Sang Yue was taken aback by his reaction.
"It’s me. What’s wrong?"
Jiang Gong was at a loss for words. "So this is what you look like..."
The young woman’s skin was supple, her eyes bright. When she gazed at him quietly, she resembled a faintly fragrant orchid.
Sang Yue touched her own face. "I’ve always looked like this."
It was just that when Jiang Gong had first met her, she had been wandering the desert for a long time and was in a wretched state.
Her face had been covered in a thick layer of dust, and her hair was completely unkempt.
She had been too busy traveling before, and she was half-conscious after being poisoned, so there was no way for her to clean herself up. Now that she had finally settled in, she could at last reveal her true face.
Jiang Gong felt a little uncomfortable. He wasn’t very good at interacting with girls, especially young, pretty ones.
Before he knew Sang Yue was this beautiful, Jiang Gong had been fine. But now that he knew, he felt like ants were crawling all over him.
’Good heavens, if I’d known she was this beautiful, I wouldn’t have agreed to share a room with her. It’s too awkward to ask for a separate one now; the poor girl will think I have something against her.’
’It’s all Xue Can’s fault!’
...
Shen Lu got up early again today, her arms and shoulders sore and aching.
This was the consequence of overexerting them yesterday.
’But even though my hands are sore, I have to keep going. There’s no reason to turn away business that comes knocking.’
’Who knows when the weather will turn bad again?’
"Boss." Xin Yu arrived early as well, holding up his hands and whimpering, "My hands are this swollen, what should I do?"
Shen Lu looked at Xin Yu’s hands, which resembled braised pig’s trotters, and gave him a sympathetic look. "You’re asking me? All I can tell you is that you’ll get used to the swelling after a while. Keep it up."
Yesterday’s bonus mission was completed successfully, and Shen Lu received her desired reward of Shop Defense +1.
The shop’s defense had finally broken the 8-point mark, only 2 points away from 10.
’Victory is in sight, victory is in sight!’
Shen Lu took some anti-swelling spray from the first-aid kit, sprayed it on Xin Yu’s hands, and gave him special permission to do some lighter tasks in the morning.
"I’m still counting on you for the lunchtime pizzas."
Xin Yu wore a pained expression; he really couldn’t bring himself to smile.
Shen Lu casually filmed a video of her cooking, and while editing, she also inserted footage from yesterday of the shop packed with people.
At the end of the video, she made a special note that the shop’s capacity and staff were limited, and it could currently only serve around 3,000 customers.
Any more than that, and not only would the shop be unable to accommodate them, but there also wouldn’t be enough food to sell.
"Please plan your visit accordingly to avoid a wasted trip. Thank you for your cooperation."
After finishing the video edit, Shen Lu gave it a quick check and then uploaded it.
She still had several pots of braised pork to cook; there wasn’t a moment to spare.
「Upper City District, Boya High School.」
Shen Lan hadn’t expected to stumble upon Shen Lu’s video while casually scrolling through her feed.
At first, she didn’t want to watch it, but on second thought, she decided she should.
Pan Junru had moved quickly. She had already found a shop location and taken care of all the necessary permits. They were just waiting for Shen Lan to complete her training before they could open for business.
Shen Lan hadn’t decided what kind of restaurant to open yet, but she knew one thing: her restaurant had to outshine Shen Lu’s.
Therefore, she needed to learn more about Little Deer Cuisine in order to strategize precisely.
Watching the first part about the cooking, Shen Lan was disdainful.
"Flashy nonsense, with no technical skill involved at all. It’s only good for fooling amateurs who don’t know any better."

"A private kitchen’s name definitely needs to be more elegant. It can’t be as tacky as places like Little Deer Cuisine or Old Fan’s Restaurant, right?"
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