurant,” Miya said expectantly.
“It would be no problem trashing them,” Mag commented silently to himself. He was actually quite excited about the new hot pot restaurant too.
It was a huge shop that could accommodate 1000 people. Even if each person spent only 100 copper coins on average, the shop could easily earn 200,000 a day in revenue. This shop was a hen that could lay golden eggs.
“Clear up the table and get ready for lunch,” Mag told everyone as he closed the fire, and plated the red braised pork into a clay pot.
After lunch, Irina called Mag upstairs. The moment she closed the door, she went straight to the point. “Sean is coming to Chaos City. He’s arriving today. Are we killing him?”