Chapter 20: Cola Tofu

Author: Black Lantern (黑色花灯)

Translated by Gumihou

 

At exactly 12:10 pm, Ye Fei stood up from his computer chair and stretched. He made his leisurely way to the little kitchen.

To tell the truth, he was also quite curious about what he’ll be doing today.

When he reached the kitchen, Ye Chui did nothing special. He merely squatted down and opened the special storage to see what he’ll be cooking with.

However, when Ye Fei’s brain finally registered what he was seeing, his lips twisted. That’s because inside the box was a piece of tofu. A piece of tender, moist, plump, wobbly, still steaming with freshness tofu.

“System, we’re working with tofu today?” Ye Fei asked redundantly.

DCB System, “Soft tofu is a commonly seen but difficult to handle ingredient. Its fragility meant that it would be damaged when improperly handled. Soft tofu is the perfect ingredient to test a chef’s ability to do fine work. We hope that the Host would create the perfect tofu dish today. The System will now upload a list of different tofu dishes. Would the Host please select one?”

As soon as the System was done speaking, a numbing sensation shot through Ye Fei’s brain and suddenly, a list of dishes scrolled past his mind’s eye.

Since he had already experienced this with the potato dish, Ye Fei did not panic. Instead, he looked through each listed dish carefully.

“Golden Potato Strips – Level 1 Limited Delicacy – Main ingredients: Potatoes & oil; Supplementary ingredient: Ketchup”

[Spicy Sauce Claypot Tofu – Level 1 Limited Delicacy – Main ingredient: Tofu; Supplementary ingredients: Flour, chicken eggs, scallions, ginger, chilli paste etc]

[Stone Pot Tofu – Level 1 Limited Delicacy – Main ingredient – Tofu; Supplementary ingredients: Mushrooms, shrimps, young Chinese cabbage, ketchup, light soy sauce etc]

[Spicy Broiled Tofu – Level 1 Limited Delicacy – Main ingredient: Tofu; Supplementary ingredients: Cumin powder, chilli powder, aniseed powder, high-class vegetable oil etc]

[Cola Tofu – Level 1 Limited Delicacy – Main ingredient: Tofu; Supplementary ingredients: Salt, light soy sauce, scallions, cola etc]

[Seafood Clay Pot Tofu – Level 2 Limited Delicacy – Main ingredients: Tofu, shrimp, squid; Supplementary ingredients: Cooking wine, chilli paste, salt etc]

[Three Lucky Gods Tofu – Level 2 Limited Delicacy – Main ingredients: …]

With hundreds of tofu dishes in his head, Ye Fei’s eyes became dazzled. To think that with only one common ingredient, the System could list out so many ways of cooking. If he could learn all of this, he need not bother learning anything else. He could make a fortune just from tofu dishes.

“The live broadcast has begun, would the Host please pick out a dish,” the DCB System prompted.

Ye Fei looked over at that computer and saw that the live broadcast had really started.

Then, his eyes fell upon the number of viewers on his channel and his body swayed a little. He nearly collapsed to the floor.

“The F*ck, 13,000 people? Isn’t that too many? That’s… 3 digits more than yesterday!”

Ye Fei would never have imagined that there would be so many people coming in to view his broadcast on the second day. That’s over 10,000 viewers, ah. It was actually kind of exciting.

Right now, Ye Fei’s channel was in chaos.

When Tasting Everything Under Heaven realised that Ye Fei would be broadcasting, he immediately came. In fact, he was one of the first to arrive. The first thing he saw was Ye Fei making his way toward the small kitchen. “Yi? Deity Ye is about to start.”

Just then, Tiao Tie also arrived “What’s Deity Ye making today?”

“Who knows, ah? QQ Broadcasting never said anything either. That made me super curious, that’s why I came early.”

“Haiz, the people from the broadcasting should know better. They should at least give us a hint, right?”

“No wonder Fine Food Section could only occupy a small seat on the entire platform. Those people are too inefficient. Look at the people behind Song & Dance, whenever a great deity is about to perform, they would provide hints along with reminders.”

“People from FF Section really piss me off sometimes.”

While they were dissing the workers from FF Section, their entire dialogue was being read by the staff from QQ Broadcasting.

Liu Ping and Tang Xiaomin almost cried from being bad-mouthed by these people. Your mom, it’s not that we don’t want to release any tips, we actually have no idea what Deity Ye is going to make today, you know? Even he said he did not know, so how could we now? What clues could we give you?

While they were busy dissing the QQ staff, Ye Fei suddenly logged into the chat section. Everyone nearly shook with excitement.

Tasting Everything Under Heaven, “Great Deity, what will you make today, ah?”

Tiao Tie, “Great Deity, grant us the name of your dish.”

“Grant us +1”

“Grant us +2”

“Grant us + …”

Those who had personally witnessed Ye Fei make those Golden Thread Potatoes live were the most excited ones.

Seeing them all warmed up and eager, Ye Fei smiled and typed, “Cola Tofu.”

“Pu~~ Deity Ye, y-y-y-you…you’re really going to make that? Don’t tease us, ah.”

“That’s right, Cola Tofu? Haha, he really knows how to joke around, cola is a beverage, you know? How could it be a food ingredient?”

“Deity Ye, would you please be a little serious, we’re all hoping to see something grand from you, please don’t simply throw random things together and make fun of us, ah.”

“That’s right, that’s right, a person must be serious in order to be successful. Mister Broadcaster, my guess is you’ll really be making Mabo Tofu.”

“Mixed Spring Onion Tofu,”

“Deep Fried Tofu, in fact, please, please, please use the Rose Oil to fry the tofu.”

“Yes, yes, yes, please use the Rose Oil.”

Seeing all these people looking down at his chosen dish, Ye Fei did not feel angry. After all, he had the DCB System as his backer, even if things did not go well, then… then, it’s not his fault, it’s all because that System did not do a good job, it had nothing to do with him.

Just look at this rascal, before the matter had even begun, he had already settled on a scapegoat.

Without bothering to waste words with the viewers, Ye Fei went to the kitchen.

He bent down and took out a rectangular piece of soft tofu as large as his hand from the box.

This tofu was really too tender, soft to the extreme. Though Ye Fei was just holding it in his hand, that tofu actually trembled in place, like a large piece of jelly.

Also, this tofu was really white. The whiteness of this tofu did not come from chemical brightener or bleach, it was a lovely organic white.

Ye Fei held the tofu the same way he would hold a precious work of art, he dared not make any unnecessary movements, fearing that he would damage the tofu somehow.

The hidden camera within the room gave the live audience a close up look at the tofu, causing the conversations to flare up once more.

“What the… that tofu… how could tofu be so soft?”

“Is that really tofu? Look at the way it sways, I really thought it was jelly, ah.”

“Surely someone added too much whitening agent into that tofu, ba? Otherwise, how could it be so damned white?”

“Just how the f*** does one make such tender tofu? Don’t say fry, just a slight touch with a chopstick would break it, ah.”

“That’s right, that piece of tofu would really test a chef’s skills, ah.”

The moment the QQ Broadcasting Platform staff laid eyes on the tofu, each and every one of them face-palmed. Not good, this was really very not-good-bad, ah.

“What is Deity Ye doing? We have nothing against tofu, but why does it have to be soft tofu? Though I don’t know what is so good about this tofu, I know enough that this is super hard to deal with tofu. It’s too soft, it’ll just break.” Liu Ping was this close to losing his mind.

Tang Xiaomin laughed bitterly, “Deity Ye’s actions really test one’s heart rate, just what is this stunt?”

“Looks like something bad would happen today, ah.”

“Should we give him a hint? Ask him to change to firmer tofu?”

“Even if I send him a message he won’t see it, he’s already in the kitchen.”

“The F, let’s just leave it to fate, ba.”

“Can someone please change the subject?”

“I heard that Celebrate Peace w/ Song & Dance and Torrential Rivermouth have both reached HX¥60,000 rewards.”

“… … … can’t you switch to a more cheerful subject?”

“Very well, Iron Stomach has started on his super pizza. The number of people in his live broadcast has reached 53,000 people and counting. Looks like this guy would reach Bronze Star level soon.”

“That’s good, that’s very good, ah. I hope Iron Stomach can hold out, this Ye Fei is just too unreliable.”

“Don’t say anything more. That Ye Fei looks like he’s about to say something?”

 

[Gumihou: Lol, what’s this cola tofu, aren’t you guys curious too? I’ll post the recipe in the coming chapters!]

 

If you love my translations, do consider supporting me via Patreon or ko-fi ~

Or drop a comment at novelupdates!

Gumihou will love to hear from you ~