A small city next to the national highway, the night is dark.

After sitting in the car for too long, after Gong Yuze got off the long-distance bus, his body and legs were still shaking involuntarily.

"The room was clean and cheap. A middle-aged woman approached.

"Is it close to here? I don't want to go too far. ”

"It's close, five minutes walk. ”

……

Ten minutes later, Gong Yuze regretted that he had not made an appointment for an express hotel.

An alley, a lonely traffic light hung far ahead, in the bleak darkness, just a small red dot, the dilapidated houses curled up on the ground, as if hunched under the weight of the sky, the streets lonely and hollow, transmitting the echo of footsteps.

Gong Yuze put one hand in his pocket, his collar stood up, and when he passed a street lamp, his shadow rose from under his feet, drawing a long black arc on a wall, like a windshield wiper.

He finally saw a small hotel lightbox in front of him. Around the light box, there is a circle of red, red, green and green colored lights, flashing brightly or darkly.

Gong Yuze just wanted to lie down and sleep quickly......

He opened the room, entered the room, collapsed on the bed, and in less than ten minutes he fell into a deep sleep.

Dreams, chaotic and complicated.

When he got up early in the morning, he took a hot shower and changed into clean clothes. I took out the blue notebook and flipped through it, put it back on the outermost layer of the trolley case, picked up the key and went downstairs to the front desk.

"Is there a restaurant around here that challenges the Big Stomach King?"

"Yes, I kept walking when I went out, and there was a left turn at the intersection when I saw it. The young waitress with short hair and round face looked at Gong Yuze while munching on melon seeds, and she didn't seem to be able to connect the big stomach king with the person in front of her for a while.

"Thank you!" Gong Yuze flew out lightly and slammed the door shut.

……

At the door of the hotel, Gong Yuze stopped.

On both sides of the hotel gate, there were large trucks parked, and he hesitated, but he didn't know if it was because of the hesitation of these huge trucks or because of the drivers of the big trucks he was about to meet.

At this time, a person walked out of the store. The man was in his 50s, and his funny expression betrayed his cunning and bad ideas, and that look gave the impression that what he had in common with every man was that they all thought of an obscene secret and were reluctant to tell it. Gong Yuze hesitated even more.

The man spoke first: "Alone?"

"Yes, I heard that this store has a big stomach challenge. ”

The man didn't speak, and lit a cigarette in his hand: "You're a foreigner, right?" Without waiting for Gong Yuze to answer, the man continued: "My store has a big stomach challenge, but it's ......."

Gong Yuze understood, this person was the shopkeeper.

"But what?"

"If you are confident, you can go there and try it, if not, I advise you to just ......" This person said this, and took a puff of cigarette, and he and Gong Yuze immediately smoked before.

"Try!" Gong Yuze, I seemed to be talking to myself, and I seemed to be talking to the boss. Entering the store, Gong Yuze was startled.

Just now, from the outside of the store, I couldn't tell how big this store was, but when I went in, I found that the inside was not only wide and bright. At a glance, it was almost full.

There are more than a dozen long tables neatly arranged in the store, each large and thick, and five or six people can sit in pairs.

And these diners who are eating in the restaurant can tell at a glance that they are all big truck drivers.

They are all dark-skinned and well-built. Some put their coats on the backs of their chairs, others were shirtless, and every two people sitting opposite each other held the same bowl, and people were affectionately focused on the bowls in their hands, and from a distance, it looked less like a restaurant and more like a playing field.

Gong Yuze understood, these people were all competing in pairs!

After greeting the shopkeeper, the other customers walked up to him: "Didn't you just say to try it?"

Gong Yuze didn't answer immediately, the boss saw his uncertain face, and believed that he must have been frightened after seeing the eating appearance of these diners: "Because my shop is on the side of the national highway, most of the people who come are truck drivers, and these guys have a lot of food!"

"So I'm here, it's famous for being cheap and generous, and over time there are a lot of repeat customers, and these drivers are self-cooked. Some can become buddies in less than three sentences, and at first there were one or two bets on the amount of food, that is, within the specified time, whoever loses will pay for the food of two people. ”

The boss pointed to the bowl in the hands of those people: "See, such a large portion, it is a few dollars cheaper than other stores, even if the losing side pays a little money, they think it is worth it." ”

"Over time, there was a trend among these truck drivers to compare the amount of food. ”

Gong Yuze carefully looked at these guests who were gobbling up.

They couldn't forget to argue in between pauses.

"This time, you're sure to win!"

"Forget how badly you lost last time?!"

Another table

"I thought I could eat more, but I'm ...... It's a little out of shape!"

"Then I'm sorry, I'll ask for the money for this meal. ”

Gong Yuze saw that there was a table that had ended the game. The losing side took out the money and settled the account and was still eating with relish.

Some of these drivers eat noodles and some eat rice bowls. The driver, who did not have a race, was full of himself and was smoking a cigarette and watching the game.

The guys in the store were sweating profusely, ordering, timing, checkout, and looking for money.

……

"Boss, do you have noodles today?" said in a loud northern accent.

People followed the sound, and a man came in the doorway. At first glance, you can see that this is also a big truck driver. The dust along the way made his face look gray. He had a shaved head, and although his face was large, his facial features seemed to be too compact, and everything except his ears was concentrated around the fleshy hanging gall nose.

His half-sleeved checkered shirt was open, revealing a black white vest, which the man took off as he spoke. He tossed his clothes away on an empty chair nearby and went to wash his hands. Gong Yuze found that as soon as this person entered the scene, everyone was silent.

The boss responded with a smile: "I know you're coming, and I have a face!"

The boss turned around and whispered to Gong Yuze: "This guy is not at the same level as these people here." ”

"We all call him the noodle king, and when he comes back, he eats noodles, any noodles, as long as he is allowed to eat it, even if it is boiled in water, he eats, and his amount of food, no one has ever been able to beat him. ”

Gong Yuze heard this: "It's him!" The boss was stunned, laughed and said: "Have the guts! Admire!

The other guests all looked up at Gong Yuze in surprise, and some began to whisper.

Gong Yuze sat across from this person. The man wiped his hands and sat down: "I'm sorry, I have to let you break the bill today." ”

"What kind of noodles do you eat?" Gong Yuze went straight to the point.

"Whatever you want! The man smiled humbly.

The people around who had finished their games gathered around and waited for the show to begin......