Zhen Qing finally finished preparing the required amount of pork buns for the day. She had prepared a little more than yesterday just in case the same thing happened and she sold out all her usual stock again.
However, she did spend a total of 6 hours in the Kitchen instance and the moment she came out of it, all she feel was a wave of great fatigue hitting her hard.
Then she saw Jin passing her a cup of coffee. “Do you drink coffee?” Jin asked and all she could do was nod her head.
The black ivory coffee was extremely enticing and Zhen Qing did not hesitate to take a sip out of it. Even from just the first sip, she felt an elephant trumpeting its nose within her and she instantly discovered that a sort of energy was coursing through her body, revitalising her.
Within seconds of the next sip, the surge of energy stabilised and radiated out from her body.
Zhen Qing’s complexion was totally different from before.
“What kind of coffee drink is this? I felt so much energy bursting into me!” Zhen Qing felt that if she drank the whole cup of black ivory coffee, she might be able to last the whole day of work.
“It’s a high grade coffee that has some spiritual force within it….” At this point in time, Jin finally found the inspiration regarding how to help Xiong Da. However, Jin placed it at the back of his mind for the moment and concentrated back on Zhen Qing for now.
“So, I think that because your dantian chi point had not been cultivated, you are rather sensitive… uhhh… that’s not a good way to put it… Ah! Got it! You are more receptive to any spiritual force you received.” Jin explained the reason why she suddenly felt that surge of energy pulsing through her body. However, Jin told her that if she had cultivated, she would experience even less fatigue. All Zhen Qing could do was to nod her head.
Regardless, Zhen Qing informed Jin that she had already created a modified black pepper bun and was ready to start work. While she was eager to see the expression on Jin’s face when she told him about it, Zhen Qing was rather sad that she was not able to bring the modern Tandoori oven out from the kitchen instance.
“Come with me.” Jin beckoned her to follow him the moment he heard the exciting news of the modified black pepper pork buns. He kept track of the developments of Zhen Qing’s cooking through the system logs when he was in the dungeon maker making the new Mobile stall, but he felt even more excited hearing it from Zhen Qing instead.
Zhen Qing followed Jin outside to the park. Lo and behold, a brand new street stall on wheels was installed right next to the small park.
It was not a simple looking street stall, and instead it looked like a mini caravan that had a traditional storehouse theme similar to Jin’s shop. The caravan blended really well with the surrounding garden. It even had a large panda figure lying on top of the caravan’s ‘roof’ like the sleeping Buddha but with food surrounding it.
Even the chairs and tables were rearranged by Jin to make the small garden park appear like a separate stall itself.
“This is amazing! How did you even bring this here on such a short notice?” Zhen Qing could not believe her eyes when she saw the new mini shop caravan. When she heard that Jin was making a mobile street stall, she assumed it would just be an improvement to her simple, run down, mobile stall. She did not expect it to be this fanciful.
“Trade Secret….oh alright. I have been planning this for some time and all I needed was the right person to start the whole thing.” Jin lied through his teeth. He had been preparing this speech in his mind for quite some time so that every word could be said with confidence.
“Then Boss Jin, I could not possibly keep the profits then, the ingredients are fantastic…the caravan looks beautiful…I really cannot do this for free. Please, take some of the commission back.” Zhen Qing really felt guilty that she would be taking all the money she earn all to herself.
“Then, in that case, you are officially hired…that is if you wish to work here full-time. It was a sort of test to see whether or not you had the kind of attitude I look for in an employee.” Jin smiled widely but in his mind, he was actually happy to get some of the profits even though he was still willing to give two weeks worth of profit to her. The reason was him being biased to Zhen Qing. However, the amount of dungeon dollars he spent on that caravan was hefty. It would be beneficial if he received some money from whatever sources he could find.
The cost for the stand was close to the budget of 500 dungeon dollars, which was supposed to be used for the signage and the mobile stall. However, since the system was going to give the signage as a reward, he figured he could splurge a little more on the caravan.
What was more important about the caravan was not its looks, but its features. Zhen Qing immediately saw the the modern tandoori oven in the caravan.
“My supplier..for these kinds of appliances had managed to integrate the time compression features into the kitchen appliances here as well.”Jin was thinking about how to lie to Zhen Qing while making it believable for her.
He realised that not allowing the people he knew know about the system was getting harder and harder. However, he needed help to get better food so it was worth a try lying to Zhen Qing and hoping that he might have a chance to properly explain the system to her in the future.
“However! This is a prototype! The interior of the caravan simulates the workings of a dimensional space. Therefore, what you see in here is really a trade secret. Do not leak this out to other people!” Jin warned Zhen Qing and she furiously nodded her head
“As this is a prototype, the time compression is slightly slower compared to the one you experienced in the Kitchen instance in order to not create any possible side effects to the real world.” Jin noted the kitchen appliances to her.
“This way, you can actually access the kitchen instance storage from here.” Jin opened a cabinet under the counter in the caravan, and it showed the prepared ingredients that Zhen Qing had created in the kitchen instance.
“This is just so fabulous!” Zhen Qing started to look around the whole caravan and saw the potential that was in it. She was really considering being under Jin’s employment indefinitely when she saw at the potential this small caravan could bring.
“One additional feature this prototype has is the Kitchen AI that you are already familiar with. It will assist you whenever need be,” Jin passed her a wireless earpiece and when she wore it, the kitchen AI was able to communicate with her.
“The earpiece should be able to last the entire day before it needs to be put into a charger pod.” Jin pointed Zhen Qing to where the charger pod was kept in the caravan and she mentally made a note about it. However, it was actually a facade and the earpiece did not even need any charging to begin with. It was just to make it plausible for Zhen Qing.
“Is there any contracts I have to sign to be under your employment or is it a fixed part time rate?” Zhen Qing questioned Jin when she was looking through how equipped the caravan was. The fantastic equipment, the high quality food and the ability to do almost whatever she wanted was a dream for any chef…or an ex-chef.
“We can properly discuss the terms and conditions either at the end of the day or the end of two weeks as we previously agreed upon. I apologise that such a test was given to you to test your personality.” Jin bowed his head a little to apologise.
“If we do the two week trial, I will take at least 45% of the profits for myself and we can later negotiate from there. Alternatively, you can discuss about it in the evening.” Jin explained to her.
“Let’s take the two weeks trial…but if I wish to change my mind and decide to discuss earlier?” Zhen Qing tried her luck and wanted to pretend she was a little hard to get.
“We will see about that.” Jin learnt enough in life to notice when a girl was trying to be difficult. He wanted to acknowledge and agree to Zhen Qing’s request but he decided not to. He knew that if he backed down now, he would not be able to maintain his image as a boss with his own ideals.
That would make Zhen Qing hold the upper hand if she tried to negotiate the contract. If Jin had unlimited funds, he would just do as he pleased, but right now, every Yuan mattered.
Zhen Qing realised she might have pushed too hard on a golden opportunity to be back on the tracks of being a chef again. Hence, she agreed and started to prepare her things in the caravan.
It was then, Jin also placed a large sign right beside the caravan. “Rules to follow, or you will be blacklisted from buying a dungeon or food.”
He realised on the previous day that there were still a number of people behaving fairly unhygienic and he was confident that being banned from buying the food and dungeons would definitely deter them from spoiling the garden. This was all despite him knowing that the system took care of the cleanliness of the garden anyway.
However, if he could set some rules, Jin felt that maybe…just maybe… he might be able to change the mindset of the people in the long run.
The rules were simple. Finish your food. No Spitting in the garden. Throw your waste away. Place your dirty tray in the allocated area of the caravan stall. Throw your waste into the trash bin.
Currently, what Zhen Qing sold was only the black pepper buns, so there were no trays to be used. However, Jin wished to expand the idea and perhaps it into a service restaurant instance that served not just a select amount of food, but a list of dishes.
In order to do that, he wished for Zhen Qing to get used to his ‘prototypes’ and instances. Furthermore, he wished to get her a suitable cultivation technique so that she might work more efficiently in the service instances. He was equally worried though, that she might get poached in the future or would not wish to work for him.
“One thing at a time.” Jin thought to himself as he saw Zhen Qing humming away preparing the kitchen in the caravan.
“Yes…one thing at a time.” he stared at her with an intense tugging sensation in his heart before he proceeded to open his store for business.
