Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Special Effects Are Out!

Qiu Xian wasn’t the only one who noticed this strange trend.

Local food channels in other regions mostly featured hotpot shops, fly-by-night eateries, or at best, private BBQs.

But here, why was everyone posting kindergarten menus?

Moreover, each video had many comments, clearly not fake.

“I’ve been reborn! Reborn as a five-year-old kid entering Qimingxing Kindergarten. Brothers, DM me 50, and I’ll tell you how I ate three lion’s heads in one meal.”

“No, seriously, has anyone told me who got the appointment to visit? If I can’t eat lion’s head, I’d like to try something else.”

“Does the kindergarten not consider having a nap class? We have dozens or hundreds of kids three to five years old who really need naps, just add one more lunch for them!”

Everyone was anxious. But it was useless to be anxious.

“No, can someone tell me why such a chef is quietly cooking in a kindergarten? Is there any boss who can snatch the chef out to open a restaurant?”

Qian Rui’s mother, Feng Meng, was holding her phone reading the comments, feeling a bit anxious.

She had considered hiring a kitchen assistant as a nanny but was busy at work recently and thought to wait.

After all, it was just a kindergarten assistant chef; she didn’t think competition would be fierce.

But now it seemed if she didn’t act soon—no, maybe it was already too late.

First, she thought about asking Teacher Wang for the chef’s contact.

But the next comment she saw stopped her—

“Even chefs for kids need to be snatched? I heard some kids in the kindergarten with poor appetites or even needing nutritional medicine from the hospital have started loving food because of this chef’s skills.

No matter why this great chef is cooking at the kindergarten, these are unforgettable happy memories for the kids. Adults can use any means to eat, but don’t affect the children, right?”

Feng Meng felt a little ashamed.

Among the kids mentioned in the comment was her own Qian Rui.

If Qian Rui kept being such a picky eater, she had even considered taking him for hormone treatments to grow taller.

She clicked to check the comment and saw it was from the well-known Parent Committee member, Ms. Wang.

Feng Meng bit her lip, a bit embarrassed, and buried her little thoughts in her heart as she followed the comments below.

“I agree! We’re all adults now; do we really have to compete with small kids for food? Even if you want to snatch the chef, wait until they resign.”

“Wait, is there inside info? The chef might resign?”

The topic quickly turned to resignation, and everyone soon learned that this amazing chef was just helping out at the kindergarten.

“Wait, is the chef going to resign? No way, I have to borrow a child to experience this!”

Soon, borrowing a child became the latest local meme.

The local food vlogger Zhu Nan, who rarely read comments, was in trouble.

Completely unable to keep up with the trend, he first showed up in person, expressing his simple wish to try the kindergarten food.Teacher Li listened to him and looked a bit shocked at this middle-aged man who claimed to be a food vlogger.

“You think you’re the first fake food vlogger? There are even people pretending to be from the Education Bureau. You’re way too amateur.”

“Besides, what kind of food vlogger visits kindergartens? No way. Even with a million followers, it’s no good. Before, a beauty vlogger with two million followers came by.”

Zhu Nan was completely defeated.

He learned his lesson and searched everywhere related to Qimingxing Kindergarten, finally discovering the new local trend: borrowing children.

But...

“No! I’m an out-of-town vlogger! How am I supposed to borrow a child?”

Zhu Nan was a bit overwhelmed.

“How do I make a call? ‘Oh, do you know anyone in City X? Can I borrow a child around three years old who hasn’t been to kindergarten? I’ll take them out for half a day and return them.’”

As he said this, he laughed to himself.

But no matter, the call still had to be made.

“Oh, your child is in... junior high? Wait, aren’t you under thirty? Oh... your wife takes care of them? Oh, a sibling romance, okay!”

“How old is your child? Oh, three years old! Can I borrow them... Oh, you’ve visited Qimingxing? No, no, just asking…”

“How old is your child... No, no, sorry! I didn’t know you’re not married yet!”

His local contacts were completely used up.

Suddenly, the cameraman remembered Ms. Wang: “Should I ask Director Wang? Since she brought it up that day, she must really like it, right?”

Zhu Nan scrambled to find the phone he had just dropped on the bed, found Ms. Wang’s WeChat, and started communicating.

He found a good opportunity; Ms. Wang had just talked to the kindergarten director.

The director had to be lenient with Ms. Wang, who held a high position in the Parent Committee.

“That’s possible, but you can’t bring too many people... after all, Ranran is about to resign, and we can’t have the young lady so tired every day.”

“What? Resigning? So soon?”

Ms. Wang was a bit surprised and quickly asked, “The young lady? I thought she was a veteran chef. Where does she work?”

Could it be that her chance to advance her club business was right here?

“She... she is from the Chen family, but there are some conflicts there.”

The kindergarten director spoke vaguely; she believed Ms. Wang knew the power of the Chen family to some extent.

At first, she naively thought Chen Ran could work as a private chef for home visits, until the kindergarten changed suppliers three times this month.

“The Chen family, huh...”

Ms. Wang’s business was not small. She and her husband built it from scratch and were already quite strong.

But compared to the Chen family...

They couldn’t compete.

That was a giant behemoth.She sighed and asked the kindergarten director, “Is this the chef that the Chen family announced no restaurant in the city can hire?”

The director didn’t respond, but Ms. Wang already understood.

“Don’t you feel any pressure on your side?”

The kindergarten director laughed cheerfully, “I don’t really feel much pressure here, just that groceries have gotten more expensive, but it’s nothing. At the last open house, Ranran helped me recruit so many new students!”

Qimingxing was a kindergarten without much capability, but the old lady had lived fifty years—if push came to shove, she wasn’t afraid of anyone!

It was just... Ranran...

“I just don’t know where this girl can go now.”

After hanging up, the kindergarten director went to the kitchen to see Chen Ran.

If Chen Ran was willing to stay, the old lady would put her face on the line to keep her.

“Ranran, would you be willing... to continue staying at Qimingxing Kindergarten?”

Chen Ran was practicing her knife skills when she heard the director’s question.

Since learning that most of the culinary skills of the legendary chef senior were 3S-level, her enthusiasm for practicing basic skills had increased.

She even hung a sandbag on her wrist, just like the elders had said.

She had bought many radishes and potatoes herself, and after practicing knife skills every day, she would turn them into pickled vegetables to bring back for everyone.

Chen Ran’s knife skills were already very good, but upon hearing that sentence, she almost cut her hand.

“Director, it’s fine. If the kindergarten keeps changing suppliers, you’d have a headache too, right?”

She wasn’t unaware of what the Chen family was doing behind the scenes but thought that after the month-long probation period ended and she left, the Chen family wouldn’t be ruthless enough to continue targeting the kindergarten.

After all, the Chen family’s ancestral home was here, and targeting the kindergarten would seriously damage their reputation.

She put down the knife and walked over to give the director a big hug: “Don’t worry about me! The Chen family’s reach isn’t that long!”

And besides, she had her system!

As Chen Yuncong’s once most favored junior, she knew how powerful the Chen family was. Maybe even if her cooking skills reached her uncle’s level, she wouldn’t escape the Chen family’s blockade.

But… what if one day she could surpass her uncle?

Even surpass Chen Yuncong?

Seeing the worry on the director’s face, Chen Ran gave her a big, playful smack on the cheek.

The director was startled and patted her: “You scared me!”

Chen Ran smiled, “What are you worried about? Don’t worry, I’m definitely going to be the new generation’s culinary god! What’s the Chen family? How could they possibly threaten me?”

“Alright,” the director wiped the drool from her face with a look of mild disgust, but her words were as gentle as ever, “If one day you’re tired out there and want to come back, our kindergarten will have enough students to support two chefs.”

“Don’t worry!”

Chen Ran continued chopping radishes while asking the director, “Have you decided tomorrow’s menu? I want to think about how to match the dishes specifically.”

The director sighed inwardly with regret. She felt there was no one in the world more suited to learning to cook than this girl right in front of her.She was able to be so devoted just cooking for the kindergarten kids.

The old Chen patriarch was clueless! Such talent and good nature—how could they push her away?

The kindergarten director counted how long Chen Ran had been there—already three weeks—and Yuan Guozhong’s hand had basically healed.

“Next Monday, make the lion’s head meatballs again. That day, a few guests will come to visit the kindergarten. No kids, so we can make some spicy dishes.”

“Huh?”

Chen Ran looked up, puzzled.

The director was usually very strict with those who came under the pretense of visiting but just wanted to eat. Only genuine parents bringing children for enrollment were allowed to visit.

Why was she loosening the rules this time?

“No kids? Just three adults? Making a separate table just for them?”

“Right,” Yuan Guozhong also came over. “Ranran, my hand is almost healed too. I’ll cook the dishes that day, you just show off your culinary skills!”

The director reached out and tidied the stray hair at Chen Ran’s temple. “Those three people—there’s a food blogger, an intern reporter from ‘Famous Chef Record,’ and Ms. Wang from the parents’ committee who really appreciates you. Make a good table of dishes, show them what you’ve got. Maybe it’ll open a new path for you.”

Chen Ran was slightly surprised, her eyes stinging a bit. Using chopping the radishes as cover, she quickly lowered her head again.

In this world, there were relatives who treated her like a stranger or even an enemy, but there were also strangers who treated her like a treasure, even if they only met by chance.

“Well… then that day, let’s all taste together. Our kindergarten staff and teachers can open another table too.”

Her flavor effect for the lion’s head recipe had already been unlocked.

She really wanted everyone to try it.

“Alright, then we’ll all send Ranran off together.”

Chen Ran nodded, opened her system, and looked over her own flavor effect again.

[Unlocked recipe feedback contains the pure joy of children and the hope of adults.]

[Children’s happiness is the purest, adding a touch of innocent flavor to this recipe.]

[Flavor effect: Adults eating this lion’s head will recall the purest happiness of their entire childhood.]

[Effect limitation: Childhood is beautiful, but people must grow up. Limited to making twenty per week.]

This was her own flavor effect.

But it also belonged to the kindergarten.