The Dean of the Culinary Department was also eating the dumplings Gan Lan had sent over, happily devouring them one by one. He thought about what a great student she was, and so clever, too!
As early as when Gan Lan started her livestream, the dean had been lurking in her channel. Her knife skills were stunning, easily on par with his when he was young. However, this student was far more impressive than he had ever been; her knife skills were excellent, and her culinary skills were even better!
His knife skills were the only thing he could brag about. He felt extremely fortunate; Mingzong having such a student was truly the greatest blessing in a century.
When it came time to snatch the food in the broadcast, he had tried too. But alas, he was getting old, and his hand speed had slowed down.
The dean directly opened his Light Brain and made a video call. As soon as it connected, he shoved the half-eaten bowl of soup dumplings right in front of the screen and turned on the food-sharing function.
He bragged to a bald old man on the screen, "This was made by a genius student of my Mingzong. Want to try it? You guys over at Banan Star are in for a tough time this year."
The dean was acting so smug entirely because of a call he had received from this bald old man a while ago. The old man had suddenly called to show off his newly accepted disciple and even ate his disciple’s new dish live on camera. The dean had tasted it through the sharing function—it was decent and showed some potential.
At the time, he could only maintain a blank expression and congratulate the old man on taking in another prized pupil.
Inwardly, he had been insanely jealous. He wondered why such students didn’t come to Mingzong. Their school’s Culinary Department used to be very famous, too! Even though it had declined a bit, the benefits and atmosphere were still great. He could only mask his sour jealousy with a stiff expression and offer his congratulations.
Now, he could finally hold his head high.
The old man on the screen looked disdainful. "There are countless bland, characterless dishes like this on Banan Star. You pulled out this garbage in the middle of the night just to make me try it?"
Without looking at the dean’s darkening face, he continued, "Can Mingzong really not produce a decent student anymore? You call someone a genius just for making this garbage? Come to my Banlan Academy; anyone you pick at random could make something better than this."
The dean’s face completely darkened. He spoke in a deep, ruthless tone, "You dismiss it as worthless without even trying it. You’ll regret this! Just wait for Banan Star to lose its ten-year championship throne!" With that, he directly hung up the call.
He went back to finishing the rest of his dumplings. He didn’t want to share such delicious food with others anyway. He would let those Banlan people be smug for a little while longer!
Meanwhile, our trending topic, Gan Lan, had already fallen into a deep slumber.
Gan Lan was woken up by the noise again. Her communicator kept ringing endlessly: DING DING. Groggily, she opened it and saw that the voting results for whether the snail rice noodles would stay or go had been released.
The red side had an approval rating of 50.8%, while the green side had 49.2%. The snail rice noodles had narrowly won.
The comment section below the poll was already bustling with activity.
Floor 1: I got up at 5:30 AM to wait for this. This concerns whether I can eat snail rice noodles in the future. When I saw the green side almost catch up, my heart kept pounding. Thankfully, the red side pulled through! Hahahaha.
Floor 2: I’m so mad! Just a little bit more! I’m going crazy, I can’t accept this result. Why, why? The smell is clearly unacceptable!
Floor 3: Watching the green side chase us so closely, I was nervous to death! Thank goodness the red side won in the end! I love snail rice noodles!
Floor 4: I hate this! No, I’m going to try this "unacceptable" smell at noon to see exactly why it won!
Floor 5: To the person above, after you eat it, you’ll probably end up... loving it? Anyway, I’m already hooked. My roommate packed a portion for me and forced me to eat it. I couldn’t escape, so I took a bite, bracing myself... and well, you know the rest. I’m going to line up at noon!
Floor 6: I’m going to ambush junior Gan Lan with a sack later! If she’s injured, she won’t be able to make food, right? Hmph!
Gan Lan panicked a little when she saw the heavy smell of gunpowder in the comments. Even though she had won, did she still need to rent a window to sell the snail rice noodles? What if she actually got ambushed with a sack by the green side? She was just a weakling.
She gave herself a pep talk. "A true warrior dares to face the danger of being ambushed with a sack!"
Since she was already awake and couldn’t fall back asleep, she decided to boil a pot of the snail soup base first. Then, she prepared the ingredients and rice noodles, recording the entire process of making the snail rice noodles in detail. Accompanied by her comprehensive commentary, the video would serve as a teaching material for Star 2122.
She busied herself until 9:30 AM and finally finished preparing the necessary soup base, rice noodles, and ingredients.
By the time she finished eating a bowl of snail rice noodles, it was nearly ten o’clock.
She logged directly onto the Star Network and privately sent the snail rice noodle video tutorial to the shop owner of Star 2122.
Come and have some barbecue!: [This video shows the steps I took this morning. I’ve explained all the ingredients and seasonings in detail. If you have any questions during the cooking process, call me directly. My contact number is below this account, and my private line is open to you.]
The moment Gan Lan sent the message, the other party replied instantly. He had probably been waiting there the whole time. She understood this feeling; it was like someone who had lived in darkness their whole life suddenly seeing a glimmer of light.
She smiled gently. It really felt good to help.
Shop Owner: [Thank you. Thank you so much. You are truly the best person I have ever met.]
Come and have some barbecue!: [You’re welcome. I hope you all work hard and strive to learn this well so that whenever people see snail rice noodles, they will think of Star 2122. Good luck!]
Gan Lan took a short nap before getting up to head to the South Gate Cafeteria. In the afternoon, she still had to find ingredients, create new dishes, and livestream her stall.
Even though she didn’t have to attend classes anymore, why did she feel even busier than before?
She sneaked into the cafeteria. She had to be careful; who would she cry to if someone actually ambushed her with a sack?
Robot Yi was already selling the snail rice noodles at the window. She had thought there might be fewer people today, but looking at the surging crowd, there were even more people than yesterday.
As soon as she stepped into the cafeteria, the pungent aroma of sour bamboo shoots filled the entire place. It was exactly as the green side had said: once the snail rice noodles appeared, the aromas of all other foods were completely masked. Most importantly, that massive crowd of people was there entirely for the snail rice noodles! Very few people went to buy from the other windows.
It seemed the snail rice noodles were truly going to dominate the South Gate Cafeteria.
This made Gan Lan feel a bit guilty, so she hurriedly called the dean. As soon as the call connected, she said, "Dean, I’ve already made the tutorial video and the main spices for the snail rice noodles. Can I make this public before applying for the patent?"
She walked over to a corner and explained in detail how she met the people from Star 2122 and discovered the pickled goods. She also sent the video she recorded today to the dean.
After Gan Lan finished her long speech, the dean’s slightly hoarse voice came through. "You can. You’ve done even better than I imagined. I am very pleased. The people of Star 2122 are truly lucky to have met you. Perhaps in the future, Star 2122 could even be renamed Snail Star."
Although she had thought about this herself, now that the dean had said it, it might actually come true in the future!