Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 33 - 32 Drought and Famine (Part 3)

Chapter 33: Chapter 32 Drought and Famine (Part 3)

After Qin Huai returned home, he went straight to his room, locked the door, and opened the game system to check the titles he had earned.

[Recognition of the Neighborhood]: As a widely acclaimed snack master of the whole street, your shop is more likely to become the breakfast/snack choice of the surrounding residents. You are known by the neighbors as the praised Master Qin.

Master Qin himself: ...

This title... seems a bit more useless than [Chen Huihong’s Recognition]. At least gaining Chen Huihong’s recognition allows exploring some secrets or hearing some gossip. Moreover, when Chen Huihong has a high favorability, she really spends money, coming to the restaurant every afternoon to see if there are any unsold snacks, and if there are, she buys them all to take to the neighborhood committee. A big client.

The effect of [Recognition of the Neighborhood] seems similar to Chen Huihong’s money-spending ability, but the game does not limit the number of titles one can equip, so wearing it doesn’t hurt.

Qin Huai moved his fingers, decisively equipped the title, then opened the main quest.

As Qin Huai expected, this time the main quest was still part of the leading series of tasks.

Main Quest:

1.[Leading Ahead 2]: As a qualified protagonist, being ahead of your peers since opening is your basic quality. Please surpass 75% of the dining establishments in your area in reputation and keep complaint rates below 2% to become a well-deserving high-praise shop.

Task Reward: Popularity gain +500, [A Dream of ???] (Choose: Yes/No)

Qin Huai: ?

Who is ????

Are there non-human entities in this world called [???]?!

Can this world get any more bizarre?

After studying the task rewards and the newly acquired main quest, Qin Huai finally turned his attention to [A Dream of Chen Huihong].

This is the task reward he has been wanting to obtain; he’s been crazily making Buckwheat Buns lately because of this dream.

Lately, Qin Huai lightly probed Chen Huihong, asking her if she likes reading Liao Zhai, whether she usually reads immortal cultivation novels, and what her opinions are about reincarnation from previous to current lives.

As a result, Chen Huihong thought Qin Huai encountered a new type of scam similar to her brother’s past life misdeeds, and earnestly advised him for three to four days not to believe in such things, not to walk the young path of feudal superstitions.

Nowadays, earning money isn’t easy, no need to spend 200,000 on rituals to atone for past lives.

If Qin Huai hadn’t repeatedly guaranteed he absolutely doesn’t believe in such things, Chen Huihong could have dragged her unlucky brother over to recount how he got cheated of 200,000.

The cost of this probing was that originally only Qin Huai at Yunzhong Restaurant knew about Chen Huihong’s brother being cheated 200,000 for engaging in superstition, but after her earnest advice for several days, the entire restaurant, including the neighborhood committee, and even property staff knew that the wealthy big boss got scammed, and the way he got scammed was very unusual.

Since probing can’t yield results, let’s see if the dream can give some clues.

Qin Huai clicked [A Dream of Chen Huihong], choosing yes.

[Loading Dream——]

.

Unlike the deathly silence of the first dream entry, this time Qin Huai hadn’t even opened his eyes when he heard noisy sounds.

"How about this one? 11 years old, tall, good teeth, can work, cheaper than a donkey for grinding tasks, only one silver coin, also comes with this small one."

"Go, go, go, what can those scrawny ones do; this little one’s barely breathing, would need a shoddy straw mat for bad luck once bought, and you still want one silver coin, get out of here."

"Maybe take a look at this one, really good, price is just a bit..."

Upon opening his eyes, Qin Huai saw in the distance human traffickers bargaining with a customer.

Qin Huai: ?

Is he at some illegal human trafficking market?

Qin Huai looked around and realized it wasn’t the desolate, barren land. Though the air felt hot and the place looked sparse, one could see withered grass scattered with bits of green. Houses and small plots of farmland were vaguely visible in the distance, indicating residency.

Looking to the left, Qin Huai saw Chen Huihong still wearing those tattered clothes, covered with such a layer of mud that it formed a crust. It was unclear how much straw was stuffed in the clothes, making her look bulgy and quite robust.

As for Hui Niang, though equally disheveled, she seemed a bit cleaner than Chen Huihong, holding a chipped earthen jar in one hand and clutching a few wooden fragments in her arms, looking as thin and tiny as always.

There were seven or eight half-naked children in rags around Hui Niang and Chen Huihong. They appeared to be boys, either sitting lifelessly or lying weakly, all extremely thin with skin on bones and sunken eyes, making Hui Niang look robust and healthy in contrast.

The human traffickers spoke animatedly, bargaining with customers. Chen Huihong sat on the ground watching with interest, and Hui Niang was poking the ground with small wooden pieces, seemingly trying to dig something out of the soil.

Talking and talking, the customer looked at Hui Niang and pointed at her, "Why not throw her in, she looks a bit better."

Chen Huihong watched the two.

The human trafficker waved his hand repeatedly, indicating no: "This one is not for sale."

"You’re a traveling merchant; buying a girl like her is useless. She’s a maid, expensive, not worth it."

Seeing such straightforward rejection from the trafficker, the customer again assessed Hui Niang, apparently dissatisfied with her appearance or something else, and without further insistence, bargained a bit more before finally buying the initial buy-one-get-one-free for a small bag of sweet potatoes and half a silver coin, taking the trafficker with him to retrieve the cash and grain.

The trafficker wasn’t worried about others running off, happily followed, and soon came back with a small bag of sweet potatoes.

Seeing the person return, Chen Huihong patted the dust off herself and got up, "Leaving or not?"

"Leaving, of course. But Miss Chen, there’s one thing I need to clarify with you. We initially agreed to travel together, and since Hui is good at finding water, I gave her a bean cake every two days. Now that we’re almost in Beiping, she doesn’t need to find water anymore, so I won’t give her bean cakes from now on."

Chen Huihong showed no reaction, merely replied indifferently, "It’s none of my business."

Hui Niang hugged the earthen jar, feeling a bit uneasy and kept her head down.

Seeing Chen Huihong unprovoked, a smile appeared on the trafficker’s face, turning his attention to Hui Niang: "Miss Chen, your maid might be ugly, but she’s better than the unsellable ones in my batch. Anyway, we’re about to reach Beiping, and once you find your family there, you won’t need this maid anymore. She appears clueless; you surely don’t fancy her. I’ll offer you half a silver coin; just sell her to me, sparing you from selling her in Beiping."

Saying this, the trafficker raised his voice to the boys lying on the ground, lifeless: "Why are you still lying around, hurry and get on the road! The sooner you reach Beiping, the sooner you’re sold and eat well. The day hasn’t even turned dark and you want to rest, no wonder Boss Liu isn’t interested, you’re a waste of resources."

"I said, she’s not my maid, and I don’t have the authority to sell her." Chen Huihong said faintly, walking off first.

Hui Niang promptly followed, like a little tail, afraid to fall behind by a step.

The trafficker watched Chen Huihong’s departing figure, filled with resentment and dissatisfaction but didn’t dare vent it at her, only kicked a nearby boy: "Get up already!"

Then ignored the struggling, arduously crawling boys, who wished to move like zombies, hurriedly following Chen Huihong with sweet potatoes in his arms.

"Miss Chen, slow down, I don’t have the strength to keep up."