Kaiseki Cuisine

"..."

Although he found the tone of the other party's sigh a little strange.

Xi Shenlian agreed, saying:

"Awakened ones are indeed quite peculiar!"

He then took the fruit basket and various offerings from Qian Shan Xuehui, crouched down, and placed them beside the grave.

"So, Young Lady Qian Shan Xuehui, are you here specifically to pay respects to the Dean today?"

He also crouched down.

After lighting the incense from the offerings and sticking it in, she replied:

"Yes."

"Since school is on break for the next couple of days, I figured I'd visit home and pay my respects to my maternal grandfather at the same time."

Then.

Once the offerings were arranged, she clasped her hands together and began to pray.

Xi Shenlian, who was standing nearby with a cigarette in his mouth, looking a bit disreputable, simply squatted beside her and quietly watched her profile.

Beautiful, mature.

But with an indescribable softness.

If judging purely by looks.

She was probably about the same as Saigo Kadoko before.

While a rare beauty, if you looked across all of Tokyo, there were still quite a few people who looked like her.

Those with less fortunate circumstances even had to earn money through their bodies in nightclubs.

But looks were secondary.

Qian Shan Xuehui was special in Xi Shenlian's heart...

She was filled with a sense of childhood bliss.

A feeling he had rarely experienced in this life, or even his previous one.

Moreover, childhood always came with some strange feelings and thoughts.

Those things...

were undoubtedly more complex.

Indescribable, inexplicable.

In the past.

Xi Shenlian could only look up to her and reminisce.

Out of reach.

Because he felt unworthy.

Did a guy with a somewhat troubled mind deserve it?

Deserve anything?

But now, he was qualified...

After some thought.

Xi Shenlian exhaled a puff of smoke and quietly put out his cigarette.

After a while longer.

Qian Shan Xuehui stood up, smiling happily.

"All done!"

"If my maternal grandfather knew that one of the children he adopted could become an Awakened, he would surely be overjoyed!"

Then.

She patted Xi Shenlian on the shoulder and said:

"Now that you've made it big, you should treat me to a meal, right??"

"You ate so many of my snacks before!!"

Hearing this.

Xi Shenlian didn't hesitate.

He immediately smiled and said:

"Naturally."

"I'll treat you for a lifetime if you want."

"What do you want to eat?"

Hearing his reply, Qian Shan Xuehui's pretty face flushed slightly. She stood up and said, "I want to eat Kaiseki Cuisine!!"

"The really high-end kind!!"

Kaiseki Cuisine, as it's known, refers to a more upscale type of Eastern Ying cuisine.

It's generally made with the freshest seasonal ingredients, using minimal seasonings. The chef strives to preserve the food's natural flavors. In short, the requirements for culinary skill and ingredients are very high.

Therefore, the price is also relatively expensive.

And the high-end kind can cost as much as an ordinary person's salary for one or two months.

However, Xi Shenlian at this moment clearly wouldn't care about such a small amount of money.

He could probably pay for several meals just by taking a button off his clothes.

It was precisely because she knew this

that Qian Shan Xuehui made such a request.

"Naturally, there's no problem."

As he agreed immediately, Xi Shenlian took out his phone.

He started operating it right in front of Qian Shan Xuehui.

Qian Shan Xuehui then leaned her head over.

"What brand of phone is this?"

"The global nuclear bomb launch button?"

"Classified data repository for various countries?"

"These apps are so strange..."

"Did you change the app names?"

Listening to her questions, Xi Shenlian, who was outwardly operating his phone with his fingers but inwardly communicating telepathically with his Auxiliary AI, simply spouted nonsense:

"This is a custom-made phone. You know, Awakened individuals tend to damage fragile items easily, so you haven't seen one before."

"Changing app icons and names are basic functions built into the phone."

"For example, this app called 'Eastern Ying Bank Data Circulation Monitoring' is actually just a perfectly ordinary food recommendation app..."

With that, Xi Shenlian tapped on the app as a demonstration.

The phone screen directly switched to the food interface.

Then, under Qian Shan Xuehui's gaze, Xi Shenlian began to search for [Kaiseki Cuisine].

Qian Shan Xuehui watched, impressed but confused:

"I see, what a great customizable feature..."

Two hours later.

At the most upscale Kaiseki Cuisine restaurant nearby, Xi Shenlian walked in and said to the several waitresses bowing to him, who had just announced that the establishment was booked for the day:

"I'm the one who booked it."

"Please have the chefs prepare quickly."

Hearing this, Qian Shan Xuehui, who was following behind him, was a little confused:

"Booked it?"

"Just for the two of us?"

Xi Shenlian replied naturally without looking back, "Yeah, it'll definitely just be the two of us."

"To avoid being disturbed, I thought booking the whole place would be better."

As a local from Yuquan District who had visited this restaurant twice before, Qian Shan Xuehui was quite surprised:

"I remember this place usually requires reservations made in advance. If you want to eat here on a whim, you generally need some connections. The owner probably won't agree to you booking the whole place so suddenly..."

"Wouldn't that disrupt all the other reserved customers..."

Xi Shenlian turned to look at Qian Shan Xuehui and shrugged slightly:

"At first, the owner really didn't agree."

"Moreover, even when I offered to buy the entire shop outright, he still refused."

"He's certainly a man of firm convictions."

Qian Shan Xuehui found herself even more perplexed:

"The owner's personality is that stubborn?"

"Then how did you manage to book the whole place out?"

Before this.

She hadn't expected that to invite her for a meal, the other party would directly intend to buy the entire establishment.

And the owner, upon hearing this, also turned out to be a man of character, directly refusing Xi Shenlian.

She didn't understand.

How Xi Shenlian had managed to sort everything out in the end.

Even the surrounding waitstaff, filled with their own doubts, began to eavesdrop.

Not long ago.

They had suddenly received a call.

Instructing them to cancel all reservations and turn away all customers.

Today, they were to accept only one guest named Xi Shenlian.

Something like this had never happened before!

Furthermore, on the other end of the phone, the owner's tone was filled with a mixture of heartache and helplessness.

Xi Shenlian's answer was very straightforward:

"The answer is actually quite simple. I bypassed the owner of this shop and directly purchased the parent company behind the establishment, and the general corporation behind that company – a large catering group."

"It only cost five hundred billion Yen in total."

"And then, the owner of this shop had no choice but to obediently submit~"

"Hee hee hee hee hee hee~"

Qian Shan Xuehui exclaimed in shock:

"What??"

And the waitstaff next to them suddenly saw a flash of light, a dazzling golden radiance that blinded their vision!!

'Damn it...'

'Such blinding golden light of wealth...'

'I can't even open my eyes...'