Chapter 547 - 547: Instant Face-Slap

Hao Li was not alone in his room; Cheng Haoyu was there as well. Seeing Zhao Yuan arrive, the two of them quickly stood up to greet him.

Zhao Yuan opened his Storage Ring Space and took out all the medicinal materials Hao Li had requested. He said, "Take a look at the quality of these materials. Is this enough?"

Hao Li was an expert in medicinal cuisine, so he naturally understood pharmacology. After inspecting the materials, his grin stretched from ear to ear. "Enough, enough, it's more than enough! All these are wild medicinal materials, at least fifty years old. The quality is much higher than the standard I gave you. Little Brother Zhao, where on earth did you get so many fine medicinal materials?"

He couldn't help but be curious. Ever since meeting Zhao Yuan, he had bought many wild medicinal materials from him.

At first, the age of the wild medicinal materials wasn't too high—just a few years, or maybe a dozen at most. But gradually, both the age and medicinal potency of these wild materials had been increasing. And now, Zhao Yuan had actually produced fifty-year-old wild medicinal materials that were top-tier in both appearance and potency!

Wild medicinal materials of this caliber were rare even in the traditional Chinese medicine market; you couldn't necessarily buy them even if you had the money. Yet Zhao Yuan was somehow able to produce so many every time, which naturally made one curious.

Zhao Yuan didn't hide it from him and told the truth: "I grew them myself."

But Hao Li didn't believe him. "Little Brother Zhao, stop kidding me. Judging by their appearance and potency, these are wild herbs. How could they possibly be cultivated? Never mind, I won't ask any more questions. Last night, I worked through the night to upgrade the Array in the stove. Come take a look for me and see if there's anything that needs improving."

With that, he pulled Zhao Yuan over to the stove.

Zhao Yuan leaned in for a look, and information about the new Array, along with areas needing improvement, immediately appeared on the Information Leaf.

He said, "So you've upgraded the Nine Fire Exquisite Tower into a Nine Fire Yin Yang Furnace. Hmm, this Array is indeed more suited for cooking Exotic Beasts than the Nine Fire Exquisite Tower. I just don't understand, why didn't you upgrade it before?"

Hao Li gave him a thumbs-up and praised him sincerely, "As expected of Little Brother Zhao! You figured out the details of my Array with a single glance. Not like some people, who stared at it for ages and then asked if I'd even upgraded it at all."

Hearing this, Cheng Haoyu was immediately displeased. He huffed, "I haven't studied Tripod Food, so it's normal that I can't see the changes in the Array. You have the nerve to complain about me? If you hadn't scrounged a batch of materials from me, there's no way you could have successfully upgraded this Nine Fire Yin Yang Furnace!"

Hao Li was incredibly thick-skinned. Not only was he not angry, he replied with righteous indignation, "Listen to you. Wasn't I upgrading the Nine Fire Yin Yang Furnace to better cook the Raccoon Power? As the beneficiary, shouldn't you have made a contribution?"

There's no defeating a shameless person. Cheng Haoyu was utterly speechless when it came to Hao Li. And Zhao Yuan finally understood why Hao Li hadn't upgraded to the Nine Fire Yin Yang Furnace before. It wasn't that he didn't know how, but that he hadn't found a 'sponsor'.

Seeing Cheng Haoyu fall silent, Hao Li wore the triumphant, smug expression of a victor. He turned back to Zhao Yuan and said, "Little Brother Zhao, hurry and check for me, does this Nine Fire Yin Yang Furnace have any areas that need improvement? I used all my skills on this Array upgrade. I'm confident that even if there are some, there shouldn't be many."

Zhao Yuan replied, "There really aren't many. Only twelve places that need improvement."

"No way! Twelve? That many?" Hao Li's smugness instantly turned to shock.

The previous Nine Fire Exquisite Tower only had nine areas needing improvement. He never thought that after he had earnestly put his all into upgrading it to the Nine Fire Yin Yang Furnace, the number of flaws would actually increase instead of decrease...

This was so awkward, a real slap in the face.

Cheng Haoyu couldn't hold it in and let out a "PFFT" of laughter. He mocked, "Hao Li, I remember you bragging to me before Brother Zhao arrived. You said that even if there were problems with your upgraded Array, there would be no more than three. I didn't expect that number to quadruple."

Hao Li looked mortified. He asked, "Little Brother Zhao, is it really twelve? You didn't miscount, did you?"

Zhao Yuan didn't waste words. He reached out and pointed out, one by one, the twelve problematic spots inside the stove.

After listening, Hao Li fell into deep thought. A good while later, he asked again, "How should I improve them?"

His recent contemplation had confirmed that the twelve spots Zhao Yuan pointed out were indeed problematic, which left him feeling quite dejected.

Zhao Yuan comforted him, "The Nine Fire Yin Yang Furnace is on a whole other level than the Nine Fire Exquisite Tower. The fact that you only have twelve spots needing improvement means you've already done an excellent job. No need to be dejected. As for how to improve them, I'll tell you later. For now, go and cook a few dishes."

Hao Li was taken aback by this and asked in confusion, "What, are you hungry, Little Brother Zhao?"

"They're not for me." Zhao Yuan waved his hand and recounted what had just happened. Then he said, "I took the liberty of inviting those customers in. You're not mad at me, are you?"

Hao Li replied, "Why would I be mad? You were helping me protect the reputation of Lakefront House! If anyone's to blame, it's me. I should have passed down the decision to close for a few days as soon as I got back last night, and had the staff notify the customers with reservations. But instead, I got busy upgrading the stove as soon as I returned and forgot all about it. I didn't remember until the stove upgrade was finished half an hour ago, and by then, the hasty oversight had already caused a problem!"

Hao Li's situation was different from Ying Ji's and Cheng Haoyu's.

Ying Ji came from a Cultivation Family, and Cheng Haoyu's family was wealthy. Neither of them had to worry about money for their cultivation.

Hao Li, on the other hand, came from an ordinary family. By a stroke of luck, he had inherited the teachings of the Tripod Cuisine School. He relied on this unique skill to found Lakefront House, giving him a stable and substantial source of income. That, combined with frequently taking jobs from other Cultivators to cook Spirit Medicinal Materials and Spiritual Ingredients, was how he managed to support the expenses of his own cultivation.

Therefore, Lakefront House was extremely important to Hao Li, just like the pharmaceutical factory was to Zhao Yuan.

If this temporary closure ended up damaging Lakefront House's business, the loss would truly outweigh the gain.

"I'll go cook a few dishes for those customers right now. After I send them on their way, I'll work on improving the Nine Fire Yin Yang Furnace and then start cooking the Raccoon Power!" Throwing these words over his shoulder, Hao Li turned and headed downstairs to the kitchen to cook.

After he left, Cheng Haoyu, who had been mocking him just a moment before, began to explain on his behalf: "The Raccoon Power is an Exotic Beast. During the cooking process, it's inevitable that some unusual fragrances and phenomena will occur. The reason Hao Li chose to close for a few days was to avoid attracting too much attention."

"I see." Only then did Zhao Yuan understand the reason.

Cheng Haoyu's tone suddenly shifted as he said, "Brother Zhao, let's do some Dual Cultivation, shall we?"

His eyes were glistening, filled with a hair-raising sense of anticipation.