Chapter 22 - Master-Level Tricycle Driving Skills!

Chapter 22 Fang Ya Discovers the Stir-Fried Noodle Stand in University Town! Master-Level Tricycle Driving Skills!On the other side of town, Fang Ya was reviewing a food video she’d edited and posted it to her Douyin account. She had over 15 million followers on both Weibo and Douyin.

Recently, her food videos had been underwhelming because most of the popular dishes had already been covered. Finding truly delicious, new food was becoming harder and harder, and repeating the same foods wasn’t an option.

Sighing, she decided to take a break from posting for a while. Bored, she scrolled through Douyin. After a beauty video, the next one that popped up was a street food video.

“This fried noodle stall is incredible! So good it’ll make you cry!”

The video showed a close-up of stir-fried noodles, with a young woman eating and giving a thumbs up. The video’s creator had only a few hundred followers, but it had already garnered four to five thousand likes.

Curious, Fang Ya clicked into the comment section, which had over a hundred comments.

[Is this the stir-fried noodles stand in the narrow alley of University Town on Changlin Road? I tried it yesterday, and the noodles were amazing!].[Yep, that’s the one! The stall owner is a young, handsome guy, and his fried noodles are out of this world—there’s no way to describe how good they are!].[The only downside is that there are too many people. I waited in line forever and only managed to get a mung bean soup. After drinking it, I don’t even like milk tea anymore!].[I didn’t get the noodles either! I’ll go earlier tomorrow to get in line!].[Which stall is it? Is it really that good?].[It’s just stir-fried noodles; how good could it be? I don’t believe it!].[No joke, this place is legit! I never used to eat fried noodles, but now I can’t stop thinking about it!].

…

Fang Ya browsed the comments. They didn’t seem like ads—they felt genuine.

She left a comment.

[Is it really that good? Don’t trick me!].

Within two minutes, the video creator excitedly replied.

[Wow!! Is this really Fang Ya? The food blogger with millions of followers!!].[I’m honored!! So exciting!!].[I watch your videos all the time!!].[I swear it’s real! The fried noodles are amazing!! It’s in the narrow alley at University Town on Changlin Road!!].

The owner is super handsome and young!! If you go around 7 PM, the stall with the longest line is definitely the one!].

This was the first time such a big influencer had commented on their post, and the creator couldn’t help but send multiple enthusiastic replies.

Fang Ya didn’t respond further, just liked the comments and noted down the address. She decided to visit University Town when she had some free time to see if the stir-fried noodles were as good as everyone said.

…

The next morning, Lu Qin woke up at 5 AM, while the little one was still fast asleep in her room, hugging her teddy bear.

After washing up, Lu Qin went to the yard, unplugged the charger from his three-wheeled food cart, and stashed it under the seat. Then he hopped on the cart and set off to buy ingredients. The night before, before going to sleep, Lu Qin used the system points to enter a lottery draw.

With 628 points, he drew six times. The rewards were decent—dozens of mint candies, a tube of children’s toothpaste, and a skill—Master-Level Tricycle Driving.

The children’s toothpaste from the system wasn’t just any ordinary toothpaste. For children under 10, it effectively prevented cavities and thoroughly cleaned their mouths—perfect for the little one.

Now that Lu Qin had Master-Level Tricycle Driving skills, the moment he sat on the tricycle food cart, his muscles and nerves instinctively felt incredibly proficient. He could now pass a driving test with his eyes closed, even performing drift parking maneuvers.

Not only that, but Lu Qin also noticed that while riding the tricycle, his senses become sharper, allowing him to accurately gauge the surrounding traffic and avoid accidents.

He twisted the handle, and the tricycle cart roared to life. With a swift and elegant U-turn, it shot out of the small courtyard.

At the farmers’ market, Lu Qin bought enough ingredients for the stir-fried noodles—-cabbage, bean sprouts, ham, and more. The vegetables had to be fresh every day, and with how popular his stall had become, ingredients rarely lasted until the next day. He could buy enough ham for three days at a time, but the lean pork also had to be fresh daily.

Lu Qin also bought 10 pounds of old rock sugar to make mung bean soup. Today, Lu Qin planned to introduce a new item to his stall—Bingjing Cake, a delicate pastry that takes considerable time and effort to make. He didn’t plan to make too many, opting for a limited quantity to attract more attention while also diversifying the food offerings at his stand.

At the farmer’s market, Lu Qin spent about half an hour browsing before stopping at a rice and flour store.

“Boss, is this rice from Linggu?” Lu Qin asked, picking up a handful of rice from a woven sack and rubbing it between his fingers.

“You’ve got a good eye, young man. You can tell this rice is from Linggu?”

“Linggu’s rice is more rounded and translucent, and it’s also slightly flatter than rice from other places.”

“You’re a connoisseur.”

“How much is it per pound?”

“5.3 yuan.”

“I’ll take 10 pounds.”

“Alright.”

“Do you have glutinous rice?”

“Yes, on the left, it’s 5.6 yuan. On the right, it’s 6.4 yuan. Which one do you want?”

“Is the one on the left from Xingyang?”

“Authentic Xingyang glutinous rice. I guarantee it.” seaʀᴄh thё Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Give me 60 pounds.”

“Okay.”

After scanning the QR code to pay, Lu Qin hoisted the bags of rice and took a quick glance around to memorize the store’s location.

“Boss, I’m off. Give me a discount next time!”

“Sure, take care!”

To make authentic and delicious Bingjing Cake, the quality of the ingredients is crucial. The specific regions where the rice is grown make all the difference. For this cake, the best rice and glutinous rice come from two small, neighboring counties in the north—Linggu and Xingyang.

When it comes to traditional Chinese pastries, the ingredients and processes must be perfect. The Western methods of milling rice and flour with modern machines may speed things up, but they significantly diminish the texture and taste. A discerning palate could easily tell the difference.

Lu Qin also managed to track down an old woman in her eighties who sold him a small millstone for 30 yuan. It was a 12-inch millstone, capable of grinding five to six pounds of rice at a time. The stone had been gathering dust in her storage room for years.

In addition, Lu Qin purchased a steamer for making buns, peanut oil, honey, charcoal, and molds—everything essential for making Bingjing Cake. The honey had to be osmanthus honey, and the peanut oil needed to come from a local workshop—commercially available peanut oil just wouldn’t do.

After nearly an hour and a half of shopping, Lu Qin had spent over 600 yuan on the various ingredients and tools. The three-wheeled cart was fully loaded as he headed back towards the southern part of the city.

When he reached his neighborhood, he noticed Grandpa Ge and a few other neighbors seemingly waiting for him.

Seeing his cart, Grandpa Ge greeted him with a broad smile.

“Xiao Lu, back from shopping? Are you still setting up your stall near Sunshine Primary School today, even though it’s the weekend?”

Lu Qin slowed the cart down and responded, “Yes, even though the students aren’t in school, there are still plenty of residents from the nearby apartment complexes, so there’s business to be done.”

“Great! We’ll come by later to eat your fried noodles and mung bean soup.”

“Sounds good.”

“Xiao Lu, how do you make your fried noodles so delicious? They’re not greasy at all, and after the first bite, I’m already craving the second!”

“My daughter-in-law hasn’t had much of an appetite lately, hasn’t eaten breakfast in days. But yesterday, she had your noodles and almost broke the chopsticks! She wants more today!”

“My little Tiger is the same—he insisted on having your noodles today!”

“When will you be setting up? We want to make sure we’re there on time.”

“In about two hours. I need to prepare everything first.”

“Alright, we’ll be waiting!”

Once back home, Lu Qin saw that the little one was still sleeping. Since it was the weekend, he decided to let her sleep in.

Meanwhile, he began prepping the ingredients for the stall.

The rice noodles for the stir-fried dish only needed to be soaked and then drained. Chopping the vegetables and meat into small pieces and storing them in baskets was also a quick task.

While the mung bean soup was simmering, Lu Qin started preparing to make the Bingjing Cake.