Hearing Xianyun’s words, Su Wenqi felt a bit curious. He had not even reached the maximum level yet, so how could he be of any help?
He asked curiously, “What is it? Have you run into some difficulties? I am only Level 10, so can I really be of help?”
Before Xianyun could reply, Feng Qian cut in, “Of course you can, why wouldn’t you be able to? Didn’t you obtain the God of Cooking’s Legacy? How are the taste and attributes of the dishes you prepare?”
This barrage of questions left Su Wenqi completely lightheaded. Meanwhile, Wen Shaochuan, whose words had been snatched away, looked thoroughly displeased. He silently resolved to assign more work to this younger brother of his tomorrow, seeing as he was clearly too idle every day.
Unaware of his impending doom, Feng Qian was still pestering Su Wenqi with endless questions. Su Wenqi had always been bad at handling such overenthusiastic people, and he was so anxious that he was practically sweating.
Fortunately, Wen Shaochuan noticed his embarrassment and spoke up to tell Feng Qian to restrain himself, finally rescuing Su Wenqi.
“Whew…” Taking advantage of the moment when Feng Qian turned around to chatter away at Xianyun, Su Wenqi let out a long sigh of relief to ease his awkwardness.
Feng Qian did not see the relieved Su Wenqi, but Wen Shaochuan, who sat directly opposite him, saw everything perfectly.
Wen Shaochuan took in his subtle reactions, his eyes curving slightly.
“Alright, keep quiet for a moment. Let Chunri explain his situation,” Wen Shaochuan said as he picked up a pastry from the table and stuffed it into Feng Qian’s mouth, blocking his incessantly chattering lips.
Feng Qian wanted to say more, but his attention was completely drawn to the sweet and delicious pastry in his mouth. He mumbled while eating, “Mmph (chewing). This pastry is so delicious (chewing). Brother, where did you buy this? Do you have more in your backpack? Give me a few more plates. This is so good. I wonder who invented this (chewing).”
Looking at his brother’s useless appearance, Wen Shaochuan’s face turned dark, but he still pulled several boxes of pastries from his bag and handed them to him.
With good food to eat, Feng Qian stopped chattering and sat there quietly to enjoy his snacks.
With Feng Qian quieted down, the two finally had the chance to discuss business.
“I only obtained this skill today and haven’t had the time to test it yet. Besides, the reason I headed to Yuyun City in the first place was to go to the professional training area to familiarize myself with this skill, but I ended up running into that lunatic.”
Su Wenqi spoke with a helpless tone. There was no place to practice skills in the starting village. Granny Wang had told him that Yuyun City had a dedicated area set up for practicing cooking, and she had even given him a keepsake to find an old acquaintance named Li once he arrived.
Yet who would have thought that before Su Wenqi could even go look for the man, he would encounter that group of players trying to rob him. Thus, he still had no idea what made the crafted dishes different.
After listening to his explanation, Wen Shaochuan pondered for a moment, then spoke, “I have a kitchen in my homestead, and we can buy ingredients on the spot. Do you want to try out your skill?”
“Sure. I’ll practice with something I’m familiar with first. Do you have tomatoes and eggs at home? Are the seasonings also fully stocked?” Su Wenqi did not refuse Xianyun’s suggestion, as he also wanted to know what made this legacy different from ordinary cooking skills.
Following Xianyun’s lead, they arrived at the kitchen of his homestead. The kitchen was spacious and bright, with all kinds of ingredients and seasonings fully stocked.
Various vegetables and meats were sorted and displayed on shelves. These items did not spoil or rot when placed outside like ordinary produce would.
Although the game focused heavily on realism, being too realistic would make things tedious, so raw materials and similar items did not expire. Furthermore, players did not cook using earthen wood stoves like Granny Wang did; instead, Su Wenqi would be using a stove that allowed him to control the heat.
Su Wenqi followed Xianyun into the kitchen. After looking around, he took some tomatoes and eggs from the shelf and began making tomato scrambled eggs.
He was not sure if his cooking skills from reality could be brought into the game, so he chose the relatively simple and foolproof tomato scrambled eggs to run his experiment.
He washed the tomatoes clean, cut them into wedges, and chopped a few green onions to set aside. He then heated some oil in a wok. Once the oil was hot, he poured in the beaten eggs, frying them over medium-low heat until both sides were golden brown, before scooping them out and setting them aside.
The two brothers who had followed him into the kitchen looked at the golden-brown eggs on the plate. Unable to resist, they picked up their chopsticks and took a piece. Though the eggs had not been seasoned yet, they were delicate and silky in the mouth, carrying an exceptionally wonderful flavor.
The moment the eggs entered their mouths, both of their eyes lit up. Just as they were about to take a second bite, they saw the plate being picked up.
Looking up along the plate, they met Chun Rici’s complex expression, and the atmosphere briefly became somewhat stagnant.
Fortunately, Su Wenqi did not say anything, only telling them to wait a bit.
It was not a time-consuming dish to begin with. After four to five minutes, the tomato scrambled eggs were done. Su Wenqi tasted it and felt that the flavor was similar to what he usually cooked in reality, so he scooped it out and plated it.
[System Notification]
Congratulations, Hero, on preparing the very first Gold-grade dish in the game! You have obtained the title [Royal Chef]. When wearing this title, cooking dishes has a chance to trigger double yields!
[World Announcement] The hero “Chun Rici” has prepared the very first Gold-grade dish in the game and obtained the title [Royal Chef]!
By the time the system prompt reminded Su Wenqi, it had simultaneously triggered the world announcement. The players had already become somewhat desensitized to this familiar name.
[World Chat]
[Eight Meals a Day]: Wow!! A Gold-grade food item! I can’t even imagine how delicious it must be. I beg the great master to share his contact details; I just want to take one tiny bite!
[Material Merchant 006]: Buying Gold-grade food at a high price! Bosses, please PM me. Price guaranteed to be fair and square!
No matter how they spammed the world channel, Su Wenqi could not see it because he was currently inspecting the attributes of the tomato scrambled eggs.
[Tomato Scrambled Eggs]
Quality: Gold
Description: Exceptionally delicious flavor.
Effect: Auxiliary food item. Upon consumption, Agility is increased by 234 points for 1 hour.
He handed the tomato scrambled eggs to Xianyun, who was waiting nearby, and said, “It is Gold-grade, so the attributes should be quite good. Do you want to take a look?”
At this moment, neither of the two brothers cared about the attributes of the dish. The fragrance of the tomato scrambled eggs wafted around their noses; being able to look but not eat was simply torture.
Wen Shaochuan took the plate. Neither of them even carried the dish to the dining table, standing right there as one held the plate and both used their chopsticks to scoop the food into their mouths.
“Mmph!! This is so delicious, Brother! It tastes even better than the food made by our family cooks in reality! Plus, the tomato scrambled egg-flavored nutrient fluids can’t compare to what Chunri made at all!” Feng Qian cried out from the heat but refused to spit the food out, moving the hot food around in his mouth several times before finally swallowing it.
In contrast, Xianyun appeared much more composed, but his non-stop chopsticks also betrayed his absolute love for this dish.
At first, Su Wenqi was a bit puzzled by their reaction, but turning his thoughts to the soy milk and buns he had tasted today, he understood. Thus, he whipped up another plate of the dish for the brothers to eat.
While they were eating, Su Wenqi flipped through the recipes passed down to him by Granny Wang. It contained not only home-cooked dishes but also banquet courses, all of which provided different attributes.
He should have no problem with the home-cooked dishes, but as for the more complex banquet courses, he would need to practice much more.
Before long, the second plate of food was also wiped clean by the brothers. Looking at the spotless plate, they rarely showed a trace of embarrassment. Chunri had not even had a single bite himself, yet the two of them had finished both plates.
Wen Shaochuan apologized awkwardly, “I’m sorry, Chunri. The two of us finished all the food. It’s mainly because your cooking really tastes incredibly good!”
Hearing this, Su Wenqi comforted him, saying it was fine, and asked him to check the attributes.
In truth, even if the attributes provided by his cooking had not met their expectations, they had already decided to cooperate with Su Wenqi, because this taste was absolutely worth every penny!
The two brothers exchanged a look, having already made up their minds.
Wen Shaochuan spoke, “Currently, there are only Purple-grade dishes on the market. The Gold-grade ones you prepared provide double the attributes of Purple ones. Let’s calculate the price at twice that of Purple dishes. We will pay 1,000 gold per dish, settled weekly. What do you think? Moreover, we will provide all the raw materials, so you only need to be responsible for the cooking.”
“Sure. Do you have any requirements regarding the types of dishes and the quantity?” Having worked with Xianyun once before, Su Wenqi felt reassured by his character, so he directly agreed to his terms.
“We will eat whatever you make; we can allocate the attributes ourselves. As for the quantity… how about 200 dishes per week? Does that place too much pressure on you? We only have a higher demand during guild wars. If you feel the quantity is too high, we can reduce it.”
Wen Shaochuan quoted a reasonable number. In truth, their guild had many members, and this amount would not even cover two portions per person when distributed. However, Chunri was just one person, and they did not know if these dishes could be mass-produced yet, so they did not ask for too high a number.
Hearing the price and quantity quoted by Xianyun, Su Wenqi calculated the math in his head. He temporarily did not have a proper job in reality. If he took Xianyun’s order, he would be able to earn 200,000 Star Coins every week. Furthermore, they did not require him to provide the raw materials; it would simply cost him some time, and time was the thing he had the most of right now.
“Sure, but do we need to sign a contract, or-?” Su Wenqi was still not very familiar with games and did not know if these were just verbal agreements. To be safe, he chose to ask.
In response to Su Wenqi’s question, Feng Qian took a contract out of his backpack. The contract had been verified by the main system and held full legal validity. They signed a six-month contract this time; if Xianyun and the others still needed him or if Su Wenqi did not want to renew it afterward, they could make changes then.
Checking the details of Party A on the contract, which showed Xianyun, Su Wenqi signed his game ID on it.
After signing the contract, Su Wenqi felt that he finally had a job that could provide him with a source of income, and his eyes crinkled happily.
“By the way, do you know how to buy a homestead? I feel having a homestead is quite convenient; you can grow vegetables and cook.” Seeing Xianyun’s homestead, Su Wenqi also felt the urge to buy a house in the game. He could decorate it the way he wanted, grow vegetables, raise fish, and cook a strange sort of home-making DNA was tingling.
Hearing this, Feng Qian answered his question, “If you want to buy a homestead, you need to reach Revered reputation in Yuyun City or complete some Gold-grade quests issued by the City Lord. My brother got this homestead as a reward from the City Lord after completing a bandit suppression quest. I don’t even have one myself; every time, I have to beg my brother to let me come back to his homestead, and he won’t even grant me cohabitation permissions!”
After saying this, he began to chatter in Xianyun’s ear, asking him to open cohabitation permissions so that he would not have to seek his consent every single time he wanted to come back.
Wen Shaochuan turned a deaf ear to his brother’s complaints. He retrieved a strange-looking jade piece from his backpack and handed it to Su Wenqi.
“?” Su Wenqi did not understand and did not take the item. Wen Shaochuan took his hand and placed it directly into his palm.
[System Notification] Ding! You have obtained the cohabitation permissions for the hero Xianyun. You can enter and exit his homestead at any time!
Su Wenqi was startled by this news, “! You…” He did not understand what Xianyun meant by this. He had not even given the cohabitation permissions to Feng Qian, so why give them to someone he barely knew?
“Homesteads are relatively difficult to obtain. After our guild purchases the ingredients, it will be more convenient for you to retrieve them from the warehouse to cook, right? Besides, no one will disturb you here. Anyway, I have plenty of rooms, so just pick whichever one you like. I don’t come back often, so don’t worry.”
Wen Shaochuan explained his reasoning simply to Su Wenqi. In truth, Su Wenqi also felt a bit tempted. If he had to go to the professional skill area every time, what if he ran into unreasonable people like today again?
After thinking it over, he accepted Xianyun’s kindness, while Feng Qian, who was still complaining about his brother, also realized something.
“Brother, you!” Before he could finish his sentence, Xianyun covered his mouth, looking up at his brother with a gaze filled with warning.
Feng Qian suddenly understood, “Oh~”