CHAPTER 734: CHAPTER 733: THE FANGS OF XIA’S FARM (PART I)

An unremarkable dinner.

Chen Yang managed to sit down and join everyone for the meal, but after eating, he approached Xia Yu intending to pay with "Merck’s Stars" for another serving of Xia’s Flowing Focaccia, only to be turned down.

"Sorry!"

"This recipe, I’ve just started working on it. I plan to delve deeper and attempt a second practice before making another attempt, otherwise it’s just a waste of precious spices!"

Standing at the entrance to Xia’s shop.

"Let’s go——"

Yan Qi said to his stunned pupil, and Chen Yang hurried to follow, asking with complexity, "Master Yan, is he really not lying?"

"What do you mean?"

"That spice bread--it’s actually a new recipe? He doesn’t sound like he’s been learning it for long..."

Hearing this, Yan Qi’s eyes showed a trace of surprise, and he paused his steps.

Turning back to look at the low building in the night, the leader of the Dark World said solemnly, "I can taste that he’s not lying. That stringy technique with the spices, still green, unrefined, clearly a display of being new to the ingredients’ characteristics; otherwise, with his ’spice inequality’..."

Chen Yang only caught the beginning and did not notice the softly spoken words "spice inequality."

"Then why didn’t you, Master Yan, point out the flaws in his cooking, guide him through the confusion, and let him understand more quickly?" Chen Yang’s expression was filled with puzzlement, and after hesitating, he still spoke up boldly, "I can tell, Master Yan, you really appreciate him!"

Yan Qi was taken aback for a while.

Was his appreciation that transparent?

However, Yan Qi did not deny it, and with a sigh said, "Yes, appreciation! Immense appreciation! Such an outstanding and brilliant young talent, yet not belonging to our Dark World, such a pity indeed!"

Chen Yang’s mind trembled.

In his words, Yan Qi could be said to have completely bared his ardent heart for seeking talent.

The Dark World had indeed been declining for too long.

Internationally, when people mention Dark Chefs, they think not of the Chinese Dark World, but rather the Food Dominator organization, led by the "Food Society."

Chen Yang felt an overwhelming sense of shame. As a disciple of Yan Qi, despite having an eagerness to outshine his mentor, the Chen Family had suffered a calamity, and he had been drifting overseas using his membership in the "Food Society" to make ends meet, making it difficult to shoulder his master’s concerns.

Suddenly, Chen Yang’s expression changed.

"Master Yan, think about it, hasn’t he already been branded by our Dark World?" Chen Yang made a cryptic reference.

Yan Qi immediately frowned, falling into a long contemplation.

...

Inside the shop.

The Yuchuan Sisters were tidying up the dishes after the meal.

Zhu Qing gave a thumbs up, and Yu Rong’s spirit shone brightly, feeling refreshed after consuming the ramen, "Such invigorating food! Filled with energy!"

Xia Yu smiled, shaking his head, and stood up to enter the kitchen.

"Hey!"

"I heard everything just now, a big fat sheep delivering Forbidden Ingredients to your doorstep, why didn’t you fleece him?" Zhu Qing shouted at his back, "Also, that spice bread, what is it?"

"Fleece? I’m not in the mood for that right now!"

Xia Yu was thoughtful as he returned to the open kitchen.

He glanced towards the system store.

What?

"Merck’s Stars" delivered right to my door?

Sorry, during the Sapporo competition, the Bai Luo Family’s supreme recipe made a shocking entrance, and "Merck’s Stars" was unlocked as the mission was completed.

Therefore, Xia Yu had plenty of Fame Points and could directly purchase Taboo Spices through the system channel.

With a backup supply channel, Xia Yu was not at all eager for it; he much preferred Chen Yang to bring over some other Forbidden Ingredients, but what was urgent was to master the two newly learned recipes.

Opening the taskbar.

Two tasks marked with ’new’ indicated they were in the collectible state.

"The True Meaning of Demon King (Recipe Improvement): You have successfully learned this recipe, and with the help of props, you have gained a deeper understanding of it. Please try a bold modification of this recipe to reach the standard of your ideal life recipe, which could be listed as one of your personal backup life recipes."

"Reward: Any life recipe (gold) that fits your culinary cells and unlocks matching ingredients."

"Punishment: None."

This is about the improvement task of "Demon King’s Ramen."

Another one, also closely related to the recipe:

"’The True Face of Merck Star Dust’ (Culinary): Please make use of the corresponding Taboo Spices to cook a dish that achieves a 60% pass rate. Note that the 60% completion rate only applies to ’Merck’s Stars,’ which means the host’s effective usage of the spice should exceed 60%."

"Reward: [Purification Stone]*1 (60%), [Purification Stone]*2 (80%), [Extreme Purification Stone]* (100%)."

Wow!

Purification Stones!

Xia Yu’s eyes snapped open and, as his breathing quickened, he looked down at the reward column, "Damn, the rewards are on a tiered system! If I complete the spice bread with an 80% pass rate, wouldn’t I get two stones, and the ’Jade Dragon Pot’ would be purified in an instant?"

Immediately, Xia Yu prioritized the two tasks in his mind.

’The True Meaning of Demon King’ would be postponed indefinitely.

But ’The True Face of Merck Star Dust’ must be completed before the end of the year!

"Back to the country! Back to the country!"

Xia Yu muttered to himself again, the restlessness within him growing stronger by the minute.

In the storefront, seeing Xia Yu quickly fall into a contemplative state, Zhu Qing was slightly surprised, then a hint of fondness and expectation for her junior flashed in her eyes. She whispered to herself, "Sister, Xia Hong, this is your offspring! He is destined to return to the Chinese homeland and fight for you!"

...

After ’The School Festival,’ Xia Yu had a busy schedule.

Xia’s store would resume business in a few days. The recipe for ’Light of Merck’ was still under research, not just the spice formula, but also the roasting and scent induction was fraught with difficulties. Unless the [Spice Inequality] suddenly advanced to the golden level, studying the Forbidden Kirin recipe would rely on grinding out time and effort.

In the morning,

At a forest park on the outskirts of Tokyo,

Xia Yu and Ichise Hui wore hard hats as they inspected an open space that had been cleared within the forest park.

"Instructor, this area is sufficient, and it’s well located. Do you see the national road up ahead? It’s very spacious. According to the plan, this will be the future tourist farm’s parking lot, designed to be quite large and accommodate many vehicles!" Ichise Hui said with full competence, her entire being vibrant and lively.

Amid the clamorous construction, with bulldozers roaring, Xia Yu found the noise not at all bothersome; instead, his face lit up with joy.

"Great! Very good!"

Xia Yu applauded.

At that moment, a black car approached from a distance and slowly stopped in front of them.

As the car door opened, a mature and attractive woman in a professional dress stepped out and, removing her sunglasses, smiled and said, "Chef Xia, long time no see!"

This woman was none other than Miss Feng Zhixi.

Ichise Hui explained, "Instructor, following your guidance, we put out a bid for the farm construction project. Miss Feng Zhixi’s City Life Planning Company submitted a perfect plan and the price was right too."

Xia Yu waved his hand, "No problem, I have cooperated with Miss Feng Zhixi before, and it was a pleasure for both parties!"

With that, the two shook hands.

After the inspection, Xia Yu planned to return to Tokyo by noon.

Outside the construction site.

"Instructor, Xia’s Farm’s official website is in preparation. I plan to open a direct delivery store featuring our farm’s fresh products... of course, we can also list processed specialty products and other agricultural by-products!"

Ichise Hui shared her ambitious plans.

"Agricultural products, specialty products?" Xia Yu was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly slapped his forehead as something came to mind and opened his task panel.

The farm management task ’Gold Mine’ had been lingering, unattended.

This task was tied to the profitability of the farm.

And it had been a while since he last checked the ranking of Xia’s Farm in the region. Now looking at it, there had been a slight improvement since the previous month, but it was still too far from the top thousand required by the task!

More profit was necessary!

"That’s excellent!"

Xia Yu nodded his head, his mind brimming with ideas that could complement Ichise Hui’s business plans.

For instance, creating Xia’s Farm Specialty products with Fantasy Ingredients.

And if he remembered correctly, the Rainbow Tree was about to produce another batch of Rainbow Fruit.

Could he leverage the ’miracle fruit’ to make a bold statement, announcing Xia’s Farm’s conquest in the agricultural industry?

"Ichise, I have an idea, let’s discuss it..."