The Game Of Life

From sharp-sighted seniors to hungry freshmen, their wallets were usually full at the beginning of the semester. With enough money, there was no way they would dine in the canteen. The canteen at A university was known for its inconsistency. When the chefs did their best, the food was okay. But when they couldn"t care less about the food they made, they would use washing up water to make soups or add strange seasonings into the Miso Soup. Some would even make Stir-fry Tomato with Pineapple or bake mooncakes with chili. There wasn"t anything they wouldn"t do.

The Healthy Restaurant could be counted as a ma.s.sive shop around A University. Even though the price was on the expensive side, there were still students who wouldn"t mind spending a little extra buck. When it was almost mid-noon, the first and second floors were fully seated. Some of the customers even had to sit with another group of customers on the round tables.

"Hey, where"s the club president?" Liu Zixuan asked as he ran into the shop out of breath, shocked by the line outside the restaurant. "The teacher wouldn"t let us go even when the cla.s.s was over."

Liu Zixuan almost thought that he was at the canteen.

The crowd at the restaurant was almost as huge as when the canteen was doing a promotion.

"There are too many customers, Jiang Feng went to help out in the kitchen," w.a.n.g hao explained. "Go and help Qiu Chen on the second floor. I think he will have to chop his legs off soon if he keeps running like that."

They ran back and forth, serving customers until half-past one.

"Hey, how did you even promote your shop? Why are there so many people today?" w.a.n.g Hao asked as he gulped down a gla.s.s of Sour Prune Juice like how Jiang Jiankang usually did.

"Today is the start of the semester, don"t you know that the Canteen 1, 5, and 6 are closed? It would be weird if you could find a restaurant that"s not packed around here," Jiang Feng said.

All three canteens that Jiang Feng had just mentioned were handled by the same company. The company usually started to operate three days after the semester began.

"You"re right," Qiu Chen nodded as he recalled the first time he had to fight for food in the canteen during the early few days of the semester when he was still a freshman. "Aren"t you planning to do food deliveries? Liu Qian just asked me when you are planning to join one of the food delivery services."

"Are you blind? Didn"t you see the notice outside? Hiring Delivery Boy," w.a.n.g Hao scolded as he ate.

"We don"t do deliveries," Jiang Jiankang suddenly said. "I"ve been cooking for over 20 years, and I"ve never touched that."

"Shut it," w.a.n.g Xiulian scolded as she rolled her eyes. "You just don"t want to lose some of the profit to the delivery services."

"We only deliver foods to our frequent customers," Jiang Feng explained. "We did have a plan for that, but let"s just talk about it after we manage to hire someone."

After lunch, some of them still have cla.s.ses and left, while the others went back to the dorm. Since Jiang Feng didn"t have any cla.s.ses after that, he stayed back in the shop and helped prepare the ingredients for dinner. He then cooked two pots of congee so that his [Congee Cooking (Intermediate)] skill wouldn"t go to waste.

Since the restaurant was too busy for Jiang Jiankang to handle alone during lunchtime, Jiang Feng had the chance to help cook some food. That helped him raise his [Fire Control] and [Seasoning] skills quite a large amount. While he was staring at the congee boiling in the pots, he couldn"t help but think of an idea.

What if I make the Salix Leaf-shaped Steamed Bird"s Nest Soup on my own…

Jiang Feng then quickly shook the thought off. If w.a.n.g Xiulian learned that her son has wasted countless bird"s nests on experimenting, she would"ve killed him even if he was her flesh and blood.

Jiang Feng hummed as he julienned cuc.u.mbers. On the long plate next to him were shredded carrots, julienned white radishes, shredded and sliced potatoes, chilies, and sliced pumpkins. Just the color from the plate was enough to make a person hungry.

The reason that no meat could be seen around Jiang Feng wasn"t that he didn"t want to handle meat, but because Jiang Jiankang was an extreme meat lover. His criteria for meats far outweighed his requirement for greens. He had to process every single piece of meat on his own. From tr.i.m.m.i.n.g to slicing and cutting, everything had to go through his own hands. He was making sure that each and every animal that died for the sake of the food had a worthy death.

"Ding! Main Quest [The Rising Restaurant] completed. Quest reward: [Container for Food Delivery]."

"Ding! New Main Quest found. [Gaining a Firm Reputation]: Gain acknowledgements from 1,000 customers for Healthy Restaurant."

Jiang Feng accepted the quest and checked his status board.

[Gaining a Firm Reputation]: Gain acknowledgements from 1,000 customers for Healthy Restaurant. Quest Progress (2/1,000).

Tips: Acknowledgement from customers is vital to a newly established restaurant. Make Healthy Restaurant into the best restaurant around A University.

Making Healthy Restaurant into the best around the university wasn"t going to be an easy feat to accomplish. Not only was there a street behind the campus that was filled with shops selling foods and drinks, but the Admin Department also had more than 20 restaurants near it. Adding up the canteens and small shops on the campus, there were more than 100 restaurants around the university. Among them were shops that had been there since 30 years ago.

Rising above these 100 restaurants wasn"t going to be easy.

Adding up the students, teachers, and staff of the university, the total population was around 10,000. Jiang Feng would at least have to gain acknowledgement from 10% of them. Even though A University had another campus, it was 40 kilometers away from where they were.

Jiang Feng decided to put the Main Quest aside first. He decided to check the reward he got from completing the previous Main Quest.

The [Container for Food Delivery] showed up on his item list. Jiang Feng clicked on it, and a polyfoam container appeared in front of him out of nowhere.

It was a plain-looking polyfoam container. The word "Delivery" was written messily on the top of the white box. Having a box that wasn"t broken was probably the best gift the system could give Jiang Feng.

It looked like what other cheap restaurants around A University would use for their delivery services.

Jiang Feng stared at the container for quite a long time speechlessly.

This is the reward for completing the Main Quest? Heck, can it even contain heat?

But, then again, it might come in handy in the future.

Jiang Feng then clicked on the "Recall" b.u.t.ton on the system.

"h.e.l.lo? Is anyone here?" someone was shouting outside the door.

"Coming!" Jiang Feng shouted.

When he got out of the kitchen and saw a girl with a ponytail standing outside the door, looking at the hiring post.

"Hi. Are you guys still looking for part-time… Jiang Feng?" the girl exclaimed.

"Club President?"

Both of them stared at each other in shock.

"You"re working part-time here too?" Ji Yue, the girl, asked.

"Wait, I thought you are preparing for your Master"s exam?" Jiang Feng asked, remembering that Ji Yue was applying for her Master"s degree.

Ji Yue was the previous president of the Chinese Chess Club. She just graduated with a Bachelor"s Degree in Graphic Design. Since she failed her last entrance exam for her Master"s Degree, she rented an apartment near the campus to prepare for the next one.

"Something came up. My brother just started his studies, and my parents can"t afford to pay for the one-year preparation. There"s no way I can pay for everything just by doing freelance designs," Ji Yue explained while smiling wryly.

"This is my parents" shop," Jiang Feng said. "But isn"t it a waste for you to work here with your talents?"

"I want to draw too…" Ji Yue sighed. "But no one is buying my designs right now. I never thought you"re actually from a rich family. Plus, you do know how bad our school"s College of Arts is. You know that I started learning how to draw at the last minute just so I could get into A University."

Ji Yue paused and continued, "So, how about it? You know what kind of person I am. Just pay me whatever you want and give me three meals a day. That"s my offer. I just need something to help me pull-through before the exam."

"1500 a month with three meals. But you"ll have to work seven days a week. You can quit whenever you want when you find a better job," Jiang Feng made an offer.

"That"s perfect! Thank you!" Ji Yue exclaimed. "Man, you really helped me out. If not, I would"ve died from hunger soon. Oh, right, how good is the food here?"

"I just made some congee. Do you want to try some?"

"Sure thing. Sweet or savory congee?"

"… Just tell me the truth. When"s the last time you had a decent meal?"

"…"