Reborn in Japan as a Chef God-Chapter 41 - Tea Ceremony Expansion

The tweet before the food post was a sketch of a female character from a fan drawing that hadn’t been colored yet.

An over-18 female artist?

Oh, lead the way, seasoned driver!

Xia Yu finally realized what felt so familiar.

The pen name Bai Muying came from “How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend.” He thought this was probably not a coincidence.

With this speculation, Xia Yu became more curious about ‘Bai Muying’s’ food tweets and clicked to read them carefully.

It was about tea again!

The female artist’s tweets rarely mentioned the main dish, only attaching images with brief comments sparingly.

However, she used many words to praise the tea at the little shop.

Tea of such high quality that even the Far Moon Resort didn’t have it?

Xia Yu looked at it, laughing and crying.

He had been drinking this tea since childhood and couldn’t really judge it as he hadn’t tried the tea outside.

However, he agreed with the notion that his family’s tea was magical.

The quality of the tea leaves was reasonably good, ordered from a fixed old shop as instructed by the old man, with little left.

Yet, it’s neither about tea leaves nor the skill of the tea maker; the crucial point was the quality of the water!

Mu Xiaoyue asked him about this while making tea last night.

Why not use drinking-grade tap water?

Subconsciously, to Xia Yu, the water in that ancient water tank was of spring quality, most suitable for brewing tea!

“Right, that stone…”

Stuffing his phone into his pocket, Xia Yu ran downstairs with a thumping sound to the kitchen, reached into the cool water tank, rummaged, and pulled out the wet, slippery black egg stone.

One of the mysterious incidents at Xia’s Restaurant was this stone!

Recently focused on culinary skills, Xia Yu almost forgot about this stone.

The old man had left, but the stone remained, so he could fully delve into it with confidence.

“System, appraise it!”

“Ding, unknown object, sample analysis in progress, estimated to take 30 days.”

The answer from the Chef God System left Xia Yu dumbfounded.

Thirty days just to analyze?!

Wait!

Xia Yu held his breath, “System, did you say this egg stone is a kitchen tool?”

“Yes.”

“Preliminary analysis suggests that this stone can purify water quality and, in the process, generates various trace mineral elements.

Please patiently await the final analysis results.”

Hearing the system’s answer, Xia Yu felt both excited and apprehensive.

Excited because even the Chef God System temporarily couldn’t appraise this kitchen tool!

But what was concerning was that such an egg stone could purify water, which was utterly unscientific.

Alright.

Thinking about his own possession and rebirth and the Chef God System, Xia Yu realized he was the most unscientific entity, and then he calmed down.

“Kitchen tool, huh…” Xia Yu pondered.

“Little Master” had legendary kitchen tools.

“Toriko” had all sorts of unbelievable Gourmet Hunters.

This was definitely not an ordinary world.

He could confirm that there were no skilled Gourmet Hunters, but he couldn’t definitively deny the existence of legendary kitchen tools.

With no clue, Xia Yu placed the egg stone back in the water tank, went to the yard, opened the cover of the well, drew two buckets of well water back to the kitchen, and filled the water tank.

Traditional Japanese houses often had wells with covers on the wellheads, ensuring a stable water supply in case of an earthquake cutting off the water mains.

However, with Tokyo’s booming population in recent years, traditional houses had become rare, replaced by apartments or minimalist modern homes.

Watching the full tank of well water, Xia Yu nodded silently.

The well water would soon undergo a qualitative change.

Water wasn’t just the source of life; it was also the origin of cuisine.

If another chef challenged him to a Food Duel, he already had an advantage at the source.

Standing in the kitchen, he turned his attention back to the large sum of Fame Points he had gained, hesitating on how to use this windfall effectively.

It would be too wasteful to spend it all on purchasing time in the Chef God Space.

He remembered that a blue recipe averaged 500 Fame Points, while blue permanent cookware and blue extension Skill Books averaged 1,000 points.

“That’s it!”

Xia Yu patted his forehead.

Two well-known figures in the ACG circles praised the tea in the shop, so didn’t that mean he could further develop in this direction?

A good restaurant couldn’t survive on the main dish alone.

Unlike the old man’s rigid personality, he had to keep up with the times—anyway, as long as the little shop was under his management, he couldn’t treat customers as harshly as before.

Customer service first!

Both tea and coffee-making skills could be expanded, but considering the shop’s main focus on Chinese cuisine, coffee was less suitable; tea was more classic and matched the restaurant’s atmosphere better.

Also, since he had been trained with a tea ceremony background by the old man since he was a child, it was reasonable to expand in this area.

Summoning the mall, Xia Yu’s eyes were filled with dazzling items, and he swallowed hard, saying, “System, filter out the Tea Art Extension Skill Books available for purchase!”

Beep.

After filtering, only three ancient books were left in the Chef God Mall.

The first book was blue, Intermediate Tea Ceremony, priced at 1,000 Fame Points.

The second book was purple, Advanced Tea Ceremony, at 10,000 points.

The third book was gold, Divine Tea Ceremony, at 100,000 points.

“So expensive!” Xia Yu’s face twitched, and his heart wavered.

The Intermediate Tea Ceremony Skill Book at 1,000 points was acceptable, but the prices of Advanced and Divine Tea Ceremony were downright terrifying.

“The host has already activated ‘Basic Tea Ceremony’ through life experience; now you only need to purchase Intermediate Tea Ceremony to learn directly.”

The Chef God System blurted, “The system suggests the host expand the tea ceremony.

The estimated customer return rate will increase by more than 50%.”

“Fine!

Buy, buy, buy!” Xia Yu gritted his teeth and made a decision.

In the restaurant business, every operator yearned to retain customers.

Promotional ads were temporary; if customers couldn’t be retained, once the excitement waned, while the restaurant wouldn’t revert to its previously bleak state, its development would be limited.

One must strive to do the best if they choose to do it.

Xia Yu had high hopes for the restaurant, not merely aiming for fame in the 11th Ward but ultimately attracting food connoisseurs worldwide for global acclaim.

That was the dream of a store manager and professional chef!

“System: purchase successful!”

“System: lost 1,000 Fame Points.”

A blue ancient Skill Book appeared in the item bar.

Xia Yu reached in, activated it, and immediately felt a surge of information flooding into his brain.

He closed his eyes.

After ten minutes, Xia Yu opened his eyes again, quickly filled a kettle with water, and placed it on the gas stove.

Before long, the kitchen was filled with the aroma of tea.

An Ya and Mu Xiaoyue, who were cleaning outside, followed the scent and stood at the kitchen door, surprised as they watched the young man concentrating on making tea with a serious expression.

His silhouette gave them a strange sense of elegance, much like a master devoted to the art of tea, classical and graceful.