Sour and Spicy Pickled Radish

Zhou Yan instinctively squeezed the brakes.

Food Appraisal? What kind of skill was that?

[Food Appraisal]: An outstanding chef must master the ability to select ingredients. Only by accurately judging an ingredient's freshness, origin, seasonality, and more can one obtain the finest ingredients. Rapid analysis of food will also aid in improving culinary skills. You have acquired this ability.

The system promptly provided a note.

Zhou Yan fell into thought. He had not expected rewards other than recipes to include skills.

"Big brother, do you want Dingding Candy too?" Zhou Momo asked as she looked back, her little face full of anticipation.

Zhou Yan turned to look. An old man with half-gray hair stood by the roadside, carrying a bamboo shoulder pole. The copper hammer and iron chisel in his hands lightly struck each other with a ding-ding sound, which was how Dingding Candy got its name.

"I think you're the one who wants some, aren't you?" Zhou Yan said with a smile.

Zhou Momo swallowed, drew back her gaze, and firmly shook her head. "Mom said I can't spend big brother's money carelessly."

"Your brother can still afford a little candy." Zhou Yan smiled as he wheeled his bicycle over.

The old man set down his bamboo pole and chipped the white candy brick into fragments like broken jade. He wrapped a hefty packet in kraft paper, and it cost only fifty cents.

Zhou Yan glanced at the candy brick, and a line of information appeared:

[An utterly ordinary candy brick. The sesame seeds are slightly over-roasted, but it does not affect consumption.]

Zhou Yan then glanced at the basket of bright red oranges laid out before a roadside vendor.

[A basket of sour and astringent oranges, not yet ripe.]

Zhou Yan's eyes lit up. This really was a god-tier skill for buying groceries. He would never have to worry about getting cheated again!

After paying, he opened the paper package, pinched off a piece of candy, and fed it to Zhou Momo. Then he tossed one into his own mouth. The sweetness immediately melted across his tongue, brightening his mood along with it.

"Dingding Candy is so yummy! Sweet like honey! Big brother is the best big brother in the world!" Zhou Momo said vaguely around the candy, happily swinging her short little legs.

"Good girl. I'll buy you more next time." Zhou Yan smiled and patted her head.

He also had the cutest little sister in the world. For fifty cents' worth of candy, sitting on the bicycle's front bar had already provided her with a full measure of emotional satisfaction!

It had to be said that the new bicycle Lin Zhiqiang had given him was truly easy to ride. The more he pedaled, the more energized he felt. The round trip that had taken over an hour that morning now took less than half an hour by bicycle.

When they returned to the restaurant, Zhou Yan first lifted Zhou Momo down onto the ground, then pushed the bicycle inside and parked it against the wall.

This was currently Zhou Yan's most valuable possession, so he had to store it carefully.

"Zhou Momo, did you get your brother to buy you candy again?" Zhao Tieying asked her youngest daughter with a suppressed smile as she watched her puffed-out cheeks.

"Yeah." Zhou Momo nodded, saying proudly, "Big brother bought me Dingding Candy. I like big brother the most!"

"Fifty cents for a big packet. It'll last her ages." Zhou Yan took the oil-paper-wrapped Dingding Candy from his basket, opened it, and handed it to Zhao Tieying. "Mom, have some too."

"The restaurant's business has only just started picking up. We still need to spend money where it matters," Zhao Tieying reminded him, picking up a small piece of candy and putting it into her mouth.

Sweet—sweet enough to reach her heart!

"Got it. I'll go prepare the toppings." Zhou Yan agreed with a smile, carrying his basket into the kitchen. Zhao Tieying had already washed and set out all the bowls, and the kitchen had been cleaned up as well.

"Mom, I'm going to play on the slide! Call me when it's time to eat!" Zhou Momo shouted as she skipped toward the door.

"Don't go running all over the place. We're having meat for lunch, so come back early once you've had enough fun," Zhao Tieying called more loudly. "Otherwise, I'll eat all the meat myself."

"Okaaay—" Zhou Momo answered, running on her short little legs toward the factory-run school nearby.

On this outing, Zhou Yan had bought a pound of minced beef, a pound of beef brisket, and a pound of pork ribs. That was enough noodle mince for thirty bowls of noodles.

However, his father had cut him an extra three taels of beef brisket, specifically saying that he would come by at noon for a bowl of Braised Beef Noodles after selling out the beef.

"So the girl Zhou the Second jumped into the Qingyi River to save really was Deputy Factory Director Lin's niece. He even brought over a brand-new bicycle today to thank him. He's really become a hero for saving someone!"

"That kid is truly a living Lei Feng. He even dared jump into Bailatuo. Good people really do have lucky lives."

"I heard Zhou Yan switched to selling noodles today. Business was insanely good, and Wang Laowu's nose was practically twisted with anger."

"With business that good, he probably won't need to sell hooks anymore. What a pity, what a pity..."

"Second Sister-in-law Lin, you're still thinking about that?"

"One of these days, let's go try the noodles Zhou Yan makes and support his business while we're at it."

"You're probably trying to taste his..."

As Zhou Yan prepared the ingredients in the kitchen, the laughter and teasing of the older women washing clothes at the dock drifted in through the window from time to time. It was amusing and helpless at once.

Zhao Tieying came in carrying peeled garlic. She caught a few stray remarks, spat, and rolled up her sleeves. "That Widow Lin and her rotten mouth! I'll go tear it apart!"

Zhou Yan spent quite a while persuading her to let it go.

His reputation and public image were both improving, and the trend was good.

Just as he had expected, after the factory got off work at noon, the restaurant saw a small peak in customer traffic. They were all workers who had come after hearing about it.

Fortunately, Zhao Tieying was there. She handled tending the fire, serving dishes, clearing tables, and taking payments all by herself without the slightest disorder.

After two busy hours, the silk mill's work shift began again. Once there were no more customers, Zhou Yan finally closed the front doors.

Zhou Yan let out a long breath, shaking out his slightly sore hands. Pulling noodles was not just technical work—it was physical work too.

"We sold twenty-eight bowls at noon and took in 16.8 yuan." Zhao Tieying handed the counted money to Zhou Yan, unable to hide the smile on her face.

Zhou Miao silently cleared bowls beside them, smiling as well.

This was not the day Zhou Erwa Restaurant had made the highest revenue, but it would be the day with the highest profit, because none of the prepared ingredients would go to waste.

None of them had expected noodles priced at sixty cents a bowl to sell so well!

"The remaining toppings are only enough for around ten more bowls. Should we stir-fry more toppings this afternoon?" Zhao Tieying asked, brimming with motivation.

"No need. It would already be good if we sold another dozen or so bowls tonight. Most workers will be going home for dinner in the evening." Zhou Yan smiled and shook his head. Noodle sales were actually best in the mornings.

They had prepared toppings and noodle mince for sixty bowls today. Selling them all would already far exceed expectations.

"Mom, go call Momo back for lunch. I'll cook noodles for everyone." Zhou Yan smiled, put the money into the cabinet, and turned to enter the kitchen.

"All right." Zhao Tieying answered and headed outside. Standing at the restaurant entrance with her hands on her hips, she shouted toward the school, "Zhou Momo! Come home and eat! I'm counting to three! One, two..."

Before she could call out three, Zhou Momo was already toddling out through the gate, shouting, "Coming! Coming!"

"Big brother, tummy hungry." Zhou Momo ran into the restaurant and headed straight for the kitchen, stopping beside Zhou Yan and looking up at him with pleading eyes.

"Go wash your hands. We'll eat soon." Zhou Yan smiled when he saw her grimy little chubby hands.

"Okay!" Zhou Momo obediently replied. She walked to the water vat, stood on tiptoe to scoop water into a small basin, and began washing her hands.

Before long, Zhou Yan carried out four bowls of Braised Beef Noodles. The family sat around together to eat, all of them hungry after working until now.

"Try the Pickled Vegetables I made yesterday. They'll taste even better tomorrow." Zhou Yan brought out a small plate of pickled radish. The red-skinned radish, cut into strips and pickled for a day, looked crystal clear.

Crunch. Zhao Tieying picked up a strip of radish and bit into it, nodding repeatedly. "It's really crisp. Sour and spicy, with a little sweetness afterward. Delicious!"

Zhou Miao tried one as well and nodded with a smile. "Mm, it's very refreshing. It's just right with noodles."

Zhou Momo struggled with her chopsticks for a while but could not pick one up, so Zhou Yan simply placed a strip in her hand.

The little girl held it up to her mouth and nibbled at it. Her big eyes lit up, but soon she began going, "Hiss, ha, hiss, ha," as she continued chewing and sighed, "The radish is so yummy, it's just a little spicy..."

There were indeed fewer customers at dinner, but they still sold all eleven bowls of noodles. A few customers who came late could not get any and could only return the next morning.

Zhao Tieying helped Zhou Yan clean up the restaurant before taking a seat on the back of Comrade Zhou Miao's bicycle and humming a little tune as she left.

It was clear that she was in a very good mood. What impressed Zhou Yan even more was her energy. She had gotten up in the morning to prepare beef offal, cook, feed the pigs, then spent the entire day helping at the restaurant, yet she could still hum a tune on the way home.

Zhou Yan had only handled matters at the restaurant, but by now he was so tired that he wanted to lie down on the floor.

He took the money out of the cabinet and counted it. They had sold sixty bowls of noodles today for a total income of exactly 36 yuan. Yesterday's starting capital had been 16.4 yuan.

He had spent 16.9 yuan on ingredients and 0.5 yuan on Dingding Candy.

He now had 35.5 yuan in hand!

The wood, oil, and seasonings they were using now had all been purchased by the restaurant before, so those expenses could be calculated together at the end of the month.

Little Comrade Zhou had been quite generous when it came to purchasing. He clearly intended to do something big. There were still dozens of pounds of rapeseed oil in the oil vat, a wall's worth of oak firewood neatly stacked behind the stove, and plenty of salt, dried chilies, and other seasonings left. They would last for quite some time.

Although the money had been spent freely, it had all gone toward the restaurant, and none of the supplies were bad.

After soaking the dried bamboo shoots and washing up simply, Zhou Yan went to bed. Before sleeping, he glanced at the panel:

[Player: Zhou Yan]

[Profession: Chef]

[Wealth Value: -822.52]

[Professional Skills]:

Knife Skills (Intermediate): 9604/10000 (Your knife skills are enough to handle most dish requirements)

Heat Control (Intermediate): 1668/10000 (You still need more practice with cooking)

Seasoning (Intermediate): 1695/10000 (Ease up a little, Salt King)

Eloquence (Advanced): 88889/100000 (A pig rooting at the curtain—it's all in the mouth)

[Mastered Dishes]:

Double-Pepper Beef Tossed Noodles (Advanced): 99999/100000

Braised Beef Noodles (Advanced): 99999/100000

Braised Pork Rib Noodles (Advanced): 99999/100000

Pickled Sour Mustard Greens (Advanced): 99999/100000

Smashed Cucumber (Intermediate): 1871/10000

...

Special Skill:

Food Appraisal (Master): 999999/1000000 (Cannot be upgraded)

[Main Quest: Become the God of Cooking! Make your name known across the world!]

[Main Quest: Restaurant Influence reaches 100 (61/100)]

[Wealth Marketplace]: Unlocks when Wealth Value reaches 1000.

After one day of business, the panel had changed noticeably.

His Wealth Value had risen from -858.52 to -822.52. The increase of 36 should correspond to today's revenue, one-to-one.

Zhou Yan was quite looking forward to the Wealth Marketplace. He wondered what it sold. It would be great if there were recipes in it.

Next, the proficiency of Knife Skills, Heat Control, and Seasoning had all risen by 1,000. This should be related to his acquiring and mastering three noodle dishes.

Beef Braised with Dried Bamboo Shoots, Two-Pepper Minced Beef, and Braised Spare Ribs. Mastering these three dishes had given him a certain understanding of braising, stir-frying over high heat, and red-braising.

The knowledge entered his mind; it was not stored separately.

If he could cut beef into evenly sized cubes, he could also mince pork into ground meat.

Beef Braised with Dried Bamboo Shoots was very delicious, but if he replaced the dried bamboo shoots with radish or potatoes, the Potato-Braised Beef Brisket and Radish-Braised Beef Brisket he made would likely not turn out too badly either. They would simply be somewhat short of perfection.

Zhou Yan was like a blank sheet of paper, and now a bold, brilliant stroke had been laid upon it. What kind of grand culinary masterpiece would emerge next? Who could possibly predict it?

Even he did not know, but what he did know was that there would definitely be more customers to serve tomorrow, and he would need to pull more noodles.

And make more money!