Hearing this, Guo Daixuan quickly scrambled to her feet. She patted her backside and leaned in close to Gan Lan. "The prerequisite is that I have to be full. I didn’t get enough to eat yesterday. Can you make today’s spicy Ugly Shrimp a little less spicy?"
"If spicy shrimp is less spicy, is it still spicy shrimp? I’m making a non-spicy version today anyway." Gan Lan stirred the almost-finished congee. She tossed the chopped vegetables into the clay pot, mixing them into the congee along with a dash of oil and salt. Once the vegetables were cooked, she turned off the heat.
Guo Daixuan sniffed the aroma of the congee and peered into the pot. "Why is it all vegetarian? Throw some meat in there! Still, it smells pretty good and looks appetizing."
Peeling garlic with a deadpan expression, Gan Lan replied, "Meat is expensive."
Matching her deadpan look after hearing this answer, Guo Daixuan said, "...Oh. Then dish me out a bowl. Let me taste it."
Gan Lan silently pointed to the bowls set aside.
Understanding the gesture, Guo Daixuan grabbed the largest bowl and scooped herself a massive portion. Without even blowing on it, she took a big gulp. Predictably, she nearly spat it out. She forced it down her throat before finally hollering.
"Holy crap! Hot, hot, hot..."
Gan Lan had no idea Guo Daixuan was such an oaf. She had truly been blinded by the woman’s exterior yesterday, actually believing she looked tall and reliable.
Her mouth twitched. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a large moving basin outside the door, followed by a little tail.
"Sister, I’m here!" the little girl cried out. She breezed right past her own biological older sister, hugged Gan Lan’s thigh, and coaxed, "Sister, I’m hungry. I want to eat shrimp!"
Guo Daixuan’s face darkened as she slurped her vegetable congee. She wondered how her little sister could completely ignore her own tall, biological older sister standing right there, and instead only see the person she was completely blocking from view.
Meanwhile, in the surveillance area for the Red Demon Star finals.
An oversized virtual screen was divided into a hundred different feeds. The numbers on top represented each contestant’s ID. Viewers could freely switch and enlarge the feed of any contestant they wished to watch, or monitor several contestants simultaneously.
Judges from various competition zones gathered in front of this screen, selecting the contestants they wanted to observe. Among them, Gan Lan’s Feed No. 9 was overwhelmingly favored by the judges. As for Ge Feng, his performance had been so abysmal that he had already been surpassed by Contestants No. 15 and No. 7.
"Watching No. 9’s feed is still the most relaxing," one judge remarked. "The other contestants were assigned much better zones than No. 9, yet none of them have received a single customer so far. Some have even spent all their Credit Points and are looking incredibly depressed."
"Exactly. Kids nowadays are too sheltered. At the slightest setback, they blame everyone and everything but themselves, believing their assigned locations and tasks are impossible to complete. Little do they know that the one in the most miserable situation is actually the most optimistic."
"Doesn’t Master Mo Ran think highly of No. 9? Why did he assign her the worst location? The Guo Family is the only household within a hundred miles of that spot. It’s too difficult to show off any skills in a place like that."
"Who says No. 9’s location is the worst? It would indeed be the most miserable if no one from the Guo Family was around and Boss Guo hadn’t returned. But right now, she’s actually quite lucky. The Guo Family’s estate is usually deserted, yet people actually returned these past two days. Even Boss Guo from the Research Institute made a sudden return. Master Mo Ran is blatantly opening a back door for No. 9."
Sitting at the very front, Master Mo Ran’s lips curled up slightly as he listened to their discussion. That was right! He was blatantly opening a back door for No. 9. He had originally assigned Gan Lan a different location, but he suddenly received news that Old Guo would be returning for a few days and that his children were currently on vacation. So, using his privileges, he swapped Gan Lan and Ge Feng’s locations.
He thoroughly understood Gan Lan’s situation. The changes in her were the biggest target on her back, and the recipes in her head were enough to drive anyone crazy.
If someone were to capture Gan Lan, the knowledge in her head was more than enough for a single person—or even an entire family—to monopolize the entire Culinary World. The underlying profits were enough to make people act with complete reckless abandon.
Therefore, he used this opportunity to let Gan Lan meet the authoritative director of the Research Institute. If she could earn his favor, the risk of her being kidnapped for research would drop significantly. Boss Guo might even be able to provide post-research documentation for Gan Lan, giving her sudden changes a logical and justified explanation.
"Mo Ran, aren’t you afraid that Huang Xingyan will go complain to the Monopoly Faction? You might even risk getting dragged down from your position over this," Ma Wenzhou suddenly whispered. He was sitting next to Mo Ran, watching No. 9’s feed with him.
Sitting on the other side, Chu Yuanyi’s heart skipped a beat when he heard this. That wouldn’t do. For now, Mo Ran’s position had to remain absolutely unshakable. Gan Lan’s competition wasn’t over yet. Once it was over, it wouldn’t matter how Mo Ran was dragged down, but it couldn’t happen right now.
"Pfft, do you think the current Monopoly Faction is as glorious as they used to be? Our Public Faction was severely weakened, but the Monopoly Faction isn’t doing much better. Dragging me down won’t be that easy!" Mo Ran knew this perfectly well, which was why he dared to so brazenly open a back door for Gan Lan. Even if the Monopoly Faction found out, there was nothing they could do to him right now.
Back at the Guo Family villa, Gan Lan looked down at the little Cutie, Yuanyuan, who was still hugging her thigh. "We’ll eat the shrimp in a bit. Right now, I have something good for you to eat!"
Dragging her little leg-pendant along, Gan Lan walked over to the steamer and opened the lid. The sponge cake was already done steaming. She turned off the heat, waited for the cake to cool, and then sliced it into triangles. After placing them on a plate, she scooped a small bowl of vegetable congee for Yuanyuan.
Her leg-pendant was finally lured away. Even though she was only a five-year-old girl, having her latch onto a thigh was quite heavy.
Shrimp was already proactively preparing her favorite Ugly Shrimp. As she worked, she let out an eerie, sinister chuckle that was genuinely terrifying.
Gan Lan also served herself a bowl and sat down to eat with them. Taking a sip of the vegetable congee, she suddenly remembered the disappointed old father and wondered why he hadn’t tagged along. She turned to Yuanyuan, who was taking tiny bites of the sponge cake with her eyes narrowed in a happy smile. "Yuanyuan, where’s your dad? Did he not come?"
"He came! He’s running behind us with my brother. They’re exercising!" Yuanyuan pinched the sponge cake, watching it spring back into shape immediately after. She pinched it again before taking a bite, smiling as she asked Gan Lan, "Sister, what is this called? It’s as delicious as normal cake, and it’s so fun to play with!"
Gan Lan and Yuanyuan casually chatted. Guo Daixuan’s attention, however, was entirely focused on the sponge cake and the vegetable congee; her face was practically buried in her bowl.
Gan Lan ate for quite a while, but the father-son duo who were supposedly running over still hadn’t arrived.
She decided to make a portion of garlic Ugly Shrimp first. She figured they would surely make it here within an hour, right?
After all, it had taken her an agonizing hour and a half just to walk to the shade of the trees at the base of Yuanyuan’s family estate yesterday.
She washed the minced garlic with clean water, rinsing out the sticky sap it produced. This would prevent the minced garlic from developing a bitter taste when stir-fried later.
Once washed, she followed the same steps as yesterday, frying the Ugly Shrimp until they turned a bright red before scooping them out. Now, she could start stir-frying.
She poured oil into the wok, tossed in the washed minced garlic, and stir-fried it over medium-low heat until fragrant. Then, she added the fried Ugly Shrimp and stir-fried everything evenly. Next, she seasoned it with an appropriate amount of salt, white sugar, thirteen-spice powder, and pepper, followed by a splash of beer. She covered the wok and let it boil on high heat for five minutes. After removing the lid, she added a dash of chicken bouillon and stir-fried to reduce the sauce.
A large platter of rich, garlic-scented Ugly Shrimp was finally complete.
The rich garlic aroma immediately attracted the older and younger sister duo. Both of them stared eagerly at Gan Lan, their faces filled with longing.
Just then, two panting men finally stepped through the door.