Chapter 281: The Ender of Gambles
When someone gets busy, they often feel like time flies by quickly.
Small Shop's business was bustling every day, so for Qi Han, seven days passed in the blink of an eye.
During these seemingly fleeting seven days, Qi Han, as expected, managed to complete the remaining four 2 Star recipes. Bodhi Vegetarian Dish had also been unlocked, but…
Bodhi Vegetarian Dish turned out to be even harder than he had imagined.
The creator of Bodhi Vegetarian Dish, like Monk Wensi, was also a monk.
Its creator was Master Qingyun from Qingyun Temple in Dinghu Mountain, Zhaoqing.
Perhaps because monks tend to have similar temperaments, Master Qingyun's explanations were as detailed and meticulous as those of Monk Wensi, greatly benefiting Qi Han.
Even so, this dish remained a major challenge for him.
At least, finishing it in the short term was out of the question.
Tomorrow was the start of the food festival, and Qi Han didn't head over to the Culinary Association to register until after finishing his final afternoon shift of the day.
He had completed learning the 2 Star recipes three days ago.
The reason he waited until the last moment to register wasn't entirely his fault.
For some reason, someone had changed the registration requirements, now stipulating that only dishes already available on the menu could be registered.
However, this rule wasn't aimed at Qi Han—after all, no one knew he intended to register new dishes.
You could say… perhaps some "smart" person had a sudden bright idea.
So, in order to give the diners a surprise, he had no choice but to wait until the last day to register.
The eight dishes were quietly added to the menu after the afternoon shift ended, with their price tags hung on the wall. No diners had noticed yet.
With the introduction of these eight dishes, the total number of price tags at Small Shop reached twenty-eight, smoothly unlocking the menu mode feature.
Finally, Qi Han could enjoy the pleasure of deciding which dishes to feature on the menu and experiencing the joy of having everything under control.
According to Ru Yi's instructions, Qi Han could choose up to twenty dishes to display on the menu, with price tags hanging on the wall, and could only change them once a week.
For the first selection, Qi Han naturally did it himself, but he already had a bold idea for how to handle future selections.
He decided to unveil this new menu mode feature tomorrow when diners noticed the change.
For now, Qi Han's selection criteria were simple: he chose dishes based on their star ratings, keeping things straightforward.
Currently, the shop had nine 1 Star dishes:
Egg Fried Rice, Smashed Cucumbers, Qinan Juice, Honey-Glazed Grilled Ribs, Exploding Honey Badger Intestines, Tin Foil Roasted Brain Flower, Dragon Whisker Noodles, Xiaolongbao, and Candied Hawthorn.
He only needed to select eight out of these nine to appear on the menu. As for the 2 Star and 3 Star dishes, they would all be included as the lucky first-round picks.
The five 3 Star recipes would be listed first, followed by the 2 Star ones.
As for which 1 Star dish to leave out…
Since Egg Fried Rice was the shop's very first recipe, Qi Han's first practice dish, and an eternal classic of Small Shop, it was the obvious choice to keep.
Ahem— and definitely not because its price tag counted as two.
…
The Shrek City Culinary Association was located about two streets away from Small Shop, so Qi Han soon arrived at his destination.
Naturally, there wasn't anyone in the association who didn't know him. Before long, a staff member responsible for registration approached him excitedly. "Hello, Boss Qi!"
Seeing that familiar-looking member—clearly a regular customer at Small Shop—Qi Han smiled slightly. "I'm here to register."
"This way, please!" The staff member eagerly led Qi Han toward an office while chattering away. "Boss Qi, if you hadn't come today, we would've thought you weren't participating! That would've been a real pity for this year's food festival."
"Don't worry, I'll definitely be joining." Qi Han chuckled. "I was just held up by something earlier."
After entering the office, the staff member pulled out a form from a drawer and picked up a pen. "Tell me the dishes you want to register, and I'll help you fill them in."
After saying this, a curious gleam appeared in his eyes.
Ever since that night when Xuan Ye returned with news that Small Shop would only be entering eight dishes, the association members had been both impressed by Qi Han's generosity and curious about which eight dishes he would choose.
Small Shop's dishes were well-known, with a total of twenty varieties, so selecting just eight wasn't an easy task.
Each member had their own guesses, and many had even placed bets on the outcome. Xuan Ye had turned a blind eye to this situation, finding it amusing.
And now, at last, they were about to learn the answer to this question that had troubled them for a week.
Ren Chen, the association member handling Qi Han's registration, was especially eager. After all, he was one of those who had joined in on the bets.
"Boss Qi's choices must be Fish Belly Stuffed with Lamb, Boiled Cabbage in Clear Broth, Qing Dynasty Blessed Pork Meat, Dongpo Pork Knuckle, Crab Stuffed with Orange, Ginkgo Biloba Dish, Honey-Glazed Ribs, and Tomato Beef Brisket!"
That was Ren Chen's bet and what he believed to be Small Shop's finest eight dishes. Therefore, he eagerly hoped Qi Han's choices would align with his predictions.
"The first dish…"
It's happening!
Ren Chen's hand inched closer to the form, his face tense with anticipation, and his heartbeat began to accelerate.
Would it be one of the eight dishes he had guessed?
"Wensi Tofu."
"Wen—" Ren Chen instinctively wrote down the first character before freezing in place.
Huh?
Wensi Tofu? What dish is that?
Does Small Shop even have such a dish?
Seeing Ren Chen staring at him blankly, Qi Han felt slightly guilty.
"This dish was added tonight. It should qualify according to the rules, right?" he asked, trying to sound casual.
Ren Chen: "…"
"Boss Qi…" Ren Chen spoke with a pained expression, "I just had dinner at Small Shop tonight!"
"It was added after the shift ended."
Ren Chen: "…"
"Uh…" Qi Han glanced nervously at Ren Chen's increasingly colorful expression. "It's not against the rules, right?"
"No… it's not," Ren Chen muttered blankly before swapping out the form and starting again.
His previous form had a long line drawn across it due to his shock, so he had no choice but to redo it.
Strictly speaking, Qi Han's move was a tiny bit like bending the rules, but Ren Chen decided to turn a blind eye.
"Wensi Tofu…" he wrote down the four characters slowly, already wondering what kind of dish it was.
As expected, Boss Qi's dish names were as strange as ever. Tofu was understandable, but what the heck was "Wensi"?
Once Ren Chen finished writing, Qi Han continued, "The second dish…"
Here we go again. This time, surely it must be one of the dishes I guessed!
One new dish should be enough, right?
Although the first new dish had already crushed all the bettors in the association, Ren Chen still hoped he could guess a few more of Qi Han's dishes correctly.
"Jade Dragon Tendons."
"Jade—"
Squeak
Ren Chen's pen, after writing the first character, once again instinctively drew a long line across the paper in shock.
"Boss Qi… this dish was also added after tonight's shift?"
"Cough, cough…" Qi Han coughed lightly. "Yes."
Turning his head back toward the form, now marred by another long mark, Ren Chen sighed, pulled out yet another new form, and carefully wrote down Wensi Tofu and Jade Dragon Tendons. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he nervously asked,
"Boss Qi, just how many new dishes did you launch tonight?"
"Eight."
Ren Chen: "???"
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