Come on over!

Nervous.

Excited.

Drooling!

The onlookers had suddenly gone from tourists to customers.

It wasn't just that Jiang Yao had dazzled them.

The aroma had drawn them in, too.

Some were already wondering whether to buy out the entire batch.

With a little packaging, Qiongshi Bird Skewers could keep for a long time.

But!

"I made these for myself. They're not for sale! Go on, clear out~"

An attractive smile still graced Jiang Yao's face.

As his words fell,

the crowd immediately went even quieter.

For some reason,

never mind Gao Tang, Auntie Gao, and the customers,

even Bailu and Phantylia thought the smile on Jiang Yao's face was downright punchable.

Then an even louder uproar erupted:

"Wait, buddy! Why?!"

"Please, please, I'm begging you!"

"I have a friend whose dying wish is to eat one Qiongshi Bird Skewer. Could you help him out?!"

"I'll pay ten times the price!"

"Come on, bro, you can't do this to us!"

"I've already got my pants down, and this is all you're giving me?"

"..."

It was still morning, a good three or four system hours before noon.

Aurum Alley, never particularly crowded to begin with, was even quieter now.

But in that quiet, vendors who had just gotten up, along with people still in bed, suddenly heard waves of wailing from outside their homes.

The cries were pitiful and miserable, like alley cats seized by the scruff of fate.

They gave everyone who heard them goosebumps.

"Seriously, why do I feel like you're even more punchable than I am?"

Gao Tang was the one who said that.

He was practically losing his mind with anger.

He had already been in a bad mood after getting suckered into trying Auntie Gao's new snack that morning, only to find it was a dud.

His patience had finally paid off, and he had witnessed a miracle.

Then, crack.

The miracle shattered!

You're telling me you're eating these yourself? Can you even finish them?!

"Young man, why don't you... make some more? You can use whatever ingredients and supplies you need, free of charge."

Auntie Gao tried to persuade him, too.

Mostly, she had initially thought Jiang Yao was a rookie with little experience.

By the time she realized something was off,

his handiwork had stunned her, leaving her utterly engrossed.

She really wanted to learn...

No, even if she couldn't learn, he could at least let her have a serving!

She was willing to pay!

"Exactly! Buddy, just make a few more servings!"

Someone pleaded desperately, looking heartbroken.

"Ugh, let's go, let's go. If I keep standing here smelling this, I'm going to want to punch someone!"

Seeing that Jiang Yao was adamant and wouldn't even reply, some people left with sighs of disappointment.

All those remarks

went in one ear and out the other for Jiang Yao.

There were only so many Qiongshi Bird Skewers.

He had calculated the portions precisely.

Not a single skewer to spare!

One extra skewer for someone else meant one less for him!

How was that fair?

As for making another batch?

He might as well spend that time improving other snacks!

Why stick to one thing when he could enjoy some variety?

And so Jiang Yao really did pack away the remaining Qiongshi Bird Skewers, pat Bailu, who was still savoring their flavor, and give the dumbstruck Tingyun a meaningful look.

He was ready to leave.

The flavor of the candied Qiongshi Bird Skewers had exceeded his expectations.

But they were still just a snack.

How could they possibly satisfy the appetite of Voracity?

Besides, to be fair,

between last night and this morning, he had pretty much eaten his way through this part of Aurum Alley.

Making himself eat those flawed foods again would really be asking too much of himself.

He might as well give all the local specialty snacks a little upgrade today!

If nothing else,

he had to keep Asta hooked first.

He, Jiang Yao, wasn't some kind of monster.

How could he raise Asta like a Pal?

At the very least, he had to give her a taste of the rewards!

It was like riding a donkey.

You dangled a carrot in front of it.

Yep, just dangling promises~

The difference was that Jiang Yao would actually deliver~

While making the candied Qiongshi Bird Skewers earlier, Jiang Yao had already made up his mind.

He might as well improve the Dream Tapir Roll, Singing Lotus Root Cake, and Hot Floating Mutton Milk all at once.

How should he describe the Xianzhou's Dream Tapir Roll?

It was a bit like a cross between steamed sponge cake and regular cake from his previous life.

Jiang Yao actually thought it was quite a shame.

The name "Dream Tapir Roll" sounded like it had real potential to be a meat-stuffed bun.

Failing that, a grilled meat wrap would have been great, too!

Why was it a dessert?

He couldn't figure it out. He really couldn't.

The Xianzhou's naming logic was just too strange.

As for the Singing Lotus Root Cake, Jiang Yao had ten thousand complaints about that.

It clearly had a pastry's name.

Yet it looked like a deep-fried skewer.

It was hard not to call that a different kind of NTR.

As for Hot Floating Mutton Milk,

well, there was nothing wrong with that stuff. It was just hot goat milk.

However!

The Xianzhou's Hot Floating Mutton Milk had a very distinctive character.

Its nutrition and flavor were both top-notch.

It could have become a signature Xianzhou product. Taking the entire universe by storm might have been a little difficult, but selling well across a galaxy would have been no problem.

Unfortunately,

this Hot Floating Mutton Milk just couldn't get its act together.

It couldn't bear to leave home!

In plain language: it was extremely difficult to preserve and spoiled easily.

And,

once heated, Hot Floating Mutton Milk tasted very sweet without any added sugar.

That was an advantage.

But if you drank it after it cooled down, it turned bitter!

That was a disadvantage.

Put those two together, and you got: what sane person wanted a hot drink on a scorching day?

Besides, not everyone liked hot milk, okay?

Once cold weather arrived, temperatures were already low, and the milk cooled down quickly.

Then it would turn bitter again.

That left Hot Floating Mutton Milk in a rather awkward position.

If that were all,

it would have been manageable.

Drinking it freshly heated on a cold day was still quite pleasant.

The more ridiculous part was,

Hot Floating Mutton Milk could only be heated once!

Yes, once Hot Floating Mutton Milk had been heated for the first time,

the drink's countdown to turning evil began.

Either you drank it within the time limit and everyone was happy,

or it turned evil and tasted utterly awful.

There was no exploiting a bug by reheating it over and over.

All those debuffs stacked together kept Hot Floating Mutton Milk from becoming popular.

After all, this had nothing to do with the chef.

Nothing to do with technique.

Nothing to do with preparation.

Nothing to do with the recipe.

It was a problem with the raw ingredient!

It was an inherent property of the ingredient itself!

But,

Jiang Yao believed being a chef wasn't just about making edible dishes.

Exploring all the different ways to enjoy an ingredient was also an important part of the job.

He firmly believed there was nothing in the universe that tasted bad (except Stellarons and Himeko's coffee).

There were only chefs who didn't know how to cook.

A true master

always kept a heart full of...

Pfft!

Wrong script!

Let's try that again~

A true master—

wasn't that someone who could turn even the most unpromising ingredients into something miraculous?

So,

Jiang Yao resolved to make Cold Floating Goat Milk, or even Frozen Goat Milk!

He had actually gotten some ideas after drinking it last night.

However,

before that,

there was one more thing.

He had to wait for his errand runner.

Judging by the time,

Kafka should already have gotten away.

He just wondered whether the reliable Uncle Yang had handed the Light Cone over to Kafka yet.

Besides...

Welt, March 7th, and Stelle should have been coming over by now, too.

Sure, in the game's story, those three born workhorses rushed nonstop to the Artisanship Commission, the Alchemy Commission, and so on.

But long, long ago, when Jiang Yao had first transmigrated into this world and become the Aeon of Voracity, he had already understood one thing—

A game was a game, and reality was reality.

There was a huge difference between the two.

At the very least, there was still enough time for the three of them to have lunch.

So, hurry on over, my handy little helpers~