"Thankfully, Star is a boarding school, I only have to be home on the weekends. Otherwise, I really couldn't handle my life," Chen Ze yawned contentedly.
As long as his sister, who resembled a detective, was not around, Chen Ze's mood was quite good. After all, when his sister was present, Chen Ze always had to worry about whether she would discover something.
"I'll make braised pork today," Chen Ze said as he stepped into the kitchen, planning to indulge himself by trying to cook braised pork.
The ways to make braised pork varied, but Chen Ze had in mind the type he wanted to prepare.
Remembering the braised pork his mother made, Chen Ze couldn't help but salivate. The taste was considered delicious.
"Hmm… let's see, I should still have enough ingredients." Chen Ze opened the freezer to check, and fortunately, he had bought quite a lot previously, so he could get started right away.
"However, pork has really become expensive lately, reaching the price of 50 RMB per 500 grams," Chen Ze twisted his neck, deciding to read more cookbooks before starting to cook.
After all, if he were to cook recklessly like during a baking frenzy, Chen Ze reckoned he would go bankrupt even more quickly, which would be absolutely tragic.
"I'm running a bit low on tofu skin, but I should still be able to make a few dishes. I'll give it a try first," Chen Ze scratched his head. The braised pork his family made was with tofu skin, and it was delicious. Unfortunately, Chen Ze had never prepared it himself.
To be precise, after attempting it once, the entire family had forbidden him from entering the kitchen again.
Chen Ze boiled the water and began cooking according to the recipe's instructions.
Before long, Chen Ze had finished making the first portion of braised pork.
[You have made a very bad braised pork, your Home Cooking experience increased by 0.1 points]
Chen Ze covered his face, this was simply too tragic. A 0.1-point increase was laughable.
"Let me calculate... 500 grams of pork... tofu skin... other seasonings..." Chen Ze swallowed, this failed braised pork cost him about 70 RMB in losses.
"Sigh... no gain without pain. If you don't risk something, you won't gain anything," Chen Ze patted his own face and continued struggling in the kitchen.
[You have made a very bad braised pork, your Home Cooking experience increased by 0.8 points]
[You have made a bad braised pork, your Home Cooking experience increased by 0.5 points]
Chen Ze sighed. It was only on the ninth attempt that he managed to make a bad braised pork, still a far cry from being barely presentable for the table.
"Should I call my mom for advice?" Chen Ze thought for a moment and felt this was a viable approach.
"Hey, Mom, it's me. I wanted to ask, how do you make your tofu skin braised pork?"
"No, no, I'm not plotting any schemes..."
"I won't blow up the kitchen, Mom. Come on, I am all grown up now."
"Ah, my dear mom, just tell me the steps. I promise not to use the braised pork to poison my sister."
"Oh… I see, I knew I felt something was wrong."
Pleased with the information, Chen Ze hung up the phone; he now knew where he had made the mistake before.
Following his mother's instructions, Chen Ze made another serving of braised pork.
[You have made a normal braised pork, your Home Cooking experience increased by 5 points]
Chen Ze smiled satisfactorily, with this serving of braised pork, at the very least, he wouldn't be without a show-stopping dish.
"Time to cook rice, a bowl of braised pork with rice, what a great combination," Chen Ze rinsed the rice and plugged in the cooker.
While waiting for the rice to cook, Chen Ze pondered.
If he could bring over ingredients from the Otherworld, could he make an even more unique braised pork?
It seemed that when the Black Dragon came, he would have to ask about this.
Chen Ze was very disappointed that throughout the entire day, not a single Otherworld visitor had shown up in his restaurant, which made him wonder if he was a bit unlucky.
"Might as well go to sleep then," Chen Ze turned off the light and crawled into bed.
Then the next day, Chen Ze was woken up by noises coming from downstairs.
Wearing pajamas and rubbing his eyes, he walked down.
The restaurant was empty, which confused Chen Ze, he was sure he had heard some noises just now.
Chen Ze walked into the kitchen; besides the dining area, the kitchen was the only place he hadn't checked yet.
The door to the kitchen was ajar, which snapped Chen Ze to full alertness; he remembered he had definitely shut the kitchen door.
"Could it be a burglar?" Chen Ze muttered to himself, picking up a broom meant for cleaning and slowly pushed the door open.
The kitchen was very quiet, a pot had fallen on the floor, presumably making the noise he had just heard.
Besides that, there was an angel lying on the kitchen floor.
Why call it an angel? At the very least, Chen Ze felt that a humanoid creature with two pairs of white wings on its back, other than calling it an angel, he really didn't know what else to call it.
Perhaps "bird-person" would also be an appropriate term.
"So... what's going on here?" Chen Ze couldn't help but laugh and cry at the sight of the angel snoring on the floor.
"Hey, wake up." Chen Ze pressed the slab left by Riesel before nudging the still soundly sleeping angel.
"Mmmm... stop making noise... I haven't slept enough..." A somewhat pleasant voice.
"Wake up, aren't you afraid of being poisoned?" Chen Ze saw that the pot in which he had failed to make braised pork the day before was now empty, which made him panic.
It was a terribly failed braised pork, he hadn't had the courage to eat it, thinking of throwing it away today, but it turns out the angel had finished it off.
"Who are you?" The angel opened its eyes and saw Chen Ze.
Then it stood up nonchalantly and scratched its belly.
It was only then that Chen Ze fully saw what the angel looked like, a feminine face, golden long hair, wearing a white robe, with no shoes on.
She looked like a girl.
"I should be the one asking you. You broke into my kitchen and ate the dish I failed at making yesterday; is this how angels behave?" Chen Ze was annoyed, the other's attitude as if Chen Ze was the one at fault.
"Angel? What is that? I am a four-winged Di Luo, Raphael." The other corrected Chen Ze seriously.
"Eh? So it means I wasn't dreaming yesterday?" Raphael looked surprised.
"Me, I saw a door yesterday and just came in, then I found some food here, but it tasted really bad. Did you make it?"
"But at least my belly is full, thank you for the hospitality, human." Raphael bowed earnestly.
Chen Ze took a deep breath and tried hard to control his emotions.
"Since you're here, would you consider dining?"
"Dining? If it's the same kind of food as yesterday, I'd rather not eat."
"No, yesterday's was a failure, I will serve you better dishes."
Raphael was silent for a moment but then nodded his head.
"By the way, where am I?"
"Welcome to Dream Restaurant, dear guest."