Reborn in Japan as a Chef God

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Hey, hey!

The middle-aged man's taking-charge attitude made Xia Yu quite displeased.

The guy who ate half of his midnight snack had to pay some kind of price. Thinking it over, Xia Yu could only hold out his hand and say, "Money—"

"Money?" The middle-aged man was stunned.

Xia Yu pointed at the empty bowl, "Paying for food is only right and proper. Or are you planning to dine and dash?"

"How much?"

"Well, let me think. This is today's limited edition midnight snack, only two bowls, and you ate one. Let's just say ten thousand yen." Xia Yu tapped his chin as he said it casually.

He only wanted to provoke this rude fellow deliberately.

Regardless of whether he was a regular customer or someone else, Xia Yu wasn't going to be polite to someone who'd taken half of his most sumptuous meal each day, filled with grievances.

Clap.

Unexpectedly, the middle-aged man didn't haggle or waste words. He pulled a wallet from his black-gray overcoat pocket, extracted a ten-thousand-yen bill, placed it on the table, and smiled slightly, "If I could use money to eat Boss Xia's dishes every day, I'd be willing to go bankrupt."

Xia Yu was tongue-tied and speechless.

In Tokyo, a normal bowl of ramen cost about six or seven hundred yen, roughly equating to more than 40 yuan.

And a ten-thousand-yen bill was more than 600 yuan, enough to buy a dozen bowls of ordinary ramen.

Needless to say, anyone who'd spend ten thousand yen on ramen was definitely wealthy. Xia Yu didn't hesitate at all, and he slipped the large denomination bill into his pocket.

Damn it, surviving on store bread every day was all the old man's fault for being stingy, giving him only 1,000 yen a day for living expenses.

What's the concept of 1,000 yen?

Convenience store lunches cost 400 yen each, a box of instant noodles was 100-250 yen. Of course, since he could bike to school, he saved on daily train fares; otherwise, Xia Yu would have to skip a meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

It was rough that Xia Yu had to frequently watch for store sale news, turning into a cycling enthusiast upon seeing almost expired half-price lunches. Maybe it was just luck that, even after often eating expired lunches, he hadn't gotten terribly sick.

In short, it was rare for a transmigrator to be this down and out. Xia Yu, with his hands in his pockets, fingered the smooth surface of the ten thousand yen bill, already thinking about where to feast and replenish his nutrition.

"Are you Xia Yu?"

The middle-aged man retrieved his wallet, then continued to look at him with interest and asked.

"The one and only!" Xia Yu now found the middle-aged man's face much more amiable.

The man nodded and looked towards the old man in the kitchen, raising his voice, "Boss Xia..."

The old man leisurely walked out from the back kitchen, arms crossed standing behind the counter, cool as ever.

"Mr. Shinohara, how can I help you?" the old man asked.

"Boss Xia, is this your grandson?" The middle-aged man pointed to Xia Yu standing beside him. Seeing the old man nod, he chuckled lightly, "I've agreed to your request. But since this is your grandson, I'd like to see his cooking skills. After all, you're leaving, and I need a substitute."

"Come in—" the old man beckoned Xia Yu, who was in a daze, with a stern look.

Xia Yu instinctively walked through the shop into the kitchen.

He hadn't noticed the middle-aged man's words; at this moment, he was excited by the task prompt given by the Chef God System:

"Make a midnight snack that satisfies Shinohara Shigetaro, and the host can complete the initial task."

Standing in front of the kitchen's cooking station, Xia Yu was soon at a loss.

He didn't know how to cook at all!

He looked to the old man beside him for help, but the old man just stood there with arms crossed, looking cool as ever, "When I was your age, I was already a head chef, independently upholding our Xia Family's reputation. Now it's your turn."

No, don't!

Xia Yu was anxious, "Old man, when have you ever taught me to cook? You just treated me as an errand boy."

And seriously, could he stop saying things like 'when I was your age'? The times have changed!

As if sensing his thoughts, the old man shook his head and said, "You think I cook you different midnight snacks every night for nothing? This is the simplest and freest category of dishes. If you haven't mastered one or two cooking methods, it shows you haven't focused on improving your cooking skills... you've lost the soul of the Xia Family!"

The old man became increasingly serious.

With pressure from both the system and the old man, Xia Yu took a deep breath, realizing he was being forced to step up.

The problem was, what dish to make, or rather, what kind of midnight snack?

The thought turned.

Clap. Xia Yu's left hand formed a fist and hit his right palm hard, "Ramen! The beef ramen I just ate! Yes, that's it!"

He turned his head and shouted to the shop, "Mr. Shinohara, you wouldn't mind having another bowl of beef ramen, would you?"

Shinohara Shigetaro sat there quietly. The shop was tiny, so of course, he'd heard the conversation between the grandfather and grandson.

It seemed the Xia Family's next generation wasn't skilled in cooking; he could see Xia Yu's nervousness, while the old man still showed no expression on his perpetually stern face.

"If it's delicious, I certainly wouldn't mind," Shinohara Shigetaro replied with a smile.

"Then please wait a moment..."

Xia Yu stood at the cooking station with his chin rested on his hand, and in front of him was high-gluten flour for ramen. A large pot of water had been placed on the gas stove, soon to boil and release steam.

Making ramen first had to solve the noodle problem.

There were no ready-made noodles in the shop; he'd have to pull them himself. Making good ramen undoubtedly required skilled basic techniques: kneading dough, shaping noodles, pulling noodles, boiling, and straining... every step would affect the final texture.

"System: Host, you have an unclaimed Starter Gift Package. It's recommended you claim it before preparing your first dish."

What on earth was a Starter Gift Package?

Having his train of thought interrupted, Xia Yu wasn't annoyed; instead, he was filled with curiosity.

Ding.

A clear sound echoed in his mind, and then, like a game, a talent skill tree appeared on Xia Yu's retinas.

Cooking Level lv2.

Unassigned Talent Points: 1.

"…When did my cooking level rise from lv1 to lv2, and hey, upgrading even got me 1 Talent Point?" Xia Yu mumbled in surprise.

So the Chef God System gave him a detailed system log:

On 2016/7/20, 7:36 PM, the host processed ten portions of meat ingredient, gaining 10 Experience Points.

On 2016/7/20, 8:20 PM, the host processed ten portions of seafood ingredient, gaining 10 Experience Points.

On 2016/7/20, 9:00 PM, the host processed ten portions of vegetable ingredient, gaining 10 Experience Points.

...

The system log recorded past midnight.

It only took 100 Experience Points for cooking to upgrade from lv1 to lv2, but lv2 to lv3 required ten times that, needing 1,000 Experience Points.

"Claim the Starter Gift Package!" Xia Yu decided to claim the package first.

"System: The host receives a free virtual lottery spin."

A lottery interface popped up, with a detailed textual description beside it.

[Ingredient Category]: Obtain Chef God System's premium ingredients.

[Cookware Category]: Obtain Chef God System's premium cookware.

[Recipe Category]: Receive a blue quality or higher recipe from the Chef God System.

[Consumables Category]: Obtain a one-time use consumable item.

[Special]: Extremely low probability, obtain 'Divine Tongue', 'Divine Hand', and other super talents.

Oh my gosh, Divine Tongue?

Xia Yu felt a little overwhelmed, it was like a crossover with Food War Spirit!

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