Chapter 3
The voice of the system sounded: "This system only provides restaurant decoration and does not include areas outside the restaurant."
Maige habitually touched his chin with his right hand, looking at the broken staircase and the dark second floor. He thought about the straw-covered bed he had just seen. He couldn't spend the night there. He couldn't let his precious daughter suffer any longer. Tonight, he must improve their living conditions.
Moreover, he didn't sense much hostility from this system. The so-called punishments were probably more for supervising him to study cooking diligently and achieve the title of culinary god as soon as possible.
If that's the case... Maige's eyes shifted, and in a nonchalant tone in his mind, he said, "System, I think your statement is incorrect. I am offering the entire building as the restaurant's premises, so you should definitely renovate the entire place cohesively. I cannot accept opening a restaurant with an inconsistent style. And if the second floor is not renovated and reinforced, if a brick falls and kills a customer, that would be a big problem. And if no one dies, it would be an even bigger problem. Who knows, maybe I'll be killed by someone who couldn't even be killed by a drill. Then, what's the point of learning to cook and becoming a culinary god? You figure it out."
The system fell into silence, seemingly contemplating. After a while, the system's voice sounded again, "Considering the high level of danger in the building, the system has decided to rebuild the entire structure and proceed with the renovation. Host, please confirm the decoration style."
Maige felt delighted in his heart. It turned out that this system could still be negotiated. It wouldn't be fun if he was led by the nose by it. However, he maintained a calm demeanor on the surface.
The decoration style for the restaurant was already decided, and for the second floor, he chose a similar decoration style to his past life's home—understated, luxurious, and comfortable. The second floor had three rooms, a toilet, and a bathroom. He chose a tender pink decoration style for Amy's room and confirmed it directly with the system.
The system's voice sounded, "The required time for reconstruction and decoration is 30 seconds. Host, please leave the room. The countdown will start in one minute..."
"Wow!" Amy's mouth opened wide as she looked at the sudden transformation. The house now looked like a magnificent palace under the lights. She stared at it for a while before turning to Maige with excitement and exclaiming, "Father, did you really create this? It's like a beautiful crystal palace! And there are glowing stones! Father, you're amazing!"
"Yes, from now on, this will be our home, and it will also be a restaurant," Maige nodded with a smile. The feeling of being admired by his own daughter was more satisfying than anything else.
It was still a two-story building, but now it had transformed from a rickety wooden house into a European-style villa. The side facing the square had floor-to-ceiling windows, revealing a restaurant illuminated by European-style crystal chandeliers, comfortable and stylish.
However, the previous shaking seemed to have caused some commotion. Maige held Amy's hand and pushed the door open, saying, "Let's go back home first. I'll tell you about those things later."
"Okay, Father, you're the greatest!" Amy rubbed her head against Maige's hand and happily skipped into the house.
Maige turned off the lights outside the door. Just as they entered, a stumbling, bearded dwarf walked out of the neighboring house, looking around in a drunken state, muttering, "Which stupid troll came here to dance again? Those damn fellows, they won't let people sleep...". After saying that, he went back inside and slammed the door.
"Father... Is this really our home?" Amy stopped at the entrance, looking at the magnificent restaurant and looked up at Maige. She still couldn't believe it.
She had never seen such a beautiful house before—smooth and polished floors, sparkling crystal chandeliers, neatly arranged new tables and chairs. There was an exquisite cutlery box on the table. Further inside, there was a taller counter, and inside the counter, there was a room, but she couldn't see what was inside.
"Of course," Maige smiled and nodded. He waved his hand and said, "This is our new home. The first floor can be a restaurant, and the second floor is where we live."
"That's fantastic!" Before Maige could finish his sentence, Amy had already run out, opening her arms and running around inside the restaurant. Then she sat down at the innermost table, waving at Maige and saying, "Father, let's sit here and eat crispy pancakes. I'm hungry."
"Alright." Maige smiled and thought to himself that indeed, eating was the most important thing.
"Completion of the restaurant ownership task. Due to the host's additional request to renovate areas outside the restaurant, the rewards for this task are offset. The system is issuing a new task: Learn the first dish, Yangzhou Fried Rice. The task duration is three days. After the host is ready, you can click to enter the Kitchen God's Trial to undergo the trial. The reward for this task is +0.5 in physical fitness, and the punishment for failure is -0.5 in physical fitness." The system's voice sounded again.
Maige suddenly stopped in his tracks. In his mind, a door suddenly appeared with four shining golden characters: Yangzhou Fried Rice. It should be the so-called Kitchen God's Trial.
Of course, what caught Maige's attention the most was the system's mention of a reward for success. His most urgent need for improvement was his physical fitness. In his current state, he couldn't even handle a kitchen knife properly. He didn't expect the system to arrange a task to enhance his physical fitness so quickly. His mood suddenly became excited.
Although Maige didn't know to what extent the +0.5 in physical fitness would improve him, he believed that the system wouldn't trick him. It's just Yangzhou Fried Rice, right? How difficult could it be to cook a plate of fried rice?
Back when he was in Yangzhou, he had tried several authentic Yangzhou Fried Rice dishes. However, it seemed that he rated them quite poorly. But to be honest, the taste of that fried rice was still quite good. It's just that he had a habit of nitpicking, and it was uncomfortable if he didn't find some faults. It was said that a well-established restaurant had closed for a period of time after he gave them a review, but such incidents happened too frequently, and he didn't pay much attention to them.
"Father?" Amy looked at Maige, who was standing there, with some confusion.
"Here!" Maige quickly suppressed the urge to open the door that was on his mind. He sat across from Amy, handed her a pancake, and smiled, "Come on, try the crispy pancake that Little Mi loves the most."
Maige carefully examined the pancake. It was about the size of an adult's palm and one centimeter thick. It seemed to be made by wrapping flour around corn, mung beans, potatoes... a mixture of miscellaneous coarse grains, and then baking them in a charcoal oven. It felt like a rough piece of tile in his hand.
"Mmm!" Amy held the pancake in her hands, brought it close to her face, and took a bite. It made a crisp sound, and then she happily chewed on it, making a delightful crunching noise. She ate it like a little hamster, enjoying the delicious and sweet taste, looking extremely adorable.
"Is it really that tasty?" Maige had some doubts, but seeing how Amy was enjoying her food, it made his appetite open up. Unable to resist, he also picked up a pancake, took a forceful bite, chewed a few times, and then froze.
"Is this a baked tile? Did I break my teeth or the pancake? It cuts my mouth when I bite into it, and it gets stuck in my throat when I try to swallow it. Can this thing be used for poisoning? And yet, they can sell hundreds of them in a day! The culinary culture in this world seems to be a bit lacking! No, it's stuck in my throat!" Maige widened his eyes, threw the pancake onto the table, and ran to the kitchen sink while clutching his throat.