Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Spicy Stir-fried Squid

Qimingxing Kindergarten is actually quite a distinctive kindergarten.

Chen Ran didn’t have to work in the morning and only arrived at the kindergarten at ten o’clock, just in time to catch the lively labor scene there.

Some children were feeding ducks, some were doing crafts, and there were even some building houses with miniature building materials.

Watching them build houses with palm-sized bricks, Chen Ran really wanted to go up and try it too!

But it was time for her to cook.

Entering the kitchen, everyone enthusiastically gathered around: "Little Chen is here!"

"Master Chen is here!"

"I've already washed all the ingredients for today’s dishes. Let me know if you need me to help with anything!"

The efficiency in the entire kitchen skyrocketed, like a rusty old machine oiled up again—everyone was actively helping each other.

When Chen Ran reached out her hand, someone handed her something. Sweat trickled down her forehead, and an auntie came over with a hot towel to wipe it off.

Even Yuan Guozhong, who previously gave only 5 satisfaction points each time, was now giving 50 every time.

After finishing lunch, Chen Ran opened the system and watched the satisfaction score behind the Lion’s Head task with some anticipation.

At this rate, in about a day or two, she would be able to get the recipe.

“Ranran,” the little headmaster swept into the kitchen like a gust of wind, holding out some candies, “make more food tonight!”

Before Chen Ran could ask why, the cleaning auntie beside her responded, “Another event tonight? Are parents coming?”

Qimingxing Kindergarten often has various extracurricular activities. For promotion and educational purposes, parents are often invited to participate together.

“Yes, today the kids’ little houses will have their beams and roofs installed, so two parents were invited to join. Two parents isn’t many, but all the children will eat dinner together.”

The auntie muttered while washing dishes, “Raising a kid these days is something else. Even kindergarten requires attending activities.”

The little headmaster was already immune to the auntie’s complaints: “It’s just an activity, much better than staying up all night helping kids with crafts, right? Ranran, remember, make extra food, better to have leftovers!”

Yuan Guozhong also chimed in: “Leftovers? Those teachers now are pros at scraping plates clean.”

The little headmaster gave an apologetic smile and glanced at the menu: “Tonight is spicy stir-fried squid and cauliflower. Sounds good, I love spicy food, but don’t make it too spicy for the kids.”

“Got it,” Chen Ran replied, “I’ll ask Brother Yuan to help control the portion sizes. It won’t be too spicy or too little.”

With the system’s A-level seasoning skill boost, the dishes she made were always in high demand—she could confidently make plenty!

For a dish like spicy stir-fried squid, the key was the seasoning sauce, which was completely within her comfort zone.

As for controlling the heat, after years of honest training at the Chen family’s kitchen, she could handle it well even without the system.

Wearing her mask and hat, she grabbed the kitchen knife: “Alright! Let’s wash the squid first. Auntie, soak the cauliflower in salt water. Brother Yuan, please keep an eye!”

The whole kitchen immediately sprang into action.

The little headmaster stood at the door, watching the happy scene in the kitchen and sighed.

If only Chen Ran could stay here forever. But even with her feet, she knew that was impossible.A chef with such skills working temporarily at a kindergarten was already unimaginable. Let alone doing it long-term.

These past few days, she had also heard about the Chen family’s situation and vaguely understood why Chen Ran came to work at the kindergarten.

The little headmaster had already decided that once Yuan Guozhong’s hand healed, she could try to help Chen Ran get a private chef job—it wouldn’t be worse than working at some big restaurant!

Lost in thought, she heard a particularly loud voice outside and felt like going out to see.

It was one of the parents attending the event today, Zhu Chenchen.

Before coming to the event, Zhu Chenchen was super reluctant; she missed a whole night of the convoy and was about to be left behind a rank.

But after actually participating, she found building the little house quite fun!

Together with another child’s mother, she lifted a wooden beam and steadily placed it on the little house.

“The beam is up!”

The children nearby pulled out pre-prepared confetti tubes.

The entire beam-raising ceremony was strictly formal; through the ritual, the children gained folk knowledge, and the adults had a proper sense of participation—and ended up sweating.

Zhu Chenchen felt a bit tired and recalled she had promised to take her sister to eat something delicious yesterday. She came over and asked, “Kuangkuang, how about sister takes you early? I’ll take you to McDonald’s!”

The Zhu family cared a lot about their appetite, but Zhu’s mother also paid close attention to nutrition and health, rarely allowing the sisters to eat takeout at home, let alone junk food like burgers.

Zhu Chenchen waited proudly for her sister’s cheer but was met instead with her sister’s reluctance.

“Sis… I still want to eat the kindergarten’s meals.”

Zhu Chenchen was shocked.

How was it that this kid didn’t like takeout, but loved the kindergarten’s big-pot dishes?

She definitely didn’t want to stay and eat kindergarten food with her sister.

Zhu Chenchen continued to tempt her sister: “How about we go have milk tea and fried chicken together?”

At the mention of milk tea, her sister’s eyes brightened, but she quickly resisted the temptation.

“Sis! You eat with me!”

The kindergarten’s meals were really delicious. Although she liked milk tea, she hoped her sister could also enjoy the tasty food together.

Zhu Chenchen gave in to her sister.

Finally having a chance to not eat at home, she was stuck eating at the kindergarten instead.

She angrily pinched her sister’s cheek: “No milk tea for you! Next time I’ll order it myself and drink two big cups alone!”

Zhu Kuangkuang was not easy to mess with and immediately retorted: “Then next time you order takeout at the door, I won’t help you distract Mom!”

Zhu’s mother strictly forbade the two from eating takeout, milk tea included. Every night, Zhu Kuangkuang would call Mom into her room, and then Zhu Chenchen would sneakily bring it back.

“Wow, who’s the tiger now! Zhu Kuangkuang, you’re dead!”

Zhu Kuangkuang hurriedly covered her little mouth and was about to tease her sister, when suddenly a delicious aroma wafted in.

“Sis! Dinner’s ready! Hurry up and line up!”The chubby little girl had plenty of strength and tugged hard at her sister’s hand, running toward the podium at the front of the classroom.

Since the food had gotten better, everyone started rushing to line up for dinner in the evening.

Usually, there were only about a dozen kids, but today, because of the event, all the children in the kindergarten were rushing for dinner together.

Familiar with the routine, Zhu Kuangkuang managed to get fifth in line.

She pulled her sister’s hand: “Sis, after we finish playing, don’t talk, let’s just sit there and eat quickly. After finishing, we’ll go for the second round! The third round isn’t guaranteed… depends on luck.”

“Okay, okay.”

In Zhu Chenchen’s eyes, her sister had clearly been brainwashed by the kindergarten—could rushing for food really make it taste better?

Holding her tray and looking at her pitiful sister, she promised, “If you can’t get any food later, I’ll share mine with you, okay?”

After saying this, Zhu Chenchen felt as if she had flipped some switch.

The kids ahead and behind in line all cast envious looks at her.

What a perfect sister!

Standing in the center of everyone’s attention, Zhu Chenchen subconsciously started doubting her own judgment: Could the food at this kindergarten really be that good?

A sweet and spicy aroma wafted over. Zhu Chenchen sniffed hard.

It was spicy stir-fried squid!

She fixed her gaze firmly on the classroom door, watching a few staff members file in.

“Sis, doesn’t it smell amazing?”

Having been tricked multiple times by street vendors at night markets, Zhu Chenchen had built up some resistance to scents.

Many snacks smell amazing but taste bland!

“It smells okay, but I don’t know how it tastes.”

The lid of the insulated food box was lifted. Teacher Wang, serving the food, glanced resentfully, then loudly reminded, “Everyone, pay attention to the line order. One at a time. Only after finishing can you go back for more.”

Everyone murmured in agreement but their attention was already on the food.

In the bright red broth, rolled squid flowers and curled squid tentacles looked incredibly tempting. On the side, the stir-fried cauliflower looked fresh and clean but carried a faint aroma of the wok’s slight char, making mouths water.

The kids in front quickly took their food and left. Zhu Chenchen watched her sister finish getting her portion, then got her own.

Teacher Wang couldn’t help but check with the parents, “Anyone have dietary restrictions?”

“No, everyone took some.”

Picking up her tray, Zhu Chenchen noticed her sister was already sitting by the table, starting to eat.

She vaguely understood her sister a bit.

Just now, when she smelled the food drifting over, she could control herself, but being so close to it now, looking and smelling it, she couldn’t help but salivate!

Setting her tray opposite her sister’s, Zhu Chenchen couldn’t resist picking up a bite of squid tentacles first.

She loved eating squid tentacles the most!This texture is crispy yet slightly chewy; when chewing it in the mouth, that crunchy sound—who could resist?

After eating one piece, her eyes lit up.

The combination of the squid tentacles’ flavor and cooking was simply perfect!

Usually, squid tentacles are hard and brittle, but these were crispy with a bit of chewiness, absolutely not hard at all.

Plus, the suction cups on the tentacles gave an excellent texture.

Not only the texture, but the flavor…

Zhu Chenchen couldn’t help herself and grabbed another chopstick of squid flower.

If the tentacles weren’t hard, would the squid flower be too soft?

She put the squid flower in her mouth and after chewing just a little, froze.

The squid flower bounced slightly in her mouth!

The bouncy squid flower meat was very fresh and tender; the cut patterns were soaked in the seasoning sauce—every bite was a perfect combination of texture and flavor.

Because it was made for kids, the spiciness wasn’t too strong; it just gently twirled on the tip of the tongue, lightly stimulating the taste buds, then released a fresh sweetness.

The spiciness came from chili powder, chili sauce, and a little green pepper and onion. The heat was mild, almost what many spicy food lovers would call “Cantonese spicy.”

But this rich and radiant combination of multiple spicy flavors was so perfect even Zhu Chenchen, a fan of super spicy instant noodles, couldn’t find fault with it.

Not spicy enough, but super perfect!

Only then did Zhu Chenchen realize that the most amazing part of this spicy stir-fried squid wasn’t the squid’s cooking time, but this seasoning sauce so perfect she couldn’t offer any suggestions.

“Sis? Why have you only eaten two pieces?”

Zhu Kuangkuang looked up and saw her sister hadn’t even eaten any rice yet, feeling like the sky was falling.

She had already finished a whole serving!

“Oh, right,” Zhu Chenchen looked up and saw some kids already lining up for a second round, “You go ahead first, I’ll catch up soon!”

After all, she was Zhu Kuangkuang’s sister! Before Zhu Kuangkuang’s legend spread, she herself had been the No. 1 food line champion at Seventh Elementary!