As soon as the sour bamboo shoots appeared, the bullet comments in the streaming room vanished without a trace.
Gan Lan was somewhat speechless. These people were being far too dramatic! In truth, the sour bamboo shoots didn’t stink at all; their sourness was just a bit rich, giving them a rather unique smell.
Fortunately, she had prepared for this in advance. She really was a clever girl!
Pretending to be puzzled, Gan Lan asked, "Where is everyone? Where did you all go? Were you knocked out by the mouthwatering aroma of these sour bamboo shoots?" She slapped her thigh and burst into laughter. "Hahahahaha, do you think you can escape just by staying quiet? You all signed the agreement!"
Holding the bowl of sour bamboo shoots, Gan Lan pledged, "Trust me, it only smells a bit peculiar. It’s actually delicious!"
Seeing Gan Lan’s earnest expression, the viewers in the streaming room gradually began sending bullet comments again, universally voicing their regret.
If they didn’t eat it, they would be banned from the streaming room tomorrow. That would be a huge loss. Besides, it was just virtual data anyway—it would be fine! They silently comforted themselves with this thought.
Sky Blue: [Junior... this smell... can I revoke my signature?]
Feiran: [...]
Blooming Beauty, Moonlit Grace: [... We were too naive. We forgot that Junior is also from the Culinary Department! Crying!]
Everyone: [...] To think you were actually this kind of streamer!
Gan Lan smiled happily. "Then let’s get started. The soup base, rice noodles, toppings, and green vegetables are all ready. Just briefly blanch the rice noodles and immediately fish them out."
Gan Lan prepared two large bowls—one for the streaming room viewers and one for herself.
She placed the blanched rice noodles in the bowls, followed by green vegetables, sour bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms, pickled mustard greens, pickled long beans, dried radishes, fried peanuts, and tofu skin. Next, she covered the entire bowl with thinly sliced roasted pork, and finally, ladled in the river snail soup floating with red chili oil. A bowl of river snail rice noodles—rich in toppings and featuring both meat and vegetables—was ready!
Master of Courting Death: [It looks so good! But the smell is a bit worrying.]
Sky Blue: [So hearty! As long as I ignore that peculiar smell, I think I could eat three big bowls!]
Feiran: [It actually looks pretty good?]
Gan Lan set the two large bowls of river snail rice noodles down, stirred one of them, and directly started slurping the rice noodles. It truly had been a long time since she last ate this.
The spicy, refreshing, savory, sour, and piping hot flavors exploded in her mouth, making Gan Lan narrow her eyes slightly in delight.
She scooped up a spoonful of soup—it was tart, refreshing, and aromatic. The taste was unexpectedly spectacular. Ignoring the viewers in the streaming room, she focused all her attention on the river snail rice noodles.
For a moment, the only sound in the streaming room was Gan Lan slurping her rice noodles.
Sky Blue: [God! These rice noodles are so addictive! Delicious! Once it’s in your mouth, you don’t even notice that peculiar smell at all. It’s sour, spicy, and refreshing! Too amazing! As expected, any product from Junior is a masterpiece! I’m in love!]
Immortal Barbecue: [Are you serious? You ate it? What a warrior! I’m still debating whether to eat it or not; the smell is really quite unpleasant.]
My Life is Too Hard: [Hurry up and eat it or you’ll regret it! I pinched my nose for the first bite. Junior was eating it with such relish, and it didn’t look faked at all, so I gave it a try. These river snail rice noodles are so addictive, I can’t stop!]
System Notification: [Congratulations to streamer ’Come and have some barbecue!’ for receiving ten Cosmic Starships from ’Feiran’. Initiating network-wide broadcast.]
Network-wide Broadcast: [’Feiran’ says to ’Come and have some barbecue!’: Although the smell is a bit... it tastes surprisingly delicious.]
Blooming Beauty, Moonlit Grace: [Junior, are you setting up your stall tonight? You prepared so much, you must be going, right!? Ahhhhh, I’m going to line up! These rice noodles are so delicious, I absolutely love them!]
Love Ugly Shellfish, Love Kale: [I love this flavor to death too! I’m going to line up tonight as well! Those who haven’t eaten, hurry up! I guarantee it’s delicious!]
Immortal Barbecue: [My roommate fainted... passed out cold...]
Everyone: [...] It shouldn’t be that bad, right?
Seeing the viewers in the streaming room being so supportive, Gan Lan felt secretly smug.
She slurped down the entire large bowl of river snail rice noodles, not leaving a single drop of soup.
Slouching comfortably in her chair, she patted her belly in satisfaction. "I’m so full and so satisfied."
Immortal Barbecue: [Junior, hurry out and set up the stall! I’m almost there!]
Love Ugly Shellfish, Love Kale: [I’m arriving soon too. You’re full and satisfied, but I’m not yet! Please satisfy me.]
The green of the Qingtuan is really beautiful: [So jealous of you guys at Mingzong! Boohoo, I can’t eat it, I can’t eat it! I’m so frustrated I want to roll on the ground!]
Taking a walk after eating was a good idea. Gan Lan stood up and instructed the robot to pack up the food. "Then I’ll head out to set up the stall. I’ll take a slow walk there to digest my food first. I ate way too much."
Osmanthus Cake is True Love: [Wait, Junior! Could you sell a hundred portions in the streaming room to those of us in other star systems? Can you, please?]
Seeing this, Gan Lan paused in her steps. That seemed like a pretty good idea. "Sure. It’s my fault for not thinking of it; there are still people in other star systems who can’t get to eat this. Then I’ll sell two hundred portions in the streaming room!" Gan Lan waved her hand generously.
Daybreak: [Awesome! Even though we might not necessarily win the drawing, there’s still a glimmer of hope, right?]
My Life is Too Hard: [Our school doesn’t even have enough to go around! And now you’re splitting off two hundred portions? My life is too hard! I just got out of class, and I bet the line is already incredibly long.]
After drawing the two hundred portions of river snail rice noodles in the lottery, Gan Lan arrived at her stall.
Many acquaintances were already lining up. Even Wang Bin, Wen Mingyue, and Wu Mingyu were there. It seemed that everyone’s acceptance of the river snail rice noodles was quite high.
"Junior, you’re too slow! We’ve been waiting for half an hour."
"Junior, how many portions do you have today? Can I order five?"
"Junior, you look even prettier today. Give me some extra meat later."
Everyone enthusiastically greeted Gan Lan one after another. Someone even praised her for growing taller.
Gan Lan cast an appreciative glance at the person who said she had grown taller, deciding to give him two extra slices of meat later.
She had indeed grown two centimeters taller and was now 162 centimeters. Although she still looked diminutive standing in a crowd, it would gradually get better in the future!
Placing the river snail soup on the stall to simmer slowly over a low flame, Gan Lan couldn’t help but marvel once again at how convenient this futuristic advanced technology was.
She laid out the toppings on the table one by one. Several large bowls arrayed on the table made for quite a spectacular sight.
Meanwhile, the people in line all pinched their noses. The smell had already been very peculiar in the streaming room, but in reality, it was even more potent.
Wen Ningyue, who was first in line, pinched her nose and took a step back. "Junior, um... can you not add the sour bamboo shoots?"
Gan Lan held up her ladle and cast a sideways glance at her. "No way. The sour bamboo shoots are the soul of these rice noodles, and you’re telling me not to add them?"
Truthfully, they could be omitted. However, Gan Lan’s main goal right now was to help poverty star 2122 by promoting their pickled products like sour bamboo shoots. If she didn’t add them, what would be the point of her making river snail rice noodles at all?
Wen Ningyue pinched her nose again. She turned to look at the alumni behind her urging her to hurry up, then looked back and pursed her lips. "Then... alright."
With trembling hands, she took the large bowl of river snail rice noodles Gan Lan handed her. Seeing the generous toppings and meat slices on top, her nose automatically filtered out the strange smell, leaving her eyes to focus solely on the hearty bowl of rice noodles.
Beside the stall, a few people were already happily slurping their rice noodles.
Gan Lan had the robots scan her bowl of river snail rice noodles so they could take over the task of blanching the noodles and adding the toppings. This ensured the exact same quantity in every bowl; in this regard, the robots performed even better than she did.
This made things much easier for her, allowing her to start grilling some snail meat. She took the large snail meat skewers she had marinated earlier and laid them on the grill.
The aroma of the grilled snail meat mixed with the peculiar scent of the river snail rice noodles, creating yet another uniquely distinct smell.
The line of noodle-slurping students raised their heads in unison, shouting loudly, "Junior, give me five skewers!"
"Over here! Over here! Give me ten skewers too!"
Gan Lan shouted back, "You got it! Just wait a moment!"
For a time, Food Street was completely overtaken by a very peculiar odor. Some curious passersby came over to take a look, only to immediately put on their masks and burst into heated discussion.
"It stinks so much, how can they even eat it?"
"Yeah, exactly. Look at how vigorously they’re eating. Is it really that delicious?"
The people wearing masks while waiting in line, as well as those currently slurping their rice noodles, heard this flurry of gossip but ignored it entirely. They were more than happy to have fewer competitors to deal with.
Talk is cheap; nothing beats actually eating a bowl. Whether it was delicious or not could only be judged after a taste.
Of course, one had to have the courage to try it first.