The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Slammed by a Full Manchu-Han Banquet

The wake-up time in the back kitchen is always linked to how quickly the buyers return fully loaded.

Just finished a night shift, played a game round until dawn, finally winning the team battle in the early hours.

Fu Yu set the alarm for 7 a.m., feeling at ease as he fell asleep.

”Fu Yu! Are you up yet? The procurement’s back, hurry over to help sort the vegetables!”

Fu Yu groggily woke up, shouting with his eyes closed, ”I worked the night shift yesterday!”

There’s a rule that sorting the vegetables in the early morning is a day shift task.

Just as he hoarsely replied, a bizarre electronic sound rang in his ear!

[Ding! NPC Chef Zhao Meng’s task: Assist the buyer in sorting vegetables. Task completion reward: 10 RMB, 10 sorting experience, 5 task experience]

Fu Yu: ”!”

Instantly wide awake.

He got out of bed, didn’t even bother to put on slippers, and yanked open the door: ”Chef Zhao, what did you just say?”

Zhao Meng frowned, ”Sun Qingning called in sick today, you’re filling in for him to sort the vegetables. I’m simmering some soup here, can’t leave.”

[Ding! NPC Chef Zhao Meng’s task: Assist the buyer in sorting vegetables. Task completion reward: 10 RMB, 10 sorting experience, 5 task experience]

[Accept task: Yes or No]

The electronic sound came out of nowhere.

Fu Yu stared wide-eyed in shock.

What the hell!

What’s going on!

Have I had a mental breakdown from all the late nights?

In this environment where sudden death is so common, hallucinating from extreme fatigue seems quite normal.

Even in this cold weather, although there’s floor heating inside, the heating supply is paused in the morning.

The cold tile floor pressed against the soles of his feet couldn’t calm him down.

The endlessly looping choice-prompting electronic sound echoed in his ear.

”I’m heading to the kitchen, you hurry to the storeroom to sort the goods, and by the way clean it up.”

[Ding! NPC Chef Zhao Meng’s task: Clean the storeroom. Task completion reward: 10 RMB, 10 cleaning experience, 5 task experience]

Zhao Meng glanced disapprovingly at Fu Yu’s bare feet, ”Make it quick.”

Zhao Meng turned and walked away.

Fu Yu was about to respond when he looked up and saw a ”?” standing upright above Zhao Meng’s head.

Instinctively wanting to click on it, a thought barely flashed by before the question mark transformed into a dialog box.

Zhao Meng walked too quickly; he couldn’t see the tiny letters in the dialog box clearly.

He watched as Zhao Meng’s voice faded away around the corner.

Fu Yu slammed the door shut with a bang.

He closed his eyes.

He slapped himself on both cheeks.

”Slap slap!”

Damn!

That really hurt!

He opened his eyes, still in his dorm room, his messy little doghouse.

He wasn’t dreaming!

His legs gave out.

Bang!

He leaned against the door.

The choice-prompting electronic sound still looped in his ear.

This is freaking surreal!

If I choose it, will I be bound to the system?

The next second.

First task, choose: Yes.

Second task, choose: Yes.

Afraid to hesitate for even a second, lest the system regret and retract the task.

Fu Yu, his steps unsteady, changed clothes and put on shoes.

With a blank mind, he headed to the storeroom.

”Hey! Why is it you! Where’s Sun Qingning?”

Buyer Xu Wei saw Fu Yu and greeted him warmly.

Fu Yu walked over.

”He’s on leave, I’m filling in for him this morning.”

While they spoke, Fu Yu noticed a bright ”!” atop Xu Wei’s head.

Wondering if the exclamation mark could also open a dialog box, the mark transformed into a dialog box in the next second.

[Three-year veteran buyer. Status: Slacking off]

Fu Yu was shocked.

Could he actually see others’ attributes?

Is this still the real world?

Xu Wei opened the back of the van, revealing baskets of vegetables and fruits inside.

”These are today’s purchases; let’s get a hand on unloading them together, okay?”

Xu Wei seemed a bit anxious.

He was in charge of the daily purchases for the restaurant, starting his shift at 4:30 in the morning, and there’d be no more work for him after unloading.

[Ding! NPC buyer Xu Wei’s task: Assist Xu Wei in transporting all the items from the truck to the storeroom. Task completion reward: 10 RMB, 5 strength, 5 favorability]

[Accept task: Yes or No]

Without hesitation, Fu Yu accepted the task, choosing ”Yes.”

Fu Yu nodded, ”Alright, the sooner we finish, the sooner we can rest.”

Xu Wei was delighted, skillfully hopping into the van, ”I’ll pass the goods down, you catch them, and we’ll move them together after unloading.”

They unloaded all the goods from the truck and transported them to the storeroom.

Fu Yu suddenly noticed another ”?” appear beside the ”!” atop Xu Wei’s head.

Thinking about checking it out.

The ”?” once again turned into a dialog box.

[Buyer Xu Wei is one step away from completing the purchase task; serious communication may trigger a side quest.]

Fu Yu lowered his gaze toward Xu Wei.

The goods are all unloaded, what else does he want?

Tentatively, he said, ”If there’s nothing else, you can leave first, I’ll stay to organize the storeroom.”

Xu Wei took out his phone for a glance, casually asking, ”Hey, did you see Chef Zhao when you came over?”

Fu Yu stacked the vegetables on the racks together, ”Yeah, he’s busy in the kitchen. What’s up?”

Xu Wei said, ”I need to find Chef Zhao to sign off the form.”

Fu Yu quickly replied, ”I’ll take it to him for you later, save you the trip back and forth.”

Xu Wei was immediately pleased, nodding repeatedly, ”Alright, thanks a lot.”

[Ding! NPC buyer Xu Wei is in a hurry and asks for your help to pass on a purchase form. Task completion reward: 5 RMB, 5 bookkeeping experience, 5 task experience]

Fu Yu deftly opted for ”Yes.”

Xu Wei handed over the purchase form.

Fu Yu took hold of it.

The two walked out together.

Xu Wei, as he fished for the car keys, said, ”You’re a good person, among all the guys in the kitchen, you’re the most easygoing. The last time Chef Gu asked Sun Qingning to help me sort the inventory, he gave me such attitude.”

Fu Yu chuckled, not engaging in the conversation, waving the purchase form in his hand, ”Drive safely, I’ll send the form to finance once Chef Zhao signs it.”

Xu Wei, oblivious to Fu Yu’s aloofness, thanked him gratefully, ”Sure, thanks a lot!”

Fu Yu turned and headed to the kitchen.

Come on!

Engaging in backbiting, especially gossiping about colleagues, was something only a fool would do!

When Fu Yu got to the kitchen, the first thing he did was hand over the purchase form to Zhao Meng, reporting promptly, ”The vegetables are sorted and the storeroom has been cleaned, here’s Xu Wei’s purchase form for you to sign.”

Zhao Meng deftly signed his name on the purchase form, nodding, ”Alright, good job.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the electronic notification sound promptly rang in Fu Yu’s ears.

[Ding! NPC Zhao Meng’s task: Assist the buyer in sorting vegetables, successfully completed, reward: 10 RMB, 10 sorting experience, 5 task experience]

[Ding! NPC Chef Zhao Meng’s task: Clean the storeroom, successfully completed, reward: 10 RMB, 10 cleaning experience, 5 task experience]

[Ding! NPC buyer Xu Wei’s task: Assist Xu Wei in transporting all the items from the truck to the storeroom, successfully completed, reward: 10 RMB, 5 strength, 5 favorability]

[Ding! NPC buyer Xu Wei is in a hurry and asks for help to pass on a purchase form, successfully completed, reward: 5 RMB, 5 bookkeeping experience, 5 task experience]

”Buzz buzz buzz!!”

Right after the electronic sound ended, Fu Yu’s pocket vibrated.

Fu Yu took his phone out to check.

[Agricultural Bank of China] Dear customer: The task reward of 35 RMB has been transferred from the Agricultural Bank to the account ending in 0765 on December 9. Please verify the funds. If there is an error in the remittance information, the bank will revert the transaction.

Fu Yu blinked.

Damn!!

It was actually a real-time transfer!

This was going to explode into huge success!

Fu Yu felt that this was no longer just a case of heaven blessing him with food.

It must’ve been heaven flipping over a whole banquet of dishes onto him to have this effect.

....

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Guan Xiang, a recent culinary school graduate, originally just wanted a stable job as a chef, save money to settle down, marry a beautiful wife, and snag a head chef title before forty-five, but unexpectedly ended up becoming the youngest culinary god in the game world.

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