Chapter 84

Chapter 84: What’s all this talk about making money and reminiscing about hard times...

The middle-aged man surrounded by a group of people looked thin and dark, but even so, you could clearly see the veins bulging on his forehead.

“Follow the flies to find the restroom, follow the bees to find the flowers. Follow the beggars to beg, follow the wealthy to make millions!”

“The watch on our General Manager Lou’s wrist, just one of those watches could buy an entire company! Look at the conference room on the screen, can you recognize it? This is the United Nations! Even the United Nations has invited General Manager Lou to give a lecture!”

“We’re no longer in the era where you start from scratch and work hard to get rich; getting rich today relies on platforms, on the wind! And this platform of ours, this product, is your only chance!”

“If your family doesn’t appreciate you, if your friends don’t treat you well, don’t worry, comrades on our platform won’t let you down. Come on, Xiao Liu, tell us more.”

The complaining session began, and the dark, thin man sighed in relief, signaling the other members to stay alert with his eyes. He walked out confidently and sat down in a reclining chair.

Soon, someone followed and handed him a cigarette: “Liu Ge, the conversion rate is a bit low this time… no one’s made a deal yet.”

“Why are you in such a rush? We’re running a northern-style pyramid scheme. As long as we keep people locked up, it’s fine. Isn’t reminiscing about hard times good?”

He took the cigarette from the other person’s hand and lit it using their own lighter: “And anyway, what costs do we have here? Didn’t we already pay the rent for the month? It’s not like Beihai, where they have to take people out, show off some projects, buy them potatoes and cabbage to eat. Here, just lock them in, and that’s it. How much could we possibly spend?”

“Right, Liu Ge, you’re right. This time, we’re all relying on you. You’re a senior with experience, but we don’t have experience. This time, the ones we recruited are all college students, not many have money…”

Liu Chengyang, who was called Liu Ge, took a deep drag on the cigarette and blew the smoke right into Fang Zhe’s face. He watched as Fang Zhe frowned but didn’t move, then laughed with a little malice.

“College students have no money, but do their parents have money? These past few days, we need to guide them in this direction, get them to ask their families for money! Each one has to pay 39,800. If they can’t pay, no one’s allowed to leave!”

In the room, faint sounds of people reminiscing about hard times started to emerge. Fang Zhe gritted his teeth.

He was going to make things worse!

After all, he hadn’t invested that much money. The people were already tricked in, and as long as they were fed potatoes and cabbage every day, it wouldn’t cost much. With the thousand or so in his pocket, if he just pulled out a couple hundred, he’d make a profit!

Liu Chengyang watched Fang Zhe go in and then lay back, reclining in the chair, swinging it back and forth.

The position he was lying in allowed him to see Chen Ran in the kitchen.

“Don’t make it too fancy, just about right!”

“Got it!”

Chen Ran had already been complaining to the system for a while. She never expected the system would actually bring her to a pyramid scheme base!

She was now eavesdropping on the voices from inside. They were all statements that took things out of context or blurred the main points. If you just listened roughly, they seemed to make sense, but upon closer thought, they were all nonsense.

Making money was indeed the most important thing. For most people, nothing mattered more than making money. But is making money really that easy? Why is it that the hardest things get overlooked so easily?

Hearing someone crying inside, Chen Ran asked the system again in her mind:

“Are you really not going to call the police? Don’t you have a phone function?”

Her phone had just been taken away, and if she went out, it would probably be noticed. This neighborhood was pretty secluded.

“System, are you there? Are you really not going to call the police?”

“System! Am I an accomplice because I’m cooking here?”

“Stop pretending! You chose this place to work!”While washing napa cabbage, Chen Ran furiously ranted to the system in her mind.

“System! You have the guts to send me to a pyramid scheme den, but not the guts to talk?”

If the system had any sense of humanity, it might actually be a little comforted at this moment.

Compared to the quiet girl it had taken from the Chen family at the beginning, the current Chen Ran was so much livelier!

However, the system merely popped up a new task.

【Random Task: Please use the limited ingredients and seasonings to make the most delicious food possible】

There wasn’t even a reward for the task.

Chen Ran didn’t even have the energy to complain anymore. It looked like the system really didn’t have a function for calling the police.

She looked around the kitchen—ingredients really were limited.

Napa cabbage, potatoes, eggplants—the cheapest vegetables in the north—were practically the only things available.

She opened the fridge and took a look. There wasn’t even a single piece of meat inside, just a bag of eggs and some dried shiitake mushrooms! The only thing even remotely meat-related was a bag of dried shrimp.

There wasn’t even a drop of animal fat—just half a barrel of soybean oil.

She had to admit, the system was getting better at wording things. In a situation this tight and lacking, it had only used the word “limited.”

Chen Ran sighed deeply, grabbed a large bowl, and took two big handfuls of dried shrimp from the bag—then thought for a moment and put some back.

Better conserve it! Even with the mushrooms, she only soaked about ten of them.

Thankfully, the dried shrimp didn’t look too bad—not the shriveled, low-grade kind. They were small, slightly golden, almost like golden hook shrimp, just very tiny.

After rinsing the shrimp and soaking them, Chen Ran began cutting the napa cabbage.

Just before she started chopping, she suddenly remembered to call out, “How many people am I cooking for?”

Lying on the lounge chair, Liu Chenyang heard the question and did a bit of mental math.

He had been in the pyramid scheme business for many years. There were southern and northern styles of operations—Liu Chenyang was a hardcore northern style operator.

The northern school was all about restricting personal freedom and brainwashing. The southern style was all about creating a seductive environment, emotional persuasion, and carefully packaged presentations. He had no interest in that!

He preferred brute force!

So, from the northern school’s point of view, the worse the living conditions, the better. If the environment was too nice, were these people here to enjoy themselves?

However, since it was only the first day of "classes," they still needed to let these little fat lambs feel the “love” of the “platform” and their “family.”

Meals still had to be filling, especially since the house they rented didn’t even have heating—it was freezing.

But with just potatoes and cabbage, how much could these pampered young people really eat?

Let them eat their fill! Once they’re full, they can hurry up and call their families for money!

After thinking it over, Liu Chenyang lazily opened his mouth, deliberately raising his voice so the trainees reminiscing bitterly inside could hear how “generous” he was.

“Make more! We’ve got seventeen people in total—cook enough for twenty!”

“Once you’re here with us, you’re family!”“Outside, the wind howls and the rain lashes down, but among family, there is no betrayal!”

Chen Ran rolled her eyes. If they were really “family,” were they only worth potatoes and cabbage? Not even a drop of meat oil?

Still, the kitchen pot was pretty big. No idea what it had been used for before being rented, but it handled big-batch cooking quite well.

After washing the cabbage, Chen Ran cut off the root and separated the leaves before starting to chop.

The cabbage wasn’t anything fancy either—whitish leaves and thick stems. Chen Ran sighed and sliced the leaves and stems separately in a V-shape.

She shredded the leaves and set them aside in a basin, while the stems were sliced thinly on the bias before being shredded again, to help them absorb flavor.

She brushed a thin layer of oil on the bottom of the pot, laid down the cabbage stems first, then poured in the soaked dried shrimp along with the soaking water.

Even she felt a bit bitter about it.

Having to use even the soaking water for the dried shrimp—this was probably the hardest dish she’d ever made.

By now, the cabbage stems were starting to release moisture. Chen Ran lifted the lid and quickly added the cabbage leaves on top.

As soon as the lid was lifted, a light yet savory aroma surged out with the steam.

Lying on a chair, Liu Chenyang couldn’t help but sit up and glance toward the kitchen.

Why did that cabbage smell so good?

Though Chen Ran had used very few ingredients and barely any oil—just a thin layer to prevent burning—this dish actually had a name.

From the thick stack of recipes and ancient cookbooks that Old Xu had given her, which Chen Ran had nearly worn out flipping through, she had found this one in a vegetarian cookbook.

Cabbage, dried scallop, and silky egg.

Although she had no scallops and had to use dried shrimp instead, it didn’t fall too far short. The overall flavor profile was still close to the original recipe.

And this dish had another name—"Mock Crab".

The flavor came from the rehydrated shrimp and its soaking liquid, while the slight sweetness of the cabbage deepened the umami.

That richness, lifted by the cabbage, was what gave the dish its nickname “Mock Crab.”

However, for now, it only smelled a bit like crab.

After adding the cabbage leaves, Chen Ran ensured the different textures were cooked in stages to prevent uneven doneness in the final dish.

She picked out ten eggs and cracked them into a large bowl.

She couldn’t help but sigh.

Compared to now, cooking in the kindergarten kitchen used to feel downright extravagant.

She cracked the eggs even more carefully, trying not to waste a single drop of egg liquid.

Once all ten eggs were in the large bowl, she stirred them gently.

“Gently” was key. After all, the dish was called “Mock Crab”—if the eggs were too thoroughly beaten, it would lose its charm.

By now, the cabbage leaves had softened. Chen Ran uncovered the pot and evenly poured the egg mixture over the cabbage before covering it again.

The yolks and whites, still distinct in the barely stirred mixture, began to set with the gentle heat—turning from translucent to opaque, with white and yellow swirling together, faintly echoing the name “Mock Crab.”And the flavor also began to diffuse into something different.

It was strange—normally, eggs steamed like this wouldn’t have a strong smell.

Everyone knows the scent of boiled eggs—very bland.

But the eggs laid on top of the cabbage leaves, slowly steamed, combined their faint eggy aroma with the scent of cabbage and dried shrimp—and somehow, it really smelled like crab!

Chen Ran quickly turned off the heat, waiting for the residual warmth to finish setting the eggs before lifting the lid.

Once she did, the rich and savory aroma that had been confined to the kitchen exploded into the entire room!

Liu Chenyang, who had been lying on a lounge chair, immediately sat up straight.

“What did you put in there? Are there still crabs in the fridge?”

Before they officially started recruiting the trainees for their scheme, Liu Chenyang had hosted a sort of pep rally, where they’d splurged on a good meal.

But now he couldn’t quite remember what exactly they’d bought. This crab smell... did they actually buy crabs?

He sprang up from the chair.

Didn’t he specifically say just cook some potatoes and cabbage? What’s with making something this fancy?

He stormed into the kitchen in a huff, but when he lowered his head, he paused.

No matter who looked at the pot, it was clearly just cabbage and eggs.

Though it was an odd combo... how did it end up smelling like crab?

Chen Ran checked the doneness of the “Crab Imitation” dish, replaced the lid, and began working on the next dish.

Potatoes and eggplants—both inexpensive and crowd-pleasing ingredients—but they shared one flaw: they soaked up a lot of oil.

Under normal circumstances, Chen Ran wouldn’t even consider that an issue. But now, staring at the half barrel of soybean oil, she had no choice but to think twice…

One dish—the imitation crab—used barely a bit of oil, and its flavor was light, savory, fresh, and fragrant. So the other dish needed to be heavier in taste, to balance the overall meal.

For an ordinary cook, it’s impressive enough to balance a single dish.

But for a chef aspiring to go further, it's not just about balancing main and side dishes within one plate—it’s about harmony across the entire meal.

And the dish Chen Ran prepared to balance the light “imitation crab” was… vegetarian stuffed eggplant!

But, lacking any meat, she opted to use mashed potatoes in place of the usual minced filling.

Luckily, after several days of making vegetarian feasts, she had mastered the skill of using rehydrated mushrooms and soy sauce to mimic the flavor of braised pork. After sautéing and slightly reducing the sauce, she added potato chunks to stew.

By the time the potatoes were soft, the eggplants had already been sliced. She stuffed the mashed potatoes between the eggplant slices, lightly dusted them with starch, and pan-fried them in the wok.

Yes, not only was it a vegetarian version of stuffed eggplant—it wasn’t even fried, just pan-seared!

This was perhaps the most frugal meal Chen Ran had ever cooked.

Back at the martial arts gym, she had to consider health and athlete-like dietary needs, so many ingredients and seasonings were off-limits—but at least she could still substitute with pricier ingredients.

But now, there wasn’t even any meat left… not only no meat, even the meat substitutes were just a handful of dried mushrooms and a bag of dried shrimp.Chen Ran let out a sigh and gave the wok a sudden toss!

A tongue of flame fiercely licked the bottom of the pan. Under Chen Ran’s skilled stir-frying technique, the oil inside caught fire for a moment, only to be quickly extinguished by her with the lid.

The first batch of stuffed eggplant was done!

Since they were pan-fried instead of deep-fried, Chen Ran didn’t coat them in a thick batter—just a light dusting of starch.

This way, the thin starch layer formed a crisp shell during pan-frying. It didn’t absorb too much oil but still imparted enough aroma to the eggplant.

—This way, that half-barrel of soybean oil could last at least half a month.

Chen Ran, feeling a little satisfied, continued frying the next batch of stuffed eggplant. On the side, Liu Chenyang, watching with a craving look, couldn’t resist reaching out to grab one to try.

So hot!

The freshly pan-fried eggplant was scalding. He quickly bit down, rubbed his burned fingers, and took a hearty bite.

The mashed potato sandwiched inside the eggplant wasn’t particularly thick, but strangely, it carried a meaty flavor.

Braised potatoes taste best when they’re cooked until falling apart—even to the point of becoming mashed potatoes!

And though the potatoes had turned to mash, within them he could occasionally taste small, chewy pieces of diced shiitake mushrooms. Even knowing it was mushroom, it still tasted like tiny chunks of meat!

Liu Chenyang couldn’t help but think of his childhood.

His family had been poor—a single chunk of fatty meat would be stewed with a huge pot of potatoes, and even that wasn’t something they often had.

Only during New Year’s would they get to eat something like that. Fragrant fatty pork, extra soy sauce... potatoes stewed so soft they could be mixed straight into rice.

This was that feeling!

He couldn’t help it—he took another big bite of the stuffed eggplant.

The first bite had been too hot, so he hadn’t bitten hard, just squeezed out some of the mashed potato filling.

But now, the eggplant had cooled a little.

With that touch of nostalgic childhood happiness, Liu Chenyang didn’t even dare bite too hard, as if he’d disturb the deliciousness of the mashed potatoes.

The first thing to crack was the thin crisp shell outside the eggplant.

Unlike stuffed eggplant coated in thick batter, this thin shell was rich in oil, but thanks to Chen Ran’s final high-heat searing, the oil had been mostly locked inside the eggplant, leaving no excess grease on the outside.

After the crisp outer layer shattered, came the tender, fragrant eggplant—this tender eggplant, combined with the meaty-tasting braised mashed potatoes and the surprise of shiitake bits, made each bite a delight.

It was too delicious...

Liu Chenyang nearly teared up after one mouthful.

He’d had plenty of stuffed eggplants filled with real meat before, but they were either too greasy or had overly thick batter.

Never in his life would he have expected the best stuffed eggplant he’d ever eaten to be found in a run-down residential building like this, and without even real meat—only mashed potatoes as a substitute.

Without hesitation, he shoved the rest of the eggplant into his mouth and chewed in big, satisfied bites.

Although the eggplant was pan-fried and soft, it still retained a bit of crispness under the starch coating. And within the soft, nearly soulless mashed potatoes, Chen Ran had cleverly buried diced shiitake mushrooms throughout.

The combination of these textures—each bite was full of surprise.And the taste—he could hardly believe this was purely a vegetarian dish.

Liu Chenyang even had a thought flash through his mind that completely went against his own interests.

Maybe... buy some meat, let these trainees eat something good?

With this chef’s skills, making just cabbage and potatoes is really a waste!

Realizing what he was thinking, Liu Chenyang smacked himself on the head hard.

What was he thinking! He was doing pyramid schemes! Northern style, not southern!

The trainees in the room also smelled that rich aroma. Fang Zhe came out just in time to see Liu Chenyang give himself a mighty palm strike to the head, and cautiously asked:

"The trainees are wondering when they can eat—should we eat now?"

"How’s it going in there?"

Fang Zhe was doing this for the first time and couldn’t help being a bit excited: "The talk’s going great! A few even cried! They all said they’re determined to make big money with us!"

Liu Chenyang nodded with some satisfaction.

"Then strike while the iron’s hot! Line up for trays—eat while you talk. Today, we must completely break down everyone’s emotional defenses!"

The purpose of this “recalling hardship and tasting sweetness” activity was to get everyone to emotionally open up in this kind of environment, and connect quickly with others.

In other words, make them treat this place like home! Only then would they steel themselves to call home for money—only then would they bring their families into it.

So this "recalling hardship" session shouldn’t be interrupted. Keep chatting through the meal—the brainwashing must be thorough!

"Alright, I’ll go call everyone now."

Fang Zhe went inside to tell everyone to eat, calling them to line up for food.

After all, the plan was to scam and run, so everything here was rough and makeshift—even the food trays were just simple, compartment-less stainless steel plates.

Chen Ran took the tray from the other person’s hands, first carefully scooped the rice and pressed it down firmly, then shoveled a big portion of mock crab onto the other side, and finally placed three eggplant fritters on top.

"Thank you."

While dishing out the food, she kept observing and noticed that the people trapped in this pyramid scheme hideout were almost all young university students with innocent looks.

Letting out a soft sigh, Chen Ran pressed the rice and cabbage down even firmer!

Soon, everyone had received their meals and were herded back into the same room by Fang Zhe to continue the "recalling hardship and tasting sweetness" meeting.

Several people had already spoken earlier—some were planted speakers, but some were genuinely emotionally involved.

After all, those who could be tricked into pyramid schemes usually had gone through setbacks and were desperate to prove themselves.

Once seated again, it was Mi Chengzhi’s turn to speak.

He had already prepared what he was going to say. Compared to the others, his story was even more tragic! He had to make a name for himself and show those people back home!

But after sitting the whole afternoon, and with only a small space heater running in the room, everyone had burned through their energy quickly.

Although the cabbage and egg in the tray didn’t look very appetizing, the aroma was surprisingly enticing.

"Alright, everyone, let’s welcome Xiao Mi to share—applause!"A round of sparse applause passed, and Fang Zhe frowned slightly but didn’t take it too seriously. After being hungry all afternoon, it was normal for some people to be more focused on eating than clapping.

He pointed at Mi Chengzhi: “Come on, Xiao Mi, tell us your story!”

But at this moment, Mi Chengzhi seemed completely oblivious to Fang Zhe calling on him.

A mouthful of mock crab had already exploded in his mouth.

He’d eaten this dish before, and his impression was always just average—wasn’t it just shiitake mushrooms stir-fried with eggs?

But this cabbage and egg version of mock crab—though no one had told him its name—triggered that exact name in his mind the moment he tasted it!

This dish had to be mock crab!

Incredibly fresh on the first bite, with a sweet aftertaste, the texture of the egg was delicate and fluffy—if you closed your eyes, it really felt like eating crab.

He ignored Fang Zhe’s cue and started shoveling food into his mouth.

With such a delicious dish in front of him, who had time to "recall hardship and taste sweetness"?

He still remembered that when the chef served him, there was plenty left in the pot. Forget about making money or "don’t underestimate a poor youth"—the proper thing right now was to finish this plate and get back in line for more food!