Monday morning.

Qin Yi woke up in her newly rented 200-square-meter apartment.

I bought some ingredients from the system store and, before the market opens, I'll cook some dishes to practice and make something for myself.

Let's start the day with something light: Mapo Tofu.

Cut the tofu into small cubes about 2 cm in size, put them in a pot, add salt and rinse once to remove the beany smell.

Delicious Mapo Tofu needs fermented soybean paste for seasoning, but the fermented soybean paste shouldn't overpower the other flavors.

Qin Yi used to think that her Mapo Tofu was quite delicious and went well with rice, but it turns out that it was all thanks to two large spoonfuls of fermented bean paste.

After looking at the ingredients and instructions on the system's menu, I realized that what I had been eating before could only be called "Pixian Doubanjiang Tofu".

She used to use minced pork to make this dish, but the traditional way is to add minced beef.

Stir-fry the minced beef until crispy and fragrant, then set aside.

Finely chop the fermented soybean paste and black bean sauce with a knife to make them easier to extract their flavor.

Heat a wok over high heat. Make sure there's plenty of oil in the wok. Swirl the wok around so that the oil evenly coats the sides.

Adding minced garlic and chili powder and stir-frying until cooked will enhance the color and make the dish more vibrant red.

Next, add fermented broad bean paste and fermented black beans, stir-fry until fragrant, then add minced beef and dark soy sauce. Stir-fry over low heat until the color and aroma are released, then add water and tofu.

The water should just cover the tofu, then add seasonings.

After simmering for two minutes to allow the flavors to meld, add cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce. This process needs to be repeated three times.

Each time, gently rotate the pot to thicken the broth.

Repeat the same process twice, then add chopped chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorn powder.

Thicken the sauce a third time to allow the broth and tofu to blend together perfectly, then remove from heat and serve with a rich and fragrant flavor.

Next up is a refreshing dish: Lotus Root Stir-fry.

The main ingredients of this dish are crunchy fresh vegetables.

When you have nothing to do, use a small, pointed knife to trim the edges of the lotus root holes, and you can get flowers made from lotus roots.

Add salt to cold water and soak the lotus root slices and flowers in it before use.

Select the lily petals, and diagonally cut the celery and carrots into small diamond-shaped pieces.

This is a very refreshing dish, so most of the ingredients are blanched for 1-2 minutes until just cooked, then drained and set aside.

Then heat oil in a pan, add chopped scallions, ginger, and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add all the blanched vegetables, such as celery stalks, lily petals, carrots, and lotus root slices.

Stir-fry until steaming hot, add salt and sauce to taste, then remove from heat and serve.

A refreshing and healthy vegetarian dish is now ready.

One meat dish and one vegetable dish, one spicy dish and one fresh dish—that's enough for one person.

Qin Yi moved the prepared food to the rooftop terrace.

While eating, I watched the elderly people practicing Tai Chi in front of the community pavilion downstairs.

When the real estate agent first brought her to this neighborhood, she thought the environment was beautiful and quiet, and it wasn't far from the city center.

I later spoke with Ma Xiaomei on the phone.

I only found out then that I lived in a high-quality retirement community.

Many wealthy people buy properties here for their parents.

There are many elderly people in the community. Some practice Tai Chi, while others dance in groups in the open space at the entrance of the community.

This is a place where life moves at a slower pace.

Or maybe the whole family lives here.

Or it could be families with capable children they rarely see or empty-nest elderly.

There are very few single young women like her.

After all, the housing prices are what they are, and young people won't consider buying property here.

After finishing her meal, Qin Yi ran a few laps around the neighborhood.

While exercising, you can also familiarize yourself with the layout of the neighborhood.

It turns out that she lives in a mid-rise apartment building with an elevator. If you walk another ten minutes or so, you'll reach the villa area of ​​the community, where the greenery and environment are even better, and the community's free gym is also located nearby.

Qin Yi got tired after running for a while.

It seems this body's physical fitness is still lacking; I need to exercise more when I have time.

Go home and continue sleeping. 1000 menus! Qin Yi glanced through them briefly.

Based on my existing culinary skills and the intensive study I've done over the past few days, I can now cook about half of the dishes.

There are still about 500 dishes to learn. How long will she need to sleep, no, how long will she need to practice to learn them all?

Ding~~~ The alarm clock rang at 6 PM.

Qin Yi opened her eyes and looked out the window, feeling very flustered. It was rare for her to feel so uncertain when doing a mission.

What a stupid blind box system! There are 1000 recipes, and there's a 50% chance you'll get a dish she can't cook.

Although some dishes can be made pretty well by just looking at the recipe once and following it.

But the customers are waiting in front of you, you can't just slowly study how to do each step in front of them, right?

Today's goal for setting up the stall: complete one order!

Once she had completed the minimum tasks assigned by the system, she planned to continue sleeping in the car.

There's only one copy anyway, so there's no need to go far.

Qin Yi drove the van directly out of the underground parking garage and parked it at the entrance of the residential area.

In the evening, vendors began to appear, and the older women lined up in the square outside the gate, ready to perform a lively dance.

Qin Yi climbed into the back of the car, sat in her specially customized chair, picked up the book "1000 Recipes", and started to droop her eyelids as she read.

"A colorful blind box lunch stand?"

The sign was prominently displayed in front of the car, and the system also displayed a variety of delicious dishes in rotation, including delicacies from all over the world, and even some state banquet dishes.

These dishes are all randomly selected; you can't order them. What you get to eat depends on luck and chance.

"Interesting, very interesting."

A radiant, white-haired old man stood in front of the sign with his hands behind his back, gazing at it for a long time.

He watched the dishes float away, muttering to himself, "I like Kung Pao Chicken, I like Steamed Pork with Lotus Leaf, I like Eggplant with Minced Pork, I like Stir-fried Eel."

Qin Yi kept her eyes on the book, but her ears were constantly listening—there's nothing you don't like, right?

"Oh dear, I have to open blind boxes again. With my luck, I'm sure I'll get the hidden item."

The old man took out his phone and scanned the QR code on the sign to pay.

This time, the system didn't give Qin Yi the power to refuse. As long as the sign was set up and someone scanned the code, she had to grab a pot and get to work.

Congratulations on winning the blue box! You've received a cold-cooked bunny and a Wensi tofu bento box.

The white-haired old man's eyes lit up with joy when he saw the two dishes. A menu ticket was printed out on the light board, and the old man took it and handed it to Qin Yi, "Boss, this is the dish I drew, please make it for me quickly."

Qin Yi heard what the old man drew from the stool.

This is like winning the lottery! She hasn't even looked at these two dishes yet.

"Uh... okay, wait a moment, rest on the stool for a while." Qin Yi gestured for him to sit at the folding table and chair next to the food cart, and then found a fruit plate in the cabinet and put a handful of sunflower seeds on it. "Grandpa, have some sunflower seeds and sit there while you wait, I'll go cook the dishes now."

As soon as the old man turned around with the melon seeds, Qin Yi immediately took out "1000 Recipes" and quickly searched in the table of contents, her index finger sliding along the words on the page.

"Page 230: Cold-cooked Rabbit; Page 998: Wensi Tofu." Turn to these two pages, fold the bottom right corner of the book as a marker, and learn and practice as you read.