Anyone who heard it would blush and hide

Good heavens!

Senzaemon Nakiri felt a terrible headache coming on.

His own granddaughter, the Nakiri Family's heir apparent, the savior of the Japanese culinary world, the owner of God's Tongue, and the person he had pegged to lead the Era of Gems...

Now she was seriously saying she wanted to study abroad in the Celestial Empire.

This, this was even worse than her saying she wanted to fall in love!

Just as Senzaemon Nakiri was nursing his headache,

Erina Nakiri wore an expression that said she understood everything and declared, "Grandfather, I finally understand how Senior Doma felt back then. That nearly perfect cuisine, which should have seen the light of day long ago, shouldn't be allowed to fade into obscurity!"

Senzaemon Nakiri: "?_?"

He was finding his granddaughter harder and harder to understand. There was no such thing as nearly perfect cuisine in this world... Was this just her rebellious phase?

But,

Senior Doma? Sogo Doma! The Doma Family? Was she trying to test Totsuki's resources?

As Totsuki's director, Senzaemon Nakiri had a lot on his mind.

As her grandfather, he had even more.

He had to consider Totsuki's development, as well as Erina Nakiri's feelings.

But if he simply smacked some sense into his own granddaughter, wouldn't he be just like Azami Nakiri?

So, to spare his granddaughter's feelings, Senzaemon Nakiri picked up his tea again, ready to hear what was on Erina's mind.

Of course,

it was fortunate that Erina Nakiri had said she wanted to study abroad in the Celestial Empire. That was the only reason Senzaemon Nakiri could keep such a calm expression.

After all,

the Celestial Empire's cuisine was vast and profound. If Erina Nakiri really met a master of Chinese cuisine, that would be a blessing for her. Naturally, that was assuming he was a true master—someone several floors above the Demon of the Japanese culinary world.

By the way, where exactly were that Celestial Empire's New East and Blue Shit?

Still,

wherever they were, there was no way Erina Nakiri would be allowed to study abroad. After all, she was God's Tongue, the hope of the Japanese culinary world! Studying abroad would be a slap in the face to the entire Japanese culinary world.

As for stopping her by force? Senzaemon Nakiri, a great educator, would never resort to coercion. Gentle persuasion was the right way.

"Erina! You want to study at the Celestial Empire's New East and Blue Shit. Do you have a plan?"

"Grandfather, I've already got a thorough plan. The first step is to go to Lanxiang and learn Master Takumi's secret technique, Water-Entry Corner-Drifting Tofu Grinding!"

"Water-Entry Corner-Drifting Tofu Grinding? Is that a cooking technique?" Senzaemon Nakiri felt a little relieved. At least his granddaughter hadn't gone astray. She still wanted to learn a cooking technique.

"That's right. It's a dish that only an excavator can prepare." Erina Nakiri nodded.

Senzaemon Nakiri: "..."

What the hell was an excavator?

"So, Grandfather, please let me go to Lanxiang first and learn excavator skills from Master Takumi."

"What?" Senzaemon Nakiri's expression grew even more bewildered, and the teacup in his hand trembled.

"I, Erina Nakiri, am going to the Celestial Empire to learn how to operate an excavator!"

Erina Nakiri looked utterly serious.

"Bang!"

"Ptui!"

The tea Senzaemon Nakiri had been drinking to calm himself down splattered all over his face.

To this day, we still don't know what happened at the Nakiri Residence that day, or what the two Nakiris said to each other. All we know is that when Erina Nakiri came out, she was covering her face. You could still make out through the gaps between her fingers that her cheeks were red as hell.

Amid a chorus of:

"New Oriental, learn to... ahem, learn to cook! Eight hundred stainless-steel beds, three thousand technicians..."

"Excavators! Lan... that's a good place."

Erina Nakiri hurried off. Hisako chased after her for a long time, and when she finally caught up, Erina was still covering her face...

It was said that they'd found the videos in some ghost—some kind of section on Bilibili.

What a pity.

The longer you spent around Sogo Doma, the less likely you were to ever see a scene like that again. Anyone who heard about it would blush and hide.

After that, Erina Nakiri took to seeing Sogo Doma as a thorn in her side and constantly looked for trouble with him. She always ended up on the losing end, but she never seemed to tire of it (couldn't stand losing?).

As for Sogo Doma's reaction:

"Hahaha, so my bluff didn't work back then? Actually, I've also got Drainage Corner Drifting Ditch Shovel and Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Tumbles and stuff like that. Yep, if you're going to bluff, you might as well go all out!"

--

Back to the present.

Hearing her own Secretary... ahem, Hisako say that it had only been a joke, Erina Nakiri felt her teeth grind. She would never forget the scene of Senzaemon Nakiri watching a New Oriental video on Bilibili, with an expression like he was looking at an idiot...

Ahem.

No!

She'd never forget that scene either!

Senzaemon Nakiri had looked like this: "?_? Erina, are you sure you want to go?"

Erina Nakiri had looked like this: "@_@"

She had no idea how she made it out of the Nakiri Residence. All she knew was that for more than a month, she hadn't dared speak to Senzaemon Nakiri.

"Hisako, don't believe that guy so easily. To him, a promise is just a joke." Remembering what she'd been through, Erina Nakiri gritted her teeth.

But,

Arato Hisako rubbed her forehead. "Is this what they call a love-hate relationship? Come on, Miss, how many times have you already taste-tested his dishes..."

But before she could finish,

Erina Nakiri started calling out again. "Hisako, Hisako, come over here quickly. What's this about now?"

Arato Hisako: "..."

Good grief, Miss, why not learn a little computer skills?

Umaru tagged you. Let me take a look. She kept grumbling to herself, but Hisako still did what a secretary was supposed to do and opened U,M,R's Twitter.

There wasn't much there, just a boastful post about having Utako Kasumi's autograph. As for the replies, give her a break—when did God's Tongue have time to read replies?

Then,

"That little dumpling!!!" Erina Nakiri burst out.

Arato Hisako: "Ahem..."

She cleared her throat twice as a warning.

"Right."

Erina Nakiri showed she'd gotten the message, then said, "Umaru Doma!"

Meanwhile,

in Tokyo,

on the second floor of the Doma Family home,

Sogo Doma was clutching his head. "Hahaha... Work really isn't for me, is it? To hell with work! Wouldn't it be better to just stay home and take it easy?"

"People who say they want to work are all freaks. There's no way I'm going to work. Why not just bum around and freeload?"

"Haha, this world is rotten! Why can't you get food without working? Staying home without a job is great. I don't bother anyone, and I don't hurt myself."

"What should I do? What should I do? Should I go to Ryunosuke Akasaka and those guys? They'll make fun of me, won't they? They'll laugh their asses off if I go to them because of work!"

"Damn it, why did I ever say, 'I don't care if my friends have money, because they'll definitely have less than me'? Even if they have more than me now, they'll still be a little brother someday!"

"Little brother, save me!"