Gan Lan’s hands moved so fast while wrapping dumplings that they left afterimages. In a short time, she had wrapped three hundred of them, but looking at the remaining filling—more than half of the original amount—her hands started to ache.
She realized she should have prepared less. Fifteen pounds of meat mixed with cabbage could probably make nine hundred to a thousand dumplings, but making them all by herself was too tiring.
Wondering if robots could wrap dumplings, she held up one of her finished ones and let the robot scan it.
San, the robot, announced, "Scanning complete. This is something this unit can produce."
Gan Lan dropped the dumpling, jumped up, and excitedly grabbed the robot’s arm. "Can you really make them?"
The robot replied with a slightly arrogant tone, "Are you looking down on this unit? There are plenty of things this unit can do!"
Gan Lan was speechless. She never knew her culinary assistant robot had such a strong personality.
Surprised Beggar Chicken: [Hahaha! Junior is being despised by a robot!]
I’m Here to Learn: [Junior looks a bit silly right now, hahaha.]
Gan Lan didn’t know what to say. How was she supposed to know all this? She thought the robot could only wash vegetables, skewer meat, serve soup, and carry things. She never expected it to know how to wrap dumplings!
Watching the five robots sitting in a row, wrapping dumplings even more perfectly than she did, Gan Lan felt like crying. Why did she wrap three hundred of them by herself? Her hands were still trembling.
"Do you guys want some late-night snacks? If not, I’ll only boil my own portion," Gan Lan asked the audience in the live stream.
The water in the large pot had already boiled. She added a suitable amount of vegetable oil and then dropped a hundred dumplings into the pot.
There was still quite a bit of the bone broth she simmered today, and she planned to use it as the soup base for the dumplings.
My Life Is Too Hard: [Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat!]
Sky Blue: [Even though I just had three bowls of rice, I can still eat!]
Feiran: [I’ve been training all day. I’m so hungry.]
Hot Pot Balls: [I’ve been training all day. I’m so hungry.]
Immortal Barbecue: [Whenever I see Junior making delicious food, I’m always hungry!]
Stirring the dumplings in the pot clockwise, she waited for them to float to the surface. Then, she added a suitable amount of green vegetables, blanched them briefly, and scooped everything out into prepared large bowls. She ladled the bone broth over the dumplings, sprinkled chopped green onions on top, and it was perfect!
With twenty dumplings per bowl, a hundred dumplings only filled five bowls. Calculated like this, it seemed she hadn’t made that many after all.
Gan Lan served two bowls first—one for the live stream audience to taste and the other for herself, as she hadn’t eaten dinner yet.
My Life Is Too Hard: [This is the first time I’ve seen such a light dish from Junior!]
Retreat: [It seems so! Everything Junior makes usually has strong, spicy, and rich flavors, except for those snail rice noodles.]
Feiran: [So hungry.]
Hot Pot Balls: [So hungry.]
Gan Lan had the robots deliver two of the remaining portions to the Dean and Professor Ye.
She sat down in front of her soup dumplings, scooped up a spoonful of broth, blew on it, and swallowed it in one gulp. Her stomach instantly felt warm, and her eyes crinkled into a smile. "The rest are still boiling. It’ll be time to test your hand speed in a moment."
Of course, her other six friends would definitely get their shares.
Love Ugly Shellfish, Love Kale: [So delicious! The filling inside this dumpling mixed with the broth is incredibly tasty when eaten in one big bite!]
Pork Knuckles Are Delicious: [I thought this light-looking food would disappoint me, but... it’s so good!]
Gan Lan ate the dumplings one by one, following each with a sip of soup, relishing the meal.
She didn’t snap out of it until the live stream screen was completely flooded with Cosmic Starships.
Gan Lan put down her spoon and smiled sheepishly. "It was too delicious! I couldn’t help but forget I was still live-streaming. Stop sending gifts; I get it."
The green of the Qingtuan is really beautiful: [Junior, what do you know?]
Barbecue Mixed Rice: [I also... want to ask, what do you know?]
Who else could be sending gifts other than Yan Yifei and his two friends? They refused to learn from their mistakes, and she was out of options.
Seeing the comments asking what she knew, Gan Lan spoke a bit vaguely, "In a moment, I’ll put these sixteen portions up for sale in the live stream. One portion is twenty dumplings for a hundred Credit Points. You guys will have to rely on your hand speed! Good luck, everyone!"
Gan Lan lifted her bowl, took a large gulp of soup, and finished the last two dumplings, leaving the bowl completely spotless.
My Life Is Too Hard: [Hurry up, Junior! I’ve never feared anyone when it comes to hand speed!]
Flower Cake Is True Love: [My two hundred years of hand speed is ready! Hurry!]
Gan Lan wiped her mouth and patted her stomach in satisfaction while the comments in the live stream kept urging her. "Alright, alright, I’m just waiting for the robots to pack them. I’m putting them up now..."
Before Gan Lan could even finish speaking, the words "Sold Out" appeared on the screen.
"You guys are way too fast! It didn’t even take a second!" Gan Lan’s eyes widened.
My Life Is Too Hard: [Who! Who is it?! Whose hand speed is actually faster than mine?! I... I don’t want to live anymore!]
Sky Blue: [It’s yours truly, of course! Hahaha!]
Hot Pot Balls: [Yours truly’s granddaddy’s hand speed is nothing to scoff at either!]
Sky Blue: [Whose granddaddy are you?! You wanna die?]
"Those who didn’t get any, don’t worry. There will be pan-fried dumplings in a moment. For those who did, hurry and send over your addresses. There’s still one person who hasn’t sent theirs," Gan Lan said as she poured oil into a flat pan and placed the dumplings wrapped by the robots inside.
She fried them slowly over low heat until the bottoms were a light golden brown, then poured in a suitable amount of water. She switched to medium heat, covered the pan with a lid, and waited until the water completely boiled off before turning off the heat and plating them.
She then poured in more cooking oil and continued to fry the remaining dumplings.
"You can eat these pan-fried dumplings as they are, or you can dip them in vinegar, soy sauce, chili, or anything similar," Gan Lan said. She picked up a pan-fried dumpling with her chopsticks, blew on it, and took a bite. The skin was crispy, and the filling was savory and fresh. She nodded as she chewed; the same ingredients yielded vastly different textures when cooked differently, but they were equally delicious.
Spicy Fried Crab Is the Best: [This is so delicious too, especially the outer skin. It’s crispy and reminds me of Spicy Fried Crab.]
Immortal Barbecue: [This is just as good as the soup dumplings! They’re both delicious, both so delicious. I want to eat them!]
Blooming Beauty: [Both are delicious. My hand speed is absolute trash, so I definitely won’t be able to grab this one either!]
"Alright, twenty-five portions have been packed. Ready, set, go!" Gan Lan clapped her hands. Once these were sold, she would finally be free. She felt incredibly tired today, even more exhausting than attending classes and running a stall.
Gan Lan was utterly shocked by their hand speed. Everything sold out in three seconds. That was way too fast!
Sky Blue: [Yours truly snagged it again! A genius manufacturer isn’t just an empty title.]
My Life Is Too Hard: [Holy crap!! I’m so pissed! Are you guys even human?! I hit pay the second they were put up! But I still didn’t get it! Pulling my hair out! This handsome man is so incredibly mad!]
Handsome Mingyu: [Handsome man? The number one handsome man of Mingyang hasn’t even spoken yet!]
My Life Is Really Hard: [Ming, can we have some shame?]
"Alright! Send me your addresses. Those who didn’t get any will have another chance next time, so don’t be sad," Gan Lan comforted them casually.
My Life Is Too Hard: [When is next time? Wuuu... I feel awful, I want to cry. I can’t live like this anymore!]
Feiran: [I received the first portion. It’s so delicious ^^.]
Hot Pot Balls: [So delicious ^^!]
Barbecue Mixed Rice: [Jealousy is making my cells undergo plasmolysis! Why, why can’t I win the lottery?! I can’t beat their hand speeds either. I’m going to get depressed!]
"Well then, that’s it for today’s live stream. Good night, everyone!" Gan Lan smiled, waving to the live stream audience.
Meanwhile, back at the First Military Academy, Yan Yifei’s small villa in the dormitory area was bustling with noise and excitement.