The next day, the sun rose.
Little Bei Chang Tan woke up groggily on time, looking around in confusion. The unfamiliar surroundings nearly frightened the little one.
Fortunately, the room door was left open, and she saw her brother sleeping soundly in the bed across the room.
Little Bei Chang Tan leaned against the bed, carefully climbing down.
Barefoot, she ran to Xia Tian’s bed, grabbed the sheet, and skillfully climbed onto the bed.
She gently shook Xia Tian: "Brother, wake up."
Xia Tian, who had just woken up, opened his eyes sleepily and saw the familiar blue big head.
Xia Tian helplessly stroked the blue big head, "Tan Tan, can't you let your brother sleep a little longer?"
"Brother, where are we? I want to wash my face and brush my teeth, and I'm hungry."
"Alright, we're at a hotel. There are disposable toiletries in the bathroom..."
After taking care of Little Bei Chang Tan's washing, Xia Tian turned and went into the kitchen.
This high-end suite had one good thing: it came equipped with a kitchen.
He bought some flour from the system store.
Soon, he had made five bowls of noodles.
Xiao Qian Shou woke up hearing the noise, and together with Xiao You, the two big and two small ones sat obediently at the dining table waiting to be fed.
After slurping it down, they both sighed, reminiscing about how they used to eat "pig food."
"Brother, where are we going to set up our stall today?"
Xia Tian was also pondering this question.
With his culinary skills, he should be able to sell 900 servings of egg fried rice in the next six days, but the 1000-Dan-a-serving fried rice could only be sold to the adults in the city, the little girls outside the city couldn't afford it.
If he could, he'd rather make fried rice for the little girls.
How could he make a fried rice that the little girls could afford?
Lower the cost?
He had bought all the ingredients from the system store before, for convenience. They were good, but expensive. If he went to the market to buy rice, eggs, and seasonings, not counting his labor, the cost of an egg fried rice could be controlled to around 50 Dan.
"Decided, we'll set up our stall outside the city, but we'll go to the market to buy ingredients first."
The exact cost could only be determined at the market.
#@#
Arriving at the market at 8:30, Xia Tian weaved through the various grain and oil shops, looking for cheap and affordable rice.
As a chef, selecting ingredients was a basic skill.
He searched for a long time and couldn't find the 600-Dan-for-3KG rice that Little Bei Chang Tan often bought. The cheapest was 6 yuan a catty.
However, the quality was still acceptable. The little chef's culinary skills were not particularly demanding on ingredients.
"Old man, if I buy a lot of rice, can I get a discount?"
In front of a small shop in a corner, an elderly couple was directing workers to unload goods.
The newly arrived rice had a faint fragrance.
The old man warmly greeted Xia Tian after hearing his question.
"Young man, how much do you want? My price is already very affordable. If you want more than 1000 catties, I can give you a 9.5% discount."
Xia Tian nodded. The old man was honest. He knew this price was indeed the lowest in the whole market.
"Then I'll take 1000 catties first. If it's good, I'll come back tomorrow."
1000 catties was 50 bags, not a small order. The old man happily greeted, "Okay, do you need delivery? It's free within five kilometers."
"No, we'll take it ourselves."
"Okay, take care!"
Besides rice, Xia Tian also bought eggs, seasonings, and several large pots.
With everything ready, they set off towards the outskirts of the city, Xiao Qian's caterpillar car was piled with rice, looking like a banana car, attracting the attention of passersby along the way.
Passing through the suburbs, Xia Tian reached the true outer zone, the area where the children lived.
He stopped near a clean manhole cover, his heart network sensing someone below.
Xia Tian directed everyone to work.
"Xiao You, unload the rice and build a stove"
"Xiao Qian, use your fruit ability to create five large wooden buckets. They should be big enough to fit in the middle of the large iron pots."
After instructing the two, Xia Tian looked around at the abandoned houses, preparing to pick up some bricks to build a few stoves.
"Tan Tan, you're in charge of rinsing the rice. Xia Shi, you help carry water."
"No problem, brother."
Little Bei Chang Tan saluted like Xiao You. She was best at cooking and now had the Burning-Burning Fruit ability, making her even more adept at playing with fire. She could boil five big pots of rice, even more wouldn't be a problem.
After speaking, she ran off to wash the rice.
Little Bei Chang Tan washed the rice with ease.
With smooth movements, she washed 100 catties of rice in batches, following her own rhythm.
After washing the rice,
as she poured it into the wooden bucket, she untied the Bei Chang Tan from her head, looking conflicted.
Her grandmother said that 'Bei Chang Tan' could purify the water and make the food more fragrant. But her brother also said that the 'Bei Chang Tan' would be contaminated with dust when she wore it, so he didn't want her to put it in the rice.
They both seemed to be right. Whose words should she listen to?
Suddenly, she saw Xiao Qian making wood and her eyes lit up.
Her short legs ran to Xiao Qian in a hurry.
She picked up a clean piece of wood from the ground and summoned a blue flame in her hand.
Three seconds later, the wood turned into a freshly baked Bei Chang Tan.
Little Bei Chang Tan secretly glanced at her brother. Taking advantage of his inattention, she threw the Bei Chang Tan in,
burying it in the rice.
She nodded with satisfaction, Little Bei Chang Tan smiled happily. Now that was good.
With the excitement of doing a 'little mischief', Little Bei Chang Tan ran to Xia Tian.
"Brother, the rice is washed. Do we want to start the fire?"
Seeing Little Bei Chang Tan's guilty expression, Xia Tian couldn't help but smile. She really thought he hadn't noticed.
"Go ahead and cook it."
Boiling rice in large iron pots, Xia Tian missed it so much.
When he was young, his family was poor. His parents made malt sugar for a living, one of the steps involved boiling a large pot of glutinous rice and mixing it with malt to make juice.
The rice steamed in large wooden buckets was fluffy and sticky, mixed with lard and soy sauce, Xia Tian could eat two bowls at a time.
The group of people worked busily, the loud commotion quickly attracting the attention of the children in the sewer.
Nine out of ten ordinary people in the entire city looked down upon the cursed children, but a few individuals still extended a helping hand.
There was an old man named Song Qi in this area who had been taking care of these children. Under his guidance, these children were not so vicious.
They were wary of strangers, but also had a hint of curiosity.
They opened the manhole cover and secretly observed the group.
"What are those people doing? Are they cooking?"
"Look at that blue-haired little girl!"
"Is that little girl one of us? She's so amazing, she can even breathe fire!"
The little girls watching secretly were stunned by this scene.
Were there still origin-borne organisms that could breathe fire?
This little girl could take on all of them, right?