Carrying the temperature-controlled box filled with char siu and beef rice noodles, she followed the robot toward the South Gate Cafeteria.
The owners of the other food windows were already eagerly waiting for Gan Lan. As soon as they saw her enter the cafeteria, they hurried over.
Led by the blue-haired youth, they approached her. He scoffed, "Oh, why is our busy VIP only arriving now? I thought you’d changed your mind again."
Gan Lan sent the robot ahead to set up her stall and apologized sincerely, "I got a bit delayed. I’m sorry for making you all wait." She walked straight to an empty table nearby and took out ten portions each of the beef and char siu rice noodles from the temperature-controlled box.
"These are the beef and char siu rice noodles. Give them a try," Gan Lan said, pointing at the food on the table. "You can eat them dry-tossed or stir-fried; you can figure out the variations yourselves."
"This looks delicious! Junior, if you had made these rice noodles from the start, we definitely would’ve gotten along harmoniously."
"It’s not too late now. If all of that hadn’t happened, we might not have had the chance to collaborate with her."
Hearing this, the blue-haired youth sneered. He grabbed a bowl of beef rice noodles and pulled it in front of him. "We’ll only know if it’s good after we taste it."
With that, he started slurping the noodles. Not to be outdone, the other stall owners grabbed their preferred bowls and dug in.
"Mmm, the meat is delicious, and the rice noodles are great too. The broth is so savory! Is this braised beef, Junior?"
"Wow, the char siu rice noodles are amazing! Aren’t these pickled green beans an ingredient for the snail rice noodles? They’re sour, crisp, and spicy. It’s actually really good."
Although Gan Lan wanted to eat too, she had just finished a huge bowl of snail rice noodles and truly couldn’t fit another bite. However, she had already couriered portions of these two new dishes to her mentor and friends.
She thought, "Now it seems like every time I cook, I have to make a dozen portions. If I meet more people in the future, won’t I have to cook for even more?"
The mere thought of it was a bit exhausting. But these people were her biggest backers and the friends who constantly encouraged and supported her. It was just a dozen portions—a piece of cake!
The blue-haired youth finished the last sip of broth and wiped his mouth. He turned to Gan Lan, who was spacing out, and said, "Let’s do a twenty-eighty split. We won’t take advantage of you. These rice noodles will definitely have a lot of market value in the future."
The other stall owners chimed in their agreement. They had already discussed this among themselves beforehand: if the taste was good and the concept novel, they would offer her twenty percent of the profits so as not to take too much advantage of her.
Put like that, it actually seemed like Gan Lan was the one taking advantage of them. She had already publicly released the tutorial videos for making the bone broth and the braising liquid for the rice noodles. Now, simply by giving them a few creative ideas, she was earning extra income.
Gan Lan explained the recipe and sent them the edited video clips. She even reminded them that they could back out and just do a ten-ninety split instead.
"Do you think an innovative recipe is cheap? Some people could spend ages and still not come up with something like this. It’s a twenty-eighty split, end of discussion." Wu Shihan shot her a look of disdain, thinking this girl was truly a bit foolish.
"Right, right, Wu Shihan is right. Let’s sign the contracts first. It’d be bad if there were any disputes later." A slightly chubby youth pulled out a contract, casting a pointed glance at the somewhat sneaky-looking stall owner sitting next to him, who looked rather displeased.
Catching the look, Mao Meng slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "Pang Dun, what’s with that look?"
The slightly chubby youth wasn’t afraid of him. He scoffed, "If you don’t know what it means, then why are you getting so worked up?"
Mao Meng pointed furiously at him. "You, you, you...!" He sputtered for a long time but couldn’t finish his sentence.
"Hmph! Hurry up and sign it. Twenty-eighty split!" He slapped a contract down in front of Mao Meng. Then, he distributed the rest to the other stall owners. "Everyone, sign quickly. A good deal like this might not come around twice in a lifetime." With that, he grabbed a contract of his own, sat down, and began to sign.
Gan Lan received several copies as well. Without looking too closely, she signed them one by one.
"If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving first. If you run into any issues, just call my communicator," she said, leaving without looking back.
The slightly chubby youth, Yan Jinsui, turned to Wu Shihan, who was watching the video. "Do you think she has some kind of ulterior motive?"
"What do you even have for her to scheme after?" Wu Shihan replied expressionlessly.
"Exactly. You’re completely penniless. What could Junior Gan Lan possibly want from you?" Mao Meng mocked.
Yan Jinsui was left speechless. He thought, "I was just making a casual comment. Why did this escalate into a personal attack?"
Later that day.
Upon returning, Gan Lan immediately called her two future apprentices and told them they didn’t need to come help today. She decided not to set up her stall and would instead directly livestream the making of the wolf cake.
She also needed to buy a one-meter-tall oven, which would be useful in the future, as well as carving tools for the cake. Most importantly, she bought a protective cover to prevent the frosting from melting while she carved and decorated.
After purchasing all the necessary tools and ingredients, Gan Lan started her livestream.
"Hello, everyone! Today’s livestream is about making a carved cake—well, not just carving flowers, but rather a beast-shaped cake. Because the workload is heavy, there will only be cake today and no other food. Those who are interested can stick around and watch. It’ll probably take several hours to finish, so feel free to drop in and out as you please."
[Life is So Hard]: Host! Are you making my cake? I’m so happy! Watching my own birthday cake being made step-by-step is truly so exciting! I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
[Pork Knuckles Are the Best]: Sour. Why is there such a sour smell of jealousy filling the livestream room today!
[Charcoal Roasted Crab is the Most Fragrant]: Hmph! Somebody come and drag [Life is So Hard] out for a beating!
[The green of the Qingtuan is really beautiful]: On it! I’m going to beat him until he cries!
[Life is So Hard]: You guys are just jealous! But how could any of you possibly compare to a luck god like me? You can’t hit me, you can’t hit me!
[Handsome Mingyu]: Hmph! Junior clearly promised me first! But mine is free, and it’s going to be a Phoenix. What do I have to be jealous of!
Gan Lan ignored the chat in the livestream room. This was her first time making such a large beast-shaped cake, and she was afraid of messing it up, so she didn’t want to get distracted.
"We’re baking a one-meter-tall cake today, so we need to prepare a lot of ingredients: eggs, cake flour, white sugar, and so on."
Gan Lan finished making the cake batter and placed it directly into the one-meter-tall oven to bake. Next, she started mixing the frosting. She was going to make a Wolf King. The fur on its limbs and its two ears would be white, while its body and head would be gray. It would look both cute and majestic.
[Flower Pastry is True Love]: It’s already been two hours. It seems the difficulty of this cake isn’t low at all. I’m getting quite excited.
[Life is So Hard]: Boohoo, I’m so touched! Even though one cake costs eight hundred thousand Credit Points, I suddenly feel like it’s totally, absolutely worth it!
[I’m Just Looking]: This cake is way too expensive! Is it encrusted with gold?! I definitely can’t afford it.
[Sudden Silence]: I also think it’s a bit pricey. Now I suddenly want to see the finished product to know if it’s really worth it.
[Moonlit Grace]: Hmph! I actually think eight hundred thousand is too little! It should be eight million!
[Sky Blue]: Exactly! You’re already complaining about eight hundred thousand being too expensive, but even with money, you might not be able to buy a cake meticulously crafted by Junior! If you don’t buy it, there are plenty of others lining up for it!
For a moment, the atmosphere in the chat grew heated. Some argued it was too expensive, while others said it was too cheap. Some began to accuse Gan Lan of being so greedy for Credit Points that she was now churning out astronomically priced cakes. The livestream chat had descended into chaos.