Chapter 58
Jiang Wolong had just finished a chicken leg and was happily sucking on the bone.
This truly delicious fried chicken tasted so good, even the bones had flavor, with the rich, savory juice lingering as he sucked.
So good!
Suddenly, two dark shadows flashed beside him.
“Jiang! Wo! Long! Give us our fried chicken back!”
Lin Feng and Cui Hu rushed toward him, their eyes gleaming with malice.
Jiang Wolong immediately retorted, “You two said you’d let me have your spots earlier, how can you go back on your word?”
Jiang Wolong was feeling wronged.
They had just been looking down on the fried chicken and probably mocked him in their minds for being such a glutton.
Now they were trying to take his fried chicken—this was outrageous!
“That was then, this is now!” the two replied fiercely.
Inside Jiang Wolong’s bag, there were several more servings of fried chicken, and the two reached out to grab it.
In a panic, Jiang Wolong lifted the bag, taking a bite out of every piece of chicken.
Lin Feng and Cui Hu suddenly grinned.
“You think that’s going to stop us?”
The next second, just when Jiang Wolong thought the fried chicken was finally his—
Lin Feng and Cui Hu moved forward, grabbed the bag, and without hesitation, started devouring the fried chicken from the bag side by side.
They ate frantically.
After just one bite, Lin Feng saw white light flash before his eyes.
This… was some damn delicious fried chicken.
The golden crust cracked with a satisfying crunch between his teeth. With one bite, the crispy coating revealed the white chicken meat inside, and rich, abundant juices spilled out.
Lin Feng eagerly sucked in some of the juice, the rich flavor mixed with the chicken’s oil filling his mouth, making him feel the beauty of life in that moment.
With each chew, the golden, crispy outer shell kept breaking apart, combining with the delicious, tender, juicy chicken meat, becoming more and more irresistible.
The marinated chicken, with its salty, slightly spicy taste, made them sweat with every few bites…
—“That was close, we almost starved.”
Devouring the chicken, Lin Feng and Cui Hu suddenly thought of this phrase in their minds.
They ate quickly, the rich flavor in every bite, but they didn’t have time to savor it, fearing that if they ate too slowly, the other would steal the fried chicken.
The four pieces of wings and legs were quickly devoured by the two.
Unsatisfied, they fought over the remaining chicken bones.
Lin Feng was already sucking on one bone, but when he saw Cui Hu’s bone still covered in tendons, which looked especially tasty, he rushed over to fight Cui Hu for it.
“Let me have a bite too!”
“You already have a bone, why are you taking mine?!”
Neither of them was willing to give in, each biting onto one end of the bone, glaring at each other.
If you ignored the fact that they were fighting over the same fried chicken bone, it almost seemed a bit intimate.
Jiang Wolong’s face turned pale: “…You two really have no hygiene, ah!”
He hugged his own bone and sucked on it. Then suddenly he said, “Let’s ask the boss to sell us some more, after all, there are no other customers, and we can offer a higher price…”
Lin Feng and Cui Hu looked at him with a puzzled expression.
Jiang Wolong touched his cheek: “What?”
“Boss, I didn’t know you were this smart!” For the first time ever, Lin Feng and Cui Hu’s eyes showed respect.
“Right, we can buy more…”
“Wait, where’s the boss??!”
The three of them looked around, only to realize that they hadn’t even noticed when the boss had quietly left while they were fighting over the fried chicken.
Jian Yunlan didn’t mean to sneak away.
The problem was, once he had sold three servings, the Chef System in his brain began urgently prompting him to move the stall to a new location at least 1,000 meters away.
He had no choice but to slowly walk away.
When they finally realized Jian Yunlan had left, the three of them’s faces immediately turned pale.
No, they hadn’t gotten the boss’s name or contact information yet. They couldn’t just let him go!
Fortunately, Cui Hu, who had the best night vision, quickly spotted the little tricycle moving off in the distance.
The three of them gritted their teeth and immediately started chasing after it.
“Boss, wait for us, boss!!”
“Boss, what’s your name? What’s your phone number? Do you still need any leg ornaments?”
“Fried chicken, boss, fried chicken—”
At this point, the three of them had completely forgotten their original purpose for sneaking out, which was to go play games at the internet café…
Half an hour later.
Jiang Wolong, Lin Feng, and Cui Hu had barely managed to catch up with the boss’s snack cart.
By now, besides the three of them, there were another seven or eight people following the tricycle, running while chatting:
“Hey, did you guys also sneak out to play games?”
“Yeah, that was the plan too… but with fried chicken smelling so good, who still wants to play games?”
“Eating fried chicken can also help you get some exercise. Huh, feels pretty good.”
In the past thirty minutes, every time the fried chicken cart stopped, it attracted two or three more people who had just sneaked out.
Once people arrived, they bought the fried chicken, and as soon as they were done, the boss would immediately start to leave.
And after finishing the fried chicken, everyone turned around without hesitation, heading away from the internet café and following the fried chicken cart!
During this chase, Jiang Wolong and the others realized that, aside from discovering that the boss was very handsome, they didn’t gain much else.
“Boss, slow down, hey…”
“Is it really one serving per person? Can you make an exception? I’m a split personality and depressed, can I have two?”
“Boss, we can’t run anymore!”
Just then, the tricycle in front suddenly stopped.
They were overjoyed, thinking the chance to eat fried chicken was finally coming…
But then, the side gate opened.
Teacher Chen, the duty supervisor wearing a uniform, stormed out:
“So it’s you guys, huh, the ones who climbed over the wall?”
“Since you had the guts to sneak out, I’m sure you’re ready to face the punishment, right… hmph.”
“Everyone, line up! Back to the dorms!”
The crowd: ???
Jian Yunlan stopped the tricycle.
He turned around and exchanged a polite nod with Teacher Chen.
…At that moment, it was clear to everyone.
Jiang Wolong and the others were devastated: “Boss, you… you’re the… traitor!!!”
They stared at him in disbelief and sorrow.
Jian Yunlan: “Sorry about that.”
The students lined up and were escorted back by the dorm supervisor, turning back every few steps.
Just as the iron gate was about to close, Lin Feng suddenly exploded with a surge of energy, grabbing the gate and, with red eyes, shouted:
“Boss, just wait! Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that… for your fried chicken, I’ll climb over the wall every day!”
The boss was innocent. The boss was just doing his job.
The world was the problem!
The others immediately echoed, dramatically:
“Me too.”
“Ha, let the wind blow and the rain fall, I’ll still proudly eat fried chicken.”
“Boss, just you wait!”
Jian Yunlan looked at his enthusiastic customers, feeling deeply moved.
“Well… see you tomorrow?”
“See you tomorrow!” the customers shouted.
The iron gate closed in front of them.
The sounds from the outside world were cut off, and they could no longer see Boss Jian’s figure.
The students who had climbed over the wall were called out by name and escorted back to their respective dorms.
Ah, iron bars, iron walls, iron chains…
*
Meanwhile, in a nearby dorm building…
The students, like wandering souls, drifted through the hallway, all the while sniffing the delicious aroma.
“Fried chicken, it smells so good, I really want to eat it, woo woo woo…”
Xiao Wang was one of these wandering souls.
He had been having a sweet dream, going on a date with his girlfriend who he hadn’t seen in days. Suddenly, the girlfriend’s head in the dream turned into a fried chicken drumstick!
Xiao Wang abruptly woke up.
As soon as he woke up, the rich, tempting scent of fried chicken hit him like a ton of bricks.
It smelled so good.
Just by smelling it, he could imagine the golden, crispy fried chicken, hot in his hands, taking a bite and having the juices splatter everywhere—
Xiao Wang’s saliva flowed like a faucet.
His instincts took over his body, and he completely zoned out, following the scent outside.
Soon, he arrived at the snack haven:
The dormitory building’s lower floor.
The iron gate at the dormitory entrance was locked tight with a large padlock.
Even though the smell of fried chicken was so close, they couldn’t get out!
Looking around, there were dozens of soul-searching students wandering in front of the gate:
“Let us out… let us out, ahhh…”
“Fried chicken, do you smell that? The fried chicken is moving! It’s getting closer to us!”
“Oh my god, I can’t even imagine what kind of extraordinary, otherworldly person could make fried chicken this good…”
Tempted by the smell but unable to eat it, some students clutched their heads and mumbled to themselves, others banged their heads against the wall, and some even grabbed the big iron lock, gnawing on it while inhaling the scent.
Clear bite marks were left on the lock.
However, not everyone was going crazy.
Fu Changfeng leaned against the window, holding a book on game theory, reading quietly, with the soft moonlight gently casting over him. His eyes were gentle, and his pupils were a bit lighter than most.
In the midst of the crazed crowd, he appeared especially calm and out of place.
Many people couldn’t help but glance at him sideways, their cheeks flushed.
“Brother Fu really lives up to his name.”
“That composure, not even flinching in the face of disaster… no wonder it’s him!”
“Sigh, we’re all Alphas, but how come he’s like this, and I’m like that?”
The summer camp was full of Alphas, and everyone’s physical condition was basically the same, but for some reason, Fu Changfeng was always superior to all of them. It was like he belonged to another species.
Even now, with everyone around him losing their composure, Fu Changfeng remained unaffected.
Fu Changfeng’s roommate, Liu Qin, was also one of those driven mad by the scent.
In the middle of the night, Liu Qin suddenly sat up, wanting to go downstairs. Fu Changfeng, being the good guy he was, accompanied him downstairs, concerned for his safety.
“It smells so good, I really want to eat fried chicken, I’m going crazy…” Like the others, Liu Qin wandered despairingly in front of the gate, crawling in the darkness.
Fu Changfeng, however, said nothing, simply giving a warm smile and asking:
“Is it really that good?”
Fu Changfeng did smell a faint trace of the aroma, but it wasn’t as exaggerated as Liu Qin had described.
These people were overreacting.
“Those street food vendors, they all smell good,” Fu Changfeng said casually. “It smells good, but it doesn’t necessarily taste good.”
At this point, Fu Changfeng’s fingers, which were holding the book, involuntarily tightened.
Street food stalls…
Recently, Yu Ming had been calling him less frequently.
Today was supposed to be the day Yu Ming came to visit him at the camp, but it was suddenly canceled. He heard that the spicy hotpot vendor, who had been setting up stall at the entrance of the Lotus Pond community, suddenly stopped coming.
Yu Ming had even refused to visit him to wait for that vendor.
A mere street food stall was more important than him?
Thinking of this, even Fu Changfeng, who usually kept his emotions in check, couldn’t help but show some irritation, his expression cold:
“Those food stalls, to attract customers with their smell, add all kinds of seasoning and additives. It’s all shady business.
“The actual taste isn’t even that good.”
The students had been living in isolation here for a week, and the food in the cafeteria was terrible. At this point, even if they were given a cold steamed bun, they would probably eat it ravenously and enjoy it.
…Let alone those street food stalls, full of modern-day “technology.”
Fu Changfeng sneered inwardly.
“You don’t understand,” Liu Qin said resentfully, shaking his head. “The additives don’t smell like this, but this… this smells so good, can’t you smell it?! …Oh right, you can’t smell it.”
Liu Qin didn’t believe anyone could maintain their composure with such a tempting aroma.
It was at this moment that Liu Qin realized, Fu Changfeng, because of his pheromone allergy, had just gotten an allergy shot today!
The pheromone desensitization shot temporarily suppressed his sense of smell.
“I knew it,” Liu Qin said with a wild smile, patting his shoulder. “No wonder you’re so calm. You can’t smell it!”
Fu Changfeng furrowed his brow just slightly and brushed Liu Qin’s hand off his shoulder.
Liu Qin, however, was already laughing so hard that tears were coming out:
“Wait until tomorrow, when the effect of the desensitization shot wears off, and let you smell this fragrance again. I don’t believe you can stay so calm…”
“Maybe then, you’ll go crazier than we did.”
Fu Changfeng didn’t say anything, but a mocking smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
Him? Going crazy for a street food stall of unknown origin?
What a big joke.
“Fu God, do you dare?” Liu Qin’s eyes gleamed with excitement, lowering his voice. “Tomorrow at midnight, let’s sneak out and buy fried chicken. If you can still resist buying it when you smell the scent… I’ll call you ‘Father,’ how about that?”
Fu Changfeng twitched the corner of his mouth.
After a moment of silence, he curved his eyes and smiled gently. “Let’s go then.”
Although he smiled, there was a coldness in his gaze.
—It’s just a food stall.
He wanted to see what was so special about this stall that had so many people entranced.
*
Jian Yunlan rode his tricycle, wrapped in the night, and returned to the Jian family villa.
The night market hours had been grim, and after finishing his stall work, he didn’t get back home until past five in the morning. Jian Yunlan had expected the villa to be quiet and dark.
But unexpectedly, the living room light was on.
He parked his tricycle and walked closer to the light, where he saw a silver-haired man curled up on the sofa, his long legs tucked up in a somewhat pitiful way, as if he had fallen asleep while waiting for someone.
Taotie was holding the small night light, his fingertips slightly red from the heat of the lamp’s wick, looking a bit disheveled.
Was he… waiting for him?
Jian Yunlan blinked in surprise.
Taotie mumbled something.
Jian Yunlan quietly approached, took the small night light from his hand, and heard Taotie softly murmur, “Fried chicken…”
Jian Yunlan: “…”
Taotie, as expected, was all about food.
He thought Taotie was waiting for him, but turns out, he was waiting for fried chicken!
Jian Yunlan sighed and turned to leave the living room.
In the living room, the small night light emitted its soft glow.
Taotie’s eyelashes fluttered, still trapped in his dream.
Almost unconsciously, he mumbled the second half of his sentence:
“Humans… fried chicken… dangerous…”
The ancient beast Taotie had a dream.
In the dream, Jian Yunlan went out to sell fried chicken, but suddenly the oil pot exploded. Taotie wanted to protect Jian Yunlan, but he was too far away and could only helplessly watch the hot oil splash toward him.
The nightmare had quietly taken root when Jian Yunlan mentioned going out alone to sell food today.
It wasn’t a pleasant dream, and the silver-haired man leaned against the sofa, his brows tightly furrowed, his expression serious.
The room was empty, and Jian Yunlan had already turned to return to his room.
Taotie’s figure in the silent, dark room looked lonely, with cold wind blowing through.
It seemed a bit solitary.
…Suddenly.
A blanket was gently placed over Taotie.
Jian Yunlan held the blanket.
Taotie was so tall that even a large blanket seemed small on him. Jian Yunlan adjusted it several times before managing to cover him.
The warmth and softness of the blanket, with a faint sea salt scent, caused Taotie’s brows to slowly relax.
Then.
While still asleep, Taotie smiled, unconsciously biting the edge of the blanket: “Chew, chew, chew.”
Jian Yunlan: “…”
Alright then.
Sitting on the nearby sofa, Jian Yunlan opened his phone and saw a pop-up message from the Chef God app:
[Due to the completion of the main task [Stall at the Lotus Pond Community Entrance], you have a new reward to claim. Please claim it in time, or the reward will expire in 24 hours~]
Speaking of which, he had been pushed into a new task as soon as he woke up yesterday, so he hadn’t claimed the reward from the last task.
What would this reward be?
Jian Yunlan clicked to claim the reward, and the screen suddenly lit up, fireworks bursting—
[You have received [Personal Spiritual Field] x1, would you like to activate it now? Yes/No]
[Note: Personal Spiritual Field, capable of growing common, excellent, or even top-tier ingredients. With such fertile land, Boss Jian, your Chinese farming heritage is calling you~]
“!!!”
Wuhu.
A personal spiritual field!
The best part is… it can grow top-tier ingredients!
Jian Yunlan immediately thought of the basket of golden, top-tier potatoes that Tong Ling from the last world had given him.
Those potatoes were truly one-of-a-kind in flavor. If he could grow top-tier potatoes and become self-sufficient, Jian Yunlan couldn’t even begin to imagine how wonderful that would be.
This personal spiritual field is practically a must-have for any farming fantasy cultivation story—perfect for home use.
The system is so generous, being so lavish in its rewards.
Unable to contain his curiosity, Jian Yunlan clicked “Activate.”
[Ding! Activation successful!]
[You have a new activation reward waiting to be claimed!]
[You have received [Common Grape Seeds] x3]
The next second, Jian Yunlan felt a breeze against his face, heard the sound of a bell, and it seemed like everything around him had been refreshed.
He could sense the presence of the personal spiritual field.
It was like a space that existed in Jian Yunlan’s mind, entirely separate from the real world.
But whenever Jian Yunlan thought of “entering the spiritual field,” the space around him would slightly distort, and when he opened his eyes, he would already be standing in the spiritual field.
In Jian Yunlan’s hands, a cloth bag appeared, with the words “Common Grape Seeds” written on it.
Outside, it was autumn, but inside the spiritual field, it felt like spring, with blue skies, white clouds, and the spring breeze brushing against him. A pear tree nearby was blooming magnificently.
A sign hung on the pear tree, reading:
[(Unlocked) Yu Ming’s Pear Tree]
[Note: A pear tree whose scent is identical to that of the pheromones of the protagonist, Yu Ming, from “Dark River, Bright Light.” After unlocking, there is a chance to obtain a sweet and refreshing top-tier pear. Try it out~]
However, the sign had the word “Unlocked” written in bright red. Jian Yunlan leaned in closer and saw the note: “The strategy for character ‘Yu Ming’ has been completed, but this pear tree is a high-difficulty planting crop. It requires the spiritual field manager to unlock it~”
“You haven’t recruited a spiritual field manager yet. Please recruit a spiritual field manager before trying again!”
“A spiritual field manager?” Jian Yunlan read those five words.
Can’t he be the spiritual field manager?
Holding the grape seeds, Jian Yunlan squatted down and pinched a handful of soil.
The soil was a deep, pure black, rich and oily. Even though Jian Yunlan had grown up in the city, he knew this was high-quality soil, perfect for planting crops.
Jian Yunlan glanced at the seeds, then at the soil.
—Farming skills activated!
He dug a small hole in the soil, buried one seed, then clasped his hands together and began to pray for the seed.
A prompt sounded in his mind: [Planting failed! Planting failed! The planting technique was too simple, wasting one grape seed!]
Jian Yunlan: “…”
Chef system: “…”
Jian Yunlan’s golden finger was the Chef System, not the Farming System, and there was a reason for that.
In other words, Jian Yunlan was extremely specialized. He had maxed out all skills related to street vending and cooking, but other skills were underdeveloped, especially farming skills, which didn’t even exist in his skill tree.
“It looks like I’ll need to recruit a spiritual field manager,” Jian Yunlan sighed. The black-hearted boss was feeling a bit troubled. “With just Taotie and Hu Dangui as employees, it’s already tricky. Do I really need a third employee?”
He paid both Taotie and Hu Dangui salaries above the market average, covering meals and accommodations, and paying them 30,000 yuan a month.
Although Jian Yunlan wasn’t short on money.
The main issue was, where could he find an employee who was skilled in planting and managing a spiritual field?
…Could he post a job on Boss Zhipin (Chinese online hiring platform)?
*
The next day, 3 PM.
Jian Yunlan had already planned ahead for today’s stall: yogurt fried chicken.
—After all, when you’re out vending at 4 or 5 in the morning, regular fried chicken smells amazing, but it’s a bit too greasy and doesn’t sit well with the stomach early in the morning.
Yogurt fried chicken, on the other hand, maintained the crispy, savory taste of fried chicken while adding a refreshing yogurt flavor—perfect for late-night snacking.
“Master, the chicken for the past few days has been bought by me,” Hu Dangui blinked her big eyes and innocently asked, “Is there a reward?”
Jian Yunlan noticed a stray chicken feather still stuck at the corner of her mouth.
Jian Yunlan: “…”
Letting a fox buy the chicken was truly a stroke of genius.
“Within a budget of 10,000 yuan, pick whatever you want,” Jian Yunlan said.
“You’re the best, Master!” Hu Dangui cheered before running off.
…From tomorrow, Jian Yunlan thought, maybe he should wake up earlier and buy live chickens himself.
The process for making yogurt fried chicken was slightly different from regular fried chicken. The key difference was that during the marinating process, several large spoons of unsweetened yogurt were added.
Jian Yunlan cut the chicken legs in half for easier marination, then seasoned them with pepper, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. Afterward, he coated the chicken legs with a thick layer of unsweetened yogurt.
While the chicken legs marinated, Jian Yunlan made a yogurt tartar sauce with the remaining yogurt.
He mixed onions, crushed eggs, lemon juice, and mayonnaise together, then added yogurt, stirring until it formed a thick, milky white sauce with small, enticing bits of texture.
This yogurt tartar sauce was perfect for dipping fried chicken.
The idea was to enhance the flavor by using the original ingredients.
After putting the chicken in the fridge to marinate, Jian Yunlan took a nap, planning to wake up at 3 AM to prepare and head out to the stall.
Meanwhile, in the dormitory of the Long Teng Summer Camp.
Today, the dormitory building felt unusually tense.
Last night’s rich aroma had lingered in everyone’s minds all day, but at the same time, news from Jiang Wolong and others had spread, claiming that the delicious fried chicken was a trap…
Everyone was torn between conflicting thoughts.
At 4 AM, Fu Changfeng closed his book and coldly said, “Let’s go.”
Liu Qin, sneaky and excited, nodded eagerly.
*
Multiverse Streaming Room
Since the last gang fight incident, the live streaming rooms of most streamers have entered a new chapter of Dark River, Bright Light.
Yu Ming, whose glands were damaged and transformed into an Omega, fell into a state of depression day after day. Meanwhile, Fu Changfeng withdrew from the summer camp to accompany Yu Ming while he recovered, which led to a series of obsessive and gloomy storylines.
However, in Jian Yunlan’s live streaming room…
None of that happened.
In most streamers’ storylines, the weak Yu Ming is in the hospital, with Fu Changfeng patiently caring for him.
But in Jian Yunlan’s storyline, Yu Ming is full of life, waiting for someone at the entrance of the Lotus Pond community, while Jian Yunlan’s newly opened fried chicken stall has already caught the attention of the male lead, Fu Changfeng??
More than 300,000 online viewers in the live streaming room watched this low-plagiarism content, their curiosity piqued.
Jian Boss is only on his second day of selling fried chicken, and the male lead Fu Changfeng is already betting with his classmates and planning to buy fried chicken??!!
This speed, this gold content.
[Wuhu? Wuhu Wuhu??!!]
[Is it this exciting from the start? I have a feeling Fu Changfeng will join the dark, twisted obsession to chase after Jian Boss, hahaha]
[But that’s the calm and calculating gentle psychopath Fu Changfeng!]
[I don’t believe it, how can a mere fried chicken conquer him!]
[Don’t believe it +1]
…
[Don’t believe it +10086]
[That’s a ‘mere fried chicken’?! That’s Jian Boss’s fried chicken! Ah, you all underestimate Jian Boss!]
[Jian Boss’s food is powerful, but that’s Fu Changfeng!]
[Come on, let’s bet on whether Fu Changfeng can withstand Jian Boss’s food attack, let’s open the market, bet and lock it in~~~]
