Fried Meatball 1

It seemed that with every passing day closer to the cold season, the temperature dropped by a few degrees. Even nightfall arrived earlier and earlier.

After class, Wen Jiu walked steadily toward the storage area, shivering from the cold wind that gusted by from time to time. The afternoon session had been another course on ability usage and practice, continuing to focus on helping students awaken their powers.

She was now proficient in using her fire-type ability, and the connection between her and the Deep Sea Blue Flame was growing stronger. A few more attempts at channeling her fire power would likely lead to the complete activation of the flame. However, the status of the wood-type ability within her remained a mystery; though she could sense it, she was unable to awaken it.

This was not something to be rushed, however. Students like Wen Jiu, who successfully awakened their powers on the very first day of school, were a rare minority. Furthermore, many of those students had already awakened their abilities before enrollment through private tutoring at home.

Fei Qingyu was one such example.

During class that afternoon, Wen Jiu had specifically sought out Li Qinzhen to confirm that he was indeed the new student worker. Once class ended, she used her smart ring to add Fei Qingyu as a contact.

[Wealthy-9: Working hours are 11:00-13:00 and 17:00-19:00, but if you finish your tasks early, you can leave early.]
[Goal-Interstellar-Number-One: Got it.]

Seeing Fei Qingyu’s screen name, Wen Jiu couldn't help but chuckle. "Goal-Interstellar-Number-One"? He had ideals and goals; a fine young man.

She first went to the storage area to hand over the first-generation "Little Bee" drone to the staff member who had come to collect it, then picked up the newly rented second-generation model. By the time she returned to the cafeteria, neither Fei Qingyu nor Qiao Shishi had arrived. Wen Jiu took the liberty of unboxing the second-generation drone to begin calibration. Thanks to her previous experience, she quickly finished setting up the livestream.

Once that was done, she checked the ingredients delivered for the day: a large slab of Gulu beast meat and a small bundle of carrots. After a moment of contemplation, she placed the meat and carrots on the counter to begin preparation. Before she started, she activated her livestream. The viewers who followed her quickly received a notification.

[Dear user, the streamer "Wishing You Prosperity" has started a broadcast. Would you like to join?]

"Brother Monkey" had just taken his takeout from the delivery robot at his door when he saw the notification pop up on his light screen. He clicked into the stream immediately, and the first thing that greeted him was that enormous, weeping cat head. A massive head on a tiny, thin body—it looked bizarre no matter how you viewed it.

[Brother Monkey: Prosperity-sis, did you forget to adjust the size of the censor filter?]
[Chris-Needs-Five-Bowls: Same question... How is the head even bigger than before?]
[I-Am-So-Hungry: Big head, big head, no worries when it rains?]

Many viewers echoed the same confusion. Wen Jiu, just about to start her greeting, saw the comments and immediately summoned the control panel to make adjustments.

"It should be better now," Wen Jiu said, walking over to the sink to rinse her hands. "Good evening, everyone. I am your streamer, Wishing You Prosperity, and today I’m planning to make deep-fried meat dumplings."

She picked up a piece of Gulu beast meat with an even ratio of fat to lean. "A four-to-six ratio of fat to lean is just right. First, let’s wash the Gulu beast meat with clean water."

Perhaps because the number of people in the stream had grown from a dozen to over a hundred, there were more critics and trolls.

[Wan Zhou: Speechless. This streamer really loves doing flashy things just to seek attention.]
[Wan Zhou: Gulu beast meat tastes fishy and astringent. Who eats this stuff normally? Better off just drinking nutrient solution.]

Wen Jiu watched as the user named Wan Zhou posted several attacks. She patiently began to explain. "Gulu beast meat does have a fishy, pungent odor if left untreated, but as long as you handle it correctly to remove that taste, its texture and flavor are quite suitable for consumption."

"So, first we drop the washed meat into a bowl," Wen Jiu said, adding ingredients to the bowl as she spoke. "Then we add a few slices of ginger and pour in some yellow wine to massage the meat." Not knowing if cooking wine wasn't available or just not stocked in the cafeteria, she had to make do with yellow wine.

[Pumpkin-Big-Melon: What is ginger?]

Seeing the question, Wen Jiu remembered that here, ginger was called "spicy root." She picked up the piece of ginger from the side to show them. "It's spicy root. Back in my hometown, everyone calls it ginger."

[Wan Zhou: Streamer, stop wasting food. Just boil the Gulu beast meat and add some salt; that's enough. All this pouring of wine and adding spicy root slices—it's unbearable to watch.]
[Brother Monkey: Exquisite food often requires many cooking processes. If you don't understand, you can keep your mouth shut.]
[Dingdang20: Agreed.]
[Wind-Rises-Clouds-Gather: I don't get it, is free speech not allowed in this stream anymore?]

Seeing that the viewers were about to argue, Wen Jiu, who had been peeling carrots, spoke up immediately to stop them. "Stop bickering. If you're so good at flapping your lips, feel free to start your own stream."

Wen Jiu had never been one to engage in verbal sparring; after all, words were less convincing than seeing real skill. She quickly finished peeling the carrots, steadied herself, and picked up the kitchen knife. With her left hand holding the knife and her right hand pressing down on a carrot: *Thump, thump, thump, thump.*

With swift movements, perfectly uniform carrot shreds fell beneath the blade. Once finished, she gathered the shreds on the cutting board and sliced them again, quickly reducing all the carrots into tiny, uniform cubes. In the short time it took to chop the vegetables, the number of viewers surged, jumping to around three hundred.

[Banana: My god...]
[Northwest-Big-Fox: The streamer has some serious knife skills! Could you be a high-end restaurant chef hiding your identity?]

"Alright, the carrot cubes are chopped to the right size." Wen Jiu swept the carrot pieces into a basin and pulled out the marinated Gulu beast meat, rinsing it once more. "Now, we start preparing the Gulu beast meat."

She placed the meat on the cutting board. Unlike when she chopped the carrots, this time she picked up two cleavers and began working with both hands simultaneously. The quiet kitchen was soon filled with the rhythmic sound of chopping.

While she was mincing the meat, Qiao Shishi and Fei Qingyu arrived. Thanks to the automatic face-masking filter, the viewers could only see two weeping cat heads pop up. Wen Jiu nodded to acknowledge them. Fei Qingyu, having learned from Qiao Shishi on the way over that Wen Jiu was livestreaming, remained quiet so as not to disturb her. He simply followed Qiao Shishi’s lead and began peeling potatoes.