Chapter 85 [200 PS]

The aroma of food wafting through the air was incredibly enticing.

Even the customers eating at nearby tables couldn't help but turn their heads to look at the clay pot, drawn by the smell.

"Mr. Xia, please try it," said Xiangling as she scooped a small bowl and handed it to Xia Zhi, watching him with eager eyes.

Xia Zhi picked up his chopsticks, took a taste, and nodded. "It's delicious, exactly the flavor I expected."

Xiangling was delighted. Noticing the three girls who hadn't moved to eat, she thought they might be feeling shy and enthusiastically said, "You should eat too! There's plenty in the pot."

The girls had no choice but to each scoop themselves a small bowl.

Seeing this, Xiangling happily turned away to attend to other matters.

Zhu Zi tried a bite and found that this shrimp clay pot dish was indeed very good.

In fact, it could be said that it was the most delicious of all the dishes she had eaten at Wanmin Restaurant these past few days.

But for some reason, she couldn't muster any appetite at the moment.

Shenhe and Yaoyao were in similar situations.

However, since they had already served themselves, it would be wasteful not to eat, so the three girls could only lower their heads and eat slowly.

Xia Zhi "looked" at them and roughly understood what was causing their current condition.

On one hand, they weren't very hungry; on the other hand, the mooncakes they ate in the morning were too delicious, which had temporarily elevated their taste threshold. As a result, even normally delicious food had become tasteless to them, putting them in a state of gustatory satisfaction.

The solution was simple.

Either wait for this satisfied state to pass, at which point their taste buds would return to normal.

Or try something equally delicious as the mooncakes to satisfy their currently elevated taste threshold.

Once you've tasted the sea, it's hard to settle for streams...

Xia Zhi lowered his head and slowly ate the shrimp pot in his bowl.

He had been restrained when eating the mooncakes earlier, only having one piece, and after being busy kneading dough all morning, he was actually quite hungry now, so he helped himself to another bowl.

After finishing, he rested for a while and looked around at the surrounding tables.

Because of the mooncake baking, he had arrived at Wanmin Restaurant a bit later than usual today, and it was now past the peak dining hours, with no new customers coming in to eat.

After a while, Xiangling and Chef Mao came out from the kitchen, preparing to rest and eat.

The restaurant business was indeed demanding - even when business was booming and seats were full, they often couldn't even find time to eat when things got busy.

Chef Mao sat down at a table with some regular customers who were still eating, while Xiangling walked straight over with her rice bowl. She looked at the bowls in front of the three girls, which still had some food left, and found it strange. "You're eating so slowly."

She scooped herself some of the shrimp pot with her spoon and took a bite.

"Though it's a bit cold now, it's still very delicious."

"It is very delicious, we're just not very hungry..."

"Sister, where's Guoba? Isn't he coming out to eat?"

"He's already full from sneaking food, now he's lying behind the stove and doesn't want to move. Don't worry about him."

"I want to go see him!"

"Yaoyao, you haven't finished your food yet, finish eating first."

"Mmm..."

Yaoyao could only try her best to finish the food in her bowl, her cheeks puffing out slightly.

The little girl was so cute.

"I'm done eating!"

Yaoyao swallowed her food and properly placed her chopsticks beside her empty bowl before jumping down from her chair and running toward the kitchen.

Xiangling watched Yaoyao's retreating figure and smiled helplessly, her smile containing a hint of gentle indulgence. Then she turned to look at Xia Zhi, her eyes bright.

"Mr. Xia, what do you think about me using this dish for the cooking competition in two days?"

"The chances of winning should be quite high."

"I think so too. This is the most delicious dish I've ever made, I think it could be considered perfect."

"Perfect... not quite. Actually, after carefully tasting it, I found there are still some areas that could be improved."

"!?"

"For example, the soup base - Miss Xiangling, aren't you quite skilled at using slime condensate to thicken sauces? Why not try that?"

"That might work!"

"And also..."

When Xia Zhi had previously conceived the recipe for [Jueyun Flying Dragon Pot], he had created it based on the manga content from his original world.

But this world had some ingredients that didn't exist in his original world, and after thinking about it, he realized that adding these ingredients might make the original recipe even more delicious.

The more Xiangling listened, the more excited she became.

"I'll go try it right now!"

"There's no rush, Miss Xiangling should eat first."

"It's fine, I can eat anytime."

"..."

This girl was truly passionate, practically born for cooking. No doubt when researching new dishes, she often forgot to eat or sleep just like this.

Yet despite her irregular eating habits, her figure was even better than Hu Tao's.

Xia Zhi stood up and said, "You've been busy all morning, you must be starving. You should eat first. As for the new dish we just discussed, I'm actually quite interested myself, so why don't I give it a try?"

"Mr. Xia wants to cook personally?"

"Yes, may I borrow Wanmin Restaurant's kitchen?"

"Of course!"

Xia Zhi smiled and walked toward the kitchen.

Shenhe silently stood up and followed behind him.

The kitchen was a dangerous place after all, she needed to watch over him.

Zhu Zi quickly followed as well.

As a result, only Xiangling was left sitting at the table. She blanked for a moment, her expression becoming slightly conflicted.

Then, she scooped two more spoonfuls of food into her bowl and followed them with her rice bowl.

Wanmin Restaurant's kitchen was large, with many pre-processed ingredients laid out.

As Xia Zhi entered the kitchen and picked up the ladle, a familiar feeling washed over him, as if he had cooked countless dishes before.

Behind the stove, Yaoyao was talking to Guoba, though it wasn't clear how the little girl was communicating with him.

"Big brother, why did you come in?"

"I'm going to try cooking."

"But big brother, your eyes can't see, cooking is very dangerous."

Yaoyao ran over to look at him, saying very seriously.

"If your hand accidentally gets splashed by oil, it will hurt for a long time!"

The little girl seemed to have experienced such pain before.

"It's alright, Miss Shenhe will look after me," Xia Zhi turned back to look at Shenhe who was following behind. "Right?"

Shenhe nodded and said quietly, "Mm, don't worry, I'll protect you."

"Then I'll trouble you to be my assistant."

"Alright."

Zhu Zi was also very proactive: "Boss, I can help as well."

"Thank you, please help me get the ingredients first."

"The ingredients... where are they?"

"..."

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

At this time, Xiangling walked in with her rice bowl, smiling: "Let me handle this, you're not familiar with this place."

Xiangling skillfully gathered various ingredients, placed them nearby, and carefully explained them to Xia Zhi before picking up her rice bowl again, taking a few bites while watching: "Guoba, light the fire!"

Guoba breathed fire into the stove, quickly heating up the pot.

Then, Xia Zhi began his first proper cooking session in this world.

The entire cooking process was smooth and flowing, every movement pleasing to watch. Shenhe didn't have any opportunity to step in to protect him at all.

Xiangling carefully observed his every move, forgetting even to eat.

Before long, a new clay pot dish was ready.

Under everyone's watchful gaze, Xia Zhi reached out to lift the lid, and a strange light burst forth from within the pot, disappearing in a flash.

Xiangling looked surprised: "It glowed!"

The other three girls and Guoba couldn't help but swallow: "It smells so good!"

"Boss, I want to eat!"

"Big brother, I want to eat too!"

"Didn't you all say you weren't hungry earlier?"

"Now we're suddenly hungry again!"

"What am I going to do with you all... go get your bowls then."

Zhu Zi and Yaoyao quickly ran out, with Shenhe silently following behind them.

Xia Zhi looked at Xiangling and said, "Miss Xiangling, please try it."

"Okay!"

A moment later, Xiangling stood still, completely dumbfounded.

It seems Miss Xiangling was also beginning to question her life choices.

Xia Zhi smiled, suddenly feeling something tugging at his pants leg.

"Mmm mmm!..."

It was Guoba.

He was looking at Xia Zhi with an expectant little expression.

"You want some too?"

Xia Zhi smiled and scooped a small bowl for Guoba.

Guoba eagerly ate it, his face showing an expression of satisfaction and enjoyment.

Then, Xia Zhi saw the golden progress bar on Guoba suddenly start to skyrocket, incredibly reaching full in an instant.

"Progress bar has reached 100%, golden chest reward obtained."

----

If you find any errors or inconsistencies please let me know, I am trying my best to improve my translations.

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