Chapter 29: System, Are You Kidding Me?

Even when she returned to the dormitory, Fu Ya couldn't shake off her excitement.

"How did it go? How did it go?" As soon as she pushed open the door, a fiery red figure pounced on her, hugging Fu Ya and asking with concern.

The dormitories for the outer court students of Shrek Academy were double rooms, and Fu Ya had been roommates with Ying Shuang since their first year. It was also the moment that brought them together as best friends.

Fu Ya didn't hide her family situation from Ying Shuang, but she had always refused Ying Shuang's help.

Ying Shuang had a hot temper, but she couldn't do anything about this stubborn girl and could only help Fu Ya find a job.

She even secretly arranged for her family's business to offer Fu Ya a high salary, but Fu Ya saw through it at a glance and refused to accept it.

Fortunately, there's always a way out. After hearing that a Tang Sect disciple broke through to Spirit Emperor level after eating a new dish at Qi Han's Small Shop, attracting the presence of the 4 Hall Master from the Tang Sect, Ying Shuang planned to go and see the excitement today, and also take the opportunity to taste the delicious food she had been craving for several days.

But before she even entered, she saw the notice board of the Small Shop.

Ying Shuang, who was concerned about her best friend, didn't even eat her meal and turned around to run back to the academy to tell Fu Ya the news.

Naturally, Fu Ya was very interested in this job that seemed perfect for her. So she rushed to the Small Shop before Qi Han closed, to apply for the job.

After hugging Ying Shuang, Fu Ya smiled and told her everything about her conversation with Qi Han.

"2 work meals a day, eat as much as you want?!!!" After talking for a long time, Ying Shuang's focus remained on that sentence.

"Does he still need more waiters? I want to go too!" Ying Shuang's eyes sparkled, eager to try her luck as well.

Whether it's work meals or not, it didn't matter to her. She just wanted to accompany her best friend, Fu Ya!

Fu Ya tilted her head and thought for a moment. "Before I left, I saw the boss take down the notice board. Maybe they're not hiring anymore?"

"Wuwuwu!" Ying Shuang threw a tantrum in Fu Ya's soft embrace for a while, completely abandoning her image as a noble young lady.

Fu Ya chuckled and patted Ying Shuang's head. "I'm starting work this afternoon."

"I want to go too!" Ying Shuang pouted. "The boss is treating you so well, I suspect he has ulterior motives!"

Fu Ya was taken aback and shook her head. "That's impossible right? He can't beat me anyway."

"Who knows?" Ying Shuang muttered softly, but in her heart, she was already planning what to eat at the restaurant tonight.

She hadn't tried that Dongpo Pork Knuckle that was said to enhance cultivation speed. She had planned to eat it for lunch, but she must have it for dinner!

Oh, right! Before leaving at noon, she heard that the restaurant had a new dish called Tomato Beef Brisket.

'Eat, eat, eat! I want it all tonight!'

Ying Shuang covered her increasingly thin wallet and let out a howl that belonged to a foodie.

...

Having successfully hired a waitress, Qi Han felt a lot lighter on his shoulders.

From now on, Fu Ya would be responsible for cleaning the tables, serving dishes, and taking customer orders, while he only needed to cook in the kitchen.

Hmm, that's pretty nice.

[Ding!]

[Detected that the host has completed a Quest.]

[Side Quest 2: Hire a Waiter/Waitress (Completed)]

[Quest Reward: 1 Star Optional Recipe Fragment x1 (Claimable)]

The long-awaited Quest completion notification sound.

Well, it wasn't that long, only eight chapters have passed.

Without hesitation, Qi Han chose to claim the reward since there were no recipes in need of training at the moment.

Selecting a 1 Star recipe seamlessly.

No new side quests were triggered, and the only remaining Quest for Qi Han is Main Quest 4.

After claiming the 1 Star Optional Recipe Fragment, Qi Han fell into contemplation.

'Hmm... What new dish should I choose?'

Oh right, it seems like his restaurant doesn't have any beverage yet.

Then let's go with a 1 Star beverage.

Opening the All 1 Star Dish Recipes, Qi Han skipped past all the fancy dish names and went straight to the Drinks category, browsing through them.

After flipping through for a while, Qi Han opened his mouth with some confusion, "System, where's the alcohol?"

Why are all the 1 Star drinks in the recipe book non-alcoholic beverages?

[The alcoholic beverages included in the system's recipe collection are of a higher grade, starting from 2 Star. The 1 Star recipes in the book mainly consist of other types of beverages.]

'Alcoholic beverages start from 2 Star Recipes?'

Qi Han couldn't help but be amazed. He would have to see what kind of alcohol it is when he gets the chance.

Well, let's stick with beverages. Qi Han flipped through again and his gaze landed on one particular beverage. "System, didn't you say that Qinan Juice is too low-grade and not included in your collection?"

On top of this beverage, the words "Qinan Juice" were written.

[The Qinan fruit used as the ingredient for this beverage has gone through hundreds of generations of artificial selection, utilizing special grafting techniques—]

"Explain it in a much simpler way, please."

[After being cultivated by this system, it is no longer considered low-grade.]

Alright, you're the system, you have the final say.

Qi Han shrugged. "Then let's go with this one."

The taste of the Qinan fruit is somewhat similar to watermelon, and he quite likes it.

Of course, if there was an option for watermelon juice, he would still choose watermelon juice.

But among the 1 Star fruit juices, there isn't a single one that he's familiar with.

What's the deal? Don't Earth fruits deserve a place?

[Earth is a common plane, so it's normal for the taste of its fruits to be inferior to those from transcendent planes.]

That sounds somewhat reasonable.

Qi Han pondered.

No wonder the ingredients he used for cooking had to be cultivated by the system. Even the ingredients from the Earth needed to be crossbred with the local ingredients to enhance their taste.

[Host uses 1 Star Optional Recipe Fragment x1 to exchange for a 1 Star recipe: Qinan Juice. Are you sure?]

"Confirm."

As Qi Han answered, the system space once again transformed into the training space.

Qi Han felt that something was off.

When he saw the chef's virtual image appearing again in the system space, he finally realized what was wrong.

"Do I need a training space just to squeeze some juice?"

The system didn't respond to Qi Han's questioning. Instead, the response came from the virtual image within the training space.

The image swiftly wielded a knife, quickly slicing each Qinan fruit without a drop of juice spilling out. Just imagining cutting a watermelon without any juice flowing could give an idea of the difficulty.

The Qinan fruits provided by the system were truly the result of hundreds of generations of cultivation. They were much larger than normal Qinan fruits, about the size of 2 fists. After being cut in half, the virtual image quickly scooped out the small Ping-Pong ball-sized core using a small spoon, placing it in the system's high-tech juicer, and discarding the rest aside.

This—

Qi Han was dumbfounded, and the performance of the virtual image was not yet over.

The image took out an exquisitely embossed tall glass, used tongs to pick up a long rectangular ice cube, placed it in the glass, and stirred the ice cube several times using a muddler before removing it. Then, the high glass was used to collect the juice from the juicer.

Finally, a few mint leaves were added to the rim of the glass, along with a glass straw with concentric circles at the end.

Finished.

Qi Han widened his eyes. "System, I'm not well versed in the art of drink making, but aren't these techniques used for making cocktails?"

Isn't it a bit too much for just a glass of juice?

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