My gorgeous wife
Chapter 377 - 352: The Baozi Eating Contest

Chapter 377: Chapter 352: The Baozi Eating Contest

Afternoon.

Li Chen planned to go out for a while and approached not far from Dawan Street, only to find a crowd gathered by the roadside. However, the center space was left empty.

In that central area, there was a long table, and on the table, in plates, buns were stacked like a small mountain.

The surrounding crowd cheered in waves, as the people in front of the table were desperately eating buns, clearly aiming to finish within the allotted time.

Above them, a banner fluttered in the wind; it read, "3rd Hua Yuan Baozi Shop Bun Eating Contest". It was apparent that a bun eating competition was being held.

Li Chen initially had no interest, but on a casual glance, he spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.

Zhong Tian.

Li Chen was taken aback for a moment, then slapped his forehead, "Darn it, he’s been so busy he had completely forgotten about Zhong Tian."

With that thought, Li Chen felt ashamed; after all, it was his grandfathers who asked him to take care of Zhong Tian. Surely they couldn’t just leave him aside indefinitely.

But to be fair, it wasn’t entirely Li Chen’s fault. Since going to North America, dealing with Shadow, avenging the Li Family, with this series of events, Li Chen had no time to look after Zhong Tian.

Now that he saw Zhong Tian was fine, Li Chen also felt relieved.

Zhong Tian was his junior brother. As long as he was not in trouble, that’s all that mattered.

Meanwhile, the contestants had apparently finished the competition, and the surrounding crowd burst into enthusiastic applause. One could see that one participant had the fewest buns left on his plate, meaning he won that round of champion bun eater.

Once those few finished eating, someone came out to take control of the event.

"Alright, up next is the following round of competitors, let’s welcome them."

In an instant, there was a round of applause, and Zhong Tian took his seat at the table, along with several other contestants.

However, the onlooking crowd burst into laughter upon seeing Zhong Tian.

"Holy crap, how can someone be that fat?"

"Haha, it looks like the champion of this round is definitely going to be him."

"That’s not necessarily true. Being fat doesn’t automatically mean he can eat a lot."

"Then show me a fat person who can’t eat big portions."

Immediately, the person was at a loss for words. Indeed, it seemed like all fat people were gluttonous and had large appetites—otherwise, how could they have become fat?

"But this fat guy is really funny," others commented, not being able to contain their laughter, as there was what resembled a doll-like child sitting on Zhong Tian’s shoulder.

Although described as a child, the term baby might be more accurate. Naturally, this was the Ginseng Doll, who was dressed in a simple cloth outfit, wrapped with some leaves and twine, and had a little hat made of grass rope on its head.

This image reminded people of the Calabash brothers from their childhood.

"That little guy on the fatty’s shoulder is really cute."

"This costume brings back memories of my childhood."

The onlookers chuckled. From the moment Zhong Tian took his seat at the front, almost all eyes were upon him, because Zhong Tian’s size was simply too commanding, and the doll on his shoulder was indeed adorable.

However, to Zhong Tian, the comments of others did not matter. Right now, he was intently staring at the new plate of buns that the organizers had brought out, evidently swallowing his saliva.

He couldn’t help it; he had not been fed enough these days and was hungry.

"Alright, everyone quiet down, the competition is about to start," the host announced.

Then, as the competition began, the contestants began stuffing buns from the plates into their mouths.

"Go for it, go for it!"

The crowd cheered on, but when they looked towards Zhong Tian, what was initially a cheer turned into a sharp intake of breath.

This... this is just too exaggerated, isn’t it?

The people beside him were stunned, their jaws nearly dropping to the ground.

"Is this... is this really eating buns?"

Finally, someone asked this question dumbfoundedly.

Right, was this even eating? It was more like swallowing whole.

Zhong Tian paid no mind to the gazes of others; as soon as the competition started, he began grabbing buns with his hand and tossing them into his mouth. The buns didn’t even pause for a second before he swallowed them, and his other hand was already bringing the next one to his lips.

This speed was terrifying. While others were struggling to finish the buns on their plates, his were nearly gone.

"Oh my god, now I finally understand how a fat person becomes that way," someone said with a lingering fear.

"Getting that fat isn’t easy either."

The host by the side was also stunned. He knew fat people could eat a lot, but this fat guy was in a league of his own. Was he about to finish the entire plate of buns?

After swallowing the last bun, Zhong Tian then noticed the crowd was looking at him as if he were a monster.

Scratching his head innocently, Zhong Tian was puzzled why everyone was staring at him. However, he then turned to the host and asked, "Is there more?"

More?

The people around nearly fainted.

"More of what?" The host was also somewhat bewildered.

"Are there any more buns? I haven’t eaten my fill," Zhong Tian said, seemingly embarrassed. The host could only smile wryly; no wonder they say a fat person isn’t a regular person.

But he still made a grand gesture, and immediately someone brought up a plate of baozi, which immediately made Zhong Tian’s eyes light up.

On his shoulder, the Ginseng Doll made various strange sounds like "ah, eh, yo, lo," and so far, it had learned many different tones.

Zhong Tian resumed gobbling down the food. At this point, there was only half the time left in the competition, and the people around had just finished a third of their food. As soon as that plate of baozi was brought over, Zhong Tian had already devoured half of it.

The competitor sitting next to him had already given up upon seeing how fiercely Zhong Tian ate. He couldn’t eat any more and could only watch Zhong Tian destroy the baozi with a bitter smile.

The people around were also curious to see how many baozi Zhong Tian could actually eat.

"Fatty, go for it!"

Someone began to cheer Zhong Tian on.

It didn’t take long before the second plate of baozi was also wiped out by Zhong Tian, and at that time, someone let out a round of cheers.

And as expected, Zhong Tian asked for more baozi, and the organizers once again handed him a plate.

This competition was originally meant to attract customers for the baozi shop, so naturally, the busier the better. Maybe because of Zhong Tian’s great appetite, if the news reported on it, the little shop might get some attention.

"Fatty, push for 5 plates!"

"Damn, that’s way too exaggerated."

"He’s onto the third plate now, how far can 5 plates be? Fatty, go for breaking the record!"

This record was set during the previous two competitions by a big eater who had devoured five plates in one go, though he seemed to have ended up in the hospital afterward.

Zhong Tian kept on destroying the food, and before long, he reached the fifth plate, with about a tenth of the competition time left.

"You can do it."

The crowd cheered on, and Zhong Tian didn’t care about anything but clearing out the baozi. He felt he hadn’t eaten so satisfyingly in a long while.

His goal was simple, to eat his fill.

It had been many days since he’d had a full meal. How could he feel satisfied with just a little to eat, especially since he had run out of money?

This was simply a great opportunity.

After polishing off the fifth plate of baozi, Zhong Tian looked at the host.

The host was already stunned but still replaced the plate with the sixth one, prompting excitement among the onlookers: "He’s broken the record!"

And when the competition time came to an end, Zhong Tian had just finished the baozi. Now he felt a little full in his belly. Wiping his mouth, Zhong Tian blinked, wondering why everyone was looking at him.

"Well done."

The others applauded. No one expected Zhong Tian to eat six plates. He truly was extraordinary. The other competitors could only smile wryly, thinking him a freak.

At that moment, Li Chen also came over, and Zhong Tian’s eyes immediately lit up: "Big Senior Brother."

"A Tian, have you been okay these days?" Li Chen asked with a smile, a hint of apology in his eyes, almost having forgotten about Zhong Tian.

Speaking of which, Zhong Tian immediately felt aggrieved: "Big Senior Brother, I want to go home."

At that moment, the Ginseng Doll, which resembled a Calabash Kid, hopped onto Li Chen’s shoulder with affection.

Li Chen looked at the Ginseng Doll; it had been mostly fine since it had been rescued from Shadow’s hands. But initially, it had stayed with Wan’er for a while and probably had run over to Zhong Tian this time.

It seemed it still preferred Zhong Tian.

"Don’t you like it here?" Li Chen asked.

Zhong Tian looked aggrieved: "Big Senior Brother, I’m so bored here, I don’t know what to do."

"What about practicing?" Li Chen asked, puzzled.

"Last time I was practicing, I accidentally broke the floor, and the aunt wouldn’t let me practice anymore. She said she’d throw me out if I kept at it." Zhong Tian scratched his head.

Li Chen was at a loss for words, not believing he had actually broken the floor.

"Also, I often don’t get enough to eat." Zhong Tian said with a sad face, "This place isn’t like the mountains, where I can catch things myself."

Li Chen felt dizzy, not having anticipated that reason.

"A Tian, what about the money I gave you last time?"

"All spent," said Zhong Tian.

Li Chen slapped his forehead in frustration, not needing to guess that the large sum of money given last time couldn’t have been spent so quickly and likely was scammed out of him.

Li Chen thought for a while. Keeping Zhong Tian in the city was not as good as leaving him in the countryside, and the Ginseng Doll would definitely fare better in the mountains.

The Ginseng Doll was too valuable, and Li Chen naturally wanted it to stay with him permanently, which was only feasible if it followed Zhong Tian.

After thinking it over, Li Chen nodded, "Alright then, I’ll take you back tomorrow."

Zhong Tian’s face immediately lit up with excitement, but then he seemed to hesitate: "Big Senior Brother, I have another request."

"What request?" Li Chen asked, puzzled.

"I, I..." Zhong Tian stuttered, then said, "I still haven’t had enough to eat."

"You’re still not full?" Li Chen’s eyes almost popped out in shock. "Didn’t you just finish six plates of baozi? You’re still not satisfied?"

Li Chen let out a wry smile, "Fine then, I’ll take you for a meal."