Let's go back to 2008, starting with a recreational fishing park.

When the two returned to the private room, the spicy beef tallow soup base and the tomato soup base that Jiang Xia had ordered had already been served.

In addition, some meatball dishes were already placed on the table.

Seeing this, Jiang Xia immediately poured everything into the pot.

Seeing this, Su Qing asked curiously, "Jiang Xia, is hot pot just a hodgepodge?"

Hearing Su Qing say this, Jiang Xia was about to retort that a hodgepodge could not be compared to a delicious hot pot.

But then I thought about it again, and hot pot and stew don't seem to be that different in essence. They're both just a bunch of random ingredients stewed together.

However, when the sliced ​​meat arrived, Jiang Xia finally understood the difference between the mixed stew and hot pot.

He picked up a few slices of beef and explained to Su Qing:

"You see, the biggest difference between hot pot and stew is that one is stewed and the other is boiled."

As he spoke, he used serving chopsticks to put the slices of meat into the pot. Once the broth was bubbling away again, he quickly took the meat out.

Then, he dipped the meat slices in the sauce, coated them with sesame paste, and put them all into his mouth.

Immediately afterwards, Su Qing saw Jiang Xia wearing an expression of enjoyment.

"Is it that delicious?" She was tempted when she saw Jiang Xia's expression.

He quickly picked up a few slices of beef and put them into the pot, just like Jiang Xia had done.

But when it was time to scoop it out, she hesitated a bit because she wasn't sure if the beef was cooked through.

Thinking to herself, Su Qing waited a little longer before picking up the slices of meat, dipping them in the sauce, and putting them in her mouth.

In an instant, the rich and mellow taste of the sesame sauce, combined with the tender and bouncy beef, and finally the explosive spiciness of the beef tallow broth, exploded in Su Qing's mouth.

"How is it? The taste is alright, isn't it?" Jiang Xia handed Su Qing a glass of orange juice and asked with a smile.

After swallowing the food in her mouth, Su Qing nodded; eating like this was indeed very satisfying.

Then, out of curiosity, she scooped up a meatball with a spoon, dipped it in the sauce, and put it in her mouth.

Jiang Xia tried to stop him when he saw this, but it was too late.

At this moment, Su Qing frowned, opened her mouth, and breathed heavily, muttering, "So tough!"

"Easy to carry?" Jiang Xia couldn't help but laugh out loud!

Su Qing shook her head, frowned, and said loudly:

"It's not that it's easy to carry, it's that it's a good kang (heated brick bed)!"

Immediately, she picked up the orange juice that Jiang Xia had just handed her and poured it into her mouth.

After tasting the orange juice, she rolled her eyes at Jiang Xia and said, "It's so hot!"

"Haha, I know, I know," Jiang Xia couldn't help but laugh.

Su Qing's behavior while eating beef balls instantly reminded him of the first time he ever ate beef balls.

At that time, because he had never eaten it before, he immediately scooped the meatball out of the pot and put it in his mouth.

However, compared to the Chaoshan beef balls that Su Qing ate, the ones I ate back then were also beef balls, but they weren't Chaoshan beef balls; they were pissing beef balls!

Even now, when he recalls that scene, his tongue still feels a little sore.

Once Su Qing's tongue recovered, the two began their formal mealtime.

During the discussion, Su Qing also mentioned that the key to this dish lies in the broth and seasonings. She added that if given time to research, she could also create a similar flavor.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia also told the other person about some hot pot ingredients he had seen in videos in his previous life.

Hearing Jiang Xia name several seasonings, Su Qing was somewhat surprised; she hadn't expected Jiang Xia to know so much about them.

…………

The two did not drink alcohol, and their meal was quick. In less than an hour, Jiang Xia and Su Qing left the hot pot restaurant.

The meal cost Jiang Xia 200 yuan, which he felt was much better than their own 168 yuan set meal.

Standing at the entrance of the hot pot restaurant, Jiang Xia was about to hail a taxi to get his own bread truck when he saw Su Qing pointing excitedly towards a spot not far away.

"Jiang Xia, look."

Jiang Xia looked in the direction the other person pointed and saw a small shop with a sign that read "Fishing Paradise" sitting on the side of the road.

This fishing tackle shop is definitely not comparable to "Jianghu Angler". In fact, Jiang Xia only realized that it was a fishing tackle shop because he vaguely saw the words "fishing rods" and "bait" written on it.

But since they've met, it must be fate. If the other party can really share some of the prize money with him, even if it's just a few thousand yuan, Jiang Xia would think it's great.

……

On the other side, inside the "Fisherman's Paradise" shop, Wang Xiuqin sat worriedly in front of the counter.

She opened this fishing tackle shop half a year ago. At that time, her small restaurant was not doing well, and her husband, who loved fishing, kept nagging her about how it could make money. On a whim, she spent more than 300,000 yuan to open this fishing tackle shop.

After the fishing tackle shop opened, she thought it would be just like her husband said, because the profit margin was high and having one customer a day or even every few days would be enough to make a living.

But little did she know, this industry doesn't give you a customer every day or even every few days. In the six months since she opened, she has only served a few dozen customers, and most of them were buying fish bait.

She knew this couldn't go on, but the money was already invested, and her old restaurant had closed down. Whether it worked or not, Wang Xiuqin could only sit in the shop and keep going.

Fortunately, her husband, who used to only know how to eat, drink, and have fun, silently went to work in a factory after seeing her predicament.

She glanced at the time and realized it was already past six o'clock. There hadn't been a single customer all day, and no one would come if she waited any longer. She sighed and prepared to get up and close the door.

Just then, she saw a young man and woman walk into the store. She quickly stood up and greeted them, "Handsome guy and beautiful lady, what would you like to order?"

Jiang Xia frowned as he looked at the woman approaching him.

He wasn't frowning because anglers are usually men while tackle shop owners are women.

On the contrary, he felt that female bosses had an advantage when the customer base was predominantly male.

The female boss in front of me looked to be in her thirties and was dressed quite nicely; there was nothing wrong with her.

He frowned because the fishing tackle shop called Fishing Paradise was poorly decorated.

The shelves were old-fashioned, the wallpaper was old-fashioned, and even many of the fishing gear were covered in dust, indicating that they hadn't been sold for a long time.

Perhaps because I had just left Jianghu Angler an hour ago, the contrast with this fishing tackle shop was quite stark.

And most importantly, he felt that the small shop in front of him probably couldn't even sponsor him a few thousand yuan.

If Wang Xiuqin could hear Jiang Xia's inner thoughts, she would definitely say with a wronged tone, "I also want to renovate properly, but I don't have the money!"

She knew her renovation was poor, but the rent and inventory of the fishing tackle shop already amounted to nearly 30 yuan. In addition, there was no positive cycle after opening, and she thought about closing down every day. She had no mood to think about renovation.

However, despite the poor decor, Jiang Xia noticed that many of the fishing rods were from well-known brands, so he decided to ask if they would be willing to sponsor them.