Even though the food court instance was packed like sardines, the hawkers had already become experts in handling this level of workload. It was nothing new after a few weeks, and some managed to increase in cultivation grade through consistent cooking with spiritual power.
However, they had not expected the following when Si Fang personally came down to give the hawkers a heads up on what’s coming while their penguin assistants continued cooking.
“WHAT?! Feeding an estimate 2000 people in one night? I don’t even necessarily serve that many in a week!” One of the hawkers who handled the mixed rice stall exclaimed. (Jin definitely had more than that if not for the splitting) For the people who cooked in bulk and sold at a reasonable price, San Sun claimed that it was an impossible feat to achieve.
“The order came from Boss Jin personally. Apparently, he’s holding some “mini” conference and needs food to be cooked because of some miscommunication with his food caterer. According to him, supplies will be readily available as long as guys accept the orders. No price changes in the supplies but he won’t mind paying a little more for the food, especially since he understands that it’s a late order.” Si Fang explained, and the hawkers started to ponder.
“So, do we keep serving until the orders stop? Or will we have to keep going even after the new year starts? Because we only have that limited amount of time to prepare.”
“Ah, thankfully Jin told me he will stop ordering by 11.30. If there are any unfulfilled orders by 12, you guys can go ahead and cancel it. He also added the Panda Burgers will be taking orders too so I will speak to Ke Ru later.” Si Fang noted, and the rest were having some form of small talk.
“I assume the guests are not too picky with the food…”
“…More like our food finally reached a certain standard. Hahah!”
“But it’s a shit ton of money if we can clear his orders.”
“Perhaps Jin is trying to help us earn money, too? If he is going to advertise our food, we might be able to sell better in the future.”
“You mean stop being a hawker and get a restaurant?”
“That would be a nice dream, and think of the instance he will make for us if we plan to upgrade!”
“So, we are accepting this challenge?”
“Why not? I never say no to more money.”
The hawkers knew that they had to come to an agreement.
Currently, time was a precious commodity, given that the penguins were holding the fort for them on their own. Hence, their representative, San Sun had decided to go ahead with the request.
“Excellent, I will inform Boss Jin about it, and I believe the first few orders should come in soon but don’t you guys forget to serve the customers here first. They are as important as the ones waiting.” Si Fang emphasised and the rest gave a resounding shout.
———-
“In hindsight, they would have never expected that this particular challenge turned out to be like a ripple slowly growing and transforming into a mighty tidal wave going forth to hit the world’s cooking scene. Later generations would refer to them as the founding members of the Pyramid Chef Guild.” Kraft said to the entire group.
“What are you blabbering about?” Lynn asked as she placed the last dish on the table. A pot full of noodles, particularly soba. “Just ignore him, he seems to have simply gotten too bored,” Jin advised her to pay Kraft no heed. The foxy man might have spoken out of tune after Jin told them about how the monsters wanted to try other food from this world.
As the fragrance of the noodles reached to everyone’s olfactory senses, there was a reason why Lynn decided to choose soba noodles for the last meal of the year.
In Lynn’s culture, eating soba at the end of the year symbolised letting go of the hardships of the year and looking forward to strength and resiliency in the new year. A dish so humble in nature yet meaningful when the whole shop family ate with her.
“Ah! Did you manage to eat it with your father?” Jin had nearly forgotten that the two Sub System Users still had their own friends and family.
“Yeap! I had it with my dad this afternoon. Actually, he was the one who made the dish for lunch, because no matter how drunk and broken he had been, he never failed to make this dish for me. However, I never appreciated it up until now.” Lynn answered with a bit of melancholy, and everyone quietly ate the soba noodles with various toppings and side dishes on the table.
“While I did learn how to do the proper one from my formal training, I learnt this particular soba soup base from him.” Lynn shared with a blush and added that she did improve on it too.
However, there was something that Lynn had not revealed to the whole group. Being able to eat soba noodles with Jin on New Year’s Eve also had a distinctive meaning.
“Soba ni iru.”
Roughly translated to ‘I’ll be there at your side’. Lynn started to understand the meaning of family from Jin, and she hoped by eating with soba with the family she had forged through blood and sweat, they could be near each other forever regardless of the circumstance.
“Now that you mention it, I do feel the family kind of taste.” Qiu Yue teased Lynn a bit and finally revealed that her parents had flown for an overseas trip without her. “They kept having the impression that I am staying over with my boyfriend, so they decided not to interfere much.”
Obviously, when Lynn heard it, everyone on the table could hear the metal ladle crack under pressure. In turn, Qiu Yue quickly turned her tune and tried not to offend the chef of the night. She remembered that they agreed to have their little game of chasing after Jin but that the dinner table was supposed to be off limits zone.
Yet the issue was that both of them had secretly played the game at the dinner table, so Lynn pretended to be magnanimous and decided to back off and not pursue the matter.
Needless to say, Jin continued to be as ignorant to their advances as usual and proceeded to tell them about the current situation they were facing. (Despite the constant smirking of a certain foxy guy.)
Milk also reported on how the new fully fledged demon exorcists were preparing as much as possible for their upcoming expedition and even told Jin about the Ghost Armourer.
“Honestly, I cannot be bothered to find something that wishes to hide. It means that that Ghost Armourer you talked of, is not proud of his own goods.” Kraft previously received Milk’s request and openly objected to searching as he scooped himself another bowl of piping hot noodles.
“Still, I believe it’s a good angle to improve the store for the new year. I will attempt to get hold of Hou Fei and see if he knows anything about the Ghost Armourer. Of course, priorities wise, this is not a pertinent issue.” Jin thanked Milk for the additional info.
Next Yun shared an update from the System about two animal people tribes deciding not to sign anything and return to their village. The rest who stayed had been given individual islands near to relatively near to each other. “I have also provided them with a week’s worth of supply as a pity gift. They had been made aware of the consequences yet decided to proceed anyway, so I hope you plan to stand by your decision of punishing them, Jin.”
“No doubts about that, I sure will,” Jin replied affirmatively before asking how Peppers was.
“Ayse fixed me up rather quickly, though I am still a bit sore that I could not damage the Porkcupine. I still believe, credit should be given to me for weakening him, especially when that Avatar of whatever fire could kill it in a few blows.” Peppers argued and everyone sarcastically praised her, provoking her into a semi rage mode until Milk soothed her down between her bosoms.
As the dining table updates began to slow down, Zeru decided to raise his own issue up.
“While I understand it’s all smiles and laughter at the end of the year, I feel that I have issues to report about the Farming World.”
