After slacking off all morning, Yin Zhu rushed back to her apartment as soon as it was time to leave and excitedly opened the refrigerator.

There was a bowl of cold rice, carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, and a piece of meat in the refrigerator. All the vegetables were very fresh; the carrots still had some dirt on them, the tomatoes were dotted with a few drops of water, and the cabbage was so fresh it looked like jade.

Yin Zhu was genuinely disappointed to see that there were no potatoes, but she still cheered herself up and took the food to the kitchen to prepare a quick and delicious lunch for herself.

Because of time constraints and to prevent the ingredients from expiring, Yin Zhu made a quick assessment and first made a soup with cabbage and some sliced ​​meat, then put it in the pot to cook. The soup takes the most time to make and is also the one that stays warm the longest, and it's relatively simple, so it needs to be made first.

Next, Yin Zhu began to process the remaining meat and vegetables.

Yin Zhu first cut the meat, tomatoes, and carrots into similar-sized pieces. Then, she took out a frying pan, put the meat in to blanch it until cooked, and then put the vegetables in, added water and seasonings, and simmered them. To thicken the sauce, she also added some cornstarch slurry.

Although she didn't quite understand the underlying principles, she saw that her parents and older sister always did it this way.

The rice was already cooked; it just needed to be heated in a steamer. So Yin Zhu added some water to the bottom of the steamer to prevent it from burning and filling the whole house with an unpleasant smell.

Everything is ready; we can start eating as soon as everything is cooked.

Most of the time at home, the elders would cook, but fearing that the children would starve if they went out and didn't know how to cook, all the children in the Yin family were required to learn how to cook. Later, when Yin Zhu moved out on her own, she felt that cooking was cheaper and more nutritious than eating takeout.

Strangely enough, while cooking, Yin Zhu suddenly realized that although the ingredients were only available periodically, the kitchen was always well-stocked with seasonings, from salt to pepper, from sugar to soy sauce. Perhaps it was because one should never skimp on seasonings, no matter how poor one is, and never suffer a bitter meal? Thanks to the beautification of these seasonings, Yin Zhu was spared from having a bland and watery lunch.

The aroma of carrots and tomatoes soon wafted from the pot. Yin Zhu rubbed her hands together, sniffed deeply, and couldn't help but look forward to how the meal she had cooked herself after so many days would taste.

...

"The chosen one can cook? I thought young people these days only knew how to order takeout."

"Takeout is for rich people; we poor people have to cook for ourselves. I saw online that Yin Zhu is still a migrant worker in Beijing, and I guess she cooks for herself all the time. I really sympathize with her."

"What empathy are you talking about? Her sister runs an online store and earns hundreds of thousands a year. Do you really think she's like you?"

"??? What does her sister's money have to do with her?"

"No one would take advantage of her sister, right? No way, no way? Yin Zhu left home a long time ago before she became the chosen one. She's been working as a junior employee at a magazine. The magazine even used the fact that Yin Zhu was their former employee as a selling point, but they didn't see her taking advantage of her sister."

"What's wrong with nibbling on your older sister? Can't you nibble on your older sister?"

"So the selection of the chosen ones isn't a good thing, otherwise a lot of people would probably still be spreading rumors that Yin Zhu has a background to be selected, right? Is it so hard to admit that someone is excellent?"

“I’m not trying to be argumentative, but I have to say that this isn’t how Yin Zhu cooks; she skipped a lot of steps.”

"Isn't cooking just about putting water, vegetables, and seasonings in a pot and simmering them together?"

"Are you making a hodgepodge upstairs?"

"Don't insult our stew! We still have specific steps! Authentic stew requires you to first put the big bones in cold water, add cooking wine and ginger slices, turn on high heat, and then add a lot of other things."

"Our stew here includes scallions and ginger, but no cooking wine. However, it does take some time to make; it's not that simple."

"Your method is not authentic."

"I'm not saying this to be mean, but China has eight major cuisines, so can we please stop arguing about which is the best? If we're really talking about delicious food, I think Mapo Tofu is the best."

As soon as this comment appeared, a viewer skilled in online flame wars immediately posted a comment:

"@Housing Management, someone is starting a fight."

However, his individual barrage of comments was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot; it couldn't stop the Chinese viewers who were drawn in by the food topic and blinded by their competitive spirit.

Some topics, once started, are impossible to stop talking about.

In the United States, this topic might be about discrimination; in South Korea, it might be about beauty or school bullying; and in China, it's definitely about food.

Even though that comment was a direct attempt to bait viewers, it still sparked a debate among them.

"What's so special about Mapo Tofu? Even if it's Sichuan cuisine, Boiled Cabbage in Clear Broth is more famous, okay? It's not spicy, looks good, tastes good, and it's even a royal dish that can be served at state banquets!"

"Forget about boiled cabbage; the tutorials online are practically turning into 'flowering cabbage' these days."

"The Peking duck wants to fight!"

"Northern or southern? The northern food desert suggests you shut up, lest the eight major cuisines beat you so badly your own mother wouldn't recognize you."

"Indeed, in Beijing, there's only Peking duck, oh right, and you have to add zha jiang mian (noodles with soybean paste). I went there for tourism once, and the zha jiang mian was absolutely awful. I complained about it online, and a bunch of people with Beijing IP addresses told me, 'Zha jiang mian is definitely better at home.'"

"Homemade Zha Jiang Mian (noodles with soybean paste) is definitely the best. The essence of Zha Jiang Mian is the soybean paste, the diced meat should be a good mix of lean and fatty meat, and it should be simmered over low heat. When it comes out of the pot, it's shiny with oil and smells amazing. The ones outside are either too stingy with the meat or the sauce is too salty."

"City of mountains has brought hot pot. Shall we have a fight? Do you even understand the significance of being the hot pot capital?"

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