Following the Wolf King, the Phoenix was now trending!
Unlike the Wolf King, however, this time it had genuinely broken into the top ten trending topics on the Star Network. It was a trend visible to every citizen across the Federation.
The moment the Phoenix appeared, the entire internet was in an uproar!
It would have been one thing if it were a sculpture, but it was just a birthday cake! This was truly a masterpiece, a display of unparalleled craftsmanship.
The number of people following Gan Lan skyrocketed. Even in the dead of night, the Star Network was bustling with users, and everyone who saw the trending topic flocked to follow the streamer.
Meanwhile, Gan Lan’s direct messages were blowing up. People were asking if she had any intention of selling the piece or holding an auction. Someone even offered a hundred billion Credit Points just to add it to their collection. Its collectible value was simply too high!
Unfortunately, Gan Lan was far too exhausted to hear the notification chimes. She slept straight through to the afternoon. She hadn’t even made her river snail rice noodles, missing out on another chunk of income.
But that was a matter for another time. The dean had been calling her since eleven in the morning, racking up dozens of missed calls by now. He just wanted to know if she was awake, telling her to call back so they could come over.
After getting up and washing up, Gan Lan immediately returned the dean’s call, letting him know they could come over to see it. At the same time, she called her two apprentices over. She planned to teach them step-by-step how to simmer the soup base and stir-fry the spices. Then, she would hand the river snail rice noodle stall over to them—with pay, of course.
She had previously tried letting robots do the cooking. While the result was edible, the taste was far inferior to something made by a human, so she had abandoned the idea. Today, however, she planned to research an instant noodle recipe. If she could figure out the exact measurements, she could program a robot to follow the steps precisely. If it tasted good, she could scale up production. She figured she could save up enough Credit Points just from instant noodles alone. At that rate, buying her own planet would be just around the corner.
No sooner had Gan Lan finalized this plan than the dean arrived in a rush. When she opened her door, she was stunned by the sea of heads outside—there had to be over twenty teachers out there. Thank goodness the dormitory assigned by the school was spacious enough, otherwise they never would have fit inside.
Gan Lan stepped aside to let the eager dean in. The teachers behind him rushed in with a loud WHOOSH, scrambling over each other. These usually dignified educators were now red in the face, arguing over who got to enter first. Gan Lan sighed to herself. Such was the charm of culinary arts—though this could hardly be called just food anymore; it was the perfect fusion of food and art.
In the chaos, Gan Lan was completely squeezed out of her own room, left standing alone and somewhat pitifully by the door.
She was the creator of the Phoenix! With her around, they could have as many Phoenixes as they wanted! Yet every single one of them completely ignored her, even shoving her aside.
Thankfully, the dean at least turned around and gave her a nod before familiarly making his way into the small room where the Phoenix was kept. Gan Lan didn’t feel comforted by that nod in the slightest.
"Ms. Gan Lan, why are you out here?" Su Wanying asked curiously when she saw Gan Lan standing outside the dorm, craning her neck to look inside.
Gan Lan coughed, feeling a bit awkward. She couldn’t exactly admit she had been shoved out of her own room, so she quickly changed the subject. "You’re here. Has Senior Cheng not arrived yet?"
"No, I didn’t run into him on the way," Su Wanying said, shaking her head. "Ms. Gan Lan, can I see the Phoenix later? It’s so beautiful! You’re truly a genius! I feel so incredibly lucky to have the privilege of learning from you!" Her eyes sparkled as she gazed at Gan Lan with pure admiration.
Gan Lan felt a swell of pride. Su Wanying definitely had a good eye; she was worthy of being her chosen apprentice.
The two of them chatted outside the door for a bit. Simply put, Gan Lan was basking in a shower of Su Wanying’s praises, absolutely blooming with joy. She hadn’t expected her little apprentice to be such a sweet talker. She had started to think Su Wanying had caught Senior Cheng’s quiet bug and become a girl of few words. Seeing her so lively like this made her look especially endearing.
Just as Gan Lan was beginning to feel slightly embarrassed by the compliments, Cheng Haozhen finally arrived. Seeing them chatting so happily at the door, he looked a bit puzzled, but he didn’t voice his questions.
"Let’s go, let’s go. Now that you’re both here, let’s head inside," Gan Lan urged. "A lot of teachers are here right now. You can go see the Phoenix after they leave. The most important thing now is to teach you how to make river snail rice noodles. I’ll be relying on you two while I’m away for the competition."
Gan Lan led the way into the dorm with the two following closely behind. "You should both be aware by now that the entire process of making today’s river snail rice noodles will be in your hands."
"Yes, Teacher," Cheng Haozhen said seriously, his lips pressed together.
It was the first time Gan Lan had heard Cheng Haozhen call her ’Teacher,’ and it made her a bit uncomfortable. "Just call me Gan Lan. And Wanying, you can just call me by my name too. I’m not quite worthy of being called a teacher yet."
"Teacher, you’ve already proven your skills yesterday. Calling you a culinary master wouldn’t even be an exaggeration," Su Wanying corrected her.
Cheng Haozhen nodded in agreement.
Truthfully, Gan Lan was rather proud of herself. She had improved again. Compared to her initial rustiness when making the Wolf King, she had been noticeably more adept with the Phoenix. If she were to make the Wolf King again, she was confident she could do a much better job.
Upon reaching the kitchen, Gan Lan took a hands-off approach, letting her two apprentices start simmering the bone broth and stir-frying the spices. She corrected their measurements and stir-frying techniques. Watching them go from their initial fluster to a state of orderly efficiency, she nodded in satisfaction and stepped out of the kitchen to check if anything was needed in the small room.
Since the small room was a fair distance from the kitchen, only muffled voices could occasionally be heard from that direction. Gan Lan couldn’t help but marvel at how spacious the dorms assigned to the culinary students were. Even though the original owner of this body had been a poor student, she still had access to everything she needed.
"Gan Lan, come over here quickly! Explain to us how you managed to carve on such a soft cake so we can go back and study it!" the dean shouted as soon as he saw her approaching.
Yes, shouted. The dean was completely trapped in the center of the crowd and couldn’t get out. Fortunately, the teachers were all standing outside the protective cover and weren’t touching anything; they were just circling the Phoenix round and round.
"This must be Gan Lan. This student is truly astonishing. Back when the principal said we should pour all of the school’s resources into this and even ally with other schools, I actually disagreed. Turns out the principal and the dean had the right eye for talent all along."
"Nonsense! If they didn’t have a good eye, how could they be the principal and dean? This student could be called a culinary master just based on this skill alone. The wolf from before was already stunning enough, but this one... I am simply in awe!"
"Yes, yes, yes! I bet no one in Qingtian could create a masterpiece like this! This student is a real treasure! The leadership’s decision was absolutely correct! With Mingzong having a student like her, our rise to prominence is only a matter of time. I can already imagine that when admissions season rolls around, our school’s applications will explode compared to previous years."
As Gan Lan stepped into the small room, the teachers and administrators immediately parted to make a path for her, leaving her feeling incredibly flattered.