Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 147

Making Zongzi is So Hard

Ruo bamboo leaves, compared to reed leaves, were shorter and thicker, though their width was about the same. And although Ruo bamboo was also a relatively easy plant to grow, it was more precious than reeds. As a result, not many people cultivated it. Over time, the zongzi leaves sold on the market were mostly dried reed leaves.

Fresh Ruo bamboo leaves were a true rarity.

If Sun Miao had gone to buy them online, at the wet market, or at a wholesale market, she would never have been able to find fresh ones.

Thank goodness for her landlord, who had solved this major problem for her.

Next came learning how to process the zongzi leaves. After picking them, the most basic step was to wash them. Dried zongzi leaves required an extra step: soaking them in water.

Many people would boil zongzi leaves in hot water, but for fresh leaves, this wasn’t a necessary procedure; as long as they were washed clean, it could be skipped. Sun Miao was responsible for scrubbing them. After washing the zongzi leaves until they were spotlessly clean, she set them aside for later use.

Then, it was time to make the zongzi.

The Jiaxing Fresh Meat Zongzi was divided into two components: the fresh meat filling and the glutinous rice. This was true for most zongzi, however; the core principle remained the same¹. However, when it came to seasoning, the meat had to be slightly saltier than usual. This was because it would be wrapped in glutinous rice, and if it had a normal level of seasoning, it would taste rather bland when eaten with the rice.

Therefore, the seasoning had to be a bit heavier than usual, but not too much. If it was truly too much, it wouldn’t taste good.

Under normal circumstances, this wasn’t a huge deal, so just adding a bit more would be fine. But for the System, everything had to be perfect, reaching the absolute pinnacle of excellence. Because the zongzi were to be sold as a uniform product, not customized with seasonings in front of the food truck, they had to achieve that subtle balance where one bit more would be too salty, and one bit less would be too bland, ensuring every customer found them delicious.

If it were just a matter of seasoning to the perfect taste, it would naturally be no problem for Sun Miao; she had already achieved the pinnacle of this with the malatang snack. But the System’s requirement was that it had to be slightly saltier than usual.

Sun Miao wracked her brains over this “slightly saltier.” To make matters worse, she couldn’t adjust it on the fly. Instead, she had to wait until the entire zongzi was wrapped, cooked, and eaten by herself or a customer. If any problem arose, it was a direct failure, and everything had to be redone.

Moreover, the fresh meat used for the filling was also specific: it had to be pork leg. It also had to be cut. The meat was to be separated into fat and lean portions and cut into long strips. This wasn’t a random cut, either; when cutting, one had to follow the meat’s cross-grain, slowly slicing off one strip at a time.

After seasoning, the meat strips had to be repeatedly kneaded to allow the marinade to penetrate deep into the meat, until a white foam was rubbed out. Sun Miao’s hands were a little sore from rubbing before she finally saw the white foam. In modern times, many people no longer bothered with this, and the meat wasn’t cut separately, but rather they directly used pork belly².

Although pork belly could also provide the sensation of both fat and lean, a single, unseparated piece of meat was still somewhat lacking in terms of flavor.

Once the meat was processed, it was set aside to rest, and it was time to work on the glutinous rice.

The glutinous rice was first washed clean, then left to drain of excess water.

The glutinous rice also needed to be seasoned. The most basic ingredients were white sugar, salt, and soy sauce. But the meat was already seasoned to be slightly saltier than normal, and now she was required to add these to the rice as well. Sun Miao had a headache just thinking about how to grasp the right degree.

Following her own understanding, she added the corresponding seasonings.

Next, it required time.

The glutinous rice had to rest for almost an entire night. At the very end, she had to rub it between her fingers to confirm that the rice had reached the perfect state before she could proceed with making the zongzi.

The subsequent steps were much simpler, with no overly delicate work. She overlapped two zongzi leaves to form a funnel shape, then poured in glutinous rice, added the meat filling, sealed it with another layer of glutinous rice, and finally, without using cotton string, wrapped the entire zongzi using only the leaves themselves.

All these tasks had a standard to follow; she just had to do as the System required. There was one point that needed special attention: the meat filling. The meat had to be stacked with two lean pieces and one fatty piece, then cut into evenly sized blocks before being stuffed into the glutinous rice.

Furthermore, there weren’t many zongzi nowadays that were wrapped using only leaves without string. Most were tied with cotton string to fix them in place, which was much more time-saving and convenient. But the System rapped on its blackboard, warning Sun Miao: 【Do not even think about being lazy. Cotton string itself carries a slight taste. Boiling it with the zongzi will not only absorb the water in the pot but also tarnish the original fragrance. The presence of cotton string in the food is absolutely forbidden!】

“Yes, yes, I was just saying,” Sun Miao replied as she wrapped the zongzi.

After wrapping the zongzi, the long cooking process began.

Three hours, a full three hours! It was the first time Sun Miao learned that cooking zongzi took so long. She had made zongzi herself before, and they were ready to eat as soon as they were cooked through.

But for these zongzi, the System required them to be cooked on medium heat for 2 hours, then simmered on low heat for 1 hour. This also included the complex process of slow-boiling, parboiling, stewing, braising, and simmering.

However, after following the System’s tutorial, Sun Miao found that the zongzi tasted a bit salty. A virtual customer, while yelling, “How is anyone supposed to eat a zongzi this salty?! Are you trying to kill me with saltiness?!” flipped over Sun Miao’s stall.

Sun Miao stood to the side, long accustomed to such things. With a smile on her face, she placated the virtual customer, and only after compensating him did the virtual customer leave, still fuming.

Sun Miao ate a zongzi, thinking to herself: It really was because I added too much salt that this happened. But in all honesty, the zongzi Sun Miao made didn’t taste bad at all, certainly not to the point of “killing someone with saltiness.” However, the customers in the System’s space were all virtual constructs, programmed to be as unreasonable as possible, which is why they acted this way.

What it demanded of Sun Miao was to create food that even the most demanding customer, under the assault of deliciousness, could not utter a single word of “dislike.” Only then would it be food produced by the System.

In the past, the System would first take control of Sun Miao’s body, using the precision of an instrument to let her experience what true seasoning was. This time, however, the System had canceled this tutorial.

【If every time, you must rely on a machine-like me to learn the most precise control, then you will forever be nothing more than a puppet under mechanical control, a replica of the System in the human world. Host, we hope you can show us a different side of humanity—the brilliance that comes from a human’s flash of insight.】

It made it sound so nice, but actually doing it was very difficult. The process of making zongzi wasn’t hard, but trying to get the seasoning right again and again, that “slightly saltier” standard, truly wracked Sun Miao’s brain.

But Sun Miao was indeed talented. After spending three months, she finally nailed the flavor. Not a single one of the thousand-plus virtual customers before her could say that what Sun Miao made wasn’t delicious. No matter how they thought about it, the taste was “just right.”

In truth, Sun Miao had cheated a little, employing a technique similar to one she’d used before. Many things she had made in the past could have two different textures. When she made chicken soup, she could even make the saltiness progress in layers before finally becoming clear and soothing.

Now, Sun Miao was doing the same with the zongzi.

The System, however, didn’t think she was cheating. No matter what method she used, as long as it was a proper technique, the System acknowledged it.

Sun Miao was finally released from the System’s space. She opened her eyes only to find the other side of the bed already empty. Sun Miao’s hand drooped over, landing on Su Ruixi’s pillow, and her whole body leaned slightly in that direction.

She sighed, and after a long moment, she called out, “Susu…”

Alright, her Susu-jie had already gone to work. Sun Miao yawned and got right out of bed. Downstairs, the Auntie had already prepared breakfast for her, and she chatted with Sun Miao while she ate. “Isn’t it the 7th today? The young girl next door left for the Gaokao. Her family was so nervous this morning, they got up super early and left.”

“I heard they were originally planning to stay near the exam site, so they could just walk over. But there was news last year, you know, about a group of exam-takers getting into a hotel elevator and it broke down. They got trapped inside, and a whole bunch of them missed the Gaokao.”

As the Auntie chatted, Sun Miao finally remembered: Oh, right, Zhou Ling has her Gaokao today!

She took a bite of millet porridge and decided that after she wrapped zongzi later, she would send some over to their family. She quite liked little sister Zhou Ling and hoped she would do well on her exams. If she did well, then she could take three-tenths of the credit³ for her own counseling!

But she wouldn’t send them today. The exams here wouldn’t be over until the evening of the 9th. She would wait until the evening of the 9th to deliver them, and the 10th was the Dragon Boat Festival! Perfect!

Sun Miao had also heard about the news the Auntie mentioned. Although she wasn’t from this world and had only transmigrated less than two months ago, such incidents were commonplace in her own world before she crossed over!

Looks like even in a different world, the unlucky Gaokao candidates are just as unlucky.

“They could have just found a hotel with fewer floors,” Sun Miao said.

The Auntie thought for a moment before replying, “That wouldn’t work either. The girl has been at home for so long, what if a sudden change of environment affects her?”

They chatted for a while. As Sun Miao was finishing her meal, she said, “Auntie, I’m going to wrap zongzi later. I’ll leave some for you in the fridge. Remember to take them home tomorrow when you’re done cleaning up. I’ll have them cooked, you just need to heat them up in a pot at home.”

“Oh, how could I accept?”

“It’s almost the Dragon Boat Festival, you have to eat zongzi. Don’t be polite with me.”

The Auntie agreed. As she prepared to clear the table and wash the dishes, Sun Miao went upstairs. She flopped onto the large bed she shared with Su Ruixi, couldn’t help but roll around a few times, and then punched their comforter.

She kept her head buried in the comforter for a moment, then pulled her phone out of her pocket, found her group chat, and first posted the time and location. The time hadn’t changed at all—6 AM to 6 PM, because zongzi could also be eaten for breakfast.

The location was also the System’s favorite spot, under the second streetlight, this time near the pedestrian street. It was quite lively, but the timing was off. What kind of decent person goes to a pedestrian street early in the morning? There wouldn’t be any stalls set up at all.

This time it was limited again, with a daily limit of 2 per person. She planned to make 200 a day.

Sun Miao felt her hand speed was quite fast, but even so, wrapping 200 zongzi would probably take two and a half hours. Add the cooking part, and that was five and a half hours.

Making zongzi is so, so hard.

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