CHAPTER 681: CHAPTER 680: A SMALL WORK

"School Festival" two days countdown, when the promotional offensive dominated both online and offline, forming a full-scale coverage, the kitchen of Polar Star Dormitory, however, was shrouded in gloom.

"No, no more!"

Tanaka Hikari gulped down cold water, her mouth and body feeling a slight relief from the burning sensation.

She looked with fear at the plates of Mapo Tofu in front of her.

"Still no good!"

Xingping Chuangzhen, with his hand supporting his chin and brows entwined, likewise took a spoonful of Mapo Tofu, muttered unclearly while chewing, "It’s spicy, but this ’spicy’, compared to what I had at the Chinese Cooking Research Association, is too far off!"

Bang!

"Damn it!"

With both hands propped on the table, Xingping Chuangzhen, who had been practicing and failing repeatedly for several days, felt his patience might explode, "Why, despite both being called ’spicy’, is the taste one in the heavens and the other beneath the earth, lacking that captivating depth?"

"Because..." Tanaka Hikari cautiously said, "Senior Koga has mastered the ultimate key!"

"Xingping!"

She mustered her courage, "Maybe we should shift our approach, we stand no chance in a ’spicy’ showdown! We can’t be stubborn!"

"No way!"

Xingping Chuangzhen swept away the defeatist attitude, a flame of fighting spirit burning in his eyes, "It’s not time to give up so easily!"

Having said that, he turned back to prepare the ingredients.

Chopping green peppers, slicing meat, soon he served up twice-cooked pork and shredded pork with green peppers.

"I really can’t anymore!"

Tanaka Hikari, after taking two bites, was on the verge of tears, pointing at her slightly swollen lips, she almost cried, "If I eat anymore, I won’t recover by the day after tomorrow, how am I supposed to serve guests at the school festival!"

Seeing the situation worsening, she slipped away, leaving Xingping Chuangzhen to sigh deeply and untie his apron.

Polar Star Dormitory, quieter than usual.

Ichise Hui led the other friends to set up the booth, busy from morning until night.

The kitchen, even the air was filled with an annoying spicy aroma, Xingping Chuangzhen stepped out to breathe fresh air, stretching leisurely, "Maybe Xiao Hui is right, it’s time to change our approach!"

Standing at the front door, he glanced over the courtyard of Polar Star Dormitory.

Outside under the shade of the trees, a girl sat quietly, a small tray with several handmade exquisite pastries and an afternoon tea before her.

The girl flipped through something on her cell phone, absorbed, her gaze occasionally becoming distant as if she was lost in her own world of thoughts.

Seeing this, Xingping Chuangzhen greeted:

"Morioka, aren’t you going to help at the construction site in the central district?"

Disturbed, the girl wasn’t annoyed, but looked up and smiled, "Senior Ichise told me to rest well, he said in two days I might be overwhelmed with work, and to conserve my energy."

Xingping Chuangzhen paused, then forced a smile.

"Yeah!"

He added complicatedly in his heart, "No wonder Senior Ichise relies on her so much. With Morioka’s fame from winning the autumn selection, many visitors from outside the school will flock to Polar Star Dormitory’s booth because of her renown."

Touching on no grievances with fate or the hero complex, Xingping Chuangzhen’s emotional adjustment capability was almost abnormal, instantly replaced by a sunny smile:

"What are you looking at?"

He leaned closer to the table, immediately exclaimed, "A comic?"

Even if he wasn’t much for fun, seldom listened to music, didn’t play games, or watch animations, fully focusing on honing his culinary skills, he was attracted by the enlarged comic pages on the cell phone screen.

Just as, Morioka Makki’s fair fingers turned to the last page, a prompt popped up on the screen:

"That’s all."

"Ah, finished it again, I need more updates!" Sen Tian Makoto muttered.

"Let me see!"

Xingping Chuangzhen suddenly became interested.

Because this was a colored manga about food, and the serialized plot had reached an exciting point where a young chef presented a unique dish to a picky customer; it was a dish embellished with a fiery red, extremely spicy flavor!

Chinese cuisine!

Sen Tian Makoto didn’t hand over her phone but instead gave him an online reading address, "You see it for yourself."

After saying that, she sipped tea with snacks, her eyes contentedly squinting.

She was observing Xingping Chuangzhen.

After a moment.

"How is it?" Makki whispered after a while.

Xingping Chuangzhen was still in awe, staring at some no-name author’s full-color manga published on their personal Twitter, muttering to himself, "The Shu people are not afraid of spice, the Xiang people’s spice is fearless, the Qian people fear the absence of spice. It turns out the people from these regions of Chinese Land pursue such an extreme level of spiciness, not just the Shu people with their spicy food habits!"

He continued reading.

A hunched old customer picked up some chili oil dumplings with his chopsticks, and immediately his expression was one of heavenly enjoyment.

At this point, the restaurant’s head chef and manager reflected internally:

"I knew it was addictive!"

With a realistic, fresh style, the handsome protagonist clenched his fist and said, "Taste, in physiological terms, is defined as sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami—these five types. Therefore, ’spicy’ is not technically a taste in physiological terms, but rather... a pain sensation!"

"Spicy flavor is different from the organs that sense taste; this thing, which is outside the physiological system, is actually caught by a vanilloid receptor..."

"More precisely, capsaicin in chili peppers bypasses the tongue and reacts with the vanilloid receptors in human neurons, creating a burning sensation, thus forming the spicy taste!"

"As for the reason it’s addictive..."

Xingping Chuangzhen’s eyes widened as he read on, involuntarily reciting, "The intense spiciness stimulates the brain to release adrenaline and endorphin secretion, which is why strong spicy foods are addictively pleasurable!"

"So that’s why!"

The unknown author, through the protagonist’s introspection, conveyed very professional culinary knowledge. Xingping Chuangzhen read it back and forth dozens of times, each time gaining new insights, "I never knew spicy food could be such a tantalizing dish!"

Lacking fundamental theoretical knowledge, it felt like Xingping Chuangzhen had taken a class on intense spice, his heart brimming with a heavy joy of fulfillment.

So professional!

This was Xingping’s strong impression of the manga content.

Suddenly, for the first time, Xingping felt an irresistible affection for something outside of culinary arts.

"And this chili oil dumplings, Chinese cuisine..."

He bowed his head to read more, and after a while, when he looked up again, Xingping Chuangzhen’s eyes were brimming with eagerness to experiment, "So detailed! I could try to replicate this! I might just add this recipe to my school festival menu!"

He then turned and strode into the house.

Sen Tian Makoto watched him disappear, slightly tilting her eyes upward, revealing a fox-like smile.

"As expected, another new reader has joined!"

A genuine smile filled the girl’s eyes.

To an unknown Twitter author with just dozens of followers, it seemed like Makki knew him.

"More updates! More updates!"

She sent a short message.

The manga had only started serializing a few days ago, updated daily, featuring a fresh style with fresh content, no violence, simple character designs, and simple scenes, all about the protagonist inheriting a small shop and daily interactions with various customers. Warm and comforting but also providing a baptism of professional culinary knowledge.

At least, Makki thought it was very appealing, her inner self stimulated by a series of cooking close-ups, sparking a strong impulse to practice.

Was this truly just a minor practice piece?