Upon seeing this letter, Su Wenqi felt somewhat puzzled, as he did not know why the other person was looking for him. He had no special connection with her, and their only intersection was Granny Wang. Could this matter concern Granny Wang? Thinking of this, he immediately headed toward the craft training area.
He arrived at the craft training area with familiar ease. The cooking section remained deserted, and Li Lanxin sat inside the counter with a deep frown, appearing to be worried about something.
“Aunt Lan, I am here. You mentioned an urgent matter, did something happen?” Seeing that the other person had not noticed him, Su Wenqi spoke up to gently call out to her.
Upon hearing the voice, Li Lanxin immediately snapped out of her thoughts. Recognizing that the visitor was him, she hurried out from behind the counter, took him by the hand, and led him over to a stool nearby to sit down.
“Spring Day, have you been researching any new dishes recently?”
“I have, what is the matter, Aunt Lan?” Su Wenqi asked with some confusion, though he answered truthfully.
Li Lanxin hesitated for a long while before finally deciding to entrust this task to Su Wenqi: “The eighteenth of next month is the City Lord’s sixtieth birthday. A few days ago, the head chef of the City Lord Manor passed away due to illness, and the culinary skills of the apprentices under him are mediocre at best, so I want to hand this task over to you.”
Hearing what she said, Su Wenqi was somewhat surprised. Although he had inherited Granny Wang’s legacy, he truly had not researched large-scale banquets yet, and he felt that he might not be able to take on this task.
He shared his concerns with Li Lanxin, and she looked quite worried as well.
A few days ago, the steward of the City Lord Manor had called her over to discuss matters, and that conversation was precisely about this issue. The late Chef Zhang had a rather selfish personality and never taught his unique culinary arts to his disciples.
Believing himself to be in his prime at just over forty years old, he saw no need to look for a successor yet, but unexpectedly, he passed away from a sudden acute illness during a night a few days ago. Meanwhile, his several apprentices still only performed menial chores such as washing vegetables and cutting ingredients, and even the simplest stir-fried tomatoes with eggs turned out unpalatable when they made them.
It was not as if there were no other cooks in the City Lord Manor, but none of them matched Chef Zhang’s culinary skills. Moreover, the City Lord’s sixtieth birthday banquet would be attended not only by the city lords of other cities but also by envoys from the imperial capital.
The major main cities maintained a competitive relationship year-round, and if they were to seize upon this flaw during the banquet, it would inevitably cause the City Lord to lose face. The thought of finding a chef from a city restaurant had crossed their minds, but after tasting their food, none compared to Chef Zhang. Going to recruit people from other main cities now would leave far too little time.
As the person in charge of the cooking craft area, Li Lanxin was asked by the steward to keep an eye out and recommend anyone with good culinary skills, since she frequently interacted with these visiting martial artists. After much deliberation, Li Lanxin realized that Su Wenqi was the only person who met the requirements, so she wrote him a letter inviting him to discuss the matter.
“How about this? Tomorrow I will take you to the City Lord Manor to find the steward and do a food tasting. If it works out, the steward will give you the recipe, and you can prepare accordingly. If it does not work out, the steward and I will think of another way.”
In the end, Li Lanxin offered a compromise suggestion. Before seeking out Su Wenqi, she had consulted with Granny Wang and learned that he possessed exceptionally high talent, capable of mastering newly researched recipes to perfection within a day or two, which gave her the peace of mind to recommend him for this task.
Since things had reached this point, Su Wenqi had no choice but to accept. If the task succeeded, he would receive rewards, and if it failed, he would not suffer any heavy losses.
With the matter settled, Su Wenqi stood up and left.
The next day, he accompanied Li Lanxin to the City Lord Manor, where Deputy Steward Zhao was already waiting at the entrance. The group did not exchange any idle chatter, and the steward directly led them to the kitchen.
The kitchen was equipped with dedicated cooking stoves provided for players, sparing them from standing helplessly in front of traditional earthen stoves.
Su Wenqi inspected the vegetables on the kitchen shelves and selected a few items to prepare dishes he had frequently made recently. Before long, four home-style dishes were completed and dished out.
At that moment, Steward Liu of the City Lord Manor also arrived in the kitchen. Servant girls carried the dishes over to the dining area and also summoned Chef Zhang’s apprentices to come and taste-test them.
Steward Liu picked up a chopstick of stir-fried tomatoes with eggs and placed it in his mouth. The fragrance of the eggs intertwined with the sweet and sour notes of the tomatoes to create a charming flavor, as making simple dishes well was precisely the most difficult feat of all. After tasting the other dishes in succession, Steward Liu decided on the spot to entrust this task to Su Wenqi.
“Martial Artist Spring Day, with such wonderful culinary skill, it is truly a waste for you to only make home-style dishes at home. Would you have any interest in coming to work as a chef in our manor? The compensation will definitely not be inferior to Chef Zhang’s!” Steward Liu felt an appreciation for his talent and wanted to recruit him into the estate.
Naturally, Su Wenqi had no desire to go, so he politely declined: “Thank you for the kind offer, Steward Liu, but my ambitions lie elsewhere. Afterward, I plan to open a small restaurant right here in Yuyun City, and you are welcome to patronize it anytime.”
He harbored other intentions in making this remark. By helping the City Lord Manor with such a huge favor, apart from receiving the due rewards, he also wanted to take the opportunity to have them help resolve the issue of securing a shop location.
“Oh? When does my young friend plan to open the shop, and where will the location be? When the grand opening arrives, I will surely send a congratulatory gift.” Having reached the position of steward for the City Lord Manor, Steward Liu was no mere nobody, and he immediately caught the underlying meaning in Su Wenqi’s words.
However, he did not show any displeasure, instead following along with his prompt.
“I have not decided where to open it yet, as I arrived in Yuyun City not long ago and am still unfamiliar with the city. Does Steward Liu know where one can rent a storefront?” Seeing that Steward Liu did not oppose his request, Su Wenqi boldly raised his question.
“That matter is easy to handle, Zhao En.” Steward Liu directly instructed Deputy Steward Zhao.
“I understand. Martial artist, please follow me shortly, I will take you to the official housing rental management office, and we will definitely pick a good spot for you!” Zhao En understood the implication and instructed Su Wenqi to follow him later.
Steward Liu had already drafted the menu for the banquet and handed it to Su Wenqi, saying: “The City Lord’s birthday is approaching fast, so please trouble the martial artist to prepare the trial dishes sooner. All the ingredients consumed while developing these new dishes will be fully reimbursed by the City Lord Manor, and we only hope to get this done as quickly as possible.”
Su Wenqi took the recipe and replied: “Alright, I will do my best to come and have people taste the dishes one week before the City Lord’s birthday.”
“Very good, very good, then everything is left in your hands. Zhao En.” Steward Liu gave a subtle look, and Zhao En led Su Wenqi and Li Lanxin out of the manor.
The subsequent matters proceeded exceptionally smoothly. After they arrived at the official government office, Zhao En selected a storefront for him located on a bustling street and generously provided one thousand taels of gold as funds for the new dishes.
Since this was, after all, the City Lord’s birthday, the ingredients used had to be of the absolute finest grade, and naturally, the cost would not be low. He also instructed Su Wenqi to come find him at the City Lord Manor to collect more funds once the money ran out.
Su Wenqi accepted the money and the property deed handed over by Zhao En, feeling quite happy inside, as resolving the most difficult task had lifted a heavy stone from his heart.
As for the matter of researching new dishes, he felt entirely confident. Even if he could not figure something out, didn’t he still have Granny Wang?
With this matter resolved, Li Lanxin also breathed a sigh of relief. She declined Su Wenqi’s offer to escort her back to the craft training area, urging him instead to seize the time and research his new dishes.
Returning to his homestead, Su Wenqi flipped through the recipe book while replying to Xianyun’s messages.
Private Chat [Xianyun]: How does Lisha ride? Is the speed a bit faster than the Green-Dappled Steed the system gave you?
Private Chat [Xianyun]: The guild league starts at 12 o’clock, will you do dailies with me after the league is over?
Private Chat [Xianyun]: Are you busy?
Private Chat [Charcoal of a Spring Day]: I just went to complete a quest, the league is about to start and you still have time to message me?
Private Chat [Xianyun]: Feng Qian has already arranged everything, and the snacks you made have all been distributed. You have no idea how shocked they were when they got the snacks you made. If I hadn’t repeatedly told them not to spam the guild channel, they definitely would have flooded the chat.
Private Chat [Charcoal of a Spring Day]: As long as it helps you guys, how are things prepared for this time?
Private Chat [Xianyun]: Everything is ready. With the bonus from the gold-quality snacks this time, we will definitely make it into the top three.
Private Chat [Charcoal of a Spring Day]: So confident? What place did our guild get in the last league?
Private Chat [Xianyun]: Fifth place. We re-discussed our tactics this time, so we will definitely enter the top three.
Private Chat [Charcoal of a Spring Day]: Then keep it up! If we can make the top three, I will treat our entire guild to a meal!
Private Chat [Xianyun]: Just treat them, what about me?
Private Chat [Charcoal of a Spring Day]: Well, I’ll grant you one more chance to order a dish, this is a unique perk nobody else has.
Private Chat [Xianyun]: Alright then, we are going to prepare for the match now, see you after it is over.
Private Chat [Charcoal of a Spring Day]: See you after, do your best!
Taking advantage of the time before the guild league began, Su Wenqi washed the necessary ingredients and chopped the meat that needed mincing. By the time he finished all the preparatory work, it was already 11:55.
He hurriedly left his homestead and arrived at the guild territory, where the place was packed with players who were unable to participate in the guild league.
The moment he arrived, everyone spotted him and enthusiastically greeted him to come sit near the front.
Guild [Liu Liu]: Big Shot Spring Day, over here! We saved a spot for you!
Guild [Guangling Disciple]: The league is about to start, I am so excited!
Guild [Eternal]: Seeing how confident Feng Qian is this time, we should be able to make the top three, right?
Guild [Su Qingqing]: Guaranteed to make it! Hm? Big Shot Spring Day, did you change your cosmetic outfit? Hiss, it looks a bit familiar.
This remark drew everyone’s attention toward Su Wenqi, and instantly everyone looked at him. Indeed, it did look somewhat familiar.
Right at that moment, the guild league commenced. A large screen appeared inside the guild hall to provide a real-time broadcast of their guild’s match schedule.
The objective of the guild league was to defend and destroy towers while gathering kill scores. After two hours, whichever side had the higher score would win the guild match.
At this point, the camera shifted to Xianyun, who was dressed in black with a high ponytail, riding on the white Lisha and looking quite untamed and rebellious.
Guild [Su Qingqing]: Hiss… the clothes the guild master is wearing also look a bit familiar…
Guild [Liu Liu]: Oh, I get it now.
Su Wenqi: ?? What do you get?
Su Wenqi felt completely bewildered inside, and he raised his head to look up at the large screen.
Except for the color difference, the outfit he wore and the outfit Xianyun wore were molded from the exact same template.
With a sudden rush of heat, his face flushed red.
Ever since the day he leaned in close to take a picture of Xianyun, the other person had clung to him as if his true nature had been exposed. He was not someone slow in matters of the heart, on the contrary, having grown up in an orphanage made him even sharper at capturing people’s emotions. Xianyun seemed to like him.
For the first twenty-odd years of his life, he had never thought about dating, because simply staying alive had already consumed all of his energy. However, ever since he arrived in this world, his life had undergone earth-shattering changes, as he was no longer plagued by bad luck nor did he have to worry about money.
Perhaps, he could try falling in love.
He could try to be a little braver.