Chapter 197 Grilled Cold Noodles
So a few days later, just as a giant banner announcing the "First Campus Food Festival" was hung on the campus of Yuda University, Principal Lü, stepping on the golden ginkgo leaves scattered on the ground, found Su Yingxue's snack stall with a beaming smile.
At that moment, Su Yingxue was busy adding chopped green onions to the freshly cooked soup. The rising steam made her nose bead with sweat, but her face was full of a vibrant smile.
"Xiao Su," Principal Lü's voice was gentle yet expectant, "the school would like to invite you to participate in this food festival as the 'Campus Food Representative.' Your soup has received rave reviews among the faculty and staff, and the students are also looking forward to your stall!"
Su Yingxue paused, her eyes instantly lighting up like stars: "Principal, really? Of course I'd love to!"
She had long wanted to take advantage of the food festival to launch a new snack. After seeing Principal Lü off, she immediately convened an "emergency meeting" with Xia Yao, Zhang Hao, and Xiao Nuan, and slammed her hand on the table to announce: "This time, our main product is—secret recipe grilled cold noodles!"
"Grilled cold noodles?"
Xia Yao raised an eyebrow while munching on potato chips. "This is a street-style hit. How can we come up with something new about it?"
Su Yingxue smiled mysteriously and took out a piece of paper full of recipes from her bag: "I tried more than a dozen sauces and finally settled on the 'Double Sauce Secret Recipe' - the sweet bean sauce is enhanced with honey and dried tangerine peel, and the garlic chili sauce is made with fresh millet peppers and fermented garlic, which is spicy and fresh."
In addition, it will include freshly fried soft-boiled eggs, crunchy pickled cucumber cubes, and finally sprinkled with homemade sesame seaweed flakes—guaranteed to be divine in one bite!
The news caused an uproar among students at Yulin University. That very evening, the "Su Ji Food Support Group" was officially established, with Xiao Nuan as its leader.
She and her classmates from the art academy stayed up for three nights in a row to hand-paint a giant poster three meters long—in which golden and crispy grilled cold noodles were rolled with soft-boiled eggs, and red oil sauce dripped down the edges.
Next to her, a chibi version of Su Yingxue, wearing a floral apron, holds a spatula and makes a peace sign. At the top of the poster is a domineering slogan: "Yu Da Grilled Cold Noodles, one bite and your soul will fly away!"
On the day of the food festival, just as dawn was breaking, the student support team arrived at the playground in a large group. Zhang Hao and Xia Yao carried an oversized speaker and played a modified version of "The Light of Yuda" on a loop, with the lyrics changed into a catchy rap.
"The grilled cold noodles smell so good you'll want to stomp your feet, the golden egg coating is crispy, and the double sauce is absolutely amazing. One bite and you'll forget all about class!"
The girls surrounded their stall with fresh daisies and baby's breath, changed the tablecloth to a refreshing blue and white checkered pattern, and even placed two cute cartoon light signs in front of the stall that read "Su Ji Snacks".
Su Yingxue, wearing a clean white apron and a chef's hat with a bear pattern, was surrounded by a crowd as soon as she heated the iron plate for grilling cold noodles.
She skillfully cracked an egg, and the egg liquid quickly solidified on the hot plate. The golden egg skin curled up slightly at the edges. Then she laid a sheet of cold noodles on top, brushed on two layers of sauce, sprinkled on diced pickled cucumbers, cilantro, and sesame seaweed flakes, and finally rolled it into a tight roll.
She used a spatula to cut it into small pieces, put them into paper bowls printed with cartoon characters, and handed them to the students: "Be careful, it's hot, eat it while it's hot!"
The first bite reveals crispy on the outside and tender on the inside cold noodles wrapped around a soft-boiled egg, with sweet and spicy sauces intertwining on the tongue, pickled cucumber chunks providing a refreshing taste, and sesame seaweed flakes adding layers of flavor.
The students immediately went wild: "It's so delicious! It's even better than the street vendors!" "What kind of magical recipe is this sauce? I could eat ten servings!"
At 10 a.m., the judging panel arrived as scheduled. This panel, composed of school leaders, culinary professors, and student representatives, was immediately drawn to the scene before them as soon as they reached Su Yingxue's stall.
Xia Yao immediately picked up the microphone and spontaneously sang a newly adapted food rap: "Yu Da cold noodles are the best in the world, double sauce secret recipe, no fakes, soft-boiled egg, smooth pickled cucumber, one bite and you're hooked!"
Her rap was fast-paced and the lyrics were down-to-earth, which made the judges nod and smile.
Just then, Xiao Nuan squeezed through the crowd with her easel. She squatted down in front of the stall, her paintbrush flying across the canvas. In less than five minutes, a still life of grilled cold noodles was completed—the painting depicted a paper bowl of grilled cold noodles placed on a checkered tablecloth on the stall.
A bunch of daisies sits beside it, sunlight filtering through the leaves and falling on them. The pale yellow of the eggs, the deep red of the sauce, and the emerald green of the lettuce leap off the paper, and even the crispy texture of the cold noodles is depicted vividly.
"This is so creative!"
The culinary experts on the judging panel couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
"Other stalls compete on taste, but yours not only tastes great, but you also incorporate music and painting, making it the most artistic stall!"
It received full marks on the spot, and even added extra "creativity bonus points," ranking it first among all the booths.
The climax of the food festival arrived precisely at noon. As soon as Su Yingxue's limited-edition "signature beef brisket and radish soup" was served in the insulated container, it sparked a "soup-grabbing frenzy."
Students from Yuda University held up light boards and lined up in a long queue to cheer wildly: "The beef brisket is so tender and delicious, and the radish is sweet and juicy. I could drink three bowls of it!"
"Limited to 50 servings, let's go!"
Even more imaginative students dressed up as "Little Cold Noodles"—wearing a golden "noodle pancake outfit," with a fried egg pattern printed on the chest, a huge paper fried egg headdress on their heads, and holding a sign that read "Grilled Cold Noodles yyds," jumping around in front of the stall, drawing constant laughter from the onlookers.
One boy even jumped up and down shouting, "Eat Sister Su's grilled cold noodles, and you'll definitely pass your exams! Drink Sister Su's beef brisket soup, and you won't go bald even if you stay up all night watching dramas!"
The scene was so lively that even the school security guards came over to maintain order, fearing that a crowd might break out.
No one expected that this lively food festival would become a hit at the neighboring Qingdao University through short video platforms.
Students from Qingdao University were immediately abuzz when they saw photos of grilled cold noodles and beef brisket soup posted by students from Yulin University.
That afternoon, the "Dry Rice People Fan Group" of Qingdao University was in an uproar. The ID "Qingda Dry Rice King 001" posted a screenshot of himself taking the bus to Yuda University and queuing for two hours to buy soup, with the caption: "For this beef brisket soup, I can queue from dawn to dusk! The friends of Yuda University are so lucky!"
"But seriously, your queuing order is terrible! Last time I was so jostled I almost spilled my soup. You've never seen anything good before!"
These words immediately struck a nerve with the students of Yuda University, and the ID "Yuda Food Guardian" immediately retorted: "Our Sister Su's grilled cold noodles video has already exceeded 100,000 views on Douyin and even made it onto the local trending topics!"
"What's two hours in line? That's because you're not lucky enough to eat here every day! Besides, our queuing is out of enthusiasm, which is much better than the last time a milk tea shop opened at Qingdao University, when people cut in line and started arguing, right?"
Thus began an online flame war between the two schools.
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