I Tied Up the Travel Check-In System - Chapter 12

Tang Siqi searched online for a ton of food recommendations from netizens, many of which she had never even tried.

She’d always defined food in two ways.

When she was a child, it was either her mother’s cooking or food sold outside.

In college, it was food she could buy with her meal card or food delivered.

Later, after becoming Xu Qianning’s roommate, it was Xu Qianning’s cooking and food delivered.

Well, the shengjianbao, siomai, and wontons recommended by netizens all seemed pretty good.

Tang Siqi planned to go shopping later to see which ones were doing well and then experiment with her own ideas.

[Congratulations! You have a new task: Check in on a traditional Shanghai snack and, within 6 hours, use a drawing to convince at least one person who was previously resistant or unfamiliar with it to try it.]

A notification suddenly popped up on her phone, surprising Tang Siqi. After all, the system hadn’t issued any tasks since the daily check-in feature was introduced.

[Task successful, upgrade to level 3, unlocking the ability to redeem gold coins for electronics.]

Tang Siqi: !!!

Electronics?

Wouldn’t that mean she could trade in her phone, tablet, and computer for a better graphics tablet? And that thing she’d been dreaming of, could she also buy with gold coins?

[Congratulations, host! Your online review has garnered 360 likes, 102 shares, and 190 replies as of 8:00 AM. The system rewards you with 245 gold coins, bringing your total wealth to 377 gold coins.]

Wow, today’s gold coin rewards have reached an all-time high, bringing your total wealth to 377 gold coins.

Tang Siqi glanced at the gold coin mall again to see what’s on sale today.

[Single Haagen-Dazs scoop for 5 gold coins, double scoop for 8 gold coins, triple scoop for 10 gold coins.]

[Any Haagen-Dazs pint for 15 gold coins.]

[Any Haagen-Dazs cake for 50 gold coins.]

Oh my!

Haagen-Dazs is on sale today!

Regardless of whether it tastes good or not, the first thing about this brand of ice cream is that she’s never had it before. And

there’s only one reason: it’s expensive.

She immediately opened a web search and found that regular Haagen-Dazs ice cream cost 35 yuan for a single scoop and 90 yuan for three. Pints and cakes were even more expensive.

Prices she couldn’t even imagine.

So, was today the day to achieve Haagen-Dazs freedom?

Tang Siqi excitedly tried to redeem her ice cream.

[Sorry, sorry, the host cannot redeem ice cream products. To unlock this item, please reach the top step count on WeChat Moments for a week in a row. (Currently, she’s reached 4 days.)]

Tang Siqi: Oh!

I didn’t expect it to work!

She tearfully glanced at the daily necessities on sale today. The promotion wasn’t very strong.

Oh…

I better find a way to quickly complete the task, upgrade to level 3, and then get the top spot on WeChat Sports today!

Tang Siqi exited the gold coin store with grief and returned to the task interface, carefully studying the task assigned by the system.

First, the snack had to be a traditional Shanghai snack. Second, many people were unfamiliar with or resistant to it.

The two similar foods Tang Siqi could think of were snail noodles and stinky tofu.

Many people initially find the unique sour bamboo shoots in snail noodles, or the pungent smell of stinky tofu, unbearable. But after trying them, they find them addictive, their fragrance lurking in the air, even becoming addictive.

Unfortunately, neither snail noodles nor stinky tofu are Shanghai specialties.

At that moment, a QQ icon flickered in the lower right corner of her computer screen.

Tang Siqi clicked on it.

Doumi: [Do you want to take an order? 15 per piece, outline, 50 pieces total.]

Doumi was a girl she met in a group for artists taking orders. She was also in Shanghai and had gone to university there. At the time, Tang Siqi was just starting out as a professional artist and was facing many difficulties. Doumi was incredibly kind, and the two of them became close friends. Doumi had connections with the studio and would post orders in the group when she had them, relying on a commission to supplement their household income. After getting to know Tang Siqi, she prioritized asking her.

Yiqi: [I’m not going to take it. I’ve got other things going on lately, and I don’t think I’ll be able to finish them even if I accept.]

Doumi : [Hey, I don’t even want to talk about you anymore. That order for ancient-style figures last time was such a great one…]

Yiqi: [Hey.jpg, I’m screwed… Oh, by the way, are there any snacks in Shanghai that you absolutely hate? The kind that just the name makes you want to avoid them?]

Doumi: [!!! Of course! There’s a breakfast shop downstairs from my house. Do you know what their signature product is?]

Yiqi: [What?]

Doumi: [Salty soy milk!!! Can you believe it? There’s salty soy milk! I pass by it every day, and business is booming. I’m like, ahhhh! I can’t stand it!]

Yiqi: [Puff!]

Doumi: [What are you laughing at? Are you a salty person? ]

Yiqi: [So do you eat sweet or salty zongzi? ]

Doumi: [Salty! ]

Yiqi: [I like sweet. What about tofu pudding?]

Doumi: [Of course it’s salty!]

Yiqi: [I like sweet.]

Doumi : [Tired.jpg, we’re done with our friendship…]

Yiqi: [Hahahahaha, thank you, I’ve got an idea. Let’s chat back.]

Doumi: [The other person doesn’t want to chat.jpg]

After chatting with Doumi, Tang Siqi had an idea. What could be more representative of the salty-sweet debate?

Her roommates in college came from all corners of the country. Although she rarely participated in their conversations, the salty-sweet debate was a regular occurrence in the dormitory. The salty soy milk in the cafeteria was the subject of countless complaints.

Those who favored sweet drinks found it unacceptable, while those who favored salty drinks thought it was too light.

Tang Siqi decided to use salty soy milk as the check-in item for this mission.

However…

Tang Siqi soon faced another challenge. Finding a store selling salty soy milk was easy in Shanghai, but using art to convince those who initially resisted it to try it was no easy task.

But, no matter how difficult it was, she had to try.

Tang Siqi carefully screened online for a long time and finally picked out a time-honored breakfast shop that was not far from where she lived and could be reached on foot.

Shanghai in the early morning washed away the hustle and bustle of the night and seemed particularly lively.

Tang Siqi walked along the winding alleys and came to a snack shop that is common in Shanghai’s old city. There was no spacious shop here and the environment was a bit simple, but like the dumplings she had eaten yesterday, you need to queue up here, and many local elderly people also come to queue up.

After waiting in line for twenty or thirty minutes, Tang Siqi ordered a bowl of salty soy milk and sat down to wait.

At this time, Tang Siqi found that the people sitting opposite her were a grandfather and his grandson.

The grandfather brought his little grandson here to drink salty soy milk.

The two men remained silent, their movements and expressions perfectly aligned, each absorbed in the bowl of salty soy milk before them. The young grandson ate with utter concentration, his grandfather undivided.

Tang Siqi watched this scene, and a vivid image immediately flashed through her mind.

Tastes etched in genes are passed down from generation to generation, and this scene was quite heartwarming.

Her portion of salty soy milk had also arrived. Having experienced the burn yesterday, Tang Siqi was much more cautious today.

She scooped a spoonful of salty soy milk and took a sip. The rich bean aroma instantly whetted her appetite.

The salty soy milk also contained freshly fried dough sticks. She had loved them soaked in soy milk since she was a child, but according to her experience, it wasn’t the best time to eat them yet; she should wait until they were slightly softened in the soy milk before taking a bite…

Tang Siqi scooped another spoonful of soy milk, which also contained seaweed and a little dried shrimp, making it incredibly flavorful.

She then scooped up the soy milk-coated dough stick and took a bite. Wow, a feeling of complete bliss!

It had to be said that this place made incredibly authentic salty soy milk, very similar to the ones she had enjoyed as a child back home.

This breakfast shop also offered glutinous rice and flatbread.

After the child across from her finished his meal, he looked at Tang Siqi, licking his lips as if he hadn’t had enough.

“Grandpa… do you want another glutinous rice?”

His grandfather had also finished the last of his salty soy milk and, after a moment’s thought, said, “Then I’ll buy one and we can share.”

“Okay!”

Listening to the conversation, Tang Siqi felt a surge of cravings. After finishing her salty soy milk, she ordered another glutinous rice.

Glutinous rice is essentially a rice ball, one of the four great Shanghai breakfast staples, along with salty soy milk.

This rice ball, filled with fried dough sticks, pickled mustard greens, pork floss, and scallions, tasted simply divine.

After breakfast, Tang Siqi headed home to complete her remaining assignment: create a painting based on salty soy milk.

Time was running out, just over five hours, so Tang Siqi decided to stick to a simple, flat-style illustration.

She quickly moved on to the sketching phase, having already finalized the composition on the way back, so the sketching process went smoothly.

In front of her was a bowl of salty soy milk, the fried dough sticks, seaweed, and dried shrimp inside clearly visible.

Across from her, the grandparents and grandchildren, in unison, were focused on drinking the soy milk in front of them. Although the sketching was quick, she still struggled with the line drawing.

The perspective wasn’t right, the figures’ movements felt unnatural, and the children’s facial expressions weren’t vivid enough.

Time ticked by, and Tang Siqi felt anxious. After many revisions, she finally finalized the drawing.

She posted the drawing online and on her Weibo account.

She also included a recommendation for salty soy milk: “I also love sweet soy milk, but I highly recommend those in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas to try the local salty soy milk.” It’s like Henan’s Hu La Tang and Beijing’s Dou Zhi, famous local snacks. Let go of the salty-sweet debate and embrace the flavors!

“Wow, normally I wouldn’t click on a title like this, but when I saw you were the original poster, I clicked in immediately. Let’s not talk about the salty soy milk, this painting is so pretty!”

“Hahahaha, although, I can’t stand the salty soy milk…”

“The painting is nice, but I’m a sweet fan.”

“Wow, I’m a salty fan, I really like salty soy milk, I’m from Shaoxing!”

“Maybe only those who already like salty soy milk can accept it. I feel like the sweet fan is deeply rooted.”

Tang Siqi looked at the netizens’ replies and sighed. Is there really no way to promote salty soy milk?

A message popped up on her mobile QQ.

Doumi: [!!! You actually painted a picture with salty soy milk! !!! ??? 】

The person who just shouted that the friendship was over came to poke her again.