Chapter 429: Departure and Independent Operations
"Boss Qi is finally taking a leave?"
Not only did the employees' reactions to Qi Han's leave differ from what he had expected, but during dinner service, the diners who learned of it were equally surprising in their responses.
All the diners—especially Han Shi's long-time regulars—expressed support for Qi Han's decision to take time off and go out.
On the one hand, for diners who had been stood up by Qi Han countless times before, the fact that he had operated continuously for nearly three months without taking a single day off, and had even added breakfast and late-night service—effectively doing the work of two days in one—meant that such intense effort naturally warranted some rest. Everyone understood this perfectly well.
It was like an author who posts twenty thousand words a day; if one day they say they need to adjust their condition, readers would not complain at all and would instead urge them to rest properly.
But if it were an author like me, updating four thousand words a day, taking a single day off would make the readers explode on the spot.
So, to avoid ending up on the readers' banquet table, I never take breaks.
Another reason for the diners' support was related to Qi Han's earlier public disclosure of the egg fried rice cooking method.
It had been nearly fifty days since Qi Han made that method public.
After such a long period of fermentation, setting others aside for the moment, the chefs on Food Street who had participated in the learning sessions were by now basically all capable of cooking excellent-grade egg fried rice. Quite a few establishments had even built on this method, experimenting further and developing other stir-fried dishes, which had also been met with good responses.
For example, Long Hanyun, the owner of Nine Dragons Delicacy, not only produced egg fried rice that reached over fifty percent of Han Shi's standard, but also conducted his own research, adding various dragon-type ingredients to create all kinds of dragon meat fried rice.
Meanwhile, Li Hong of Old Li Delicacies introduced two versions of egg fried rice in his shop—one using ordinary chicken eggs and another using five-colored brocade pheasant eggs—priced differently to meet the needs of different diners. He also applied stir-frying techniques to some dishes that had previously been stewed, launching quite a few new items.
Just as Qi Han had hoped, stir-frying as a cooking method had begun to collide with the native cuisine of Douluo Continent, gradually sparking new inspirations. A large number of new dishes sprang up like bamboo shoots after the rain, giving Shrek City's diners more options besides Han Shi.
As a result, Han Shi temporarily suspending operations did not have that great an impact on everyone in the short term.
What's more, breakfast service would continue.
The only ones who felt a bit regretful were probably those diners who loved late-night snacks, who would have to let their stomachs suffer a little for the time being.
And even that minor suffering would be completely offset once Qi Han announced that, upon his return, he would be introducing four new Purple Card Dishes.
Because he had been teaching Ye Lingqing, Qi Han's own pace of practicing new dishes had slowed considerably. But no matter how slow, for him, learning three 3 Star dishes in forty-eight days was hardly a problem.
Adding in the original Pheasant Soup, these four 3 Star dishes had long since been tasted by the shop staff and his disciples and had received unanimous praise. They simply had not been officially launched yet.
He had originally planned to release them after returning as a Spirit King. Although his enthusiasm for going out to gather ingredients had diminished somewhat due to Main Quest 8, the original plan still had to go on.
After getting through a night of "the whole world is unhappy except me," Qi Han woke Ye Lingqing early the next morning. Then, holding Pururu in his arms, he led Zhui Yun out from the backyard and set off toward Yubin City.
Although the backyard was spacious, Zhui Yun had not been able to run or fly so freely for a full three months. As a result, it was extremely excited, gently touching Qi Han's forehead with its horn and chattering on at length.
That young and innocent voice lifted Qi Han's spirits quite a bit.
…
Inside Han Shi, Ye Lingqing was busy in the kitchen.
Since he still needed to prepare all the dishes required for breakfast service in advance, Qi Han had not let him come along to see him off.
After getting up, Ye Lingqing went straight to this already familiar kitchen and began the same kind of busy preparatory work as usual.
"Xiaolongbao… Oil-Splashed Noodles… paomo… dragon dumplings…"
Each type of breakfast item required part of the preparation to be done ahead of time and made into semi-finished products. For example, Xiaolongbao and dragon dumplings had to be wrapped in advance, ready to be placed into the steamer at any moment. As for noodle dishes like Oil-Splashed Noodles, they especially needed to be prepared beforehand—only then could they be served promptly when diners placed their orders.
After completing all the preparatory work for the twelve breakfast items, he carefully checked everything once more. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief and glance at the time.
There were exactly thirty minutes left before breakfast service began.
Even after the teacher left, I didn't delay business at all on my own!
A faint smile appeared on Ye Lingqing's face, and he felt even more confident about the upcoming service.
He lifted his head and looked outside through the partition, only to be taken aback.
"Why is Sister Shuang here?"
Outside, Ying Shuang was standing to one side of the line together with Ji Yunruo, and she was wearing a work uniform that Ye Lingqing was very familiar with.
If she had come to eat, there would be no need to change into a work uniform, right?
With that thought in mind, Ye Lingqing quickly walked to the shop entrance, opened the door, and looked at Ying Shuang with curiosity.
"Sister Shuang, why are you here?"
"Today's your first time running the shop on your own, so I came to see if I could help out," Ying Shuang said with a cheerful smile. "Anyway, I don't have any classes this morning, so I'm free either way."
"Sister Shuang, thank you…"
"No need to thank me. Come on, come on—I'll also get to try the breakfast you made."
"Mm!"
…
"Now, let's take attendance."
In a large lecture hall at Shrek Academy, a rather stern-looking middle-aged male teacher stepped up to the podium and took out the attendance register in his hand.
The students seated inside immediately showed expressions of having survived a disaster.
This teacher, known as "Cold-Faced Yama," was famous for his extremely strict teaching style, which gave students immense pressure. However, because his teaching level was very high and his lectures were packed with solid content, many students still chose to enroll in his courses.
For students of Shrek Academy's outer court, taking this teacher's class was truly a mix of pain and joy.
His attendance habits were also quite peculiar. He didn't take attendance every class—one could even say that most of the time he didn't take attendance at all. But when he did decide to take it, if you weren't present, you would face extremely severe punishment.
For example, running dozens of laps around Shrek Academy's two-kilometer track while wearing heavy armor with Spirit Power sealed…
"Fu Ya."
"Here!"
Fu Ya raised her hand to signal her presence, then helplessly glanced at the empty seat beside her.
This is bad…
Shuang's very first time skipping class, and she runs straight into Yama taking attendance…
"Ying Shuang."
Fu Ya gave a light cough, shrank her neck, and used Spirit Power to slightly alter her voice, imitating one similar to Ying Shuang's.
"Here."
Teacher Zhao on the podium abruptly lifted his head, locked his gaze onto Fu Ya, and fell silent.
"Well done covering for her. Don't do it again next time." Teacher Zhao said coldly as he took out his pen and wrote something in the register. "Since you're so loyal, then see the good deed through to the end and accompany her."
"After today's afternoon classes, the two of you are to report to the track. Spirit Power sealed, each of you will wear Type-Three armor and run twenty laps."
Type-Three training armor weighed a full one hundred jin; wearing it was equivalent to doubling one's body weight…
Fu Ya's face twisted into a grimace.
"Understood…"
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