Chapter 8
This was the store’s sales volume for nearly an entire week.
They would have to bake from morning until night, baking until the oven started smoking.
All right, that was an exaggeration. But if they accepted this order, it was obvious that they would be very busy over the next few days.
But still. Who would refuse money?
Every store had monthly performance targets.
The store manager gladly accepted his order and had the person who delivered goods to them every week come over early for an extra delivery. They also increased the quantities according to the list Jiang Qingyu provided.
The next few stores were the same.
Steeped in the sweet fragrance of butter and honey until he himself smelled delicious, Jiang Qingyu contentedly went to seven or eight nearby fruit stores and bought a batch of seasonal fruit. Then, fully satisfied, he returned “home.”
To be honest, during the previous period, he had always been rather perfunctory with himself. He ate and drank casually, and as for clothes, as long as they were clean and tidy, that was enough. Whether they were comfortable or not did not matter. As long as he did not freeze to death or die of heat, it was fine.
His face was already only palm-sized. Since he had not been eating anything especially nutritious, he had not been able to fill out either, making his chin look pointed. His round eyes seemed like they could take up half his face.
His posture was good, his legs were straight and long, and his shoulders and back were upright. But because his figure was slender, he looked like a thin sheet of paper. Although he was clearly already an adult man, at a glance, he still gave people the illusion that he was somewhat weak and frail.
But these days, he had been sleeping enough, eating properly, making sure every meal had enough meat and vegetables, as well as fruit and afternoon tea. Because he had also been running around everywhere, he had even ensured a certain amount of exercise.
The RV was convenient too. As long as there was a suitable place to park, he could take a warm hot shower and lie down on the bed for a proper rest.
In just over half a month, his cheeks had gained a little flesh, his complexion was rosy, his eyes were bright, and his whole person looked much more energetic.
Some time ago, he had spent a lot of money buying gear and clothes, so when the temperature dropped over the past two days, he immediately dug out his thick clothes and put them on. The fabric was of excellent quality, breathable and warm. When he tugged up the collar of his hoodie and buried half his face in it, the part pressed against his cheek was soft and fluffy, very comfortable.
Being well-fed and warmly dressed was also a kind of happiness.
Meimei had tasted a tiny bit of honey bread. She ate it very seriously. The way she kept licking her mouth made it look as if she still wanted more. Seeing Jiang Qingyu sitting beside her and watching her, she tentatively stretched out a paw and patted at him.
Jiang Qingyu held back a laugh. “What? Is it that tasty?”
Meimei gave a “meow,” as if answering him.
Jiang Qingyu said, “But little cats can’t eat that much honey bread.”
Meimei gave a loud “meow.”
Who said that? Why couldn’t a little cat eat a whole honey bread? A little cat’s belly was very big. She could eat one—no, two!
Jiang Qingyu tilted his head, imitating her movement. “But little cats still have to eat seafood chowder tonight, with black tiger prawns the size of your paw and scallop meat, plus a small bowl of pumpkin soup. Those are all things you like very much. If you eat bread, then you won’t have room for those.”
Meimei hesitantly withdrew her paw.
Jiang Qingyu satisfiedly patted her head, unable to stop himself from speaking in a cutesy voice for a moment. “Whose little cat is so obedient? Whose little cat is this cute and this pretty?”
Meimei proudly puffed out the big ruff on her chest: Me!
And so, the clever, adorable, obedient little cat got to eat the seafood chowder and pumpkin soup personally made by Chef Jiang as she wished. Jiang Qingyu cupped his face in his hands and watched from the side as she licked the plate and little bowl completely clean, smiling the entire time.
That night, Jiang Qingyu suddenly really wanted to eat mushroom soup. Coincidentally, a few days ago, he had purchased several truckloads of fresh seasonal vegetables in bulk, and among them were tender fresh mushrooms.
Since it was just him eating, the quantity definitely would not be too much. He took out a small box of mushrooms, washed them clean, and sliced them into thin pieces. He cut potatoes and onions into tiny cubes, lightly pan-fried them in the pot, then added a piece of butter and a small amount of flour, milk, light cream, as well as a little pepper and herbs.
He was in a very good mood, twisting his hips and singing while cooking in the kitchen, “Mushroom, mushroom, hiding in the corner of the market. Mushroom, mushroom, let me take you home~”
Meimei elegantly licked her paw and calmly washed her face amid Jiang Qingyu’s singing.
He used the air fryer to fry a few slices of steamed bun. He had cut them into long diagonal strips in advance, set the time, and baked them until they were crisp and crunchy. The edges were a beautiful golden color, perfect for eating with mushroom soup.
In addition, he made a small bowl of loofah with razor clams and a small plate of squid with pickled mustard greens.
Naturally, Jiang Qingyu also surfed the internet at high speed. As he lifted a piece of loofah toward his mouth, he muttered a joke to himself, “My liver fire has been a bit strong lately. I should eat some loofah to reduce the heat.”
The loofah was light, the razor clams were fresh and delicious, and the squid with pickled mustard greens mixed with a small bowl of rice had an especially good texture. Jiang Qingyu ate very contentedly.
After eating, he looked at the map. After staying a few more days, he would have to set off again and continue heading north. He could even take a trip to Inner Mongolia.
Jiang Qingyu liked nature, liked the great grasslands, and liked eating dairy products and beef. This route happened to be perfect.
Right at that moment, the system happened to give a “ding” and reminded him in an extremely cheerful voice, “Congratulations on leveling up! Please choose your upgrade reward. Disguise function upgrade or performance upgrade. Please choose.”
Jiang Qingyu asked, “What does this ‘disguise’ mean? And what’s the performance upgrade?”
The system explained, “During the first upgrade, the RV only had the function of disguising the interior and the expandable cabin. To put it more plainly, the newly upgraded function is like changing skins. You can choose to make your vehicle appear in any form externally, such as a bus, a van, or a truck.”
Jiang Qingyu’s eyes lit up.
This function was great. During this period, whenever he went to haul goods, even if he made the inside look empty, in other people’s eyes, there still was not much space.
However, he would adjust his strategy according to the situation, secretly transferring things into the space while loading the goods. If others noticed something strange, he would say the cargo compartment was relatively deep and had more capacity than it looked, so it could hold a lot.
In any case, the goods had been counted in advance, and people would not pay too much attention to how much his vehicle could actually hold.
But if it was someone experienced, they could tell at a glance how much his vehicle could haul. Then there would be nothing he could do. He could only make multiple trips and take turns picking up the goods.
So if he could directly disguise it as a large truck to haul goods, then the capacity would be enormous, and stockpiling goods would become much more convenient.
Of course, according to the system, the benefits of disguise were not limited to that.
Although the little RV currently looked plain and ordinary on the outside, nothing special at all, and could be seen everywhere in tourist cities, what if he went to sparsely populated places in the future? Or what if the apocalypse and natural disasters made the environment worse later on? The RV might very well become conspicuous.
At that time, being able to change its appearance into a shabby little van or something else would save him a lot of trouble.
Once parked by the roadside, someone who did not know better might even think it was an abandoned scrapped vehicle. How convenient for hiding himself.
But since he had to choose, naturally he had to understand everything clearly. Jiang Qingyu asked again, “Then what about the performance upgrade?”
System: “It will allow normal travel in blizzard weather. Whether it is a sandstorm or a typhoon, the vehicle will not be affected.”
Jiang Qingyu said, “Whoa!”
He knew that some areas would close mountain roads when there was heavy snow. For safety, people would also install snow chains. But even so, one still had to drive very carefully. After snow was pressed down and trampled, it melted into water and froze again into ice. Skidding was inevitable.
But after the system upgrade, all of these problems would cease to exist.
Jiang Qingyu thought about it. In terms of urgency and importance, the disguise function was still more important at the moment.
After confirming the upgrade, Jiang Qingyu could not wait to try out the new function. The interactive virtual interface was right in front of him. He only needed to move his thoughts to summon it, and disguising the interior of the vehicle used the same operation.
Jiang Qingyu thought for a moment and first tried out the luxury car function.
Let’s start with a Rolls-Royce!
System: “…………”
After setting it up, Jiang Qingyu eagerly ran out of the vehicle to inspect the “results.” Sure enough, he saw that the originally inconspicuous little RV had turned into the exterior of a Rolls-Royce. The little golden figure shone brilliantly under the flashlight.
Jiang Qingyu could not help letting out a “wow.”
This was simply… this was completely, unbelievably cool.
The system said faintly, “I also have information on a luxury car database here. Do you want to see it?”
Jiang Qingyu said, “There’s such a good thing? Give it to me.”
To be honest, Jiang Qingyu truly knew nothing about luxury cars. He had no understanding of them at all.
When he was in university, he would go out with his classmates, and they would suddenly exclaim, calling out the brand of a certain car. Immediately after, someone would ask “Where? Where?” and several heads would swarm over to look, all of them going “wow” nonstop and constantly praising how impressive it was.
At that time, Jiang Qingyu did not understand. What was so impressive about it?
During his freshman year, for some unknown reason, a senior in the student union insisted that Jiang Qingyu, like him, was attracted to men, and even said he wanted to pursue him.
At first, Jiang Qingyu did not know this and was puzzled as to why the other person kept asking him out to eat, and even chose ridiculously expensive restaurants. He could not afford to split the bill, so he refused every time.
Later, after being refused too many times, the senior became angry and sternly questioned Jiang Qingyu, asking what exactly it would take for him to agree to go out to eat with him.
The senior was tall and broad. At that time, Jiang Qingyu was short on money and was even working part-time outside class. Even if he ate wildly, he still could not gain weight, making the contrast between them even more obvious.
Seeing the other person get angry as if he were about to hit someone, Jiang Qingyu subconsciously shrank his neck and weakly said that the places he chose were all too expensive, and he could not afford them.
On a certain review app, the average cost per person was clearly written as four digits. How could he dare to accept the invitation?
Seeing that the senior showed an obviously stunned expression after hearing his words, Jiang Qingyu carefully tried to smooth things over. “How about… the claypot chicken place outside the school? I can treat you.”
That person had a very macho personality and refused no matter what to let Jiang Qingyu treat him. He half-dragged, half-pulled Jiang Qingyu outside and made him look at his car.
Jiang Qingyu still remembered his expression even now. The other person was very arrogant. “Do you see it? That Mercedes is my car.”
Jiang Qingyu was at a loss. “Uh-huh. So?”
The senior choked for a few seconds. “That’s a Mercedes!”
Jiang Qingyu did not understand. “What about a Mercedes?”
Senior: “It’s expensive!”
Jiang Qingyu humbly asked for guidance. “How expensive?”
“…” After several rounds of this back-and-forth conversation, the senior’s desire to show off and display superiority at that time deflated rapidly like a punctured balloon. What was the use of saying these things to someone who did not understand cars?
He said listlessly, “A little over five hundred thousand.”
Jiang Qingyu widened his eyes. “A little over five hundred thousand?!”
The senior was barely pulled back into a bit of smugness by his expression and deliberately pretended to be calm. “Yeah. My dad said that after I graduate from university, he’ll get me a better one. Just a little over one million.”
As he spoke, he lifted his chin toward Jiang Qingyu again. “Well? Don’t go to some claypot chicken place. I’ll treat you to something expensive. Let’s go eat Japanese food.”
But Jiang Qingyu did not immediately cling to him or change his attitude as he had imagined. On the contrary, the person who had still been able to communicate properly just now suddenly looked as if he could not avoid him fast enough. He casually found an excuse to brush him off and actually slipped away just like that!
What Jiang Qingyu had thought at the time was: this person is so rich. If I agree to go eat with him, what if he makes some request and I refuse? If he gets angry, turns hostile, and goes back on his word, then demands that I pay him back, wouldn’t that be terrible?
There were plenty of examples like that around him. It scared this little fish to death.
