Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Stir-Fried Beef

Yuan Guozhong couldn’t wait—he picked up his chopsticks, ready for a taste.

When marinating stir-fried beef, it needs to be oil-sealed, and the cooking also requires plenty of oil. Otherwise, it won’t achieve the desired tenderness and smooth texture.

This also meant one thing—if done well, the dish would be incredibly tender and delicious, making you want to swallow your tongue with it. But if done poorly, it would just be greasy and unappetizing.

Yuan Guozhong picked up a slice of beef and was surprised to see it carried very little oil.

This meant the person who cooked it had excellent control over the heat.

At the very least—better than him.

He slowly and thoughtfully put the beef into his mouth.

Everyone else in the kitchen stared at him.

“How is it?”

“Dinner’s about to start! A few of the kids out front are already hungry!”

The young principal burst in hurriedly, immediately catching sight of Yuan Guozhong trying the food with a blank expression.

She felt a little anxious. Could it be that this assistant chef wasn’t up to standard either?

“Say something!”

Seeing Yuan Guozhong still not speaking, the young principal couldn’t hold back anymore. She grabbed a pair of chopsticks, picked up a piece of beef, and stuffed it into her mouth.

Even before the meat entered her mouth, she could already smell the rich aroma—this beef smelled amazing! And it looked so thin!

But once it actually entered her mouth, she realized—her earlier praise had been far too shallow.

The slices of beef were so tender they seemed to dance on the chopsticks. Just a few light chews filled her mouth with rich, savory fragrance.

The aroma made her feel like she might accidentally swallow her tongue along with it.

Perfectly balanced salty and savory flavors brought out a hint of natural sweetness in the beef.

Even though it was a richly flavored meat dish, the technique of thin-slicing and stir-frying kept it fragrant but not greasy, hearty but not heavy.

Even the onions were delicious! They retained a perfect crunch while losing the harsh sting of raw onion, leaving behind a subtle sweet-spicy flavor that was absolutely addictive.

The young principal wanted to praise the dish more but regretted her limited vocabulary. All she could do was grab another big bite and, her mouth full, ask, “Why aren’t you saying anything? This is amazing!”

Yuan Guozhong remained silent.

What was he supposed to say? Admit he was worried this assistant might take his position as head chef?

He silently wept in his heart. Why would someone who could cook this well come apply for a kitchen assistant job at a kindergarten?

Chen Ran watched as several +5 satisfaction points popped up above Yuan Guozhong’s head, feeling a bit puzzled.

Was this guy that picky? Or was this satisfaction task just that hard?

Still, when a +100 appeared above the young principal’s head right on time, she regained her confidence.

After blanching and squeezing out the marinated cucumbers, Chen Ran began working on the second dish.Seeing that Chen Ran had already started stir-frying the second dish, the young principal hurriedly directed everyone: “Quick! Put it on the metal trays, the food is about to be served. Fluff the rice! Faster!”

The kindergarten kids were starving; if dinner was too late, they would start crying! Although there were only thirteen kids in the evening care, it was still troublesome.

Especially since there was one kid who had a hard time eating—Qian Rui from the middle class.

His mother was almost driven to anxiety by him, sending the teacher more than twenty WeChat messages on average every day.

Today was the usual time for the daily WeChat message barrage.

Teacher Wang from the middle class looked at the unread messages on WeChat with a worried face.

She bit her lip and opened them.

“Teacher, thank you for your hard work. Qian Rui ate a few more bites of fish at home a few days ago. Could you make some fish at kindergarten today? Preferably freshwater fish. I’m a bit worried after the recent sea pollution incident…”

“Teacher Wang, please don’t mind. Could you send me a photo of Qian Rui’s dinner?”

“I might arrive a bit earlier today. Please be patient with him.”

Teacher Wang felt like fainting.

“No wonder his mother is so worried. Qian Rui is really skinny. He’s also short… I heard from his mother that if things don’t improve, they might try hormone injections to help him grow.”

Several kindergarten teachers were speechless about Qian Rui’s mother. Beyond that, everyone shared the same concern for the child.

This kid really had trouble eating!

“Why not seat Zhu Kuangkuang opposite him? That chubby little girl eats so well, I always get an extra bowl of rice thanks to her.”

“No, her parents said they want to control her food intake. Don’t let her eat Qian Rui’s rice.”

“The meals these past few days have really been…”

The teachers all shook their heads remembering the recent meals.

The previous meals were at least like home-cooked food; these past few days, it was basically school cafeteria quality.

And outsourced to the principal’s relatives, no less.

“But did you guys smell it? It smells really good today…”

A strong aroma of beef wafted into the classroom as the kitchen staff carried metal trays and insulated rice containers inside.

The young principal’s face lit up with a particularly bright smile.

“Come, come, dinner’s ready!”

Two steaming hot trays of food were placed out, and the children lined up one by one to serve themselves rice.

“Don’t rush, don’t rush, take it slow!”

“Yes, finish eating before getting more.”

As usual, Qian Rui was last in line. He took slow, careful steps forward and handed his tray to the teacher.

“Qian Rui, which one do you like? Want more beef?”

Qian Rui shook his head.The teacher serving the food sighed and gave him some beef and scrambled eggs with cucumber, then added half a spoonful of rice.

This child counted every grain of rice—he not only ate little but also ate slowly.

Each time, they gave him a small portion first, then added more twice afterward, otherwise the food would get cold by the time he finished half of it.

After serving the kids, Teacher Wang sat down with her own tray, ready to coax Qian Rui to eat.

“Qian Rui, today’s beef looks really delicious! The principal just said we have a new cook today. Want to try some?”

“Just take one bite, chew it, taste it!”

Qian Rui reluctantly picked up his chopsticks. With the teacher’s gentle encouragement, he grabbed a piece of beef.

He hated beef the most. It had a smell and was especially tough to chew. Whenever his mom cooked beef at home, he would secretly throw some pieces to the dog.

“Take a bite, Qian Rui, your mom will be here soon.”

Seeing the teacher smiling kindly and coaxing him to eat, Qian Rui lowered his head, a bit unwilling but carefully stuffed the beef into his mouth.

He didn’t want his mom to complain to the teacher again.

His mom was coming today. If he could eat, she wouldn’t be angry...

Wait!

Qian Rui carefully chewed the tender beef slices. Teacher Wang even saw a look of surprise on the boy’s face.

This beef! So fragrant!

Teacher Wang had been anxious too. The kindergarten meals hadn’t been good these past few days. She ate all three meals there daily and hadn’t been eating well either.

Seeing Qian Rui’s eyes wide like a little kitten, Teacher Wang tried a piece of the beef herself.

“Delicious! Oh my god, young principal, how much did you pay the chef?”

“Yeah, how come it tastes so good?”

Zhu Kuangkuang had already finished one serving! She was so eager that she didn’t even bother with chopsticks. The second time she went for food, she waved at the teacher with her chubby fingers:

“Give me a spoon!”

Zhu Kuangkuang had eaten that whole plate of food with her chopsticks just now.

“More cucumber, more beef, more rice!”

She boldly picked up her tray and walked back, passing by Qian Rui and didn’t forget to peek at him.

Over the past many days, she already knew Qian Rui could barely eat a few grains of rice. The meatballs last week and the tiger-skin eggs the week before had been left to her.

But today, Zhu Kuangkuang was a bit shocked to see Qian Rui had eaten half of his food!

Teacher Wang smiled warmly while eagerly eating her own rice, talking to Zhu Kuangkuang:

“How is it, Kuangkuang, isn’t Qian Rui doing great eating today?”

Zhu Kuangkuang nodded quickly and returned to her seat to eat.

She realized a serious problem: if even Qian Rui started eating well, she might not get a third serving today!

The food today was really delicious; missing out would be a shame.

The beef was tender and fragrant, and even the scrambled eggs with cucumber were especially tasty.The eggs didn’t have a tender, smooth texture but carried a slight golden-brown caramelized aroma.

Even more amazing were the cucumber slices!

Teacher Wang also marveled, “These cucumbers are so crispy, crisp and fragrant. How do they cook this dish without any liquid at all?”

The stir-fried cucumbers she usually ate were soft and full of liquid. Although that was tasty too, these crispy cucumber slices clearly suited her taste better.

Moreover, the cucumbers were crispy but had none of the raw cucumber texture, combining both flavor and mouthfeel.

Just with these cucumbers, she could eat a whole bowl of rice!

Several teachers nearby chimed in: “It really is delicious. Though the eggs were cooked over high heat, not much oil was used, so it’s not greasy at all.”

“Right, I’ll get some more. Want me to bring you a spoonful?”

“Bring more!”

The beef had originally been prepared for beef patties, so the quantity wasn’t much, and it was already almost gone.

Teacher Wang hurriedly finished the last bite of rice and was about to grab the last spoonful of beef.

Just as she was about to stand up, she suddenly noticed a small figure rushing faster than her.

It was… Qian Rui?

Teacher Wang stared blankly as Qian Rui, who normally had to be coaxed to eat, who disliked the meat and vegetables and counted every grain of rice, was now rushing wildly to the food server.

In just a few short steps, Qian Rui ran with the momentum of breaking an Olympic 100-meter record, much to the teachers’ astonishment!

There was even a grain of rice stuck at the corner of his mouth as he held out his tray:

“Teacher! Please give me another serving!”