A Bite of Douluo Continent

Main Quest 8: Strive for 100 Days

Please ensure that you operate continuously for one hundred days without taking leave, being late, or leaving early.

Task Description: Given that the host's repeated requests for leave have caused complaints from diners, the host is asked to recognize the importance of perseverance in this task.

Task Rewards: Soul Power Level +2, 1 four-star random recipe, 5 three-star selectable recipe fragments.

Task progress: 95/100.

Qi Han stared silently at the main quest eight, which he hadn't checked in a very long time. Looking at the quest progress at the bottom, he fell into a long silence.

"I really reminded you, but the speed at which you claimed your reward..." Ruyi muttered softly, but the smile in her voice was impossible to hide.

孽 孽!

Qi Han's face showed more grief and indignation.

He had completely forgotten about that.

Unlike previous main quests, this one was far too easy. All it took was maintaining business for 100 days to complete. As a result, Qi Han only glanced at it when the quest was first triggered and then ignored it completely.

Then, in the midst of all that busyness... I completely forgot about the task.

Who knew that this seemingly ordinary main quest would end up getting him into such a mess?

"Ruyi, can't we postpone or suspend the time-limited task for a few days?"

"There's nothing we can do about it," Ruyi said softly. "Once a timed task is triggered, it will start timing automatically and cannot be paused or postponed."

Qi Han sat on the edge of the bed in frustration and rubbed his face hard.

You really can't blame Ruyi for this; he was just too impatient.

If only I had been a little slower when claiming the reward, and had listened to Ruyi finish speaking before delaying for five days to claim the reward, this situation wouldn't have happened.

There was no way around it; the temptation of a four-star recipe was just too great.

There are five days left to complete the main quest eight, while the timed quest requires killing a ten-thousand-year-old Azure Scaled Dragon Eel within five days. The two are completely in conflict.

If Qi Han insists on leaving five days later, then the time-limited mission will be impossible to complete.

"Ruyi, what will happen if we give up on this time-limited mission?"

“Then the next time the limited-time ingredient acquisition mission will be triggered at level 60. You can only break through by absorbing the soul ring yourself, and then wait until level 60 to trigger the next ingredient acquisition mission.” Ruyi hesitated for a moment and added, “Although you don’t have the authority to know the prerequisites for the final God-level Chef promotion, I can tell you in advance that if you make this choice, you can only stop at the Special-level Chef level in this life.”

So, are the prerequisites for becoming a god-level chef related to the system's soul ring?

Qi Han paused for a moment, then spoke softly, "Then... if I take leave, what will happen to main quest eight?"

"The number of business days will be recalculated after you return from completing the limited-time mission, and the mission progress will be reset."

On one hand, there's the loss of a system soul ring, completely severing the possibility of becoming a god-level chef; on the other hand, there's the wasted 100 days to start the main quest again.

The relative importance of each factor is almost irrelevant.

"Snapped."

Qi Han slapped his forehead, his face growing increasingly annoyed.

Qi Han, Qi Han, why are you in such a hurry?!

This directly pushed back the completion time of the eighth main quest by one hundred days.

孽 孽!

Ugh, just thinking about it makes me so angry.

Qi Han collapsed heavily onto the bed and began to roll around frantically.

Rolling around, I fell asleep...

"Uh... I forgot to turn off the sleep aid technology that makes me fall asleep as soon as I hit the bed..." Ruyi muttered guiltily in the system space, "Never mind, let him sleep for a while."

...

No matter how grief-stricken and remorseful Qi Han felt, some things were beyond change.

After waking up from his afternoon nap, he had almost completely realized this and had no choice but to accept reality.

Before the dinner service started, Qi Han told the staff and disciples that he would be taking five days off the next day. However, this time the staff exchanged glances and appeared calmer than Qi Han had expected.

"Aren't you surprised?" Qi Han scratched his head and couldn't help but ask.

He remembered how surprised the shop assistants were every time he asked for leave before…

"Boss, we were quite surprised that you insisted on taking more than three months off this time." After a moment of contemplation, Fuya spoke honestly.

Qi Han: "???"

So you're not surprised when I take leave, but you're surprised when I don't, right?

I feel it doesn't cause much harm, but it's extremely insulting.

Forget it.

Qi Han shook his head. "Tonight will be the same as before. During dinner, Fuya will inform every customer that the business is temporarily closed. Xinyan will remind them during the late-night snack time."

“Okay.” Fuya and Ping Xinyan exchanged a glance and nodded with a smile.

"Oh, right." Suddenly remembering something, Qi Han smiled at Ye Lingqing, "Although I've taken leave, breakfast can still continue to operate. I'll leave that to Lingqing and Yunruo."

Ok?

"Ling Qing knows all the dishes for breakfast?" Ying Shuangshuang was the first to react, her face showing a hint of surprise.

The shop assistants, who spent every day with the master and apprentice, were naturally aware of what Ye Lingqing was currently learning.

"Yes, I just learned it this afternoon." Ye Lingqing nodded, then looked at Qi Han with some hesitation, "Teacher, can I really run the breakfast business by myself after you leave?"

Although she had mastered the recipes, Ye Lingqing was still not very confident that she could keep the restaurant afloat.

This is not an ordinary shop, nor is it just a small cart that I had casually set up before.

This is a famous Hanshi restaurant throughout the mainland.

If any mistake is made, it will damage the teacher's reputation. Such a heavy burden falls on the still somewhat inexperienced Ye Lingqing's shoulders, making him feel immense pressure.

"Be more confident." Qi Han looked at his disciple seriously. "Ling Qing, it has been more than a hundred days since you became my disciple."

“For more than a hundred days, you have helped me in the kitchen every day. You know exactly what to do when cooking, and you have mastered the preparation of all the breakfast dishes. So why can’t you support yourself independently?”

He patted Ye Lingqing's shoulder heavily. "Lingqing, you need a chance to prove yourself, and now is just such an opportunity. Don't hesitate, just give it a try. I'm only going to be gone for five days. If you can't even last five days, how will you survive the Cold Food Festival if I'm away for longer periods of time in the future?"

"I..." The hesitation and confusion in Ye Lingqing's eyes gradually turned into determination.

Yes, we work so hard to learn how to cook, isn't it all so that we can help our teacher?

After each practice session, the teacher would completely teach the student how to cook a dish, only allowing them to cook dishes they hadn't yet mastered. Wasn't this precisely to train them?

This morning, I independently cooked eleven different dishes during breakfast hours, except for the steamed dragon dumplings, which required my teacher's help.

Now that I've completed the training in making steamed dragon dumplings, all I need to do is cook another dish based on that foundation.

I can do it!

A hint of confidence shone in his eyes. "Teacher, I will try my best tomorrow!"

Seeing Ye Lingqing's completely different demeanor, Qi Han smiled with relief.

My apprentice has grown up...

From now on, I can finally hand over the breakfast business entirely to him.

The lazy plan was a success!

Chapter 429 Departure and Independent Business (Bonus Chapter 3/3 for the donation from "Light and Darkness Endure")

"Is Boss Qi finally going to ask for leave?"

Not only did the employees' reaction to Qi Han's leave of absence differ from his expectations, but the reactions of diners who learned of the matter during dinner service were also quite unexpected.

All the diners, especially the regulars at Hanshi, expressed their support for Qi Han's leave of absence.

On the one hand, for the diners who had been stood up by Qi Han countless times, Qi Han had never taken a day off during this three-month continuous operation, and even introduced breakfast and late-night snack hours. One day of operation was equivalent to two days of operation before. It was only natural that he needed to rest after working so hard, so everyone expressed their full understanding.

It's like when Eagle updates 20,000 words a day and suddenly says he needs to adjust his routine, his readers not only don't complain but also tell him to take a good rest.

For an author like myself who writes 4,000 words a day when I'm experiencing a reading slump, if I take a day off, my readers will explode.

Therefore, in order to avoid missing the readers' seats, he never asked for leave.

Another reason why diners support this is related to Qi Han's previous public disclosure of his egg fried rice cooking method.

It has been nearly fifty days since Qi Han publicly revealed his method for making fried rice.

After such a long period of fermentation, putting aside others for the moment, the chefs in the food street who participated in the training can now basically cook excellent fried rice. Many shops have even made a fuss about this cooking method and launched other stir-fries, which have also received a good response.

For example, Long Hanyun, the owner of Kowloon Cuisine, not only cooks fried rice that is more than 50% as good as Han Shi's, but he also studies and adds various dragon-related ingredients to the fried rice, creating all kinds of dragon meat fried rice.

Li Hong, the owner of Lao Li's Cuisine, not only launched two versions of fried rice with eggs—one with regular eggs and the other with colorful eggs—at different prices to meet the needs of different diners, but he also applied his stir-frying skills to some of the dishes that were originally stewed, launching many new dishes.

Just as Qi Han had expected, the stir-fry cooking method and the local cuisine of Douluo Continent have begun to create new sparks. A large number of new dishes have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, giving Shrek City diners some choices besides cold dishes.

Therefore, the short-term suspension of business during the Cold Food Festival will not have a significant impact on everyone.

Moreover, breakfast will continue to be available.

The only slight disappointment is that those who enjoy late-night snacks will have to temporarily forgo their appetites.

This slight grievance vanished after Qi Han announced his return and the release of four more purple-brand dishes.

Previously, because of Professor Ye Lingqing, Qi Han's speed of practicing cooking had slowed down considerably, but even at a slower pace, learning three three-star dishes in forty-eight days was not a problem for him.

Including the original pheasant soup, Qi Han had already had the staff and disciples taste these four three-star dishes and they received unanimous praise, but they have not yet been launched.

He originally planned to return as a Soul King before launching his new project. Although Qi Han's enthusiasm for obtaining ingredients has diminished due to the main quest, he still intends to continue with the original plan.

After spending the night feeling like "I'm the only one in the world who's unhappy," Qi Han woke Ye Lingqing early the next morning, then, carrying Gulu, led Zhuiyun out of the backyard and set off towards Yubin City.

Although the backyard was spacious, Zhuiyun had not been able to run and fly so freely for three whole months, so it was particularly excited. It gently touched Qihan's forehead with its horn and rambled on for a long time.

That tender and innocent voice actually improved Qi Han's mood considerably.

...