"Huh, that's not right. It's only three o'clock. I remember starting the All-around Chef Training Course around two o'clock after my nap. In between, I cut two tons of potatoes and carrots, and then I washed the shredded potatoes to precipitate starch, and also pickled shredded radishes and potatoes.
It couldn't have only taken an hour.
Could there be a time difference in the space?"
"If there's really a time difference, meaning a few hours pass outside while only one hour passes inside, then I'll age very quickly. Oh my god, this is too terrifying. m..oΓg
Although the learning time has increased.
The usable time each day has also increased.
But won't I age several times faster than others?"
Ding Yun, who discovered the time discrepancy, didn't first react with joy at having more time to learn.
Instead, she worried that this time difference
would make her age faster than anyone else.
Think about it, she wasn't just her soul entering the space to learn, but her soul along with her physical body. This meant that for every hour she spent learning in the space, her lifespan and appearance would correspondingly shorten and age by several hours.
If she spent more time learning inside every day,
she might be forty years old on her ID card, but her appearance would be like that of a seventy or eighty-year-old, and even her bone age would be the same as a seventy or eighty-year-old. That would be terrifying. To outsiders, it would definitely look like premature aging.
"Right, I should test it out.
I need to figure out the exact time difference first. Also, I must speed up my learning and finish all learning tasks as soon as possible. Wasting time is wasting life!"
Although Ding Yun was very upset, she knew that such things couldn't be changed. Cooking was a craft. It wasn't enough for the soul to learn it; many people watched cooking videos online and thought they had learned it, but how did their actual creations turn out?
"Practice makes perfect" referred to the hands, to muscle memory,
not the soul.
So, the next step was to experiment. She took out two watches, one placed outside and the other she carried into the space. This time, Ding Yun stayed in the space for another half hour before coming out and immediately compared the watches.
The result was that the watch outside had moved forward by about three minutes,
while the watch inside had moved forward by thirty minutes.
Although there might be a slight error in between, rounding it off, it should be a ten-to-one ratio.
This made Ding Yun's heart sink even further.
Because even if she only spent an hour in the space per day, it would mean she would age at a rate ten hours faster than others each day. If she spent a little more than two hours inside, her aging speed would directly double. If it was even more...
If it was more, she didn't dare to imagine.
"It's over. I just looked at the course schedule. Three classes a day. This is going to kill me. I wonder if that medical equipment has any effect in slowing down aging or extending lifespan. If it has nothing, I might not even live to sixty on my ID card. This training space is too much of a rip-off.
Sigh, well, worrying about it is useless."
Ding Yun was now vaguely regretting thinking so much. It would have been better to be carefree and not think about these things. Since she had discovered it and couldn't change it, it was better to be carefree and not think about it. Her mood would be better.
Next, of course, was to calm her emotions
and write the signs for selling shredded radish and potato cakes. The prices were not expensive, three cents each, four for a dime. This price was set by Ding Yun based on her recent experience buying things at the market.
At this time, potatoes were not expensive, costing a few cents per pound, and radishes were similar. Her shredded potato and radish cakes used at most a little oil.
Even if she didn't require grain coupons, she couldn't sell them too expensively, or no one would buy them. Most importantly, she had a large quantity, and if she didn't sell them within three days, she didn't know what kind of punishment there would be. She didn't want to test her body to see what severe punishment awaited her.
After writing the signs, Ding Yun specifically took money and coupons to buy tools for making shredded potato and radish cakes. Although there were corresponding tools available in the space, those tools were too advanced and trendy compared to the tools of this era.
They were not convenient to use directly.
And many people preferred freshly made food.
So, necessary tools still had to be bought.
After buying the items, Ding Yun returned to the kitchen space to busy herself. For example, she took out the precipitated potato starch blocks to dry them, ground them into potato starch, then made the potato starch into a paste, and began making semi-finished shredded potato and radish cakes, preparing more in advance.
However, she had only made less than five hundred jin when
a new course started.
This time, it was the Ingredient Identification class.
"I am your teacher for the Ingredient Identification class.
There are two factors for delicious food: one is the quality of the ingredients, and the other is the cooking technique. Today, I will teach you how to select different ingredients.
And which dishes are suitable for different ingredients."
This ingredient identification teacher was more direct. As soon as he appeared, he wasted no words and got straight to the point.
After he finished speaking, the training space, which was originally in kitchen mode, immediately changed its appearance, transforming into a super large market that was almost boundless, filled with vegetables and meat.
The teacher then took Ding Yun's hand and started from the first vegetable stall, picking up items and explaining:
"Look, this small section is all cucumbers.
The selection of cucumbers needs to be based on their use. If you're stir-frying, like cucumber stir-fried with eggs, or making dumplings with cucumber and egg filling, then you should choose slightly older cucumbers, but not too old.
Like this one, slightly thicker than a rolling pin.
The flower at the end has completely withered.
At the same time, pay attention to the lower part, the area with more seeds. Do not make it much thicker than the upper part; it must be relatively uniform. If it's too thick, it means the cucumber is a bit too old.
The seeds inside are basically formed, resulting in a poor taste."
"If you're making smashed cucumber or eating it raw, then you must choose tender ones, but not too tender. For example, this one, only half the thickness of a rolling pin, is a bit too tender. Although the younger the cucumber, the less formed the seeds are inside, very tender cucumbers can have a slight astringent taste, which will affect the flavor.
A cross-section of about two centimeters is just right.
The flower at the end is slightly plump, not completely withered, the skin has fine thorns, and the connection part of the cucumber is fresh and tender. It should not have been picked for more than six hours.
Of course, I'm not saying it absolutely must be six hours.
Vegetables like cucumbers are actually better the fresher they are, but you can't buy freshly picked ones under normal circumstances, so six hours is the best limit."
"Also, there's the issue of different varieties."
"This is the Meitian cucumber, suitable for..."
"This is the Aolvqiugua cucumber, suitable for..."
"This is the Ludihuang cucumber, suitable for..."
...
Good heavens, in just a short while, that teacher introduced Ding Yun to six major categories and one hundred and seventy-two different cucumber varieties, analyzing their taste, selection standards, and which dishes they were more suitable for.
After discussing cucumbers, he moved on to tomatoes.
He talked about rice, and then wheat.
The most terrifying thing was that the teacher was an AI, requiring no rest and having no issues like thirst.
By the end, Ding Yun's head was buzzing.
She could only rely on using the medical equipment at intervals to clear her head and force herself to endure.
Fortunately, the class had standards. After the teacher introduced the data and selection standards for over thirty types of ingredients, the class finally ended.
But because there was still over a ton of pickled shredded radishes and potatoes that needed to be made into semi-finished shredded potato and radish cakes, Ding Yun still couldn't rest and had to continue with the repetitive labor.
And finally, she waited for the last lesson of the day, the last cooking instructor.
He was a man who looked only in his thirties.
He was quite good-looking, a handsome uncle.
However, as soon as he appeared, he frowned and said something that almost made Ding Yun collapse mentally:
"Why are you constantly doing such boring and repetitive work? Doing this will not help your cooking skills improve at all, and it will even make you disgusted.
Isn't there a batch cooking machine next to you? For simple foods with no technical difficulties, you can just input the recipe and make them in batches."
Good heavens, with his words,
Ding Yun's emotions couldn't possibly remain stable. If she had known about the batch cooking machine earlier, why would she have made shredded radish and potato cakes one by one?
"Why didn't anyone tell me?
And which one is the batch cooking machine?"
"I thought it was common knowledge. The batch cooking machine is that square box next to the sink.
It's currently in its original, unopened state. Click the red button on the box, and follow the instructions. There are many tools in the kitchen that can reduce labor. You can explore them yourself.
Now, put all these things away first.
We will start with the most basic cooking instruction.
The first lesson is the preparation of staple foods."
Although Ding Yun was mentally collapsing, this was clearly not the time to continue collapsing. So, she had to quickly control her emotions, clear her mind, and temporarily forget about unpleasant things.
Then, she focused on listening and practicing.
This learning session lasted for several more hours.
As soon as the basic cooking instruction class ended, Ding Yun immediately ran to the sink and pressed the red button as instructed by the teacher. Then, the square box transformed like a Transformer, with clanking sounds, expanding from a refrigerator-sized block into a large, batch food production assembly line.
Who would have known that a regular square box was a dedicated cooking machine?
And this kind of machine is usually not bought by families; it's bought by large enterprises. It's normal that she didn't know.
But no matter what, with this in place, her subsequent work would be much easier. So, next, she naturally followed the operating procedure, inputting all the raw materials, specific proportions, cooking levels, and so on.
Ding Yun only left the space after the first batch of semi-finished shredded potato and radish cakes came out fresh from the production line's exit, and after checking that there were no problems. She didn't even look at the time and hurried to sleep.
Although physical fatigue could be relieved by the medical equipment, psychological fatigue was not affected by it. Therefore, even though Ding Yun's body was not lacking sleep after being treated by the space's medical equipment,
she still wanted to sleep first.
The next day, Ding Yun woke up before four o'clock and immediately got up to make preparations. For example, she took a batch of semi-finished shredded potato and radish cakes from the space, moved the tools for making them to the shop entrance, and hung up the sign.
Then, she quietly waited for customers.
Although she woke up early and finished all the necessary preparations by five o'clock, there were already people on the street. This was because everyone believed in buying things early; if they went late, they would either not get a spot or wouldn't be able to buy anything. Moreover, many people finished work early and had no evening entertainment, so they went to bed early and weren't lacking sleep at all.
So, people naturally came out early in the morning.
Only in winter would it be slightly later.
Although Ding Yun didn't call out loudly, the lights in her shop were on. In the dim light, with the lights on, it naturally meant business. There weren't many people doing business at this time. Suddenly, a new stall appeared. Anyone nearby who saw it would likely come to join the fun and see what was being sold.
"Oh, isn't this Little Du, who just moved in?
Why are you doing this business? Selling shredded potato cakes and such in such a big shop is too wasteful!"
"Hey, the price is quite cheap. Give me a dime to try the taste. If it's good, I'll come again!"
"It really uses a lot of oil. Give me a dime too. My wife usually doesn't put much oil when she cooks. Food should be oily to taste good!"
"Oh my, why are they selling it so expensively!
Potatoes are only five cents a jin now, and how big is your shredded potato cake? You dare to sell it for three cents each. You're robbing people! No wonder they say merchants are deceitful!"
"Granny, if you're not buying, don't block the way. Don't you see how much oil they've put in? These cakes are swimming in oil, and the price isn't expensive. Zhang Mazi, the fried dough stick seller down the street, sells his for five cents.
A dime can only get you a set of fried dough sticks and pancakes.
They're selling four for a dime, which is a good deal!"
"Oh my goodness, this stuff tastes really good.
It has a hint of lard flavor. Young lady, did you put some animal fat in the oil? It's too fragrant. The oil is oozing out with every bite. It's so delicious!
Quick, give me another twenty cents' worth.
I'll take it back for my wife and kids to try."
"I knew why it smelled so good. It's the fragrance of lard. Those soybean oils and such just don't cut it."
"That's right, that's right. Lard tastes best when eaten hot.
It's wonderful, truly wonderful!"
"I'll take twenty cents' worth too!"
"Get out of the way, I want to buy a dollar's worth!"