Chapter 3

Having discovered a way to earn experience points, Jiang Feng began to feel a growing desire for the head chef position.

Unfortunately, the kitchen was Jiang Jiankang's domain; he was the king of the back kitchen. From the small peelers, boning knives, and fruit knives to the large iron pots, cutting boards, and gas stoves, everything was his subject. The possibility of Jiang Feng plotting a rebellion under his watch was almost zero.

It took Jiang Feng a whole day to find an opportunity to cook a bowl of seaweed and egg soup in the back kitchen. This was only possible when Comrade Jiang Jiankang was extremely busy; otherwise, Jiang Feng wouldn't even get near the pot.

At 10 PM, the shop closed, and Comrade Jiang Jiankang and Comrade Wang Xiulian tidied up the back kitchen and, as usual, sent Jiang Feng home early.

Before leaving, Jiang Feng took two cucumbers from the back kitchen.

A plate of neatly chopped cucumbers—this description seemed too mundane. Jiang Feng felt that, having practiced this dish for decades since childhood, the evaluation should at least be something like "perfect in color, aroma, and taste, one in a million."

The chopped cucumbers Chen Xiuxiu had eaten were enough to wipe out an entire cucumber family in an orchard.

Back home, Jiang Feng stood in the kitchen, carefully examining the two cucumbers he had taken from Wang Xiulian.

One was fat and the other thin, one tall and the other short, with rough surfaces and yellow-green skin, bearing the marks of Wang Xiulian's violent cleaning.

How to chop cucumbers...

Jiang Feng, who had smashed countless cucumbers and seen all kinds of shapes, was now at a loss.

How else could you chop cucumbers? Was he supposed to, like in martial arts novels, sink his qi to the dantian, use his inner energy to sense the internal structure of the cucumber, then take out a legendary cleaver and apply a bit of skill, rotating the blade as he chopped...

Forget it, he couldn't come up with any more.

Taking out the cleaver, he placed the cucumber on the cutting board and smacked it.

There was no refreshing fragrance, no inviting color, and no glow.

The cucumber was still a cucumber, just smashed.

Pouring vinegar and adding chili oil, the two plates of chopped cucumbers were complete.

The vinegar was brewed by the old comrade Jiang Weiguo, and the chili oil was made by Comrade Jiang Jiankang.

[A plain and unremarkable plate of chopped cucumbers]

[A plate of chopped cucumbers with too much vinegar]

Jiang Feng: ...

Although he didn't know why he could see the notes at home, these two notes were clearly unpleasant.

Ten minutes later, Jiang Feng carried the plate of chopped cucumbers with too much vinegar and knocked on the neighbor's door.

Five minutes earlier, after tidying up the back kitchen, Comrade Wang Xiulian had strongly condemned Jiang Feng for chopping cucumbers late at night, a wasteful act. She wisely finished the plain and unremarkable cucumber and instructed Jiang Feng to take the other plate to Chen Xiuxiu next door.

"Isn't Xiuxiu the one who loves chopped cucumbers the most? When you were a child, you put so much vinegar on the cucumbers, and she still ate them all!"

Jiang Feng suspected that with Comrade Wang Xiulian's loud voice, Chen Xiuxiu next door had already heard everything clearly.

When Chen Xiuxiu opened the door, she was clearly taken aback to see Jiang Feng holding a plate of chopped cucumbers.

"Want to eat?" This question had appeared in their countless conversations.

"Sure." Chen Xiuxiu said instinctively.

Chen Duxiu wasn't home, but this was common. Since Jiang Feng could remember, he had been on business trips frequently.

Jiang Feng placed the chopped cucumbers on the dining table. Under the fly cover, there was a bowl of cold congee with no side dishes.

It was a bowl of unappealing, sticky, and slightly burnt congee.

Jiang Feng frowned and asked, "Did you eat dinner?"

"I can't eat." Chen Xiuxiu looked listless.

Seeing her state, Jiang Feng didn't say more and walked straight into the kitchen.

Compared to the Jiang family's kitchen, which rivaled a hotel's, Chen Xiuxiu's kitchen was much simpler. There were two cleavers, a damp and cracked cutting board, a pot, a salt shaker, and a small oil bottle, with no other seasonings.

"Are you going to cook?" Chen Xiuxiu didn't stop him, but laughed sarcastically, "We have nothing at home, just a pot, a bag of rice, and meal replacement powder."

Sure enough, the fridge was empty except for some beer.

"Oh, right, and the old man's beer." Chen Xiuxiu looked at him, "Your family's ingredients are all at the shop. If I want to eat, I can just heat up this bowl of congee."

This statement from Chen Xiuxiu would shock all the street vendors she had patronized.

Given the refined palate Chen Xiuxiu had developed from being fed by Comrade Jiang Jiankang since childhood, how could she possibly eat a bowl of sticky, burnt congee?

"I'll cook you some white congee." Jiang Feng knew it was impossible to cook a dish, so he focused on the only edible thing in the kitchen: the rice.

Chen Xiuxiu sat on a chair, quietly watching Jiang Feng cook the congee.

The Jiang family didn't like congee, and if they did, it wouldn't be plain white congee. At least it would be something like shrimp congee or beef congee, which made the meat's deliciousness evident. A bland, tasteless bowl of white congee would never appear on the Jiang family's table.

The key to cooking congee was to control the ratio of rice to water, the timing of the heat changes, and the even stirring to make the rice grains plump and smooth.

Of course, Jiang Feng couldn't do any of that.

He could only cook a bowl of bland, tasteless white congee that was barely drinkable and wouldn't kill anyone.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Chen Xiuxiu suddenly said.

"Yeah, about a year. We haven't seen each other since you started college." Jiang Feng thought carefully.

"Didn't you almost not recognize me at noon today? I used to be so fat... like a meatball." Chen Xiuxiu said, looking at her arm.

"You weren't fat." Jiang Feng stirred the pot, "At least, not in my parents' eyes."

In the Jiang family, anyone under 200 pounds wasn't considered fat, just strong.

Chen Xiuxiu laughed, "True, only you guys don't consider me fat."

"Starving yourself to lose weight is bad for your health, as you said." Jiang Feng said.

In high school, every time Chen Xiuxiu went to Jiang Feng's family's shop after school, she would eat meat while smiling and say, "I know eating too much meat makes you fat, but my appetite is just that big. Starving yourself to lose weight is so bad for your health!"

"I know."

"At first, I wanted to lose weight through exercise, but it was really hard. You can't imagine how difficult it is for a 170-pound fat person to run a lap around the track. Starving yourself is so much easier. Just buy some emetics, and you'll lose weight by vomiting."

"Then I wouldn't have to buy clothes from special stores, and no one would look at me strangely on the street. Later, I didn't even need the emetics; I would naturally feel nauseous at the sight of greasy, fatty foods. How great."

Jiang Feng couldn't comment. The Jiang family had never lacked for fat people, and they were all big and strong, capable of taking on ten people. No one would say anything bad or look at them strangely on the street; instead, they would avoid the muscular men.

Jiang Feng could only silently cook the congee.

Soon, a pot of plain white congee was ready.

[A bowl of white congee with a decent taste]

This was the highest praise the game had given to Jiang Feng's current cooking.

When he placed the white congee in front of Chen Xiuxiu, her face was full of refusal.

She didn't want to eat anything, and she was willing to never eat anything again.

But she couldn't refuse Jiang Feng's kindness.

The white congee was still steaming. Chen Xiuxiu picked up her chopsticks and picked up the smallest piece of cucumber.

"Crunch."

"Ding, gained 10 experience points."

"Delicious." Chen Xiuxiu said softly.

Jiang Feng: ???

If he remembered correctly, this plate of chopped cucumbers had too much vinegar!