"Dad, what's wrong?"
Xiangling, who had just finished washing her face, walked in from the back courtyard, yawning.
Chef Mao scratched his head. "I don't know what's going on today… customer traffic is down by eighty percent. By all rights, that shouldn't be happening."
It wasn't a festival, nor was it any special occasion.
How could this be?
At that moment, a nearby customer looked up and said, "It seems a noodle house called 'Su's Instant Noodles' just opened nearby. When I came over, I saw it was packed with people."
"Maybe they all went over there."
"Su's Instant Noodles? What's that?"
Chef Mao was perplexed. The name of the dish itself was strange.
Besides, it was just a noodle shop. Could it really be that popular?
Hearing this, Xiangling said, "Well then, I'll just go and take a look."
She had spent half the night studying the recipes Xiao Dangjia had given her and had gained some new insights.
To think she would encounter another interesting new dish today. What good luck.
When Xiangling arrived at Su's Instant Noodles, she finally understood why her family's restaurant was so quiet.
The area was swarming with people!
It was even more bustling than during a festival.
"Give me three packs of seafood noodles!"
"I want five packs of tonkotsu chicken ramen!"
"Ten packs of braised beef noodles!"
Such shouts were endless.
Xiangling watched as people left, carrying paper boxes, and couldn't help but ask one of them, "What's in there?"
"Oh, it's Xiangling! Hehe… this is braised beef noodles, it's delicious. I'm preparing for a long journey, so I bought ten boxes."
"Braised… beef noodles? Won't they spoil in ten days?"
As a head chef, Xiangling naturally understood the shelf life of food.
Generally, most dishes would spoil in two days at most.
If reheated, they could last for three.
The customer was an old regular at Wanmin Restaurant, and hearing Xiangling's question, he couldn't help but elaborate.
"Hehe… this is the amazing thing about instant noodles. The waiter said they can last for three months!"
"What? Three months!!!"
Xiangling was shocked.
What kind of thing was this? How could it be so incredible?
After waiting in line for a full hour, it was finally Xiangling's turn. She bought one of each flavor.
By the time she returned to Wanmin Restaurant, Chef Mao had also learned of the existence of instant noodles from others.
Looking at the small paper box, he asked with astonishment, "This is that 'instant noodle' thing?"
"Yes! And you only need a little hot water to eat it. It's so magical."
Xiangling brought over a large porcelain bowl.
Following the waiter's instructions, she began to prepare the noodles.
Three minutes later, three steaming hot bowls of noodles were presented before them.
"That's way too fast…"
"Normally, the water would have just started boiling in this amount of time."
"How does it taste?"
Xiangling picked up some noodles with her chopsticks and took a small bite.
Her expression instantly turned to one of surprise.
For something so simple, the taste is actually pretty good.
Chef Mao, however, was shocked. "The flavor of these noodles is excellent!"
Although the dish was a bit simple, the price was only eight Mora!
"No wonder everyone went to buy instant noodles. The taste is genuinely great," Xiangling said. "And dad, their noodles can be kept for a long time without spoiling. That's the real reason everyone is buying them."
"Indeed. Seeing this, I want to buy some myself," an old gourmand who was still at the restaurant said after taking a bite.
He couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
As a merchant who traveled year-round between Liyue and other nations, this kind of convenient food was exactly what he lacked most.
He even began to wonder if he should go and buy fifty packs later.
That would make his next trip much simpler.
"That's right, I think I'll go buy some later, too. I'm heading to Fontaine soon, and the journey by sea is not easy. If I have these instant noodles, I can cut down on some expenses."
These noodles weren't just delicious; their real strengths were being cheap and convenient.
If one prepared enough of them, they could even save the cost of hiring a chef for short voyages.
Listening to everyone's comments, Chef Mao turned to Xiangling and asked, "Can you figure out how to make this?"
If he could sell something this convenient, he would make a fortune.
However, Xiangling shook her head. "Even if we could replicate the noodles, we have no way of making this kind of packaging."
The outer shell of their product was specially made to be waterproof and moisture-proof.
With enough patient research, she was confident she could replicate the noodle recipe.
But the packaging was a problem.
They couldn't just have people carry around a stack of noodle cakes.
What if they got damp?
Hearing this, Chef Mao could only give up on the tempting idea.
"Sigh… what a pity." The old man only had one daughter, Xiangling, and had been hoping to earn a bit more for her dowry. It seemed he would just have to continue working hard the old-fashioned way.
In just one morning, Su's Instant Noodles became the talk of Liyue Harbor.
Whether they were merchants or soldiers of the Millelith, everyone loved this convenient new food.
Unfortunately, by eleven-thirty in the morning, all the instant noodles had been sold out.
A sign was now hanging on the door, announcing that sales would resume the next day at seven o'clock sharp.
At the Liyue Harbor docks, a massive ship slowly pulled ashore.
"Heave-ho!"
"Heave-ho!"
The sailors were quickly furling the sails.
A tall figure stepped off the ship. A young man with short, white hair followed closely behind her.
"To think we were at sea for another month," the tall woman, Captain Beidou, said. "Come on, Kazuha. Today we're going to Wanmin Restaurant. My treat."
"Yes, Captain," the young man, Kaedehara Kazuha, replied with a smile, clearly fond of the idea of a good drink.