"I just took a look around the lobby. The infrastructure provided by the system is quite complete; there are tables, chairs, benches, and heaters. What's missing now are kitchen utensils and tableware. Ingredients can be purchased with currency, but tableware and kitchen utensils must be unlocked with points, right?"
Shuangshuang nodded again.
Both kitchen utensils and tableware are considered dining utensils and can be unlocked together for 500 points. After unlocking, you still need to spend points to buy the required utensils separately, but fortunately, the purchase price is very cheap, far less extravagant than the unlock price.
500 points is a stump for even a hero. What's the point of buying ingredients if you don't even have a pot? The purchasing panel only sells food raw materials, and you can't even find chopsticks.
A loan is out of the question; Ye Xu never compromises easily.
Ye Xu first asked Shuangshuang to deposit his savings into the account. With money, how could he not buy anything? He had worked part-time for four years during university and saved more than 50,000 Chinese Yuan. He wondered how much that would be after converting it into the currency of the Transi Continent.
Three seconds later, the number in front of me was refreshed and remained around 50,000, indicating that the purchasing power of the currencies in the two dimensions was roughly the same.
With money in hand, Ye Xu felt more at ease. He planned to go out to buy pots and pans, but just before leaving, he remembered something and asked Shuangshuang, "The interdimensional shops don't have a rule that only items produced by the system can be used, right?"
“This…” Shuangshuang’s assistant’s manual did not contain any information on this issue, and she was stunned.
Ye Xu glanced at Shuangshuang, feeling a bit uneasy. He seriously doubted that if he bought the knife but wasn't allowed to use it, then he had wasted his money.
Moreover, Ye Xu belatedly realized that it was the dead of winter outside, yet he was wearing only short sleeves and shorts. It was alright inside the shop with its heating and air conditioning, but once he stepped outside, he'd probably freeze to death. Besides, finding the blacksmith's shop was still a problem.
Ye Xu decided to try a different approach. He had previously added a lot of furniture and household items to his rented apartment, so he could try to teleport them over. He could keep the useful items and resell the useless ones to recoup some money.
After explaining his idea to Shuangshuang, she readily agreed this time. Soon, a list appeared in front of Ye Xu, all items whose ownership belonged entirely to him, which he could dispose of as he pleased.
"Manager, please see if there's anything you'd like to keep. I'll bring it over for you. If you want to resell the rest, you can also give it to me," Shuangshuang said sincerely.
After the previous conversation, Shuangshuang felt utterly useless, unable to help the store manager at all. This couldn't go on; she had to prove her abilities.
Ye Xu nodded after listening and unceremoniously selected a large number of items. The system had a very useful shop decoration program, so he didn't have to personally carry the items to their designated locations; he could do it remotely through the program.
In no time, Ye Xu had arranged everything that needed to be placed. In addition to the kitchen, there was a single apartment on the fifth floor belonging to the store manager, which he had filled with daily necessities and clothes.
He left only one set of winter clothes on the table next to him, intending to change into them later. Since it was freezing outside, he couldn't keep wearing summer clothes to avoid attracting attention.
Shuangshuang indeed took the remaining items to process, transporting them to other planes for sale, which brought in more money than selling them secondhand directly in the original plane. Ye Xu went into the kitchen alone to change into warmer clothes, and after coming out, he turned down the temperature of the air conditioner and heating a bit, without asking any questions, and rolled up his sleeves to wash the kitchen utensils.
Ye Xu's own belongings were not rejected by the system and were put into use smoothly. For now, they were enough, except for a few pots; he only had two pots suitable for cooking hot pot. One was a metal pot he used with an induction cooker, and the other was a two-compartment pot he had recently bought to save money on hot pot at home.
These two pots are definitely not enough. Ye Xu plans to go out after dinner and buy a few more to try, just in case the system allows him to use them.
At worst, we can just sell hot pot with a single base when we first open. We should be able to find a blacksmith shop and buy about ten usable pots that way, so it won't cause any problems.
Ye Xu was incredibly efficient; it only took him five minutes from the moment he transmigrated to solving his first problem. After that, he spent another twenty minutes washing and chopping vegetables, preparing ingredients for a hot pot, and finally he could eat.
However, just five minutes after sitting down, and having just cooked a piece of tripe and was about to put it in his mouth to taste it, two uninvited guests barged into the restaurant, interrupting Ye Xu's meal.
"Sorry, our restaurant will only open tomorrow." Ye Xu calmly put down his chopsticks, put on a smile, and went to greet the customer.
Harmony brings wealth. You can't be cold-faced when you're doing business. Although Ye Xu has never run a shop himself, he has worked as a waiter and has learned a lot by observing others.
Seeing the owner's attitude, the visitors were indeed embarrassed. It was their own fault for not seeing the sign clearly, and their resentment of "If you're not open for business, why are you tempting people with the aroma?" vanished instantly.
"We were being rude," the monk coughed lightly, "but your food smells so good, sir. I've been starving all afternoon. Can't you open earlier?"
The monk's expression was very sincere; she shamelessly feigned pitifulness without any qualms. Seeing that Ye Xu remained unmoved, she immediately added, "Is it because you didn't prepare enough ingredients? How about you share half of what you're cooking in the pot with me? I won't mind; you can pay whatever you want!"
Ye Xu wasn't heartless. They'd already gone to such lengths; refusing now would seem unreasonable. Besides, there was a usable pot in the shop; they could make do with a meal for them.
but--
"I was originally going to open a skewer shop, but now I don't have all the ingredients, so I can't make skewers. You'll just have to eat them directly." Ye Xu handed over a pair of clean chopsticks. "Try using them first, and taste them to see if you can accept the flavor. If you can, I'll cook them for you."
Ye Xu rarely uses Western cutlery; he only has one fork at home, and with two people opposite him, one of them will inevitably have to make do with chopsticks. Ye Xu plans to have them try using chopsticks first, and if that doesn't work, they'll have to use spoons. Besides, he has a strainer that came with his hot pot, which, along with the spoon, will allow him to manage a meal.
The monk had never seen anyone use chopsticks to pick up food before, and she was a little confused looking at the two small wooden sticks. Chopsticks were so difficult to learn; she couldn't understand how Ye Xu used them at all. After trying for two minutes, she still couldn't learn, but she managed to pick out a piece of lotus root by "poking" it.
Afraid she would drop it, Ye Xu quickly brought her a bowl and took the lotus root slices. Once the lotus root slices were in the bowl, they were very difficult to pick up again, so in the end, the monk used a "pushing" motion to get the lotus root slices into his mouth.
The food, obtained with such difficulty, tasted even better. Ye Xu had her pick up food from the tomato broth, which wasn't spicy or pungent at all, but rather sweet and sour, making it very appetizing.
The monk regretted it as soon as she finished eating; she should have picked out a few more slices!
Chapter 3 Regret
Foodies are willing to go to great lengths for delicious food. The monk didn't complain at all about how difficult the chopsticks were to use, fearing that the owner would refuse to sell her hot pot because the tableware was unsuitable. After taking the first bite, she looked at the boiling hot pot with reluctance and refused to return the bowl and chopsticks to Ye Xu for a long time.
Ye Xu was a little helpless and could only let her have it. Let her take it if she wants; it would save him the trouble of preparing an extra set of bowls and chopsticks.
"Can I try that too?" the monk asked hesitantly, pointing to the other half of the hot pot.
It was a spicy broth, with an extremely strong aroma that almost completely masked the flavor of the tomato soup. The monk was initially drawn in by it, but after tasting the lotus root slices, he realized something was wrong; what he was eating wasn't the aroma he had smelled.
Ye Xu dared not let the guests try the spicy broth casually. He himself couldn't live without spicy food, and the broth he prepared was medium spicy. The natives of Western Fantasy who were not used to spicy food probably wouldn't be able to handle it. But before Ye Xu could speak, the mage looked over with expectant eyes, making it hard to refuse.
"You can only have one bite," Ye Xu conceded.
Ye Xu scooped a slice of potato out of the spicy broth with a slotted spoon, rinsed it with water, and then put it into the monk's bowl. Rinsing it reduced the spiciness considerably, and the potato itself absorbed a lot of salt, so it wouldn't become tasteless even after the surface broth was washed away.
Even the potato slices, after being rinsed in water, were so spicy that the monk gasped for breath. This slight tingling sensation was quite addictive, and the monk immediately switched his affections to the spicy hot pot.
Ye Xu noticed that the mage's companions were also staring intently in their direction. After thinking for a moment, he took out a second set of chopsticks and bowls, and gave each warrior a piece of food to taste. There was only one regular pot left in the shop, not enough to hold two broths at the same time, so the two of them would have to discuss and decide which broth to use.
Unlike the mage, the warrior seemed unable to handle the spicy hot pot. He was probably just naturally unable to tolerate spice, as he broke out in a sweat and his face turned bright red from the heat.
Then there's no need to choose anymore. Ye Xu went directly to the kitchen, took out a freshly cleaned pot, and poured in the tomato base he had purchased from the purchasing board. After hesitating for a moment, he scooped out all the ingredients and seasonings from the base and threw them away before taking it back to the main hall.
I wonder if tomatoes are also mistaken for "poisonous fruits" in this world. To be on the safe side, it would be best to remove those things to avoid unnecessary disputes.
After finishing all this, Ye Xu found a table furthest away from his own and put down the pot in his hands. This way, the mage would smell less of the spicy aroma while eating, and Ye Xu didn't want to see her looking so hungry and acting pitiful again.
"Your companion can't handle spicy broth, so we only served you tomato broth," Ye Xu explained briefly. "The restaurant is short on ingredients and can only offer three types right now, please understand."
The hot pot restaurant initially unlocks one soup base and three ingredients by default. The remaining soup base and ingredients can be offered to customers for free tasting, but cannot be sold. Ye Xu has gradually gotten used to the system's various restrictions and is accepting them well. However, three ingredients are still a bit too meager. Fortunately, this is not a modern world, otherwise the hot pot restaurant would have simply declared bankruptcy.
The monk was content with having something to eat and didn't dare complain about the quantity of ingredients. She cautiously asked, "May I ask what three kinds of ingredients are included? Are the two we just tasted still available?"
The three ingredients were a choice of vegetables, and potatoes and lotus root were both vegetables. Since the guests had made a request, it was only fair to accommodate them. Ye Xu nodded generously and added an extra serving of leafy greens for them. Leafy greens were very rare in this climate, and although they would be much more expensive, it was still affordable to try something new.
Shuangshuang quickly cooperated with the store manager to modify the electronic menu, adding tomato broth, potato slices, lotus root slices, and lettuce, and setting the price according to the market price in Transi Continent.
In fact, these items are very cheap to purchase, since the system sources goods across multiple dimensions, allowing it to select the most cost-effective merchants from millions of different dimensions. The pricing of the same product varies greatly across different worlds; the most typical example is that many top-quality seafood items in modern times are the cheapest mass-market goods in the interstellar era.
Ye Xu didn't intend to profit from the differences between dimensions, but pricing is something that can't be entirely based on one's own mood.
If a vegetable that sells for 100 copper coins per pound in the Transi Continent were sold for only 1 copper coin per pound, it would easily offend powerful figures with vested interests. Not only would it cause trouble for the shop, but customers might not even be willing to buy it.
Who would believe that someone would actually sell such high-quality, low-priced food? They would only suspect that there might be something wrong with the ingredients.
So after seeing Shuangshuang's pricing, Ye Xu didn't say anything, but simply lowered the price of the hot pot base significantly.
Once the ingredients at the bottom of the pot are scooped out, no one can guess what they were made of, making it impossible to estimate the cost. This way, no matter how much he prices it, no one will have anything to criticize him for.
Ye Xu has already figured out how to make hot pot affordable for ordinary people. The broth will be inexpensive, and some affordable ingredients from around the world will be added. Rich people can order expensive ingredients to satisfy their cravings, while poor people can also enjoy something cheap to warm them up.
A bowl of hot tomato hotpot soup in the snow is more comforting than anything else.
"Here's the menu, take a look and order." Ye Xu uploaded the price list, then picked up the ordering device next to the table. This little machine, like the loudspeaker at the door, was part of the infrastructure provided by the system, and it was quite useful.
The mage had never used an ordering device before, and she played with it for a while. While she was observing, the warrior had already ordered quite a few things using another ordering device.
We only ordered one serving of lettuce, probably scared off by the price. We didn't dare order too much lotus root either, as out-of-season lotus root is much harder for the natives of Xihuan to cultivate than other vegetables. In the end, we ordered a lot of potatoes, which are relatively cheap even during cold snaps, and more importantly, they're filling.
The adventurer's appetite was truly enormous, and the warrior was initially worried he wouldn't have enough to eat, especially since this place didn't even sell bread. Potatoes, however, could at least fill his stomach, though there was one thing the warrior couldn't understand.
"Boss, why did you give these dishes different names?" the soldier asked, scratching his head.
Lettuce is lettuce, why call it romaine lettuce?
Ye Xu remained expressionless: "That's how it's called in my hometown, I'm used to it."
The continent of Transi is rich in resources, but its transportation and agriculture are not very developed, and many vegetables only grow in one area. The city of Biyue is relatively prosperous, so I have seen a relatively large variety of vegetables, but it is still not enough compared to a complete hot pot menu.
Therefore, most of the ingredients in the shop were unfamiliar to the customers, and Ye Xu could simply use their modern, conventional names to refer to them. Since the majority of the ingredients were labeled this way, the remaining few vegetables could also be labeled using their modern names, which would be more convenient.
The soldier had only asked out of curiosity, and upon hearing it was a local specialty, he didn't dwell on it any longer. He turned to the mage and urged him to order quickly.
"I'm starving!" the soldier complained.
Ye Xu said, "No rush, take your time ordering. I'll go prepare the ingredients. Hot pot is meant to be cooked and eaten at the same time. What we just ordered is enough for you to eat for a while."
After saying that, Ye Xu returned to the kitchen.
Without skewers, the portion size of the ingredients is quite generous. Ye Xu first prepared the lettuce and lotus root and delivered them, then focused on processing the potatoes.
The system maintains its consistently stingy nature; ingredients purchased from the procurement panel will never come with any extras, including but not limited to pesticides, soil, insects, and microorganisms. The main reason is that for every inch the weight of an item increases, the energy required for dimensional teleportation also increases, which would be too wasteful.
Because of the large volume of logistics and transportation, the interdimensional shops have purchased an annual service from the system by default. Regardless of the total weight of goods transported throughout the year, the logistics fees paid by the shop manager will remain unchanged. Since the system cannot transfer costs externally, it can only try to reduce expenses by cutting back on costs itself.
This benefited Ye Xu; vegetables free of pesticide residues and dirt didn't even need washing, saving him a lot of labor costs. However, Ye Xu was a bit of a perfectionist; even though he knew the vegetables were clean, he couldn't help but rinse them again with water.
Thankfully, the tap water in the interdimensional shop is pure water, containing absolutely no impurities; otherwise, the washed food might have been dirtier than before.
The lettuce was just rinsed briefly by Ye Xu before being served directly to the table. Lotus root was a bit more troublesome to prepare; peeling it was much harder than peeling potatoes, and slicing it was also very laborious. Fortunately, the guests didn't order much.
These are minor issues; the biggest challenge lies with the potatoes. The soldiers ordered many servings of potatoes, and even though peeling and slicing them is much easier than lotus root, the sheer amount of work was still a headache.
Ye Xu is now very grateful that he worked as a vegetable chopper during his summer vacation. Otherwise, with the amount of practice he had when cooking at home, it would have been difficult for him to slice ingredients quickly and well.
Potato slices for hot pot don't need to be too thin, otherwise they'll disappear quickly after cooking. However, it's essential that they're evenly sliced. Significant differences in thickness will result in vastly different cooking times, negatively impacting the customer's dining experience.
Shuangshuang took a quick look in, intending to help, but realized there was nothing she could do; she was simply too small. So she flew to the wall, grabbed the slicer, and asked the shopkeeper if it would work.
"It's sliced too thinly," Ye Xu said, shaking his head after glancing at it.
Ye Xu bought the simplest slicer and grater, which he had bought before he became a vegetable cutter. He bought it to grate even, thin slices. After practicing cutting vegetables, he basically stopped using it and never bought a more powerful slicer.
Ye Xu vaguely remembered that there were slicers with adjustable thickness for sale, but they were a bit pricey. If she had known it would be tied to a dimensional shop, she definitely wouldn't have saved that money back then. She sighed.
Shuangshuang put down the slicer, gave the shop manager a comforting hug on the wrist, and went out to serve the guests again.
Ye Xu mechanically chopped potatoes, planning to take out a plate after chopping it, then come back to continue chopping, so that the customers outside wouldn't have to wait after finishing their meal. But he felt like he'd forgotten something; what was it?
A note from the author:
A: You forgot about the hot pot still cooking outside; the potato slices are about to melt!
Chapter 4 Checkout
It wasn't until Ye Xu carried the plate out and saw the dining table closest to the kitchen door that she finally remembered what she had forgotten.