Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Previously, she kept stirring up trouble but you ignored her. But this time, no matter what, you can’t let her go so easily. How dare she question your cooking skills?”
Ye Fei was silent for a while before she suddenly said, “Right. Did you just come over from the company?”
Li Xiaoyun was taken aback by her question and did not realize what she meant. The former replied subconsciously, “Yeah, I just got off work and was browsing Weibo on the way back when these came up, so I immediately changed my route and came to your place.”
“So, you haven’t eaten right? What do you want to eat? I’ll make something for you,” Ye Fei said.
“I’m already full! Full from anger! What can I possibly eat? Today was such a hot day that I didn’t have any appetite at all. It just so happens that I can lose weight like this,” Li Xiaoyun was so anxious, “I have to say, you have been so wrongly accused to this extent already, how can you still have the heart to cook?!”
“No matter what, I can’t let you go hungry either,” Ye Fei walked into the kitchen, “If you can’t think of anything, then I’ll just decide for you. How about noodles seared with oil?”
Thinking about the broad, belt-shaped noodles that Ye Fei made—which were awesome, Li Xiaoyun nodded her head subconsciously, “Okay.”
Shortly after, she watched Ye Fei get into action.
Li Xiaoyun hurriedly chased her, “This is not it. How can you still have the mood to cook at this point in time? Do you think that this is only a light squabble? Let me tell you, it has already caused an uproar on Weibo. You better go and take a look quickly. I reckon that the comments in your video bullet screen have gone crazy.”
As Ye Fei was boiling the water, she took out some air-dried sliced noodles that she had prepared beforehand from a previous video, and lowered them into the water.
“Wait until I’m done cooking your noodles. I’ll go have a look then. Even if I take a look now, I can’t solve anything,” Ye Fei spoke calmly, “But you’re right. I can’t just let it go this time.”
People could doubt her cooking skills but they could not discredit it.
This was something that she could not tolerate.
After Ye Fei finished speaking, she took out strips of cucumber from the fridge.
“Most restaurants usually use rapeseed oil—which has been heated up—as a garnish for the noodles. But because of the hot weather today, it is more refreshing to replace it with cucumbers. In addition, you don’t need to boil the vegetables again, so it’s a very simple dish. When you’re home alone, you can do this too. It’s not troublesome to make.” When Ye Fei was done speaking, she had finished slicing the cucumbers at the same time.
“If I want to eat, I can come and find you. I’m too lazy to even cook noodles. And heating up the oil requires me to scrub the pot afterwards,” Li Xiaoyun was affected by Ye Fei’s calmness and leaned against the door frame lazily—she wasn’t panicking anymore like she did earlier.
“You’re too lazy,” Ye Fei laughed.
Then, she mixed soy sauce, vinegar and oyster sauce together well to create the sauce for the noodle.
“Since soy sauce is already salty, I won’t add more salt for you,” Ye Fei said.
Afterwards, she chopped up spring onions and crushed the garlic into small pieces.
After everything was over and done with, the noodles had boiled too.
Ye Fei took out iced water from the refrigerator, scooped the noodles out and rinsed them in the iced water.
“How troublesome! Can I just heat up the oil straight away?” Li Xiaoyun asked when she saw that.
“Even if you don’t use iced water, you can just rinse it once with cool water. This step is to prevent the noodles from sticking together, so that each strand is separated and the noodles will be chewier,” Ye Fei explained, “I can see that you’re simply too lazy, so whenever you want to eat, just come and look for me. I can’t help worrying about you making this on your own. What if you butchered my signature dish?”
“Haha! That’s what you said!” Li Xiaoyun stopped being polite.
Ye Fei scooped the noodles into a bowl and poured in the sauce. After mixing it well, she spread garlic bits and chilli powder on top of it.
She heated up the oil in a pan and deep-fried the chopped spring onions until they became black and crispy before removing them.
Then, she poured the hot and fragrant spring onion oil onto the garlic bits and chilli powder.
Immediately, the fragrance of spring onion oil and the scorched aroma of garlic wafted out of the bowl.
“Originally, oily noodles are made with chopped spring onion bits and fried together with garlic but I feel that freshly fried spring onion oil is more fragrant and every strand of noodle can be coated with its aroma,” Ye Fei clarified with a smile as she stacked up cucumber slices and served the noodles at the dining table.
Then, she retrieved lemon pickled pepper radish—that had just been marinated last night—from the fridge and gave it to Li Xiaoyun as a refreshing side dish.
Ye Xiaomo’s nose quivered. He was craving it so much that he was swallowing his own saliva. “Godmother, I want to eat too.”
“Didn’t you just finish eating dinner?” Ye Fei was putting the pot into the dishwasher when she heard Ye Xiaomo saying those words and was instantly shocked, “You already had such a huge bowl of rice!”
“But the noodles smell so good…” Ye Xiaomo licked his lips, “I’ll have just one bite.”
“You’ll have an upset stomach if you eat too much. If you do, you won’t be able to sleep properly tonight,” Ye Fei said worryingly.
“Then, I’ll let you have a bite. Promise me, just one bite okay?” Li Xiaoyun entered the kitchen to take a second pair of bowl and chopsticks for Ye Xiaomo.
Ye Fei was finally done with cleaning up and she sat down next to Li Xiaoyun.
“These oily noodles are really the most delicious I’ve ever had,” Li Xiaoyun closed her eyes and there was a satisfied expression on her face, “This refreshingly sour taste is perfect for summer.”
At the side, Ye Xiaomo immediately nodded his head without stopping.
“Ye Fei, don’t daydream. Quickly go online and have a look,” Li Xiaoyun rushed her, “It is really serious this time.”
Ye Fei obliged and fetched her cell phone.
A glance was enough for her to see why Li Xiaoyun was so angry.
Some netizens reported that despite following Ye Fei’s method, they had all failed.
Moreover, it wasn’t only one person who said that. Many people said that Ye Fei’s method wasn’t usable at all.
“I followed Fei Xiaomo’s method, but it was too awful. The taste is simply too disgusting.”
“I won’t even talk about the resulting appearance of the dish. Perhaps I did not control the fire well but for the seasoning—I followed everything she said very strictly—even the portion is exactly the same but what is this joke that I end up with?”
“I have a friend who works in an internet celebrity beautification company. She said that Ye Fei is actually an internet star whom they had ‘gift-wrapped’ nicely from their company—she doesn’t know how to cook at all. But because her hands look pretty, she was very suitable to shoot these kinds of shots. Haven’t you guys discovered that she never reveals her face? That’s because she’s too ugly so she can’t reveal her face at all. They’re afraid that it will affect the video quality.”
“23333, no wonder she wouldn’t reveal her face all this time. It’s because she’s ugly.”
“Looks like not only are her dishes awful, she looks ugly too. Don’t tell me that she doesn’t say anything because her voice sounds terrible too?”
That netizen who had just exposed a scoop replied, “My friend said that her voice is still all right—not outstanding but not horrible either; it’s just that she looks ugly. Furthermore, whenever she’s filming the videos, she will find someone to guide her along at the side because she doesn’t know how to cook on her own. The end product looks good but that is because that wasn’t made by her at all. Someone else made it beforehand and it was edited into the video afterwards.”
“How could this kind of person become famous?”
“Then, she really can’t compare to Shi Jiumei.”
“Better not compare her—someone who doesn’t even dare to reveal her face—with Shi Jiumei. Shi Jiumei is beautiful, her culinary skills are fine and her voice sounds pleasant. It’s a form of pleasure just to watch her videos.”
“Most importantly, Shi Jiumei isn’t the same as Fei Xiaomo. If I follow Shi Jiumei’s method to make the dish, it is really delicious.”
After that, the person even took a selfie with her own creation.
“Right, right. I can make it look good and delicious even with my terrible cooking skills.” Similar photos of the end results followed suit.
“Heh heh, getting someone who doesn’t dare to reveal her face and even finds a replacement to compare with Shi Jiumei? That’s simply an insult to Shi Jiumei! What does Fei Xiaomo have that can compare with Shi Jiumei?”