Side Quest

The next day, Jiang Jiankang and Wang Xiulian got up early and went to open the shop. Healthy Snacks had never served breakfast, but under the "enormous pressure" of debt, Jiang Jiankang decided to give up sleeping in and work hard to earn money, laying a solid foundation for his future grandson's culinary career.

Although Jiang Feng's cooking skills were decent—after all, he had been personally taught by old comrade Jiang Weiguo as a child—Jiang Jiankang only needed to look at his son's skinny frame to know that he could not inherit his craft.

A thin young man might indeed be pleasing to the eye by modern standards, but he was definitely not ideal chef material.

In Jiang Jiankang's eyes, each of his three nephews had the makings of a chef, but their talents combined still could not compare to Jiang Feng's.

After briefly regretting that Jiang Feng, who had improved the Jiang family's tall-and-fat genes, could not become an outstanding chef, Jiang Jiankang began the day's business.

As Jiang Jiankang's only son, Jiang Feng had inherited his father's fine habit of sleeping in.

His ten o'clock alarm went off right on time. Jiang Feng skillfully shut it off with his eyes closed, only to be thoroughly awakened by the notification in his head.

"Ding. Optional side quests have appeared. Please make your selection."

He lay in bed, squinting as he opened the panel. Sure enough, the Side Quests section had changed.

Side Quests: (Optional)

1. Father's Wish: Jiang Jiankang was proud of his son's tall, thin build, yet troubled by the fact that he was not strong enough. Please fulfill Father's Wish and become a strong man with a tall, thin build. Choose: Yes/No

2. Mother's Wish: Wang Xiulian had always hoped for a gentle, understanding, slender daughter-in-law. Please fulfill Mother's Wish and find a gentle, understanding, slender girlfriend. Choose: Yes/No

3. Neighbor's Wish: Chen Duxiu's daughter, Chen Xiuxiu, had recently become obsessed with dieting and losing weight. Please fulfill Neighbor's Wish and help Chen Xiuxiu return to a normal diet. Choose: Yes/No

Jiang Feng: ...

He silently clicked No on the first quest, Yes on the relatively normal third quest, and left the second one alone. Though he had no idea why Comrade Wang Xiulian had such odd requirements for her future daughter-in-law, there was no denying that he needed a girlfriend.

It would be nice if games assigned you a girlfriend.

Side Quests: (Optional)

1. Mother's Wish: Wang Xiulian had always hoped for a gentle, understanding, slender daughter-in-law. Please fulfill Mother's Wish and find a gentle, understanding, slender girlfriend. Choose: Yes/No

2. Neighbor's Wish: Chen Duxiu's daughter, Chen Xiuxiu, had recently become obsessed with dieting and losing weight. Please fulfill Neighbor's Wish and help Chen Xiuxiu return to a normal diet.

Quest Hint: Chen Xiuxiu had already shown signs of anorexia due to excessive dieting and self-induced vomiting. Please act quickly.

Quest Reward: Unknown

Chen Xiuxiu had actually begun showing signs of anorexia from excessive dieting. Jiang Feng frowned slightly and closed the panel.

There were still two buns in the pot, left by Wang Xiulian for his breakfast. Jiang Feng sat at the dining table, silently eating the slightly cold buns as he considered how to help Chen Xiuxiu resume normal eating.

In a sense, Chen Xiuxiu could be considered Jiang Feng's childhood sweetheart. She was one year younger than him, and because she came from a single-parent household and her father was busy with work, she ate lunch and dinner at Jiang Feng's family restaurant. Under Comrade Jiang Jiankang's loving feeding, Chen Xiuxiu had grown into a tall, fat girl with distinctive Jiang family characteristics.

Now that he thought about it, Jiang Feng had not seen Chen Xiuxiu for over a year. As neighbors for so many years, that was clearly abnormal.

After breakfast, he changed clothes. The clock pointed to ten forty, and if he arrived at the restaurant by eleven, it would be just when the shop was busy and needed extra hands and delivery workers. It was summer vacation, so cheap student workers were hard to find. They could only rely on free family labor.

When he pushed open the restaurant door, Chen Duxiu and a slightly chubby young woman were sitting at the first table.

It was Chen Xiuxiu.

Back when Chen Xiuxiu went out with Jiang Feng and his three cousins, people mistook her for Jiang Feng's younger cousin. Compared to then, her current figure could only be described as a complete transformation.

Four dishes sat on the table, all of them Comrade Jiang Jiankang's specialties.

When Chen Xiuxiu saw Jiang Feng enter, she gave him a small nod, her brows still tightly furrowed.

A plate of Kung Pao Chicken, perfect in color, aroma, and flavor.

A plate of Tiger Skin Peppers with just the right heat control.

A plate of slightly salty Nine-Turn Large Intestine.

A plate of refreshing Stir-fried Lotus Root Cubes.

Comrade Jiang Jiankang only made Nine-Turn Large Intestine a few times a year, so a few flaws were normal.

"Xiuxiu, Uncle Jiang made this large intestine especially for you. Just have one bite. One bite," Chen Duxiu urged.

"I'm not eating!" Chen Xiuxiu lowered her voice, her face full of impatience. "I told you I'm losing weight, but you brought me to Uncle Jiang's restaurant and ordered all these rich dishes! Are you trying to make me fat to death?"

"You drink plain congee at home every day, and you do yoga too. How can your body handle that? You were perfectly fine before. Ever since you started college, you've been going on about losing weight. You're already quite thin now. You don't need to lose weight!" Chen Duxiu continued persuading her gently.

"It's normal not to have an appetite for greasy food when it's this hot." Seeing that the father-daughter war was about to erupt, Jiang Feng stepped in to smooth things over. "Have some lotus root cubes. I'll make you some Smashed Cucumber Salad."

When she was little, Chen Xiuxiu's dinners had always begun with a serving of Smashed Cucumber Salad.

There was only one table of customers in the restaurant, so Jiang Feng had nothing else to attend to. He headed straight into the kitchen, where a wave of heat hit him in the face.

Wang Xiulian was washing vegetables. When she looked up and saw Jiang Feng, she immediately tried to chase him back out.

"What are you doing in here? It's scorching hot. Isn't Xiuxiu outside? You should talk some sense into her father. It's perfectly normal for young girls to want to look pretty and lose weight. How can he force her to eat? Besides, did you see what your father cooked? It's greasy and heavy. Even I can't eat it."

Jiang Jiankang, who had performed beyond his usual level: ...

"I think Xiuxiu looked pretty good before too. She was a little fat, but she looked so sturdy," Jiang Jiankang muttered softly, expressing his nostalgia for the formerly tall and fat Chen Xiuxiu.

Jiang Feng skillfully picked a cucumber from the vegetables Comrade Wang Xiulian had washed, peeled it, cut it into sections, then smashed it flat with the back of his knife.

"I'm making her some Smashed Cucumber Salad," Jiang Feng explained.

He poured in vinegar, added Jiang Jiankang's secret Chili Oil, then carried out a plate he had washed until it gleamed the night before.

A perfectly proper plate of Smashed Cucumber Salad.

He placed the Smashed Cucumber Salad in front of Chen Xiuxiu. She was still sulking at her father, stubbornly refusing to pick up her chopsticks.

"You used to love Smashed Cucumber Salad when you were little, didn't you?" Chen Duxiu grew anxious when Chen Xiuxiu still refused to eat.

Chen Xiuxiu lowered her head and would not look at him.

The father and daughter remained deadlocked for a while. Customers gradually began arriving, and Jiang Feng started attending to them, constantly carrying menus back to the kitchen.

"Ding. Gained 3 experience points." Hearing the notification, Jiang Feng instinctively looked toward Chen Xiuxiu.

She was eating the Smashed Cucumber Salad.

"Xiaofeng, please pack this up for us," Chen Duxiu said helplessly.

Jiang Feng went to get takeaway containers and saw Chen Xiuxiu pick up another chopstickful of Smashed Cucumber Salad.

"Ding. Gained 3 experience points."

When others ate food he had made, he gained experience points.

Jiang Feng came to a conclusion.

Chen Duxiu had something to do and left first, leaving only Chen Xiuxiu at the table with Jiang Feng as they packed the food into takeaway containers.

"It's not that I think Uncle Jiang's food tastes bad," Chen Xiuxiu asked in a muffled voice. "I'm just afraid that once I take the first bite, I won't be able to stop eating."

"Dieting to lose weight is bad for your health," Jiang Feng said. "Making yourself throw up is even worse."

Chen Xiuxiu said nothing. Carrying the takeaway containers, she left.