Chapter 133: Trouble
Chapter 133: Chapter 133: Trouble
’Was my acting that bad?’
The proprietress, however, saw this and said in a delicate, sweet voice, "Oh, customer, it’s just that you’re too strong. You scared me~"
As she spoke, the proprietress sat up, her voice still strained and affected, her face full of apology.
"But that really was my genuine reaction just now. My apologies, customer~"
"Mm," Zhu Ge nodded, his expression indifferent. "Where does this meat go? I can’t just leave it here, can I?"
"Right, right!" Speaking of business, a blush appeared on the proprietress’s face. "Please, follow me, customer."
She stood up and led Zhu Ge to the backyard on the first floor.
The backyard was filled with chickens, ducks, pigs, and geese, but they were all ordinary livestock and poultry.
In the adjacent kitchen, people were constantly butchering chickens and stewing meat. There were more than a dozen stoves alone.
It was clear that this Tongfu Restaurant, occupying several hundred square meters, was indeed one of the top restaurants in Jianshui City.
"Please wait a moment, customer. I’ll go get the scales." The proprietress hurried off to fetch them, while Zhu Ge casually observed his surroundings.
Chefs, waiters, handymen, accountants... it all looked chaotic, but there was a distinct order within the chaos.
They were clearly a well-practiced team, familiar with the restaurant’s operations down to the last detail.
This also let Zhu Ge know that doing business with a large restaurant like this was the smart choice.
Only a place like Tongfu Restaurant could handle the massive amount of Demon Beast Flesh he had.
"I’m back, customer! This is our head chef, the Spirit-Level Chef, Big Mouth Li." Following the proprietress was a stout, barrel-chested fat man.
"Just place the meat on this counter, and Big Mouth Li will give you a price for each piece."
’A Spirit-Level Chef?’
’It seems chefs have a ranking system just like Alchemy Masters.’
’This means that in the hands of a Chef, the same meat can probably produce far better effects.’
"Greetings, customer." Big Mouth Li cupped his hands in a salute, his face fierce and menacing. He was still holding a set of scales.
Zhu Ge returned the salute. "Then I’ll bring out the meat."
He then waved the straw bowl in his hand over the stone counter before him.
A dozen or so large chunks of meat appeared on it, all of it cured and smoked by him.
Seeing the meat, Big Mouth Li’s eyes lit up. He immediately ignored Zhu Ge and the proprietress and hurried over.
"Good meat, what excellent meat! The texture is so firm. This must be the hind leg of a wild boar. This one’s worth at least five silver coins."
"Sigh, this leopard meat wasn’t handled well. Most of its spiritual energy has been lost! It’s worth about two silver coins."
"Huh, is this a Water Python? A Transformed Water Python isn’t a common sight. Hmm, this could be used to make Dragon and Phoenix Soup."
"My word, this red deer’s head was blasted to bits? What a pity. Otherwise, the head could’ve been used for a braised dish."
Kitchen Chef Big Mouth Li picked through the meat, tossing his selections to the proprietress.
The proprietress gave Zhu Ge a helpless smile, then called over an accountant to calculate the prices.
Once one pile of meat was tallied, Zhu Ge brought out another.
This made the chef so happy his face turned red, the fat on his body trembling with excitement.
"Excellent, excellent! Now we can make our Profound Hoof Eight Treasure Soup again."
"This meat is good, handled very well!"
"Sigh, what a waste..."
The chef chattered on as he sorted, while Zhu Ge watched from the side with a calm expression.
Though his expression was calm, Zhu Ge was laughing inwardly.
’I’ve struck gold!’
’It seems bringing a huge pile of meat to sell was definitely the right decision!’
The proprietress was also smiling broadly. She would occasionally come over to chat with Zhu Ge, trying to fish for information.
But Zhu Ge didn’t mind telling her, so he said directly that he lived outside the city.
"You live outside the city?!"
The look the proprietress gave Zhu Ge was now one of even greater amazement.
It wasn’t that no one had tried to leave the city since the Demon Beasts laid siege, but they were almost always discovered.
Only a select few could go out safely and return in one piece.
This was one of the reasons it was so difficult for restaurants like this to procure meat.
"In that case, customer, could you supply us with more fresh meat in the future?" the proprietress asked, her eyes shining with anticipation.
"We’ll see," Zhu Ge shook his head. "There are too many Demon Beasts out there, and at these prices... it’s a big risk for me. Besides, the army is actually short on meat too."
Zhu Ge had laid out the two most crucial points at once.
First, the only ones who could hunt outside the city now were basically those at the Second Realm.
Those at the Third Realm couldn’t act rashly, as getting injured would be a disaster.
This highlighted Zhu Ge’s unique position: others couldn’t hunt, but he could!
Second, he had more than one potential buyer.
He believed the Soldiers would also love to eat high-energy Demon Beast Flesh.
Of course, Zhu Ge knew he was capitalizing on a golden opportunity.
Before the all-out war between the Human Race and the other races erupted in Red River Prefecture, he wouldn’t have been able to slaughter demons like this.
After all, the territories of villages, cities, and the other races in each region were generally fixed.
Just like Jianshan Village and the Tiger God, each had its own domain.
But now that an all-out war had broken out, there was nothing to fear.
Slaughter demons, accumulate wealth!
Otherwise, if peace returned, Zhu Ge could forget about harvesting them so freely.
"Customer, if you could enter a long-term partnership with our restaurant..."
Just then, the proprietress handed the meat in her arms to a waiter and took a step closer to Zhu Ge.
She placed her small, fair, and delicate hand on Zhu Ge’s shoulder, her cherry-red lips close to his ear.
"From now on, I’ll be yours to command~"
Up ahead, Kitchen Chef Big Mouth Li continued examining the meat with a neutral expression, and the accountant kept his face buried in his ledger, not even looking up.
"Shameless hussy!" Hua Liusha snorted coldly in Zhu Ge’s mind, but she didn’t make a move.
"Mine to command?" Zhu Ge raised an eyebrow. "I’m going out to hunt. I command you to hold off a Third-Realm Essence-Devouring Demon Beast for fifteen minutes. Can you do that?"
"Oh, customer~" the proprietress whined coquettishly. "Customer, I’m not joking with you."
"Fine." Zhu Ge’s expression turned serious. He said directly, "What I need is gold and silver coins, not women."
"If you offer a high price, I’ll give you the meat. If the price is low, then I’m afraid not."
Seeing Zhu Ge act this way, a flicker of surprise flashed through the proprietress’s eyes.
She was about to say more when the door connecting the backyard to the main hall was thrown open with a BANG.
"Hahaha, my dear Li Hao, I’ve come to have some fun with you again!" A young man burst in, followed by seven or eight men dressed in similar martial attire.
"Ah." The proprietress, Li Hao, quickly pulled her hand back from Zhu Ge’s shoulder, looking as if she’d been caught cheating.
"Hm? Who’s this pretty boy?" The young man’s gaze swept over to Zhu Ge, and a murderous aura appeared in his sharp, handsome eyes.
"My Fish Scale Martial Arts Hall is fighting and dying on the front lines, and here you are, starting a fire in my backyard?"
Hearing this, Zhu Ge let out a soft sigh.
He directly cupped his hands and said, "Sir, I am but a common Martial Artist who lives outside the city. I’m only here to sell Demon Beast Flesh and do not wish for any trouble."
This young man only had an Anger Realm Cultivation. He was handsome, but the Blood Qi in his body was pathetically weak.
No matter how you looked at it, he was just a rich, second-generation brat.
Zhu Ge had always made a point to stay far away from people like this.
"Oh? Outside the city? A Martial Artist?" The young man narrowed his eyes, then glanced at the meat Big Mouth Li was sorting and frowned slightly.
"In that case..."
The young man was about to drop the matter, but then he suddenly caught sight of the straw bowl in Zhu Ge’s hand. Seeing that Zhu Ge didn’t have a single grease stain on him, his eyebrows shot up.
"In that case, there’s no mistake!"
"You stole my Martial Arts Hall’s storage Spiritual Artifact! It was filled with our military provisions."
"I came here to investigate this very matter. You might as well come with me!"