After packing up her stall and heading back, Gan Lan directly called Professor Ye. Getting straight to the point, she asked, "Professor, are there any stalls still for rent at the school’s South Gate Cafeteria?"
"I’m not sure. Are you looking to rent one?" Ye Lanyu sounded puzzled.
"Yes! I need to make money to pay off my debt. I have a one-year deadline to pay back over fifty million, so I have to work hard to earn more Credit Points."
Ye Lanyu was speechless. She thought to herself that Gan Lan’s live stream had already earned nearly two hundred million that day, making a fifty million debt a piece of cake. However, she didn’t say this out loud.
"I’ll ask around for you later and message you the result." After saying that, she hung up directly. Ye Lanyu was quite busy; the monthly exams were approaching, and she had to make arrangements.
Gan Lan stared at the disconnected call. She hadn’t finished speaking yet! She wanted to ask if she needed to participate in the monthly exams. Sighing, she decided to let it go. She would ask tomorrow; reviewing her studies was more important. The school placed great importance on the competition on Banan Star, so naturally, Gan Lan had to take it seriously and strive for an outstanding rank.
Later, in the principal’s office.
"Principal, Gan Lan said she wants to rent a stall at the South Gate Cafeteria. Are there any spots left?" Ye Lanyu asked.
The elegant man put down the documents in his hand, somewhat curious. "Rent a stall? What does she want to do?"
"I don’t know." Ye Lanyu shook her head.
"I recall the barbecue meat stall closed down a couple of days ago. Give that stall to her."
Ye Lanyu nodded. "I’ll notify her then."
When Gan Lan received the stall address from Professor Ye, she jumped for joy. The school was truly amazing, and she was so lucky to stumble right into a vacancy. However, selling snail rice noodles right in the middle of the cafeteria... she wondered if the people from the other stalls would beat her up. Just to be safe, it was better if she didn’t show her face too often. She would go take a look for the first few days, but after that, she would just simmer the broth and prep the ingredients in her dorm, leaving the robot to handle the actual selling.
She definitely needed to notify her schoolmates about this good news. The minor unpleasant incident that occurred the last time she sold snail rice noodles had caused their popularity to drop; everyone only remembered the mass brawl. Turning on her Light Brain, she logged into her school forum account to make a post.
Come and have some barbecue!: [Starting tomorrow at noon, I will be selling snail rice noodles at the middle stall in the school’s South Gate Cafeteria. Any interested schoolmates can come and buy some.]
Comment 1: [Snail rice noodles... Junior, aren’t you afraid of getting beaten up? Haha, I’ll definitely be there tomorrow!]
Comment 2: [Snail rice noodles... I’m scared. I didn’t sign the liability waiver during your last live stream, and the moment I smelled them, I passed out. By the time I woke up, the stream was over.]
Comment 3: [Hahaha, the commenter above is exaggerating way too much! I definitely have to go try such a formidable food!]
The next day.
Gan Lan simmered a massive pot of snail broth, enough to sell at least twenty thousand bowls. One bowl was thirty Credit Points, with extra meat costing more. The base cost was ten Credit Points, so even factoring in the meat, she could net over four hundred thousand a day! Over a year, that would be more than fifteen million. Added to her video revenue, street stall earnings, and other odds and ends, paying off fifty million within a year would be a piece of cake!
Thinking of this, Gan Lan was instantly motivated. She got right to work, buying ingredients, simmering the broth base, and making the rice noodles. This time, she had the robot hold the molds, which made things much easier. By the time everything was prepared, the sky had already turned dark. She took a hot shower, lay in bed, and started reading. As she read, she drifted off to sleep.
When she woke up, she checked the time. It was only a bit past nine; there was still some time before noon. She organized the recipes she hadn’t made in her live stream recently to give to the principal, so he could apply for patents and make them public.
These recipes included: sweet and sour pork ribs, fish tofu soup, braised pork, steamed egg custard, blanched lettuce and choy sum, roasted fragrant pig, lotus root and pork rib soup, big plate chicken, potato and beef brisket, stir-fried broccoli, crab noodle soup, hot pot base, hot oil noodles, and snail rice noodles.
The desserts included: milky mango jelly, strawberry yogurt pudding, freshly squeezed orange and watermelon juice, as well as the cupcakes from before.
There were twenty in total. There were also a few she had made during her live stream, but she decided not to organize those for now. A dedicated person was already editing the videos of her cooking methods and uploading them to her portfolio section. Since that was already considered public, the principal would help apply for those patents in a timely manner. Organizing all of this took Gan Lan several hours. If she had known better, she would have just recorded videos while making them the first time.
She sent the robot to the South Gate Cafeteria ahead of time to tidy up the stall. Holding the organized recipes, Gan Lan stood up. She felt like she was forgetting something, but she couldn’t remember what it was at the moment. Just as she stepped onto her hoverboard Flying Car, she slapped her forehead, finally realizing what she had forgotten!
The barbecue sauce! How could she forget something as important as the barbecue sauce? Even if someone didn’t know how to grill meat properly, simply brushing on the barbecue sauce would make it taste quite good. She immediately sat back down in the chair next to her dorm and wrote down the recipe for the barbecue sauce! She double-checked everything to make sure nothing else was left out. Confident she hadn’t missed anything this time, she headed straight for the principal’s office.
Raising her hand, she knocked on the door and called out loudly to the room inside, "Principal, are you in?"
As soon as she finished shouting, the door slowly opened. Before Gan Lan even stepped inside, an elderly voice came from within. "Come in."
Gan Lan first peeked her head in from the doorway, only to shrink back in fright. There were quite a few people inside. Dawdling, she walked in, offering a smile to the various teachers and school leaders before heading straight for the principal.
"Principal, these are the recipes I’ve developed recently. They are all finished products, and the taste is quite good!" Gan Lan handed the materials she had organized today to the principal, who was watching her. Had she known, she would have just given them to Professor Ye and had her run the errand, but she hadn’t wanted to constantly trouble Professor Ye.
The elder calmly took the documents. After a quick glance, he sat up straight and read through them meticulously from beginning to end, nodding from time to time. The various leaders in the principal’s office remained silent, but they were all sizing up Gan Lan. For a moment, the principal’s office was dead silent, save for the occasional rustling of paper as the principal turned the pages.
"Not bad. You’ve done very well. Today, the school will go apply for the patents in the name of Huaxia." The principal stood up with a gratified expression and patted Gan Lan on the shoulder.
"Thank you, Principal! Then, Principal, do you need me to make these recipes again so you can taste them?" Gan Lan’s eyes sparkled.
"No need. I’ve already tried some of them at Professor Ye’s place. You did a wonderful job!" The elder shook his head, affirming her. He then handed the recipes Gan Lan had organized to the other teachers for them to review one by one.
"Principal, we haven’t tried any of these, but looking at how these spices are combined, there shouldn’t be any major issues," one of the teachers said.
"Gan Lan? Is your name Gan Lan?" a slightly chubby teacher asked her.
"Yes. Hello, teachers, my name is Gan Lan," she introduced herself with a bright smile.
"Then would you be willing to let us thoroughly research and master the techniques after the patents are applied for, before considering public promotion?" the chubby teacher continued.
Gan Lan was a bit dumbfounded. Seeing her confusion, the elder spoke up to explain, "There are already dozens of recipes being made public in your current videos. In just over a month, you’ve produced so many new recipes..." He trailed off, realizing she still didn’t understand. "What I mean is, you are too outstanding right now, and it will attract the attention of people with ulterior motives. Do you have any idea how much wealth your live stream and video tutorials, plus the twenty recipes you’ve organized today, will bring you?"
Gan Lan shook her head. "I don’t know." She genuinely didn’t know. In her original world, recipes on the internet were all public. Aside from certain secret recipes passed down for centuries, everything else was virtually open-source.
The chubby teacher elaborated on the principal’s words, "Even though we are currently applying for these patents under the school’s name, someone determined enough can still find out that these secret recipes originated from you. A sufficiently massive profit is enough to drive people mad."
The other teachers chimed in in agreement. "To put it simply, public recipes no longer hold exploitative value. However, the value you yourself represent right now is worth thousands of recipes. If someone controls you, why would they worry about lacking new secret recipes? By monopolizing the market, the wealth generated would be staggering!"
The elder sighed. "For an ordinary student like you, kidnapping and controlling you is a risk highly worth taking. The tallest tree catches the most wind! If they can’t control you, they might simply destroy you to keep the Culinary World in its current balanced state, ensuring the profit gap between everyone doesn’t grow too wide.
"Your sudden appearance has brought so many new recipes and shattered the balance the Culinary World has maintained in recent years. There are already people getting restless; it’s just that the school has suppressed them for now."
After saying all this, the principal added comfortingly, "However, you don’t need to worry too much. We’re just afraid that once you leave the school, there might be areas we overlook where we can’t protect you properly, leading to some sort of accident."
This time, Gan Lan understood. She truly hadn’t expected it to be this serious. They were just some common recipes. Would they really cost her her life? This made her feel a rising sense of panic in her heart. This world was too dangerous. She wanted to go home.