Chapter 29

The sound of ocean waves continued through a dreamless night.

The next morning, Xia Zhi got up and finished his morning routine, packed up his belongings in the room, went down to the lobby to check out, and retrieved his housing deposit.

Walking out of the inn, he saw warm sunlight flooding the streets—it looked to be another beautiful day.

Crossing the street, Xia Zhi arrived at the food stall area near the harbor district. Even before reaching the stoves, he could smell the mixed aromas of different foods in the air.

Knowledge of various spices flashed through his mind. In an instant, Xia Zhi could identify which spices the stall owners had used in their foods and in what proportions.

Based on this, if he wanted to, he could perfectly recreate any of these so-called "secret recipe" snacks from these stalls.

Such was the terrifying aspect of spice mastery.

After some hesitation, Xia Zhi finally chose a fish noodle stall for his breakfast.

The fish here was caught fresh from the sea that morning and freshly killed. The meat was especially fresh, cooked in a white broth made from fish bones, served with thin round rice noodles, and topped with chili oil made from Jueyun Chilis.

This bowl of spicy and flavorful fish noodles opened up his appetite for the whole day.

Xia Zhi put down his chopsticks, wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling quite satisfied.

After paying, Xia Zhi took a walk along the dock before heading to the Adventurers' Guild at Chihu Rock.

Katherine at the front desk still wore her usual smile: "Ad astra abyssosque! Welcome to the Adventurers' Guild."

"Hello."

"I'm Katherine. Are you here to accept a commission or complete one?"

"Neither. I'd like to post a commission here."

"I understand, please wait... Please explain your commission details, and I'll help you record them."

"I'm planning to open a specialty beverage shop in Liyue, but I still need a server, so I hope an adventurer can help me find a suitable candidate for this position."

"Do you have any requirements for this position?"

"Under 30 years old, female, presentable appearance, friendly personality, and must be literate. They'll need to come to my shop for an interview."

"What's the address of your shop?"

"Feiyun Slope, right next to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor."

"And what's the reward for this commission?"

"I'm not familiar with the going rate for recruitment commissions. Could you advise me, Miss Katherine?"

"Of course. This type of commission is both simple and safe, with normal rewards ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand Mora. However, the higher the reward, the more enthusiastic adventurers will be about completing it."

"Then let's set the commission reward at 10,000 Mora, as my shop is opening soon and I hope to find a suitable person quickly."

"Rest assured, with such a high commission reward, many adventurers will be eager to accept it... I've recorded your commission information. Please show me your Adventure Handbook and provide the 10,000 Mora commission fee."

"Mm."

After posting the commission at the Adventurers' Guild, Xia Zhi returned to his shop, took out the key, and unlocked the door.

Pushing the door open, there was still a gloomy chill inside.

Xia Zhi paid no mind to it, running up and down by himself, opening all the windows upstairs and downstairs to let the warm sunlight shine in.

The room temperature gradually rose.

Because it had been vacant for too long, there was a lot of dust accumulated on the floor and furniture.

This was when the disadvantage of having such a large house became apparent.

Since Xia Zhi was blind, cleaning was quite troublesome, so he went to the market near Chihu Rock to find several aunties who specialized in such work to help clean the shop.

The aunties worked efficiently, cleaning the entire building spotlessly in half a day, and their wages were reasonable.

Xia Zhi gave them some extra Mora, treating it as tea money since he hadn't offered them any hot tea, and the aunties happily accepted without declining.

He had lunch at Wanmin Restaurant, though the taste wasn't the main concern—he was primarily there to increase his favor with Xiangling.

In the afternoon, the large water urns, glass cups, bedding, pillows, pots, bowls, and other household items that he and Yanfei had bought at the shop yesterday were gradually delivered to the store.

Xia Zhi spent quite some time organizing these items by himself.

With this, the shop finally regained some signs of life.

Xia Zhi carefully counted everything again and found that only the custom-made signboard hadn't been delivered yet.

The shopkeeper said yesterday it would take three to five days to complete, which worked out well since his recruitment commission would also take a few days.

Xia Zhi went to the kitchen at the back of the shop and cleaned the large water urns thoroughly.

The water came from mountain springs through metal pipes from far away, similar to the tap water from his original world. It was reportedly technology from Fontaine, and quite convenient.

The water quality looked good too, clear in color with a slightly sweet taste.

However, for safety's sake, Xia Zhi decided to boil all the water before using it.

Behind the stove were neat bundles of firewood, a gift from the previous shop owner.

Xia Zhi filled a pot with water, lit the fire, and waited for the water to heat up before pouring it into the urns.

Soon, the three water urns were filled with boiled hot water.

Now he just had to wait for the water to cool down before using it.

Taking advantage of this time, he went to Wanmin Restaurant for dinner.

While sitting at the table waiting for his food, Xia Zhi observed Chef Mao's cooking techniques while analyzing the spice ratios in the aromas.

This way of learning through reverse engineering and observation was quite interesting in its own way.

After finishing dinner, Xia Zhi called Xiangling over to pay the bill.

"One order of Triple-Layered Consommé, 80 Mora."

"Mm."

While collecting the money, Xiangling smiled and said, "Mr. Xia has been coming to Wanmin Restaurant for meals these past two days. It seems you're quite satisfied with our dishes."

"Yes, Wanmin Restaurant's food is very delicious." Xia Zhi nodded, his tone suddenly turning slightly regretful. "However..."

"However what?"

"In my opinion, this Triple-Layered Consommé could be improved in some ways. When seasoning, you could actually add a little Small Lamp Grass to enhance the flavor, and then add a bit..."

Xia Zhi slowly described a spice recipe that Xiangling had never heard before.

Xiangling listened intently, her expression changing from frowning to confusion to understanding to delight, mumbling to herself, "So it can be combined like that, it does seem better..."

Just then, a customer called out loudly: "Xiangling! Order! One Squirrel Fish!"

Xiangling suddenly snapped out of her daze, only to find that Mr. Xia was no longer in front of her. She felt an inexplicable sense of regret in her heart.

Then, she pulled herself together and continued working: "Coming!"

Wanmin Restaurant was busy every day, and today they were busy until late night before closing.

Chef Mao walked out of the kitchen, wiping his sweat with a towel, just about to take a rest when he saw his daughter Xiangling suddenly run back into the kitchen, picking out ham, poultry, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms, and starting to cut them into thin strips on the cutting board.

"Guoba, help me light the fire!"

Chef Mao took a drink of water, heard the sound of cooking from the kitchen, and felt something was strange. He went in to look: "Xiangling, are you making a new dish? No, isn't this Triple-Layered Consommé? Hey, you're using the wrong seasonings! Why are you adding Small Lamp Grass?! And... How did I teach you!"

Chef Mao frowned at Xiangling's "random" cooking method, but then he suddenly smelled an unusual aroma wafting from the wok.

This aroma was much more appetizing than the normal Triple-Layered Consommé.

Chef Mao looked at the dish in the wok with disbelief: "How is this possible?"

Xiangling plated the dish and tried a bite with her chopsticks, mumbling, "This dish really has improved a lot, Mr. Xia was right..."

Chef Mao looked confused: "Xiangling, who is Mr. Xia?"

"He's the person wearing black glasses who's been coming to Wanmin Restaurant for meals these past two days..."

Xiangling told Chef Mao about the evening's events.

Chef Mao finally understood: "Oh, that young man who ate with Old Liu, I remember him... Hey! Guoba, how could you eat all the food! I haven't even tried it yet!"

Guoba looked up with an innocent expression.