The Max-Level Chef’s Magical Town Game

The huge sum of money had come and gone in a flash. Whenever Ye Mu thought about it, an unnamed anger surged in her heart, and she sulked for several days.

During her sulking, the number of dishes sold at the Nightfall Restaurant actually increased.

Focusing on cooking provided her a way to momentarily escape reality, immersing herself in frying and sautéing in the kitchen helped her forget about that massive tax payment.

Thus, the normally reluctant Ye Mu took on half of the vegetable chopping duties during these days, which left less for the helpers to do. Ivy and Jeff, always proactive in their work, saw this and went off to find other tasks. Della, still young, simply followed Ivy’s lead, as usual.

As for Billy, with no work on his hands and finishing early, he left the Nightfall Restaurant, opened his dialogue panel, found an address, and took a longer route through the alleys.

Twenty minutes later, he entered another restaurant. This one was open all day, and although business was slow, there were still two tables of customers. When Billy walked in, the owner, sitting behind the counter with nothing to do, habitually said “Welcome,” but upon seeing Billy, immediately stood up and led him into the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen and closing the door, the owner got straight to the point: “So, how’s it going? I offered a good price, can you handle it?”

“Pretty much,” Billy replied, lowering his head, a bit anxious. “There are some things I can’t identify, but I think I’ve got the cooking methods down.”

The owner nodded. “Then give it a try. I have all the ingredients here, you can make whatever you want. To be honest, I haven’t eaten her dishes, but I know her reputation well. If you can make two or three of her dishes, I’ll be very satisfied.”

“Okay, I’ll give it a shot!” Billy nodded firmly.

The owner didn’t linger in the kitchen, leaving the space completely to Billy. He looked at the dazzling array of ingredients in the restaurant and was silent for a moment, a smile gradually spread on his face.

This was what he had been looking forward to.

Although his level hadn’t increased much these days—just from 7 to 10, and his cooking skill from 0 to 4—he had seen many things. Being able to work directly as a chef was definitely better than staying as a waiter at the Nightfall Restaurant!

Billy, filled with confidence, began cooking.

He didn’t want to mess things up, so he planned to make the simplest dish: [Chicken with tofu]. He had seen Ye Mu make this dish before, although he wasn’t clear on the exact seasonings, the process seemed straightforward enough for him to create a simplified version.

Soon, Billy chopped the ingredients and, imitating Ye Mu, tossed the diced chicken into the pan to cook.

He heated the oil, added the chicken, and a wave of steam immediately billowed from the pan. However, before the steam dissipated, a burnt smell started to waft up.

Not good!

Billy mentally cursed, hurriedly waving his hand to disperse the rising steam.

But when he looked closely at what was in the pan, the tender chicken pieces had turned into charred lumps of coal.

The system coldly issued him a reminder: “Cooking skill level too low, cooking failed. Keep trying!”

Billy, who had never cooked by himself before, had never imagined that such a situation would happen.

—

Nightfall Restaurant.

After Ye Mu finished her tasks, Ivy didn’t rush to clean the kitchen. Instead, she cracked some eggs, chopped vegetables, and took out a small portion of pre-steamed rice to practice making fried rice.

She wasn’t hiding this from Ye Mu, the ingredients were permitted for her use. Just yesterday, after working hard in the restaurant, Ivy finally leveled up her cooking skill to level 10. When she leveled up, the system prompted her that she could try cooking.

Ye Mu encouraged her to give it a shot and even taught her some techniques.

Ye Mu never felt that she should monopolize these frying and cooking tips. To her, these methods were quite ordinary, and many street vendors and restaurants used them as well. She had no reason to be stingy and preferred to teach Ivy well.

The only secrets she firmly kept to herself were the potions that could be used as seasonings.

The reason was simple—these potions had existed in the world for a long time, but no one had discovered their uses until she did, so this part belonged to her.

After opening the restaurant, she never placed those potions directly in the kitchen. Whenever she bought them, she would repackage them, and some she even mixed into ready-made seasonings. For example, the popular [Home-style Stir-fried Pork] required [Primary Magic Potion] [Intermediate Mana Potion] (salt, dark soy sauce), and primary or intermediate [Life Potion] (white sugar or powdered sugar). She mixed them in the right proportions into a large bottle, so whenever she made [Home-style Stir-fried Pork] she could just drizzle some on.

As a result, the fried rice Ivy made lacked saltiness, carrying only the original flavors of the ingredients. However, compared to the fried rice sold at other restaurants and stalls, hers was much more refined.

Before scrambling the eggs, she first sautéed the chopped green onions in hot oil. She repeated this step before adding the rice, ensuring each grain was coated with the rich aroma of scallions. Although the taste was mild, the sensory experience was quite pleasant!

Ivy was already satisfied with this, calling Jeff and Della to join her for a meal, and she didn’t forget to serve a bowl for Ye Mu.

Ye Mu was still heartbroken over the huge tax payment. She praised Ivy a couple of times but didn’t say much else. Little Della was focused on eating, while Jeff, after taking a bite, started dreaming aloud: “This is great! I should be able to make this in a couple of days!”

Ivy smiled and asked, “What’s your cooking level now?”

“Level 9. I still need about a third of the experience to reach level 10.” Jeff took another bite of rice. “Have you noticed that our cooking skills level up faster here than elsewhere?”

Ivy shook her head. “I haven’t worked at other restaurants, so I can’t compare.”

Jeff said, “Me neither, but I compared it to working at home. When I help my parents serve dishes at home, I only get 1 point of experience for a whole table, and sometimes none, here, it’s 1 point minimum, and sometimes I get 2 to 3 points!”

After hearing this, Ivy fell silent for a moment. “Now that you mention it, it does seem like it… Is it because we smell the food while serving here?”

“I wouldn’t know, but it could be.” Jeff chuckled, “Anyway, this job is a good deal! Not only does my cooking level up fast, but my main level does too! And we get to eat good food every day! If I didn’t have to go to school later, I’d want to work here for a lifetime!”

Ivy laughed at his enthusiasm, and Ye Mu smiled as well.

Sigh… Well, although the large sum was gone, the employees’ recognition was important to her, and she felt a little more at ease.

—

Two streets away, Billy persistently made four attempts, all of which failed. He thought he had chosen a dish with little difficulty, but instead, he ended up with plate after plate of burned food.

The shop owner who came to find him looked furious, but Billy ultimately received his payment.

He reacted quickly and proposed another plan just before the shop owner could kick him out.

That same evening, another piece of news slowly spread throughout Dragon Town.

In fact, this news had been circulating for two to three days, but it only reached an important person’s ears today.

—Ye Mu’s landlord.

“I heard that the woman renting her place paid over 1.2 million copper coins in taxes this month!”

The landlord’s neighbor talked about this topic with great interest.

This was actually the result of hearsay, the real version should have been “monthly revenue of over 1.2 million copper coins, with taxes paid of over 600,000,” but through the spread, either the numbers were easily misremembered, or someone was deliberately distorting the information, and it ultimately transformed into the version now circulating.

The landlord was shocked into silence, finally managing to close his mouth and stammer, “Is it… really true?”

The neighbor shrugged. “With business that good, what do you think?”

The landlord swallowed hard, trying to suppress his jealousy. “She… she sells noble food, but the prices aren’t very high, maybe the profits aren’t that great?”

“Could be,” the neighbor didn’t fully deny it but added, “However, if I were you, I’d start considering my own situation. Tsk tsk, with Christmas coming, do you remember last year’s Christmas tax? The lord might want it again this year!”

At the mention of the Christmas tax, the landlord shivered.

This lord always seized every opportunity to impose new taxes. Last Christmas Eve, he suddenly decided to levy a 1,000 copper coin Christmas tax on everyone in the town, justifying it as “for God.” If you couldn’t pay, you’d be thrown in jail until Easter.

But with taxes continually rising in recent years, many families could no longer scrape together that amount. Overnight, the prison in Dragon Town was packed, and it was said that the slums were completely emptied of people.

When Easter came, the lord indeed released the prisoners as promised, but many didn’t survive, and some went bankrupt as a result. The population in the slums decreased somewhat, but even more people moved in.

The landlord gritted his teeth. “You’re right! We need to prepare some money in advance, there are over a dozen of us in the family!”

The neighbor nodded in satisfaction, but his gaze instinctively swept over the backpack page that only he could see.

To prepare for the potential return of the Christmas tax, he also needed to set aside some money.

So, he agreed with those shop owners to exaggerate the news about the tax and get it into the neighbor’s ears. They pooled together 10,000 copper coins for him, which should be enough for his family to handle this year’s Christmas tax.

—

The next day at 11 a.m.

Ivy and Della had just returned from grocery shopping and were about to close the door when a hand pushed it open.

Ivy turned her head to see a middle-aged man entering, who briefly explained, “I’m the landlord.”

“Oh…” Ivy invited him in and nudged Della, signaling her to go upstairs to call Ye Mu.

When Ye Mu came down, she indeed found it was the landlord, and she smiled warmly. “Good morning.”

“Morning.” The landlord replied tersely and got straight to the point. “I want to raise the rent.”