ARLQLCC chapter 10

 

As the light in the teleportation formation gradually dimmed, a large group of people rushed out with a clamor.

They were all wearing the same uniforms. In the blink of an eye, they had charged straight into the food-serving area, and because there were too many of them, they even ended up forming a queue.

Su Ji didn’t even have time to be surprised before he picked up the ladle and started serving food one by one. Although there was a brief moment of confusion at first, once he saw their uniforms were identical to Yun Xicheng’s, he immediately understood.

It must be that once he and Yun Che returned to the sect, they spread the word that there was a cafeteria here with very delicious food, which was why so many disciples had come to try it.

There were about a dozen people. They also carried on Yun Xicheng’s fine tradition—taking everything in one serving. On Chu Zhaoye’s side, the sound of payments rang out one after another, but the magical artifact were producing different sounds.

It was probably because none of them had ever seen a cat handling money. Almost every disciple gave a few extra spirit stones, jokingly saying it was “for the little kitty.”

The disciples who had gotten their food all sat together in groups. It looked like they were performing some kind of mysterious ritual, as none of them started to eat. Instead, they surrounded a female disciple in the center.

She was the same female disciple who had questioned Yun Xicheng in front of the teleportation array.

And she was also the one with the highest standards for food taste among them all.

Back when Yunxian Sect still had its old chef, she could barely tolerate the meals. But ever since the new chef arrived, she had almost been relying entirely on the sect’s pastry shop to get through every meal.

She was currently at the stage where just seeing pastries made her want to vomit.

She was also among the earliest to discover the teleportation array leading to the Linggu Mountain cafeteria, but due to self-preservation of her taste buds, she didn’t come to eat. After all, a newly appeared unfamiliar cafeteria had a very high chance of serving terrible food.

However, Yun Xicheng and Yun Che had gone—and even brought back takeout. That gave her a sliver of hope.

If this cafeteria’s food was at least passable, then she wouldn’t have to keep chewing on dry, tasteless pastries anymore!

Heaven knew her face had practically turned green from eating them.

Under everyone’s urging, the female disciple picked up the sour soup fish slices that Yun Xicheng had strongly recommended, and put them into her mouth with great seriousness and anticipation.

The next second, her eyes widened.

The fish was tender and not dry, fully soaked in the soup. It was sour, spicy, salty, and fragrant all at once. The pickled vegetables in the sour soup fish had already released all their special aroma into the broth, blending perfectly with the fish.

Such an appetizing dish completely awakened her appetite. She took another bite of fish and with tears of joy in her eyes, gave a thumbs-up to the group of disciples while chewing and saying indistinctly:

“Good…! Delicious!!”

As soon as she spoke, the others looked at each other. With a shout of “Brothers and sisters, let’s eat!”, everyone immediately picked up their chopsticks and started sweeping through the food on their plates.

Su Ji, standing behind, was completely stunned.

He pulled the little cat over and rubbed it a few times, sighing, “If I ever get the chance, I really want to meet the chef of Yunxian Sect. Just what kind of food could force them into this state?”

Chu Zhaoye also really wanted to know just how shameless someone had to be to cook food that was both awful and expensive.

When the payment sounds came in just now, he clearly heard a few disciples muttering that the cafeteria here was half the price of Yunxian Sect’s.

In reality, Su Ji’s pricing was very reasonable—if anything, slightly cheaper than most sect cafeterias.

Yet Yunxian Sect’s cafeteria was charging such high prices. It seemed the elder backing the chef was no good person either; otherwise, if so many disciples couldn’t even eat properly and had to rely on pastries, the sect would have replaced the chef long ago.

But thinking carefully, if there hadn’t been such an atrocious chef in the first place, how could Su Ji’s excellent cooking stand out so much?

It seemed that poor cooking skills weren’t necessarily a bad thing—they could at least serve as a contrast for others.

The Yunxian Sect disciples were probably truly starving. Their eating speed was even faster than Yun Xicheng’s. One burly disciple, after finishing his portion, ran back to the serving area with his tray and ordered another portion of tomato and egg rice.

Seeing that Su Ji looked gentle and good-looking, and didn’t laugh at him for eating a lot, the disciple felt a bit embarrassed and scratched the back of his head.

Su Ji added a large spoonful of tomato and egg onto his rice and asked softly, “Want some more?”

He quickly shook his head, then hesitated, and couldn’t help grinning foolishly, “This chef… Yun Xicheng said you’re good-looking and your cooking is great. It’s actually true.”

Su Ji smiled, “That’s what he told you all?”

The burly disciple was dazzled by his smile and nodded repeatedly. “Yeah! Now that I see it, you’re not only good-looking, you’re also nice, hehe.”

Su Ji couldn’t help laughing. “Thank you. Go eat quickly, your friends are waiting for you.”

“Okay, okay.” The burly disciple walked back with his tray, still turning back to look. “I, I’ll come again tomorrow!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the other disciples burst into laughter.

“Chef, don’t mind him—he goes weak in the knees when he sees good-looking people!”

“Hahaha, Yan Shao, look at you, so hopeless!”

Yan Shao’s face turned completely red. “You’re the hopeless one! I’m just giving a proper compliment!”

“Yes, yes, hurry up and eat!”

The place was full of laughter, but Chu Zhaoye was not in a good mood at all.

He lay on the payment counter, staring darkly at Yan Shao, who was being teased by his friends. The guy still had a lingering blush on his face, which made Chu Zhaoye feel like scratching him.

So frivolous and flirtatious in their praise on their very first meeting with Su Ji—clearly not someone with proper intentions.

Anyone who had seen Su Ji knew he was good-looking; did he really need to emphasize it? And why was he blushing for no reason? Was he sick or something?

He was only saying he’d come back tomorrow to eat, so why did it sound so suggestive? Definitely suspicious!

The more Chu Zhaoye thought about it, the angrier he got. If Su Ji weren’t here, he would have already jumped over to fight him.

The little cat’s aura turned extremely gloomy. Su Ji noticed it even from the serving area. He put down the ladle and walked over, picking him up.

“What’s wrong, Ma Tuan? Are you tired?”

The moment he was lifted, Chu Zhaoye got even angrier. He pointed at Yan Shao and started venting:

“Meow meow meow meow!!! Meow meow meow!!”

That guy is not a good person! Don’t be fooled by his sweet talk!

Su Ji: “……”

He gently wrapped the cat’s paw in his hand. “No scolding others for eating a lot, that’s not polite!”

Chu Zhaoye: “……”

He was furious.

He turned his head away in anger, but Su Ji turned him back. “Didn’t you promise me last time? No random temper tantrums. Why are you angry again?”

Chu Zhaoye remembered their previous agreement at the market and held it in for a while—then couldn’t help it and pointed again, meowing at Yan Shao.

Su Ji grabbed his paw a second time. “No scolding people. You also eat a lot normally, and I don’t scold you, right? Let’s be fair.”

Chu Zhaoye despairingly buried his head into Su Ji’s chest.

He had said so much, and Su Ji didn’t understand at all!

If only he were in human form, he wouldn’t need to say so much—he would just grab that guy and throw him out.

Seeing that the cat had stopped yelling, Su Ji nodded in satisfaction and stroked his head. “Good job, Ma Tuan. You can eat spicy food, right? I’ll make you pickled chili fish head tonight.”

Su Ji always used food to coax him—and Chu Zhaoye, as always, fell for it.

He reluctantly meowed and licked Su Ji’s palm to show he wasn’t angry anymore.

Su Ji lowered his head and gave him a little kiss in satisfaction. “Ma Tuan is so good. Go back to work!”

After being placed back on the table and coaxed, Chu Zhaoye felt much better. Although he still didn’t like Yan Shao, the irritation was still manageable.

Just a big guy who eats a lot the first time he comes—how could he compare to him?

He was the chosen cat who could sleep with Su Ji at night.

Thinking this, he lay back down on the table.

An hour later, the Yunxian Sect disciples finished their lunch, thoroughly impressed by Su Ji’s cooking.

They followed Yun Xicheng’s example, taking out their food containers and lining up to pack the leftover food for dinner.

Before leaving, the female disciple said to Su Ji, “Chef Su, thank you so much for reopening. Otherwise our taste buds would’ve suffered for who knows how long.”

“Yeah! Ever since the new chef came a month ago, I haven’t had a single proper meal. Today I’m completely full.”

“Yun Xicheng really didn’t lie this time. He actually has some conscience!”

“I’ve already sent messages to friends in other sects recommending you. They said they’ll come try tomorrow, hahaha, they’re going to be amazed!”

“Chef Su, we’re leaving now. Tonight we’ll take this food back and walk around the cafeteria—those guys are going to drool to death!”

“Little kitty, bye~”

Su Ji smiled and waved at them.

After they left, he looked at the empty big pot and happily picked up Chu Zhaoye, spinning him around.

“Ma Tuan! We’re officially open and successful! I thought we wouldn’t sell even one portion today!”

“Meow meow!”

That’s what you deserve!

“Although tomorrow we’ll probably go back to limited portions. Luckily Manager Chen sent enough ingredients for seven days. Let’s start prepping later!”

The successful first day was largely thanks to Yun Xicheng and Yun Che’s promotion. Su Ji planned to make two small snacks as thanks.

He decided on mung bean cakes. They were sweet but not greasy, suitable for all ages, and rarely disliked.

They would also go well with sour plum drink.

After washing the big pot, Su Ji started thinking about selling desserts.

Many pastries were easy to store and could be made in large batches. If business got busier, packing full meals every time wouldn’t be practical. And since he didn’t open at night, selling pastries at noon might not be a bad idea.

He planned to let Yun Xicheng and the others try the mung bean cakes tomorrow and see their reaction.

After all, they were already sick of eating pastries. If they rated the mung bean cakes highly, it would prove they were good.

Su Ji acted immediately. Before eating, he contacted Manager Chen and ordered a basket of mung beans, which was delivered right after lunch—extremely efficient.

Making mung bean cakes wasn’t complicated. He took part of the beans and stored the rest into his storage artifact.

The beans needed to be peeled, washed, and soaked until evening, so he started preparing the ingredients for the next day.

Chu Zhaoye stayed beside him as usual, but the thought of that Yan Shao coming again tomorrow made him annoyed. He didn’t want to disturb Su Ji’s prep, so he lay on the table alone, gloomy.

He thought gloomily: I need to recover my human form soon. I should eat more tonight.

 

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