Chapter 104

Chapter 104: Chapter 104 - One More

During her time at Qingshi An, Chen Ran was quite happy.

She still hadn't regained her sense of taste, so it didn't matter whether she ate meat or vegetarian food, as long as the food was clean and hygienic.

However, when eating the meals that Chang Nian prepared in the evening, Chen Ran still felt a bit regretful. She had heard about Mrs. Chang Nian’s reputation as a master of vegetarian cuisine many times. Finally, she had the chance to try it, but she couldn’t taste much.

For the first time, she truly felt a strong desire to regain her sense of taste.

Although the teaching work at Qingshi An was mostly handled by Wu Chaomei, whenever Chang Nian was around, a single word of advice would make Chen Ran suddenly understand something.

On her last meal at Qingshi An, Chang Nian didn’t make Chen Ran busy. "Alright, little hardworking model, just eat well. After you finish, go pack your things."

The table was filled with vegetarian dishes, and Chang Nian specifically placed a plate of hand-torn cabbage that she had made in front of Chen Ran.

"Eat slowly."

Chang Nian had said this several times before, but Chen Ran had never really paid attention.

It wasn’t until she heard Wu Chaomei say, "Feel this world without taste," that she suddenly realized.

Humans have five senses, and they interact with each other. When trying a dish, it’s always best when all the aspects—color, aroma, taste, and even texture—are perfect.

These senses affect each other.

But when it comes to improving culinary skills, if one can remove the influence of the other aspects and focus on practicing just one, the efficiency will be much higher, and the practice will be more specialized!

And now, she had the perfect condition for that.

Not tasting the food allowed her to more precisely feel the texture and aroma. In fact, she even began to taste things that went beyond flavor itself, something mysterious and intangible.

For the past Chen Ran, not being able to taste was a painful experience. So, every time she ate, she quickly finished the minimum amount needed to survive and then put down her bowl.

At Qingshi An, every time, Chang Nian would tell her to "eat slowly," but she could never slow down.

Until this time.

In Chen Ran’s memory, food without taste had a rather waxy feel when chewed in her mouth.

However, when she truly began chewing, she found that it wasn't like that at all.

Even without taste, the various textures of the different ingredients layered in her mouth. The fun of chewing was definitely not like chewing wax!

Chang Nian’s culinary skills were undoubtedly top-tier. Unlike Wu Chaomei’s pursuit of perfection, her cooking style could be described as "returning to simplicity."

Almost all the dishes were simply stir-fried, and at most, some vegetables with strong flavors or a slimy texture would be blanched in advance.

Yet, with such a vegetarian banquet, everyone at the table ate seriously.

Yes, seriously, even somewhat reverently.

From every dish, one could not only taste the respect the chef had for the diners but also the respect she had for the ingredients.

"Try this."

Chang Nian placed her hand-torn cabbage in front of Chen Ran.

Chen Ran picked up a large, fresh, and tender piece of cabbage, slowly putting it in her mouth.If the weight is too heavy, it becomes soft and mushy, and if too light, it doesn't cook through. The cabbage’s cooking time was controlled to perfection.

All the lessons Chang Nian wanted to teach her about cooking were contained in this single dish.

"Just remember this cooking time. With your effort, I believe that one day, you’ll make even better vegetarian dishes than I do."

"At first, when Wang Zhaoshan talked about your cooking of Dinghu Shangsu, Jinguang Huofang, and even the pure vegetarian Lion's Head, I was worried you might be going down the wrong path."

"However, after seeing you make the imitation crab and pure vegetarian eggplant pockets, I was much more at ease."

Chang Nian kept a smile on her face. She was still the same Chen Ran she had praised before, someone who "didn’t show any utilitarian intentions in her cooking."

When she learned to make Dinghu Shangsu, she was truly just learning a dish. She hadn’t fallen into the trap of merely "imitating meat with vegetarian dishes," nor had she become fixated on difficulty or novelty.

She was still the Chen Ran who had worked hard to learn how to make fried sweet potatoes with syrup, just to make a dish worth only twenty yuan.

Chen Ran lowered her head in embarrassment. "You always told me to eat slowly, and it’s only now that I realize what you were really saying…"

Wu Chaomei, who had been impatient, interjected, "It’s not your fault; blame her! Every day, she talks about cooking with Zen and something about 'cutting the sharp edge'. Why not just say it clearly?"

She also picked up some food for Chen Ran. "But you really should eat more. Your arms are too thin."

Chen Ran took a second helping of rice and then went to pack her things, preparing to leave Qingshi An.

The little monks at Qingshi An had given her a lot of fruit they grew there. If she could have carried more, they probably would have even given her a winter melon from the cellar!

"Alright, alright, go quickly. Take your time down the mountain, and don’t forget those fans of yours... Leave through the back door!"

Wu Chaomei was the most impatient, waving her hand. "Hurry up! Once you're gone, I’ll quickly go home and at least get a drink!"

Before she could finish her sentence, Chen Ran suddenly ran over and gave her a big hug.

"...What a rascal! Fine, fine! Go already!"

Chen Ran looked at Wu Chaomei seriously. "Grandmother Wu, I will make that Nine-Turn Large Intestine perfectly! I won’t embarrass you!"

"Enough, you’re still far from my level…" Wu Chaomei pushed Chen Ran away. "Hurry up! Don’t break me in half!"

Chen Ran smiled, said her goodbyes to Chang Nian and the monks in the temple, then turned and left through the back door of Qingshi An.

The monks quickly went back to their tasks. Chang Nian glanced at Wu Chaomei. "Don’t you want to go back yet?"

Wu Chaomei remained silent.

Chang Nian asked again, "Did you give her something? Was it those chopsticks?"

Wu Chaomei finally spoke, her tone laced with a hint of disdain, but for those familiar with her, they could hear the underlying warmth.

"As a chef, how could she not taste the dish? Even if she can't taste it, she still has to try! Gave her a pair of chopsticks, so she can remember it better."

She shot a glance at Chang Nian. "You guys always talk about Zen and sharp edges. A good kid almost got misled by you. Couldn’t you just say it directly?"

"Alright, alright, we obviously can't teach our disciples like you can. Your disciples are everywhere in the world."

Chang Nian thought of Wu Chaomei’s chopsticks, the ones she never parted with—the golden and silver inlaid chopsticks that even during those years in the Daoist flood, no one had been able to steal from her.

"Let’s go, in a few days we’ll go down the mountain too, find a place to wait and watch Xiao Ranran on TV. I’ve got two bottles of sixty-year-old wine for you. Let’s drink together then."

The two figures, one tall and one short, slowly walked towards the meditation hall. Under the young green tree canopy, their white hair made them look like two white magnolias.Suddenly, they both burst out laughing at the same time. A pair of magpies with long tails flapped their wings and flew toward the direction of the mountain base, startling from the trees.

In the quiet mountain, the sound of the magpies became even louder, echoing back.

Chen Ran couldn’t help but stop and look up, watching the two magpies fly past before continuing her walk down the mountain.

What struck her as strange was that, this time, no one came to block her!

Chen Ran even couldn’t resist opening her social media and snooping on what her fans were doing.

Mrs. Wang’s feed was still empty, while Ji You had posted three updates: the gym Mrs. Wang recommended, company benefits, and a book recommended by Mrs. Wang.

Tang Yang’s feed showed everyone practicing stance exercises, while Gao Lei’s feed was full of complaints about the hair salon, apparently her second attempt at perming had failed too.

Everything was peaceful and calm, everything was safe and beautiful.

But it felt… a bit off?

Chen Ran shook her head, grabbed her luggage, and quickly walked toward the mountain base. First, she would head down the mountain, and then rush to her final task location!

Because it was inconvenient at Qingshi An, she had only seen Grandma Wu make the Nine-Turn Large Intestine once, and hadn’t tried it herself yet.

Although the recipe had already been memorized, it wasn’t the same as the one the system had given, and she still needed to make it a few more times to get the hang of it.

Especially with such a peculiar dish… Chen Ran hadn’t tried it before.

"System, why haven't you given me the task location yet? You always gave me directions before! Just 'Hope Primary School'—how am I supposed to get there?"

She opened the system panel but found that the text saying "Hope Primary School" had disappeared!

Chen Ran was startled.

Had the system bugged out?

Her sense of taste still hadn’t returned—don’t let it scare her with a bug at this point!

"System?!"

"System!!! Come out! Where’s the task location? Are you on strike?"

When she first started doing the tasks, Chen Ran had to find the work locations on her own. But later on, the tasks became more targeted, and the system began assigning specific locations.

"What’s going on?"

She was just about to finish her last task and get her sense of taste back, and now the system had suddenly gone on strike. Chen Ran was truly a bit shocked.

However, thankfully, the system wasn’t actually on strike.

【Please wait a moment, the system is finding the best work location】

Chen Ran muttered, "Oh."

"So the previous work locations weren’t random, you were finding them on purpose."

That meant the KTV and the haunted house before were all places the system had specially arranged for her?

...And the multi-level marketing den too.

Chen Ran seized the opportunity to bargain: "So, you deliberately took me to that multi-level marketing den before, huh?!"“Three recipe tasks, you must have them! Or give me something else, anything will do!”

“You also need to give me some capital for opening the store later!”

The system didn’t respond.

It wasn’t ignoring her; it was actually seriously comparing the pros and cons of the two work locations!

Meanwhile, not far from there, Xu Zhanying was also very seriously doing her final checks.

“According to my analysis of past data, today or at the latest tomorrow, Chen Ran should start looking for work locations. Everyone get ready!”

“Let’s do one last round of checks. Anyone who has ever faced Chen Ran should step forward, and wait until she signs the contract and makes her choice before stepping out!”

Seeing everyone checking each other, Xu Zong and Mrs. Wang exchanged a glance. One went left, the other right, beginning to inspect the shop specially set up to lure Chen Ran.

Just like Xu Zhanying’s previously summarized three principles for trapping Chen Ran.

First, this bookstore was a little far from the small mountain where Qingshi An was located, but it was within a two-hour drive. It was also the only small town nearby.

Perfect distance!

Second, Chen Ran was collecting all kinds of different customers. Tourist attractions attracted tourists, KTVs attracted entertainment lovers, and there were both southern and northern people.

No matter which category you considered, this bookstore could provide a completely different type of customer from the previous ones!

Third, Chef Chen never liked big establishments, and she even enjoyed helping others…

Xu Zhanying and Wang Qing’an circled around half the store and then reassembled at the front entrance, looking inside the bookstore.

It was a somewhat shabby, outdated little book bar that had been abandoned by the times.

The owner’s persona was that of a former large factory 996 employee who resigned for health reasons. Opening this book bar was initially for an ideal, but under the cruel reality, that ideal had been crushed, and the back had bent lower and lower.

The books in the store were mostly various classics, and the bookshelves were genuine second-hand ones.

The book bar not only provided reading services but also served some simple fast food, thus urgently needing to hire a new chef.

Perfect!

“Everyone, trust me. I’ve specially investigated, and though Chef Chen seems to have no personal hobbies, she actually loved reading novels as a child! She’s definitely going to take the bait!”

The system also thought it was perfect, so it vaguely gave Chen Ran a coordinate for a small town, then continued to think and analyze in the background.

Unable to come up with anything, it simply handed the decision-making power over to Chen Ran.

【Please choose a new work location: Hope Primary School in the small town ahead, or the book bar in front of the school】

Book bar?

Chen Ran paused for a moment, then quickly walked over.

When she was in elementary school, there had been a rental bookstore across from her school, but it soon disappeared.

She hurried over, stood at the entrance, and peered inside. Meanwhile, countless pairs of eyes were watching Chen Ran at the door from places she couldn’t see!

“She’s coming! She’s coming!”

“Xu Zong is amazing, she’s about to take the bait!”“Keep it down! What if someone hears us from outside?”

Chen Ran lifted her foot, about to step inside, but in that very moment, she hesitated and pulled it back.

“Maybe I won’t choose this place after all?”

The system, unusually, gave a reply: “Why?”

Chen Ran sighed: “After all, I still need to work on the Nine-Turned Pork Intestines. Doing that kind of dish at a book bar... how could I sell it? The books will end up smelling like food.”

She turned around and walked towards the back door of Hope Primary School, letting out a small sigh.

“I really do love reading. If the books end up smelling like food, that wouldn’t be good.”