Shocking! A Student at a Renowned Academy Was Actually in the Cafeteria...
"Hey, Han Yue, you didn't go to the Alchemy Department and take some forbidden drugs, did you?" A hint of disgust appeared on Lin Xiuya's cold face.
"Old Lin, you'll know once you've tried it!" The voice wasn't from Han Yue, but from Yan Hao's rough tone.
Lin Xiuya turned his gaze back to Yan Hao, and instantly felt a chill run down his spine as if he had seen something unclean. He almost drew his sword and struck him.
Yan Hao's dark face revealed the same awkward expression as Han Yue's, looking shy and bashful, giving off the vibe of an older sister-in-law.
Lin Xiuya looked around the entire cafeteria again and found that every student had the same expression of utter despair, while every staff member wore a smug, lewd smile.
"Was this really Huo Yuhao's doing?" Lin Xiuya fell into deep doubt.
Xiao Yi Xian was happily munching on her grilled fish when she heard this and was about to speak when a familiar voice suddenly rang out beside their table, "It really is me."
Huo Yuhao appeared beside Lin Xiuya as if by Gui Mei apparition, a faint smile on his face.
He smiled as if admiring his own masterpiece. He was holding a glass of water in his hand, looking like he had just come from the kitchen.
"Old Huo!" Yan Hao almost jumped up, pointing to the lone dish on his plate, and angrily accused, "You're not fair! You're so unfair! You have this skill but you kept it to yourself! You made such a big fuss but didn't invite the brothers! I only got one! What happened to the 'surprise'? The surprise is limited edition?!"
Huo Yuhao took a sip of water, ignoring Yan Hao's "accusation," and calmly explained, "This surprise wasn't my doing. I just helped the cafeteria create new menus and optimize the cooking process."
"You didn't make this?" Han Yue finally snapped out of her reverie, her cool eyes filled with astonishment. "Impossible. Even if we had your recipe, with the Canaan Cafeteria's— "
She carefully chose her words: "Even with the skill level of the chefs, they could never replicate this taste."
She had personally experienced the hellish difficulty of the original Canaan Cafeteria and knew all too well the vast difference between the two.
"Indeed." After receiving Huo Yuhao's acknowledgment, Lin Xiuya put aside his hesitation, picked up a piece of pork rib, put it in his mouth, and savored it.
The meat is tender and falls off the bone, melting in your mouth. The rich sauce, with its perfect balance of sweetness and a hint of caramel, permeates every inch of the meat. This is followed by a complex blend of spices that unfolds layer by layer on your tongue! The ultimate deliciousness sweeps through your body like an electric current.
"They could never replicate that flavor!"
Huo Yuhao's lips curled into a slight smile, revealing a hint of smugness. "The key to consistent taste and controllable quality lies in the kitchen utensils."
He pointed towards the kitchen. "A batch of new kitchen utensils that I recently developed and lent to the cafeteria for trial use."
"Kitchenware?" Everyone was taken aback.
"That's right." Huo Yuhao nodded. "From the automatic washing, cutting, and pre-processing of ingredients, to the precise temperature control heating array, and the intelligent seasoning precision dispensing device—the vast majority of the entire cooking process is completed automatically by these specially designed 'kitchen utensils.' The operator only needs hands."
"It can standardize operations to the greatest extent, eliminate differences caused by human factors, and help any—well, cooking enthusiast—to consistently reach a level close to that of a master chef." Huo Yuhao explained it casually, as if he were talking about a trivial matter.
Yan Hao was dumbfounded, his mind filled with impressive-sounding terms like "automatic," "array," and "intelligent delivery." He could only conclude with one sentence. "So, we can eat this kind of food in the cafeteria every day from now on?"
"As long as the academy doesn't forbid it—" Huo Yuhao nodded.
Lin Xiuya noticed another problem. He carefully savored the food in his mouth, feeling the pure and gentle energy dissipate in his body, nourishing his blood and qi.
"Huo Yuhao, your recipe seems to contain more than just ordinary ingredients? I can taste the flavor of Bloodbone Flower, and there are also several qi-boosting medicinal herbs. Although the medicinal effects are very mild, long-term consumption seems to be very beneficial for stabilizing the foundation of lower-level students?"
His gaze towards Huo Yuhao held both admiration and deeper curiosity. "You've incorporated medicinal cuisine into your daily diet—"
Although the academy has a large reserve of these medicinal herbs, it probably can't withstand using them every day, right?
"Indeed—" Huo Yuhao nodded, somewhat troubled. "So tomorrow's menu won't include these medicinal herbs; for now, the medicinal cuisine menu will still be offered once a week."
"Temporarily?" Lin Xiuya noticed a blind spot. "Do you have a solution?"
"Actually, I just have an idea that might solve the problem of insufficient medicinal herb production." Huo Yuhao smiled slightly, "I might even need your help then!"
The next day, at the Jia Nan Academy, in the herb field.
The management of the medicinal herb fields was not the responsibility of the Alchemy Department, but was instead overseen by a separate elder.
Actually, Jia Nan Academy didn't do this at first, since only the Alchemy Department, besides the cafeteria, used a lot of medicinal herbs.
--
One day, however, a student from the Alchemy Department, in order to save time, directly started refining pills in the medicine garden, and the pills exploded on the first try.
From then on, the academy stipulated that all members of the Alchemy Department were prohibited from approaching the medicinal herb fields. Despite the Alchemy Department's Elder Huo's repeated protests at academy meetings, he could not shake the academy's resolve.
At this moment, the elder in charge of managing the medicinal fields, looking at the few guys "running wild" inside, clutched his heart, almost unable to breathe.
"Elder Huo, be careful! These medicinal herbs can't withstand this—hey, don't pull them out! Don't pull them out!"
When Huo Yuhao led Lin Xiuya and the others to the herb field, the guard elder's address of "Elder Huo" had shocked them for the entire morning. Huo Yuhao could only smile wryly at this.
Huo Yuhao was reluctant to make a fuss, but the vice dean was exceptionally efficient. From the moment he wrote Huo Yuhao's name on the roster, within a quarter of an hour, all the elders, mentors, and staff of the entire Outer Academy knew about it and that a freshman had become an elder just three days after enrolling.
"Huo Yuhao, why do we have to dig up all these medicinal herbs? And why do we have to keep them alive?"
Lin Xiuya wiped his sweat. Gathering herbs wasn't tiring for these "top students" from the Jia Nan Academy. The difficulty lay in Huo Yuhao's requirement that they not touch a single leaf and maintain the activity of the herbs after they were pulled out.
"I have some ideas that should increase the yield of medicinal herbs," Huo Yuhao explained, then continued to bury himself in his "grand project."
"Hey Lao Huo, how come you look so old? You don't look old at all!" Yan Hao plopped down on the ground and joked.
"This...?" Huo Yuhao somewhat awkwardly.
"It must be due to their strength," Lin Xiuya said, brushing the dust off his clothes.
"Huh? Old Lin, how did you know?" Yan Hao wiped the dirt off his face.
"I remember a while ago—" Lin Xiuya revealed an all-knowing expression, "there was an issue of the Canaan Times that published an article titled 'Vice Dean Cheats—Using Power to Force Students to Admit Defeat!'"
This article recounts the experience of a vice dean and a student exchanging ideas.
"Huh? Really?"
"How is that possible!"
Yan Hao and Han Yue exclaimed in surprise, turning their gazes to Huo Yuhao simultaneously. They naturally guessed what Lin Xiuya meant.
"This batch of Canaan Times was recalled and destroyed within half a day of its release." Lin Xiuya said helplessly, "Doesn't this clearly tell everyone that it really happened?"
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