Chapter 7

Is the young miss holding a meeting with all the stall managers? Li Xin has been working at Dejuquan for more than two years, but he has never heard of the young miss personally holding a meeting with managers of this level. This is truly a first-time experience for a bride getting into the bridal sedan.

At this moment, the chefs around him began to whisper while tidying up:

"The young miss is holding a meeting with the stall managers? Usually, only the head and deputy chefs attend the meetings. What's going on today?"

"It must be something very important! Otherwise, why would she call all the stall leaders?"

"Hey, hey! Do you think it might be a raise? This morning, I heard a magpie and my left eye has been twitching. It must be..."

Listening to the chatter around him, Li Xin didn't feel a bit curious. After all, his mind wasn't on the young miss's meeting. Li Xin knew that there was something more important he needed to figure out tonight.

Time quickly passed until it was time to leave work. Li Xin packed up his things and, without a moment's delay, rushed back to his rented apartment under the moonlight.

Looking at the empty room, it was once filled with Tōdō Tsuki's every smile and frown. Now, the room was empty. Thinking about the Tōdō Tsuki he faced today, Li Xin shook his head and let out a deep sigh.

Sitting down facing the wall, he casually turned on the desk lamp. It seemed he intentionally wanted to make the room brighter. Instantly, Li Xin's shadow was stretched long by the lamplight...

"Are you there?" Li Xin asked the shadow on the wall tentatively, his voice tinged with unease.

The originally empty room echoed with a voice in Li Xin's ear: "I'm here..."

Li Xin's eyes widened, and his eyelids twitched involuntarily. He patted his chest, his face showing a mix of certainty and surprise. He stared at the shadow on the wall.

"Are you... really the God of Food?" Li Xin asked, still somewhat doubtful.

The voice in his ear replied: "I already told you yesterday, didn't I? How come? You've already experienced it today. Don't you believe it now?"

Li Xin nodded at the shadow and replied, "I really believe it now."

After all, the success of the garlic stir-fried Chinese broccoli left Li Xin speechless. And that feeling, Li Xin couldn't think of any scientific explanation for it.

"God of Food, didn't you tell me to collect the happiness people feel from food?" Li Xin, recalling last night, still felt a bit dazed.

"Only by collecting enough happiness can I return to my original position." The God of Food said this very calmly, as if commenting on someone else.

"Enough? How much is enough?" Li Xin, who had been "heartbroken" last night and had drunk some alcohol, had been in a daze, thinking that his interaction with the God of Food was all a dream. Although the God of Food had said a lot, he didn't remember much.

"Many..." The God of Food answered simply.

"Too abstract, there must be a number!" Li Xin felt a bit frustrated.

"If we calculate based on the current situation, it would probably take another two hundred years or so..." The God of Food answered calmly.

Li Xin's head spun, and he almost fell off his chair. He looked at his shadow with a strange expression and stammered, "I don't think I'll live that long."

"Ha ha... The more happiness you absorb, the stronger my abilities will become, and you will gain them too."

Li Xin suddenly raised an eyebrow and quickly asked, "Your abilities? I can have your abilities too?" Hearing this, Li Xin suddenly felt like a golden scale meeting the wind and rain, about to transform into a dragon. He suppressed his excitement and stared at his shadow.

"Otherwise, how do you think today's garlic stir-fried Chinese broccoli came about? The happiness I absorbed these past two days was just enough for you to cook a simple dish..." The God of Food's words were cut off by Li Xin's sudden interruption: "Will the happiness be consumed by cooking?"

"No, it will only accumulate. But to gain my abilities to create new dishes, you need to accumulate twice as much happiness as before. And so on..." The God of Food answered Li Xin's concerns.

Li Xin was somewhat taken aback and suddenly felt this was just like leveling up in a video game. Level one gives you certain skills, and when you have enough experience, you level up to two. In the new level, you gain new skills. Although it gets harder, he thought it might be just like that.

"Can you explain how to absorb happiness in more detail?" Li Xin asked directly.

"Whenever someone eats delicious food and feels happy, I can absorb, store, and refine that happiness. The more I refine, the more new dishes you can create. After you cooked the Chinese broccoli today, the girl who ate it gave me a lot of happiness, which was enough for you to cook another simple dish." After the God of Food finished, Li Xin immediately asked in surprise, "Did I level up today?"

"Level up? Yeah... it's pretty much what you think." The God of Food reassured Li Xin.

"What kind of simple dishes are included? Can you tell me?" Li Xin asked curiously.

"I'll remind you of the dishes you can't make..." The God of Food replied.

Li Xin asked instinctively, "Why didn't I get a notification when I leveled up today?"

"Notification? You were so hysterical yesterday, I was afraid you'd be scared if I notified you. Then I'd be in trouble. Want a notification? It's not hard."

Hearing the God of Food's words, Li Xin had a lot more questions, but the intense curiosity in his heart made him ask, "God of Food, can you tell me why you became my shadow?"

"Because I accidentally broke the Queen Mother's jade vase." The God of Food's tone was slightly melancholic.

Li Xin was taken aback and said with a strange expression, "I may not have read much, but didn't it say that it was Sha Wujing who broke the vase?"

The God of Food's voice was clearly agitated. "Don't compare me to that curtain-rolling general. Do you think he really broke the vase? That was just a cover story by the Jade Emperor. The truth is completely different!"

"Huh?" Li Xin looked at his shadow in surprise.

"The Queen Mother is the Jade Emperor's wife, and Chang'e is his mistress! You didn't know that, did you?"

Li Xin felt his heart pounding. How could he, a mere mortal, know such things? He asked instinctively, "Chang'e? Chang'e is the Jade Emperor's mistress? Does Hou Yi know...?"

The God of Food was momentarily speechless by Li Xin's question, then asked, "Do you know why the curtain-rolling general was demoted to the mortal world and suffered the pain of being pierced by ten thousand arrows every seven days?"

"Why?" Li Xin asked instinctively.

"Because he was involved with the Queen Mother. After all, he was the one most likely to be tempted by her in heaven! And the Jade Emperor's visits to the Moon Palace to meet Chang'e indirectly provided them with opportunities to meet in secret!"

Li Xin asked his shadow, "How do you know such a secret?"

"I manage the Heavenly Kitchen. What could be hidden from me? Once, the Jade Emperor was supposed to go to the Moon Palace but didn't, and the affair was exposed. That's when the curtain-rolling general accidentally broke the jade vase in the chaos!"

Li Xin seemed to understand, looking as if he had grasped the truth. He pondered, "No wonder Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing were demoted at the same time! If the Jade Emperor didn't go to see Chang'e, then Bajie must have taken the opportunity to go. Bajie slept with the Jade Emperor's mistress, and Sha Wujing slept with the Jade Emperor's wife. Bajie didn't succeed, so his punishment was lighter. Sha Wujing succeeded, so the Jade Emperor wanted to tear his heart apart to vent his anger. What about you?"

The God of Food responded somewhat helplessly, "When I was delivering food to the Queen Mother, I really did accidentally break her beloved jade vase! The holy water inside the vase spilled to the earth, causing a tsunami. Although the mainland wasn't damaged, it indirectly affected the Japanese nuclear power plant. The Jade Emperor tried to cover it up, but the so-called god of Japan, Amaterasu, wouldn't let it go. He brought a group of followers to the South Gate, crying and making a fuss. The Jade Emperor had no choice but to demote me to the mortal world to be tested before I could return..."

"So the tsunami was caused by you! That's amazing." Li Xin looked at his shadow with a satisfied expression and then asked with some concern, "Collecting happiness from food doesn't seem hard, but won't that god Amaterasu come after us?"

A sigh echoed in Li Xin's ear. The God of Food finally said, "That's what I'm worried about."

Li Xin stared at his shadow, calling out to the God of Food several times, but received no response.

Everything felt so unreal. Li Xin pinched his thigh instinctively. The intense pain made him break out in a cold sweat, and he realized he wasn't dreaming.

Li Xin, like a penitent, stared at the shadow on the wall for a long time. Only when the excitement in his heart subsided did he crawl into bed.

But for Li Xin, this night was destined to be sleepless.

...

Li Xin, who had barely slept all night, was already dazedly standing in the kitchen as dawn approached.

Because he arrived too early, the kitchen was completely empty, so quiet it was almost eerie.

Li Xin held a knife in his hand, looking down at the cutting board. He was thinking about how to collect as much happiness from food as possible. If he continued cutting like this, it wouldn't work.

At that moment, the kitchen door creaked open. Li Xin turned around and saw his boss, Chef Zhao, walking in.

Thinking about what Chef Zhao had said to him yesterday, Li Xin wanted to explain himself while no one else was around. But he was also worried that Chef Zhao wouldn't believe him.

"Xin? Why are you here so early today? Have you had breakfast?" Chef Zhao asked with a hint of apology, showing concern for Li Xin.

"Huh?" Li Xin instinctively frowned, puzzled: How could Chef Zhao's attitude toward him change so drastically in just one night?