Xia Yu sat in the backyard corridor, cross-legged in ditation, staring intently at a glass on the short table.
Inside the cup was a peculiar golden viscous liquid.
Dudu.
At this mont, the cellphone placed on the table vibrated, and Hua Mao, who was lying next to Xia Yu licking her paws, raised her head to take a look.
A text ssage?
With little interest, Xia Yu didn’t plan to pay it any attention.
In fact, he had been sitting like this for quite a while, hoping that by ditating quietly, he could capture a faint sense of connection with the cup of liquid that he had felt before. Who knew that after the spontaneous reaction this morning, everything had sunk without a trace.
As he sat there, the calm field of his mind was once again overgrown with weeds.
Xia Yu deeply doubted the integrity of the system.
If, just hypothetically, the gold liquid that contained the "Shiny Silk-footed Fish" was extraordinary, then why would the usually stingy system let slip such an obvious loophole?
Considering the reward was only one "Shiny Silk-footed Fish," and that too a juvenile weighing a few hundred grams.
What in the world was the system thinking with its brain circuits?
An extra compensation, or a bribe?
Regarding the golden liquid that was in excess of the fish, Xia Yu was full of suspicions.
"Thump thump thump..."
A series of footsteps moved from the second floor to the corridor.
Zhu Qing, barefooted and with an excited smile on her face, shouted as she stood in the doorway, "Yu, stop sitting there like a fool, hurry up to your room and pack up. Get all your clothes and cooking tools ready to go."
A vein popped on Xia Yu’s forehead; his fingers tapped the tea table with slight irritation, "Hey, hey, hey, can’t you see I’m thinking here? Go play on your own!"
He hadn’t taken Zhu Qing’s words to heart at all.
Zhu Qing stood with her hands on her hips at the sliding door, with a smile that was not quite a smile: "Who was it that kept talking about wanting to return ho these past few days?"
"Go ho? What are you talking about..."
He didn’t finish the sentence when suddenly, Xia Yu trembled all over and leapt to his feet.
"What did you say?" he asked, excitedly grabbing Zhu Qing’s shoulders.
"Going ho!"
Zhu Qing looked at him strangely, "Old man finally sent the decree, didn’t you get his text ssage?"
"Uh, text ssage?"
Slapping his forehead, Xia Yu spun around, swooped down to pick up the cellphone from the table, and turned it on.
Indeed, an unread ssage was displayed:
You may return!
The ssage, simple and brief with just two words, and yet, Xia Yu felt a surge of killing intent wash over him.
Huh?
Ding dong, while holding his phone in hand and basking in the huge surprise, a second ssage popped up:
Rember to cherish your health.
"Cherish your health..." Xia Yu read out his elder’s concern for his journey ho and felt a warm current inside, his heart swelling with ambition, "After all, I’m a Lin Chef now, who am I afraid of?!"
"Furthermore!"
Xia Yu checked his personal panel.
The progress of upgrading the Chef’s Heart Gold Fra was at 91/100. Although it hadn’t reached the goal of taking the upgrade to gold fra before the journey ho, Xia Yu believed that the remaining points of talent could easily be filled after encountering the strong from the various sects in his holand in a fierce battle.
And there was the "Jade Dragon Pot."
If he wanted to purify the legendary cooking utensil quickly, he would have to get 3 Purification Stones.
Thus, the "Jade Dragon Pot" was closely linked with the task of mastering the use of Taboo Spices.
He had already achieved 60% mastery with his self-created "False Xuanjing" spice blend. Xia Yu was confident that with one more suitable ingredient, he could directly propel the blend to the pinnacle of Lin grade, at which point, achieving 90% mastery over rck Star Dust would naturally follow.
One decree from the elder had plunged both Zhu Qing and Xia Yu into imnse joy.
Zhu Qing, having stayed in Japan for so long without stepping foot outside, was already sick and restless with the unfamiliarity; however, going ho was a different story. Now Zhu Qing was eager to return to the familiar city, the familiar environnt.
After a mont, the Yuchuan Sisters saw them running up and down and couldn’t help but exchange puzzled looks.
Seeing this scene, Yuchuan isha snuck out to the storefront and stealthily made a phone call to Sen Tian Makoto. Shortly after, the young girl dashed over from next door at Sen Tian Pastry Shop, panting heavily as she arrived.
By the ti she got there, Xia Yu was packing cooking utensils.
Pastry sticks, old dough jars.
Three of the Seven Stars Knives, Pojun, Wenqu, and Tanlang.
There were also so newly added but seldom-seen cooking tools, like the Heavenly Craft Wind Box and the Four Sheep Square Box.
These utensils could be directly stowed into a tool backpack, but Xia Yu had a normal IQ, and returning ho empty-handed, if he encountered a cooking contest and pulled out a bunch of kitchenware out of nowhere, he might end up on the dissecting table of a governnt agency, right?
He had to put up appearances.
The old man’s reminder to cherish his body was a ssage to tell his grandson to be careful, ticulous, so that calamity could be nipped in the bud.
After a flurry of packing, by a little after evening, the storefront was piled high with parcels big and small.
"There sure are a lot of things."
Xia Yu muttered, wiping the sweat from his forehead, and said to Makki, who was helping out, "Your place is really busy, so how co you have ti to co over?"
The Sen Tian Pastry Shop had benefited from the developnt of the shopping street, and with Sen Tian Makoto’s reputation spreading, a large number of custors visited every day. Whenever Xia Yu saw Morioka, the old Mr. Sen Tian seed to be rejuvenated, always beaming with smiles.
Makki’s long eyelashes trembled, and she looked at him, her lips moving slightly but ultimately she didn’t say anything.
Countless words were hidden in her eyes.
That flash in her eyes, seemingly rippling with water, made Xia Yu’s heart quiver, and he quickly turned away to look elsewhere.
A subtle sense of guilt.
"Uh..." Scratching his face, Xia Yu didn’t know what to say.
Makki was about to speak, but a truck pulled up outside, and the driver got out of the vehicle and knocked on the door.
Aoki Motota peered out, looking around.
"We at IGO received your escort order; the minister told to co take a look, and I didn’t expect to hit the nail on the head!" Aoki Motota said, clicking his tongue in amazent.
Without needing much explanation, Xia Yu handed over a list of precious kitchenware to be shipped, and Aoki Motota understood.
As an international culinary organization, IGO had signed kitchenware circulation agreents with almost all countries and regions. Xia Yu wanted to use their strength to transport the items back to China.
Of course, with his current cooking skills, he could have applied for air freight directly, but first, there were too many items to personally oversee, and he trusted IGO with international operations; second, Xia Yu decided to carry the "Jade Dragon Pot" himself, and naturally couldn’t spare the effort to transport other items.
Aoki Motota patted his chest and assured, "You can rest easy about security!"
"Let tell you, coincidentally, there’s an IGO charter flight from Tokyo Airport flying directly to Zhonghua Shanghai tomorrow..." Aoki Motota leaned in and said in a secretive tone, "Wise Man Karl will take the charter plane to Zhonghua Shanghai and attend the annual National Youth Talent Hunt in the Chinese Realm as a guest."
The National Youth Talent Hunt?
Xia Yu was taken aback.
"Hehehe..." Aoki Motota gave him a knowing look, "With you rushing back before the New Year’s Day, don’t tell it’s the first ti you’ve heard of this big event..."
Xia Yu opened his mouth but found himself at a loss for words.
I just got damned—
He had never heard of a Talent Hunt before.
Helplessly, Xia Yu could only give Zhu Qing a bewildered glance.
"Don’t look at ." Zhu Qing shrugged, "And don’t tell , you don’t know about our annual talent event in the Chinese Realm, a tradition that goes back a hundred years, with history and heritage to speak for it."
", and my sister, your mother. Along with your father, and the previous generations like your grandfather. All the well-known chefs in the Chinese Realm have had experience in the Talent Hunt."
As Zhu Qing said this, his face beca increasingly strange, looking Xia Yu up and down, hesitating to speak.
"Spit it out if you have sothing to say!" Xia Yu frowned.
"Well, I might as well be blunt," said Zhu Qing in a matter-of-fact tone. "You might as well not join the fray. An older generation like you joining in with the little ones for a bit of fun, that would be an embarrassing spectacle for the national audience."
Xia Yu was dumbstruck.
Aoki Motota was also stunned for a mont.
Older generation with the little ones? He was about to say that the Talent Hunt is a stage where those under 25 are considered peers, but then Aoki Motota realized that the seniority was distinguished from a culinary perspective and burst into laughter: "Right, right, a Lin Chef mingling in a circle of lesser chefs is like an eagle in a henhouse!"
Zhu Qing, however, gave him a disdainful look, "You’re laughing? Even special chefs are chickens, aren’t you in the chicken coop yourself?"
"Ha!"
Aoki Motota took a sharp breath, almost choking to death, his smile frozen on his face.
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