This flavor is amazing. I used to think only my son's hand-pulled noodles and Chicken Feet were delicious. I never thought his Shengjian Buns would be so incredible too. I really should let Old Lin come and taste this—this flavor, this texture. Even if it meant squeezing into a narrow bunk on a train overnight, or taking a hard seat, or even standing, it'd be totally worth it. After finishing the broth, eating the bun and the clumped meat filling inside offers a new textural sensation. Of course, the best part is still that crispy, fried crust on the bottom of the bun—crunchy and delicious, mixed with the aroma of the dough and the umami flavor of the filling. One bun down. Then, I take a sip of the wonton. The smooth wrapper paired with the savory filling—delicious! My son's culinary skills are truly impeccable. He can make anything. No wonder that Master Gao took a liking to my son and took him on as an apprentice. If I were a chef and came across a kid with such talent, I'd probably be unable to resist my admiration for such skill, right?

Lin Xu said, "Actually, Shengjian are very simple. Compared to what you made before, I just added some pork skin jelly to them. This makes the broth fragrant and savory, much tastier than fillings without any broth."

Pork skin jelly can be used as filling too? Han Shuzhen had no way to chime in on this kind of topic. It always sounded so novel to her.

Shen Jiayue, who often slacked off at work watching videos, knew a bit about it. "Pork skin jelly isn't only for Shengjian Buns; it can also be used in soup dumplings. Am I right, sweetie?"

"Right, it can be used for soup dumplings... but using pork skin jelly makes them too greasy. So now, many chefs choose to add scallion and ginger water, and Sichuan peppercorn water, to increase moisture."

"Just like with beef, you can also mix scallion and ginger water into pork filling to increase moisture. Compared to beef slices, you can mix more water into pork filling, and it will remain viscous without leaking, just like a normal bun filling. During the steaming process, the filling firms up and clumps together to form a meatball. The moisture then steams out, creating the broth that fills the soup dumplings. Besides soup dumplings, this technique also applies to Crab Buns and other small soup dumplings."

"Wow, stop talking about it! You're making me crave Crab Buns..." Shen Jiayue was practically drooling.

Then Lin Xu heard the system notification: "Host is passionately engaged in soup bun making, triggering the reward task [Crab Bun]: Please have the host use existing techniques to make an Excellent Level or above Crab Bun within ten days and obtain Shen Jiayue's approval. Upon completion, reward: one Excellent Level seafood dish lottery."

This is possible too? Lin Xu hadn't expected that just by speaking offhandedly, and Shen Jiayue casually mentioning it, they would trigger a reward task. If he had known, he would have steered the conversation toward other dishes—dishes suitable for selling in the store, like braised items or dry-pot meals. Maybe some vegetable dishes would have been good too; the store was currently lacking those. But the system wasn't receptive to Lin Xu's complaints. He grumbled internally for a long time but received no response.

"You want Crab Buns? Wait until I'm done with the competition, and then I'll make some for you to try. I also want to taste how good those soup buns are when you drink the broth with a straw."

"Yes, yes! Then I'll be waiting to eat them!" Shen Jiayue excitedly nuzzled Lin Xu.

YAY! I'm going to have Crab Buns!

After breakfast, the three members of the Shen Family said goodbye to Chen Meijuan and headed off to work.

Just as Lin Xu was about to get busy in the kitchen, his mother pulled him aside. "Son, when do you plan to get engaged to Yueyue? Her parents come to eat here every day, you know. You need to find a chance to arrange it soon. I don't want to miss out on such a wonderful daughter-in-law."

Engaged? Isn't this too fast? We only confirmed our relationship a few days ago. Can't we wait a little longer?

He said to his mother, "There's no rush. I've been really busy recently, with things scheduled every day. Let's wait until my career is a bit more stable. At least, let's wait until the restaurant expands before getting engaged. That way, I'll have some achievements to show for it."

In the next ten days, various main and side quests were approaching their completion dates, and he needed to focus on tackling these tasks. This way, a series of new dishes would be added to the restaurant, and he would also face new quests and challenges. Once he saved enough money to rent the nearby shops and expand the restaurant space, it wouldn't be too late for an engagement then.

Chen Meijuan couldn't win the argument with her son, so she said, "Anyway, I only acknowledge Yueyue as my daughter-in-law. If you lose her, I'll never forgive you."

Such a good daughter-in-law must have many people eyeing her. Why isn't my blockhead son in a hurry?

To prevent his mother from continuing to dwell on this issue, Lin Xu actively changed the subject. "Mom, when are you heading back? In a few days, I have to go to the Fishing Platform State Guesthouse to participate in a culinary competition. Why don't you stay a few more days and go back after watching the competition?"

As soon as she heard about participating in a competition at the Fishing Platform State Guesthouse, Chen Meijuan's attention was indeed diverted. "When's the competition?"

"Next Wednesday. Still five days away."

Hearing there were still five days to go, Chen Meijuan immediately lost interest. She was now fully focused on managing the scenic area back home and had long lost much of her interest in cooking.

"Will there be a live stream online?"

"There should be. Wu Kexin seemed to have made a teaser for it before."

"Then I'll just watch the live stream online. Business at the scenic area is getting better and better. Just the other day, the occupancy rate at the Cliffside Hotel actually reached one hundred percent! I need to go back and keep an eye on things. Your father can't handle it alone."

Business is doing that well? Lin Xu had even planned to bring Dundun back when the new restaurant expanded to help boost the scenic area's popularity. He hadn't expected business at the scenic area to be this good already.

"That was just a fluke," Chen Meijuan said. "Normally, the occupancy rate at the Cliffside Hotel is still around thirty percent. Although it's higher than before, it still can't compare to other scenic areas that are packed every day."

「Noon.」

Panda and Wu Kexin, upon learning of Chen Meijuan's arrival, made a special trip to the restaurant to visit. Then, they each enjoyed a complimentary bowl of wild mushroom soup noodles made by her. A ladleful of topping, made with a variety of wild mushrooms and slices of pork belly, poured over freshly boiled hand-pulled noodles—the flavor was unforgettable.

Lin Xu even regretted learning the Shengjian Bun Technique last night. If only he had learned his mother's wild mushroom topping instead, how good would that have been? If he could solve the raw ingredient supply issue, people would be lining up across the street to eat.

Unfortunately, the supply of wild mushrooms wasn't plentiful; they were just a rare treat. And Lin Xu, without a Cooking Learning Card and not enough wild mushrooms to practice his culinary skills, could only give up the idea.

「In the following two days, business at the restaurant returned to normal.」

Dou Wenjing finally managed to sort out all the procedures for the Tubby Dundun Company and also took care of the overdue invoices from the audit firm. An invoice printer was installed next to the cash register. Customers who needed invoices could now have them printed directly, instead of tearing off fixed-amount invoices as in the past.

Chen Meijuan had a relatively easy couple of days. Besides helping her son tidy up his room and wash his bedding, she also went on a shopping spree for clothes with Shen Jiayue. She had intended to treat her daughter-in-law, but Shen Jiayue insisted on paying each time, so Chen Meijuan ended up acquiring quite a few new clothes for herself. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law got along like mother and daughter. Shen Jiayue even began to call Chen Meijuan "Mom." This delighted Chen Meijuan so much that when she got back, she again urged her son to get engaged soon.

The acquisition of nearby shops was also proceeding rapidly. Uncle Yu was quite the gossip, and since his supermarket had a constant flow of people, he always brought fresh news every day—for example, the landlord of the bakery next door was asking for the sky, or the landlord of the clothing store urgently needed money to cover his son's online gambling debts, and so on. Uncle Yu, always stationed at his supermarket, was like the chief of an intelligence station; as soon as he walked in the door, there would always be new information or gossip.

"Lin Xu," Uncle Yu said, "the bakery next door was also taken over. When that mysterious tycoon finally shows his hand, you'll have to keep your composure."

Lin Xu found it amusing. Originally, those people were just purchasing shops, that's all. But in Uncle Yu's telling, it always sounded like a storm was brewing, as if there really was a shadowy figure behind the scenes aiming to deal with him. However, he waited several days, and the so-called shadowy figure never appeared.

「And then Wednesday came.」

The culinary competition was about to start!

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