CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER 47: LISTENING TO THE WIND AND DISCRIMINATING THE FLAVOR

Wang Fan knew he couldn’t refuse anymore after the conversation reached this point.

He reached out for the bag and said with a smile, "Thank you, Brother Wang. I’ll start cooking once I’ve moved everything. I’ll bring it to you when it’s done."

Brother Wang then patted Wang Fan’s shoulder with a smile: "That’s the spirit. No need to be polite with your brother. Everyone eventually gets through the tough times. I have faith in you."

With that, he strolled back to his house.

"Oh, by the way."

Brother Wang turned back suddenly with a grin, "I have a distant cousin who’s 23 this year, not bad-looking. You’re the same age, how about I introduce you?"

Then he waggled his eyebrows suggestively, "Her family has sixteen apartments in the Fifth Ring."

"Sixteen apartments?!"

Wang Fan was a bit taken aback.

Sixteen apartments in the Fifth Ring, even if each one is sixty square meters, would be worth tens of millions. Rich people are indeed arrogant.

Brother Wang chuckled, "Yes, sixteen. Conservatively estimated to be worth over one hundred million. How about it? If you get her, you’ll live in luxury for the rest of your life."

Wang Fan quickly shook his head, "Forget it, Brother Wang, I haven’t thought about those things yet."

Joking!

Being alone is great—you can eat whenever you want, sleep whenever you want. Why bother finding someone to manage your life and make everyone uncomfortable?

Seeing Wang Fan’s resolute attitude, Brother Wang didn’t push further and waved goodbye as he sauntered home.

Wang Fan continued moving his stuff.

But he did discover a magical feature of the system: anything made by the system seems perfectly plausible to everyone.

His second uncle used to ride a bicycle food truck. After the system upgrade, even though its appearance hadn’t changed, nobody found it odd. More interestingly, after his own upgrade, the bicycle food truck turned into a Seven-Star Hong Guang—a big vehicle driving in and out of the village—yet people, including his landlord Brother Wang, didn’t find it strange.

This really echoes the system’s saying, "existence is reasonable," which saves him a lot of hassle.

After moving his stuff, he started rendering oil.

Wang Fan is someone who rarely agrees to requests, but once he does, he makes sure to follow through.

Having rendered oil many times before, he’s become quite adept—cutting, dicing, simmering on low heat. In just half an hour, he was done.

He was just about to deliver it when there was another knock on the door.

He opened the door to see Da Zhuang, practically drooling, waiting expectantly.

"Brother Fan, is it ready?"

Wang Fan chuckled, ruffling Da Zhuang’s round head, "Yes, yes, your nose is sharper than a dog’s. I just finished and you’re already here."

Da Zhuang cheerfully took the container, called out "Thanks, Brother Fan," and dashed back home.

Wang Fan made sure Da Zhuang got home before heading back inside himself.

This world isn’t like Earth with its many surveillance cameras, and incidents of missing children happen occasionally.

Today he’s planning to make mushroom beef buns, zucchini black fungus egg buns, and minced meat vermicelli tofu buns.

With fingers interlocked and arms stretched, Wang Fan gave a big stretch, ready for a productive session.

And then...

"Ding, the AFK system has been activated."

"Ding, AFK session ended, 800 mushroom beef buns completed. 800 experience points earned, current level—LV15."

"400 zucchini black fungus egg buns completed. 400 experience points earned."

"400 minced meat vermicelli tofu buns completed. 400 experience points earned, current level—LV16."

"The host has reached Level 15, skill awarded—Listening to the Wind and Discriminating the Flavor."

"Listening to the Wind and Discriminating the Flavor: The host becomes extremely sensitive to the scents of various spices, able to discern their composition and ratios solely through smell. Also highly sensitive to changes in food aromas."

Seeing this skill, Wang Fan couldn’t help but exclaim several times, "Amazing!"

This skill is really extraordinary.

Not to mention how much a good nose can enhance culinary skills, but with this nose, he could become a formula spy, and there would probably be no secret recipes left in the world.

Glancing at the time, it was already 4:30, leaving no time to test his nose. He opened the door, ready to load the car.

He stopped short, seeing a thick layer of snow in the yard.

He recalled that Beijing hadn’t had such heavy snowfall in years; it was deep enough to cover his shoes.

Wang Fan really liked this weather.

Especially enjoying burrowing under the covers for a good sleep in this kind of weather, with the warmth of the bed contrasting sharply with the thick snow, improving sleep quality by at least 30%.

However, sleeping was out of the question, as the workers were waiting for his buns.

Though he did worry a bit—having made 1600 buns last night on AFK mode, would he be able to sell them all?

Beijing’s infrastructure work is top-notch. While the village was still covered in thick snow, the main roads had been mostly cleared, with the black asphalt becoming visible.

Though he traveled a bit slower, Wang Fan still reached Shibapan at around 5:15.

He’d thought the snow would reduce the number of stalls today, but upon arrival, saw that not a single one was missing; all were set up neatly on time.

There wasn’t much business yet, and some familiar stall owners gathered to chat idly. Seeing Wang Fan arrive, almost everyone sported envious expressions.

"This young man, so young and already producing quality goods."

"Absolutely, he’s only been here a few days and already has many regular customers."

"And he leaves early every day, while we’ve barely sold any, he’s already sold out and packed up."

"I reckon his daily turnover must be close to 3000."

"3000?"

Qian Mo replied, "3000 is an understatement. He comes not only in the morning but in the evening too, with a daily turnover starting at 5000 minimum—could be more, depending on how much he makes, since he always sells out. His business is incredibly good."

Another female stall owner said enviously, "No idea how his buns are made to be so popular."

How are they made?

Wang Fan had pondered this as well.

The system’s recipe isn’t particularly special—many of the ratios can be found in various cookbooks.

If there’s anything unique, it’s simply error-proof.

The spice ratios are error-proof, the steps are error-proof, and each step is executed perfectly.

When making them during the day, he always finds himself inexplicably joyful, entering an oddly enjoyable state.

That state is indescribable, but he never makes mistakes, and he’s even more attentive.

Even though he eats both the system-made buns and those he makes himself using the same ingredients, he always feels there’s a slight difference in taste.