Chapter 38: Lighting Up the 3rd Handbook

Livestream Chat:

"Are there really that many kinds of pork offal?"

"There must be duplicates. I see several plates of just pork intestines."

"They don’t even marinate the offal? Serving it straight up is pretty hardcore, huh?"

"So scary, they don’t even add ginger or garlic? How gamey is that gonna taste???"

"Is that white, flowery-looking thing pork brain??"

"I thought the spicy *mala* pork brain we have here was already an acquired taste! I can’t believe they serve it plain!!!"

"What do you guys know? You only need strong flavors to cover up bad smells when the ingredients aren’t fresh! This offal came straight from the slaughterhouse, so it’s delicious served plain and simple!"

...

Watching the discussion in his livestream chat,

Li Xiao saw a lot of skepticism in the comments, which he completely understood.

’To be honest, I was really hesitant the first time I tried pork offal congee, too.’

’But after trying it, all my preconceptions vanished. All that was left was love for it.’

Li Xiao:

"Eating offal is really a race against time. For a shop like Sister Hong’s Pork Offal Congee, which has a direct supply from the slaughterhouse, the quality of the food is guaranteed."

"There’s an old saying that goes, ’The finest ingredients only require the simplest cooking methods to bring out their true flavor.’"

"Daring to cook offal in plain congee shows an incredible amount of confidence in itself."

Li Xiao picked up his phone and panned it around over his head, capturing the entire bustling scene at Sister Hong’s Pork Offal Congee, filled with the lively chatter of diners.

"I saw a lot of cars with out-of-town license plates outside."

"If it didn’t taste good, why would so many people be willing to come all the way from so far away just for a bowl of this congee?"

"Alright, enough talk. The offal’s been here for a while now. If I don’t start eating, it’s not going to be fresh anymore."

As he spoke, he placed his phone back in its stand on the table. He picked up a plate of pork ribs and poured them into the plain congee.

The roiling congee quickly swallowed the ribs. He gave it a couple of stirs to distribute the ingredients evenly.

When he felt the time was right, Li Xiao poured in another plate, this one with pork kidney.

The charcoal stove under the clay pot was burning strong. The smooth, velvety congee base bubbled continuously, with large and small bubbles rising to the surface—BUBBLE BUBBLE—before popping.

The ribs and kidney slowly changed color as they tumbled in the pot, and a faint, meaty aroma began to spread with the steam.

A five-minute wait wasn’t long. Soon, the countdown timer on his phone went off.

Li Xiao quickly called his three dorm mates over to have some congee.

Half a jin of ribs might not sound like much, but once they were chopped into small pieces, it was actually a fair amount.

Li Xiao picked up a piece of rib with his chopsticks and held it up to the camera.

"Alright, it’s time for the ’fans eat first’ segment."

He gently squeezed the rib with his chopsticks, and in the next moment, a large amount of clear juice oozed out.

"Everyone, look at this rib. The meat is relaxed, not seized up."

"In a congee base over high heat, five minutes is more than enough to cook the ribs through."

"The ribs are perfect right now. You have to take them out as soon as they’re cooked, or the meat will get tough."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Li Xiao tossed the rib into his mouth.

The first thing he tasted was the layer of thick, smooth congee coating the rib. The congee had no extra ingredients, only a little salt for seasoning.

But after absorbing the juices from the pork ribs and kidney, it wasn’t bland at all. Instead, it carried the savory sweetness of the meat juices and the faint, unique sweetness of fragrant rice.

His teeth gently bit into the rib, and the juices trapped inside burst out instantly.

The meat was tender yet springy, the flavor savory and sweet. There was no gamey taste, only a pure, fresh sweetness.

As he swallowed the first piece of rib, the System’s notification sound echoed in his mind.

[Congratulations, you have unlocked the 3rd Food Guide Entry.]

[The Food Guide Entry you unlocked is: Pork Offal Congee]

[Food Rating: 90 Points [Excellent]]

[As the rating is Excellent, rewards are multiplied by 4.]

[Congratulations, you have been awarded 800,000 in cash.]

[Congratulations, you have been awarded 800,000 in cash.]

[Congratulations, you have received the Plain Congee Recipe.]

[Congratulations, you have received the Sizzling Plate Pork Offal Recipe.]

[Note 1: Rewards will be automatically legitimized. You do not need to worry about their source.]

[Note 2: Reward multipliers differ based on the score.]

[Score: 60-69, Pass, Reward x1]

[Score: 70-79, Average; Reward x2]

[Score: 80-89, Good, Reward x3]

[Score: 90-99, Excellent, Reward x4]

The next moment, Li Xiao’s phone screen lit up.

[Your savings account ending in 7700 has received a deposit of 1,600,000.00 yuan...]

He quietly listened as the system doled out its rewards.

?????

Several large question marks appeared above Li Xiao’s head.

’At first, I thought the system had bugged out and duplicated the cash reward.’

However, after counting the number of rewards, he quickly realized it wasn’t a bug, but the normal process.

There were four reward entries in total. The first and second rewards weren’t a duplication; they were two separate rewards.

Take this time for example: if all four rewards had been cash, it would have meant he’d receive a whopping 3.2 million yuan.

’However, based on my experience from these past three check-ins...’

’The rewards always seem to include the recipe for the Food Guide entry, so the chances of all four being cash aren’t very high.’

He wasn’t too concerned about it, though.

After all, the speed at which he was making money was just too fast.

There’s a saying that goes, "Once you have enough money, it just becomes a bunch of numbers."

Just look at him now. It had only been a few days since he got the system, and his cash on hand had skyrocketed from tens of thousands to over two million yuan.

’As long as I don’t buy a car or a house, it’d actually be pretty difficult to spend all this money.’

If it were an ordinary person, they could just put two million yuan in the bank and live off the interest in a normal third- or fourth-tier city.

Looking at the long string of zeros in the text message, Li Xiao felt that happiness was something to be shared.

’Of course, I also quite enjoy the feeling of thousands of people in the livestream chat completely changing their tune about me.’

’In real life, if you gave out a red envelope with a few dozen yuan, people might just think you’re cheap.’

’But if you throw out a red envelope with that much online, the netizens will all be fighting to call you ’Big Bro’.

Li Xiao:

"This congee base is cooked until it’s incredibly smooth. You can’t get a base this velvety without real skill. After mixing with the meat juices, it tastes incredibly savory and sweet."

"Five minutes was also the perfect amount of time. It makes the ribs incredibly tender, and they don’t get stuck in your teeth at all."

"Putting everything else aside, this smooth, plain congee base alone is worth coming here to try."

"Delicious food is meant to be shared with everyone."

Of course, this time he didn’t just send out red envelopes, because he had thought of a better solution.

’Since the previous owner of this body wanted more people to taste delicious food...’

’...why don’t I use this opportunity to help more people take that first step?’