Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 54: Food Truck Upgrade, Time Slowdown Buff
After a whole day of hunger, Richard was curled up on the sofa watching TV, struggling to suppress the gnawing hunger in his stomach, occasionally glancing out the window.
At a certain moment, he heard the familiar sound of an engine starting, and dashed to the door like an arrow.
"Food! Hungry!!"
As soon as he opened the door, he saw Marian holding several bags filled with takeout boxes and hurried over to grab them.
"Let me help you with that, beautiful lady!"
Looking through the bags, it seemed to be noodles, but different from the wide noodles he had before, this time they were thin, and the sauce was completely different.
Besides two bags of noodles, there were also two bags of ice jelly.
This thing had become a family favorite; not having one or two bowls a day would make them uncomfortable.
Marian heated up a portion of beef noodles in soybean paste and peanut butter noodles for Richard, and while this kid buried himself in eating, Marian and George sat quietly beside.
"Richard, after our discussion, we’ve decided we might move to a place closer to the city soon, and you have two choices now."
"Take the subway to catch the school bus every day, and return the same way, but you’ll have to wake up an hour earlier."
Hearing they’d move to the city, his first reaction was he’d be able to eat delicious food every day, just about to nod, he suddenly realized.
Wake up an hour earlier??
That might as well kill him!!
"If you don’t want to wake up early, then we’ll have to transfer you to another school."
"No way!!!!"
The shy image of Lisa flashed in his mind, and Richard shook his head like a rattle-drum: "I’ll wake up, I’ll wake up, just don’t transfer me!"
"Have you held hands yet?"
"...Not yet."
Marian shook her head: "Alright, we didn’t bring much food this time because we often have to go to the city to look for houses and eat there."
"Tomorrow I’ll bring you a portion of everything to school, ice jelly too. If you still can’t hold Lisa’s hand, you should just give up."
Foreigners don’t treat relationships as cautiously as the Great Xia People do; if they like each other, they can hold hands and kiss right away.
Although Richard was just about to graduate from middle school, in the foreigner’s view, it’s nothing, it’s the right age to start a romance.
"Bring ice jelly? That’s great! Lisa loves eating fruits! She said she wants to start managing her figure early and develop habits for becoming a model in the future."
"Model?"
Marian was stunned, "You say her dream is to be a model?"
"Yeah, any problem with that?"
Marian smiled, took out her phone, and sent him a photo, it was a picture Lucas took of Jade, Dreya, and Anna in front of the food truck.
Lin Chen was quite busy and couldn’t reply in time, so she got Lucas’s contact information, as these two always went to the market together, it didn’t matter who she asked.
"Tomorrow, show her this picture, I guarantee she’ll hold your hand!"
Richard stared blankly at Dreya’s beautiful smile in the photo: "Oh... my God, is she an angel?"
George, who had been quietly drinking ice jelly nearby, suddenly lifted his head: "Yes, indeed, she is an angel!"
"But your mom is the most beautiful angel in the world!"
Marian coldly snorted twice, snatched away his ice jelly: "Thanks for the compliment, dear, as a reward, you and Macaron can sleep in the living room tonight."
"Macaron! Keep an eye on him, if he dares to open the fridge at night, bite his butt!!"
"Woof!"
...
A little after seven, Lin Chen, having sold out all the ingredients again, tidied up and prepared to get off work.
Even though he had been out all day, the actual workload wasn’t as big as imagined, and with the stamina enhanced by the Stamina Potion, it felt less tiring than usual work.
[Ding, settlement complete, a total of 246 servings of Mapo tofu sold, received 183 positive reviews, task failed, but since the positive reviews exceeded 75% of the target, received a consolation prize random Recipe Exchange Voucher*1]
This task popped up when he made the first Mapo tofu, he didn’t really care, after all, he was prepared to fail since the flavor was unique.
But he didn’t expect to receive so many positive review points and even get a random recipe voucher, it was an unexpected surprise.
[Ding, total positive review points for today’s dishes exceeded 1000, achievement: Crafting a Reputation, received Food Truck Upgrade Card*1]
[Ding, single-day positive review points for handmade ice jelly exceeded 500, with a positive rate of 99%, achievement: Ice Jelly Expert, received Food Truck Upgrade Card*1]
"What the heck??"
He originally thought that food not made according to the system recipe wouldn’t count for review points, and repeatedly selling the same food wouldn’t trigger tasks, he thought it was just about earning money, never expected that the review points would accumulate.
The two sudden Food Truck Upgrade Cards were an unexpected surprise, plus the three used before, he had just enough to activate the first food truck set attribute.
Taking advantage of Lucas checking today’s filming, he hid in the truck to use these two cards first.
Before that, he used the random Recipe Exchange Voucher to see if he could draw something good, and then decide on any upgrades or additions needed.
[Ding, congratulations on obtaining the recipe: Red Bean Rice Ball Soup]
A drink?
Unexpectedly, he got a drink, not something he anticipated, roughly scanning the recipe, it wasn’t much different from his imagination, just traditional red bean soup with rice balls from rice wine soup.
It could be served hot or cold.
Considering foreigners’ eating habits, making it a cold drink would definitely sell better, and it’s convenient to sell.
Glancing at the bucket with ice jelly, after selling two whole buckets in one day, the reputation was already established, attracting more foodies was inevitable, it was time to increase production.
This bucket could be bought from specialized kitchenware places, but with more, the fridge space definitely wouldn’t be enough.
[Ding, the refrigerator has been upgraded, space increased by 20%]
[Ding, the refrigerator has been upgraded, time required to chill food to optimum level reduced by 20%]
[Food truck has been upgraded five times, unlocking special effect: Time Manipulation]
[Time Manipulation: When not in business, a time buff can be activated in the food truck for prep, slowing down inside time flow by 20%]
"What the heck??"
The activated buff made his eyes widen, he could control time flow, if stacked, wouldn’t prep time move towards zero?
Glancing at Lucas still on the phone, he immediately activated the Time Manipulation buff to experience it.
Upon activation, a perceptible invisible barrier spread out, and then nothing happened.
No matter what he did, it seemed like nothing changed.
Looking at Lucas outside the window again.
"Eh?"
The chef’s keen sense immediately noticed something strange, the way he swiped his phone seemed a tad slower than usual?
