I Love FarmingCh10 - A Small Condition

Editor: ASplashOfMusic

After Cui QiChao’s hard work, the first canteen now had a total of seven improved dishes, not including chili oil. Aside from the braised potatoes and the sponge gourd scrambled eggs, they also had fried chicken with pepper, stewed radish with beef brisket, fish-flavored shredded pork, stir-fried lettuce and kelp and spareribs soup. bWDeQE

Although their current menu didn’t offer a very wide range of options, it fulfilled the vast majority of students’ basic needs.

Complying with the CU students’ feedback, Cui QiChao also studied pastry making. After all, the canteen’s breakfast menu had yet to be modified.

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Speaking of the first canteen’s breakfast menu, the breakfast dishes they served were notorious. Their stir-fried dishes were already quite nasty in and of themselves. But when the chefs added them into their crepes, made steamed buns, and stuffed those dishes into the dumplings… The lucky people would be able to get one whose stuffing was a combination of fried meat with green peppers and beef with leeks. As for the unlucky ones, they might get a steamed bun with sautéed strawberry and meat stuffing. Would the students want to eat that?

Making use of his knowledge, Cui QiChao provided two recipes. One was rice noodles with lean meat and the other was ham omelette crepe. YBlLib

It wasn’t that troublesome to make rice noodles with lean meat. Green peppers would be finely chopped and stir-fried with minced meat and scallions until they’d become aromatic to make the rice noodle’s side dish. Side dishes for many bowls worth of rice noodles could be cooked in one pot at a time. For the noodles’ soup stock, simply heat water before adding a little homemade chili oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, and other seasonings to the bottom of the soup.

For the rice noodles themselves, blanch them in boiling water, drain the water, and put the noodles into a bowl. Cui QiChao personally preferred to shorten the blanching time so that the rice noodles would be more elastic. However, he listed down two blanching time standards, so that if some students liked their rice noodles soft, then the chef could cook the noodles longer.

They could make many variations of the rice noodle dish too. The dishes served with the noodles could be changed every day. For example, instead of green peppers and lean meat, they could use kelp and pork ribs. This could also be eaten as an accompaniment to the main course, and it would be lighter in taste than the green pepper and lean meat. They didn’t have to add pepper in the soup as well.

Meanwhile, the timing and oil temperature when making ham omelette crepes must be controlled. The two sides of the crepes should have a nice yellow color, the scallions should be fragrant but not scorched, and the diced ham should be fried well, having a slight crisp to fully display the ham’s taste and saltiness.

Moreover, when beating eggs, some white pepper should be added since white pepper was gentler to the tastebuds than black pepper. The amount added should be enough to improve the taste but not too much such that it overpowered the flavor of the dish and caused a contrast in flavor. Occasionally, the chefs should eat a few mouthfuls to detect the specific aroma in it.

The product would be a golden omelette decorated with scallions and with the pink meat of the scorched diced ham, layers of softness stacked together in one pile. Just looking at it would entice others to want to violently bite down on it.

Concerning the rice noodles, Cui QiChao learned from the feedback he received that the rice noodles offered in the fourth canteen contained some pieces of dish cloth in them. He didn’t know whether a student had experienced a similar thing in the first canteen, but in any case, looking at the complaints, everything that had happened to the student was completely unsatisfactory.

But now, it wasn’t the same. The rice noodles were warmly welcomed by the majority of the students. If they had no class in the morning, which would be the best-case scenario for them, they would rush to the first canteen to order a bowl of rice noodles for breakfast. They would order a bowl after another. As such, the canteen would be filled with slurping sounds in the morning. If one couldn’t handle the spicy peppers, one would also sniff from time to time. kjPEJf

They would eat a mouthful of the side dish mixed with some rice noodles. The noodles were elastic and tasty. Then at the end of the meal, they would down the soup. The heat would travel from their mouths to their stomachs, causing them to feel warm all over. Even their burps were filled with happiness.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Most of the students in CU seemed to prefer the rice noodles. Even when some students only had ten minutes to get to class, they would still come to the canteen to queue up for a bowl of rice noodles. And regardless of how hot the soup was, they would demolish the entire bowl in two minutes.

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It was such a simple food, but it was hard for someone to cook it to such a level. The breakfast stalls in the other canteens and even around the school didn’t have such ham omelette crepes that… tasted just right. 3Vyfi5

The diced ham and white pepper, as well as the appropriate amount of oil on them, caused the ham omelette crepes to not taste greasy. There was only a soft feeling in the mouth when biting into it. The combined taste of the egg, the scallion, the diced ham, and the trace of white pepper was clear and rich. One could finish the crepes in a few bites. And afterward, one would still be recalling the taste for half a minute.

It was a pity that whenever they got to the canteen too late, the crepes’ taste when cold wouldn’t be as good as when hot. Perhaps this was why many people prioritized getting the rice noodles. Only by eating something hot in the morning could they have the strength to study.

This was only because Cui QiChao had noticed the students’ miserable state. At that time, cooking had only been a personal hobby. All kinds of kitchen machines had liberated the need for human labor in cooking dishes.

The first canteen attracted the hearts of the people at a very fast speed. Less than three months into the school term, it had transformed from being the top one of the five tigers into a popular canteen that even the instafamous restaurant was willing to bow down to. Although the first canteen was still in the midst of changing, its changes had already created a great impact. m1Mg3d

No harm would be done without direct comparison. Most of the students would rather take a detour to line up in the first canteen than go to the other four canteens, especially the fourth canteen. These four canteens had forever been declared their alternative choices instead.

The first canteen was packed with people every day. After all, the canteen’s capacity was limited. Recruitment for new staff had been held twice. As soon as there was news that new dishes would be served, everyone would rush to the dormitory building area before they even began selling them.

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Recently, a friend circle within CU published a video which soon became trending—“The First Canteen’s Queue to Get Food.”

When the financial department settled their accounts at the end of the month, the turnover of the first canteen was much higher than that of the other four canteens, while the fourth canteens was doing much worse than it usually did. If one observed the graph depicting the daily sales, the fourth canteen’s graph was showing a bleak and ongoing downward trend, contrary to the rise in the first canteen’s graph. 9oZ8Ec

As such, even though Cui QiChao had President Cui as his backer, the other canteens began to express their complaints.

In the past, everyone was equally serving dark cuisine. But now, one of them was making progress. How could they not be embarrassed? Based on this trend, maybe the other four canteens would also be contracted out in the next bidding by the first canteen.

There were many lobbyists in President Cui’s place, asking him openly and secretly when his nephew will have enough fun.

They all knew that President Cui’s nephew was just doing this for fun, but the other canteens wanted to make money. t5jTpi

On one hand, President Cui supported Cui QiChao, but inwardly, he was also slightly grumbling. It had been several months, and yet his nephew still hadn’t had enough of a break yet. But President Cui didn’t urge him to do anything. His nephew was originally depressed, though he heard that his nephew had begun raising a cat. He couldn’t make his nephew unhappy, regardless of how much pressure he had to bear.

But on the contrary, Cui QiChao himself heard from the staff that the other four canteens were behaving bizarrely. Thus, he took the initiative to find the other four canteen  owners to come and have a chat.

The whole scene seemed out of place when the five of them stood together. They were quite different in age since the other four were almost of Cui QiChao’s uncle’s generation. However, knowing Cui QiChao’s identity, they dared not put up the airs of elders in front of Cui QiChao.

“I think all of you know that my bid for the first canteen to relax and have fun, so I hope to see everyone happy.” Cui QiChao took out a stack of paper and said, “I have several easy-to-cook recipes here. They won’t waste too much time because of careful preparation. As long as the raw materials are fresh and of standard quality, the students will be willing to pay for them. They wouldn’t have to worry about the first canteen taking all their customers and about unhealthy eating among the students. If you’re interested in making other changes, I can offer my other current recipes. It’s not a problem to advertise in the first canteen as well. I can lead a part of the crowd in the other canteens too.” KBiArc

The owners of these canteens were stunned for a while before they began to break into smiles. Even with Cui QiChao’s connections, it was impossible to force customers to head toward other canteens. But his proposed method sounded very good and considerate for everyone. Why wouldn’t they not adopt it?

After all, the school was only so big. Once news of a certain situation spread within the campus, everyone would soon come to know of it. The cooking techniques of the first canteen’s chef weren’t that great either. If it wasn’t because of the detailed instructions on the recipe, he wouldn’t have been able to make such delicious food.

For dishes served in the canteens, the time and seasonings were in fact very important. It took experience to master using the ingredients. The dishes made by ordinary chefs were likely to be oily, very unlike the perfect and refreshing dishes made under Cui QiChao’s control. Not to mention, canteen dishes were often cooked in big pots.

Since the canteen dishes were cooked in massive amounts and contained a lot of ingredients, everything needed to be stir fried evenly to maintain their quality. MyZR2S

Many people could stir the dishes quickly and evenly, since the people who work in the canteen must have the strength to work in the canteen. However, not everyone has the control over the timing.

Take a big pot of vegetables as an example. A big pot of vegetables had a post-doneness period. That is, after the vegetables were put into the container, the residual heat would continue to heat the vegetables up, thereby making the vegetables more done and more cooked.

If the vegetables were cooked at the beginning and were left to become overcooked after a period of time, the taste would grow bad over time. And if they fried food that was too raw, an unsavory sandwich situation would occur.

They had to bring out the finest taste possible from the ingredients? Then it’d be too hard! T7jlHk

But when did the students report that the food in the first canteen was too greasy or too light? Some of them had also asked their employees to taste the dishes from the first canteen. It wasn’t a problem if they were just ordering a small portion of a stir-fried dish for takeaway.

The chefs weren’t experienced enough to cook them perfectly, but they had definitely reached an excellent standard. They even wondered why Cui QiChao was still laying low in the school canteen. Since he was capable of maintaining such a high standard in his cooking, if he went and opened a restaurant chain, the profits he could make would multiply. It would be impossible for even The Forest of Taste to compete with them.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Of course, I have a small condition too.” Cui QiChao looked at everyone.

He actually has some conditions. It wouldn’t be to pay for these recipes, right? It will depend on the price. If it’s not too expensive, it’s acceptable. The four bosses stared at Cui QiChao. “Please tell us.” KRsHcu

Cui QiChao said faintly, “I hope that you can also replace the potted plants and turf with pepper in your canteen. Also, all planting procedures should strictly follow my ideas.”

The bosses: “…”

This condition was so unexpected that everyone choked. They knew that Cui QiChao had planned to grow vegetables on the hill in the back, but they didn’t know that Cui QiChao… loved planting so much.

The condition to give them these recipes was to plant vegetables on their own sites. How enthusiastic was he about growing his own vegetables?! igzBHv

However, on the matter of planting the vegetables themselves, it could be seen that the quality of their locally grown pepper was really very good. Their chili oil was of higher quality than ordinary chili oil and had even become famous throughout CU. It was reasonable to infer that the vegetables growing on the hill at the back might be better than those on the market.

In any case, there was no need to deliberate over such a beneficial condition. Thus, everyone naturally agreed in an instant. In their minds, they didn’t think he was just having fun here, judging from his serious attitude on the matter.

They shook hands with Cui QiChao individually. Since they were all in cooperation with one another, they were even more generous with their praises.

“Xiao Cui is quite generous, magnanimous, and open-minded.” 8rxuSH

“That’s right, that’s right. Look at how long it’s been since you first came to CU. The first canteen’s sales volume never stopped increasing.”

“To tell you the truth, I’ve also eaten some of the first canteen’s dishes and the chili oil. No wonder that they were self-planted. The taste is very good and can be called unique too.”

“The quality of the chili peppers is very good. Mr. Cui sure is a professional. When you studied abroad, you studied…?”

Cui QiChao recalled the background information provided for him and said, “I studied international politics for my bachelor’s. Then I shifted to finance for my graduate studies.” YsSPBr

Cui QiChao said it all too naturally, as if someone who studied finance would naturally seek a job that involved planting peppers and that was why the peppers were planted so well… He sounded so matter-of-fact that no one had asked him why he didn’t choose a job related to what he studied.

The bosses grew silent for a few seconds. Then with a dry smile, they said, “Ahahaha, no wonder you’re doing so well for yourself now…..”

It should be related. Learning about politics and finance must be helpful for growing vegetables, right?