Chapter 32 - 31: Food Festival

Chapter 32: Chapter 31: Food Festival

Leo approached the stall, and the students in line immediately stepped aside out of their own accord.

Leo smiled helplessly and stood in front of the window.

With him standing so close in person, Connie actually grew nervous, momentarily forgetting how to speak. Ning He quickly took over the task of serving him.

"Sir, these three items are all new. If you don’t mind, I’ll get you a portion of each to try."

Leo nodded. "Thank you for the trouble."

"It’s no trouble. I was the one who troubled you back then."

Ning He smiled slightly. She quickly picked out two deep-fried dough sticks, a portion of deep-fried rice cake, and a portion of red bean rice cake, handing them to him.

Leo took out his academy Core Card, but Ning He immediately stopped him.

"I know you don’t like taking advantage of people, but you saved my life. You have to give me a way to repay you. I can at least afford to treat you to breakfast. Please don’t refuse."

Ning He’s attitude was extremely sincere. Leo thought for a moment and put his Core Card away.

"Thank you. I’ll gladly accept, then."

Leo walked away carrying the tray. The students watched his back for a moment, then swarmed forward, keeping Ning He and Connie incredibly busy.

The prepared stock was cleared out once again.

Connie wiped her sweat, taking advantage of a brief lull to ask Ning He about what had just happened.

"What do you mean, saved your life? Lieutenant Colonel Leo saved you?"

Ning He nodded. "It was that time on the news."

"So he was the one who saved you. You’re pretty lucky." Connie’s expression held a hint of envy.

Ning He’s eyes darted around. She leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "You don’t have a crush on Lieutenant Colonel Leo, do you? You’ve been excited ever since you saw him, and your eyes practically glued themselves to him."

She had only meant it as a joke, but to her surprise, Connie admitted it directly.

"Who in Beiluo City doesn’t admire and idolize Lieutenant Colonel Leo? If it weren’t for him, who knows how many of us would have lost our lives long ago. Let me tell you, he ate the food from our stall today, and from now on, no one will dare to smear our reputation. He did us a huge favor!"

Ning He froze for a moment, then immediately understood.

He hadn’t come for the new items; he was using this to make a public statement.

But why would he help her?

Ning He wouldn’t flatter herself into thinking he had any romantic interest in her. There had to be another reason.

Although she couldn’t figure it out right now, it was a good thing overall.

Ning He couldn’t help but feel a trace of gratitude toward Lieutenant Colonel Leo, along with a tiny bit of jealousy.

’Just look at him. All the man has to do is raise a hand, and a massive crowd is more than willing to follow his lead. If he had this broken system, his reputation value would probably instantly break a million, wouldn’t it? Would he still have to struggle bitterly like me?’

HISS—

’It’s so infuriating!’

Fortunately, the students’ feedback today was still very high. Ning He secretly observed Leo in the crowd and noticed that the breakfast on his plate had been completely eaten.

’Although I can’t read any particular expression on his face, he should be fairly satisfied, right?’

The crowd in the cafeteria gradually dispersed, and the breakfast shift entered its final stages.

After placing the newly brewed batch of rice wine into the incubator, Ning He hung a "New Items Tomorrow" sign at the front of the stall and left the cafeteria with Connie Ahui.

Passing by Alisa’s stall, she noticed the girl frowning and glaring at her, her eyes filled with indignation.

Ning He slowed her pace, turning to meet her gaze, and grinned.

"Put a little more effort into your culinary skills from now on. When you can actually beat me at that, then you’ll have some real skill."

Without waiting to see Alisa’s instantly beet-red face, Ning He grabbed Connie and Ah Huai, and they swaggered off.

On the way back, Connie suddenly asked about the stall upgrade.

"...Although the immediate crisis is temporarily resolved, we’ve definitely offended quite a few people. You also announced that we’d have new items every month. If we remain a Zero-level stall, you won’t be able to fully utilize your skills, no matter how capable you are. I didn’t think it was urgent before, but now it looks like we need to complete the upgrade as soon as possible."

Ning He felt a burst of joy in her heart.

Upgrading the stall was crucial to her, but not necessarily to Connie and Ah Huai. She was afraid that if she appeared too fixated on it, they might suspect something, so she hadn’t brought it up over the past couple of days. The fact that Connie was taking the initiative to mention it now was naturally for the best.

Ah Huai also spoke solemnly. "Tell us again, what are the specific requirements for upgrading the stall?"

Ning He immediately took out the cafeteria manual and showed it to the two of them.

After reading it, Connie breathed a sigh of relief.

"The positive rating requirement shouldn’t be a problem. Our dishes are very popular, and we have the advantage of being new, so the students’ scores won’t be low. This sales ratio, though... Although we’re doing pretty well so far, I don’t know how the other stalls are faring. It’s hard to say if we can fight for first place."

"I’ve never run a breakfast stall before, and I’m not clear on the specific situation. Tomorrow I’ll go find Uncle Wood and ask before deciding."

The three discussed it for a while. After arriving at the Fourth Ring, they went their separate ways home.

Upon arriving home, Ning He wasn’t sleepy, so she went straight upstairs to check on her vegetable garden.

After roughly a week, the seeds she had initially sown were all ready to be harvested.

Ning He found a plastic basket, lined it with an opaque black plastic bag, and harvested a portion of the vegetables, placing them inside.

Carrying a basket of vegetables onto the bus was obviously too eye-catching. Ning He reluctantly spent some money to hire a small car and rode to the vicinity of Black Stone Lane in the Fifth Ring.

A light drizzle was falling today, and the smog was thick, leaving the streets relatively empty. Whenever she brushed past pedestrians, Ning He deliberately slowed her pace, but the system remained completely unresponsive. The old man’s braised pork liver stall was also operating normally. It seemed she wouldn’t be repeating her previous stroke of luck.

Arriving at the house with the black storefront, Ning He took out the metal token and was once again led to a room. However, she keenly noticed that this room was not the same one as last time; it had changed locations.

As usual, there was no small talk. The other party inspected her goods right away.

The total weight came to 11.2 catties, with kale, lettuce leaves, and cabbage making up the bulk of it. It totaled ninety-eight original coins.

The other party was very straightforward. Ning He walked out happily with the warm cash stuffed in her pocket, deciding to head to the previous vegetable shop to buy some mushrooms and satisfy her cravings.

She still had tomatoes and other vegetables at home, along with two leftover eggs. She could whip up a mixed tomato, mushroom, and egg dough-drop soup—downing a bowl of that would be absolutely heavenly.

When she arrived at the vegetable shop, a poster with black lettering on a red background by the entrance caught Ning He’s attention.

"12% Off Ingredients for Food Festival Participants. Promotion Ends This Weekend."

’Food Festival?’

Ning He suddenly remembered something.

Beiluo City organized a Food Festival in each district every month. During the Food Festival, with the exception of a few essential departments, the entire city would suspend classes and work. Everyone would participate, making it a very lively event.

Relevant merchants would also run promotions. During the festival, whether it was food or entertainment, prices were lower than usual. Even the most frugal families would indulge and enjoy themselves properly during these few days.

’Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to make money?’

Ning He’s mind began to race with the possibilities.

The cafeteria matter was settled, and her grand plan of setting up a stall needed to be put back on the agenda.

However, the original owner of this body had never participated in the Food Festival as a vendor before. Ning He wasn’t clear on the exact process, so she would have to ask around.

Ning He walked into the vegetable shop, greeted the owner enthusiastically, and took the opportunity to gather some intel.

"...I see your shop is having a promotion. Can anyone participate?"

The boss gave a soft snort. "Of course not. I only have so much stock—how could I have enough for that many people? It’s only for merchants who’ve successfully applied to participate in the Food Festival."

"I see. That makes sense. What dates is the Food Festival this time around?"

The boss looked slightly impatient. "Don’t you watch TV? The news announced it. It’s this weekend."

’So soon?!’

’That leaves only three days!’

’Is there still time to apply?’

Feeling a bit anxious, Ning He didn’t bother asking any more questions. She bought a handful of plump mushrooms and hurried back home.

On the way back, Ning He couldn’t bear to spend money on a small car again. After boarding the city rail, she quickly opened her phone to find the vendor management application under the municipal management page. Sure enough, she found an additional Food Festival qualification application.

She tapped it open to look.

’Oh, boy—’

The options for the first, second, third, and Fourth Ring districts were all highlighted in red!

’They’re full!’

Only the button for the Fifth Ring below was still green.

Ning He tapped it open to check.

The Fifth Ring had four stall locations.

Among them was the East Square of Black Stone Lane.

Ning He thought for a moment, then clicked the application button anyway and filled in her information.

Just as she entered her name, the letter "E" automatically popped up next to it.

Ning He was a bit confused and checked the explanation next to it.

The more she read, the darker her expression became.

It turned out that all food and beverage merchants in Beiluo City, besides being graded by the ingredients they sold, also had a separate score based on their past business records, ranging from A to F.

After applying previously, she had only set up her stall for a few days. But because of the many favorable reviews from diners, the administrator had given her a high score, allowing her to barely scrape by with an E-level.

And E-level only met the merchant application threshold for the Fifth Ring Food Festival. That meant even if there were still open spots in the previous rings, she wouldn’t be able to apply.

’I’m just selling food! Why are there level restrictions everywhere I turn? Does it ever end?!’

’Is this some kind of level-up obstacle game?’

Grumbling internally, Ning He resentfully clicked the submit button.

’The Fifth Ring it is, then. With my culinary skills, do I really need to worry about not making money?’