"You won’t need to attend classes for the next half a month. Focus on your research and prepare for the competition in twenty days," Ye Lanyu’s calm voice came through the comms.
It was barely dawn when Gan Lan received Professor Ye’s call. Her voice was still a bit hoarse. "Professor, is it really okay if I don’t attend classes for twenty days?"
"What problem could there be? The Dean has already spoken. Treat these twenty days as a vacation. Study hard and prepare for the battle! The school takes this competition very seriously, but you don’t need to feel too much pressure. Just do your best."
"Understood, Professor. I guarantee I’ll complete the mission! So I really don’t have to go to class?" Gan Lan asked cautiously, pleasantly surprised now that she was fully awake.
"Yes, no need. Attending these classes is of little use to you now. You are already far ahead."
After hanging up, Gan Lan happily went back to sleep.
In the Principal’s office.
"Principal, Dean, is this really a good idea? I feel that Gan Lan’s personality is a bit solitary, and having her attend classes could help improve that," Ye Lanyu expressed her concern.
The old man waved his hand. "Don’t worry. Not letting her attend classes is exactly what she wants. I could tell. Didn’t you hear the excitement in her voice over the comms?"
"Indeed. It’s not strange for capable artisans to have a bit of a quirky personality. As long as there are no major issues on the surface, it’s fine. And judging by these past few days, her moral character is excellent," the refined Principal smiled, tapping the desk.
"Besides, she has already mastered the curriculum currently taught to freshmen. In fact, she does it even better than the instructors. There really is no need for her to attend classes. Let her have a good rest," the old man chimed in.
Ye Lanyu was speechless. They had called her over this early in the morning just for this? Older people really did need less sleep.
Meanwhile, as Lu Ziyu ate his breakfast and browsed the Star Network, he was somewhat intrigued by the tenth trending search topic.
"[The Most Bizarre Streamer in History! Have You Ever Seen a Streamer Like This?]
"You definitely haven’t seen a streamer who voluntarily refunds over a hundred million in gifts to their viewers.
"You definitely haven’t seen a streamer who can cook mouthwatering delicacies.
"You definitely haven’t seen a streamer who can turn rot into magic.
"You definitely haven’t seen...
"If you want to see for yourself, click the Teleportation Gate."
Lu Ziyu immediately clicked the Teleportation Gate, only to find himself in his junior Gan Lan’s streaming room.
Lu Ziyu was speechless. Wasn’t this his junior Gan Lan’s stream?
Looking at the past videos, the total download count had reached over a billion. His junior Gan Lan was about to blow up!
He hurriedly sent the link to Gan Lan to make his presence known. Otherwise, with so many people vying for her attention in the future, what if she forgot about him?
Meanwhile, Gan Lan was once again woken up by the DING DING of private message notifications.
She rubbed her eyes and lifted her right wrist to check her Light Brain. There were over a hundred million private messages. The sheer volume terrified Gan Lan so much that she sat straight up in bed, instantly wide awake. What was Zhao Mengru up to now? Couldn’t she just give it a rest?
Clicking open a few random messages, she realized she had misunderstood Zhao Mengru. Most of them were from people who had downloaded her videos, tasted the virtual food, found it delicious, and specifically left messages for her.
A small fraction of people also asked if they could buy it offline, or if she was interested in opening a restaurant.
Gan Lan felt a bit troubled. She had only done a normal stream yesterday, and the peak viewer count was just a little over a hundred million. How did over a hundred million private messages suddenly pop up? It couldn’t be that every single viewer from her stream had messaged her today.
She scratched her head, unable to figure it out, until she scrolled down to Lu Ziyu’s message. Upon clicking the link, she finally understood what was going on.
It turned out that a prominent journalist had dropped by her stream out of curiosity yesterday. Once inside, they found themselves unable to leave. They had even been lucky enough to win a portion of the food Gan Lan was giving away. While eating the virtual data was already delicious, tasting the actual physical food was an absolute revelation.
Thus, the journalist decided to write an article to properly promote the streamer as a form of repayment, secretly hoping to be blessed by extreme luck once again in the future.
Gan Lan found it somewhat amusing after finishing the article. So she had only spent one portion of food and ended up on the Star Network’s trending list? What a huge bargain!
She couldn’t help but praise herself. The decision she made yesterday was entirely correct!
She hoped this kind of thing would happen a few more times. That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about promoting Huaxia cuisine in the future. It truly was a great fortune!
"Junior, don’t tell me you paid for a spot on the trending list?" Wen Ningyue asked Gan Lan as she sat on the sofa, eating snacks.
Wen Ningyue had originally planned to find Gan Lan at her classroom. After asking her classmates and learning she hadn’t shown up, Wen Ningyue had come straight to her dorm.
"Where would I get the spare cash to buy that? Didn’t you read the trending post? That was someone repaying me. They simply wrote an article praising me, and even they don’t know how it suddenly ended up trending." Gan Lan patted her freshly washed clothes and hung them up to dry.
"Then your luck is way too good. You’ve come out unscathed from several forum incidents now. Could you be the legendary ’Chosen One’?"
Gan Lan’s hand paused on the hanger, and she rolled her eyes at Wen Ningyue. "You read too many novels, don’t you?
"Let’s have lunch together? I don’t have to attend classes recently, so I have a lot of free time."
Wen Ningyue immediately stood up and walked over to Gan Lan with a fawning expression. "Junior! Leave the clothes to me. How can a master chef do such menial chores? You should be shining brightly in the kitchen!" She patted Gan Lan’s shoulder. "Go on, I’m starving. I’ll hang the clothes."
Gan Lan was speechless. She was just happily munching on snacks, so how could she be hungry already? To think she was this kind of senior!
Gan Lan decided to make hot oil noodles with a fried egg. It was quick, simple, and delicious!
After buying the necessary ingredients, she began to cook. She rolled the dough, cut the noodles, and boiled them.
She fished out the cooked noodles, ran them under cold water, and placed them in bowls. Then, she added blanched leafy greens, scallions, garlic, millet chilies, chili powder, Sichuan peppercorn powder, vinegar, light soy sauce, and salt.
Next, she added the diced lean meat she had stir-fried while the noodles were boiling.
Once the oil was piping hot, she poured it over the seasonings and topped it with a fried egg.
Two steaming bowls of hot oil noodles were ready!
Gan Lan called out to Wen Ningyue, who was humming a tune while watering the plants, "Time to eat!"
Wen Ningyue’s eyes lit up. Tossing the watering can aside, she quickly ran over to Gan Lan. "It smells amazing! It looks so good." Wen Ningyue immediately picked up her bowl and took a deep sniff. "What’s this called?"
"Hot oil noodles. Make sure to mix it before you eat," Gan Lan replied casually as she sat at the dining table, stirring her own noodles with chopsticks.
Wen Ningyue hurriedly found a good angle, took photos of her hot oil noodles from every perspective, and posted them to her Moments.
[Image] [Image] [Image] Ever since I met my junior, my quality of life has skyrocketed! So delicious!
As soon as the post went up on Moments, it received countless likes and rows of comments fiercely expressing their jealousy!
Wen Ningyue smiled smugly, put away her Light Brain, and began mixing her noodles to eat.
"HSS... It’s so spicy and fragrant. These noodles have such a great chew! This is amazing. Junior, your cooking skills are truly incredible!" she praised between bites, occasionally throwing a novel glance at Gan Lan.
Gan Lan was speechless. She had heard these compliments so many times that she was already immune to them. However, even the food couldn’t shut her senior’s mouth.
Gan Lan realized that since arriving in this world, the number of times she was left speechless had only been increasing.