Gan Lan was still a little dizzy when she walked out of the dean’s office. The dean and other teachers had explained the pros and cons to her, telling her to publish these recipes slowly. They warned her not to rush things; otherwise, if she kept going like this, they feared unexpected accidents would happen that would be impossible to guard against.
In her previous life, Gan Lan had always been obsessed with culinary arts and never paid attention to such things. Moreover, she never imagined that anyone would try to control her—or even destroy her—just because of these recipes.
One of the teachers had even pointed out that the recipes she recently published had upset the balance of the Culinary World and infringed upon the interests of certain people. They advised her to be on guard lately and to avoid leaving the school unless necessary, warning that some people might resort to ruthless methods if they failed to recruit her.
Gan Lan felt her worldview was collapsing far too quickly these days.
She figured she had better lay low for a while and just avoid leaving the campus. Besides, she hadn’t left the school grounds once since arriving anyway.
Riding her hoverboard Flying Car, she headed toward the South Gate Cafeteria. Come to think of it, she had been at the school for so long but hadn’t visited the cafeteria yet. Today was the perfect day to check it out.
From a distance, Gan Lan could see the cafeteria was packed with people and unusually bustling. The aromas of various foods wafted out from inside. Gan Lan even smelled the Osmanthus Rice Cake; the osmanthus fragrance was so rich that she couldn’t ignore it even if she tried.
"I heard Junior Gan Lan is coming to the cafeteria to sell snail rice noodles today?"
"Yeah, didn’t you see her post on her forum account?"
"No wonder it’s so lively today. This freshman junior of ours is a real talent. Ever since she showed up, the food in the cafeteria has gotten a lot better."
Passing by and hearing these discussions, Gan Lan smiled comfortably. It seemed all her efforts were worth it. At the very least, many more people in the school knew about her now and had experienced the charm of Huaxia cuisine.
"Junior! Junior, you’re here! Start selling, quick! I usually don’t come to the cafeteria; I always go to the Food Street or just drink nutrient fluids. It’s rare for me to come here, and it’s all because of you!"
Gan Lan recognized this young man. He was the one who loved mocking her height the most. Gan Lan had deliberately added extra spice to his food many times, but the young man stubbornly refused to learn his lesson! He kept mocking her anyway, leaving Gan Lan utterly helpless.
She nodded with a smile and walked toward the middle window, instructing the robots to bring out the prepared ingredients.
Meanwhile, the young man in the white T-shirt nudged the young man in the purple T-shirt next to him and said smugly, "See? I knew it was our junior. She’s the shortest one in the crowd, isn’t she easy to spot!"
The young man in the purple T-shirt rolled his eyes at him, pressing his lips together and not daring to speak. He even took a few steps back to distance himself from the white T-shirt guy. He couldn’t handle spicy food well, and Gan Lan was known to hold grudges. If she added extra spice to his snail rice noodles later, he would cry.
Seeing his cowardly friend’s reaction, the young man in the white T-shirt scoffed, then turned his head to chat with someone else.
Gan Lan shot the white T-shirt guy an expressionless glare. She wasn’t deaf; she could hear him perfectly well! She would make sure to add extra, extra, extra, extra spice to his snail rice noodles later!
The young man in the white T-shirt suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He looked around but didn’t notice anything unusual, so he went back to chatting with the schoolmates in line.
The young man in the purple T-shirt had been keeping a close eye on Gan Lan’s expression. Seeing her stare at his friend for an extra second, he shot the white T-shirt guy a look of profound pity.
Gan Lan arranged all the ingredients and brought out the final item: sour bamboo shoots. The noisy cafeteria fell instantly silent, only to erupt into even louder clamor a second later.
"No, I can’t. The smell of the real thing is even stronger. I’m getting dizzy," someone said, clutching his forehead and swaying on his feet as if he were about to faint.
"Oh, stop faking it," a person next to him scoffed. "I don’t know who was eating so happily at our junior’s stall last time! If you’re going to faint from the stench, why don’t you cover your nose or just leave?"
"How come I think this smell is really fragrant? It smells so appetizing, I could eat three bowls!"
"I can’t take it anymore. I’m leaving first. Take your time eating, guys." Someone who truly couldn’t stand the stench headed straight for the cafeteria door.
One by one, quite a few people left because of the smell, but even more people stayed behind—although some of them were still pinching their noses.
Meanwhile, the stall owners at the other windows all glared at Gan Lan, who was holding the sour bamboo shoots. Their eyes were vicious, looking as if they wanted to beat her up.
Gan Lan shuddered. She wondered if she would get ambushed and tossed into a sack when she left later. These stall owners’ glares were terrifying. She really needed to be careful on her way back.
"Junior, hurry up, hurry up, we’re starving to death!"
"Junior! What are you zoning out for? Are you selling or not? If not, we’re just going to snatch it!"
The urging voices snapped Gan Lan out of her horrifying fantasies of getting beaten up.
"Selling, selling!" Moving efficiently, Gan Lan began blanching the rice noodles and adding the toppings.
Even though a lot of people had left, the vast majority were those who had eaten it in her livestream and could tolerate the smell. Someone even took a deep sniff and said, "What should I do? It smells better and better! Am I beyond saving?"
"Me too, me too! I also think the sour and spicy scent is pretty good!"
"It’s pretty stinky now, but once you start eating, you’ll automatically ignore the stench. It’s actually really delicious. Last time Junior set up her stall, I got into a fight when I was only halfway through my bowl."
"Junior, give me two bowls! One to go and one to eat here, both with extra meat!"
"I’ll take two bowls as well, both with extra meat, and one packed to go!"
After serving several hundred bowls, Gan Lan was genuinely feeling exhausted, so she called the robots to take over. She then prepared a bowl for herself and went to a nearby table to eat.
"Junior Gan Lan, over here, over here!" Seeing Gan Lan walk out carrying a bowl of snail rice noodles, Wang Bin waved at her and shouted.
Gan Lan paused and looked around to see who was calling her. The voice sounded familiar. After scanning the crowd for a bit, she finally spotted Wang Bin waving frantically at her from a distance. She walked straight in his direction, noticing that the people sitting next to him were unfamiliar faces.
Wang Bin scooted over to make room for her. Gan Lan sat right down and turned to him. "Why are you here? Don’t you usually hang out with Senior Wen?"
Wang Bin chuckled. "She went out chasing a news story with her department’s mentor today, so she didn’t come." He then pointed to the two male students sitting next to him and across from him, introducing them. "These two are my classmates. They’re also fans of yours."
"Hello, Junior! The snail rice noodles are delicious too! There’s no food you make that doesn’t taste good," the senior with black-framed glasses said with a smile, pausing his chopsticks.
"Exactly, Junior. Though some people couldn’t handle the smell and fled at the last minute. It’s spicy and sour, the broth is fresh, and the taste is beautiful. It’s a real shame they aren’t eating it," the other senior, who had shoulder-length hair, said, shaking his head in pity.
Gan Lan stirred her snail rice noodles and looked up at the senior with shoulder-length hair. "Senior, that’s completely normal. Not everyone can accept this smell. Anyway, there are so many types of food out there. If they don’t want to eat this, there’s always something else."
"That’s true. But it’s better this way. Otherwise, if there are too many people eating, we might not even get a bowl next time we line up," Wang Bin replied.
"People lining up now might not even get a bowl! If we hadn’t come early, we definitely wouldn’t be eating right now," the guy in black-framed glasses added before continuing to slurp his noodles.
Gan Lan grabbed a large mouthful of noodles and chewed. The rice noodles were chewy and bouncy. She then took a sip of the broth; the sour, spicy, and savory flavors were absolutely stunning. The pickled greens were perfectly sour, the sour bamboo shoots were tart and crisp, and the string beans and dried radishes let out a satisfying KA-CRUNCH with every bite.
For a time, the unique aroma of snail rice noodles completely permeated the cafeteria, masking the smells of all other foods. While Gan Lan’s table was quietly slurping their noodles, the tables next to them were bustling with lively slurping and discussion.
"Holy crap! This bowl of noodles has to be poisoned, right? I literally can’t stop eating. What do I do?"
"I was originally going to leave, but seeing you guys eating with such relish, sweating buckets and looking so satisfied, I bought a bowl. The result... SSS... it’s so spicy and hot, but so delicious! And these sour bamboo shoots and peanuts, they’re truly amazing! It actually tastes fragrant once it’s in my mouth! Have I been poisoned too?"
"Don’t worry, I have the exact same symptoms. You just can’t stop eating these noodles!"
Gan Lan’s mouth didn’t stop moving. She pretended to be focused on her noodles, but her ears were perked up, listening to the chatter around her.
Sure enough, snail rice noodles were a highly controversial delicacy no matter where they were served. Those who loved them would die for them, and those who hated them would turn and walk away the moment they caught a whiff.