Why Was Waiting for Barbecue Such a Hassle? Boss, This Recipe Is Beyond Your Budget!

When they escaped from the auditorium, Lin Bei pulled Ruan Qingwu along, cutting past Weiming Lake and heading straight for the snack street outside campus.

The three grown men from Room 502 trailed behind them in a noisy pack, along with Zhao Mengyao and Lin Ruoxue.

The moment they stepped outside the campus gates, the smoky bustle of everyday life hit them head-on.

"Boss! Put two tables together! Thirty lamb skewers, twenty beef, ten big kidneys, and two cases of ice-cold killer Wusu beer!"

Fatty Wang bellowed in his cracked-gong voice, expertly directing Liu Chen and Chen Mo to move plastic stools.

They had barely sat down when the gazes from several nearby tables swept over them like radar.

"Hey, hey, look! Isn't that the god who played the guqin at the welcome gala?"

"Holy shit! It really is!"

"Isn't that Campus Belle Ruan from the School of Economics and Management beside him? She's even prettier in person than onstage!"

A few bolder students came straight over with plastic cups in hand, all smiles.

"Dude, you were awesome! That piece you played was incredible. Have a drink?"

Lin Bei leaned against the back of his plastic chair without putting on airs, lazily raising his paper cup to clink with theirs in greeting.

Ruan Qingwu sat quietly beside Lin Bei.

Her heartbeat still hadn't fully settled after Lin Bei had held her hand onstage in front of thousands of people.

An alluring pink tinged her fair cheeks beneath the snack street's dim yellow streetlights.

She said nothing, simply holding a cup of warm water and listening to Fatty boast with spit flying everywhere.

"I'm telling you, Brother Bei's a true master who keeps his talents hidden! Back in our residential compound, he was..."

While Fatty was boasting away, Zhao Mengyao kicked him under the table and leaned over, waggling her eyebrows.

"Hey, Fatty, who taught Lin Bei to play the guqin? He was ridiculously handsome when he accompanied our Qingwu onstage. Our Qingwu's practically lost her soul."

Ruan Qingwu blushed even harder and reached under the table to pinch Zhao Mengyao's thigh.

"Nobody will think you're mute if you say a little less."

Listening to their bickering, Lin Bei yawned.

The food stall was doing a roaring trade, packed layer upon layer with students who had come for a late-night meal after the gala.

After nearly an hour, their table had only received two plates of boiled edamame and a few bottles of beer.

Fatty's stomach was drumming with hunger. He grabbed a handful of edamame and stuffed them into his mouth.

"Boss! Hurry up! If you don't bring the meat soon, Lord Fatty's going to chew up these edamame pods!"

Ruan Qingwu also frowned slightly, one hand unconsciously rubbing her flat stomach.

She had barely eaten that afternoon because of her evening performance, and dancing had used up most of her energy. By now, she was truly starving.

Lin Bei noticed and was just about to get up to hurry things along.

Deep inside his mind, that familiar mechanical voice suddenly rang out without warning.

"Ding!"

"Current scenario detected. Daily quest triggered: [Late-Night Delicacy]!"

"Quest objective: Host must personally prepare a barbecue and conquer the taste buds of the diners present."

"Quest reward: One Intelligence-Opening Pill! Three Low-Grade Spirit Stones!"

Lin Bei paused, his eyes instantly lighting up.

This lousy system was usually stingy as hell. Why had it suddenly become so generous today?

And that Intelligence-Opening Pill sounded like something good.

"When wool offers itself up at your door, you'd be a fool not to fleece it."

Lin Bei stood, brushed the dust from his trouser legs, and walked straight toward the grill.

"Brother Bei, where are you going? The toilet's out back," Fatty called.

"To get you something to eat. Shut your mouth and wait."

At the barbecue stand, the owner was grilling with sweat pouring down his head, waving his palm-leaf fan so hard it looked ready to take flight.

"Student, stop rushing me! Can't you see the flames are practically shooting out? There are still five tables ahead of you!" the owner shouted without looking up.

Standing beside the grill, Lin Bei didn't respond.

His gaze swept over the area and landed on a small unused grill nearby.

"Boss, let me borrow that empty grill. I'll cook my own."

The owner froze for a moment, then looked up, saw a student in camouflage, and waved a hand.

"Fine, fine. The raw meat's all in the freezer. Help yourself. Just don't put the fire out."

He couldn't keep up anyway. If a student wanted to do it himself, he couldn't ask for more.

Lin Bei didn't stand on ceremony. He turned to the freezer, grabbed a large handful of lamb skewers, and took a few vegetable skewers as well.

A few students waiting for barbecue nearby couldn't help laughing at the sight.

"Dude, are you so hungry you've gone desperate? Grilling it yourself?"

"That heat isn't easy to control. Don't turn everything into charcoal."

Lin Bei ignored them.

His cultivation was at the qi refining second layer now, and his five senses were frighteningly sharp.

The temperature of the charcoal and the extent to which the fat in the lamb had melted were as clear to him as though they had progress bars.

After washing his hands, he grabbed a handful of raw lamb skewers and spread them across the wire rack.

"Sizzle-"

The intense heat instantly forced the fat from the surface of the lamb.

Lin Bei moved with astonishing speed, scooping up the oil brush beside him with his left hand and sweeping it over the skewers like flowing clouds and running water.

There wasn't a single wasted movement. Every turn landed precisely at the critical point when the meat was at its most tender.

But that wasn't enough.

Even with perfect heat control, ordinary grilled meat couldn't meet the system's extravagant demand to "conquer the diners' taste buds."

Lin Bei's gaze shifted slightly.

With his left hand, he pinched up a little cumin and chili powder.

Where no one could see, he forced a barely perceptible wisp of green spiritual power from his fingertips.

The spiritual power instantly ground the coarse seasonings into an exceptionally fine powder, even drawing out the spices' most fundamental flavors.

He flicked his wrist.

The seasonings, wrapped in spiritual power, scattered evenly over the sizzling, fatty skewers.

The instant the seasonings touched the piping-hot lamb...

An overpowering aroma exploded without warning from the grill in front of Lin Bei!

That aroma played by no rules whatsoever.

It wasn't the pungent smell of cheap artificial flavoring, but pure meaty fragrance pushed to its utmost by spiritual power, mingled with the aroma of spices.

Carried by the early-autumn evening breeze, it swept across the entire food stall in an instant.

The normally noisy snack street fell eerily silent for three seconds.

Fatty, who had been boasting, shut his mouth.

The students competing over drinks put down their cups.

Even the owner, sweating buckets as he worked, stopped waving his palm-leaf fan.

"Gulp."

Someone swallowed a huge mouthful of saliva.

"Holy shit... what's that smell? It smells amazing!"

"Who's grilling that meat? That smell is incredible!"

Every gaze followed the aroma to its source, locking onto Lin Bei as he stood at the grill in the corner.

Expressionless, Lin Bei loaded the cooked skewers onto a stainless-steel plate and carried them back to his table.

The moment he sat down, Fatty's eyes nearly popped out.

"Brother Bei, did... did you grill these?"

Lin Bei ignored him, picked out a dozen or so skewers without chili, placed them on a separate small plate, and pushed it in front of Ruan Qingwu.

"Eat. No chili, so they won't hurt your stomach."

Ruan Qingwu froze.

She looked at the perfectly grilled lamb skewers before her, then at Lin Bei's casual face, and her heart suddenly skipped half a beat.

Had he gone to grill the meat because he'd noticed she was hungry?

And he even remembered she couldn't eat anything too spicy.

Warmth spread outward from her heart.

Ruan Qingwu bit her lower lip and whispered, "Thank you."

She picked up a skewer and took a small bite.

Just that one bite.

Ruan Qingwu's eyes instantly widened.

Crisp outside and tender within, the meat burst with juices in her mouth.

Even more amazingly, as she swallowed the meat, a warm current seemed to slip into her stomach along with it.

The cramps brought on by hunger and exhaustion vanished without a trace, and an indescribable sense of comfort spread throughout her body.

It was so delicious.

Never in her life had she eaten grilled meat this good.

"Is it good?" Zhao Mengyao kept swallowing as she watched beside her.

Ruan Qingwu couldn't spare the time to speak. She nodded repeatedly and took another big bite.

The campus belle who normally chewed slowly and carefully now ate with both cheeks bulging.

Fatty had long since lost all restraint. He reached out, grabbed a skewer, and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Hot, hot, hot!" Fatty panted from the heat, yet couldn't bear to spit it out.

After gulping it down in a few bites, he slapped his thigh.

"Holy shit! This is godly! Brother Bei, your skills are incredible! This is a hundred times better than anything a fucking five-star hotel chef could make!"

Liu Chen and Chen Mo didn't stand on ceremony either, each grabbing several skewers and wolfing them down.

Zhao Mengyao and Lin Ruoxue also completely abandoned their image, eating until grease coated their mouths.

While they were feasting, the diners at the surrounding tables finally couldn't sit still anymore.

That aroma was pure torment.

Watching Lin Bei's group eat with such relish, they suddenly found the edamame on their own tables utterly tasteless.

A sophomore with dyed yellow hair came over holding a glass of beer, his face wreathed in smiles.

"Dude, let's talk. Are you selling those skewers? I'll pay fifty yuan for one. I just want a taste."

"I'll pay a hundred!" A fat guy at another table grew anxious and whipped out his phone, ready to scan a payment code. "Bro, sell me two. My girlfriend's craving them so badly she's about to cry!"

"Me too! Give me five!"

In the blink of an eye, Lin Bei's table was surrounded so tightly not even water could get through.

Lin Bei leaned back against his plastic chair, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Not for sale. They're for us."

Lin Bei refused flatly.

Groans rose all around them.

Just then, the food stall's owner pushed through the crowd and rushed over.

Breathing hard, the owner stared fixedly at the few remaining skewers on Lin Bei's table as though looking at some rare treasure.

He had been grilling for over a decade, and his nose was keener than a dog's.

The moment that aroma had appeared, he'd known the technique was absolutely master-level.

No, even a master couldn't grill something with a flavor that struck straight at the soul!

If he could get his hands on that recipe, he could absolutely open shops all across the country!

"Brother!" The owner seized Lin Bei's hand, trembling all over with excitement. "How did you mix that seasoning you sprinkled on just now? I'll pay a hundred thousand! No, two hundred thousand! For your exclusive recipe!"

His words caused an uproar.

Two hundred thousand for a barbecue recipe? Had the owner gone crazy?

Yet smelling that lingering aroma in the air, they felt two hundred thousand wasn't a bad deal at all.

When Lin Bei said nothing, Old Li clung tightly to his sleeve. "Young brother, if two hundred thousand isn't enough, we can go into business together! Put your skills in as your share, and we'll split the profits fifty-fifty!"

The onlookers were stunned.

"Holy shit, Old Li's shop must make several hundred thousand a year in profit, right? A fifty-fifty split? This guy's struck it rich!"

"This isn't barbecue. These are gold bars!"

The corner of Lin Bei's mouth twitched.

A recipe?

You'd have to reach the qi refining second layer to use my recipe. Could you learn that?

I can't exactly take your two hundred thousand yuan and teach you immortal cultivation, can I?

"There's no recipe. I just sprinkled stuff on," Lin Bei said offhandedly, brushing him off.

"Impossible!" Old Li clung to Lin Bei and wouldn't let go. "Young brother, name your price! As long as you're willing to sell, we can negotiate!"

The students nearby who hadn't had their fill also joined the clamor.

"Great God, grill another couple of batches!"

"Yeah! We've all been waiting forever!"

The crowd grew larger and larger. Passersby outside the food stall caught the aroma and began squeezing over as well.

The situation was about to spiral out of control.

Right on cue, the system's notification sounded inside Lin Bei's mind.

"Ding! Quest [Late-Night Delicacy] completed."

"Rewards have been delivered to the system space."

With the goods in hand, there was no need to stay here being gawked at like a monkey.

Lin Bei exerted a little force and broke free of Old Li's grip, then reached into his pocket, pulled out a hundred-yuan bill, and slapped it on the table.

Then he grabbed Ruan Qingwu, who was still gnawing on a lamb skewer, and pulled her up.

"Let's move."

Before Ruan Qingwu could react, Lin Bei had dragged her through the crowd and out.

"Hey! Young man, don't go! We can talk some more about the recipe!" Old Li stamped his feet anxiously behind them.

Still clutching two meat skewers, Fatty Wang stared dumbfounded at Lin Bei's retreating back.

"Holy shit! Brother Bei, you've got no martial honor! Wait for us!"

Liu Chen and Chen Mo hurriedly grabbed a few meat skewers from the table too, then pulled Zhao Mengyao and Lin Ruoxue along as they ran out.