The artisan training area wasn’t hard to find; on the contrary, it occupied a massive space and was bustling with noise and activity.
On his way to the training area, he saw many players continuously hurrying toward it. Since beginner villages lacked places to practice crafting professions and the qualifications to purchase a homestead were relatively high, most players had no choice but to practice in the training areas located within each major city.
Stepping through the gates of the artisan training area, he bypassed the casting, sewing, and apothecary zones, heading straight for the cooking zone at the very back.
Compared to the other three zones, the cooking zone had less than half the number of people, primarily because the dishes players managed to produce were practically unpalatable, and most of the purple-quality food circulating on the market was produced by NPCs.
When Su Wenqi reached the entrance of the cooking zone, his quest marker suddenly lit up, pointing straight at the woman behind the counter, whose name was now revealed: Li Lanxin.
He stepped forward and handed Granny Wang’s letter to her. The letter was brief, and she finished reading it with a glance or two.
Then, she retrieved a wooden tablet and a key from the cabinet, handed them to Su Wenqi, and said to him, “Granny Wang has already told me about your situation. Years ago, she had a dedicated kitchen here. Now that I am handing both the tablet and the key over to you, you are free to come here and practice whenever you like.”
With that, she led Su Wenqi into the courtyard. Inside the courtyard stood several rows of buildings partitioned into individual rooms. The game’s soundproofing was exceptional; neither the noises from inside each room nor any aromas could leak out.
Li Lanxin led him to the innermost part of the courtyard, where a single, isolated room stood. This was undoubtedly the practice room Granny Wang had used back in the day.
Stopping at the doorway, she turned and told him, “This room was Granny Wang’s former practice room. Its usage rights are now handed over to you. If you need any materials, you can ask the shop assistants; they can deliver them to you in about ten minutes.”
“Alright, thank you.” He took out the key and unlocked the door. Although it hadn’t been used for years, it remained completely dust-free, and all kinds of facilities were fully equipped.
He didn’t refuse Granny Wang’s kind gesture. Sweeping his gaze across the room, he saw that all sorts of seasonings were present, but ingredients were missing.
He therefore closed the door and prepared to find a courtyard assistant to help buy some ingredients back.
Walking and chatting with Li Lanxin, he learned quite a bit about Granny Wang’s younger days. Although she held back some details, he could still guess that Granny Wang’s background was far from ordinary.
After all, how could an ordinary person possess such peerless encounters? From the recipes Granny Wang had passed down to him, he had also caught glimpses of exquisite and complex banquets—things an ordinary person could never hope to touch.
However, he didn’t press her with questions, merely noting down Granny Wang’s preferences quietly in his mind, among which it was revealed that Granny Wang loved cloud-slice cakes above all else.
Before long, they arrived at the courtyard’s front hall. Li Lanxin returned to her seat behind the counter, and Su Wenqi found one of the assistants, paying him an errand fee to help purchase ingredients.
“Little brother, this is the ingredient list I need. Among them, you can buy extra materials for the cloud-slice cakes, um, let’s make it three times the amount of the other ingredients.” On his way back to the front hall, he had already drafted the ingredient list and found the recipe for cloud-slice cakes within Granny Wang’s cookbook.
Since he had never made pastries or similar foods before, he didn’t know the exact amount of materials required, so he asked the assistant to buy extra just in case.
There was zero chance the ingredients would go to waste anyway; if he bought too much, he would just make more, and if he bought too little, he would have to trouble the assistant for another trip. Buying a bit more upfront was much better, and any leftover ingredients could simply be tossed into his backpack for future use after all, ingredients didn’t expire or spoil.
He didn’t deliberately keep his conversation with the assistant at a low volume, so Li Lanxin heard every word clearly from behind the counter. A smile curved her lips as she raised her voice and called out to Su Wenqi, “Young master, make sure to save me a plate of cloud-slice cakes when you finish making them! Back in the day, Granny Wang and I met because we were fighting over the last plate of cloud-slice cakes at Tianxiang Pavilion.”
Hearing this, Su Wenqi naturally had no reason to refuse, and he smiled back, “Alright, but I’ve never made them before, so I’ll see if I can manage it today. If I succeed, I’ll definitely set aside a plate for you.”
Receiving a satisfactory response, Li Lanxin pulled a dish of melon seeds from beneath the counter and passed the time snacking on them.
When Su Wenqi bade her farewell to return to the back courtyard, she even shoved a small plate of melon seeds into his hands, so he headed back carrying the dish.
Returning to the practice room, he took out the cookbook and began reviewing the method for making cloud-slice cakes. The steps were few, but the required ingredients demanded time to age.
The natural aging of rice flour alone required a full three months. He scratched his head—the assistant would surely buy pre-aged rice flour… right?
Sighing softly, he figured it was fine; if the assistant bought glutinous rice instead, he would just have to trouble him to run another errand.
Just as he finished reading through the preparation steps, a knock sounded at the door.
Opening it, he saw the assistant he had commissioned for the shopping pushing a small cart outside the door. He hurriedly invited the person inside, thanked him, and began checking the ingredients.
Fortunately, the assistant was experienced and had directly purchased pre-aged rice flour, which lifted the heavy stone weighing on his mind.
Expressing his sincere gratitude to the assistant, he closed the door and began studying the cloud-slice cake recipe. Having read through the preparation steps earlier, he knew that aging the rice flour took three full months.
However, waiting three months in the game was simply too long, so he searched the forums and found that the game store sold time-acceleration items, the longer the accelerated duration, the more expensive they were.
Luckily, the glutinous rice flour bought by the assistant was already aged, so he only needed to use an acceleration item during the sugar-moistening step.
No sooner said than done, he placed powdered sugar, refined white sugar, maltose, sesame oil, and osmanthus flowers into a basin, added water, and stirred them evenly. Stirring them until the sugar completely dissolved was called moistening the sugar. After letting it sit for 12 hours for the sugar powder to fully dissolve, it would be ready for use.
Once the ingredients were thoroughly mixed, he applied the acceleration item, effectively completing that step.
After going through a series of operations including powder blending, molding, cooling, and slicing, his very first batch of cloud-slice cakes came out of the oven.
Because he hadn’t mastered the heat properly, the cloud-slice cakes had expanded too much during baking, ruining the texture.
Thus, after remaking them three or four more times, the cloud-slice cakes he finally produced possessed a moist, delicate, and soft texture resembling smooth lard, while their clear, sweet, and subtle flavor intoxicated anyone who tried them.
Capitalizing on his hot streak, he used up all the remaining cloud-slice cake materials to make finished products, roughly counting over thirty plates in total.
He stepped outside again to find the assistant, asking him to visit the Sundry Goods Store to buy some attractive presentation boxes for packing the cloud-slice cakes.
After dispatching the assistant on his errand, he turned around and saw Li Lanxin gazing at him with bright, gleaming eyes.
Su Wenqi walked over to the counter, took a plate of cloud-slice cakes from his backpack, placed it on the counter, and said, “Have a taste and see how they are.”
Li Lanxin looked down at her hands, which were covered in melon seed dust from shelling them, so she hurried off to wash her hands before returning.
She even brought back a pair of chopsticks, which made Su Wenqi realize somewhat belatedly that he had been a bit careless and forgotten to provide cutlery.
Fortunately, Li Lanxin wasn’t someone who fussed over petty details and didn’t mention it, setting his mind at ease.
Li Lanxin picked up a piece of cloud-slice cake with her chopsticks and popped it into her mouth. The pastry was soft, glutinous, and delicate, carrying the refreshing fragrance of osmanthus flowers. While it couldn’t quite rival the ones Granny Wang made, the flavor managed to reach a staggering 70% of her standard. Even more terrifyingly, this was his very first time making them, no wonder he had caught Granny Wang’s eye.
“Not bad, though a bit inferior to Granny Wang’s, it’s not far off either,” she evaluated after finishing it. Su Wenqi’s eyes curved upward in delight.
At that moment, the sound of footsteps echoed from outside the courtyard. A middle-aged man dressed in a deep blue silk robe hurried over. Seeing him, Li Lanxin looked slightly surprised: “Deputy Steward Zhao, what brings you the time to visit me today?”
The visitor was none other than Zhao (Zhao En), the deputy steward of the City Lord’s Mansion. Panting slightly, he spoke up, “Master Li, Chief Steward Liu has an important matter to discuss and invites you to visit the City Lord’s Mansion.”
Hearing this, Li Lanxin frowned in confusion and asked, “What matter could possibly involve me?”
The man stepped closer and lowered his voice, “It’s about the City Lord’s birthday coming up next month.”
Without asking further, Li Lanxin instructed the assistant to watch the shop and followed Zhao En toward the City Lord’s Mansion.
Su Wenqi knew how to read the room; seeing that Li Lanxin had a guest, he bid the two farewell and returned to his practice room.
Once he received the presentation boxes, he carefully placed the finished cloud-slice cakes inside them one by one. Afterward, he set to work cooking the food required for the guild orders.
By the time he finished preparing all the dishes in the kitchen and emerged, he realized dusk had already fallen.
Locking the door securely, he came to the front hall and found that Li Lanxin was still absent. Upon asking the assistant, he learned she had gone to the City Lord’s Mansion and had yet to return, so he left behind two presentation boxes and asked the assistant to pass them on to her.
Stepping outside, he habitually drifted over to the post messenger and mailed two boxes of cloud-slice cakes to each of the four individuals as well.
With that done, he stretched his back and opened his friends list. Good grief, another long string of messages had popped up, this time not from Yitian Chi Shitong, but from Xianyuan.
Private Chat [Xianyuan]: Forwarded: XXX Things Beginners Must Know;
Forwarded: Beginner Guangling Gear Guide.
The other person had forwarded a series of posts suitable for beginners. Su Wenqi guessed it was because Xianyuan had forgotten to tell him about dodging boss skills during that morning’s battle.
Casually opening one of the posts, he found that the settings and tips summarized by the author were extremely useful, so he bookmarked the posts sent by Xianyuan, planning to read them when he had free time to better understand the game.
Private Chat [Chun Ri Ci]: I saw the posts you sent me, and I’ve bookmarked all of them. I’ll take a look tomorrow when Yitian helps me grind monsters.
Private Chat [Xianyuan]: Good. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask me or anyone in the guild. Also, I received the snacks you mailed over; they were exceptionally delicious.
Private Chat [Chun Ri Ci]: As long as you liked them. I learned a new dessert today called cloud-slice cakes, and I just sent some over to you guys earlier. Taste them and see how they are.
Private Chat [Xianyuan]: Us? Who else did you mail things to?
Private Chat [Chun Ri Ci]: Besides you, there’s Feng Qian, Yitian, and Batian. You guys are the ones I’m closest with in the game, so naturally, whenever I make something new, I want you guys to be the first taste-testers.
Private Chat [Xianyuan]: …..
Wen Shaochuan never expected the other person to use such cute emoticons. Letting out a soft chuckle, he figured the person was gradually integrating into their circle.