NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Kung Pao Chicken! As Long As You Put Your Heart Into It, Everyone Is A Culinary God!
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Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Uncles and aunties, I really have to close my stall!”
Xu Le shouted apologetically.
At around eight o’clock, there were some parents and kindergarten children gathered in front of his push cart, forming a long queue.
Xu Le had originally thought that he would be able to pack up after the kindergarten classes started at nine o’clock.
However, after nine o’clock, the number of people queuing did not decrease at all.
Many people who passed by immediately came over when they saw an eight-year-old child setting up a stall to sell oil doused noodles. Furthermore, there were so many people queuing up.
The ingredients that Xu Le had prepared were already used up.
In order to taste Xu Le’s cooking, these customers even bought a lot of ingredients from the nearby market.
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Noodles, chilli, spices, oil, vegetables…
The customers even prepared their own ingredients in order to try Xu Le’s cooking.
Xu Le had lived for two lifetimes and this was the first time he had seen such a situation.
These people coming to eat had even brought their own ingredients!
Just like that, Xu Le worked from eight to ten.
After breakfast time, there were finally fewer customers.
“Uncles and aunties, I really have to close my stall!”
Xu Le shouted.
He really could not take it anymore.
Even an adult would feel exhausted after being so busy in the push cart for a few hours.
Not to mention an eight-year-old like him.
However, Xu Le was very satisfied with the profits from this morning.
From eight to ten, in the past two hours, he had sold a total of 115 bowls of Oil Doused Noodles.
The price of a bowl of noodles was six yuan, so his total income was 690 yuan.
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Since it was the customers who prepared the ingredients themselves, Xu Le only spent 140 yuan as his total cost price.
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After taking this into account, Xu Le’s net profit from setting up the stall reached 550 yuan!
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This was already quite a small fortune for Xu Le.
If he could have such business every day…
Wouldn’t he earn 16,000 yuan in a month?
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Thinking of this, Xu Le’s eyes lit up. If that was the case, he seemed to have the ability to repay the mortgage!
However, with the system in his hands, Xu Le’s horizons would not be so shallow.
He could not possibly keep selling noodles at the entrance of the kindergarten.
On one hand, it was too exhausting for him. His eight-year-old body would definitely not be able to take it.
On the other hand, if they kept selling oil doused noodles, these parents and children would definitely get sick of eating them over time.
“I need more recipes!”
Xu Le’s big eyes sparkled.
His goal was, of course, to open a restaurant so that he could earn a stable and high income.
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At the very least… he would have to open a small food stall.
Xu Le was definitely not satisfied with such a push cart noodle shop.
Apart from earning 550 yuan, Xu Le also earned an additional reward.
That was from the completion of the system’s mission.
System reward: [Kung Bao Chicken Recipe].
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Kung Pao Chicken was a traditional cuisine unique to both modern Chinese and foreign civilizations. It was recorded in both Shandong cuisine and Sichuan cuisine. At the same time, it was also categorized as a Beijing imperial cuisine, which was meant for the emperor in ancient times.
Xu Le was very satisfied with the recipe.
This was a very representative Chinese dish, and it was also a very homely dish. It was not difficult to prepare either.
After closing the stall, Xu Le found an empty place and kept the cart in the system space.
He immersed himself in his thoughts.
Soon, the surroundings became chaotic.
In front of Xu Le once again, the advanced kitchen counter that was well-equipped and filled with various kitchen utensils appeared.
This time, the cuisine that Xu Le wanted to practice here was [Kung Pao Chicken]!
The craftsmanship of this dish was not difficult.
The ingredients required were also very simple.
It was nothing more than chicken, peanuts, onions, ginger, garlic, pepper, dried chilli, chilli noodles, eggs, starch, and other common ingredients found at home.
The first step was to soak the peanuts and peel the skin.
Then, debone the chicken thigh, cut it into dice and marinate it.
Finally, add room-temperature oil to the pan, and stir fry the peanuts over a small fire. After putting the chicken into the pan, quickly spread them. Then, add the prepared seasoning and stir fry over high heat until it is ready to be served.
This was the general cooking method of Kung Pao Chicken.
It seemed very simple, but there were countless details and points to pay attention to.
Many a time, seemingly simple steps were not easy to do.
Take the peanuts for example. It sounded very simple to add the peeled peanuts into a frying pan.
However, he had to pay attention that the pan and oil had to be at room-temperature, as well as the timing to fry the peanuts. Even if he fried them for longer than 10 seconds, it would affect the crispy texture of the peanuts. It would become soft instead of crispy, and it would lose some flavor.
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If it was just a normal dish at home, he might not have to pay attention to so many details.
However, Xu Le wanted to prepare the dishes to the best of his abilities.
In any case, he had countless opportunities to practice in the system space.
Even if he practiced here for an entire year, with the 365 times slower time flow, only a day would have passed in the outside world.
Hence, Xu Le wanted to make every detail perfect.
He wanted to make it better here and there.
After the entire dish was cooked, the taste would then be much better.
Xu Le still remembered a Hong Kong movie “Culinary God” he had watched in his previous life. There was a line in it, saying, “As long as you put your heart into it, everyone is a Culinary God.”
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Xu Le did not feel anything when he watched it at that time.
However, now that he had really entered the cooking industry and even awakened the [Strongest Master Chef System], Xu Le finally understood what this sentence meant.
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Use your heart.
It was the top priority of cooking.
If the chef wasn’t focused, he wouldn’t be able to make such a delicious dish.
…
“I wonder how this system space works…”
Xu Le stood in front of the stove and exclaimed.
He’d actually not felt fatigued or tired at all while practising his culinary skills in this system space.
He had been practicing here for a whole week.
Kung Pao Chicken. He’d done it at least 5000 times. He’d also made at least 3000 bowls of oil doused noodles.
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Xu Le did not feel tired at all despite the terrifying workload. In fact, he felt even more refreshed than usual.
“It’s amazing.”
Besides marveling at the wonders of the system space, Xu Le could feel that the greatest improvement was his cooking skills.
Regardless of the other dishes, Xu Le’s skills had already reached an extremely high level just in terms of the “Kung Pao Chicken” and “Oil Doused Noodles”.
After a few thousand repetitive practices, plus the perfect recipe given by the system.
Even the chefs of five-star hotels couldn’t compare to Xu Le’s standard of preparing these two dishes.
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While a week had passed in the system space, only 40 minutes had passed in the real world.
Although it was almost noon, the kindergarten provided daycare service.
In other words, Xu Tian would eat and sleep in school in the afternoon. She would only return home after the afternoon classes ended.
Just as Xu Le was about to go home, a familiar figure suddenly walked out of the kindergarten.
‘Isn’t this Teacher Li?’