The next day, as soon as Yao Xiaotong returned to school, she heard quite a few classmates talking about the new stall. Jiajia was by far the loudest, and she managed to tempt even many students who normally never bought food from roadside stalls.
“Seriously? That bengbeng cake can really be that delicious?”
“It’s not bengbeng cake! It’s called put chai ko! The character is pronounced ‘bo’!”
“Three and a half yuan each? That’s so expensive! Five yuan could get me two grilled sausages.”
“Tch, are those grilled sausages even real meat? At least that bengbeng cake is packed with ingredients. I had an osmanthus one yesterday, and the fragrance filled my whole mouth with every bite. It was even more refreshing than brushing my teeth!”
…
Quite a few people in the class were dismissive of put chai ko, so Jiajia grabbed Yao Xiaotong.
“Tongtong, tell me. Is that put chai ko really that delicious?”
Yao Xiaotong thought about it.
“Mm, it’s just okay. I don’t think it’s particularly good.”
If I can discourage even one person, that’s one less person competing with me. Don’t any of you try to take mine!
After finally making it through the school day, Yao Xiaotong grabbed Jiajia and dashed out of the school gates.
Because sales had been so good yesterday, Xia Yongen had made a little more put chai ko today. Completing the mission would definitely be no problem.
She had to admit, setting up a stall in front of the school was much more comfortable. At least she didn’t have to get up early to prepare everything, nor did she have to stand under the blazing sun all day. She only needed to stay at the school entrance for an hour, and all the put chai ko would be sold out.
She had also discovered that these sweet pastries were exactly to the students’ tastes. Basically, everyone bought two to take home.
As soon as the dismissal bell rang, four or five students quickly gathered around the stall. Hearing the payment notifications ringing nonstop and seeing more and more coins piling up in the biscuit tin, Xia Yongen was even more motivated to keep working.
Before long, Yao Xiaotong and Jiajia reached the front of the line.
This time, Yao Xiaotong finally managed to buy the mango put chai ko she had been dreaming about.
Looking at the large, fresh mango chunks inside, she was practically drooling.
She moved just one step to the side, eagerly opened her mouth, and took a huge bite.
The sweet-and-tart mango juice burst across her mouth.
“Oh my gosh! This is way too delicious!”
Jiajia said beside her, “See? See? I told you! There’s so much mango inside, and it smells amazing.”
The more Yao Xiaotong chewed, the wider her eyes opened.
The mango chunks were incredibly thick and substantial. They were nothing like the mangoes sold elsewhere that turned into mush the moment you bit into them.
And there wasn’t even the slightest bit of stringy fiber in these mangoes. Every bite was incredibly satisfying!
Standing right beside Xia Yongen’s stall, she quickly finished the entire piece of put chai ko. Seeing how enthusiastically she was eating, the surrounding students couldn’t help turning their attention toward her.
“Wow, is the mango flavor really that good?”
“Ah, if I weren’t allergic to mangoes, I’d definitely buy one.”
“Hey, when I asked you this morning, didn’t you say it wasn’t good? You certainly seemed to be enjoying it just now.”
Yao Xiaotong turned around and saw that the person speaking was a boy from her class. She could only give him an awkward smile.
Whatever. The delicious put chai ko is already in my stomach!
But when she looked back, she saw that the line in front of the stall was even longer than yesterday.
Her heart immediately sank.
Oh no. Don’t tell me I’m going to have trouble getting put chai ko from now on!
An hour later, every piece of put chai ko at the stall had been sold out.
Xia Yongen wiped the sweat from her forehead, and right on cue, the system’s notification sounded.
【Congratulations, Host, on completing the mission! The “Coconut Milk Layer Cake (Original/Pandan)” recipes have been unlocked.】
【Stage Mission Updated: Sell 300 servings of Coconut Milk Layer Cake before Saturday.】
Xia Yongen let out a sigh of relief.
Wonderful! I finally have a new dessert!
Although put chai ko had sold quite well over the past two days, the selection was ultimately too limited. If she didn’t introduce a new product soon, she would inevitably lose quite a few students.
After returning to Rongxing House, Xia Yongen immediately opened the Dessert Encyclopedia. A detailed introduction and preparation method for coconut milk layer cake had now been added.
Coconut milk layer cake was actually a pastry evolved from water chestnut cake. By layering coconut milk over water chestnut starch batter one layer at a time, it formed neat alternating white and yellow stripes.
Normally, coconut milk layer cake consisted of nine layers, making it more complicated to prepare than put chai ko and requiring more ingredients as well.
The most important step in making coconut milk layer cake was steaming the water chestnut starch batter and coconut milk layer by layer until each one was cooked.
Xia Yongen first scooped a ladleful of water chestnut starch batter into a stainless-steel mold and spread it evenly. She then placed it in the steamer.
An acceleration button appeared above the steamer again. She immediately tapped it.
In the blink of an eye, the layer of water chestnut batter solidified, taking on a translucent yellow color.
The bottom layer of water chestnut cake was done!
She then scooped another ladleful of coconut milk and spread it over the top. After activating the acceleration function, the coconut milk layer solidified in a second, and the beginnings of the neat yellow-and-white stripes appeared.
She continued stacking the layers one by one.
Before long, a crystal-clear coconut milk layer cake with alternating yellow and white layers was finished.
The freshly steamed layer cake was still very sticky to the touch. It had to cool completely before it could be removed from the mold and cut into pieces.
Of course, Xia Yongen activated the acceleration function this time as well.
Once cooled, the coconut milk layer cake looked like a huge, succulent slab of pork belly. Yet it felt smooth and slippery to the touch, and when she gave it a slight shake, it bounced with a satisfying duang, duang, duang.
The pandan-flavored coconut milk layer cake, meanwhile, had alternating green and white layers.
The two large blocks of jade-like layer cake sat before her, a feast for the eyes.
It was simply so soothing to look at!
This time, she once again used up an entire day’s worth of stamina, raising the coconut milk layer cake’s rank to C.
After leaving the Boundless Space, she began thinking about the mission. The deadline was Saturday, and today was Tuesday, which meant she had three days left to complete it.
At this rate, forget three days—even selling 300 servings of coconut milk layer cake in a single day wouldn’t be a problem.
But the issue was that she couldn’t sell only coconut milk layer cake. After all, in the students’ eyes, put chai ko was still the signature product.
So she had to make both put chai ko and coconut milk layer cake.
However, tomorrow she would prepare only thirty servings of coconut milk layer cake first and see how the students responded. If they sold well, she could make more afterward.
After leaving the Boundless Space, Xia Yongen prepared to make a trip to the market to purchase the ingredients needed for the layer cakes.
Meanwhile, Li Minyao, who hadn’t managed to get any put chai ko yesterday, appeared at the food plaza again.
She refused to give up. After work that day, she once again went to the food plaza, hoping she might get lucky. But the secluded stall was still completely empty.
She shook her head in disappointment and had no choice but to go next door and buy five yuan’s worth of sauce-flavored flatbread.
While the owner was cutting up the flatbread, a man approached from a distance and stopped in front of what had once been Xia Yongen’s stall.
He first looked over the little stall several times, then glanced around as if searching for someone.
Li Minyao mustered up the courage to ask, “Are you here to buy put chai ko too?”
The man immediately nodded.
“Miss, how’d you know?”
He had bought several pieces from this stall a couple of days ago and taken them home. His daughter had absolutely loved them and was demanding more today, so he had planned to stop by the food plaza after work and buy a few.
But when he arrived, he discovered—
What? Where had the little stall gone?!
After asking a few questions, Li Minyao learned that the man had found the place because of the recommendation post she’d made on Little Green Book.
The post she’d casually made last time had now accumulated more than 300 likes and over 50 comments. Several new comments had appeared over the past few days, all from people who had come specifically because they’d heard about the put chai ko, only to find that the stall was gone.
Li Minyao had no choice but to pin a comment at the top:
“Ladies, I went to the food plaza these past two days and found that the owner wasn’t there. I’m still trying to find out where she’s gone. I’ll let you know as soon as I have news!”
“Girl, remember to tag me when you find out where she is!”
“Following.”
“Leaving my mark here.”
“Ah, if only I’d bought more over the weekend. I came all the way here today and couldn’t find her.”
…
The man and Li Minyao agreed that they would ask around the area over the next few days. Maybe someone would know where the little stall had gone.
When Li Minyao got home, her boyfriend, Zhao Yiping, had already cooked the rice and was preparing to stir-fry some dishes.
Seeing that she was carrying only a bag of sauce-flavored flatbread, he asked, “What happened? Was that little stall you mentioned not there again?”
“Ugh, don’t even get me started.”
Li Minyao collapsed onto the sofa and opened Green Bubble, where she accepted the sauce-flavored flatbread vendor’s friend request.
Zhao Yiping adjusted his glasses.
“I’m telling you, is that put chai ko really that delicious?”
“Of course it is! Not only is it delicious, it’s packed with ingredients too.”
Li Minyao slapped her thigh.
“It’s just a shame you don’t have the luck to try it. I guess the owner was only setting up for fun and never intended to make money.”
Zhao Yiping smiled and shook his head, finding Li Minyao adorable.
It was just put chai ko, something that could be found all over the place, yet she made it sound like some heavenly delicacy. Even if it really was delicious, how delicious could it possibly be?
Just as he finished preparing dinner, the phone on the table rang.
Li Minyao picked it up and glanced at the screen.
“Oh, Yao Xiaotong’s dad is calling you.”
Zhao Yiping hurriedly answered.
A familiar voice came from the other end.
“Hello, Mr. Zhao? You’re not busy right now, are you?”
“What is it, Mr. Yao? Is something wrong? It’s rather late.”
After chatting for a few moments, Zhao Yiping learned that Yao Xiaotong hadn’t done well on her monthly exam, so her father had specifically called to ask about how Xiaotong was doing at school.
“Mr. Zhao, Tongtong’s physics score is really poor. We parents don’t understand this stuff either, so we were hoping you could help her out.”
Zhao Yiping was Yao Xiaotong’s homeroom teacher as well as her physics teacher, so he had noticed the problem long ago.
For the students in his class who were struggling with physics, he had decided to hold small-group tutoring sessions after school so that everyone could gain a better grasp of the fundamentals of physics.
Thus, the next day after school, Yao Xiaotong and several other students were kept behind.
Jiajia said to Xiaotong, who was sitting by the window, “How about I go buy you some put chai ko first, then wait for you outside?”
“Forget it. Who knows how long we’ll be kept here? You should just go home first.”
Yao Xiaotong rested her chin in her hands and sighed.
Looks like I’m not getting any put chai ko today.
By the time she finished the practice problems, the little stall would have sold out already.
And her prediction was indeed correct.
After the previous two days, Xia Yongen’s put chai ko had gained a bit of a reputation among the students. Quite a few people now knew that there was a little stall selling put chai ko outside the school.
The students who had tried it described the flavor in the most exaggerated terms, while those who hadn’t remained skeptical. Quite a few were tempted nonetheless, thinking they might as well grab one after school and give it a try.
As a result, now, less than two minutes after the dismissal bell rang, Xia Yongen’s little stall was already surrounded by students.
“Big sis, big sis! I want two mango ones!”
“Auntie, one osmanthus and one red bean!”
“I was here first! Why are you serving him before me?!”
“Who stepped on my brand-new shoes?!”
More than a dozen students crowded tightly around the little stall. Xia Yongen felt like her eardrums were about to burst. She sped up her packing considerably, but the hands holding money out in front of her showed no sign of decreasing.
One sharp-eyed student noticed that more than a dozen small plastic cups with lids had appeared on the stall. Inside each cup were little cubes alternating between green and white, with a bamboo skewer inserted at an angle. At the top of each skewer was a tiny paper umbrella, making them look exceptionally delicate and cute.
Xia Yongen smiled and replied, “Coconut milk layer cake. It comes in original and pandan flavors. One portion is 1.50 yuan. Would you like one?”
Author’s Note:
None.