NOVEL NEXT Chapter 82
Chapter 82 Master of Time Management! Introducing the New Crystal Shrimp Dumplings!
Lu Qin had just bought the necessary ingredients for making crystal shrimp dumplings—wheat starch, tapioca starch, and more.
At his usual vegetable stall, run by an elderly man named Mr. Zhang, Lu purchased six pounds of carrots, five pounds of garlic sprouts, eight pounds of cabbage, three pounds of bean sprouts, ten pounds of green peppers, and two pounds of garlic cloves, spending a total of 102.6 yuan. Mr. Zhang also gifted him a bunch of scallions and two pieces of ginger.
After buying the vegetables, Lu headed to the dry goods store for more supplies.
At 5:45 AM, Lu Qin rode his tricycle back home and unloaded the ingredients into the kitchen. He immediately got to work—setting mung bean soup to boil, blanching pork belly in a cast iron pot, and letting the glutinous rice dough rest.
Juggling multiple tasks at once, Lu Qin didn’t seem rushed but worked methodically and efficiently. He precisely controlled the amount of water, the heat, and the cooking time for each dish.
This mastery of multitasking was the result of advanced skills, granting him superhuman culinary efficiency. It allowed him to prepare a variety of dishes in the shortest, most reasonable time possible.
For the crystal shrimp dumpling wrappers, Lu used wheat starch, also known as clear flour, made from the starchy portion of wheat after gluten removal. Adding a bit of tapioca starch gave the wrappers a pleasantly chewy texture.
To make the filling, fresh shrimp were peeled, deveined, and cleaned. Since shrimp are naturally low in fat, Lu mixed in a third of their weight in fatty pork to make the filling more tender and flavorful.
Using a three-tiered bamboo steamer, with a layer of cloth on each level, he could steam 120 dumplings at once over medium heat for 10 minutes. By the end of it, Lu Qin had made nearly 800 crystal shrimp dumplings.
At 7:30 AM, the mung bean soup, ice crystal cake, and chicken tofu flower soup were also ready. Lu Qin went to wake his little girl, Lu Xiyao.
Still lost in her dreams, her rosy little mouth mumbled something incomprehensible. Lu gently nudged her awake.
“Papa~! Your little cutie is sleeping. Please don’t disturb her~!” She mumbled groggily.
“Alright, I’ll just give you a forehead flick.”
The threat made her spring up immediately, her hair a messy nest.
“Papa~! A forehead flick is too dangerous. Better not, okay~?”
“That depends on your performance.”
“I’ll get dressed and wash up right now!”
Like a flash, she dressed herself, but…
“Xiyao, your shirt is on backward.”
“It looks better this way.”
She stubbornly wanted to leave it as it was, but Lu Qin gently held her head.
“Fix it.”
“Okay~!”
Her little face was full of reluctant resignation. Breakfast was tomato and egg noodles with crystal shrimp dumplings.
Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the dumplings.
“Papa~! What are these?”
“Crystal shrimp dumplings. They’re new. Give them a try.”
She grabbed one with her hand and took a bite. The dumpling, slightly cooled, wasn’t too hot. The fresh, savory taste instantly captivated her. “Yummy~! So yummy~!”
She immediately grabbed another dumpling, her cheeks puffing up like a little hamster as she tried to chew both at once.
“Papa~! You’re amazing! These dumplings are super tasty!”
“Eat slowly. Don’t stuff your mouth so full.”
“Got it~!”
Out of the six dumplings on the plate, Xiyao polished off three and reluctantly left the other three for her father.
“Papa~! You eat too!” She offered before slurping her noodles.
Lu Qin’s tomato and egg noodles were already a signature dish before he gained his system skills. Now, with added expertise, their taste reached a whole new level.
Xiyao finished her bowl, even drinking the soup to the last drop, and let out a satisfied burp.
Lu packed her lunch—imperial chicken wings, twice-cooked pork, stir-fried celery with tofu, and three taels of rice. While she could only eat one tael of rice from the kindergarten meals, she always managed to finish three when it was her dad’s cooking.
Lastly, he placed two boxes of ice jelly cake in her canvas bag for an afternoon snack, just in case she got hungry later.
Before setting off, Lu Qin took out his phone and posted a notice in the group chat.
[In 20 minutes, I’ll be setting up at the usual spot, in front of Sunshine Elementary School. Today we have a new item—crystal shrimp dumplings.]
As soon as they saw there was a new item, the group chat, filled with foodies, exploded with excitement.
Lu Qin added, “Starting today, stir-fried noodles and mung bean smoothies will also be limited in quantity—each person can only buy three portions.”
The chat instantly filled with comments.
Some protested, while others cheered. The ones protesting were usually from larger families. Families with five or six people wanted to buy five or six portions of stir-fried noodles at a time. Then there were the big eaters—some could eat eight portions of stir-fried noodles in one go!
There was even a competitive eater who once bought eight portions from Lu Qin, squatted by the stall, and devoured them all. They even drank three cups of mung bean smoothie afterward, leaving other customers completely stunned. This person claimed they were only 80% full and queued up again to buy two servings of ice crystal cake.
The ones cheering were often those who arrived late and found there wasn’t much left. Sometimes they didn’t arrive late but found certain conspicuous customers buying ten portions of stir-fried noodles at once. The people at the back of the line would panic, worried that the noodles would sell out.
The record for the largest single purchase was someone who bought 50 portions of stir-fried noodles and mung bean smoothies, claiming their boss at the company cafeteria sent them to buy because no lunch was being prepared that day. The employees all ate Lu Qin’s stir-fried noodles instead.
Having his food widely recognized by customers was a good thing. However, to ensure that everyone could have a taste, Lu Qin decided to implement the purchasing limit after much deliberation.
After all, there were many customers, but he could only make two or three hundred portions each time. Limiting purchases was the fairest solution.
Lu Qin dropped Lu Xiyao off at the Starlight Kindergarten gate, where Teacher Li took her inside. Only after the little girl waved goodbye from the classroom door did he hop onto his tricycle and head toward Sunshine Elementary School.
“Hurry up, handsome Lu! Don’t starve me!”
“You’re a 180-pound baby, almost 300 months old. You could go half a month without starving.”
“Not starving—drooling to death!”
“Boss Lu, I’m looking forward to the crystal shrimp dumplings!”
“I love dumplings! I could devour ten in one bite!”
“Even stir-fried noodles are being limited? Damn it! Luckily, I brought my wife along. That way, we can buy more ice jelly cake—sweet!”
“I brought my kid. That counts as a head too, right?”
“Your kid isn’t even 1.2 meters tall. Doesn’t count.”
When Lu Qin set up his stall, a line of customers was already waiting, craning their necks and peeking toward his stall. Even teachers from Sunshine Elementary School came to buy his stir-fried noodles. The school’s teacher cafeteria had seen its breakfast diners drop by a third.
At the Ourei International Hotel, in the CEO’s office, Song Xuanxuan was called in by Shen Muyan.
“Has President Ouyang from the Shengyang Group arrived?”
“Not yet. The meeting was scheduled for 9 o’clock, and it’s already 8:50.”
Shen Muyan frowned slightly.
“I heard that President Ouyang detests tardiness and is always punctual. He must already be here. Go check with the reception desk to see if they missed him.”
Song Xuanxuan was just about to leave when the restaurant manager, Wang, burst through the door in a rush.
Without knocking, Manager Wang almost collided with Song Xuanxuan. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, disregarding formalities, and quickly reported to Shen Muyan.
“President Shen, President Ouyang arrived twenty minutes ago.”
“He’s here? Where is he?”
“He’s in the Azalea Restaurant on the third floor. He ordered a bowl of liver paste soup, and the kitchen is making it now.”
“Liver paste soup?” Shen Muyan frowned. “What kind of dish is that?”
“It’s a Sichuan dish on the last page of the menu. Hardly anyone orders it.”
“Does Chef Hu have it under control?”
“He said he’d do his best. The preparation for liver paste soup is incredibly meticulous and tests the chef’s skills—it’s a complex dish.”
Before he finished speaking, Shen Muyan was already in the elevator, heading quickly towards the Azalea Restaurant.