I'm a male god in Liyue

Back at the store, the busy morning business began.

After having lunch at Wanmintang, on my way back, I saw a young man carrying several bamboo poles on his back at the store entrance, with a cloth bundle in his other hand.

"Hello, are you Mr. Xia Zhi?"

"Yes."

"I am the adventurer who accepted your commission. These are the fresh bamboo and reeds I just collected this morning. Please see if they meet your requirements?"

The young man put down the bamboo on his shoulder, opened the cloth bundle in his hand, revealing a bundle of reeds.

"Zhu Zi, come and take a look."

"Okay! Boss!"

Zhu Zi carefully examined them and found that they were indeed all fresh, just as he had said.

"Boss! No problem!"

"Ah."

Xia Zhi took out the mission token and handed it to the young man.

"Thank you for your hard work."

"You're too kind. I'll take my leave now."

"please wait for a moment."

"Is there anything else, Mr. Xia Zhi?"

"Well, what I actually need isn't the whole bamboo stalk, but rather individual bamboo tubes. I hope you can help me process these bamboo stalks."

"This……"

"I'll pay you extra, how about 500 Mora?"

"Money doesn't matter. As adventurers, we should help others solve their problems! Do you have any requirements regarding the size of the bamboo tube?"

"Just make them about the same size as the cups in our store."

"I understand!"

The young man nodded and began picking up money—no, chopping bamboo—with great enthusiasm.

A few minutes later, he chopped the bamboo he had brought into bamboo tubes of the same size.

It's clear that this young adventurer is quite skilled with a knife; he's an expert.

Xia Zhi readily paid him 500 moras, and together with Zhu Zi, they took the bamboo tubes and reeds to the shop to wash them with clean water, and then used scissors to cut the reeds to the appropriate length.

A simple cup and straw set is now complete.

Xia Zhi prepared a glass of rainbow juice, poured it into a bamboo tube, inserted a reed inside, and handed it to Zhu Zi: "Here, give it a try."

Zhu Zi put the reed in his mouth, took two puffs, and his eyes lit up: "Boss, this is so convenient!"

"really?"

"Really! And the fragrance of bamboo doesn't affect the aroma of the juice at all, it's amazing!"

"Okay, let's let the customers who are waiting try it again this afternoon."

"it is good!"

At this moment, Xiangling came to visit the shop with Guoba (a type of rice crust).

"Mr. Xia! Miss Zhu! We're here!"

"No! No!"

"Welcome! Isn't Master Mao here?"

"My dad is at the shop. An old friend came over to ask him to have a drink, and he has to keep him company."

"That's it."

"No! No!"

"Guoba says it wants to drink juice! I want some too!"

"No problem, I'll prepare it for you right away."

"Miss Zhu, what is that in your hand? A bamboo tube... and a reed...?"

"This is a new specialty service of our store. We use bamboo tubes to hold the juice so that customers can take it away and drink it."

"I see! That's a great idea! Mr. Xia, I'd like to try drinking juice this way too!"

"Okay."

"No! No!"

"I want the crispy rice too!"

"Row."

Xia Zhi prepared the juice and handed over the two bamboo tubes.

Xiangling curiously bit the reed straw, took a small sip, and found it quite interesting.

As for the rice crust, it sucked up all the juice in one bite.

The progress bar above my head also increased by 1%.

"Well!"

Xia Zhi added three more cups and said, "When you go back later, bring one back for Master Mao as well."

Xiangling nodded and smiled, "Yes! Dad will be very happy! Oh, right! Mr. Xia! There's something important I forgot to tell you!"

Xia Zhi asked curiously, "What is it?"

"The theme for this year's Lunar Festival has been decided by the Seven Stars: food and landscape. I heard that it was personally chosen by Miss Ningguang."

"This topic is interesting."

"In response to this theme, Seven Stars is also holding a cooking competition. Registration starts today, and I just registered."

"That's great! With such excellent cooking skills, Miss Xiangling is sure to achieve a good ranking in the competition."

"Hehe, it's hard to say. Liyue has many amazing chefs, but I won't back down! Besides, I have a huge advantage that none of them have!"

"Oh?"

"It's you, Mr. Xia! With you helping me taste the dishes, my new recipes will definitely beat theirs!"

"Does Miss Xiangling already have an idea?"

"Not yet. The theme of food and landscape seems so broad, like anything can be included. I want to break out of my usual thinking, so I need to ask more people and collect more different ideas."

"Brainstorming is indeed a good idea."

"The ancestral hall is right next door, I'll go ask Hu Tao about it later."

"Then why don't you take an extra glass of juice to Master Hu, Miss Xiangling?"

"Mr. Xia is so gentle!"

Xiangling looked at him and couldn't help but sigh.

Zhu Zi, who was standing next to him, nodded in agreement.

The boss is so kind!

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Writing with Eyes Closed

"Big Qiuqiu is sick, Second Qiuqiu goes to see, Third Qiuqiu gathers herbs, Fourth Qiuqiu brews..."

After seeing Xiangling, Hu Tao returned from outside carrying a glass of juice. She went into the library of the Hall of Rebirth, drinking the juice through a straw while continuing to search for books.

A white shadowy figure suddenly emerged from behind the wall, sat on the cabinet, and looked at her curiously: "What are you looking for? I heard you came back in the middle of the night last night and started looking for books. Haven't you found them yet?"

"The Book of Zombies".

"Zombies?"

"Yes, I met Qiqi again last night. I originally wanted to catch her and bury her, but this time she didn't run away. She even told me seriously that she wanted to live."

“Oh? Generally speaking, zombies need to obey the orders of the person who awakens them to act. A zombie like her, who can possess her own consciousness, is quite rare.”

"Yes, she used to be always confused, but she's been different these past two days. It must be that Mr. Xia's incense helped her regain her long-lost senses."

"That incense does have a calming effect, but the raw materials must be precious and difficult to make. Mr. Xia probably doesn't have much of it. If she can't keep inhaling the incense, her mind will slowly fade away."

"Since Qiqi wanted to live so badly, we couldn't just bury her. So, I plan to investigate Qiqi's past. I want to know how she became a zombie."

"I see. But I've looked through all the books in the library of the Hall of Rebirth, and I haven't found what you're looking for."

"No……"

Hu Tao stopped what she was doing, holding the juice, her face showing some worry.

"However, because I inhaled that incense these past two days, my memory has recovered quite a bit. I think I have a vague recollection of the name Qiqi."