Chapter 42: New Recipes Appear

Chapter 42: New Recipes Appear

Yan Guoxiang frowned, his gaze sweeping back and forth between these "patients." Having practiced medicine for many years, he had long since developed a keen eye for detail; the performance of these people was simply too clumsy—each of them moved with light steps and quick, lively eyes, showing no sign of stomach pain whatsoever.

"Doctor, my stomach hurts so much!" A young man holding a selfie stick clutched his stomach and squatted on the ground with an exaggerated expression. But Yan Guoxiang could clearly see that his other hand was still holding a phone steadily, and something was being broadcast live on the screen.

“Yes, yes, doctor, we ate something unclean…” Another girl wearing a baseball cap cooperated by clutching her stomach, but Yan Guoxiang noticed her furtive glances at the emergency room, where a long queue was forming—the line for Su Yingxue’s savory pancakes and Fuding meat slices had stretched all the way to the street corner.

Yan Guoxiang calmly picked up the stethoscope, casually wiped it on his white coat, and then walked over to the young man who had complained of a stomachache: "Come on, let me listen to your stomach."

The young man visibly stiffened for a moment, but still obediently lifted his shirt. Just as Yan Guoxiang's stethoscope touched the fabric, a commotion erupted at the emergency room entrance.

"Make way! Emergency priority!" Several nurses pushed a treatment cart past quickly, on which lay a pale-faced elderly woman. Yan Guoxiang immediately dropped his joking expression and strode towards the actual patient.

The "fake patients" looked at each other in bewilderment. One of them, who seemed to be the leader, quickly whispered, "Let's retreat! We'll come back another day!" The group felt as if they had been granted a pardon. They hurriedly packed up their camera equipment and slunk out the back door.

Yan Guoxiang watched their hasty retreat, then glanced at the still-long queue outside the window, and suddenly understood. He picked up his phone and dialed the head of internal medicine: "Old Li, has your department received any filming invitations lately?"

A bewildered reply came from Director Li on the other end of the phone: "No? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Yan Guoxiang hung up the phone, his gaze falling on the small stall outside the window. Under the light, Su Yingxue was skillfully flipping the savory pancakes, the golden and crispy crust sizzling on the griddle, the aroma wafting through the glass windows of the emergency room.

"I see..." Yan Guoxiang stroked his chin thoughtfully. "These people came for Su Yingxue's stall."

That evening

Su Yingxue was packing up her stall, preparing to close early. These past few days, the number of customers had been increasing, including many who were clearly not locals. What bothered her even more was that people kept pretending to be sick, trying to sneak into the hospital just so they could buy a savory pancake or Fuding pork slices after she finished work.

"Boss, why are you closing up shop so early today?" The familiar nurse, Xiao Li, came to buy the last box of sliced ​​meat.

Su Yingxue sighed, "There are too many people, I really can't handle it all. And..." she lowered her voice, "there have been some people acting suspiciously lately, I don't know what they're up to."

Following her gaze, Xiao Li saw several stylishly dressed young people carrying professional equipment walking past the street corner, glancing in their direction from time to time.

"Hey, those people..." Xiao Li chimed in gossipy, "I heard it's some kind of food program crew, specifically looking for popular online food stalls. Didn't you know? Your stall is super famous online! It's that blogger named Can Can's video!"

Su Yingxue was taken aback: "Cancan?"

"Yeah! It's that guy who makes food videos, the one who always says 'delicious' in his videos!" Xiao Li gestured excitedly. "He came to our hospital cafeteria last month to film an episode about 'the worst-tasting cafeteria,' and then this month he came back to film 'the most surprising discovery,' and he's talking about your stall!"

Su Yingxue suddenly realized why she had been feeling uneasy lately. She recalled the strange expression on Master Yan Guoxiang's face when he mentioned "Cancan" that day, and now she understood.

“But…” Su Yingxue frowned, “I just want to run a small business quietly; I don’t want to be famous.”

Xiao Li patted her shoulder sympathetically: "That's not up to you."

Su Yingxue gazed at the darkening sky in the distance and sighed softly. She had only wanted to make some food she liked and sell it to people who truly wanted to eat it; she never expected it to turn out like this.

However, since they had only been selling two items for a long time, and with Su Yingxue closing for two days, the initial excitement finally died down. Things weren't as busy anymore.

Su Yingxue was busy for more than half a month before she realized that she had already obtained the third snack recipe from the system's lottery.

She stared at the spinning wheel for a long time, and finally it stopped at Baozi?

Steamed buns? The most unpretentious snack. Just thinking about steamed buns brings to mind the steaming heat of winter, rushing to school, grandma busy with her business, and the rich meat filling and the refreshing vegetarian filling.

Those were all snacks, though; steamed buns are usually for breakfast. They're convenient, easy to carry, and filling. They don't have much flavor, making them perfect for a morning with a cup of soy milk and two buns. But this is... selling steamed buns at 10 PM. Has she gone mad, or has the system gone mad?

This time the system increased the difficulty, actually requiring the price of the steamed buns to rise. Fine. They think she's selling them too cheaply. Normally, meat buns cost around three yuan outside, and vegetarian buns cost two yuan. The system is demanding several times that amount: ten yuan for meat buns and eight yuan for vegetarian buns.

With such a high price, Su Yingxue was a little unsure. Would anyone even buy it? And so late? What if no one bought any, leaving her with the leftover buns? But then Su Yingxue thought again, with the system involved, the recipe should be fine. She opened it and immediately saw two flavors. One was the classic pork and scallion, and the other was a lighter three-delicacy bun. It was generally made with three ingredients: greens, mushrooms, and wood ear fungus, plus carrots, eggs, etc.

She paused her savory pancake making and decided to focus on perfecting steamed buns. Making steamed buns wasn't as simple as she thought, so she tried it out at home.

Su Yingxue took a deep breath, washed her hands, and stood in the center of the kitchen. Looking at the neatly arranged flour, yeast, warm water, minced pork, green onions, and various seasonings, she silently encouraged herself—if the system recommended it, there must be a reason for it.

As dusk crept through the window, Su Yingxue rubbed her aching wrists. The flour sack on the cutting board lay askew, like a drooping cloud—she stared at the lump of freshly kneaded dough, her fingertips still specks of white powder, and suddenly found the scene a little funny: so late at night, she was actually thinking about steaming buns?

"The system says this recipe is reliable," she muttered to herself, tightening her apron as she did so. Outside, it was completely dark; the streetlights were on, casting a blurry glow on the kitchen window.

Okay! Let's start making steamed buns tonight!