Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Chapter 24: This Special Effect Is Something Else

Chen Ran was a little touched by this special effect.

She took a deep breath, swallowing the sourness in her throat, preparing to express her admiration to Xiao Li.

“Tonight when we get back, I’ll make some—”

“Wait, let me put on another pair of gloves.”

Chen Ran instinctively looked at Xiao Li’s hands; his disposable gloves showed no signs of damage. Only then did she realize this was the prearranged signal!

The signal meant someone was meeting with the people from the snake-skin house!

Chen Ran felt her muscles stiffen.

She couldn’t hear the police’s tense communications or discussions, only feeling Xiao Li getting more and more nervous.

Dusk was approaching. Chen Ran glanced at the queue behind and called out anxiously, “We’re almost out of dough, everyone, please don’t line up anymore.”

Among the sighs, a few voices stood out.

“Bring more tomorrow, miss! I missed out twice!”

“Make more pork elbows! I came at nine yesterday and still didn’t get any!”

Chen Ran felt a bit sorry for these college students.

Xiao Li had already noticed the meeting was happening, so the arrest was only a matter of time.

After all, this stall existed just for the “undercover” mission. Tomorrow, when these students come, they might not even see this stall anymore.

But she still couldn’t tell them she wouldn’t come tomorrow.

Chen Ran thought for a moment and activated the special effect she had just obtained.

For this last batch of rolled pancakes, let everyone eat comfortably! She didn’t understand exactly how it cleared away the darkness in the heart, but even if it just helped everyone have a good dream tonight, it wouldn’t be letting down these lovely customers!

“No choice, we’ve already brought a lot!” she smiled apologetically, “I’ll try to make them faster and make more.”

Xiao Li was already crouching inside the cart, whispering something rapidly, covering his mouth with his hand. Chen Ran couldn’t hear clearly, but she felt he might be… angry?

She tried not to pay attention to Xiao Li. As long as she didn’t disturb him, that was best.

Leave professional matters to professionals!

And her specialty was making one delicious rolled pancake after another!

The crispy outside and tender inside egg pancake rolled with crunchy bean sprouts, soaked tofu skin, braised egg whose yolk was fully flavored, plus Chen Ran’s own marinated large chicken cutlet brushed with her homemade sauce.

“Want chili?”

“Yes! Yes!”

The chili wasn’t store-bought chili powder but a batch of pickled chili Chen Ran had quickly made two days ago. The two-day pickled chili had just a slight sourness, and the spiciness hadn’t fully matured yet, but it was perfect for seasoning.

The little girl with black-rimmed round glasses took it, biting hard.

The egg pancakes from this cart were best when fresh off the pan!The crispy crust breaks open, revealing the soft, tender egg inside. The crunchy bean sprouts wrap around the freshly double-fried fragrant chicken cutlet. One bite, and it’s so delicious it feels like heaven.

The bean sprouts are stir-fried with a sour and spicy vinegar flavor, and the pickled chili also has a slight sour and spicy taste. The two sour-spicy flavors overlap, making the fried chicken cutlet not greasy at all, only allowing the fresh tenderness of the chicken to be tasted.

What’s even more surprising is that such strong flavors don’t mask the lingering wheat fragrance unique to the dough.

It’s a heavy, solid, slightly sweet aftertaste.

It’s a starchy aroma carried in the bloodline of the Hua family.

One swallow fills you with vegetables, meat, and the unique fullness of a starchy pancake.

Xin Qingqing adjusted her glasses. After just one bite, she felt her previously hungry stomach completely filled!

Along with the stomach, her anxious mood was also eased.

She grabbed her roommate who had come with her, excitedly saying, “I’ve figured it out, Rongrong!”

She was already in her senior year. Her grades had always been average. She had been drifting for several years and now had to choose whether to find a job, return home to take civil service exams, or try for graduate school.

She had thought about this decision for a long time. No matter which choice, it made her anxious and sleepless at night.

Find a job? What if she couldn’t find a good one? What if she even lost her fresh graduate status?

Graduate school or civil service exams? Could she really get in?

Especially today, she had felt nervous all along and couldn’t calm down, which was why she dragged her roommate out for a walk.

As if driven by fate, they came to this rolled pancake stall.

She took another bite of the pancake. After the sour-spicy taste faded, a unique sweetness from the flour rose on her tongue.

Xin Qingqing gripped her roommate excitedly. She had figured it out!

“I’ve figured it out, I really understand now!”

“My anxiety hasn’t been about not being able to choose a path, but because I didn’t have confidence in myself and hoped to escape my situation through one perfect, once-and-for-all choice...”

She exhaled deeply: “But that’s impossible... Finding a job means working hard to submit resumes and attend interviews; graduate school or civil service exams mean endless studying to stand out among many excellent peers...”

Xin Qingqing recalled a phrase she once read: “The opposite of anxiety is concrete reality.”

“No matter if I’m looking for a job or trying to get on solid ground, what I need to do isn’t endlessly worrying and panicking every day, but to work steadily and practically.”

“Life is every present moment, not fixed after one choice…”

She was restless every day in the dorm, missing both studying and job fairs.

Her roommate looked at her with joy and gave her a big hug.

“That’s right! Exactly! You finally figured it out!”

She also bit hard into the pancake she had just bought: “You always say you’re so anxious you can’t breathe, and I say it’s because you’re dieting and not eating carbs, which makes your stomach uncomfortable. An uncomfortable stomach makes you anxious too. Chinese people—how can you not eat carbs?”

The two walked arm in arm, warm and close.

Chen Ran looked surprised as she watched Xin Qingqing walk away, and also the little girl not far off who had finally decided to block and cut off the cheating scumbag boyfriend, crying with tear-streaked cheeks but looking much more relaxed and relieved.

The effect of this special power... honestly caught her a bit off guard!Is this what real security feels like?

The line in front of the food cart was getting shorter and shorter. The call she just made worked well. Chen Ran counted and realized that besides satisfying the university students in line, there were still enough rolled pancakes to give two to each police officer at the station.

Everyone was so tired; they deserved to unload the burdens in their hearts.

“Ranran, let me help you roll.”

Xiao Li had finished communicating at some unknown point. His face showed some anger, and his eyes were red and bright.

There were still customers ahead, so Chen Ran didn’t dare ask what happened and just kept making the rolled pancakes.

However, soon she heard the other prearranged code phrase again.

“Ranran, take a sip of water.”

The last time Xiao Li mentioned this code phrase was exactly when Shepi appeared.

Chen Ran grabbed the thermos cup Wang Changhai had given her, took a sip of the tea inside, and glanced at the line.

At the end of the line was the person who had just met with Shepi.

Why hadn’t they been arrested yet?

Chen Ran grew anxious. She recalled Xiao Li’s expression earlier. Could something have gone wrong?

She anxiously looked at Xiao Li, but he said nothing, only reassuring her: “Ranran, it’s fine. Don’t tire yourself. Just keep making the pancakes. I’ll handle everything else.”

Chen Ran nodded...

But her rolled pancakes were still in special-effect mode!

She had thought that after selling this last batch of pancakes today, the undercover mission would finally be over. Why did they have to feed the trafficker pancakes again?

She wanted to say the pancakes were sold out, but Xiao Li didn’t know her thoughts. Seeing that there were still pancake bases in the warmer, and to avoid alerting the trafficker, Xiao Li still took the money from the person.

“Two egg-stuffed pancakes, right? No pork knuckles left... no, no braised beef either, no fried chicken cutlets... yes, only sausages left.”

This trafficker was completely different from Heipi—he looked honest and simple, but his eyes kept darting everywhere.

“What kind of small stall is this? Why is it always ‘nothing available’?”

The person who met with Shepi grumbled unhappily. If Shepi hadn’t told him to come buy something to eat on the way, he wouldn’t have come.

But since they were about to head up the mountain with the goods, they really needed some food to keep going.

“Fine, just roll whatever you have. Right, no cilantro. Here’s your money.”

Chen Ran nervously made two special-effect rolled pancakes and handed them over.

She really wanted to know what had happened, but many university students were still waiting in line, so she didn’t dare ask yet.

After more than half an hour of selling, finally sending off this batch of university students, with no one else around, Xiao Li explained.

“The special task force came again from above. They said they’ve been watching that Shepi’s accomplice for a long time. They told us not to arrest yet. They’ll take over the surveillance.”

He slammed his hand on the cart’s handlebar: “They don’t understand at all how slippery Shepi is. If we don’t catch him on the spot, this time he might get away again!”

Wang Changhai, standing beside, said nothing. Normally, he was careful not to smoke in front of women, but this time he couldn’t resist. Squatting on the ground, only the flickering light of the lighter was visible.Liu Shihan said angrily, “They came from another province. We clearly don’t have to follow their orders! This ‘casting a long line to catch a big fish’ is just stealing credit!”

“Don’t say that!”

Wang Changhai stopped Liu Shihan with one sentence: “Can you just say things like that? Want to go have tea with the disciplinary inspection?”

Suddenly, the phone on his body rang almost simultaneously.

“What? Let him get away?”

Wang Changhai, who had just stopped Liu Shihan, hung up the phone and couldn’t help but curse.

“We’ve been staking out for so many days, and Chen Ran has been exhausted following along all this time, and damn it, that kid still got away?”

He grabbed Liu Shihan and turned to get into another car. “Let’s go back to the station. It’s late, and there are lots of mosquitoes.”

Xiao Li got off to sweep the ground. The voices of several police officers sounded very tired. Chen Ran didn’t know what to say.

She thought maybe she should make some pancakes for everyone?

Like the little girl with glasses just said, life is made up of countless moments of ‘now.’ The disappointment of now has passed; there will be better ‘now’ moments in the future.

The pan heated up, bean oil poured in, and the snowy white pancakes burst out a fragrant sweet aroma in the dark night.

Xiao Li came over with a bitter smile.

“Ranran, Chief Wang really did well hiring you…”

Great…

It was almost dark. This side was next to a construction site, messy and pitch-black. Only a lone light on the food cart shone.

Suddenly, someone popped out beside them. Xiao Li was startled but quickly calmed down.

“Still got pancakes? Give me three more!”

Shepi showed a mouth of big yellow teeth, counted out two bills and handed them to Xiao Li, then said carelessly to the person beside him, “I told you, they’re delicious!”

The group who came with him was a bit off; there was a child in their car, afraid of being discovered.

Luckily, he knew the area well.

What a joke. He chose this place full of construction sites precisely because it’s easy to hide and shake off followers.

As long as he’s on this territory, he fears no one!

“Add more chili!”

The accomplices who came to buy pancakes just now also nodded in agreement. For some reason, although they had just nervously shaken off the tail, looking at this little light by the food cart’s door, they inexplicably felt reassured.

The most dangerous place is the safest place, right? They just lost their tail here; no one would think they’d come back.

Chen Ran was stunned.

She forgot to flip the pancake for the first time and burned it.

Can this security-effect really be used like this?