After Gan Lan packed up her stall and said goodbye to the viewers in her livestream, her mind was already buzzing with ideas for tomorrow’s menu.
She strolled back to her dorm at a leisurely pace and logged onto the Star Network to browse for crabs. Grilled crab sounded like a great idea—simple, quick to cook, and delicious!
Gan Lan slurped back a bit of drool. She found them! Genuine Big Crabs! The smallest ones weighed at least five hundred grams, yet a half-kilo crab only cost twenty Credit Points. "My god, that’s way too cheap!" she thought. "If this were my original world, they would have been eaten into extinction by now."
Switching tabs, she looked up why crabs were so incredibly cheap. It turned out that people of the future found eating crabs too troublesome; they had little meat and a strong fishy smell, so few people ate them. There were some who liked them, but the overall demand was low, which resulted in such a cheap price.
Gan Lan directly bought two thousand of them. After all, she was rich now! Her livestream today had brought in over four million Credit Points. Adding up everything she had, she was practically a multi-millionaire!
After purchasing the necessary seasonings and ingredients, Gan Lan decided to keep her dinner simple tonight by making a crab noodle soup.
Life was truly sweet!
She rolled out the noodles, scrubbed the Big Crabs clean, chopped them in half, and coated the exposed meat with dry starch.
Heating oil in a wok, she tossed in ginger, garlic, and small chilies to stir-fry until fragrant. Then, she added the Big Crabs and stir-fried them, mixing in an appropriate amount of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and chili oil to bring out the aroma before pouring in cold water and bringing it to a boil.
Next, she dropped in the freshly rolled noodles, boiling them until they were fully cooked. She finished it off with a sprinkle of salt and a garnish of cilantro.
In the large bowl of noodles, a thin layer of chili oil floated on the surface of the broth. The vibrant green cilantro and the bright red Big Crabs complemented each other, creating a visually stunning dish.
Gan Lan couldn’t wait any longer. She took a sip of the broth—it was fresh, savory, and slightly spicy, sending a wave of warmth straight to her stomach. She picked up a chopstick-full of noodles and slurped them up; they were perfectly chewy! Taking a bite of the crab meat that had soaked up the rich broth, she found it sweet, tender, and smooth. It was a heavenly taste!
The next morning.
Gan Lan woke up early, planning to take a stroll around the campus. She had been here for many days but hadn’t actually taken a good look around. She had been running back and forth between the classroom and the barbecue stall, unable to squeeze out any free time. Plus, without a personal vehicle, she always took a Flying Car, arriving at the classroom before she could even catch a glimpse of the scenery or the school’s layout.
Taking out her hoverboard, she leisurely cruised toward the culinary classroom.
The first rays of morning sunlight pierced through the gaps in the leaves, cutting through the early mist to shower the entire campus in golden light.
Flying Cars soared through the mist overhead, zipping past towering skyscrapers as if the whole world were coming alive. Gan Lan couldn’t help but smile and sigh, "This world is so beautiful. It’s so good to be alive!"
When she arrived at the classroom, several students were already in their seats. Upon seeing Gan Lan walk in, some felt too guilty to meet her eyes.
Gan Lan didn’t mind. Whatever they thought of her, she wasn’t afraid! She walked straight to her seat, sat down, and took out her textbook to study the edible plants they were going to learn about today.
Among the students was a fair-skinned, long-legged girl with short hair. She stole glance after glance at Gan Lan before finally mustering the courage to stand up and walk over to her.
Her eyes darted around nervously, but she finally braced herself, lifted her head, and bowed in a sincere apology. "Gan Lan, I’m sorry. I apologize for the hurtful things I said to you in the past. I’m sorry... and thank you for being so selfless!"
Gan Lan had noticed someone approaching her desk, but she hadn’t looked up, assuming it was just another person coming to mock and ridicule her like before. Hearing these words, however, took her by surprise.
She looked at the short-haired girl in front of her. The girl had a slightly pointed face but was quite pretty. Gan Lan remembered her.
This girl had once commented that the original owner of this body had some brains but was incredibly clumsy with her hands. She had expressed her disappointment, saying she thought the student admitted with the highest scores would be top-notch in both theory and practice, but the reality was far from it.
Those words had hit the original owner hard, driving her to desperately buy meat every day for practical training, which ultimately drained all her Credit Points.
Seeing Gan Lan stare at her blankly, the short-haired girl felt a bit embarrassed. However, she bowed again, looking straight into Gan Lan’s eyes as she sincerely repeated her apology.
Hearing the apology again snapped Gan Lan out of her daze. The short-haired girl in front of her was just a seventeen or eighteen-year-old kid. Her willingness to admit her mistake and her sincere attitude slightly touched Gan Lan’s heart. These were all just teenagers; they weren’t truly malicious or trying to drive anyone to their death.
Gan Lan nodded and smiled. "It’s fine. I’ve already forgotten about it, and it’s in the past." Feeling a bit confused, she added, "Thank me? Thank me for what?"
The short-haired girl rubbed her hands together, whispering awkwardly, "Thank you for being willing to make your video public. I benefited a lot from it. Thank you."
Hearing this, Gan Lan shook her head. "I charged Credit Points for it, so you don’t need to go out of your way to thank me. But I accept your apology." After saying that, she lowered her head and went back to her book.
She had just finished reading about the properties of one edible plant when another voice apologizing sounded above her head. Gan Lan paused slightly. "What day is it today?" she wondered. "Apology Day?"
Looking up, she saw that the person standing in front of her was also someone who had mocked the original owner.
Gan Lan simply repeated the same words she had just said to the short-haired girl.
A warm current flowed through her heart. There were actually many people in this world capable of realizing and correcting their mistakes. Hearing the continuous stream of apologies, Gan Lan retracted the thought she had when she first arrived at the school about her classmates being unfriendly. There were, in fact, many friendly students.
However, expecting the entire class to be friendly was impossible—at least for Gan Lan.
Right on cue, Zhao Mengru’s little clique arrived. The only difference was that today, they were missing the arrogant Zhao Mengru, who always looked down her nose at everyone.
The hostile little group marched aggressively toward Gan Lan, led by Zhao Mengru’s most loyal lackey. Before she even reached the desk, her shrill, agitated voice rang out, "You vicious person! You actually got the school to expel Zhao Mengru. How can you be so cruel?! She just mocked you a few times, and you go for the kill! Meng Ru’s future has been ruined by a toxic woman like you! You’re absolute trash!"
The people trailing behind her also angrily pointed at Gan Lan’s nose and started cursing! It was all the same old insults about her being toxic and trash. Gan Lan listened without the slightest emotional ripple. Mainly, a scene like this played out every single day, so she was completely used to it.
She even closed her book, crossed her arms over her chest, and listened to their accusations with leisurely composure. Whenever she heard a particularly well-phrased insult, she couldn’t help but smile and nod in approval.
Gan Lan could tolerate it—she even found it entertaining—but the students who had just apologized to her couldn’t bear it! Slapping their desks, they stood up and fired back with sharp-tongued retorts, ruthlessly countering every word Meng Ru’s clique threw at them. With the short-haired girl taking the lead, the classroom turned into a lively battlefield.
Seeing others stand up for her, Gan Lan was somewhat stunned. She never expected that they wouldn’t just apologize, but would also leap to her defense. What a lovely bunch of people.
Smiling, she stopped the two groups from coming to blows by shouting, "The teacher is here!"
Those who had raised their fists froze, turning in unison to look at the person who had yelled.
Zhao Mengru’s lackey looked like she was about to explode from anger. Pointing a finger at Gan Lan, she sneered, "Don’t get too smug, you ugly freak! You’ll get what’s coming to you! Just wait until our boss deals with you! You won’t be gloating for long! You better cherish these next few days of smugness, because later on, you won’t be able to cry even if you wanted to!" Kicking a nearby stool, she gave Gan Lan a meaningful glare, turned around, and stormed out without even staying for class.