Update

Jiang Feng had failed to make a single dish that satisfied the old man before he returned to the countryside.

Jiang Weiguo left for the countryside early, three days before Jiang Feng's school term began. The reason was simple: he was worried about the precious fat pigs he raised.

"Dad, Mom will take care of those pigs. Just stay here without worrying! If living at Third Brother's place is uncomfortable, you can come stay at mine." Jiang Jiandang tried to persuade him to stay at the station. Thinking of how his days of eating the old man's cooking every day were about to end, tears welled up in his eyes.

"No, no. How would your mother know how to cook pig feed? I saw the photo she sent me yesterday. She's already fed the pigs so skinny." Jiang Weiguo painfully pulled out his phone and showed Jiang Jiandang the picture, which had forcibly squeezed three plump white pigs into the frame. "They aren't used to eating pig feed that I didn't cook myself."

Two streams of tears slid down Jiang Jiandang's meat-squeezed face.

"Xiao Feng, practice properly when you get to school. Don't slack off. I saw on the news a while back that you college students like cooking in your dorms, don't you? Learn more whenever you can. Chop vegetables and practice tossing the wok when you have time." After saying that, Jiang Weiguo carried the new set of knives he had bought and boarded the minibus back to the countryside.

"Xiao Feng, learn how to cook properly. Don't let your grandpa's teachings go to waste." Jiang Jiandang wiped away his tears.

Jiang Feng: ...

If he dared stir-frying in the dorm, never mind anything else—the dorm manager would be the first to chop him up.

Probably with the rolling-cut technique, into ten or twenty pieces.

Chen Xiuxiu's school started two days earlier than Jiang Feng's, and she had booked a flight for the next day. To show how reluctant he was to see his old neighbor off to school, and also to more conveniently grind experience points, Jiang Feng personally made a full table of dishes to send Chen Xiuxiu off.

Jiang Jiandang and his wife had no interest in Jiang Feng's cooking. Jiang Jiandang's cooking skills might even have been a little better than Jiang Feng's. Comrade Wang Xiulian, who had spent over ten days eating meals personally cooked by the old man, also looked down on the dishes her son made himself. Using Comrade Jiang Jiankang's busy restaurant as an excuse, she went to help out at the shop.

When the old man had been around, the shop had never seemed that busy. Yet the moment he left, it somehow became inexplicably busy.

The only guest who came to sample Jiang Feng's cooking was Chen Xiuxiu.

Five dishes and one soup, all ordinary home-style fare.

Stir-fried cauliflower, tomato and egg stir-fry, vinegar-braised cabbage, shredded cucumber salad, seaweed egg soup, and the most difficult dish, oil-braised shrimp.

They looked pretty good. Because of the game's notes, Jiang Feng knew that among the six dishes, the shredded cucumber salad was the best, while he had accidentally added too much salt to the tomato and egg stir-fry.

After all, he hadn't spent the past dozen days practicing his knife skills for nothing!

Chen Xiuxiu had a discerning eye. Her first chopsticks went straight for the shredded cucumber salad.

She broke off a small piece of cucumber and put it into her mouth.

"Ding, gained 3 experience points."

Jiang Feng: ...

You've changed. Back then, even one bite of corn kernels would give me 9 experience points.

After being fed by Jiang Weiguo for more than ten days, Chen Xiuxiu's palate had clearly become pickier too. Every dish only gave one or two experience points. She had learned Comrade Jiang Jiankang's stinginess, no longer possessing the old generosity of giving over thirty experience points for a sip of porridge.

Chen Xiuxiu's university was in S Province S City, where prices were so high that even A City couldn't compare.

Taking into account that the people of S Province had different tastes from the locals here, Jiang Feng painfully stuffed a jar of chili paste personally pickled by the old man into her hands.

Chen Xiuxiu happily mixed the chili paste with plain rice and finished the rest of her meal.

Having lost a jar of chili paste without gaining any experience points, Jiang Feng opened his status panel with a heavy heart.

Chen Xiuxiu's meal had filled up the remaining experience needed for him to reach Level 5. As usual, Jiang Feng clicked to level up.

"Ding, congratulations to the player for reaching Level 5 and completing the beginner tutorial."

"Reward: Appraisal (Intermediate)."

"The game is beginning its update. Once the update is complete, skill exploration and skill upgrading functions will be unlocked."

An update?

This game was pretty up-to-date.

When Jiang Feng tried to open the status panel again, all he saw was a progress bar.

Update Progress: 0%

Maybe Earth was too far away, so the internet was too slow.

An hour passed, and the update progress had only reached 2%.

Jiang Feng: ...

No wonder people called it a global village. The internet in this village was really slow.

Since the game was updating, Jiang Feng simply went to help out at the shop.

The regulars all knew that Jiang Feng's little family restaurant was moving away. Business had been exceptionally booming these past few days. Whether it was meal time or not, the shop was packed from six in the morning until ten at night.

When Jiang Feng went to help at noon the next day, he happened to hear a regular customer of twenty years sigh, "After this, we'll never find another restaurant around here with food as good as yours."

This little Z City wasn't without good chefs, but the only chef whose skills could surpass Jiang Jiankang's was the head chef at a thirty-year-old restaurant in the city. It had originally been a banquet hall before becoming a hotel, and its dishes cost several times more than those at Healthy Snacks.

For a while, it had been popular to post about obscure but delicious local shops. Healthy Snacks had appeared on those lists more often than any other. During that period, Jiang Feng delivered takeout every day and got more than a shade darker. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was working part-time hauling bricks at a construction site.

Back to the point, Jiang Jiankang was also somewhat reluctant to part with these regulars.

When the State-run Restaurant had closed down, Jiang Jiankang lost his job. His iron rice bowl was gone, and it felt as though the sky had fallen. He and Comrade Wang Xiulian had used all their savings to buy this shop and open this stir-fry restaurant. If these customers hadn't supported them in the beginning, Jiang Jiankang would have been so poor he might have had to beg under an overpass.

How could they have saved up enough money to open a restaurant in A City like they had now?

Today was Healthy Snacks' final day of business. They had originally planned to remain open for another two days, but the old man had returned to the countryside early, so Jiang Jiankang and Comrade Wang Xiulian discussed it and decided to leave for A City ahead of schedule as well.

The new restaurant was about to open, after all. They had to go get familiar with it.

On the final night of business, Jiang Jiankang invited all of Healthy Snacks' old customers and longtime neighbors for a meal. There wasn't enough room inside, so they set up tables outside. Almost all the shop owners on the street were Jiang Jiankang's old neighbors and acquaintances. Knowing it was Healthy Snacks' last day, they generously gave up the spaces in front of their own shops. Many shop owners also lent tables, chairs, and benches, while several even lent out bowls and chopsticks from their stores.

Tables, chairs, and benches of different sizes and colors covered the entire street.

Jiang Jiankang worked in the kitchen nonstop from six to nine. Dish after dish of Lu Cuisine flowed out like a stream, carried outside by Jiang Feng without end.

There were thirty or forty tables of guests, and Jiang Feng recognized nearly every one of them.

Only then did Jiang Feng suddenly realize that, without him noticing, Healthy Snacks had accumulated so many regular customers.

At eleven, the last table of guests left.

Jiang Jiankang was exhausted. Sweat poured down like rain, and his oversized shirt had long been soaked through. He sat beneath the electric fan in the shop, letting it blow on him.

Jiang Feng and Comrade Wang Xiulian cleared away the tables, chairs, bowls, and chopsticks. They cleaned everything, washed it all, returned it to their owners, and thanked them as well.

By the time they had finished everything, it was already past midnight. Z City had no nightlife. At twelve, nothing on the street was lit except the streetlamps.

Jiang Jiankang stood before the shop entrance, looked at the old, battered signboard, and sighed before taking it down.

He had no plans to sell the shop, nor did he intend to rent it out. It was fine to simply leave it here.

From that day onward, there was no more Healthy Snacks in Z City.

"Son!"

"Yeah?"

"Learn properly from your grandpa. Take on apprentices, open franchises, and when we come back from A City, we'll open an even bigger restaurant!"

"Franchises?"

"I've already thought of the name. We'll call it Healthy Hall!"

"..."