She silently nibbled on her meat zongzi. It was delicious too! However, she still missed the braised pork. She only managed to eat two pieces before it was all gone! But at least she got to taste it. The friends in the Foodie Group could only watch and drool.
To comfort her wounded soul, Gan Lan turned on her Light Brain and entered the Foodie Group.
Feiran: [Heartless woman T^T]
Handsome Mingyu: [Cruel woman T^T]
Blooming Beauty, Moonlit Grace: [You heartless, cruel, wicked woman T^T]
Sky Blue: [Junior, you’ve changed. You never used to be like this. Give me back my gentle and caring junior. BOOHOO...]
Hot Pot Balls: [There are only three of you. Can you even finish all that? Please send me whatever leftovers you have. I’m not a picky eater. Have some pity on me, junior. You can’t just tempt us like this!]
Binbin: [Sister... if there are no leftovers, then just send the plates over. I can eat three big bowls of rice just by mixing it with the leftover sauce. Look at how humble I am T^T]
Gan Lan laughed out loud as she read her friends’ messages. They were just too cute.
Come and have some barbecue!: [I didn’t eat my fill either. I’m gnawing on a zongzi right now, and I don’t even have sauce to mix with rice... But seeing you all like this makes me feel a lot better ^^]
After Gan Lan sent this message, she was heavily condemned by her friends once again. Despite the backlash, she felt inexplicably satisfied!
Time always flew by unusually fast when she chatted with her friends. It was time to sleep again.
At the Ge family’s home on Banan Star.
"Mom! Are you crazy? I’m already in the middle of a storm, and now you’re pulling a stunt like this? You’ve completely ruined my public image!" Ge Feng was furious. He couldn’t understand why his usually unreliable mother would pull such a stunt. Any fool could see that this terrible idea was definitely connected to him.
After all, he was the only one who had clashed with Gan Lan. It had happened twice, and both incidents had blown up significantly. He was absolutely livid!
And this matter really did involve him. Earlier, he had been called over by his teacher and scolded harshly, told to keep his dim-witted mother in check. The dressing down had left his face burning red with deep humiliation.
Once he learned his mother was behind it, he returned home and checked the family’s accounts, discovering that a large sum of money had been transferred out. Fortunately, she had at least a tiny bit of sense and knew to use someone else as a cover so she wouldn’t be caught red-handed.
Otherwise, he might be visiting her in prison right now. Even so, he was still furious!
"I did this all for your own good. She’s in the limelight right now. If this had succeeded, you could have rested easy," Mrs. Ge sobbed, feeling deeply wronged. She wondered why her son couldn’t understand her painstaking efforts.
"Don’t you believe in your own son? I’ve been a prodigy since I was a child, and I have a teacher to guide me. I only went to see her before because I felt she posed a threat to me, and I wanted to test her mindset!" Ge Feng said angrily. "With what you’ve done now, Banlan and Mingzong have truly become enemies! This is no small matter!"
Mrs. Ge muttered softly, "So what if we become enemies? What does the Ge family have to fear? Besides, don’t you still have your master?"
Thinking of Huang Xingyan, Mrs. Ge suddenly felt emboldened again. "Then how about I have your dad spend some money to buy you a superstar endorsement? Didn’t that little tramp Gan Lan also buy a Super V? You’re currently ranked second. We can run a wave of ads for you before the voting closes."
Mrs. Ge looked at the furious Ge Feng and asked tentatively. She never expected that Mingzong would put so much effort into protecting a commoner from a poverty star.
"Enough, just behave yourself and stop messing around. You don’t need to worry about my affairs!" Ge Feng scratched his head in frustration. The finals hadn’t even started yet, but he was already being suppressed. How could a prodigy who had never tasted defeat endure this? He even felt a sense of frustration in his heart.
If this incident hadn’t happened, his votes wouldn’t have been so much lower than Gan Lan’s. Although many people on Banan Star supported him, how could the population of one planet compare to several planets, or even the entire Federation Star System?
Although his teacher had scolded him severely, he still said he would figure something out and told him not to worry. It didn’t matter if he ranked second this time; when they went to Red Demon Star for the finals, that would be the true test of skill.
At the thought of the finals on Red Demon Star, Ge Feng swept away his frustration. He was bound to win the championship! No one could stop him!
The next morning.
Today was the day the competition voting results would be announced. Gan Lan woke up especially early to live-stream making breakfast, planning to wait for the results with her audience while they ate. She had done this for the previous two rounds, and this time was no exception. It truly felt great.
She was now quite Zen about the rankings, feeling as though all her nervous enthusiasm had been exhausted during the first match.
Browsing through the Star Network Ingredient Store, she wondered what to make for breakfast today. She had made breakfast so many times already, mostly deep-fried dough sticks, steamed buns, and pancakes. Today, she decided to make something with a stronger flavor. Regardless of whether it was healthy or not, she would make whatever she wanted to eat!
Right now, she desperately wanted hot and sour rice noodles. The image and aroma of the dish floated in her mind, and she practically started to drool.
Unfortunately, she would have to make the sweet potato noodles herself, which was incredibly troublesome.
Despite the hassle, she thought of the soon-to-be-completed instant noodle factory. She could also produce sweet potato noodles and a secret chili oil. After all, if they could be bought on the Star Network, most of the clumsy interstellar citizens probably wouldn’t want to go out of their way to make sweet potato noodles from scratch just to eat hot and sour rice noodles.
With this in mind, making the sweet potato noodles and red chili oil sauce didn’t seem so bothersome anymore. This was yet another huge business opportunity!
Just hot and sour rice noodles seemed a bit too plain. She wanted to slurp noodles and gorge on meat!
Although this era lacked many culinary delights, its technology and medical fields were incredibly advanced. Therefore, there was no need to worry about a balanced diet; recovery agents and nutrient supplements could easily solve those problems.
In her original world, she couldn’t indulge in food so recklessly because it would lead to all sorts of health issues. But in this world, it was completely different; she could let herself go completely.
She remembered the first time she tasted those bizarre, horrendous dishes. She thought she would end up with a stomachache or diarrhea when she returned, but after eating so much, she was perfectly fine!
The next day, she was still alive and kicking. It was then she realized that food safety wasn’t important at all, as long as it wasn’t a lethal poison that could kill instantly.
The combination of hot and sour rice noodles with honey-roasted chicken sounded quite good—perfect for her, in fact. She was still brooding a little over not eating her fill last night.
Making sweet potato noodles was both simple and difficult. The main issue was that it took far too much time. If not for the backing of advanced technology, she might have had to wait half a month to eat this meal of hot and sour rice noodles.
Since she was in a good mood today, she decided to go for it. She bought all the ingredients she needed, planning to make the most troublesome and time-consuming sweet potato noodles first and leaving the rest for later.
"What delicious food are you making today?" Gulu asked curiously when he saw the huge pile of sweet potatoes in the kitchen. They were taking up nearly half the floor space. He wondered what this woman was planning to do.