Chapter 112
Chapter 112 – Target Achieved
Abbé Mia looked at the [Juicy Burger] on the table with mixed feeling. That last bite of [Juicy Burger] had been a little traumatic, and even now she could feel a shadow of the effect, kind of like having kittens pricking her heart with their little claws. That flavour, that tastiness was completely different from [Yang Zhou Fried Rice], it would be such a waste to throw it away after just taking one bite.”
”Sister Mia, your rabbits are out,” Amy said, pointing at Abbé Mia’s chest.
Abbé Mia just stood there for a moment, shocked, she glanced down her chest and turned red. She quickly clutched her blouse and turned around, s, not daring to meet Mike’s eyes.
Mike’s face remained calm, what had he not seen before as a rich young master with women throwing themselves at him? Therefore, this kind of thing could not move him. Furthermore, Abbé Mia was still a young girl and an employee of this restaurant.
“Sister Mia, can’t you just put away your tail away later? This way, you can eat the [Juicy Burger] first, then put it away later. After all, we all really think that your tail is really cute.” Amy suggested in between stuffing her cheeks with fried rice.
“If you still wish to eat it, I think that’s a pretty good solution.” Mike nodded in approval, after all there were only the three of them in the restaurant now.
Abbé Mia looked up to see Mike and Amy’s earnest eyes, and after some hesitation, she nodded, picked up the two chairs her tail had tipped to the floor, and once more sat down with the [Juicy Burger] between her hands. After taking a deep breath, she chomped down.
Deliciousness exploded in her mouth, turning into a powerful surging heat the moment it hit her stomach. The tail which she had just put away popped into existence again. However, this time she managed to stay in control and did not let out a dragon roar. Her chest also expanded, but there were no further wardrobe malfunction this time round.
The dragon tail also began to sway quite cheerfully. The two [Juicy Burgers] soon disappeared. She looked down at the empty packet in her hand, the tip of her pink tongue stuck out to like her red lips, as though she could still taste remnants of [Juicy Burgers].
“Isn’t it really yummy, Sister Mia?”Amy asked with some pride.
“En, Boss Mike’s [Juicy Burgers] are super yummy,” Abbé Mia nodded her head in fervent agreement. Before she stepped onto this restaurant, she had ever encountered such wonderful dishes in her life. “Also, I felt like my strength increased a bit after eating it, so it’s really useful for me too.
“Then, do eat more in the future.” Mike smiled and took a bite of his own [Juicy Burger].The daily praises from Amy have now doubled, however, it’s not like he’s against being praised for his work.
After lunch, they all rested a bit, and at the precise time, Mike prepared himself to open the door.
Abbé Mia’s control over her body was still not quite complete, however, after a minute of concentration, she was able to make the tail disappear, which meant she was able to live a fairly normal life, which really reduced her anxiousness.
Moreover, after her transformation, her power had increased a few fold, which caused some degree of Mike degree of enviousness. That slender body of hers really seemed to be brimming with endless energy and did not seemed to feel even a little bit tired as she rushed around all day.
“Good-bye, Boss Mike, Amy.” Once the restaurant had been cleaned up and everything put away in its proper place, Abbé Mia rushed over to where the father daughter pair were about to wash dishes. Her bright smile from the bottom of her heart, she never imagined that working could be something something so joyful.
“Good-bye, Sister Mia.” Amy waved her little hand, even as she struggled to properly hold Ugly Duckling in her one arm.
“Be careful on your way back.” Mike nodded at her with a smile.
“I will.” Abbé Mia answered earnestly with a nod before turning to leave.
Mike stacked the last of the dishes into the dishwasher. It turned out that having someone to help out really made everything so much easier. After a whole day of cooking, he felt less tired than usual. As expected, running around the dining room was more exhausting than actual cooking.
“Congratulations, host, you have achieved the target of selling 1,000 [Juicy Burgers] within 10 days, and have unlocked the [Bean Curd] recipe. Please enter the practice kitchen within 24 hours.” The [System] suddenly said.
“At last, it’s done. That mission was really tough.” Mike stared at the experience bag flickering brightly in his mind’s eye. Looks like he’ll have to stay in the practice kitchen for a few months. Furthermore, since recipe include both savoury and sweet type, it actually counts as two recipes.
He brought sleepy Amy and Little Ugly Duckling upstairs, after a wash he tucked them to bed. He spent some time looking down at the two little things sleeping soundly in bed, before lying down on his own bed and contemplate the clock next to the bed. The time was now 10 o’clock. He slowly closed his eyes and, once more, entered the Master Chef Practice Kitchen[1].
Within the experience bag, aside from the recipes for [Sweet Beancurd] and [Savoury Beancurd], there was also an unexpected [Spicy Beancurd] option. However, the [Spicy Beancurd] option was greyed out, and he couldn’t access it. Looks like he couldn’t learn that one.”
“Savoury, sweet, since I’m now the boss of the a restaurant, the most of important thing is to capture the hearts of all the customers and make lots of money.” Mike’s face finally showed a smile as he finally reconciled the two in his heart.
As for the sweet vs savoury war, he decided not to think about it any more. He’s nothing like that fat restaurant owner from the ‘Sweet Faction’ who, just because his restaurant was forced to sell [Savoury Bean Curd], sold off his several generation old restaurant and converted it to a bar.
On the familiar stove was a new kitchen appliance. A milling machine, the shape was a squat cylinder and about the size of a regular rice cooker. Next to it was a wooden bucket and large brown clay jar. There were also two large sacks of soybeans, some gypsum powder and all kinds of seasoning and condiments, as well as garnishes that could be eaten with the beancurd.
“This looks like an easy dish, I should be able to get out of this place a little earlier.” Mike muttered to himself. However, when he thought back to the harsh evaluations he had subjected those few bean curd shops in his past life, an odd look appeared on his face, looks like things won’t be as simple as he imagined it.
Well, it looked like the recipe completely omitted the soaking of soybeans. Instead, the beans were placed directly into the milling machine to be ground to a fine bean paste into the wooden bucket, his next job was to filtered the yellow paste through several layers of fine gauze cloth. The filtered paste, now soybean milk, was then poured into a large iron cooking pot and boiled over a roaring fire.
Gypsum powder was then mixed and placed in bottom of the clay jar, after which the boiled soy milk was poured over it. After some time, a mysterious thing happened, the watery soy milk will slowly transformed into tender white beancurd.
“Making beancurd is really too easy,” Mike thought as he frowned into the jar of pure white beancurd.
“The colour of the beancurd is too yellow, the texture too rough, fail!” [System’s] voice sounded in his ear.
“Hey that’s …” Mike leaned in closer and studied his beancurd. After sometime he realized that there was a hint of yellow to the whiteness within the jar. He suddenly felt foolish for thinking that this would be a simple thing.
Time past as Mike’s failed attempts reached the hundreds. Again and again, the [System] declared each attempt a resounding ‘fail!’, after which he would have to redo everything once more from the beginning.
“Hey, [System], this should be fine, ba?” Mike gently set down two bowls of beancurd down.
The left bowl contained white beancurd topped with red-gold syrup, which sparkled like a translucent liquid gem. The bowl on the left contained white beancurd drizzled with sparkling red-orange gravy along with some garlic sauce, finely sliced pickled mustard, tree fungus, and green onions, the colours made it looked especially attractive and delicious.
[Translator’s Note: How many of you heard the glee in System’s voice?]
[1] Master Chef Practice Kitchen – Originally God of Cooking Test Kitchen, I’ve decided to go with ‘Master Chef’ against ‘Good of Cooking’ mainly because when I search 厨神 literally ‘Kitchen God’, Gordon Ramsey’s face popped up.
Fail! Again!