By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 103 My Apprentice's Craftsmanship [6.7 words!]

the next day.

Li Younan took Lu Xiaolan back to school and told her to adjust on her own. Afterwards, he drove back to Chen Kunjie's place.

The original plan to travel in Chongqing will have to be extended to about two weeks.

But it doesn't really matter.

His trip was never intended to be a superficial, cursory visit to complete a task.

It's good to stay in one place for a longer period of time.

China is so big, there aren't many places where people can stay for an extended period of time.

After reaching an agreement with Chen Kunjie, some necessary procedures still need to be completed to avoid future disputes.

Although Li Younan and Chen Kunjie both knew that the other was not that kind of person, doing business is doing business.

When dealing with friends, it's crucial to eliminate all potential risks to avoid future conflicts of interest that could lead to enmity.

As partners, they each hold 50% of the equity, which is directly stipulated by law.

The tasks, obligations, and responsibilities of each individual are also documented in writing.

Afterwards, Chen Kunjie said to Li Younan triumphantly, "Although I took advantage of you a little, we have a written agreement now, so you can't go back on your word."

Li Younan chuckled to himself.

He then realized that, from Chen Kunjie's perspective, he really felt like he had gotten the better deal.

Come to think of it, Chen Kunjie's way of thinking is rather simple.

The facilities and equipment in the shop are all ready-made.

Although he contributed a lot of ingredients to open this hot pot restaurant, he didn't actually spend much real money.

Moreover, he lacks the "unique features" that are crucial to a hot pot restaurant's success.

To succeed in business, you absolutely need something unique!

That is, your unique selling point.

This location has a decent amount of foot traffic, but it's not exactly a prime location.

Without any special selling points, why would anyone come to eat your hot pot?

Having grown up in a hot pot restaurant, Chen Kunjie understands this principle well.

The specialty, or rather the competitive advantage, of his hot pot restaurant is its affordability and generous portions.

But there's a reason for that: his hot pot restaurant is near a wet market.

They have a fixed store for delivering vegetables, which has been done for many years, allowing them to reduce costs.

In addition, the parents were not greedy.

It's quite difficult to replicate the home-style cooking here; you can only focus on the taste or other aspects.

After listening to Chen Kunjie's words, Li Younan shook his head and said, "Your idea isn't necessarily wrong. However, we live in the era of internet traffic, and you've overlooked one of the most important points."

"To do business well now, it's important to learn how to use traffic-driven thinking."

In the food and beverage industry, the core requirement is, of course, that the food tastes good, but even if it tastes good, people still need to know about it.

We live in an era where even the best wine needs advertising.

The two were currently in a hot pot restaurant when Chen Kunjie asked, "What are you planning to do?"

Li Younan took out his phone and started taking pictures of various places in the hot pot restaurant.

Chen Kunjie frowned and asked curiously, "If you're going to promote it, you should promote the hot pot restaurant after the renovation, right? What's the point of filming it like this?"

Li Younan glanced at Chen Kunjie indifferently and said, "When you come across an advertisement video that seriously introduces a hot pot restaurant, what's your first reaction?"

Chen Kunjie thought for a moment and said, "I will watch that advertisement carefully and with great interest."

Li Younan punched Chen Kunjie, who then laughed and said, "Who would watch those kinds of ads! Of course, we just crossed them out."

Li Younan nodded and said, "That's right. Many people who do self-media think that they can just shoot a video to introduce a hot pot restaurant and post it online."

“But those kinds of videos often only get a few dozen likes, half of which are from friends and relatives. They only get a few hundred views. There’s no point in making those kinds of videos.”

At this moment, Li Younan put away his phone and said, "Let's think about it another way. If you came across a video, 'A post-00s travel blogger who quit his job met a post-00s guy who also aspired to open a hot pot restaurant. The two decided to renovate and upgrade their original hot pot restaurant entirely by hand, trying their hand at entrepreneurship and opening a traditional hot pot restaurant for young people,' would you watch it?"

Chen Kunjie thought for a moment and nodded: "It sounds interesting, I'll at least take a look."

But then he asked in bewilderment, "Where do we find such a travel blogger?"

Li Younan remained silent.

Chen Kunjie suddenly realized something, his eyes widening: "That travel blogger you're talking about, you're not really yourself, are you?"

Li Younan took out his phone and opened his profile page.

Because the video of the old house renovation went viral, with over 50 likes, Li Younan's fan base also surged, now exceeding 40!
Seeing the six-figure follower count and the 999+ message, Chen Kunjie opened his mouth and said, "No, buddy, you...you're serious!"

Previously, Li Younan boasted that he was a super internet celebrity, and Chen Kunjie naturally thought he was joking.

I never expected this guy to actually be... a top streamer?

Chen Kunjie immediately took out his phone and searched for Li Younan's ID, saying with dissatisfaction, "What kind of ridiculous big data algorithm is this? I haven't seen any of your videos."

Li Younan continued to wander around the hot pot restaurant, his mind starting to conceive of how to renovate it.

Chen Kunjie sat down and started watching Li Younan's videos.

After a while, Chen Kunjie looked at Li Younan with a complicated expression: "When did you learn woodworking?"

Li Younan smiled, offering no explanation, but simply said, "I know a lot more than that; what you've seen is just the tip of the iceberg."

Chen Kunjie scrolled through the videos from the last one to the one about parkour, and his expression became even more peculiar: "I knew you used to play basketball, but damn, I didn't expect you could do this too!"

Li Younan casually said, "You can practice parkour after graduating from university. If you don't exercise, you won't know that basketball and parkour are related."

"Really?" Chen Kunjie asked, still somewhat skeptical.

At this point, Li Younan had observed the situation sufficiently, and then took out his phone to call Huang Xiaoyang: "I need you to help me get a batch of boards..."

Huang Xiaoyang was much more straightforward. He didn't ask what was needed, but simply inquired about the amount and type of timber required.

Li Younan briefly explained it to Huang Xiaoyang.

Afterwards, Li Younan had some thoughts about the video that he also wanted to send to Brother Long.

After roughly understanding Li Younan's idea, JK Long waited a while before sending a message back: "Opening a hot pot restaurant? You can do this too?"

JK Long knew that Li Younan had some culinary skills, but he had no idea what level of skill he actually possessed.

Although I've seen Li Younan cook, making one or two dishes and opening a restaurant are two different things.

Therefore, JK Dragon did not connect the two things to Li Younan and hot pot base.

Li Younan said, "I'll film a video of freshly stir-fried hot pot broth for you later."

JK Long asked with some confusion, "Who's cooking it?"

Li Younan said smugly, "I can just have my apprentice do this little thing."

"Your apprentice? When did you take on an apprentice? Do you teach your apprentice carpentry or parkour? Is he a chef? A chef who likes parkour?"

Li Younan said, "Don't worry about that for now. Just tell me what video footage you need, and I'll shoot it for you."

After putting down his phone, Li Younan called out to Chen Kunjie, "Okay, don't even think about opening for the next two weeks. I'll film the entire renovation process and show it to you. Then, you'll learn how to make hot pot broth with me. You'll learn every morning, and I'll go to Chongqing for a visit in the afternoons."

Chen Kunjie chuckled: "That's true. You've just arrived in Chongqing, so you should go out and explore. We made some hot pot base this morning, so I'll take you for a walk this afternoon."

……

Besides finalizing the deal with Chen Kunjie to open a hot pot restaurant together, we also naturally had to do the "checking in" thing.

As a normal person with a system, one would naturally have an irresistible urge to check in immediately.

After all, just like never knowing what the next chocolate will taste like, Li Younan is definitely looking forward to what skill he will get from the next blind box.

However, China is so big, it would be too boring to spend your life chasing after checkpoints.

Therefore, he also deliberately suppressed his desire to check in, trying to face the check-in with a normal mindset and not let the check-in affect his rhythm, so that he could relax.

After finishing the most urgent tasks, it's natural to check in.

Although there are two places to visit in Chongqing, strictly speaking, there is only one in the urban area, which is an inconspicuous hot pot restaurant.

But when I actually got to the hot pot restaurant, I realized that this check-in task covered almost the entire city of Chongqing.

The content involves tasting the 10 most famous time-honored hot pot restaurants in CQ City.

Subsequently, 10 hot pot restaurants scattered throughout the city appeared on Li Younan's system panel map.

This is sad news for Li Younan, who can't handle spicy food very well.

However, it's not possible to complete another daily check-in task right now.

Another check-in task is at the Three Gorges.

It's worth mentioning that Lu Xiaolan, that idiot, as a student from a prestigious 985 university, didn't even realize that part of the Three Gorges was actually located in Chongqing until she arrived there.

What can we do then? Let's go eat hot pot.

In the past few days, Li Younan knew he would eat all the hot pot he had eaten in a year.

……

For the first three days, Li Younan wandered around alone. Lu Xiaolan was naturally busy with her first day of school and was about to enter military training, so she didn't have much time.

Li Younan visited their school, which was pretty much fulfilling his duty as an older cousin.

He reported Lu Xiaolan's situation to his mother to reassure the elders in the family.

Chen Kunjie spent the last three days busy processing various licenses and permits, including materials related to his partnership with Li Younan to open a hot pot restaurant.

The two set up a limited liability company, but it wasn't particularly formal; the main purpose was to clarify their respective obligations and shareholdings.

Li Younan and Chen Kunjie were extremely in sync on this point.

Neither of them were petty people, but they still tacitly agreed on the plan, mainly to put each other at ease.

pretty good.

This kind of cooperation shouldn't cause any problems in the future. And with a limited liability company, opening branch stores would be easier...if we want to. But that's a story for another time.

Chen Kunjie was busy running around with procedures, while Li Younan naturally just wandered around.

Besides eating hot pot, we should also visit all the interesting places in CQ city.

On the first afternoon, it's inevitable to wander around the Liberation Monument area.

The monument surrounded by tall buildings looks like an ordinary central point during the day, but when all the lights are turned on at night, the entire business district seems to come alive.

Li Younan didn't deliberately squeeze to the bottom of the monument. Instead, she sat on the flower bed next to it, watching the flow of people leaving get off work, tourists taking photos, and aunties carrying groceries home. The scene was full of life.

After dinner, I strolled around Hongyadong, but instead of going into the crowds, I was drawn to the cliffside walkway in Daijia Lane.

Take a few steps uphill and turn around—the golden lights of the entire Hongyadong area cascade down the cliff, reflecting off the river, making it truly feel like stepping into an animated film.

The headlights on the Qianmen Bridge stretched into a flowing ribbon of light, blending with the warm yellow glow of the stilted houses below.

At times like these, standing and observing for a while is much more comfortable than rushing to take photos.

The next day, we headed towards Shancheng Lane.

The cobblestone path winds and twists, with roots of banyan trees sprouting from the cracks in the old walls, providing shade along the way. Halfway there, we turned into Baixiangju, a rather magical place. Just when we entered the building, it was on the 15th floor, but when we walked out, it was flat ground again—the kind of filming location that often appears in videos on short video platforms.

While resting on the connecting corridor, I happened to see the cable car of the Yangtze River Cableway slowly gliding between the two buildings, with the turbid river water below and the Raffles City buildings resembling sailboats in the distance.

It's really great, much more interesting than Chengdu.

This kind of magic can only be found casually in Chongqing.

As Li Younan strolled around, he couldn't help but think that if Sichuan and Chongqing hadn't separated, this place would probably be the most powerful province in the country... Chongqing plus Sichuan would be roughly equivalent to a small China...

Whatever China has, Chongqing and Sichuan basically have it all...

I ate a bowl of tofu rice at a small shop next to the trail at noon.

The tofu pudding in the wooden bucket trembled slightly, the dipping sauce was fragrant but not dry, and it was served with a bowl of braised pork belly, the fatty meat melting in your mouth.

The following day was a workday.

This morning I went to ride the Yangtze River Cableway. I bought a one-way ticket from the South Station. I didn't wait long. The carriage was like a metal box, packed with people, and we swayed and wobbled across the Yangtze River. I watched the cargo ships leaving their wakes on the river and the tall buildings on both banks stacked like building blocks. Six minutes passed in a flash, and I was still a little reluctant to leave when I got off the train.

In the afternoon, when we went to Liziba again, the observation deck was full of people holding up their phones. The sound of camera shutters was deafening as the train passed through the building. Li Younan thought it would be more interesting to crawl into the first carriage and experience it for himself—the tracks were heading straight for the windows of the residential buildings, but the next second they slid steadily into the building.

Only a mountain city would dare to do something like this.

Later that evening, Chen Kunjie finished his work and took Li Younan to the Jiaotong Tea House. Stepping inside felt like stepping back thirty years, with its peeling paint on the square tables and benches, the creaking ceiling fans, and the old tea floating in the covered bowls.

Several elderly men were playing chess in a corner, while a tea server in a vest carried a copper kettle back and forth to refill the water.

The two nestled in the bamboo chairs, not in a hurry to leave even when their tea had gone weak.

Of course we'll have hot pot tonight.

When Li Younan suggested having hot pot, Chen Kunjie was a little surprised and asked curiously, "Don't you not eat spicy food?"

Li Younan said solemnly, "I'm eating hot pot with a mission in mind."

Li Younan, of course, wouldn't reveal what the mission was.

Chen Kunjie was greatly shocked and began to understand that Li Younan was trying to understand the tastes of Chongqing people, or rather, the taste of Chongqing hot pot!
Everything must be preparation for opening a hot pot restaurant!

For a moment, he felt a little ashamed. To be honest, he had grown up in a hot pot restaurant and was someone who really aspired to open a lively hot pot restaurant, yet he had never thought of this point and had only been working in isolation.

Instead of going to those places with long queues, Chen Kunjie recommended an old hot pot restaurant hidden in an alley, which happened to be one of the restaurants that Li Younan had visited.

The ambiance is typical of a local market, with gleaming tables and chairs. You eat slowly, letting the food cook at your own pace. If it gets too spicy, you can have a sip of Wei Yi soy milk or an ice-cold beer.

The surrounding area was full of locals, very loud, and steamy.

The hot pot meal lasted almost two hours, and Li Younan felt that he could tolerate the spiciness a little better than before, evidenced by the fact that he took a little longer to boil the water than before.

Over the next few days, life became more regular.

Li Younan stopped staying in hotels and instead stayed at Chen Kunjie's place.

Although Chen Kunjie started his own business, his parents still treated him very well.

In addition to the storefront, they also gave him a small two-bedroom apartment, which Li Younan could occupy one of the rooms.

Chen Kunjie has a girlfriend, but the two do not live together.

They haven't been together for very long. The girl is rather conservative, and after a month or so, they've only just progressed to kissing.

After Li Younan moved in, he often heard Chen Kunjie next door talking incessantly on the phone.

I couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but it seemed like they were chatting with their girlfriend.

During the day, since they had already visited most of the places to go near Chongqing, Li Younan focused his energy on teaching Chen Kunjie how to make hot pot broth.

During this process, Li Younan felt the power of the system more and more deeply.

The preparation of commercial hot pot broth differs greatly from that of home-cooked dishes, primarily due to the large quantity involved. With such a large quantity, controlling the heat becomes extremely difficult.

The concept of "cooking time" may sound mystical, but it is actually based on science.

The underlying logic is that different food substances take different amounts of time to denature, and the aromas released at different temperatures are even more complex and diverse.

The essence of cooking time and temperature control is to allow the dynamic changes in temperature and time to enable different ingredients to release their best flavor at the most suitable temperature.

However, as the quantity increases, the time required for heating, the duration of the temperature, and so on will all change.

This change necessitates adjustments to the proportions and order in which the seasonings are placed.

The ability the system granted Li Younan was that he didn't need to calculate anything; he would naturally know when to add which ingredients and how to adjust them dynamically depending on the situation.

It was an indescribable feeling, a profound realization.

To be honest, there's no way to directly teach this feeling to someone else.

However, there is also a rather rudimentary method, which is to determine the amount of base ingredients to be stir-fried each time and then follow the template. This way, Chen Kunjie can gradually get the hang of it.

When Chen Kunjie realized that everything was in a dynamic state of flux during the cooking process, he was completely stunned.

He said incredulously, "Dude, you've really changed my understanding of cooking. How did you calculate that?"

Li Younan nodded his head and said, "This isn't something you can calculate; it's more of a feeling. You don't need to think too much about it; just do it. As you cook more often, you'll gradually develop a similar feeling."

Chen Kunjie also studied very diligently.

After all, he had been exposed to hot pot restaurants since he was a child and already knew some basic stir-frying methods, so Li Younan didn't need to teach him too much about the basics.

A few days later, Chen Kunjie's hot pot base was already taking shape.

When it comes to hot pot base, it's not like other products where ordinary diners can easily compare the quality of different ingredients.

Just like digital products whose specifications can be viewed directly, taste is subjective. A hot pot broth that scores 70 and 100 might not taste significantly different to one person. But it is precisely this slight difference that makes it stand out.

Chen Kunjie now uses his own homemade hot pot broth to cook hot pot, and he enjoys it immensely. Li Younan thinks he's almost ready to graduate.

In the evening, Li Younan invited Chen Kunjie's girlfriend over, and the three of them had dinner together.

Chen Kunjie's girlfriend is a girl who is both conservative and passionate. She would occasionally gesticulate with her little fist to scare Chen Kunjie, but she never had the heart to actually land her tiny fist on him.

Instead, Chen Kunjie would tease her in front of Li Younan every time, making the girl blush and say shyly, "Why are you so annoying..."

Li Younan silently drank water.

The next day, Li Younan asked Chen Kunjie to film him carefully while he was frying the hot pot base.

The footage shows the entire process of making hot pot broth.

Nowadays, whether in Chongqing or Chengdu, the two major centers of Sichuan-Chongqing hot pot, the practice of manually preparing hot pot broth is becoming increasingly rare.

If you want to expand your stores, you can't meet the daily sales demand by relying solely on manpower, so industrialized production methods are essential.

But both Li Younan and Chen Kunjie reached a consensus on this point... They did not pursue how big the stores were or how many branches they opened; the tradition of manually stir-frying the hot pot base must be continued.

To ensure that the hot pot base has a consistent and uniform flavor, the amount of each batch is fixed.

In this way, the proportions, timing, and every detail can be precisely determined, resulting in a product that is nearly identical to the original.

Chen Kunjie is already envisioning a future where he will take on many apprentices.

Li Younan sent the video he had filmed to JK Long, and then said rather smugly, "Brother Long, look at the hot pot base my apprentice made. He's almost completely mastered my skills."

JK Long sent a disdainful emoji before saying, "This young man is surprisingly good at making hot pot broth, even though he's not very old. It looks delicious. Hmm, just this video of the hot pot broth alone is enough to attract people to eat here. You really invested in this hot pot restaurant?"

Li Younan replied to the message, "That's right, I still need to drive traffic to the hot pot restaurant!" JK Long was silent for a moment, then asked, "That's good, how much did you invest?"

Li Younan said, "I didn't invest any money; I just provided the recipe for the hot pot base and helped with the renovations for free."

JK Long rolled his eyes this time and said, "You're getting too into character. So you've got the hot pot broth recipe too? It's like learning woodworking by playing with building blocks, right?"

Li Younan noticed that Brother Long was increasingly fond of using emojis, and his originally aloof image seemed to be deviating from its original trajectory. Perhaps this guy was actually a comedian.

JK Long continued, "This video of making hot pot base can actually be posted as a separate video, and it's relatively easy to edit. Anyway, you already have a lot of footage. Give me an hour, and I can finish it. Just post it after you've edited it."

Li Younan replied that it was okay, no problem.

An hour later, JK Long indeed sent the video.

Li Younan read it over and, after confirming there were no problems, chose to upload it.

In the caption of the video, he wrote: "Under my tutelage, my apprentice made a really good hot pot base. What do you all think?"

Unsurprisingly, after the video was posted, Li Younan received a barrage of ridicule in the comments section.

The most upvoted comment was: "Oh my, he's talking about his apprentice!"

The other highly-rated comments also revolved around the term "apprentice" and used it as a meme.

The main point everyone was making was criticizing him for bragging.

No one believes it.

Li Younan found everyone's comments quite amusing and didn't bother to refute them.

Surprisingly, the number of comments on this video grew the fastest among all his videos.

The next day, the batch of timber that Huang Xiaoyang had helped order finally arrived.

Li Younan asked Chen Kunjie to film him, and then rented a set of woodworking tools from nearby. He started working on the woodworking in the hot pot restaurant, huffing and puffing.

(End of this chapter)