Outside Huacheng Airport, one taxi had just driven away when another pulled up behind it. Travelers from all over the country and even from around the world climbed into taxis one after another, heading to various destinations throughout Huacheng.
Xia Yongen hurried into a taxi. The driver glanced at her several times through the rearview mirror. The collar of her white T-shirt had already loosened slightly, the jeans she wore had been washed until they had faded, and the laces of her sneakers were frayed. A black backpack hung from one shoulder.
Judging by her appearance, this girl was probably a college student on a “special forces” style trip.
The driver reached toward the meter, planning to introduce her to some of Huacheng’s popular tourist spots along the way.
Who would have thought the girl would say, “I’m going to the city funeral home.”
The taxi drove onto Lüpu Avenue. Xia Yongen looked out the window and soon spotted the towering Huacheng Tower in the distance.
Twelve years ago, in the second month after Huacheng Tower had been completed, her benefactor, Aunt Fang Ping, had taken her by the hand and ridden the Ferris wheel on the 112th floor.
From that day onward, she had come to Huacheng to attend school, receiving financial support from Aunt Fang every month.
Without Aunt Fang, Xia Yongen, who had lost both her parents at a young age, would never have been able to leave that remote mountain village and make it to the gates of a famous 985 university.
Xia Yongen still remembered that the first time she met Aunt Fang had been at the Cantonese teahouse that the Fang family had operated for generations.
The imposing three-story teahouse had been deeply etched into Xia Yongen’s memory for years. Because of it, after taking the college entrance examination, she had considered applying for a major related to culinary arts.
However, Aunt Fang Ping had repeatedly rejected Xia Yongen’s suggestion and told her to choose whatever major she herself liked.
After entering university, Xia Yongen no longer accepted financial assistance. She relied on aid for students from impoverished backgrounds, scholarships, and the money she earned from part-time jobs to successfully make it through all four years of university.
Half a month ago, Xia Yongen had sent Aunt Fang an invitation, hoping that she could attend her graduation ceremony.
At the time, Aunt Fang had only said that she was busy with something and wouldn’t be able to make it to the ceremony. Knowing that there were always many matters to deal with at the teahouse, Xia Yongen hadn’t thought much of it.
But the day before yesterday, she had suddenly received a call from an unfamiliar number.
It had been Aunt Fang Ping’s lawyer.
After receiving the call, Xia Yongen took care of the remaining matters at school and hurriedly boarded a plane back to Huacheng.
Along the way, images kept flashing through her mind—Aunt Fang Ping’s kind smile from years past, and the sight of her in the video, wearing a hospital gown and forcing herself to smile as she greeted Xia Yongen.
“Aunt Fang Ping, how could this… How could you have left so suddenly?”
Xia Yongen stood outside the funeral home, tears streaming down her face.
The lawyer patted her on the shoulder.
“Mrs. Fang was diagnosed with lung cancer several years ago. But all these years, she devoted herself entirely to Rongxing Teahouse and didn’t have the energy to take care of her own health. After all, that teahouse was the work of her entire life.”
The Fang family’s teahouse was called Rongxing Teahouse, and Aunt Fang Ping was its fourth-generation owner.
According to Aunt Fang Ping’s will, Xia Yongen would inherit ownership of Rongxing Teahouse. If Rongxing Teahouse were sold, whatever assets remained after its debts were repaid would belong to Xia Yongen.
Xia Yongen held the will and read it over and over again. She simply couldn’t believe that Aunt Fang Ping intended to sell the teahouse.
Rongxing Teahouse had a history of a hundred years. It was an old-established teahouse in Huacheng. Although its business had been affected in recent years by the rise of other chain teahouse brands, how could it possibly have fallen so far that it had to be sold?
Xia Yongen took the subway to Rongxing Teahouse. It was only because of the dust-covered signboard that she recognized it as the very same teahouse she remembered—the bustling place that had once been filled with customers coming and going.
The foam padding beneath the chair cushions had been stolen away by rats. Abandoned tableware and tablecloths were piled in corners throughout the teahouse. Several chandeliers had even fallen to the floor and shattered into pieces.
Photographs documenting the teahouse from the day it first opened hung along the staircase wall. Xia Yongen climbed the stairs while looking at them one by one.
At the entrance to the third floor, she saw a photograph of herself with Aunt Fang Ping.
In the photograph, Xia Yongen was holding an admission letter from the Chinese Language and Literature Department, while Aunt Fang Ping had an arm around her shoulders, her eyes filled with a smile.
Xia Yongen’s eyes immediately reddened again. She stepped forward, intending to wipe the dust from the picture frame.
Unexpectedly, she stepped on a tablecloth lying on the floor.
Her foot slipped, and her body toppled backward uncontrollably. She tumbled down the stairs.
After rolling down seven or eight steps, Xia Yongen’s head struck the corner where the wall turned.
With a loud bang, she completely lost consciousness.
She didn’t know how much time had passed before she gradually regained awareness.
Once she was fully conscious, a voice suddenly sounded in her mind.
“Congratulations, Host, on binding with the Teahouse Management System. The system panel is now loading for the Host.”
As a graduate of the Chinese Language and Literature Department, Xia Yongen had naturally read quite a few novels on Jinjiang Literature City.
In an instant, she realized—
Could it be that, just like the protagonists in those novels, she had actually gained some kind of miraculous ability?
Very soon, a translucent blue panel appeared before her.
At the very center of the panel was a profile displaying:
【Name: Xia Yongen】
【Age: 22】
【Status: Heir to Rongxing Teahouse】
【Main Quest: Revitalize Rongxing Teahouse】
【Teahouse Rating: Lv.0 — A Run-Down Place Even Flies Won’t Visit】
【Stage Quest: Not Activated. Host, please explore on your own.】
Xia Yongen frowned as she examined the mysterious panel.
The voice in her mind spoke again. “Host, please work hard and do your best to complete your quests. The system is currently only in its initial state. As you complete quests, the system will continue to receive updates.”
Xia Yongen understood. So this incredibly bare-bones system panel was essentially version 1.0.
Aside from the information panel in the center, several vertically arranged tabs appeared on the right. However, only the first two were currently lit up. They were labeled “Dim Sum Catalog” and “Boundless Space.”
Xia Yongen opened the Dim Sum Catalog, but there was nothing inside.
“Host, the catalog will only activate once you unlock new dim sum recipes!”
She was just about to check the second option, Boundless Space, when the phone in her pocket suddenly rang.
It was the buyer Aunt Fang Ping had previously contacted about purchasing the teahouse. Rubbing her swollen forehead, Xia Yongen hurried downstairs.
The buyer was a middle-aged woman. After walking around Rongxing Teahouse and taking a look, she offered one million yuan, hoping to complete the transfer as soon as possible.
Although Xia Yongen didn’t know the exact prices of the street-facing shops in this area, she could tell that one million was far too low.
Seeing her troubled expression, the buyer raised the offer to 1.5 million yuan. As they talked, she pointed out numerous shortcomings of the teahouse.
For example, the area was mainly residential and wasn’t close to the commercial district. The interior was outdated, the tables and chairs were damaged, and whoever bought it would have to renovate the entire place.
Finally, the buyer added, “It’s very difficult to rent out a three-story teahouse like this, and it won’t be easy to resell it in the short term either. Little girl, you should think it over carefully.”
Only then did Xia Yongen realize that the buyer probably knew Aunt Fang Ping was desperate to repay her debts and was deliberately driving the price down.
She politely refused the offer.
Now that she had a system, she figured reopening Rongxing Teahouse shouldn’t be too difficult.
The buyer was startled and looked at her. “You’re not planning to run this teahouse yourself, are you?”
“I’m telling you, the luck of Rongxing Teahouse has already run out. Why waste your time and effort here?”
It was from the buyer that Xia Yongen finally learned how the once-magnificent Rongxing Teahouse had ended up in its current state.
Aunt Fang Ping’s father, Old Master Fang, had been the third-generation successor of Rongxing Teahouse. However, Fang Ping had never liked cooking from a young age, so Old Master Fang could only let her do as she pleased. Instead, he took on several apprentices and taught them his culinary skills.
One of those apprentices was Old Master Fang’s favorite. He had originally planned to hand Rongxing Teahouse over to this apprentice.
But after Old Master Fang had passed on all of his skills to him, the man had actually gone off on his own and opened a teahouse called Mingxin Teahouse.
Not long afterward, Old Master Fang ended up in the hospital because of the incident. Fang Ping then returned to Rongxing Teahouse and inherited her father’s legacy.
Although she was extremely hardworking, she ultimately lacked a certain amount of talent. After Old Master Fang passed away, Rongxing Teahouse’s business gradually declined.
In an effort to save the teahouse, she spent a great deal of money bringing in several renowned chefs to take charge.
At first, Rongxing Teahouse’s business finally began to improve.
But three months ago, all of those chefs left and joined Mingxin Teahouse.
After that incident, Fang Ping became bedridden with illness.
And the doors of Rongxing Teahouse were shut for good.
In the eyes of many people, Rongxing Teahouse’s fortunes had already reached their end.
After seeing the buyer off, Xia Yongen called out to the system.
“Can you help me calculate Rongxing Teahouse’s assets and financial situation?”
She summoned the system experimentally, never expecting it to actually have such a function.
Sure enough, the system quickly organized the teahouse’s financial situation.
At present, the teahouse still owed 200,000 yuan in outstanding payments for goods.
According to the accounts provided by the system, the teahouse’s debts had previously exceeded 3 million yuan. Aunt Fang Ping had sold her house and car and used all the proceeds to repay the debts, leaving her with barely any money for her own medical treatment.
Xia Yongen suddenly felt a sharp ache in her heart.
Aunt Fang Ping had never married or had children in her entire life. Rongxing Teahouse was the Fang family’s ancestral business, as well as the product of her life’s work.
Yet she hadn’t asked Xia Yongen to keep the teahouse running.
Instead, she had told her to sell it.
Even if Xia Yongen sold it for one million yuan, she would still end up with 800,000 yuan after paying off the remaining debt. With her excellent academic qualifications, finding a stable, well-paying job wouldn’t be difficult either.
In other words, she had already surpassed ninety percent of her peers and could achieve financial independence ahead of schedule.
But that wasn’t what she wanted.
Xia Yongen would never forget that without Aunt Fang Ping, she would have been married off in her early teens. How could she possibly have had the chance to experience the life she had now?
Since she had now been bound to the Teahouse Management System, Xia Yongen made up her mind: she would revive Rongxing Teahouse.
In the span of a single afternoon, she had gone from a freshly graduated college student to the heir of a teahouse that had gone out of business.
Xia Yongen found a broom and a mop in the storage room and began cleaning the teahouse.
When she reached the third floor, she discovered that the small room at the very end was Aunt Fang Ping’s living quarters. Inside, there was nothing more than a simple bed, a desk, and a small wardrobe.
More than a dozen handwritten notebooks sat on the desk. They contained recipes for various dim sum served at the teahouse, as well as the daily business journals Aunt Fang Ping had written.
Xia Yongen blew the dust off them and was just about to pick one up and look through it when the system notification suddenly sounded again:
【Beginner Gift Pack Delivered! Unlocked “Bo Zai Gai” Recipe (Red Bean / Mung Bean)】
【Stage Quest Activated. Host, please sell 100 portions of Bo Zai Gai by next Monday.】
The previously empty Dim Sum Catalog now displayed an icon depicting a Bo Zai Gai. Xia Yongen tapped on it and found that the detailed preparation method for Bo Zai Gai had already been listed.
A surge of determination welled up inside her.
But soon, another thought occurred to her. She could manage steaming an egg custard, but Cantonese dim sum was renowned for its exquisite craftsmanship. Could she really make it? Would anyone actually buy it?
The system notification sounded again:
【Host, you may enter Boundless Space to practice your culinary skills.】
Only after the reminder did Xia Yongen remember that she hadn’t checked out this function yet.
The next moment, the scenery around her suddenly changed.
Author’s Note:
The next book will be All of Hong Kong’s Big Shots Are Chasing Me for Food. If you’re interested, feel free to add it to your collection~
Blurb:
Through an accident, Ye Baojun transmigrates to Hong Kong in 1969, becoming one of the refugees attempting to flee to Hong Kong.
For other people, 1960s Hong Kong is a dazzling world of neon lights and foreign trading companies, where they meet wealthy heirs and tycoons at the Hong Kong Jockey Club and become entangled in a romantic affair.
But Ye Baojun’s 1960s Hong Kong is a leaky wooden shack crammed with ten people, the constant threat of arrest and deportation, a sickly and depressed mother, and a reckless, simple-minded older brother.
There is gold everywhere here—and bones everywhere too.
Faced with a hellish starting point, Ye Baojun decides to roll up her sleeves—
As a food blogger with millions of followers in her previous life, how could she possibly starve to death in Hong Kong?
From street stalls to late-night food stands, and eventually to Juncheng Grand Restaurant in Causeway Bay, Ye Baojun conquers countless people with her culinary skills.
Gang leaders, the richest Chinese businessman, tycoons of the film industry… Every big shot with a name in Hong Kong ends up falling at her stove.
[A Little Extra]
One day, Juncheng Restaurant is packed with customers lining up outside.
Three prominent tycoons unexpectedly run into one another. The atmosphere is tense, and the underlings behind them have already exchanged hundreds of hostile glares.
Just when every diner thinks an earth-shattering battle is about to erupt—
Ye Baojun walks out carrying a plate of typhoon shelter-style fried crab.
“Take it outside if you want to fight. Don’t interfere with my business. If you’re not eating, then get lost. There are hundreds of people waiting in line behind you!”
The three tycoons, who normally only had to stomp their feet to make all of Hong Kong tremble, instantly become as obedient as elementary school students.
“I’ll eat! I’ll eat! Don’t kick me out!”