Culinary Expert

Chapter 31: The Supreme Chili Sauce (Part 1)

On the other hand, Bai Xiaobai was, of course, on his guard as well. The restaurant was equipped with high-definition cameras—two of them, in fact: one outside the entrance and one inside, providing double protection and capturing everyone who entered. Anyone who entered the restaurant would be recorded. Furthermore, not just anyone could enter the system’s glass kitchen. According to the system’s own words, the glass kitchen door was equipped with an identification system invisible to the naked eye; only the host could gain entry, while any other unauthorized individuals were completely barred from entering. So when it came to the shop’s security, Bai Xiaobai felt quite at ease. After quickly washing the dishes and giving the shop a thorough cleaning, Bai Xiaobai stretched and poured himself a glass of cold water to drink. Halfway through the glass. The system in Bai Xiaobai’s mind suddenly came back to life. [Ding-dong… System malfunction repaired; ready to resume operations] It was still that familiar, cool electronic voice. [Congratulations, Host, on completing the “Trial by Fire” mission. The 79. 8 commission from Supreme Beef Noodles has been transferred to your linked bank card. Additionally, congratulations on receiving a mystery reward—the recipe for the special condiment, Supreme Chili Sauce. ] The mystery reward had finally been revealed: it was the special condiment, Supreme Chili Sauce. “System, what is a ‘special condiment’?” Bai Xiaobai had never come across this term before. The system contains a vast array of items—from Panda Packages to 1,000-yuan gift cards. Bai Xiaobai’s attempts to guess based on the wording had been completely off the mark, so he didn’t bother speculating anymore and simply asked the system directly. The System displayed the following text: “Special Seasonings allow food to burst forth with the ultimate flavor.” The System won’t provide this special seasoning directly; it will appear randomly in future rewards, and the Host will need to craft it themselves. For example, Supreme Chili Sauce is a special seasoning for Supreme Beef Noodles. So that’s how it is. Supreme Beef Noodles aren’t the final product—they’re only truly complete when paired with Supreme Chili Sauce. Actually, in Bai Xiaobai’s opinion, the Supreme Beef Noodles were already exceptionally delicious. Pairing them with Supreme Chili Sauce can bring out an even more exquisite flavor—just how delicious could that possibly be? Bai Xiaobai usually ate only mildly spicy food, but hearing that it could make the Supreme Beef Noodles even more delicious, his anticipation grew. “By the way, System, what difficulty level does the Supreme Chili Sauce fall under?” Bai Xiaobai asked. All dishes in the System are categorized by difficulty. For example, Supreme Tea-Eggs are a D-level dish, while Supreme Beef Noodles are a C-level dish. Logically, the Supreme Chili Sauce should also have a difficulty level. However, the System’s next message took Bai Xiaobai a bit by surprise. System Message: Since the Supreme Chili Sauce is a special condiment for the Supreme Beef Noodles, it does not fall under the category of dishes and therefore has no difficulty rating. Once the Host masters this special condiment, it will be marked as “Supreme Chili Sauce (Condiment)” in the “Mastered Dishes” column of the Golden Data Card. This notation is indeed concise and clear—it makes everything crystal clear. That’s just like the System. After the system displayed the text, a crisp, electronic voice rang out in Bai Xiaobai’s mind. [Estimated upgrade time for the special condiment “Supreme Chili Sauce”: two hours. Countdown begins. ] Once the crisp electronic voice faded, a strand of golden text flew into Bai Xiaobai’s mind and was slowly absorbed. At the same time, an hourglass countdown appeared in Bai Xiaobai’s mind. At this very moment, there were two countdowns in Bai Xiaobai’s mind: one for the “24-Hour Woodpecker” side quest, and one for the Supreme Chili Sauce upgrade. The Supreme Chili Sauce would only take two hours to upgrade. By his calculations, it would definitely be finished before dinnertime. As for the side quest, there were still 23 hours left, but Bai Xiaobai wasn’t in a rush. After all, all he needed to complete the side quest was for three regular customers to order the Supreme Beef Noodles. Over the past few days, he’d accumulated quite a few regulars. Bai Xiaobai was an idealist. Just because the regulars who came in the morning found the prices too high didn’t mean the ones who came in the evening would feel the same way. Take Wei Hai, for example—a customer who isn’t short on cash. He didn’t show up this morning, but barring any surprises, he’s bound to come during the evening dinner rush. It’s now 1:15 p. m. , and the dinner rush has already passed. Anyway, the Supreme Chili Sauce needs two hours to upgrade. Taking advantage of the downtime during the upgrade, Bai Xiaobai simply closed the shop, went upstairs, and lay on his bed to play a few rounds of “Landlords.” He played five consecutive rounds of “Landlord,” and in every single one, Bai Xiaobai took on the role of the Landlord—and each round ended with a royal flush. That kind of luck—and that kind of fortune—is truly something else. The two other players at the table were so overwhelmed by Bai Xiaobai’s royal flushes that one put their account on auto-play, while the other simply logged off. Looking at his overflowing pile of Joy Beans, Bai Xiaobai was quite satisfied. After five consecutive games, Bai Xiaobai started to feel sleepy. He yawned, put down his phone, and fell fast asleep on his back. Wei Hai stepped out of the tutoring center, lit a cigarette, and took two deep drags. As he exhaled the smoke through his nose, his fatigue gradually eased. Having just finished tutoring a high school student in physics, Wei Hai hadn’t even had time to eat lunch, and now he was starting to feel a bit hungry. In truth, he didn’t really need the small amount of money from tutoring, but since he wasn’t going home for summer break and didn’t really have anywhere else to go, staying in the dorm and playing basketball all the time wasn’t a viable option. So he decided to spend his summer vacation tutoring high school physics at the tutoring center. This way, he could earn some pocket money, help students fill in the gaps in their knowledge, and get an early taste of working life—a true win-win-win situation. With his stomach growling like a drum, Wei Hai tossed away his cigarette butt and headed straight for Xiaobai Restaurant. He’d originally planned to go to Xiaobai Restaurant for their signature tea-eggs, but when he saw from a distance that the doors were tightly shut, Wei Hai was a bit puzzled. Actually, that morning, while Bai Xiaobai was busy in the kitchen preparing his signature beef noodle soup, Wei Hai had been among the crowd watching outside—along with regular customers Zhu Yufei and Xiao En. But since he was in a hurry to get to the tutoring center to teach a student, Wei Hai didn’t stick around—he just took a quick look and left. It was one thing that it wasn’t open in the morning. But it wasn’t open yet? After the water meter incident last time, Wei Hai had given Bai Xiaobai his phone number but hadn’t asked for Bai Xiaobai’s, so he stood at the entrance for two minutes. Seeing that Xiaobai Restaurant still hadn’t opened, he had no choice but to give up. Wei Hai randomly picked a Lanzhou拉面 shop and hastily ordered a bowl of beef noodles. This Lanzhou拉面 shop had just opened today, so they were giving away a tea-eggs with every order of beef noodles. The tea aroma of the tea egg was very faint. Wei Hai took a bite of the tea egg, but spat it out before he could swallow it. The flavor of the marinade was too strong—it completely overpowered the tea aroma. It was a far cry from Boss Bai’s “Supreme Tea Eggs.” Wei Hai’s overwhelming impression at that moment was that the food was tasteless. Both the tea egg and the beef noodle soup. Wei Hai took only a few bites before he simply couldn’t eat another bite. It looks like he’ll just have to go back to Xiaobai Restaurant in the evening to check it out. Hopefully, it’ll be open for business by then. After paying the bill, Wei Hai dragged his weary body back to his dorm at Kende University for an afternoon nap. Bai Xiaobai was having sweet dreams on her Sealy mattress. His goddess, Chen Bingbing, was sucking on his finger. She kept taking it in and out. His finger felt wet, tingly, tingling, and itchy from her tongue. It felt so good. It was just like the real thing. No, this feeling was way too real. Bai Xiaobai half-awoke and felt as if his finger were truly being sucked on. This sensation was... He felt it carefully. A long tongue, sharp canine teeth. It wasn’t the goddess. It was Xiao Hei. Bai Xiaobai opened her eyes and, sure enough, Xiao Hei was licking her finger with relish. Xiao Hei’s stomach was like a bottomless pit—he was never full—so he often sneaked snacks whenever Bai Xiaobai wasn’t looking. The thing is, this guy isn’t picky; he’ll eat anything. Potato chips, peanuts, fruit—he’ll take whatever comes his way. Hehe Now it won’t even spare its own fingers. Bai Xiaobai let out a dry laugh. The thing is, if you don’t feed Xiao Hei enough, it’ll pull all sorts of cute stunts—staring with those big, watery eyes while circling around your feet—or else it’ll just cause trouble, dragging socks and shoes all over the place. Bai Xiaobai was truly fed up with it—he didn’t know what to do. To keep Xiao Hei from snatching his socks and shoes again, Bai Xiaobai hurriedly got out of bed and fed Xiao Hei some dog food. The weather was stifling. After his nap, Bai Xiaobai’s ears and neck were covered in sweat. After feeding Xiao Hei, he walked to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, tilted his head back, and rinsed it with tap water. As he rinsed his head, a crisp, electronic voice rang out in Bai Xiaobai’s mind. [Ding-dong—The “Supreme Chili Sauce” special seasoning has been upgraded. The system has gathered all necessary ingredients; the host may now begin preparation. ]