In Bailu Town, there was a small restaurant with an area of less than fifty square meters, which was packed with people.
"Boss, is my small - portion fried rice with eggs ready?"
"Boss, why hasn't our double - portion fried rice with eggs been served yet?"
"Boss Cheng Yu, I've been waiting for almost half an hour. Please hurry up."
...
Amidst the constant urgings, Cheng Yu stood in front of the stove, his spatula slowly stir - frying the fried rice with eggs in the pan.
A few minutes later, the fried rice with eggs, golden in color and tantalizing in aroma, was taken out of the pan and evenly divided onto several plates.
He lifted the curtain and walked out of the kitchen with the fried rice with eggs.
Cheng Yu's eyes swept around the store. "Small - portion fried rice with eggs, light on scallions. Whose is it?"
A young mercenary carrying a big sword stood up and grinned naively. "It's mine, mine."
Cheng Yu walked over and placed the fried rice with eggs in front of the young mercenary.
When the young mercenary saw this small bowl of fried rice with eggs, his eyes softened a bit. He sat down to taste it, and the wonderful taste danced on the tip of his tongue. A happy smile spread across his rugged face.
[Positive Emotional Value +5]
A cold electronic voice rang in Cheng Yu's mind.
Half a year ago, Cheng Yu died unexpectedly and was transmigrated from Earth to this world called the Cersei Continent. Moreover, he awakened the strongest God of Cooking system and obtained max - level cooking skills at the start.
If the food he made made the diners feel happy, he could gain positive emotional values, and then use these values to exchange for various items in the system mall.
He had changed from a hard - working 996 office worker to a free person with a cheat.
Regarding this, Cheng Yu's comment was - It was a good death!
Based on Cheng Yu's observations in the past half - year, although the Cersei Continent was rich in products, it was truly a desert of cuisine.
Except for the nobles and the wealthy, what ordinary people ate daily were nothing more than boiled potatoes, fried potato cakes, grilled potatoes, dried potatoes, potato salad...
In short, it was N ways of eating potatoes.
The nobles and the wealthy ate a bit better than ordinary people, but their processing of ingredients was relatively rough, and it couldn't be called particularly delicious.
With the blessing of max - level cooking skills, Cheng Yu became quite famous in Bailu Town just with his fried rice with eggs.
Every day, a continuous stream of diners came here attracted by his reputation, which made Cheng Yu earn a lot of money.
At a table near the door, a fat merchant with a handlebar mustache, bored and impatient, kept shaking his legs. "Brother Cheng Yu, I've been waiting for almost half an hour. Is it ready yet?"
"Right away." Cheng Yu comforted him.
Facing the diners' urgings, Cheng Yu sometimes deliberately delayed for a while.
Because for the same food, the positive emotional values generated by diners in a hungry state and a non - hungry state were different.
When people are hungry, they think even steamed buns are delicious; when people are stuffed, they have no appetite even if there are delicacies in front of them.
Ten minutes later.
With a fake smile on his face, Cheng Yu brought a large plate of fried rice with eggs to the fat merchant. "Sorry to have kept you waiting."
"Finally here. I'm starving to death."
The fat merchant couldn't wait any longer.
Too lazy to use a spoon, he opened his mouth to an exaggerated extent, lowered his head, and dug a big mouthful of the fried rice with eggs from the plate like an excavator.
"Marcus, eat slowly. I won't be responsible if you choke."
As an old customer in Cheng Yu's store, Marcus, Cheng Yu thought it necessary to remind him. In case he choked to death, there would be one less customer.
[Positive Emotional Value +11]
The cold electronic voice sounded.
With his hunger relieved, Marcus was as happy as a blooming flower.
"Brother Cheng Yu, every time I come to your store to eat fried rice with eggs, I have to wait for about half an hour. Why don't you buy a slave from me to help you out?"
Marcus thought Cheng Yu was too busy alone, which was why it took so long.
"Buy a slave?"
Cheng Yu was taken aback.
Recently, the business in the store had been getting better and better, and he was getting a bit overwhelmed. He was just planning to hire a waiter.
Reminded by Marcus, buying a slave seemed more cost - effective.
According to the laws of the Black Sun Empire, when hiring employees, not only did you have to pay them wages, but you also had to give them regular holidays, overtime was not allowed, and if an employee got injured at work, you had to pay for the medical expenses.
If it was a slave, things were different.
The law stipulated that slaves were the private property of their masters. Not only did you not have to pay slaves, but you could even make them work overtime every day.
"I do need someone in my store."
Cheng Yu readily accepted Marcus's proposal.
"Come with me to the dungeon where the slaves are held in the afternoon. We're old acquaintances, so I'll give you a 10% discount."
Marcus thought that if there was one more person working in Cheng Yu's store, he could get his fried rice with eggs faster next time.
...
In the afternoon, Cheng Yu closed the store and went with Marcus to choose a slave.
The carriage jolted along.
The two of them took a carriage to a private manor ten kilometers away from Bailu Town.
More than a dozen muscular thugs holding long spears stood at the entrance of the manor.
Marcus led Cheng Yu into the basement of the manor.
This was the place where slaves were held. Slaves bought from various places were gathered here and then transported to slave shops in several nearby main cities for sale.
It was dark and damp, and a musty smell filled the air.
There were many human slaves held in the iron - barred cells on both sides. Some were captives from defeated countries, some were poor people who sold themselves into slavery, and some were ordinary people who were tricked into slavery.
As they walked, Marcus asked Cheng Yu, "What kind of slave do you want, Brother Cheng Yu?"
Cheng Yu casually replied, "One who is capable."
"Capable?"
Stroking his handlebar mustache, a lewd smile appeared on Marcus's fat face, and he quickened his pace, leading Cheng Yu deeper into the dungeon.
Ten minutes later.
They opened an iron - barred door and walked to the innermost part of the dungeon.
There were numerous races on the Cersei Continent, including not only humans but also elves, demons, dwarves, dragons, mermaids, orcs...
The continent was mainly divided into four major regions. In the east were the three empires established by humans, in the west was the Holy Kingdom established by the elves, in the north was the Demon Realm established by the demons, and in the south were various orc tribes.
The passages at the innermost part of the dungeon had small cells on both sides, holding all orc slaves, mainly young females.
Orcs were very rare in a border town like Bailu Town. Cheng Yu had lived here for half a year and had only seen an orc once.
Curious, Cheng Yu walked to the front of a dungeon cell and stretched his head to look inside.
There was a woman held in the cell. Her hair was disheveled. Her upper body was human - like, and her lower body was like a snake. Her snake tail coiled on the ground like a mosquito - repellent incense, and her vertical snake pupils emitted a dark - green glow in the darkness.
The orcs in the south consisted of large and small tribes. Different races of orcs lived together, including the snake - people tribe, the fox - people tribe, the cat - people tribe, the wing - people tribe, etc.
This half - human, half - snake woman should be from the snake - people tribe.
"Is Brother Cheng Yu interested in this snake - person?" Marcus asked with a smile.
"I'm interested, but my customers probably won't be."
Buying this half - human, half - snake monster back as a waiter might scare the diners in the store.
Next time I come to buy, heh heh.
Continuing to walk forward, in the next cell was a tall and beautiful girl. She had red pupils, a mess of long white hair, a pair of furry white animal ears on her head, and a snow - white tail behind her.
The girl was sitting at the corner of the wall, hugging her knees with her arms. There were shackles on her wrists and ankles, and the ends of the shackles were fixed to the wall.
"Wow, a beast - eared girl!"
"Is Brother Cheng Yu interested in her?"
Seeing Cheng Yu's surprise, Marcus smiled.
Cheng Yu nodded.
Who could resist a beautiful red - eyed, white - haired beast - eared girl?
"Her name is Mina. She's from the Silver Wolf Clan, nineteen years old. She's the most beautiful orc in my collection." Marcus introduced.
Cheng Yu: "How much?"
"Originally it's a hundred gold coins. With a 10% discount for you, it's ninety gold coins."
"Wow, so expensive?"
On the Cersei Continent, 1 gold coin = 100 silver coins = 10,000 copper coins.
1 copper coin could buy 1 egg, which had about the same purchasing power as 1 yuan on Earth.
If 1 gold coin was equivalent to ten thousand yuan, then 100 gold coins would be one million yuan.
The monthly income of an ordinary worker in the Black Sun Empire was 3,000 - 5,000 copper coins. 100 gold coins was definitely a huge sum of money.
Marcus: "Young and beautiful orc girls are always in high demand, and she's still a virgin."
Cheng Yu had earned over a hundred gold coins from running the restaurant for half a year, so he could afford to buy this orc girl.