Chapter 117

After almost an hour, Zhu Zi and Ganyu returned from shopping with a small oiled paper package.

"Boss, we brought back mooncakes!"

"Oh? What mooncakes?"

"When we passed by the Feiyun Commerce Guild, we met Young Master Xingqiu. These are from him. He said his family really enjoyed the mooncakes we sent last time, so he specially asked pastry chefs to try making some. These are his return gift."

"I see, Young Master Xingqiu is quite courteous."

"Boss, here! Try one!"

Zhu Zi handed over a mooncake - round and flat, looking similar to the ones Xia Zhi made.

However, the surface had imprinted words like "Good Fortune" and "Blooming Flowers, Full Moon" - probably meant as auspicious symbols for good luck.

Xia Zhi took it, gently bit into it, and slowly savored it.

The filling ratio and seasoning were similar to his mooncakes.

Xia Zhi guessed the Feiyun Commerce Guild must have found some skilled pastry chefs to imitate his mooncakes based on the ones he'd given to Xingqiu.

Though these would be considered excellent pastries by normal standards, they still weren't quite as good as his.

After all, no matter how skilled those pastry chefs were, even following his exact steps, they couldn't make glowing mooncakes.

Those pastry chefs must have been quite puzzled by this.

Xia Zhi smiled, finished the mooncake, and went to the kitchen to check the ingredients they bought.

They looked decent - clearly Zhu Zi and Ganyu had tried their best to select good ones. But after a morning, and with no refrigerator for storage, the ingredients weren't as fresh anymore.

Though his cooking skills could easily mask this flaw, one of tonight's dinner guests was a genuine god. Using less-than-fresh ingredients to serve them felt somewhat disrespectful.

When in doubt, spend points.

Xia Zhi made an excuse to get something from upstairs, returned to his room, opened the [Shop], and found an item he'd looked at before.

[Eternal Spirit Knife]

Quality: Silver

Type: Kitchen Set Equipment

Properties: None

Effect: When processing ordinary ingredients with this knife, can restore their freshness.

Hidden Effect: Collecting all eight pieces of the kitchen set will activate the set bonus.

Price: 20 points

The knife wasn't very expensive, and though it only worked on ordinary ingredients, that was enough.

Xia Zhi chose to buy it.

A bright knife with a dragon-shaped handle appeared in his inventory.

Xia Zhi took it out.

When his fingers gripped the handle, a strange "Dragon Lord Pattern" suddenly appeared on the blade.

However, there was no sense of spiritual connection - the pattern seemed purely decorative.

Xia Zhi casually twirled the knife, bought two [Cream Mushrooms], and took them downstairs to the kitchen.

Zhu Zi stared curiously at the items in his hands.

"Yay! We get to eat Boss's precious mushrooms again! Huh? Boss, what's that?"

"A knife I used before."

"How strange, why did you carve a four-legged snake pattern on the knife?"

"..."

Xia Zhi found it hard to explain to Zhu Zi, since Inazuma probably didn't have legends of such slender, elongated "dragons."

"Have you tried deep-fried mushrooms?"

"No."

"They're very delicious."

"Really?"

"I'll make some for you all."

"Great!"

"If you want to eat them, go help me tend the fire."

"Oh!"

Xia Zhi sliced one [Cream Mushroom] thinly to make deep-fried mushrooms as an afternoon tea snack, saving the other one for dinner as a side dish.

He heated vegetable oil, coated the mushroom slices in a thin batter, fried them until golden and crispy, drained the oil, plated them, and sprinkled some pepper salt and [Melk Stardust]. Immediately, the kitchen was filled with an enticing, strange sweet milky aroma.

The girls couldn't help but swallow several times at the smell.

"Smells so good!"

"It's too hot now, can't eat yet. Need to let it cool."

"Oh! Boss, seems like we're the only shop closed today on Feiyun Slope. Other shops are all having sales promotions and are very busy."

"Well, it's a festival. More people are out having fun, so they'll make more money than usual."

Xia Zhi strained the oil used for frying the mushrooms. The [Cream Mushrooms] were naturally rich in oil, most of which had been released during frying, giving the oil a creamy sweet fragrance. It was good stuff, but couldn't be used carelessly for cooking as the sweet creamy aroma might overpower other flavors.

Then, Xia Zhi took some lettuce, washed it, casually cut a piece with the [Eternal Spirit Knife], and tasted it.

It was full of moisture and crisp.

Just like vegetables freshly picked from the ground.

Xia Zhi nodded with satisfaction. The problem of ingredients not being fresh was perfectly solved.

A knife that could restore ingredients' freshness would be considered a treasure by any chef.

And the [Eternal Spirit Knife] was just one piece of the kitchen set. Besides it, there were seven other utensils with special food processing abilities:

[Dragon-Turning Pot], [Magic Saint Bronze Ware], [Garuda Knife], [Wolf's Bane Pot], [Spirit Storage], [Jade Dragon Pot].

According to [Eternal Spirit Knife]'s hidden effect (activating set bonus when all eight pieces are collected), the complete set should become Gold quality, and if the effect matches the manga's description, it should be "Longevity."

However, since Xia Zhi now had the [Hourglass of Time] granting eternal youth, this "Longevity" effect seemed somewhat redundant.

Therefore, he had no immediate need to collect all eight pieces.

"Boss, can we eat the fried mushrooms now?"

"About ready, bring them over."

"Okay!"

Ganyu looked at the fried food on the table with great hesitation.

It hadn't been long since lunch, was it okay to eat this kind of food?

But hearing everyone's crisp chewing sounds and happy murmurs, she finally reached out and picked up a piece of fried mushroom.

I, Ganyu, will only eat one piece!

Crunch~

Mmm~

So delicious~

It's even more fragrant than the mushroom strands in the vegetarian noodles last time.

Just one more small piece.

Crunch~

Just one small piece.

Crunch~

Only one small piece.

Crunch~

Oh Ganyu, how can you be so weak-willed! Have you forgotten how round and plump you were as a child? You can't keep eating like this!

Ganyu painfully withdrew her hand.

Xia Zhi "looked" at Ganyu and said casually, "Everyone, if you like it, eat more. Don't be polite."

No!

Today, I, Ganyu, will...

"I've used up all of these mushrooms I brought today. It won't be easy to get them again later..."

???

Ganyu was silent for a moment, then reached out again and picked up another piece of fried mushroom.

Crunch~

So good!

Oh well.

I'll start exercising hard tomorrow instead.

----

Read 40+ chapters ahead on my [patreon.com/rivyura]