The Game Of Life

[Pickled Vegetable Dumplings Grade E]

Made by: Li Sanya

Dish Details: A plain and common dish in terms of both ingredients and taste, the production method is poor as well. It is the most "difficult" dish Li Sanya had made in her life. Practice makes perfect, and because of the kindness it encompa.s.ses, it became the first taste of warmth Jiang Weiguo tasted upon coming to Shanghai for the first time. Eating it can greatly increase his satiety.

It can be made 10 times a day. （0/10）

...

So the biggest advantage of Auntie Li"s vegetable dumplings were... to fend off hunger?

It was indeed substantial in terms of size.

When Auntie Li was making the vegetable dumplings, Jiang Weiguo was cooking for Sir Huang in the kitchen next door. Jiang Feng had been paying close attention to Jiang Weiguo and hadn"t seen the process of how Auntie Li had made the vegetable dumplings.

Jiang Feng opened the video guide and tried to figure out the nuances of the dish.

It was proficiency.

Her actions were very natural when making the vegetable dumplings. Her movements were continuous and flowing, just like a pastry chef with decades of experience.

Auntie Li"s steamed white Mantou were always small in size. In addition to being a little stingy when adding the ingredients, there was another reason. Her flour would not rise successfully, and it would always be dead and flat. The steamed Mantou she made were always hard and tough. However, the quality of the Maize Bread she made, other than the poor quality of the ingredients affecting the taste, was much higher in quality than the steamed plain Mantou.

Her Maize Bread was better than plain Mantou, her rice paste better than her congee, and her gruel was prepared better than her rice paste, because she was more familiar with coa.r.s.e grain than fine grain.

Because she was proficient in it, she was in her element.

She was stingy when adding the ingredients, it was the same for the congee. She would always sprinkle small handfuls of rice when adding it. She would feel the pain of loss with each handful of rice. It was not her rice that they were using, and she could not eat a grain of rice either. 

Steward w.a.n.g didn"t care about Auntie Li and the others eating the rice paste and Maize Bread, but if they dared to eat and steal the finer grains, they would be chased off the ship.

The rough corn dough that scratched at throats as they were eaten was kneaded soft, smooth, and delicate under Auntie Li"s hands. She mixed in the gruel that she had snuck out from the pot into the dough bit by bit, and kneaded it for nearly an hour before adding the pickled vegetables.

The way she added the pickled vegetables was also very special, she did not put the stuffing in the middle but kneaded it into the dough. A small spoonful of pickled vegetables would be scattered and kneaded into the dough. Although it took time and effort, it saved on the pickled vegetables used, and the pickled vegetables could be tasted with every bite. It was a vegetable dumpling filled with the stingy characteristics unique to Auntie Li.

After that, it was easy. He just had to put it in the steamer to steam it.

And Jiang Feng realized that Auntie Li didn"t let the dough rise.

She had used the flat dough for this dish.

With such dense portions, how could it not stave off hunger?

Jiang Feng was not going to make this vegetable dumpling, putting aside its taste, six of the vegetable dumplings would be made following per portion. Because of how filling they were the old master wouldn"t need to cook at night. One vegetable dumpling split between the two of them could last them until dawn.

His top priority right now was to hone his culinary skills for next year"s compet.i.tion and try to earn some extra money as well.

In the end it all came back to the renovation costs.

Jiang Feng"s dream as a child was just to be a millionaire.

However, he was rich in debt now.

He shut his eyes and slept until the sun rose.

...

Today was Sunday, a day of relaxing and slacking. It was 11 o"clock when Jiang Feng woke up. w.a.n.g Hao was still sleeping. The whole dormitory was quiet.

The old master hadn"t brought enough winter clothes with him. Jiang Jiankang and his wife had closed their shop today to go shopping with the old master. w.a.n.g Xiulian had completely thrown her worries into the wind now. Several hundred million dollars was already owed. There was no need to worry now that they had so much debt. A day of business would not allow them to pay off much of their debt anyway.

Jiang Feng was thinking about whether to go to the library to study. There was still a month to go before his final examinations. Even if his skills had all been fully upgraded, he still had to read his books thoroughly to pa.s.s his final exams.

Just after taking out the books that he hadn"t opened in a month or two, Jiang Feng received a WeChat message from Liu Qian.

"President, why is your shop not open today˚‧º·(˚˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅)‧º·˚"

Her live streaming rooms were filled with emojis every day, and her messages all included emojis now.

Before he could reply, Liu Qian sent another message.

"I"m so hungry. Can you make an exemption for the club members even if the shop is closed?(•̥́ˍ•̀ू)"

"I"d like to have shredded pork with garlic sauce (◍˃̶ᗜ˂̶◍)"

"I didn"t buy ingredients so we only have pork, no vegetables." Jiang Feng replied.

"T^T"

How many emojis does she have?!

Ever since Liu Qian had fallen in love with the live streaming, she had not limited her live streams to mealtimes, other than when she was in cla.s.s, or sleeping, she would be live streaming all the time. She had also bought a separate mobile phone to be more professional.

Jiang Feng had entered her live stream rooms several times, and the camera angle was still a mystery to him. She was still just having fun by herself. Most of the time, she didn"t even look at the screen and would ignore the viewers. The viewers in her live room were even more of a mystery, chatting on their own and ignoring the host as if her live room was a large chat room from the past.

Jiang Feng guessed that she was probably squatting in front of the store while live streaming now, he took out his mobile phone and opened the live streaming app. Sure enough, her chin had taken up half of the screen, she was just squatting in the front of Health Restaurant. The screen was full of laughing comments, expressing their joy at the refusal of entrance she had just been served.

"Only pork." Liu Qian"s expression was sullen. She put the phone that was still live streaming directly on the ground, the camera angle was even more peculiar now. Most of her body could be seen, but her face was no longer visible.

 "So be it then, pork is better than the pig"s feed served in the canteen. Last night, the canteen served stewed pears with strawberries and stir-fried cured meat with bitter melon. It was so bad! "

[I"m craving for Red Braised Pork (=•̀口•́=)]

Looking at the live streaming room, Jiang Feng"s mind moved and he opened the reward leaderboard.

It seemed that live streaming was quite profitable.

"By the way, how much do you make a month through live streaming?" Jiang Feng sent a message and asked.

"2000! (｀･ω･´)ゞ President, are you short of money? If you want to start live streaming, I can help you publicize it! ─=≡Σ(((つ•̀ω•́)つ"

...

It would take him a little more than 100 years to raise enough money for the renovation at that rate.

"I"m just asking, wait for me, I"ll come over now." Jiang Feng put the book down and changed his plans to go to the store after he sent the message.

Liu Qian was the only one who still managed to give him 40 or 50 experience points for each bite of his dishes after tasting the old master"s cooking. It was worth making an exception for her.

When Jiang Feng arrived at the entrance of Health Restaurant, Liu Qian was squatting on the ground holding her mobile phone and chatting with the viewers in the live room. When she saw Jiang Feng coming, she jumped up immediately.

"My president has come to cook just for me. I"ll see you all later when we"re eating." Liu Qian said as she ended the live stream.

"President, can you make a super large serving? I didn"t have breakfast today." Liu Qian looked at him expectantly.

"Don"t worry, I"ll make you a dish of vegetable dumplings as well. Bound to fill you up!" Jiang Feng smiled, hiding his skills.

He opened the shop"s doors, went in, and closed them.