CH 167

The three-day snack street festival made the soldiers seem to have fallen into a rice tank. If many people asked them before, what was the most impressive military life? They would definitely answer, shooting guns, fighting beast, bathhouses, gas chamber training, etc. However, all the resident soldiers on the planet now would all say that it was the snack street.

There were countless delicious snacks with different flavors, customs, and cooking methods; there were also many fun games that make people grit their teeth but excited; there were also some things that were usually not available in the military, such as photos of celebrities on sale…

In the military chat forum, the first ten pages were almost all posts about Snack Street, with pictures and articles, videos, beauties, and cute babies, and even beast come to join in the fun. Soldiers went shopping in the morning and browse the forums in their dormitory at night.

Although the snack street was only been open for three days, the heat had not completely subsided after a week. When the soldiers met, they usually said hello and some words like, ‘Is the training finished? ’, ‘Have you taken a bath? ’, or ‘Have you gone to the cafeteria today?’, but now all had become various sentences containing the word ‘Snack Street’.

Taking advantage of this enthusiasm, an anonymous questionnaire to vote for top ten most popular foods for the military rations and the top ten popular foods that the Scientific Research Bureau will focus on in the next step had also been sent to every soldiers in each dormitory.

[1. If you go out on a mission and can only bring ten kinds of food, what would you choose?]

[2. You encounter space turbulence and must discard half of your food. Which of the ten you listed above will you throw away?]

[3. At the end of your life, what would your last bite of food be like?]

[4. If you can mail the food from the military cafeteria home to ask your family and friends to taste, which three would you choose?]

[5. To be given out as supper after evening training, which food will you choose?]

…

Liu Weiwei also got a copy of the survey questionnaire from the Scientific Research Bureau. She also participated in doing it carefully and found that the topic design was more complicated than she thought. The question asking to list ten was already fundamentally difficult to fill, but it became more uncomfortable after listing ten and needed to throw away five.

After finally finishing the questions, Liu Weiwei picked up the roaring Meat Bun from his crib and cuddle him, "This Li Sanpang, last time he said that adults don't do multiple-choice questions. But why the questions are so difficult?"

"Little Meat Bun, what do you want to eat for breakfast today? How about vegetable beef porridge?" Even she felt very troubled to answer the questionnaire, let alone the soldiers.

People who went to the cafeteria every day knew that the set meal they eat every day was almost non-repetitive. Now they could only choose ten dishes. With how focused they were thinking, they frowned their eyebrows until it could even squeeze a flying insect. The snack street opened the door to everyone's taste, letting them know that the world was big and the food world was even wider, they could even rely on their shallow imagination to generalize and list them all.

Now they were asked what to bring if they could only bring ten... It's really hard. However, the questionnaire must be done. The only thing the soldiers could do was to make a small complaint to the logistics office, or went to the scientific research bureau every day to look at the scientists with resentment. Many people stayed up late to do the questionnaires and the next day these answers came to the hands of Li Sanpang’s research team.

Obviously, these questions weren't made by the scientists casually. There was a certain logical connection between the front and back, and there were hidden traps that once again verified whether the soldiers answered honestly. The scientists also did the questionnaire themselves, almost grabbing the hair off. The point was that they got together yesterday and checked each other's answers, but then they found that the sacred food in everyone's mind was not the same. More than two dozen people had different answers and there were no overlap at all.

It was not until a total of 23,449 valid questionnaires were collected from the intelligent system that the scientists were enthusiastic about the analysis results. As a result, Li Sanpang took a look, and then moved to the corner with a low expression on his face. In the analysis conclusion, the top ten popular foods, he had never seen them at all!

After being beaten by the old tyrant at home, he didn't even finish shopping at the snack street, he was so aggrieved…

"The degree of overlap is very low." The closest scientist frowned. "The first-ranked lamb kebabs got only 34.59% of the total votes, which is less than half."

Another scientist nodded, "The second place is roast duck with a 33.97% vote rate. But this roast duck actually did not appear on the three days snack street. It seems that the last sports meeting left a very deep impression on everyone."

The scientists frowned, "There is also the third-ranked Tianjin-style jianbing and hot sour noodles. Their votes are similar, but the taste is completely different."

Tianjin-style Jianbing

"Yes. Many people are not used to eating spicy food, so there are obvious differences in the answers."

"Stinky tofu and Guokui are also very popular... but the former has too strong of a smell to be used as military rations." (TN: Guokui, literally "pot helmet", is a kind of flatbread made from flour originating from Shaanxi cuisine and Sichuan cuisine.)

Guokui

Li Sanpang turned over, he hadn't eaten this Guokui, and he looked depressed.

The other scientists were also very distressed. They didn’t give the soldiers multiple-choice questions, but the consequences of fill in the blanks answers were very serious.

"Some people like heavy flavors, some like sweet, some are uncomfortable without meat, some love pasta, some like buns, and some must have rice..."

The scientists looked at each other.

"After the lessons of last hot pot, we still have to reduce the proportion of heavy-flavored food in the military rations."

"Let's call Clerk Liu."

The scientists had a terrible headache.

…

Liu Weiwei was also curious about the results of the questionnaire, but when she received the request for help from the Research Bureau, she was already busy at the second cafeteria outside.

After the scientists sent the results, Liu Weiwei smiled at the sight. Even she, an original ancient Chinese people, had no way to list the ten best foods in her mind, because she loves them too much to leave any at all, compared to the soldiers who had just been introduced to the food world? They were now too fascinated by the colorful world and didn’t even found their preferred taste yet. It would be too difficult to decide which snack dishes from different parts of China were best. These various cuisines had been competing with each other for hundreds of years, and she had never seen an official conclusion about the ranking before.

However, Liu Weiwei saw that most people listed roast duck and hot pot for the answer of last food they wanted to eat when dying. Seeing this, she couldn't help but raised her mouth. The men in these military regions had high training intensity and they sweat a lot every day. Because of this, they liked dishes with heavy oil and high fat, they also loved heavy-tasting noodle dishes.

When these soldiers could only choose the limited dishes, they listed roast duck, hot pot, and skewers that were different depending on their ingredients. This was like cheating, they answered the multiple-choice questions with multiple-choice answer.

Liu Weiwei smiled and replied to the scientists' message. She promised to go to the Scientific Research Bureau when she returned in the evening as she was engaged in busy preparations for the restaurant.

During the three days of the snack street, the small restaurant outside did not close.

"One portion of Potato Sirloin Stew and one portion of Beef Noodles in Sour Soup." Xu Hui probed the orders and went out to greet the diners again.

Liu Weiwei immediately returned to her senses. She took the prepared egg white, added salt and dried starch, and then gently mix some beef slices in one direction. She then stir fried some ginger and garlic until fragrant, added chopped wild pepper and chili sauce, and added some cooking wine to remove the smell. She poured some chicken stock until all boiled together, and then she strained the soup to remove the solids. She added salt, white vinegar, thick noodles, enoki mushrooms, and last threw the beef mixture and potato in to simmer together. Finally, when the pot was out, she sprinkled some chopped green onions and coriander.

As soon as she got a copy, Xu Hui rushed in again with a weird expression, "Someone is broadcasting live outside, should we stop it?" 

In military bases, no one could broadcast live without permission. Although this store was outside the base where it was not so strict, but the waiters were soldiers in their uniforms, so everyone had some scruples.

Liu Weiwei was a little worried. She put down the spatula and followed Xu Hui out. As soon as she went out, she saw a girl sitting in the lobby with her back to the kitchen. It was obvious that there was a camera on her table. 

Although the anchor girl deliberately lowered her voice, it was still very clear in the small dining hall.

"It's a pity that this store has a limited supply. Today I chose the Beef Noodles in Sour Soup

Set meal. The potato sirloin stew can only be eaten next time."

"Can you see it? This noodle bowl give a strong sourness as it is served, but the soup looks quite clear. This sourness makes my hungry body become hungrier. The sourness is refreshing and there is a slight stimulating stamina. Before I move my chopsticks, my mouth has already started to salivate."

"Then I will start first. I'll take a sip of the soup first and try it. Soup is the essence of this bowl of noodles. The ancient order of eating in Western food also proves that drinking hot soup first has an appetizing effect."

Liu Weiwei raised her eyebrows in surprise when she heard the voice of the other party. The other party had some basic knowledge of eating, she sounded quite professional, and the voice was familiar. Before she remembered who it was, she heard the voice of the other party continuing to comment on the live broadcast.

"So spicy!" The girl was obviously frightened.

"Although the waiter… Yes, the tall man in military uniform you saw from the back is a waiter. Although the waiter reminded me that this set meal is on the level of three peppers, but I still want to try it. I think I can eat spicy food, but I didn't expect a dish named with Sour Soup to be so spicy."

"The soup looks golden. It has no resemblance to other red and numbing Sichuan dishes. It has a very strong pickle flavor. The very pungent spicy taste hides behind the strong sour taste. After lifting your appetite, it attacked the tip of your tongue, knocking out half of my blood! Sigh... I'll drink some water first~"

"I advise everyone, when you go to a restaurant in the future, always listen to the advice of the waiter, don't be like me. Those who can't eat spicy, be careful with this set meal~"

Someone nodded in agreement from time to time in the dining hall. In fact, the diners in the entire lobby had already pricked their ears and deliberately paused their conversations. Obviously, they were all looking forward to hear how the live broadcast anchor would comment on the Beef Noodles in Sour Soup.

"Hufttttt~ I finally got over the spiciness. I'll try the noodles again."

"Huh? The beef is so tender and the thickness of the slices is just right. It is not too thin to make you feel you are not eating anything, but it is not too thick. It was a full and satisfying taste after one bite. There are also enoki mushrooms in the soup. They are smooth and chewy. Because the soup is hot, it is more peculiarly refreshing."

"The noodles inside are thick handmade noodles. The spiciness was just right when I ate it. I sucked the whole noodles into my mouth and tasted the umami of the beef and the enoki mushrooms. With the slightly spicy and slightly sour rolling over the tip of my tongue as I chewed, it was very delicious."

"At this time, I begin to want a bowl of rice, it's a sin~"

As young anchor girl was explaining, Liu Weiwei listened for a long time. After some time, she finally patted her forehead, finally she remembered the owner of the voice.

"Zhao Linshuang!"