Chapter 5
Jiang Qingyu rested and reorganized in the same place for a few days. In his spare time, he even went to wander around the local museum before setting off for the next city.
His current location was still an extremely long distance from his destination, but that happened to fit Jiang Qingyu’s original intention. He could relax and travel while buying supplies along the way.
In recent years, road trips had become very popular. It was not only offline either; many people traveled while filming videos and vlogs to post online. Jiang Qingyu’s small RV driving along the road did not attract much attention.
There were plenty of RV campsites, and the camping trend had swept through with great enthusiasm, so Jiang Qingyu had many places to choose from when finding somewhere to stay.
This place was full of ancient city walls and all kinds of restaurants. Compared with the city where he had grown up, tourism here was much more developed. Everywhere was filled with tourists who had come during the holidays.
The city had a long history and deep cultural heritage. Since it was also a northern city, the ancient buildings had a particularly poetic atmosphere on snowy days. On top of that, it had famous historical ruins known both at home and abroad, so there was almost no real off-season.
In the bustling areas, shops and snack stalls were everywhere. There were especially many noodle shops, far more than one would expect. The signboards at the entrances each had their own distinctive style, looking festive like ingots.
Jiang Qingyu chose a noodle shop with a fairly large storefront that looked bright and clean, then ordered a bowl of noodles in a proper, ordinary manner.
The back kitchen worked very quickly. Before long, a noodle bowl even bigger than two of his heads was brought over. There was a ring of fresh green around the bowl. The noodles were of moderate thickness, clearly the type with a very chewy texture. On the side were minced meat sauce, diced greens, potatoes, and radish, along with a spoonful of tomato and egg, large slices of meat, and a little chili oil poured over the top.
Just now, the server had casually introduced it to him. This chili oil was stir-fried in-house and was especially fragrant.
Jiang Qingyu was stunned for only a few seconds before quickly reacting. He picked up the equally exaggeratedly long chopsticks and began mixing the noodles, letting every strand become coated in meat sauce while evenly stirring the vegetables and noodles together.
Jiang Qingyu enjoyed another wonderful meal.
At first, he thought he would not have much appetite after driving for so long. But after a few bites of noodles, his stomach immediately sent him a signal: Hungry. Eat. Eat more!
And so, the bowl of noodles he had originally thought he could not finish was eaten clean. In fact, it only looked huge because of the bowl. The portion itself was not that exaggerated.
The prices here were also fair. After paying, Jiang Qingyu stood at the entrance of the noodle shop and thought for a moment. Perhaps he could order a few dozen or even a hundred portions and put them into the space’s stasis area. Whenever he wanted to eat them, he could take one out to satisfy his craving.
If he rinsed a little portion lightly in clean water, he could even let Meimei taste it.
As he walked around the streets to digest his food, Jiang Qingyu quietly took notes in his memo app. He had to stay here for a few days, and stockpiling was still his top priority.
It was also because of this bowl of noodles that Jiang Qingyu suddenly remembered that, in the previous place, he had kept buying grain, oil, rice, flour, vegetables, and meat, but had not bought many ready-made dishes or foods like dumplings and buns.
Clearly, these things were convenient and delicious. They were also carbohydrates, so there was no problem of eating them and not feeling full. If he suddenly craved them one day and wanted to eat them right away, starting from scratch by kneading dough and steaming buns would take far too long.
Besides, how convenient was it to eat ready-made food? If Jiang Qingyu wanted to be lazy, he could even save the effort of heating it and simply take it out to eat.
In that case, he really had to buy more finished flour-based foods at this stop.
Only a few minutes after that thought ended, Jiang Qingyu could not help being drawn over by a pastry stall at the roadside. He ate a bowl of ginger milk curd and a large piece of red bean persimmon cake.
At the center of the cake was a refreshing molten persimmon filling, while the outside was soft red bean paste. It was quite interesting to eat, sometimes sweet and sometimes not. He liked the texture of red bean paste very much. As he ate, he looked at the small stall that temporarily had no customers, took a step forward, and said something in a low voice.
The uncle selling persimmon cakes looked up in surprise. This young man had muttered something, but his voice was too low, so he could not hear it clearly.
Seeing his blank expression, Jiang Qingyu repeated it again in a low voice.
This time, the uncle heard him clearly and laughed heartily. “I thought it was something serious. Are you giving them away or what? I’ll pack them up for you!”
Jiang Qingyu scratched his head awkwardly and laughed foolishly along with him twice. He asked for the price, scanned the code to pay, and carried two big bags of persimmon cakes back to the RV campsite by taxi, hurrying to put them into the stasis space.
He heard that if these were kept for too long, they would turn sour and taste bad.
Since the space had not yet bound itself to him, it was still somewhat inconvenient. Otherwise, he could have found a place with no one around and put the things away directly. Why would he need to go through such a big detour?
Still, it was just the right time to check on Meimei and rest in the RV for a little while.
He did want to take Meimei out for a walk, but it was noisy and crowded outside. Meimei was an extremely beautiful long-haired calico cat, with fluffy fur and round cat eyes like two glass beads. From the side, her forehead was full, and the tip of her nose was beautifully raised. Compared with the skinny little thing that could barely open her eyes when he had first picked her up, she was practically a completely different cat.
Such a beautiful little cat—forget passersby, even Jiang Qingyu himself would not be able to resist taking a few extra looks if he saw her on the road. If someone came up without saying hello and tried to touch or tease her, Meimei might feel uncomfortable.
It would be better to wait until they went somewhere sparsely populated later, then bring Meimei out to see the mountains and rivers, the snow and the rain.
Meimei had originally been sleeping in. When she saw Jiang Qingyu return, she immediately walked over to look for him with little cat steps. After circling around him a few times, she stepped onto Jiang Qingyu’s legs, curled her tail around herself, and lay down just like that.
Jiang Qingyu’s heart softened terribly, but he did not dare to bury his face in her and inhale too much in case he scared Meimei away. His long, fair fingers combed again and again through her smooth, silky fur, gently rubbing and kneading her little ears.
Although Jiang Qingyu had done a lot of research after raising her, when it came to what she could eat and what she could not eat, he still always had to search online to check which of the new things he had bought she was allowed to eat.
While he was at it, he also looked up travel guides online and booked a ticket for an evening performance—well, since he was already here.
With his small face taut, he very seriously checked the distances between several performance parks, the showtimes, nearby scenic spots, delicious foods, and so on, doing his best not to waste time and to accomplish several things at once.
Jiang Qingyu made dinner for Meimei, then scanned a bicycle at a shared bike station near the RV. At this time, it was the evening rush hour. Whether he drove himself or took a taxi, he would inevitably get stuck on the road.
It would be better to ride a bicycle, enjoy the evening breeze, look at the night scenery along the way, and buy some food while he was at it.
He was tall, long-legged, and well-proportioned, with an especially strikingly beautiful face. When he waited at intersections for red lights, pedestrians passing by could not help glancing at him a few more times. Some came up to ask for his WeChat, but even more called out, “Handsome guy, handsome guy,” trying to pull him over to take Hanfu photos.
Jiang Qingyu had already arranged his itinerary for the day, so of course he refused.
When he smiled, he looked very well-behaved. Although he himself thought he was sometimes a very bad child, strangers inevitably felt that he was approachable. Even after being rejected, they were unwilling to give up. They invited him to take photos for free and were even willing to pay him to be a model.
Jiang Qingyu was a little baffled, but he still politely refused again. With one long leg stepping onto the bike, he quickly slipped away.
At dinnertime, all the restaurants and eateries were full. Tempting aromas drifted out from open doors and storefronts. People were lining up everywhere. The fragrance of chili oil splashed over hot oil made the scents of noodles and meat especially domineering. Jiang Qingyu took a deep breath. Since there was still some time before the performance, he began placing orders with various restaurants.
Today would not do. They did not have that much stock. Tomorrow would be possible, though. When the shop owners purchased ingredients that night, they could add a little extra without affecting the next day’s business.
However, since he asked for such a large quantity all at once, most of the owners were half believing and half doubtful. Some even advised him that it was better to come to the shop and eat there, because the flavor would be discounted if taken away.
Jiang Qingyu took the initiative to offer a deposit, dispelling the other party’s doubts. He then found an excuse and successfully reassured them further. For the first round, he ordered one hundred portions of various flour-based foods.
Minced meat noodles were delicious, and spicy chicken mixed noodles were even more fresh and flavorful. There were also bright green spinach noodles, beef knife-cut noodles…
No. Just thinking about it made them seem far too fragrant.
Eating them every meal might make him tired of them, but if he occasionally craved them and had a bowl, there would be nothing to complain about.
He could not eat very spicy food, but he could handle a little. He specifically reminded the shop owners about this and also packed extra chili oil from the shop he liked best. The owner was straightforward too, saying that since he was buying so much, he would fill an entire basin for him when the time came.
There was just one thing: the food came out fast, so the owner told him to remember to call someone to pick it up in time. Otherwise, if the noodles clumped together, they would no longer taste good.
Jiang Qingyu thought inwardly: Of course. Tomorrow I’ll drive over to pick it up. As soon as it comes out of the pot, I’ll put it into the stasis space. It won’t clump at all!
There were also roujiamo and beef paomo. Jiang Qingyu ordered quite a lot of those too.
He could order a large quantity of the former, but for the latter, considering the restaurant’s situation, he could not be so extravagant. So he found several reputable shops instead.
He was not good at tearing up the flatbread, so he might as well buy the machine-cut kind. It would be finely cut, with the outside softened by the soup while the inside still remained chewy. Since he could not get used to eating lamb, he bought beef instead.
The owner of that shop was especially honest. Seeing that he had placed such a large order, he even made him a small bowl as a “sample” so he could taste it first. If he felt it was not good, he could cancel the order on the spot.
Their shop was famous for stir-fried paomo. Jiang Qingyu ate half a small bowl. He had originally been full, but this forcibly lured the already dormant greedy worm in his stomach back out. It was sour and spicy, and the glass noodles had almost been cooked until melting, making them especially flavorful.
Without hesitation, Jiang Qingyu added another two hundred bowls.
The owner: “…”
Fine. He would roll up his sleeves and work overtime to make them all!
Seeing the owner’s bold and heroic momentum, Jiang Qingyu did not know whether to laugh or cry. He told him that he could pick up the food over two days. One hundred portions a day would be enough, and it would not delay his business. After all, there were still many tourists coming because of the shop’s reputation.
After finishing this portion of stir-fried paomo, Jiang Qingyu set off in satisfaction to watch the performance.
The night wind brushed against his face. In his ears, the system’s ding-ding-ding settlement sounds rang out. Because he had only paid deposits, the points credited to his account were discounted, but he was still in a very good mood.
He hoped that the next stage’s rewards could refresh with a binding function. Speaking of which, it was rather puzzling. Aside from the “newbie missions” the system had mentioned, the later upgrade rewards would not be revealed to Jiang Qingyu in advance. He could only choose them after the upgrade.
However, upgrades generally gave two options. Jiang Qingyu could choose the reward based on his current needs. Just like last time, he had leaned more toward expanding the RV’s space, so he had temporarily given up the self-driving function.
But after living in the RV for the past few days, Jiang Qingyu sincerely felt fortunate that his decision back then had been so correct.
After all, driving only took a few hours, while daily life occupied a much larger portion of time. Expanding the space was very necessary.
This feeling of the unknown also added a bit of anticipation for Jiang Qingyu.
He wondered what rewards would appear in the next upgrade.
