Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Potato and Eggplant Stew, Stuffs the Old Man to Death
"Huh?"
The moment Zhang Yali took her first bite, she knew this was something special.
The faint aroma of aged vinegar, in particular, was perfectly suited to her tastes.
Unlike Li Mingtao, Zhang Yali didn’t overthink it. The first bite was delicious, so she naturally began mixing the dish with her rice and digging in.
Just then, Liu Shengnan got a video call from her boyfriend.
"Babe! Didn’t you say your boss was cooking for you himself? That’s awesome. Let me see what you’re eating."
Liu Shengnan aimed the camera at the large iron wok, a bit embarrassed. "It’s probably the boss’s first time, so it looks a little..."
"Whoa!" the guy on the video call exclaimed excitedly. "Braised potatoes and eggplant! An old man would eat till he burst! That’s amazing! Just looking at it is making my mouth water!"
Liu Shengnan: ???
"Your boss is so nice! He’s even willing to make a dish like that. It’d be great if I had a boss like him. I’d eat in the cafeteria every day!"
"No, but..." Liu Shengnan was a little confused. "When I visited you in the Northeast, the food you took me to eat didn’t look like this!"
Liu Shengnan had her phone on speaker, so everyone at the table heard the conversation with her boyfriend.
"Pfft, what restaurant would be willing to make that stuff for you? It goes so well with rice, you could eat a whole pot with just that one dish! Who would order anything else if that’s on the menu? Shengnan, ask your boss if he’s hiring. I want to work at your company too! That way, the two of us can..."
Liu Shengnan hastily hung up the phone.
The group of onlookers immediately sat up straight, pretending they hadn’t heard a thing.
"So you’re saying this is something only people would bother to make at home? And it actually tastes okay?" Bai Xiaobo was still skeptical.
Aunt Fang had started eating a while ago. She’d been so focused on wolfing down her food that she didn’t have a moment to speak. Now, while getting a second bowl of rice, she chimed in, "It’s actually really good. You all should hurry up and try it."
This time, Bai Xiaobo couldn’t resist. He ladled a spoonful into his bowl, tentatively mixed it with his rice, and began to eat.
"Holy crap!"
The moment he took a bite, Bai Xiaobo let out a cry of praise. "This is seriously delicious!"
One person saying it’s good might be a fluke.
But when two or three people say it, others have no choice but to believe them.
This time, everyone else picked up their spoons and started scooping the dish into their bowls.
"Hey? This actually isn’t bad at all!"
"CHOMP CHOMP~"
"With skills like these, why is the boss running a company? If he opened a restaurant, could it possibly go out of business?"
"It just looks ugly. If it looked a bit better, it would totally take off, wouldn’t it?"
The young people couldn’t stop talking as they ate, and the atmosphere instantly became lively.
Meanwhile, Su Chen, who had already returned to his office, was getting excited as he watched the text prompts flashing in his mind.
[Liu Shengnan Delicious Value +9]
[Bai Xiaobo Delicious Value +11]
[...]
[Li Mingtao Delicious Value +1]
Back in the cafeteria, the moment Li Mingtao took his first bite, that prompt had flashed in Su Chen’s mind.
That was why Su Chen had hurriedly finished his meal and rushed back to his office.
After each prompt flashed, the experience points next to his Level on the panel would increase!
’So... I don’t get experience points by completing missions? I get them when someone eats my food and thinks it’s delicious?’
Furthermore, the Delicious Value he gained was subject to diminishing returns.
For example, when Li Mingtao first started eating, he provided 9 experience points directly. By now, it had dropped to 1 point.
Watching the progress bar approach the 100 experience points needed to level up, Su Chen rubbed his hands in anticipation.
’What on earth will happen after I level up!’
88/100!
93/100!
97/100!
Huh?
When his experience reached 97, Su Chen waited for several minutes, but no one else provided any more points.
’What’s going on?’ Su Chen stood up, ready to go check on the cafeteria.
Before he even reached the cafeteria, he heard the sounds of an argument from inside.
"Rock, paper, scissors! Winner takes all!"
"Who’s gonna play that with you! Director Li, you be the judge! Bai Xiaobo has already had three bowls, and I’ve only had one! I’m not full yet, so shouldn’t this last bit be mine?"
"Who made a rule that you can’t have more after three bowls? The boss didn’t say we’re limited to three bowls each! I’m not full after three bowls either!"
"Calm down, everyone, let’s all calm down!"
"Daddy~ I want more~"
At that moment, the tension around the circular table in the cafeteria was palpable.
A moment ago, no one was touching the heaping wok of food. But once everyone discovered how surprisingly delicious it was, they all switched into devour mode!
Bai Xiaobo ate the fastest.
At first, no one thought much of it, but as the food in the wok dwindled, another young woman was starting to panic.
The woman’s name was He Shuting. Standing at five-foot-six and weighing a hundred and twenty-one pounds, she was considered the number one beauty at Meiweilai Company.
To maintain her figure, He Shuting always ate very little and chewed slowly, as it was said that gobbling down food could also make you gain weight.
He Shuting had originally been hired with the idea that the company might venture into livestream e-commerce. But who could have guessed that before they even got to that stage, the company’s main line of business would completely fall through.
Because she had signed a revenue-sharing contract, she earned very little without any business, which was why she hadn’t been laid off.
At least... she was still useful for pouring a cup of water now and then.
The current dispute was happening right between He Shuting and Bai Xiaobo.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" He Shuting held her bowl, glaring angrily at Bai Xiaobo.
No one else dared to speak.
After all, Su Chen had made a huge portion, and most of them were already full. One more bite wouldn’t make much of a difference to them.
"Either we play rock, paper, scissors, and the winner eats it, or I’m eating it!" Bai Xiaobo wasn’t about to indulge her.
’Serves her right for last time. When she played Yao, she kept following the marksman instead of my Cheng Yaojin, who was on a killing spree.’
"Director Li, say something!" He Shuting stomped her foot in frustration.
"Well, if you ask me..." Li Mingtao was holding a full ladle; he had already eaten four bowls of rice. "You two should just... Huh? The boss is here! Boss, you be the judge. Who should get this last spoonful?"
Seeing Su Chen walk into the cafeteria, everyone turned their gazes toward him.
There wasn’t much left on the ladle, really—just the last bite, scraped from the bottom of the wok.
Su Chen smacked his lips. ’This is a tough one!’
’If I give it to Bai Xiaobo, he’s already had three bowls. He really should let the lady have it.’
’But if I give it to He Shuting, as the boss, my employees will inevitably gossip behind my back.’
Hmm?
Suddenly, Su Chen had an idea. He cleared his throat twice. "How about this."
Everyone waited with bated breath for Su Chen’s verdict.
"There’s an old saying: there’s no such thing as a free lunch. And, of course, no free dinner either. Whoever is willing to wash the wok gets to eat it. How about that?"
HISS!
Hearing this, Bai Xiaobo, who had been reaching out, slowly retracted his hand.
’The food is really good, but washing the wok... isn’t that too high a price to pay?’
After all, washing the pot was a major issue, one capable of causing domestic disputes!
"I’ll wash the wok! Hmph~" He Shuting proudly snatched the ladle from Director Li’s hand. She even deliberately brought it to her nose to take a sniff before contentedly pouring the food over her half-bowl of rice.
"CHOMP CHOMP~"
Even the sound of her chewing seemed to have gotten louder.
[He Shuting Delicious Value +99]
Huh?
Su Chen looked at the young streamer with curiosity.
’So... does food snatched from someone else’s hands taste better?’
’A critical hit, just like that?’
’Looks like I should organize more of these activities in the future.’
’For example... steam eleven buns for ten people.’
’I can get a critical hit, I don’t have to wash the wok myself, and the winner gets to eat more. A triple win!’
"Mmm~ Delicious!"
He Shuting swallowed the last mouthful of rice right in front of Bai Xiaobo, deliberately making a strange sound that made Director Li avert his eyes, not knowing where to look.
"Off to wash the wok~"
"Shuting, I’ll go with you." Liu Shengnan helped He Shuting carry the wok into the kitchen.
"I’m going to wash the dishes too." Li Mingtao proactively gathered his wife’s and son’s bowls with his own. "Just a moment, everyone. We can get off work as soon as the dishes are done."
Everyone was using their own tableware, so naturally, they washed their own bowls.
Bai Xiaobo watched as everyone stood up to go wash their dishes.
’Why do I feel like something’s not right here again...’
As for Su Chen, he left the cafeteria, completely satisfied.
’If I don’t have to wash the wok, cooking isn’t so bad after all.’
But now...
Su Chen closed his eyes slightly, his focus descending upon the system panel in his mind.
Level: 1 (96/1000)
