Matrix Survival: I Get A Random Chest Every Day-Chapter 786 - 548: "Mirel, when you grow up, can you...
The next morning, Li Zheng was drawn out of his dreams by the rich aroma of food. Opening his eyes, he saw that Mirel was already busy at the stove, with several plates of steaming breakfast on a low table nearby that he had no idea where they found.
"Hmm... the smell of soy milk?" Li Zheng sniffed the air and showed a surprised expression, because there were no beans in his food supply.
"You’re awake?" Mirel, hearing the commotion, turned and said, "Get up and wash up, breakfast will be ready soon."
Li Zheng jumped off the bed, casually grabbing his washing tools, and curiously asked, "Where did you get the beans to make soy milk?"
"Where are we?" Mirel responded nonchalantly.
Li Zheng, brushing his teeth, mumbled, "The Outer City."
"It’s a Botanical Garden!" Mirel rolled her eyes, standing on a small step stool, waving a huge ladle in her hand: "A professional botanical garden, how could its warehouse not have some beans? I saw you marked some recipes on the menu, figured you might want to eat them. When I got up this morning, you were sleeping like a log, didn’t want to disturb you, so I went to ask Kang’er for some ingredients. I saw some beans and grabbed a few to make soy milk for you."
Make "some"?
Li Zheng paused his brushing, glancing at the giant pot on the stove, taller than Mirel, emitting a dense steam with the smell of soy milk. He just wondered how much Mirel considered ’some’?
A ton is still ’some’, isn’t it?
"You didn’t haul all the beans from the warehouse over here, did you?" Li Zheng pointed at the large pot.
"N-No way," Mirel laughed awkwardly, "I left some for Kang’er, should be enough for him to use as seeds...right?"
In the end, even Mirel wasn’t sure, feeling quite guilty.
Seeing her like this, Li Zheng knew he had already corrupted this little Enchanting Demon Race princess, a stunning little beauty.
Indeed, Li Zheng was fully aware of it.
He felt he bore an undeniable responsibility for Mirel becoming what she was.
If it weren’t for her recent experience of following him, witnessing him thoroughly search every Matrix room, leaving nothing of value behind.
A prestigious princess of the Enchanting Demon Race, incomparable in status, how could she do something so unscrupulous?
No way, later Mirel should apologize to Kang’er, not letting this generation of players be looked down upon by others.
Li Zheng thought to himself.
After washing up, he sat by the small table as Mirel served him a bowl of creamy white soy milk, the fragrance making Li Zheng’s mouth water.
He picked up the bowl, disregarding the heat, employed an Extreme Isolation, and gulped the soy milk down.
"Hmm, rich bean flavor, creamy texture, smooth going down." Li Zheng gave a thumbs up, "Kang’er is indeed a seasoned plant cultivator. The ingredients he produces are top-notch. Even you, a first-time soy milk maker, could make it this delicious. Impressive!"
"Clearly, it’s my cooking skills," Mirel haughtily rolled her eyes, looking very charming.
Li Zheng looked away, lamenting, "It’s a pity there’s no fried dough, otherwise tearing it into pieces and soaking it in soy milk would be an unparalleled delight!"
Soy milk and fried dough are a perfect match, and nobody on Earth would disagree with this statement.
Eating them together elevates the taste to a degree far beyond a simple addition of one and one.
"Who says there are no fried doughs?" Mirel pointed to a plate on the table, "Isn’t this it?"
Li Zheng: "..."
Awkward!
Is this fried dough?
He picked up a piece, longer and thicker than his arm, yet the crisp exterior and soft interior indeed didn’t resemble the baguette he initially thought it was.
"How did you manage this?" Li Zheng silently tore off a bit and tasted it.
There’s the aroma of oil but not greasy.
The first bite felt a bit unusual, but after a few more, it became quite irresistible.
It’s like catching a short video of Tian Yiming, hearing "I dried my silence" would initially make one show an odd expression.
But after a few listens, it becomes:
"Hmm? How strange, let’s listen again."
"Oh? It’s kinda nice."
"..."
"I dried my silence ~ impulsively ruined ~ even if it was wrong this time, it was just the fear of missing out ~" Twist, twist, twist.
Overall expressing two words: Really tasty!
However, when Li Zheng soaked the fried dough in the soy milk for ten seconds and took another bite, his eyes widened like two bulbs.
The oily aroma of the fried dough perfectly melded with the rich bean flavor of the soy milk. After soaking for ten seconds, the honeycomb structure inside absorbed the soy milk. With one bite, the crispy exterior gently cracked open, and the soy milk inside exploded like a fragrant bomb in his mouth.
Caught unprepared, a surge of soy milk spilled out, unable to be contained and trickled from the corners of his mouth.
"Delicious!"
Swallowing the delicious food, Li Zheng couldn’t help but find the corners of his eyes moist.
How long had it been since he tasted this flavor?
Perhaps a month, or maybe hundreds or thousands of years.
While inside the Matrix, even though he ate more advanced, varied, and flavorful food daily than others.
He always felt a regret, for not being able to recreate the traditional breakfasts he almost ate every morning in the past.
Soy milk and fried dough.
Such simple breakfasts Li Zheng thought he last tasted not long ago.
When he found out from the virtual interface that he was a clone, and his memories the most original version instilled by the body, he suddenly felt a tearing sensation.
He hadn’t tasted his hometown’s breakfast for countless years.
Perhaps his body had long ago fulfilled this wish through various means, as the stove blueprint obtained from the Treasure Chest System probably came from some restaurant or factory in the Outer City.
And the recipes included with the stove are almost all Earth’s cuisines.
With something like this, the body must be behind the scenes orchestrating.
Whether or not the body achieved culinary freedom, for Li Zheng personally, it was the first time since ’entering’ the Matrix that he tasted the long-missed breakfast from his hometown.
He clearly remembered how he used to love eating like this.
A bowl of soy milk soaking in fried dough.
If not full, he would get another bowl of tofu pudding.
Tofu pudding can be sweet with added sugar or savory with dried shrimp, seaweed, preserved vegetables, cilantro, chili oil, etc.
Li Zheng himself didn’t like sweet food, so he often ate savory tofu pudding.
A bite of tender tofu pudding, with a perfect mix of several ingredients, now as he recalls, it’s truly one of the top earthly enjoyments.
"Sigh..." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
Recalling the past, Li Zheng sighed, "It’s a pity there’s no tofu pudding..."
"There is!"
Mirel brought out a pot from behind the stove, as large as the one holding the soy milk, and placed it by the table, lifting the lid: "Tofu pudding!"
Li Zheng was stunned, "Too bad there’s no seaweed, preserved vegetables or such condiments..."
"There are!"
Mirel pointed at several other plates on the table, containing ingredients Li Zheng couldn’t recognize. Mirel explained, "Substitutes, should taste similar."
Li Zheng was deeply moved, grasped Mirel’s small hand, choking with emotion, "When you grow up, could you..."
"No way!" Mirel immediately refused, "I could never marry you!"
"Uh... you misunderstood." Li Zheng finished his sentence, "When you grow up, would you come work as the head chef at the restaurant I open?"
