Chapter 70

Chapter 70 Extra Update

After hearing the call hang up on the other end, Wang Zhaoshan suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of unreality about everything that had happened recently.

But within that unreality, there was also a strangely familiar feeling...

Wang Zhaoshan suddenly remembered something and rushed to the Chen Ran fan group, frantically searching through chat records.

After trying five or six different keywords, he finally found it!

From the day An Jishan first mentioned that the haunted house might have found Chen Ran until now, almost a month had passed.

A bizarre workplace, nearly a month-long stint before running off, extremely delicious dishes...

Such a familiar feeling.

Chen Ran, who did you learn this from? Have you even learned how to open a fake account?

Exiting the chat records, Wang Zhaoshan saw the group was fiercely discussing his long review.

“My home is quite close to the haunted house. Isn’t this just because people got scared off by all the marketing? To be honest, if it wasn’t Chef Chen, I really wouldn’t dare to rush over just because of a few marketing accounts.”

“I really want to try it... If I’d known earlier, I’d have queued up at the haunted house too.”

“Come on, you couldn’t even get in line for the KTV back then. How many people can the haunted house even serve each day? You think you can get in line?”

“In the end, isn’t it just about being skilled enough to clear the game? If Old Wang can do it, I definitely can! I’ve already downloaded that demo, going to practice all night!”

“Old Wang” with the grumpy face.

He’s only in his fifties, how can people be calling him “Old Wang”?

However, having just been awakened from the deception, seeing so many people in the group who were tricked like him made him feel much better inside.

“Enough, stop practicing. Even if you practice well, there won’t be any chicken porridge left.”

The group member who was about to argue stopped when they saw “Pinned” in big letters above the speaker’s name.

It was Old Wang!

He chuckled and quickly typed in the group chat: “Old Wang, are you afraid we’ll take your spot if we practice too much? Don’t worry, after I finish the Three Ducks set, I’ll definitely describe the taste to you well.”

Wang Zhaoshan was so annoyed — why did they still call him Old Wang?!

“Instead of getting mad here, why not go find out where Chen Ran ran off to this time!”

“She tricked us all! Lin Wei is her fake identity!”

The group exploded instantly.

The fan group Wang Zhaoshan was in had the most active members alive. Once he said that, even the lurkers popped up. Messages rolled so fast, it was impossible to keep up.

“But didn’t Chef Chen make braised lion’s head meatballs before? How did it suddenly become steamed lion’s head and Three Ducks?”

“Can’t people allow Chef Chen to improve? If she made braised lion’s head at the kindergarten, does she have to keep making braised lion’s head?”

“Wait, wasn’t Lin Wei chef said to be a true heir of Huaiyang cuisine, a once-in-a-generation genius who trained for years before coming down from the mountain?”

The group fell silent for a moment.Someone grit their teeth and said, “It’s one thing if none of us can taste it, but Old Wang, aren’t you some kind of food critic? Didn’t you say there’s a kind of selfless flavor in Chen Ran’s dishes? How come you can’t taste it either?”

Wang Zhaoshan covered his face.

When he first tasted the steamed crab roe lion’s head meatballs, he did consider that possibility.

The strange haunted house, the inexplicably delicious food—it all seemed to fit Chen Ran’s usual style!

The problem was that the steamed crab roe lion’s head was not only vastly different in style but had also improved too much.

“I really didn’t expect Chen Ran to improve this much…”

At first, Wang Zhaoshan insisted the two were like twins, but later, he started to subtly feel that Lin Wei’s skills seemed much more exquisite than Chen Ran’s.

Only now did he finally realize that these two might very well be the same person!

“But I still can’t be certain. All I can say is that Lin Wei might be Chen Ran…”

“Alright Old Wang, stop talking. Whether it’s Lin Wei or Chen Ran, I just want to know, where did this cook who can make chicken porridge run off to now?”

“Yeah, besides Old Wang, did anyone else get to eat the chicken porridge? I’ve been drooling just reading the reviews!”

Besides Wang Zhaoshan, there were actually others who had eaten the chicken porridge, one of whom was Zhu Nan.

Last time Zhu Nan entered the haunted house, he had to leave halfway because of the Yang Jingzhou incident. This time, playing the game, he was a bit more cautious.

After pestering Xu Ruyi for half an hour, he finally got a hint from her: the dish with the fewest words on the note was the best reward this time.

When he found the note for chicken porridge, he hesitated a bit. But in the end, the chicken porridge did not disappoint!

Only, no matter how you looked at this chicken porridge, it looked just like plain porridge. It didn’t look good on video.

“We can’t make this look good in the editing…”

“True, for other dishes, even if the video can’t capture the taste, you can at least film the chewing process and the look. But this just looks like plain porridge and as a porridge, it can’t be chewed…” The two discussed all night and finally realized that unless they filmed the cooking process, there was no way to show the unbeatable qualities of this chicken porridge to the audience.

However, after calling, he found out that this chef, like Chen Ran, had run off again!

There was also He Xin from the Old Glutton group.

Unlike Zhu Nan, she clearly knew Lin Wei was Chen Ran and was even prepared to catch Chen Ran.

But being prepared and actually catching Chen Ran were two different things.

She screamed in the group: “We clearly got tricked by Chen Ran last time, so I should have been prepared this time when I saw the haunted house event!”

“With such a big fuss, even making chicken porridge, she’s definitely going to run off again!”

Others in the group were confused: Chicken porridge? What chicken porridge?

“Wait, chicken porridge? Is that some kind of delicacy?”

“I found the note for chicken porridge before, but I put it back!”

Thanks to Zhuang Zhiping’s daily promotions in the group, everyone was going after the Three Ducks set!

That small note with the words “chicken porridge” had briefly passed through many hands before being put back—just so they could get a taste of the Seven-Spice-flavored Three Ducks.

Only Bai Qing was banging his chest in the group.“Chicken porridge! You’re really losing the big prize while picking up sesame seeds! How come I never got this note!”

He knows chicken porridge!

“Is the haunted house event still going on?”

He Xin came out to reply to Bai Qing: “The haunted house event is indeed still ongoing, but Chen Ran has… run off again.”

“Xiao He, how come you didn’t keep an eye on her?”

“And Brother Zhuang, you went undercover in the haunted house, how come you still didn’t notice Chen Ran running off? Where did she go? Any news?”

No news.

Xu Ruyi’s cover for Chen Ran was even better than Shu Jianmin’s had been.

One day after Chen Ran ran off, the haunted house was still holding the event as usual. After all, Du Zhaohu was still there, so making a few dishes temporarily was still possible.

And Chen Ran’s new destination this time wasn’t even asked about by Xu Ruyi.

“Go with peace of mind!”

Before leaving, Xu Ruyi prepared a big pile of things for Chen Ran to take. Just the daily hand-soaking medicine came in thirty packs stuffed inside.

“I originally wanted to give you a few more packs, but I was afraid the medicine would lose its potency, and also that your luggage would be too heavy. The prescriptions are all inside; don’t be lazy, you must soak!”

After these days of contact, Xu Ruyi realized that aside from cooking skills, Chen Ran rarely took the initiative to engage in anything else.

Compared to that, when she had actively sought help for Yang Jingzhou’s matter back then, it moved Xu Ruyi even more.

“I also put medicinal wine inside; you have to massage yourself regularly, got it? Don’t use that sandbag of yours anymore, iron sand doesn’t really help with hand care.”

“I asked grandpa and got you a new sandbag. Softer, filled with small stones boiled with dragon bones, but don’t wear it too long either.”

When Chen Ran came to the haunted house, she only brought one suitcase. Now, leaving, she had two suitcases and two extra bags.

“Thank you, Sister Ruyi.”

“No need to thank me!”

Xu Ruyi drove all the way and sent Chen Ran to the station. When leaving through the amusement park’s back gate, she saw Chen Ran looking back repeatedly.

Her heart softened, and with a slightly happy tone she said, “My grandpa went to the medical clinic today!”

“Ah?” Chen Ran was a little surprised. “Is Grandpa Xu unwell?”

“No! He went for acupuncture on his right hand!”

Xu Ruyi glanced at Chen Ran through the rearview mirror: “After he got injured back then, grandpa was discouraged, refused skin graft surgery, and wouldn’t do hand rehabilitation.”

“Now he’s going for acupuncture. Although he won’t recover to what he was before, the symptoms can still be greatly relieved.”

“That’s the best news!”

Arriving at the station, Xu Ruyi held back from asking about Chen Ran’s itinerary; she was afraid she might accidentally slip something out.

She helped adjust Chen Ran’s wig and sunglasses while reminding her, “Message me when you get there to say you’re safe!”

Chen Ran nodded, waved goodbye to Xu Ruyi, and turned to enter the ticket gate.This mission location was still assigned by the system, so far away that it required taking a train—just the train ride alone would take more than ten hours.

Before boarding, she originally planned to just buy a simple bread on the train to get by, but Xu Ruyi urged her to make a boxed meal.

“Even without taste, you have to eat well!”

In the end, Xu Ruyi drove out to buy an insulated lunchbox, and Chen Ran cut a few pieces of clear-steamed pork knuckle and stir-fried some greens to put inside.

In the overcrowded train carriage, as soon as the lunchbox was opened, the aroma immediately spread far.

She hadn’t made this clear-steamed pork knuckle for a long time. Strictly speaking, this dish is actually part of the Huaiyang cuisine style. It’s very similar to Huaiyang’s salty and fresh seasoning, just not very “refined” or “delicate.”

Before leaving, Chen Ran also left this recipe with Grandpa Xu.

She had already taken many recipes from Grandpa Xu; the only thing she could use to give back was this double S-level clear-steamed pork knuckle.

Although this pork knuckle dish doesn’t have as many prestigious recipe titles as some other dishes, the aroma of the large pork knuckle itself is absolutely killer.

Even Chen Ran, who couldn’t taste the meat flavor now, could eat half a box of rice just by smelling the meaty scent brought out by the fresh sweetness of the vegetables.

However, she wasn’t the only one familiar with this clear aroma of the pork knuckle.

Qiao Bai, at the other end of the carriage, also smelled it!

This aroma left a very deep impression on her. After all, she had been present at the famous scene of the actor “Panda Head.”

How many people’s hearts had this clear-steamed pork knuckle touched… For three consecutive days, she had gotten up every day at around four in the morning to climb mountains, but in the end, she only ate it once.

However, besides that one time, she never got to taste Chen Ran’s cooking again. After all, her home was in the north, and eating pork knuckle was only a coincidence during a trip.

She never got to try any later KTV or big banquet dishes.

Every day, she drooled over the fan group’s posts, and over two months, Qiao Bai had gained a full ten jin (about 5 kg).

But none of that weight was from Chen Ran’s cooking; it was all from junk food!

Excitedly, she opened the group chat: “I think I smell Chen Ran’s clear-steamed pork knuckle!”

The fan group exploded!

Before, when someone posted messages like this, everyone would rationally analyze to avoid mistakenly accusing someone. But after the “vest” incident, everyone now followed one principle:

Better to wrongfully punish than to let go!

“Where did you smell it?”

Some people couldn’t even wait for her reply and went straight to her profile to check the IP address, then came back in disbelief: “Ah? How is it so far away?”

Although they favored wrong punishment over letting go, Chen Ran hadn’t been out of the province before.

“Chef Chen hadn’t left the province before, right? And she always stayed nearby with a regular pattern…”

“Yeah, suddenly running so far away?”

Qiao Bai began to doubt herself too. She couldn’t help but sniff again; the pork knuckle aroma that had haunted her was almost gone, making her question herself.

Could it be a hallucination?

Still, she had to reply to the messages in the group.There were many people in the train carriage. Qiao Bai struggled to push through toward the source of the pork knuckle aroma while replying in the group chat.

“I smelled it on the train…”

She took a photo of her ticket and posted it in the group: “Only the last stop, Pingshan City, left. I’m getting off there too. If I really find any trace of Chef Chen, I’ll definitely report it in the group!”

“This seems unlikely…”

“I feel the same—it’s just too far! And didn’t Chef Chen cook clear-steamed lion’s head meatballs every day before? Why suddenly eat clear-steamed pork knuckle on the train?”

Wang Zhaoshan, who had been mocked in the group all day, chimed in while booking a ticket to Pingshan City, pretending to be serious in the chat.

“Exactly. Also, I haven’t heard of any famous snacks in Pingshan City. Chef Chen can’t be going to learn how to make pancakes there, right?”

Zhunán also filtered through a bunch of business events near Pingshan City, coordinating the schedule with his company while speaking in the group.

“That’s way too far. I can’t make it. If Chef Chen really is there, remember to send me a video so I can enjoy it remotely!”

He Xin, who was undercover in Chen Ran’s fan group using a secondary account, skillfully took screenshots and posted them in the veteran foodie group, while also agreeing in the chat.

“Ah, it’s almost December. Going north at this time is so dry and cold—I’m not good with the cold.”

After speaking in the fan group, she immediately went to another group to ask: “Anyone live nearby? I’m flying there tomorrow to find her. Should I bring a down jacket?”

It’s not that she didn’t want to share Chen Ran’s food with others, but the lesson from the haunted house was too deep!

What if Chen Ran went somewhere strange that only let eight people in per day again? She definitely didn’t want to discover Chen Ran but end up not tasting a single dish.

While everyone was showing off their skills like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, Chen Ran had already gotten off the train and arrived at the new workplace according to the system’s instructions.

From afar, she saw a red paper recruitment notice posted on the large iron gate.

Above the big iron gate hung a signboard of the destination—an old black wooden plaque with signs of age.

On the black plaque, in a lively calligraphic style, were four large characters:

“Tang’s Martial Arts School.”