Hailan paled when she heard what was said.
Qiao Zijiang sighed softly.
Qiao Zishan and the staff shared glances with each other. They silently stood up and said that they had some errands to run, a lesson is now firmly seared in their minds: Do not sit at the same table with Vigilante A in the next dinner that you offer to pay. The hero is inhuman, and will not compromise with your average tabletop manners and customs.
Qiao Anping, the only person that could stop the hero from devouring everything in existence, would rather resign his position as the Vice Principal than to personally ask his guest to stop eating. That goes against his nature and personality!
Hailan sought help from Qiao Zijiang, in hopes that the Female Zhuge would be able to come up with some ideas. She glanced at the time to find that it's 30 minutes to midnight, a time that might not be suitable for most of their members who were senior citizens.
Hailan's eyes brightened after the two women whispered to each other. She then walked slowly to Qiao Anping and lowered herself to speak. "Vice Principal Qiao, you mentioned giving compensation to all of the members before the dinner started. Since it's quite late now, do you think we should announce it to them now and give them a few words before allowing them to excuse themselves for the night? Not many of our members could physically stand the strain of staying too late into the night."
She did not even mention about how the miracle chef 'Fang Ning' was a member too. Once they called 'Fang Ning' out to return the compensation, the conversation will definitely continue for more than half an hour, and the food-making process would definitely stop. Maybe then the dinner would finally end.
This arrangement stems from the fact that her heart squeezes in pain for the Institute whenever she thought of the resources that went into this dinner. However, a much bigger part of it was because of her understanding of Qiao Anping's personality. If anyone in the Institute were to raise this up officially and demanded someone to be responsible, he would definitely place all the burden on himself.
Although the Qiao Family had gathered a significant amount of assets, had a low number of immediate family members, and had a very competent person handling the family business, they could not withstand such a huge financial blow.
Qiao Anping made a double take after he heard that. He was too focused on tending to Vigilante A that he forgot his original intentions. With a hold fist salute, Qiao Anping apologized to the hero, "Apologies, but the circumstances require me to tend to some matters. I'll need to excuse myself."
Vigilante A replied, "Of course. There's no need to accompany me as long as you leave Fang Ning around to cook. That chef is usually too lazy to cook, and as I am not one who likes to force myself on another, I rarely get to enjoy his meals as well. This time, he owes me one, and I would like to take this opportunity to eat as much as I can. Don't worry, I know he's a Superpowered. He won't die without a few days of sleep."
Qiao Anping nodded, "Fair enough. I'll get someone to pass the compensation to him afterward." Then, he stood and walked towards the podium. As he did, Qiao Anping marveled to himself, "With Vigilante A's power, he'll be able to finish Fang Ning off with just a flick of his fingertips. If the hero were to let this anger him, he'll be able to eliminate Fang Ning's shop in a flash. Despite having so much power, Vigilante A never forced Fang Ning to cook for him.
So this is the true meaning of a hero, huh? To never exploit the weak, and to only vanquish the evil. It was then Qiao Anping decided to be the hero's friend
Hai Lan, on the other hand, froze when she heard the hero's words. Did he really just said that he'd eat for a few days? Hai Lan had no one to vent her frustrations to, so she could only turn to Qiao Zijiang. She approached the woman and asked in a whisper, "Do you have any more ideas?"
Qiao Zijiang shrugged, showing that she had no other way to help. She mumbled, "Vigilante A is speaking the truth. When I went to Qi City with my brother, I wanted to spend 3 million RMB to get the cook to prepare our meal. The female shop owner didn't even want to inform him, and brushed us off by saying that the boss wouldn't usually cook. If it wasn't for my brother, I would've went to see him personally."
"Vigilante A is never the guy to force the boss to cook for him. He seemed to have waited so long for him that he would use this opportunity to devour everything that was prepared for him. Those ingredients we have in the Institute are already delicious when they're prepared by an ordinary chef, so you can imagine how divine they would taste in Fang Ning's hands. Even you managed to get so much in your stomach, Aunt Lan, Vigilante A will definitely only let up when he's truly satisfied."
Hai Lan rolled her eyes at that. She never expected Qiao Zijiang to notice when she gobbled all of the dishes on her table when she lost her cool. That's so embarrassing! At least she can take solace at the fact that Qiao Anping, who was entirely absorbed in entertaining Vigilante A, would never have noticed her at her worst.
She sighed dejectedly, "No wonder he arrived right on the spot. I highly suspect that he only showed up at the dinner after he somehow sensed that the chef was cooking here. The chef must also have known that the hero could sense his presence, which was why he agreed to cook using our venue and ingredients. Both of them thought of the same thing, and we're the only one that fell victim to their ploys."
She continued to speak in a hushed tone, "Ah, forget it, we have no say in this anyways; we're the one owing the hero a gigantic favor. It's not like we could call them out on this too. We'll just see how things unfold. I'm honestly quite curious if Vigilante A could finish the stock in our warehouses. Also, talk to your uncle later. If anyone asked for the cost, tell him not to take it all on his shoulders. No matter what, it's the Institute that owed Vigilante A a favor, not himself."
Qiao Zijiang waved in response, "Instead of talking to him, I might as well start counting how much will Vigilante A eat into our accounts. Then, I can talk to grandfather and find a new way to earn enough profit to cover up the deficit. Didn't those rich men in the dinner mention something about investing in the cultivation industry? We have the adequate skills for that, and if they provide us the money and the manpower, we could negotiate ourselves a decent collaboration. We won't need to worry about earning money, then."
A wave of admiration washed through Hai Lan. "The Qiao Family is lucky to have you around, Zijiang. I wonder who would be the lucky guy who would marry you in the future."
Qiao Zijiang blushed and immediately retorted, "At least I know you want to marry my second uncle, Aunt Lan. You can't wait for him to make a move forever, Aunt; his heart is only on his martial artist friends and his work. He would never voluntarily worry about this…"
The retort was incredibly effective! Hai Lan blushed at the comment as well.
Now, you might wonder, who was the only person in the entire world that could Vigilante A's mouth from going on, when the reputable and motivated men had failed miserably?
In the System Space, the System commented, "Your idea is impeccable, Host. We appeared just at the nick of time, and we immediately gained 12 hundred million. I needed an immediate boost of nutrients after my cultivation, but in contrast to the profit we gained, saving up the costs for this meal was almost negligible. Most notably, the ingredients and food available here are not the common ones we can come across, and we'll probably get 2 or 3 additional Attribute Points after this meal. APs are not something we can buy with cash! Go, enjoy your games, I'll continue eating as much as I can."
Fang Ning didn't even bother to raise his head to acknowledge the System. He continued to tap away merrily on his keyboard as he played his online games, his eyes darting to the side occasionally to check the new updates of his novels.
Even though it was only a day and a half to the outside world, Fang Ning had experienced getting disconnected from the internet for around half a year. To a shut-in like Fang Ning, the first thing on the to-do list after a 6-month isolation was to binge his games.
Still, Fang Ning had now fully grasped the System's temper. He could only play without worry after he contributed enough, as it was only then that the System would refrain from cutting off the internet of electricity in the System Space.
Thus, he immediately informed Sir System to rush here once he knew from the mechanical puppet that there was a dinner here in the Gardens. He even staged a good show with his own substitute!
Between enjoying good food and playing online games, Fang Ning chose the latter without any hesitation. He passed the responsibility of eating to the System, and true to his expectations, Sir System's efficiency in eating was much better than his own; it streamlined the eating process using martial arts! Fang Ning could never do that…
With a contribution like this, of course Fang Ning would have the guts to not reply the System. He continued to bury himself in his online games…
After a long period of gameplay, Fang Ning managed to get his character leveled up again. He checked the time to realize that 2 days and 2 nights have passed, but somehow he felt not even a hint of fatigue. While the System entertained himself with eating, Fang Ning lived his life through gaming.
Cultivation was indeed the way to go! If one's cultivation was good enough, he would face no problems if he braved through the night without sleep!
With a contented sigh, Fang Ning set aside his games to read some novels. After some time, he finally felt that something was off. Aside from the noise from his computer and the blacksmith in the System Space, it was totally silent. When, then, would he feel that there would be things entering the System Space at a specific time?
After he managed to achieve Elementary Dragon Form in his cultivation of the Dragonization ability, his spiritual sense has been growing steadily stronger. In turn, his senses had become sharper in the System Space. He would never have realized this previously.
Fang Ning sat and thought about this. Understanding that the System was still an idiotic mess, it would still do things that surprised him without his supervision, even if it had gained a lot of experience. This time, he spent his time only on his games and had left it out in the wild to eat for 2 days straight. Even if they never faced any danger, there still exists a possibility that something else might happen.
He decided to look around, and it took him no time to locate the source of the problem.
The System Preservation Area was now filled with food. Nothing out of ordinary, really. Well, aside from the fact that after a fixed period of time, a scrumptious looking dish would appear out of nowhere. Some of them even glowed.
"What's this?" Fang Ning exclaimed in shock. The Culinary Skill of the Mechanical Puppet has yet to be upgraded. How could a high-level puppet produce glowing dishes?
Could it be that Sir System the genius got too excited from eating that it went to cook right before the eyes of the Truth Department? Are these made with a master-level Culinary Skill?
That should never happen! Their identity would be exposed!
Fang Ning immediately bellowed at the System, "Stop eating! What are these glowing dishes doing in the Preservation Area? Did you make them?"
The System answered, "Oh, those aren't mine."
Relief flooded Fang Ning's system after he heard its reply. The game with Vigilante A was no longer a small one to deal with, and if they were to reveal their real identity now, they would not only fail their aim to develop with a low profile, all of their work done to formulate their career will be in vain, too. Then, getting into trouble would be the least of their problems.
Fang Ning asked, "What is up with this, then?"
The System explained, "Ah, I was feeling quite full this afternoon that I thought of stopping. However, that Vice Principal Qiao Anping heard my burping when the dishes were still being served and comforted me. He said, and I quote, "Don't worry, none of this will go to waste. You can take all of these away if you couldn't finish it." Coincidentally, I identified a number of dishes that would greatly improve our health, so I decided to continue eating. Instead, I moved those health-improving dishes into the Preservation Area. Those are the ones that glowed. He explicitly allowed this behavior, by the way, as I will never snatch someone else's belongings; it's against the rules."
Fang Ning felt blood welling in his mouth when he finally understood what was going on. "F*ck! It seems like you've finished the lower quality ingredients stored in their warehouses, then Qiao Anping had to bring out the higher quality ones. As a person who put so much emphasis on his image, he would never allow himself to make an emergency purchase of ordinary goods to fool us. You forced their hand here, and this is why the Mechanical Puppet could make glowing dishes."
The System said, "Ah, so that's what happened. Well, it seems like I will need to continue eating then."
Fang Ning nearly knelt to beg for mercy after he heard that. "God, you've been eating them dry, and now you're even packing their remains here. You're exploiting them already! Do you think they would have the guts to invite us in next time even if we helped them in a major problem? No! They would only chuck us off with maybe 5 million RMB, and we would never be able to eat here again."
The System took some time to think. It soon greatly agreed with Fang Ning's sentiments. "Indeed. Host, you're really the one who considered the long-term interests and took into consideration the bigger picture of things. I would never be able to do that! Besides, I heard from the whispers of the two women beside us that these ingredients were not available in the external markets. We wouldn't even be able to get them even if we paid ten or hundred times the price!"
Fang Ning spoke, "Since you've now understood this, we'll stop now. Moderation is important here. No matter what, they will be our future major client in this monster-farming career of ours."