Everyday Life Starting with Food Wars

Yuriko led Chen Yuxing to the front of the children's classroom and looked at him expectantly.

The cabinet by the door also contains plastic kitchen knives for children, various kitchen utensils, and some natural fruit and vegetable powders for coloring food.

Chen Yuxing took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and went inside.

The classroom is large, and the overall environment is very nice, clean and bright.

but.

"Hey!"

A little boy wearing a baseball cap was wielding a plastic kitchen knife as a weapon, waving it around and playing with several other little boys.

Meanwhile, the girls in the back row of the classroom were also sitting together chatting and drawing.

Anyway, nobody was doing anything related to what they were supposed to learn, and the whole classroom was very noisy.

"Cough cough..."

Yuriko stood awkwardly at the door: "Um... Ms. Chen, these children are usually very well-behaved. They're probably just excited because they know a new teacher is coming today..."

Looking at the scene before him, Chen Yuxing rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache.

He walked to the front of the classroom and first looked at the lesson plan and teaching materials on the table.

Today we're making pan-fried dumplings. For the kids, all they have to do is make the dough and fill it with filling. The teacher will take care of the frying, so it's a very safe activity.

"Can everyone stop for a moment?" Chen Yuxing tried to speak up to maintain order.

But clearly, nobody paid him any attention.

Looking at the group of children playing in front of him, Chen Yuxing quickly thought for a moment.

Children respond better to gentle persuasion than harsh discipline. Trying to control them too hard can easily trigger their rebellious tendencies. It's best to find something that can attract their attention.

Chen Yuxing scanned the classroom, his gaze finally settling on the vegetables to the side.

He walked up to the vegetables, picked out a few carrots and potatoes, and then took a plastic kitchen knife.

His hands moved swiftly, the plastic blade slicing across the surface of the radish. In less than a minute, a lifelike little rabbit appeared in his hand.

Then he picked up a potato, cut it into pieces, and pieced them together, carving out a cool robot.

When he finished making the first rabbit, he noticed that some children were attracted to his movements, so he deliberately slowed down when making the second one, making the movements very entertaining.

"Wow--!"

The child who was drawn in couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, and the children around him stopped playing and gathered around the desk in a circle out of curiosity.

"Big brother, how did you make this?!"

"That potato robot is so cool, I want one too!"

The children's attention was quickly drawn to the exquisite vegetable carvings, and they all stared expectantly at Chen Yuxing.

"Do you want it?"

Chen Yuxing put down the kitchen knife and looked at the group of children in front of him.

"Yes!" the children shouted loudly.

"Alright, everyone, go back to your seats now. If you all behave well and learn how to make pan-fried dumplings with me today, then after class, everyone can come to me and get one of these little toys, okay?"

"it is good!"

Chapter 68 Teaching

"Alright kids, now everyone go back to your seats and sit down, or you won't get any toys."

This trick really works for the kids.

The dozen or so children quickly and obediently returned to their seats, all staring longingly at Chen Yuxing.

Yuriko leaned against the doorway, looking at the classroom that had been as noisy as a market just moments before, now quiet and orderly as students sat down to listen to the lecture. She was so surprised that she almost dropped her cane.

"This Ms. Chen from Totsuki Academy is amazing..." Yuriko thought to herself. "I've been teaching children for so many years, and I've never seen anyone go from being noisy to quiet so quickly."

She watched for a while at the door, then retreated to the corridor and left quietly.

Meanwhile, Chen Yuxing began teaching in the classroom. He clapped his hands and said to the children, "Alright, now we're officially starting class. Today we're going to teach you how to make pan-fried dumplings."

"First, we need to wash all these vegetables. Is there anyone who would like to help me?"

"Me! Me! Teacher, let me help you!"

The children eagerly raised their hands, and Chen Yuxing selected a few of them who raised their hands the fastest and led them to wash the ingredients first.

After doing all that, Chen Yuxing distributed aprons to the children one by one, put away the children's cutting board and plastic kitchen knife, and returned to the podium to begin the demonstration.

"The first step in making pan-fried dumplings is to knead the dough. We add water little by little to the flour and use our hands to turn it from a clump of loose sand into a small ball."

"Then use the kitchen knife on your table to cut it into small pieces, and then use this..."

As Chen Yuxing spoke, he slowed down the movements to demonstrate for the children.

He picked up a small rolling pin, placed the kneaded dough on the cutting board, and began to roll it out. Soon, a round and thin dumpling wrapper was made.

The children exclaimed in amazement, clapping and shouting things like "Teacher is so amazing!"

"As for the filling, you can choose whatever you like. Today we have prepared cabbage and pork, chives and egg, and corn and shrimp flavors for you."

Chen Yuxing placed three bowls of different fillings on the central table, kneaded them, spread the dumpling wrappers on his hand, scooped a small spoonful of filling, and quickly pinched a few small pleats along the edge of the dumpling wrapper with his fingers.

A cute, round dumpling was made just like that. Chen Yuxing put the finished dumpling on a tray to show the children.

After that, it was time for free practice, and the children picked up small knives in their seats and started trying them out.

Most of the children took making pan-fried dumplings very seriously and did it quite well. Although the dumplings they made were not very pretty because it was their first time making them, the children still had a lot of fun.

Chen Yuxing walked back and forth in the classroom, watching the children. Some children would raise their hands if they really couldn't do it well, and Chen Yuxing could go over and teach them directly.

During his rounds, Chen Yuxing noticed a girl sitting in the corner of the classroom. She looked to be about 7 or 8 years old and was probably the oldest of all the children.

She sat alone in the corner, looking out the window. Nothing was touched on the cutting board in front of her, and she paid no attention to the other children in the classroom.

Chen Yuxing walked over and squatted down in front of her.

"Little friend, what's your name? Why don't you try making pan-fried dumplings with everyone?"

The girl panicked a little when she saw Chen Yuxing coming over, but quickly turned her head away with a disdainful look.

"My name is Hanon, what's it to you! What's so fun about this childish game?"

"Cooking is troublesome and boring, I don't want to do it!"

"But aren't you just a child, Hanon?" Chen Yuxing said in a deliberately provocative tone, "Oh, I know. Could it be that Hanon is worried that she's too clumsy and that the dumplings she makes will look too ugly, and that's why she's not making them with everyone else?"

"No way!" Upon hearing Chen Yuxing's words, Huayin stood up quickly, like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on, her face flushed with anger: "I would never make ugly pan-fried dumplings! The pan-fried dumplings I make will definitely look good!"

"Then why don't you show everyone your beautifully pan-fried dumplings?"

"me……"

Seeing that Huayin was speechless, Chen Yuxing smiled.

"How about this? How about we have a little competition, Kanon-kun? We'll see who can make the prettiest pan-fried dumplings, okay?"

Hanon is still a child, and Chen Yuxing's words ignited her competitive spirit.

"Fine, let's compete! Do you think I'll lose to you?!" She snorted coldly, then rolled up her sleeves and started working.

The two began their competition, and the other children, seeing the excitement, gathered around to watch. Chen Yuxing gestured for them to shush, telling them to watch quietly from the sidelines.

Hanon carefully poured the flour into the bowl, holding the bowl with one hand while clumsily adding water with the other.

However, she was only a seven-year-old child and certainly had no experience in the kitchen. Soon, the flour in the bowl turned into a paste because too much water had been added.

Hana gritted her teeth and added more flour to the bowl, but she added too much flour, causing the dough to become as dry as a rock and impossible to knead.

Chen Yuxing watched this scene from the side, offering no advice or helping.

When Hanon finally managed to knead the dough and shape it, she picked up a rolling pin to start rolling out the wrappers, but because she couldn't control the force well, the dumpling wrappers ended up being thin on one side and thick on the other.

Adding filling was a chaotic affair; too much filling caused the dough to tear, and the pleats were crooked and messy, making it look nothing like a dumpling.

Hanon looked at the messy dish in front of her, and her eyes instantly reddened, tears welling up in her eyes.

Suddenly, a scream of pain came from the side.

Hua Yin turned her head and saw Chen Yuxing holding a dumpling that was even uglier and more broken than the ones on her plate, with the filling still leaking out.

"Oh dear, I made a mistake, I made a mistake. Why is this dough suddenly not cooperating with me?"

Chen Yuxing put down the dumplings in his hand with a regretful look, then turned to Huayin and said, "Oh dear, how could I be so careless and break the dumpling wrapper? Huayin, yours is about the same as mine, how about we tie this round?"

Seeing Chen Yuxing's clumsy movements, Huayin held back the tears that were already welling up in her eyes.

She looked at Chen Yuxing with some suspicion and muttered softly, "You...you didn't break it on purpose, did you..."

"No, I rarely do this."

Chen Yuxing, without changing his expression, continued to lie, pulling out a tissue from the side and handing it to Hua Yin: "Since we both messed up, let's team up and do it together. If the two of us work together, we can definitely make truly perfect pan-fried dumplings!"

Hanon hesitated for a moment, but finally took the tissue and nodded.

"Okay, then follow my instructions like this: hold the dumpling wrapper in your left hand, and then do this with your right hand..."

Chen Yuxing placed a new dumpling wrapper in Huayin's palm and then guided her step by step to start making dumplings.

Under Chen Yuxing's guidance, Huayin carefully filled the filling into the dough and pinched out each pleat.

Soon, a round and plump dumpling appeared in Hana's hand.

"I...I did it!"

Hanon looked at the dumplings in her hand, her eyes shining with excitement.

"See? I told you we could make beautiful dumplings together!" Chen Yuxing smiled and ruffled Hua Yin's hair.

Next, it was as if Hanon had unlocked her full potential, and she made several more on her own. Although they weren't as perfect as the first one, they were still quite presentable.

Soon it was time to put the dumplings in the pot.

"When making pan-fried dumplings, first pour a little oil into the pan. When the oil is hot, like now, when it starts to smoke, you can put the dumplings in. But don't put them in too tightly, or they will stick together."

"Then, after frying for a while, check the bottom of the dumplings. If they turn golden brown, they're almost done. Add a little water to the pan, then cover and simmer for a while, and they'll be ready."

"When you hear a sizzling sound from the pot and smell the aroma, it's ready to be taken out of the pot."

Chen Yuxing demonstrated the procedure while explaining it to the children who had gathered around him.

He lifted the lid of the pot, and there were more than twenty fried dumplings neatly arranged in the pot, emitting an enticing golden color.

"Alright, everyone come and try the dumplings that Huayin made." Chen Yuxing specially picked out the few fried dumplings that Huayin made and distributed them to the children first.

A chubby little boy took a dumpling from Chen Yuxing's hand and took a big bite. He hissed from the heat but still exclaimed, "So delicious! The dumplings that Sister Huayin makes are even better than my mom's!"

"It's so delicious!"

"Really? Really?! I want some too!"

The children gathered around Chen Yuxing and quickly finished all the fried dumplings.

As Hana listened to the other children praising her, a feeling she had never experienced before welled up inside her. She wanted to say something, but she didn't know what to say.

She turned to look at Chen Yuxing.

"Here, try some of the fried dumplings you made yourself." Chen Yuxing handed Hua Yin a pair of chopsticks and a fried dumpling.

Hana stared at him for a while, then picked up the fried dumpling, carefully blew on it, and began to taste it.

The dumpling wrappers weren't rolled out very evenly, but that gave them a unique flavor. The thinner parts were crispy and crunchy, while the thicker parts were chewy.

The filling was also perfectly flavorful, with the savory meat and the sweet cabbage blending together to fill your mouth completely.

Hanon was stunned; she hadn't expected that she had made such delicious food.

"It's delicious... Did I really make this?"

"Of course you made it. How does it feel to cook for yourself?"

Hanon lowered her head, looking at her hands, seemingly lost in thought.

It took her a long time before she finally looked up at Chen Yuxing again.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Chen... Cooking isn't boring at all... it's actually a fun thing..."