Free Web NovelChapter 3: Chapter 3: Gourmet Practice Room, Eggplant and Potato Stew
After Su Chen left the office.
The eight employees fell into a long silence that lasted for over ten minutes.
"Do you guys think this makes any sense?" Bai Xiaobo, who was playing King, was already 0-7. The news had made him a little distracted.
"Isn’t our boss one of those second-generation rich kids from a demolished property? Since when can they cook? Don’t tell me he’s just going to follow a TikTok tutorial, is he?"
"Who knows? As long as it doesn’t kill me, I’m eating at the company. For the past three months without a cafeteria, I’ve been living off instant food."
"But the boss cooking for his employees... doesn’t that feel weird to you guys?" Liu Shengnan had already messed up her knitting three times. She finally gave up, stuffing the sweater into her cabinet.
The director, Li Mingtao, was silent for a long time, as if deep in thought.
When everyone fell silent, Li Mingtao glanced down at his watch and finally spoke. "Since the boss proposed this plan, we should at least show him some respect and eat dinner on the first day. We can decide what to do after that."
With that, Li Mingtao walked toward his office, looking thoughtful.
At the same time, he took out his phone and quickly typed out a WeChat message.
[Hurry up, get ready and bring our son to my company. We’re eating here tonight! It’s our only chance to get our money’s worth!]
Back in his office, Li Mingtao immediately started doing some calculations.
If his family of three ate at the company for the next twenty days, and they took some vegetables and frozen meat from the storeroom, they could probably recoup the full amount of the subsidy.
As for the seven employees outside, they were still skeptical about Su Chen cooking for them personally.
"Should we go take a look?" Bai Xiaobo’s Cheng Yaojin had just lost with a 0-13 record. He really wasn’t in the mood to start another match.
’The boss cooking for his employees?’
Even though it was to pay off a debt, the shock of it, for Bai Xiaobo, was no less than Cheng Yaojin getting solo-killed by Cao Cao. ’Is that even possible?’
Liu Shengnan unraveled the part she had knitted incorrectly and put it away, then agreed, "Well, we’re just sitting around anyway. Let’s go over and say we’re there to see if he needs any help!"
"Right! What if Xiaosu can’t handle cooking for so many people? We can lend a hand." The cleaning lady, Aunt Fang, had already rolled up her sleeves.
The seven of them instantly agreed and stealthily snuck toward the company cafeteria.
Meiweilai Company’s warehouse and factory were on the other side of the industrial park, while the cafeteria was on the same floor as the offices, specifically to provide meals for the office workers.
As the group headed for the cafeteria, Su Chen was standing in front of a stove that hadn’t been used in three months.
’The Gourmet Practice Room’s function is insane...’
After Su Chen chose the second main quest, the system automatically unlocked this function.
[Gourmet Practice Room: The player may enter the practice room to prepare food, and the system will provide the most impartial Delicious evaluation.]
What Su Chen found insane was that no matter how long he spent in the practice room, only a single moment passed in the outside world!
In other words.
Su Chen could practice his cooking skills like mad in the practice room without using up any real-world time. Besides not having to worry about the supply of ingredients, what truly got Su Chen hooked was...
He only needed to prepare the first set of ingredients, and for all subsequent preparations, he could directly copy the ones he’d already processed!
That meant no washing or chopping vegetables; he could just heat up the wok, add oil, and get straight to cooking!
God knows what a wonderful thing this was for a food lover!
The only slight drawback was.
The finished dishes could only be evaluated by the system. Even Su Chen himself couldn’t taste them.
’That makes sense. Otherwise, I’d probably be too lazy to ever leave this place.’
The eighty-third time Su Chen added peanut oil to the wok...
A line of text from the system prompt appeared before his eyes.
[You have been detected practicing in the Gourmet Practice Room for 8 hours. The anti-addiction system has been activated. Please leave the Gourmet Practice Room within 10 seconds.]
"I’m over eighteen!"
[3...2...]
Su Chen’s vision went black. In an instant, he reappeared in front of the stove in the company cafeteria.
’So, in other words, the Gourmet Practice Room can’t be used for more than eight hours at a time.’
Shaking his head helplessly, Su Chen stretched his arms and back. Although his body didn’t feel tired, eight hours of practice had left his mind feeling a little groggy.
’No wonder the system forces you out. This thing probably consumes Spiritual Power.’
There were still many of the system’s features to figure out, but Su Chen wasn’t in a hurry. He started looking around the kitchen. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Although the cafeteria had been closed for three months, there were still plenty of various seasonings left over from before. Plus, this cafeteria could serve nearly a hundred people, so the kitchen was naturally well-equipped.
Just as Su Chen was about to start washing the cookware he needed for the day, a curious voice interrupted him.
"Brother Chen? Is there anything we can help with?"
Turning his head, he saw that the six college graduates and the auntie had arrived.
"You guys go and wor—" Su Chen started to say, but then stopped himself.
’What work is there to do at this hour?’
"Actually, there is. Who can help me get some ingredients from the warehouse? I’m too lazy to run over there."
Bai Xiaobo jumped out. "I’ll go, I’ll go! Brother Chen, what are we eating today?"
Su Chen grunted in acknowledgment. "Get some eggplants, potatoes, green onions, and garlic."
"Oh, wow, Boss! We’re having braised potatoes and eggplant! I’ll go help get the ingredients too!" Liu Shengnan was so excited she almost jumped.
She was from Jingzhou herself, but her college boyfriend was from the Northeast. That was why Liu Shengnan was knitting a sweater for him—the winters in the Northeast were just too cold.
In Liu Shengnan’s memory, every time she went to the Northeast, braised potatoes and eggplant was a must-eat dish!
You just wolf it down with rice!
So when she heard the ingredients Su Chen needed, this dish immediately popped into her head.
Su Chen nodded. "We’re a bit short on prep time today, and there are a lot of us eating, so we’ll just make do with a stew."
Including himself, there were nine people in the company eating. By the standards of a regular restaurant, they would need at least ten dishes to have enough. It would be a real struggle for Su Chen to make that much by himself without an entire afternoon.
Bai Xiaobo and Liu Shengnan went together to the warehouse on the other side of the park to get the ingredients, while Aunt Fang rolled up her sleeves and walked over to the stove.
"Just let me wash these utensils. I really didn’t expect a boss to know how to cook..."
Su Chen could only give a helpless smile at Aunt Fang’s muttering.
Running into this mess right after transmigrating, Su Chen was at a loss for what to do. For now, he could only use this time to pay back the money while doing system quests and, at the same time, ponder his own future.
Seeing this, the other four didn’t stay idle either.
They all started washing rags and wiping down tables. Before long, a round table with ten chairs was cleaned and placed in the middle of the dining area.
Bai Xiaobo and Liu Shengnan returned as well.
The two of them had brought back a full nylon bag of eggplants and half a bag of potatoes, which left Su Chen a bit stunned.
"Can we finish all this?"
Liu Shengnan scratched the back of her head, a little embarrassed. "If we can’t finish it, we can just save it for tomorrow."
Su Chen silently did the math. Based on his own appetite as a grown man, a normal meal would require at least one eggplant and one potato, plus a bowl of rice. If he were starving, he’d need another bowl of rice on top of that.
’So for ten people...’
Su Chen picked out fifteen eggplants and seven potatoes.
Aunt Fang proactively took on the task of peeling the potatoes, while Bai Xiaobo curiously trailed behind Su Chen.
Seeing Su Chen roll up his sleeves and pick up a kitchen knife, he was still in disbelief. "Brother Chen, are you really doing this?"
Su Chen spread his hands. "What other choice do I have? I don’t have the money for your thousand-plus transportation subsidy."
After speaking, Su Chen pointed to the clean dining table outside the kitchen. "You all should wait outside. With so many people watching me, it’ll affect my performance."
Liu Shengnan pulled Bai Xiaobo along. "Let’s go, let’s go! Don’t bother the boss while he’s cooking!"
"She’s right. If he messes up because we’re staring, that would be bad!"
"Let’s go, let’s go! We’ll just wait for the food!"
The seven of them left in a lively hubbub. Once the kitchen was quiet again, Su Chen took a deep breath.
The moment he picked up the kitchen knife, the feeling of constantly practicing in the practice room returned!
"So, a dish rated A Level Delicious by the system... just how good can it be...?"
