Chapter 2

"Host has obtained [Initial Task]."

"Prompt: As a kitchen apprentice, you should strive for independence and master the art of cooking a dish that satisfies both yourself and your guests."

"Reward: Recipe for 'Magical Mapo Tofu' (Blue)."

Huh.

Xia Yu was happily marveling at the perks of being a穿越者 (穿越者 means someone who has crossed over into another world, but there's no direct English equivalent, so I'll use "transmigrator" here), when he didn't expect the Chef God System to assign him a task.

An initial task, to cook a dish?

Not difficult at all!

Xia Yu immediately broke into a grin, but the system coldly reminded him, "You must gain the guest's satisfaction to complete the task."

"Guest? Where will the guest come from?" Xia Yu couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

His family's Chinese restaurant rarely opened once a month, not because it was too remote, but because the old man had a very peculiar and intimidating personality. Over time, no one came to eat anymore.

Xia Yu had also tried to attract customers, but the old man's evaluation of his efforts was simple: "It's all for nothing."

It was crude, but Xia Yu could swear on his conscience that this was exactly what the old man said, without any exaggeration.

Sighing inwardly about how he ended up with an old ruffian, Xia Yu didn't dare to linger upstairs for too long. He quickly bandaged the wound on his palm, changed out of his school uniform, and put on a slightly sweat-stained, washed-out work uniform. Then he ran downstairs.

Sitting on a small stool, Xia Yu began to prepare the ingredients.

Actually, he handled a lot of ingredients every evening, including large fish, meat, and various fruits and vegetables. Every evening when Xia Yu came home from school, he would see the kitchen corner piled high with ingredients, but he had never seen the supplier who delivered them.

Moreover, although the restaurant had no business, the consumption of ingredients was very high. At first, Xia Yu was puzzled and tried to find out the mystery, but later he gradually stopped caring.

In his mind, this was known as the 'Mystery of Xia's Chinese Restaurant No. 2'.

The first mystery, of course, was the strange stone in the jar.

"Slap."

A large piece of fresh, tender beef was thrown onto the cutting board. Xia Yu routinely sharpened his knife and stood in front of the cutting board with a shiny blade.

Slicing beef requires skill, and Xia Yu had long mastered this. As the saying goes, cut beef and mutton across the grain, and pork along the grain. He placed the knife at a 90-degree angle to the beef's grain and sliced down, separating a large piece of beef.

He then cut the entire piece of meat into circles, and at this point, he needed to divide the tasks. Some of the beef was intended for pan-frying, while others were to be cut into pieces or strips for other dishes.

This step was done in advance, but with a refrigerator, there was no need to worry about the meat losing its freshness. Xia Yu packed and categorized the sliced beef, then stored it in the freezer. Next, he began to process the seafood.

Fish needed to be scaled, gutted, and cleaned, while shellfish required more effort. Xia Yu sorted them into several large buckets, then took some table salt from the kitchen counter and sprinkled it into each bucket. He then took a bottle of vegetable oil and poured a little into each bucket, just enough to cover the surface of the water.

As everyone knows, oil floating on the surface of the water can block oxygen, causing the live shellfish to open their shells and breathe, continuously expelling sand. This way, guests wouldn't have to eat sand, and the texture would be excellent, earning high praise.

After a busy night, the antique wall clock in the shop rang rhythmically.

"Phew..."

Xia Yu took off his apron and tossed the apron, which was stained with various dirty water and blood, into the bathroom. He then filled a basin with clear water and began to clean the tables and chairs in the shop.

From the kitchen, the sound of a spatula could be heard. Xia Yu looked back and, as expected, the old man was heating up the wok. This was always the happiest moment of Xia Yu's day!

Finally, he wouldn't have to eat the bread from the shopping street and could enjoy a fresh, hot midnight snack!

At this moment, Xia Yu felt like crying with emotion and worked even harder, listening intently to the sounds from the kitchen.

Bang.

Soon, two large bowls of steaming noodles were placed on the counter. The old man took off his chef's hat and said indifferently, "Take it—"

Xia Yu immediately came over and placed one bowl of noodles in front of himself.

The narrow shop naturally had no tables or chairs. If you've seen the TV series "Midnight Diner," you wouldn't have trouble imagining the layout of the shop.

The midnight snack was a bowl of clear broth ramen. The old man was considerate and didn't add any other ingredients that might irritate the stomach. The broth was dotted with a light layer of oil and green onions, and there were a few slices of perfectly fried, delicious beef.

The aroma filled the shop, and Xia Yu held his chopsticks, clasped his hands together, and said reverently, "I'm going to eat!"

He then lowered his head and began to eat voraciously.

A few bites of noodles, accompanied by a sip of broth, the hot food flowed down his throat, and Xia Yu couldn't help but look up and exclaim, "This is what food is all about..."

He had bowed to the old man's culinary skills more than once.

The old man's midnight snacks changed every day, and this was Xia Yu's most sumptuous meal of the day. The other meals, such as breakfast, lunch, and dinner, were solved on the way to school or at the school store, and the last one was taken care of on the way back from school.

If it weren't for the midnight snack, Xia Yu would have long quit!

In both his past and present life, Xia Yu dared to say he had never eaten better food than what the old man made. The ramen was just one of the old man's specialties.

What Xia Yu found most unforgettable was the seafood dumplings he had eaten about half a year ago. Just thinking about them made his taste buds secrete a lot of saliva. Xia Yu swallowed and quickly finished the large bowl of noodles. He then pushed the empty bowl aside and reached for the other bowl on the counter, but he heard a slurping sound from beside him.

His face immediately turned sour.

My noodles!

Looking at the empty counter and the guest who had appeared out of nowhere, eating a bowl of noodles, Xia Yu couldn't help but look up at the ceiling, trying hard not to let the tears in his eyes spill over.

"Delicious, delicious!"

What was even more outrageous was that the guest kept praising the food while eating, "No wonder it's Mr. Xia's cooking, ha ha, what a lucky night!"

The not-so-fluent Chinese made Xia Yu realize that this impolite person was Japanese. He had never seen such a presumptuous Japanese person who took others' things without permission. For Japanese people, causing trouble for others was a mistake. Now, having his food stolen was more than just a trouble; it was a deep-seated resentment!

Huh.

Xia Yu's eyebrows twitched.

Looking over, he noticed that this person was quite peculiar. It was a hot summer night, yet he was wearing a detective-like black coat, a black hat, and a high collar.

What kind of Sherlock Holmes cosplay is this? Do you need a pipe as well?

Logically, eating noodles in such a narrow, stuffy shop without a fan should have made him sweat, but Xia Yu didn't see any sweat on the exposed skin of this person even after he finished his bowl of noodles and patted his stomach.

Noticing Xia Yu's gaze, the guest finally looked up and smiled at him.

A middle-aged man, quite refined and handsome.

Xia Yu's forehead veins twitched. He resisted the urge to punch him and said expressionlessly, "You have green onions on your teeth..."

"Really?"

The middle-aged man, with an elegant and composed demeanor, took a toothpick from the counter and gently picked out the green onions, sticking them to a tissue. He then crumpled the tissue and threw it in the trash, sitting back down.

Then, the middle-aged man looked at Xia Yu with interest.

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(Please recommend and collect the new book by a new author!)

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