After tidying up the prizes for the lottery, Liu Chen realized that the slight soreness and swelling in her head had disappeared. Not only had it recovered, but her mind felt exceptionally clear, and she had a strong urge to memorize vocabulary words.
She looked up and saw that the classroom was now more crowded, filled with the smells of various foods.
Hot and sour noodles, fried potatoes, beef noodles...
At this moment, Liu Chen felt incredibly fortunate that her hamburger earlier had been large and filling enough.
She took out an English vocabulary sheet. Words that used to require thirty repetitions to memorize now only needed a little over twenty. This was a third faster.
The subsequent physics and chemistry classes also covered foundational knowledge. Many students in the cram school felt the concepts were too simple and didn't pay attention. Seeing Liu Chen diligently attending class, they even speculated, "Is this the legendary type who studies hard in class but fails exams?"
Otherwise, why would she be relegated to reviewing basic knowledge alongside them for the entire grade?
At 6:30 PM, the evening glow slowly stretched from one end of the horizon to cover most of the sky. As the chemistry teacher announced the end of the class, everyone rushed towards the door. Liu Chen also followed the crowd to the elevator. There were fewer people attending classes in the evening, with lights only on in four classrooms on the entire floor. After the students had left, the lights in those four classrooms were also turned off.
After getting off the elevator, Liu Chen hailed a taxi home.
Having attended six consecutive classes, each with her full attention, Liu Chen felt a great sense of relief after leaving the cram school.
The taxi stopped in front of the community gate. Liu Chen paid the cash and got out. The community was a walk-up building constructed in 2003. Each floor had four units: two one-bedroom apartments, one two-bedroom, and one three-bedroom.
Liu Chen's home was the two-bedroom apartment on the third floor, to the left. It was different from the popular apartment layouts that her colleagues bought later. Houses from the early 2000s typically had small living rooms and large bedrooms.
While mentally calculating that she needed to sell goods for a few more days to cover the remaining tuition fees, Liu Chen walked into the community. The building where her family lived was one of the three innermost buildings.
As she walked, the trees on both sides of the road grew vigorously. Their tall canopies intertwined, blocking most of the setting sun. Walking among them, the summer heat dissipated, and the air carried the aroma of chicken soup stewing from an unknown household, making Liu Chen, who had already eaten dinner, feel hungry.
Reaching the entrance of her building, she pressed the password for the door, and it creaked open.
The voice-activated light on the first floor, however, did not turn on as expected. Liu Chen looked at the darkness inside and paused outside the building door.
"Chen Chen?"
Her mother's voice came from behind her. Liu Chen finally let out a sigh of relief. Although she was twenty-nine years old in her previous life, her fear of the dark had never changed, and it had even carried over with her rebirth.
Turning around, she saw her mother holding a handbag and a plastic bag. Liu Chen suddenly remembered that she had excitedly promised her mother they would eat hand-grabbed pancakes tonight.
Liu Fang also looked surprised to see her daughter standing at the building entrance and asked, "Why are you back so late? Have you eaten?"
"Didn't we say we were having hand-grabbed pancakes? Mom, why are you only getting home now? Was business good today?" Liu Chen said, taking a step forward and casually taking the items from Liu Fang's hands. The mother and daughter went upstairs together.
Looking at her daughter's actions, Liu Fang felt a warmth spread through her, easing the soreness in her limbs.
Reaching into her pocket for her keys, Liu Fang said while opening the door in the dim light, "I went to find a couple of manufacturers for the chicken tenders and pork tenderloin you mentioned, and then I went to the supermarket to buy a bottle of ketchup. If we're doing this, we should do it completely, so I can teach others later."
Liu Chen nodded. Often, new popular snacks on the market were first promoted by distributors or manufacturers' salespeople who would explain how to make them. They would then teach a group of people hand-in-hand. Once this group found success selling them, others would notice and start observing and learning.
Walking to the stove, she tore open the colorful packaging of the hand-grabbed pancakes, revealing ten pale yellow pancakes inside. Each pancake was separated by a thin piece of paper to prevent the layers from sticking together.
She first heated the frying pan. Placing her hand above it to feel the warmth, she then laid the pancake flat in the pan.
Liu Fang, standing at the kitchen doorway, laughed out loud, "You talk such a good game, I thought you actually knew how to pan-fry them. Turns out, Chen Chen, you're not even adding oil! When they're done, they'll all be burnt, and I won't eat them!"
Ignoring her mother's teasing, Liu Chen remained unfazed. After about forty seconds, Liu Chen used a wooden spatula and chopsticks together to flip the pancake to fry the other side.
Liu Fang, standing by the kitchen door, naturally didn't miss this. She was waiting to laugh at the burnt pancake, but then, a scene she couldn't comprehend unfolded.
The pancake, fried without oil, flipped over and was still crispy and fragrant. The flaky layers looked so appetizing, promising a satisfying crunch. Liu Fang couldn't help but take two steps closer to the stove. The aroma of frying pancakes wafted towards her. She scanned the countertops but couldn't find any oil.
Catching her mother's movement out of the corner of her eye, Liu Chen couldn't help but chuckle:
"Pfft! Mom, stop looking. We ran out of oil yesterday. We ate noodles afterward, remember?"
Reminded by her daughter, Liu Fang also recalled. Looking at Chen Chen's amused face, she understood. It seemed the secret lay in this thing called a hand-grabbed pancake.
Liu Chen no longer kept her in suspense. While transferring the other side of the now-cooked pancake to a plate, she explained, "The most convenient thing about these hand-grabbed pancakes is that the puff pastry oil is already mixed in. You just need to cook them, so even someone with poor cooking skills can quickly get the hang of it."
As she spoke, Liu Chen used chopsticks to push the slightly thawed pork tenderloin and chicken tenders from the other bag onto the plate. She managed to cook them with the residual oil spots from the pan.
After cooking, she placed the chicken tenders and pork tenderloin in the center of the hand-grabbed pancake and squeezed a generous amount of ketchup on top.
Holding the plate with both hands, she handed it to her mother.
"Mom, try it quickly, isn't it delicious?"
Liu Fang stared at the hand-grabbed pancake presented to her first, then smiled, took the plate, grabbed a pair of chopsticks, and took a bite.
"Kaka kaka."
With each bite, the dozens of crispy layers inside made a crisp sound. Accompanying the crunch, the natural aroma of the pancake, the sweetness of the tomato, and the slight spiciness of the pork tenderloin and chicken tenders mingled together, creating a delicious flavor that Liu Fang couldn't describe.
At that moment, it felt like her stomach and mouth had received the most perfect comfort after a hard day's work. She took bite after bite, and before Liu Fang could even process it, her mouth had devoured the rest of the hand-grabbed pancake.
With just this one bite, Liu Fang could almost confidently declare that the hand-grabbed pancake product would be a massive hit!