You can't please everyone

But then Heath discovered the root of the problem: a portion of the ingredients for the Yellow-Braised Chicken he had made earlier at the table was missing.

"So... this thing is Yellow-Braised Chicken?" Heath was even more astonished. What on earth had Farfetch'd done to turn a serving of Yellow-Braised Chicken into this?

The "coal" in front of him couldn't even be called similar to Yellow-Braised Chicken. It bore absolutely no resemblance to it, and no one could possibly connect the two.

"Fetch..." Farfetch'd hugged his leek pitifully, crying out every so often as though trying to prove how unfairly he had been treated. Heath pursed his lips. He wasn't buying it now.

"Now make another serving of Red-Braised Pork. You eat one mouthful at a time and walk one step at a time. You want to reach the top in a single leap? Dream on." Heath felt rather helpless. He realized that Farfetch'd had probably gotten full of himself after successfully making Red-Braised Pork with his help.

He had actually dared to try making Yellow-Braised Chicken without Heath guiding him through every step!

Besides, the golden finger still hadn't notified him that Farfetch'd had completed the task, so Heath figured that the Red-Braised Pork Farfetch'd had mastered probably hadn't reached what the golden finger considered perfect.

"The night's still young. Let's take our time." Heath smiled as he closed the kitchen door. Farfetch'd gulped at the sight and instinctively covered his rear.

The corner of Heath's mouth twitched. He wasn't Ning Caichen, the ghost lover, or Xu Xian. How could he possibly take that sort of interest in a Pokémon?

"Prepare yourself, you bastard!"

[Farfetch'd has made a perfect serving of Red-Braised Pork with Fried Tofu. You have received the special reward: Golden Perfume.]

Heath sat on the kitchen floor, panting, and let out a long breath. Farfetch'd had finally made a decent serving of Red-Braised Pork with Fried Tofu and completed the golden finger's task.

Heath also felt a bottle appear in his trouser pocket. He took it out of his backpack for a look. The bottle contained a pink liquid, and he was rather delighted.

Heath remembered Golden Perfume as an item that also appeared in Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! It was fairly expensive, and its effect was remarkable: using it increased the chances of rare Pokémon appearing.

Looking at the Golden Perfume in his hand, Heath felt that the ingredients Farfetch'd had wasted had now paid for themselves. He just hoped the next chef's path task wouldn't be too outrageous.

Meanwhile, the utterly exhausted Farfetch'd leaned listlessly against the wall, propped up by his leek, with a thoroughly broken expression. He had discovered that Heath was far too frightening when he got serious.

"It's about time to get some rest. We still have to get up early tomorrow to buy ingredients." Heath yawned and checked his watch. It was already past midnight. If he didn't go to sleep soon, he would have no energy tomorrow.

After Heath recalled Farfetch'd and drifted off to sleep, some strange noises came from the kitchen. But it soon fell silent again, as though nothing had happened.

Heath got up very early the next morning. Since he had to prepare food for the inmates at Viridian City Prison today, he wasn't planning to open his breakfast stall. Preparing meals for fifty inmates was no easy job.

Heath could certainly cook everything in large batches, but dishes made that way wouldn't meet his standards. Besides, Sister Feng had found him this job. If he didn't do it well, Heath had no desire to find out whether his head was harder than concrete.

Cooking in large batches looked simple and sounded easy enough, but it was actually difficult. The proportions of ingredients and seasonings were a serious matter. Too much seasoning would make the food too salty and overpowering, while too little wouldn't work either, leaving it bland and tasteless.

So Heath planned to make things a little easier by preparing five different kinds of boxed meals, with each kind serving ten people.

[Have fifty inmates feel satisfied with the food you make. Your reward will be determined by the number of satisfied inmates.]

Heath froze for a moment. He had triggered another task? Still, getting a task was a good thing, and Heath wasn't picky. This one, however, made him abandon his original plan.

You couldn't please everyone. That wasn't just an empty saying. Back in China, someone traveling from one province to another might find the local food hard to get used to. Even people living in the same city had different preferences when it came to rice dumplings.

Some people liked White Rice Dumplings dipped in white sugar, while others preferred savory rice dumplings filled with salted egg yolk and ham.

Now Heath faced a problem: he needed to make food that would satisfy the inmates without knowing their tastes. That was downright absurd.

"This task... really is difficult. But what will the reward be?" Heath admitted he was a little curious.

"Then I'll handle it this way." After hesitating for a while, Heath finally settled on the dishes he would make today.

Heath decided to divide them by flavor: sweet, spicy, and light, followed by seafood-based and meat-based meals.

With that in mind, Heath hurried to the market and used the meal allowance Sister Feng had given him that morning to buy the ingredients he needed.

For the first time in ages, Heath experienced the joy of shopping for ingredients without having to budget every purchase. Once he had bought everything he needed, he did the math and found that he still had over four hundred League Coins left. He was very pleased.

Four hundred and change was just right. Earning that much was enough, and Heath wasn't greedy. In fact, to complete the task, he had even considered spending all two thousand five hundred League Coins on ingredients.

Heath returned with his ingredients to the Dormitory Area where Officer Jenny lived. With a friendly smile, he asked the cafeteria lady to let him use part of the kitchen, then started preparing the inmates' meals for the day.

For the sweet option, Heath made Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs as the main dish. Their sweet-and-sour flavor was very popular. Unless someone disliked sweetness and sourness, they generally couldn't resist the appeal of Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs.

The spicy option was easy: Mapo Tofu and Chongqing Spicy Chicken. For the lighter meals, he made things like pork rib soup and rice in chicken broth.

"Whew, good thing I still remember how to make Seafood Fried Rice. But seafood dishes are a bit of a weak spot for me." Heath rubbed his chin as he looked at the lunch boxes in front of him. All fifty were finally finished.

Beside him, Farfetch'd was staring at Heath with shining eyes. Seeing his expression, Heath chuckled and tapped him on the head.

"What do you want to learn?" Heath was in an excellent mood. Farfetch'd had superb knife skills and had been a tremendous help.