Food: Senior year internship, you take over the university cafeteria

Chapter 39 The Shop Opens

Wang Sheng came out for some fresh air after finishing preparing the ingredients for the evening and happened to see this scene.

He walked up to Brother Liu's stall.

"Brother Liu, congratulations on your grand opening!"

When Brother Liu saw Wang Sheng, it was like seeing a savior. He looked dejected and said, "Brother, don't even mention it! What a disaster! This sauce, I made it according to the recipe from my hometown, but why is it so salty here? The students can't get used to it!"

Wang Sheng picked up the sauce jar that Brother Liu was using, smelled it, and then tasted a bit of it on his fingertip.

Indeed, it was too salty, lacked sweetness, and the spices were a bit too strong, which did not suit the complex tastes preferred by local students.

Remembering Brother Liu's previous kindness and frankness, he decided to lend a hand.

"Brother Liu, the sauce should be adapted to local conditions. Your sauce is mainly salty, which is suitable for pairing with mild-flavored staple foods, or for regions with strong flavors. The students here like it to be salty with a hint of sweetness, with plenty of umami, but the spices shouldn't be too overpowering."

Wang Sheng pondered for a moment, "Hey, I happen to have some leftover base from making soy sauce for rice noodle rolls and sauce for mixing rice noodles. The flavor is pretty balanced. I'll teach you how to make a compound sauce suitable for grilled cold noodles. Would you like to try it?"

Brother Liu could hardly believe his ears: "Brother? This is a secret recipe!"

No, no, no!

"Forget about secret recipes, as long as it works, that's fine."

Wang Sheng waved his hand dismissively, saying, "In the catering industry, healthy competition and working together to create a vibrant late-night dining atmosphere in this area is the only long-term solution. Wait for me a moment."

Wang Sheng returned to the kitchen, retrieved some basic sauces and seasonings, and quickly wrote a simple compound sauce recipe (based on his understanding of students' tastes, combining salty, sweet, savory, and slightly spicy flavors). He handed it to Brother Liu and guided him on adjusting the proportions before making a sample.

The new sauce, spread on the slightly charred cold noodles, instantly softened and enriched the aroma, creating a balanced sweet and salty flavor with a prominent umami taste.

Brother Liu took a bite himself, and his eyes lit up immediately: "Wow! This tastes just right! Delicious! So good!" He was so excited that his hands were trembling slightly, and looking at Wang Sheng, his eyes were even a little red. "Brother—Brother Wang! You—what can I say! I'm impressed by your generosity! I'm really impressed! If you ever need anything from me, just ask!"

"Brother Liu, you're too kind. You go ahead with your work and let the students try the new flavors," Wang Sheng said with a smile.

Sure enough, the grilled cold noodles with the new sauce had a noticeably improved aroma and flavor, attracting more and more students. After trying it, their reviews were much better: "Mmm! This time it tastes right! The sauce is rich and flavorful, and not too salty!" "The noodles are softer too, delicious!"

Brother Liu's business finally started to pick up, and a smile returned to his face. His eyes were filled with gratitude and admiration as he looked at window number 07.

Wang Sheng returned to his window, watching the approaching night and the flow of people, pondering in his heart.

The boat congee project is progressing steadily, hidden achievements have been unlocked, the team has been optimized, allies have been established, and popularity is soaring.

And the "Trial of the Congee King" is down to just a few dozen bowls left to finish!

Five-star perfect congee craftsmanship, within your reach!

More importantly————

The popularity score has exceeded 50,000.

The [System Shop] that requires 100,000 popularity points to unlock —

The next two days were calm, yet good news kept pouring in.

The sales of boat congee remain rock solid, easily exceeding 100 bowls every day.

With the help of slow-cooking in a clay pot and increasingly refined craftsmanship, the reputation of the congee has continued to grow, and there is even a legend that "people cross half the campus just to eat a bowl of congee".

[Ding! Congratulations, host!]

[The Trial of the Congee King is complete!]

[Requirement: Sell 200 or more servings of boat congee within a week (200/200)]

[Reward Distribution:]

[1. Unlock the permanent five-star skill - Supreme Boat Congee (Fusion Innovation Perfect Version)!]

[2. Popularity points +3000!]

[3. Random Kitchenware Upgrade Coupon x1!]

The more refined, perfect, and almost artistic techniques of making boat congee were like a revelation, permeating Wang Sheng's entire being and his taste memories.

From the ultimate optimization of the rice-to-water ratio, to the most refined pre-processing techniques for each ingredient, to the millisecond-level control of the "raw-boil" cooking time, and finally the subtle art of seasoning—

I understand everything perfectly!

If the previous teachings and system assistance from Suzhou and Hangzhou were the "excellent basic version", then what you have now mastered is the "supreme perfect version" that is flawless and can be used as the store's treasure!

Meanwhile, Suzhou and Hangzhou meticulously edited and produced a video titled "Exploring the 'Shengji' Restaurant at Jinling University."

The "Taste Miracles of the Breakfast Empire" video series (three episodes in total) is simultaneously released on his various platform accounts.

The video is of extremely high quality, featuring both the dramatic conflict of Suzhou and Hangzhou's initial "anti-counterfeiting" efforts and the "it's so delicious" reversal of being completely conquered by the food. It also showcases the production process and tempting finished products of xiaolongbao, mixed rice noodles, tofu pudding, youtiao wrapped mochi, jianbing guozi, and the newly crowned king, boat congee.

Su Hang's professional yet humorous commentary, coupled with highly engaging mukbang footage, has made the video incredibly viral.

The number of views, likes, comments, and shares soared, quickly making it a trending topic in the food section.

[Popularity: 68920!]

[Note: The high-quality promotional videos for the Suzhou and Hangzhou series continue to generate buzz, attracting massive external attention and discussion, and causing a surge in popularity!]

Second takeaway: The professional promotional videos from Suzhou and Hangzhou were highly effective, bringing in traffic beyond their usual circles and attracting nearly 70,000 views!

On the afternoon of the third day, an unexpected autumn rain arrived, bringing coolness but also stimulating a greater appetite.

During dinner and late-night snack hours, the queues in front of "Sheng Kee" seem to be longer than usual.

Hot rice noodle rolls, pancakes, and especially the Supreme Boat Congee became the best choice for students to dispel cold and dampness.

During a break from his busy work, Wang Sheng glanced at the system panel.

[Popularity: 100127!]

Breakthrough!

The 100,000 mark was quietly crossed on this rainy night!

【Ding! 】

[Congratulations, host! Your popularity points have exceeded 100000!]

The conditions for unlocking the "System Shop" have been met!

[The online store feature is officially launched!]

In his mind, on the edge of the azure blue system light screen, an icon that was originally gray and had a lock-shaped mark suddenly lit up, transforming into a dazzling portal!

Wang Sheng's heart suddenly raced.

The long-awaited system store is finally open!

He focused his mind and touched the icon.

The scene before my eyes is constantly changing.

Countless product icons are arranged in a three-dimensional, floating manner, categorized and dazzling, yet shrouded in a thin mist. Only some products in the basic area are clearly visible, while those in the deeper areas are blurry, clearly requiring higher permissions or conditions to unlock.

The clearly visible areas are mainly:

[Craftsmanship Category] (Mostly gray, with only a few highlighted)

【Kitchenware】(Some items are lit up)

【Ingredients/Seasonings】(A small number are highlighted)

[Special Items] (Very few)

【other】

Each item is marked with the number of "popularity points" required to redeem it.

Prices range from several thousand to hundreds of thousands or even millions.

Wang Sheng quickly browsed through the information.

There are very few items in the "Craftsmanship" category that are highlighted, and most of them are basic or local snack crafts with two or three stars, with prices ranging from 80000 to 300000 popularity points.

The kitchenware category includes items such as "Never-wearing kitchen knives (+5% sharpness)" and "Precision temperature-controlled oil pans," priced between NT$50000 and NT$150000.

[Special Items] There are only a few items, such as "24-Hour Stamina Potion (Small)" and "Disposable Lucky Dice", which are expensive and not cost-effective.

His gaze finally settled on the [Skill Category]

In the region.