“Xiong Da, let me settle some internal shop matters before I get to you. Is that fine with you?” JIn asked Xiong Da politely.
“Sure, Boss. Your job comes first.” Xiong Da entered and he realised it had been a long time since he last stepped into Jin’s store that it had the same empty atmosphere he had first experienced a few weeks ago.
“If you did not notice, this is Zhen Qing. She is undergoing a certain trial to see if she is fit to be my employee and whether she is agreeable with the working conditions.” Jin introduced Zhen Qing to Xiong Da since both of them came into the store before opening hours.
“Oh hi there, I remember you. Your black pepper buns were fantastic and no offence, but they can’t match the quality of Boss Jin’s.” Xiong Da finally noticed the pretty girl that had entered the store after him.
“Haha Xiong Da, you are too spoiled by the simple dishes that are served here.” Jin chuckled.
“Seriously, if you have more food variety, I will personally buy an apartment or even a house just to eat your food on a daily basis.” Xiong Da praised Jin.
“Zhen Qing, This is Xiong Da, my first regular customer since the shop’s opening.” Jin introduced Xiong Da to her.
“I..uh Thank you. I will try harder.” Zhen Qing started to realise she was wrong to suspect Xiong Da of any malicious intent against Jin. The way they were reacting at the doorstep could possibly just be their unique way of bonding between friends.
“Hmm Xiong Da, instead of waiting, go to the third floor. There is a Muscular Panda Jade Statue there. Place your phone against the statue and it will work the same way as the underground stores. I might have someone waiting for you there right now.” Jin suddenly saw a notification on his phone and decided to ask Xiong Da to meet with Shifu Zeru while he took care of Zhen Qing’s ingredient matters.
“Oh? I thought the third floor was just the video playback rooms.” Xiong Da remembered the level that not a lot of people frequented.
“I have changed it quite a bit, you will understand once you have taken a look. I will check on you in a bit.” Jin inserted the cheque into the Panda Port and the Port surprisingly accepted it and credited Jin’s account with 50 thousand Yuan. “You never cease to amaze me at how flexible you take money in.” Jin thought to himself.
“Okay Boss, See you later then.” Xiong Da went up the stairs while Jin finally gave Zhen Qing his full attention. After conversing with Yun, Jin understood that if he wanted Zhen Qing to trust him, he should act more like a boss with a reasonable and logical mindset. If he was too generous, Zhen Qing might think that Jin was up to no good. If he was too stingy, Zhen Qing might not work for him at all.
Jin would need to have the right ratio of carrot and stick to gain Zhen Qing’s trust. Sure, he might have an interest in her and assumed that she probably had the right characteristic and attitude for the employee he was looking for. However, if she did not improve in terms of skills and increase her dish repertoire within these two weeks, Jin would decide not to employ her since she would not be worthy of the risk Jin was taking to hire her.
“Zhen Qing, follow me. Tap this black card here to enter.” Jin used his phone and tapped it against the Panda Port and Zhen Qing quickly followed. When she was safely teleported, she realised she was not in the store anymore but in a different area.
It was a spacious looking kitchen but just like any of Jin’s instances, it was not a normal kitchen. In fact, it was a kitchen equipped with so many appliances and kitchen equipment that a novice cook would be overwhelmed by the sheer amount.
There were multiple large ovens, stainless steel cookware, knives, a few dozen refrigerators and even a freezer room that kept the recently killed animals fresh. “There are too many items to take note of in this kitchen…” Zhen Qing was flabbergasted and could not imagine that Jin would have so many items. If a master chef ever saw this, he would have scolded Jin for not using the kitchen at all.
“This is a kitchen service instance. Eh… a sort of separate reality if I put it simple terms. I specialise in dimensional spaces so creating this was not an issue. What you see here is all real and not an illusion. If you have any questions, just ask. I understand it might be a little hard for a commoner who has not experienced cultivation to understand” Jin explained.
Zhen Qing was quite surprised that Jin found out she was just a commoner. Was it that obvious to a cultivator? In any case, Zhen Qing shook her head. She had previously read up a little on dungeon suppliers and dimensional spaces in the previous night so she understood a little.
“If I am not mistaken…” Jin was looking around the kitchen and finally found a tablet screen. Zhen Qing noticed he was tapping furiously on it and then a female voice was heard. “Welcome Ms Zhen Qing. I am the AI for this magnificent kitchen. If you need directions for a certain food stock or the location for any equipment, just ask and I shall direct you to it.”
“Wow, this kitchen is equipped with an AI voice?” Zhen Qing thought she had to memorise every single part of the kitchen to fully utilise it, but clearly, this was no longer the case. With an AI helping her and assuming the AI is capable, everything would be much easier. However, she doubted the AI could help her much.
“If you think that the AI is useless, how about this? Let me show you.” Jin read Zhen Qing’s doubtful face and grinned. “AI, tell me where to find the chicken eggs and the kitchen equipment needed for creating a fried egg,” Jin spoke aloud.
“Yes, Mister Jin. Would you like to use any specific chicken eggs? What kind of pan would you like to use? If you have no preference, I have highlighted the areas where you can find the items you have requested.” Once the AI was done talking, certain parts of the kitchen were illuminated by a green LED.
Jin and Zhen Qing walked to the fridge and opened the compartment that was illuminated in green. They found the eggs and Zhen Qing noticed that the eggs were stored at an optimal temperature. She went to open another compartment and it was vegetables and noticed the temperature that it was kept at was slightly different. They later checked the other compartments in the kitchen and Zhen Qing realised that the equipment the AI suggested was all that was needed to make a good fried egg.
In short, Zhen Qing found out that this kitchen was not just a simple nightmare for a novice chef like her. It was also the ideal kitchen for a master chef with a perfectionist complex.
“You will find all the ingredients you can think of in this kitchen, and more. I have made sure most of the ingredients could be found right here with some additional stuff. The AI here can assist you if you need help. If there are some additional appliances that you need which are not available here, just tell me or the AI. I believe it will also relay the message to me if you cannot find me.” Jin explained to Zhen Qing.
“Also, keep that black access card for these two weeks,” Jin added.
“Wait, Jin. Eh I mean, Boss Jin. I could not possibly accept this. Just give me some ingredients and I will make do at my mobile stall.” Zhen Qing replied. Upon listening to Zhen Qing’s request, Jin politely refused.
“No, I cannot allow you to do that. There is a reason why my food items are a notch above the rest. The secret food supplier I receive my food from also used this kitchen and the ingredients here we have in stock. If you want to improve your black pepper pork bun, I suggest you try using the ingredients here.” Jin lied to Zhen Qing while not revealing any expression.
“Also, you asked me to procure these ingredients and they are not cheap. Hence, use them optimally by preparing the ingredients here. Increase your current price to thrice the amount or else it would be an insult to the quality of these ingredients, I will hold my end of the bargain by not taking any profit during this two week trial,” Jin added.
“I will be blunt to inform you that there will be changes to the mobile store that you have been operating at. It should be finished earliest by the time you are done with preparing your items. If not the latest would be tomorrow afternoon. Of course, nothing will be done to your current one. I am building an entirely new street stall.” Jin informed Zhen Qing on what he was going to do.
“Why would you do all this? There is not to your benefit at all.” Zhen Qing asked with a bewildered facial expression.
“By the end of the two weeks, if you like this place, I will hire you and we can discuss the terms and conditions. If you do well and create more customers, the long-term benefits for me are huge, as I can receive money from your side in the future as well. However, if you did not like the place, you can leave with the profit you made and note that I might not offer such generous terms to you again. Besides, this trial will also help me determine whether a street stall can help distract those cultivators that are waiting for their turns to enter the dungeon.”
“In short, yes it might not be a benefit to me currently, but if it succeeds the way I think it will, the short term loss would be worth it,” Jin said in confidence.
Zhen Qing could finally understand where Jin was coming from. If she failed, he could just scrap the idea. On the other hand, if she passed, he would have more customers indirectly and profit from them in the future. If she passed but did not wish to continue, he could find a better chef to take her place. It made sense that he was being generous. He was looking forward into the future.
At this point, Zhen Qing was a little embarrassed about how short sighted she was. Perhaps, it was because of all the running from the police and taking small opportunities whenever she could to sell more items that she did not see the overall big picture that Jin had in mind.
“Okay, I will do it.” Zhen Qing nodded.
“Alright fantastic. The time dilation here is 2 hours to 1 hour in reality. So you have about roughly 6 hours to prepare your ingredients.” Jin explained a little more about the time dilation to Zhen Qing and she added it to the multitude of things listed down in her mind.
“Looks like this is really the opportunity for me to break through in life.” Zhen Qing finally giggled to herself as she saw Jin leaving the kitchen to her. “Time to start to see if those ingredients can really improve my black pepper pork bun.”
