Chapter 869: Chapter 868: Snack Stall (Part 1)
"Rumble rumble..."
Early in the morning, the sound of cart wheels spread across the food commercial street known as Liu Family Lane.
Xia Yu was dressed like a passerby, wearing a hat and mask, pushing a cart, while his official disciple Liu Ying, as usual, sported twin ponytails. Mrs. Liu got up early to dress her daughter up nicely. Liu Ying lent a hand to help Xia Yu with the cart.
The cart was just an ordinary mobile food stall.
Of course, thanks to Zhu Qing, they had a fixed stall, so they didn’t need to worry about being frightened of the city management team, reputed to be the strongest on the surface, coming to drive people away and confiscate the cart.
The stall was on this street, near a cluster of universities.
Probably around seven or eight in the morning, the food stall was set up at a fixed spot. Liu Ying could only watch Xia Yu constantly taking out cooking utensils and ingredients, organizing the stall. Although the cart was small, it held a lot of things inside.
The stove worked normally, with two burners, using special fuel. They were professional fierce-heat stoves, able to stir-fry shredded potatoes in about six or seven seconds before plating.
As for ingredients, flour was the main focus. Pay attention to the food stall’s sign——
Liu’s Fried Noodles!
Why focus on fried noodles? Simply because it’s convenient.
Last night, Xia Yu pondered deeply, deciding to run the food stall for psychological training for his nominal disciple, to help her meet more people and overcome her shyness.
At the same time, he had a recipe for devilish training of Liu Ying’s cooking skills——"Seven Countries United Fried Noodles"!
No need to doubt.
The purpose of learning this recipe is to enhance Liu Ying’s sensitivity to "heat control" and lay a solid foundation for learning Blast Flame Cooking Skill.
Xia Yu considered that the cooking skills he had mastered perfectly, and marked with his own style, were nothing but Bursting Flame, and Spice Inequality.
Spice Inequality is actually a spice experience study that relies on accumulation over time, not quick learning. Without the "Divine Sense of Smell" like Yashan Liang, you might not achieve significant results even after years of deep research.
But Bursting Flame is different, easy to grasp. Xia Yu’s first cooking skill is this, and with a master’s guidance, learning green and blue flame was not too difficult.
"Alright!"
Placing a bag of flour beside the stall cart, Xia Yu turned and unfolded a wooden deck chair, tossed a prepared pillow on it, and lay down comfortably and leisurely.
"Just follow the recipe. Today’s minimum goal is to sell 20 servings of fried noodles. Once we reach that number, we can pack up and leave."
Liu Ying frowned tightly.
"20 servings..."
She looked at Xia Yu, who closed his eyes on the deck chair after speaking, her gaze flickered, clearly showing a trace of shyness.
The street was already bustling, and being near the university town, by eight in the morning, there were people everywhere on the street.
Standing dumbfounded for at least five or six minutes, some passersby walked by the fried noodle stall. Seeing a little girl dressed like a small errand, standing there silently, while seemingly the stall owner lay sleeping lazily in a deck chair behind the stall.
"So strange—"
A couple of graduate students came out of an off-campus apartment, prepared to do some work with their campus advisor, grabbing breakfast along the way.
They spotted the fried noodles sign and headed straight for it.
The female student shouted towards the deck chair, "Excuse me, are you open? We’d like to order two portions of fried noodles."
The already "asleep" Xia Yu didn’t respond.
"Excuse me..."
The male student pulled his girlfriend who tried to ask again, curled his lip in disdain, saying, "Let’s go; they’re lazy in running a business, the cooking surely can’t be worth trusting! We’ll go to the usual place!"
The two quickly shifted to another stall, also on the same street.
That was the only inquiry from customers in the ten minutes.
The stall was enveloped in an awkward atmosphere for a long while.
"I can’t keep doing this!"
Liu Ying silently cheered herself on, "It’s just selling food, serving customers. This is a path every successful chef must take, you can do it, Liu Ying, go!"
She secretly glanced back at the motionless boy on the deck chair, letting out a relieved expression.
"Can’t let Mr. Xia down..."
The scene of Xia Yu’s agreement with her this morning came to mind.
"Little Ying, this special training will last at least a week. Of course, if you don’t want to participate, I won’t force you. It’s all up to you. And if you reach the daily business goals I set, I’ll give you corresponding rewards..." The young man lightly patted the little girl’s head.
Rewards!
Rewards in culinary skills!
Even just a few enlightening words are immensely valuable for Liu Ying, who longs for higher and broader prospects.
Although she’s young, she has some wisdom, understanding the hard-to-seek guidance principle. Girls at this age often mature faster than boys, thinking and considering more, otherwise, Liu Ying wouldn’t be so focused on Juxia Building, aiming to reclaim the place her father protected before his passing.
"20 servings of fried noodles!"
Once again reciting today’s business goal, Liu Ying’s eyes exchanged shyness and dodging for determination.
I can do it!
The fried noodle stall didn’t have ready-made noodles, handmade noodles needed to be made from scratch.
She picked up the recipe slip from the cooking table, glanced at it, and her small face twisted.
"Seven Countries United Fried Noodles? How, how do I make this!"
Liu Ying felt her head spinning, her face ashen.
The recipe was so profound that she couldn’t understand it.
Just as her barely rallied morale seemed on the verge of being doused with cold water, Liu Ying noticed a sentence at the bottom of the recipe slip, apparently a special note from Xia Yu:
Forget about the above, just load it away and remember this sentence——
Shape the Beef Balls into strips.
"Ah——" unable to resist covering her mouth, shocked, "Could it be the Beef Balls are the essence of Seven Countries United Fried Noodles?"
Thinking so, Liu Ying’s face showed a peculiar expression again, running around, finally finding a well-sealed transparent bag among the heap of ingredients on the side table.
Peeling away layers of the freshness-preserving bag, Liu Ying stared at the bright red minced meat, sniffing the dense beef aroma that overwhelmed her, and happily said: "Looks like Mr. Xia prepared everything for me!"
A whole bag of minced meat, predominantly beef tenderloin, but there was also aspic and shrimp. Liu Ying took a portion, placed it in the palm of her hand, and sniffed her dainty little nose again and again, "When crushed, it should have had ginger, scallion, yellow wine, egg, and additional spices added..."
"Indeed, the ingredients for Beef Balls!"
Liu Ying pursed her lips, grabbed the bag, and jumped onto a small stool to properly work in front of the cooking table. She took out a large chunk of minced meat, placed it on a clean board, her mind holding on to Xia Yu’s special note, "Shape them into strips?"
Swish swish.
She tried it, looking at the barely strip-shaped minced meat, she stuck out her tongue and laughed out loud, "Eww, it looks like a red snot worm, how disgusting!"
Definitely wrong!
Liu Ying didn’t rush to try again immediately; instead, she looked down, her large eyes filled with thoughts and wisdom beyond her years.
Passersby came and went, pointing at the cute little girl standing on the stool.
"Whose child is this?"
"Liu’s Fried Noodles? A new stall, no wonder I haven’t seen it!"
From a distance, Lei Aoxue glanced at the boy already "asleep" in the deck chair, biting her lip.
Unable to resist her curiosity, Lei Aoxue approached the stall.
At this moment, Liu Ying was beginning her second attempt.
She mixed high-gluten flour with minced meat, adding water to stir. Everyone knows kneading and making dough requires strength, but not brute force. It requires skilled techniques.
Slap!
Slap!
The food stall’s limited space was reasonably used, with Liu Ying’s forehead sweating, a large chunk of slightly red dough formed under her delicate hands. As she continued to knead repeatedly, the texture became increasingly smooth and refined.
"Phew..."
Liu Ying wiped her sweat, revealing a smile, "So that’s how it is, without mixing flour, how can it become noodles? It’s all my fault for being so silly. Luckily, I didn’t wake Mr. Xia up for a hint; otherwise, he’d surely be disappointed in me!"
"Hmm, let it sit for half an hour, then we can make handmade wide noodles!" She talked to herself.
Lei Aoxue watched silently, unable to resist speaking, "What kind of noodles are these?"
"Ah!" Liu Ying was startled, her small body wobbling on the stool, almost falling off. She didn’t recognize Lei Aoxue, a stranger, staring at her with sharp eyes...
Liu Ying lowered her head.
"It’s, it’s..." Nervously, her words stumbled.