Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 122 - 103 The Incoming Task

Chapter 122: Chapter 103 The Incoming Task

To Qin Huai’s surprise, early the next morning, Luo Jun came to the restaurant for breakfast again.

The third day was the same.

The fourth day as well.

For seven consecutive days, Luo Jun came out for breakfast every morning, rain or shine, starting with a bowl of dried tangerine peel tea to whet his appetite and two Five Fillings Buns to fill his stomach. What’s more, he came earlier with each passing day.

The first day, he came a bit after 9; the second day, it was exactly 9; the third day, a little before 9; the fourth day, 8:40; the fifth day, 8:30, and so forth...

By the seventh day, he was there at 8:17.

At this point, Luo Jun had truly become a popular check-in spot at Yunzhong Restaurant.

People who didn’t know Luo Jun were astounded, and even more so those who did.

Qin Huai considered himself one of the few who understood Luo Jun relatively well.

Luo Jun had three major hobbies in life: giving bad reviews to takeout orders, staying up late and sleeping in, and watching TV dramas or movies.

There was also a little-known habit: Luo Jun hated crowded places and hated the hustle and bustle.

When is Yunzhong Restaurant at its busiest?

It’s not the peak of lunchtime around noon but rather the breakfast rush at 8 in the morning.

People eating lunch at midday have to sit and eat inside the restaurant before leaving, while in the morning, buying buns is literally a flash in and out—those speedy enough can accomplish entering the restaurant, ordering, scanning the code to pay, and leaving with buns, all in under thirty seconds. It makes you feel like there’s The Flash right next to you.

The cafeteria staff have also trained their hand speed, quickly and accurately packing orders. If they ever leave food service, they’d be stars on a production line.

The residents of Yunzhong District were amazed that Luo Jun got up every day for breakfast, while Qin Huai was astonished that Luo Jun was willing to drink dried tangerine peel tea during the morning rush amidst a crowded, noisy setting.

Everyone had their own amazement, making Luo Jun the latest and most popular check-in spot at Yunzhong Restaurant.

"Is Mr. Luo really coming to the cafeteria for breakfast every morning for the eighth consecutive day?" Qu Jing rarely removed her mask, standing at the kitchen door, nibbling on a bun and watching Luo Jun sitting by the window from afar.

Not sure if it was Qin Huai’s illusion, but he felt that Qu Jing appeared to be a bit more spirited today than before.

Specifically, her lips had some color now. Previously, whenever Qu Jing removed her mask, her lips looked as pale as her face, like she was severely anemic.

"That’s right, today is the eighth day. Yesterday he came at 8:17 am, and today he’s here at 8:14. I’ve heard there’s even betting in our district now, guessing when Mr. Luo will come before 8 am, with the wager being a bag of fermented rice with steamed buns."

"Fermented rice with steamed buns are quite delicious." Qu Jing’s focus wasn’t on the bet at all. "Master Qin, aren’t you considering lifting the purchase limit on dried tangerine peel tea? Though selling just 1314 cups a day is a great gimmick, it really isn’t enough. We didn’t get any in our department yesterday, and our director had to procure two cups from the neighboring cardiology department. Director Liu from cardiology didn’t have a good look at us when he was eating dinner at the cafeteria yesterday."

Qin Huai: ...

He really didn’t quite understand these upscale private hospitals.

Qin Huai knew his level of fire control and that his dried tangerine peel tea could only reach at most a C- grade. The tea’s immense popularity was solely due to his unique heartwarming buff.

Everyone was drinking for the buff, not his skill.

So Qin Huai precisely controlled the daily tea amount not to exceed 1314 servings.

After some trial, Qin Huai also discovered that each dried tangerine peel tea serving cannot exceed 300 milliliters. Anything over one serving would count as two, to prevent users from exploiting bugs by filling a large portion first and then dividing into small portions.

As a result, the daily sales of dried tangerine peel tea were pretty much fixed.

Qin Huai had Huang Xi buy two large pots specifically for making dried tangerine peel tea. Zhao Rong would begin steeping the ingredients as soon as she arrived at the store in the morning, so they’d be ready to brew when Qin Huai started work.

The first batch of morning jogger seniors could enjoy the hottest tea, and the rest of the diners could enjoy it warm.

Everything was originally well-organized.

Until one day, a hospital patient, after taking a sip of the dried tangerine peel tea, made a generous purchase of 150 cups to distribute as employee benefits in his company.

He not only treated his own team but also shared with equally affluent fellow patients, who in turn followed suit, buying up all the tea for the day.

This buyout occurred at 1:50 in the afternoon.

In the shared ordering group, the office workers who had counted on the afternoon tea for survival were absolutely lamenting their misfortune.

After this buyout incident, Qin Huai gained a clearer understanding of the world of the wealthy, leading to a cap on the tea sales.

Each person was limited to purchasing only two cups per day, and orders beyond the shared ordering range had Huang Xi develop an online ordering mini-program. Once a group order succeeded, deliveries could be dispatched from Yunzhong Restaurant.

Of course, the cafeteria would charge an additional delivery fee.

Deep-pocketed customers could also opt not to share orders and pay directly for delivery fees.

Once the mini-program went live, it received rave reviews mostly from the doctors and patients of the hospital where Qu Jing worked. Couriers almost opened an exclusive line from the restaurant to the hospital.

There were also customers from the ordering group who used the app. Even those working intense 996 schedules had a day off, and on breaks, they sipped a warming cup of dried tangerine peel tea, thoroughly enjoying life.

With the guests’ strong support, sales of dried tangerine peel tea at Yunzhong Restaurant soared, becoming the top seller just 8 days post-launch, consistently contributing 19,710 yuan daily to the revenue. Huang Xi’s first task each day at the store was to wipe the dried tangerine peel tea menu board.

The neurology department where Qu Jing worked was clearly not quick enough in grabbing orders online; they couldn’t even snatch any on the app.

"So is it to help your director buy dried tangerine peel tea that you’re here so early today, Dr. Qu?" Qin Huai asked, suddenly seeing Qu Jing in a new light.

Although Qu Jing wasn’t very social, had few friends, and appeared cold and bookish, she did understand the ways of surviving in the workplace.

"No." Qu Jing shook her head, "The other cup is for the late shift. You guys have a purchase limit, right? Only two cups a day."

Qin Huai: ...

He had thought too much into it.

After thinking for a bit, Qin Huai said, "Even though there’s a daily cap of 1314 cups, realistically, about 1300 cups will be sold each day, with 14 saved as staff benefits and reserved for friends."

"You’re considered a friend, Dr. Qu, so today I’ll quietly give you a little shortcut and slip you two extra cups."

Qu Jing hesitated slightly, then nodded gently, "Then thank you, Master Qin."

"We’re friends now, isn’t calling me Master Qin a bit too formal?"

"Master Qin?" Qu Jing hesitated, not entirely sure.

"Just call me by my name," Qin Huai concluded, realizing Qu Jing probably never had friends.

"Qin Huai." Qu Jing smiled apologetically, "Then you don’t have to call me Dr. Qu, just use my name."

"You can take the two extra cups to the director during your afternoon shift, let him repay Director Liu from cardiology."

"Are you also on the late shift today?" Qin Huai asked knowingly.

Although Qu Jing had consistently carried out Dean Qu’s instructions to buy snacks at Yunzhong Restaurant each day, except for day one in the morning, she came at dinner time each other visit, clearly after work.

Coming so early today indicated she’s on the late shift.

"Yes, the director is nice. He said it’s inconvenient for me to go out for work during the day due to my ultraviolet allergies, so he tried to schedule late shifts for me whenever possible. I’ll be on late shifts for the whole coming week." Qu Jing nodded.

Qin Huai: ...

The director might be overthinking it; late shifts don’t prevent Qu Jing from going out during the day.

Qin Huai even wanted to suggest to Qu Jing to just rent a place in Yunzhong District, it wouldn’t hurt with all the running back and forth.

Nevertheless, Qu Jing managed her sun protection very well. Throughout all this time, including the peak of summer, Qin Huai never saw Qu Jing suffer any sunburn or allergic symptoms.

This truly illustrates the saying, "a doctor from chronic illness."

Qu Jing finished her bun, bought sticky rice cake and freshly steamed fermented rice buns, and happily left with the specially prepared dried tangerine peel tea.

Back at Luo Jun’s spot, he’d finished breakfast and was playing with his phone, seemingly wanting to talk to Qin Huai.

Zhang Shumei had been sent off.

Qin Huai quietly walked over.

The famous check-in spot, Luo Jun, stood up: "Xiao Zhang has gone shopping. You accompany me back."

Qin Huai followed.

The surrounding check-in crowd started talking.

"Could Master Qin actually be Old Luo’s grandson?"

"Possibly, I heard Old Luo gave his car to Master Qin. Isn’t that something you’d give a grandson?"

"His own grandson?"

"No way, Old Luo doesn’t even have a son, how could there be a grandson? Must be a distant grandnephew!"

"Ah, even a distant grandnephew???"

The distant grandnephew followed Luo Jun to an area in the district. The place had lush, well-maintained greenery but plenty of mosquitoes, and few people usually come here.

"How did your chat with Xiao Qu go?" Luo Jun initiated, pushing for progress, acting like Qin Huai’s number one career fan.

"Very smoothly," Qin Huai replied.

"But the task, what good is going smoothly? What’s important is the side quest. If your main quest is incomplete, can the side quest still be triggered?"

Qin Huai almost wanted to say there’d been significant progress on the main quest recently.

Thanks to the scarcity marketing and popularity of dried tangerine peel tea, Yunzhong Restaurant’s name resonated in the nearby areas. Both group order number one and two were full, opening up to group number three and even overturning everyone’s understanding of dried tangerine peel tea.

Qin Huai heard that a customer, when buying dried tangerine peel tea at a tea shop on the pedestrian street, asked the owner why their tea didn’t contain white fungus and lotus seeds.

This irritated the tea shop owner enough to rename their Silver Ear Lotus Seed Soup to the new dried tangerine peel tea, only to be questioned again by the customer why the new dried tangerine peel tea contained no dried tangerine peel.

"I feel the triggering of side quests depends quite a bit on luck," Qin Huai said, "Side quests aren’t like main quests where completing one leads to another—side quests feel more like sporadic drops, popping up when in a good mood."

"I certainly can’t just ask Qu Jing: Do you happen to have any side quests for me to complete lately?"

As he spoke, Qin Huai envisioned a conversation scenario between himself and Qu Jing.

"For example, I can’t just run into you here and greet you by saying,"

"Mr. Luo, do you have any unfulfilled wishes lately that could serve as side quests for me? Drop one, it’s been a while since I had a task to do."

Luo Jun: ...

"Ding, congratulations player for discovering a new side quest [The Taste of Memories], please check in the quest panel."

Qin Huai: ?

No way, side quests really are requested like this?!