I've been possessed by a culinary genius, and I've turned Shaxian snacks into a rip-off!

In the bar.

The warm yellow lights made the bar counter look like a piece of melted amber, and melodious music lazily drifted from the speakers.

Li Zhibai picked up his wine glass, clinked it against Yu Shen's, and asked him another question.

"Brother Yu, after all these years, haven't you ever thought of contacting her?"

"Now that you're so rich, a cross-border relationship shouldn't be a problem for you, right? You could fly there every week without any trouble. Why don't you go see her?"

Yu Shen pulled out a tissue, blew his nose hard, and said in a muffled voice, "Who said I don't want to look? I'd fucking dream about looking."

"Then why don't you go?"

"At first, we didn't have any money. Back then, our house hadn't been demolished yet, and my monthly living expenses were only 500 yuan. I couldn't even afford a plane ticket to Germany. The only way we could contact each other at that time was through QQ."

"QQ, at least we haven't lost contact."

"It's still down; my QQ account was hacked."

Li Zhibai: "..."

Yu Shen became increasingly angry as he spoke: "Back then, QQ didn't have any real-name registration system. Once, I went to an internet cafe and used the internet. When I came back, my account was gone. I appealed several times but couldn't get it back."

"What's even more infuriating is that later in college, I spent 200 yuan to buy a game account, and the original owner found it the very next day. I appealed several times, all to no avail. Isn't that amazing?"

"I can't get my own account back no matter what I do, but someone else who sold it to me can get theirs back so easily. Isn't this just bullying honest people?!"

Li Zhibai almost lost his composure when he heard this; this move was indeed typical of Tencent.

"And then? Did you get in touch?"

Yu Shen looked even more frustrated: "I managed to get in touch with her. I asked several old classmates before I finally got her WeChat ID, but as soon as I added her, she blocked me the next day, and she also blocked my phone number."

Why?

"How would I know why? I didn't say anything, I just sent a message asking how I've been lately, and she replied with 'Get lost' and then blocked me."

Li Zhibai: "No, you really only sent this one sentence? You didn't say anything else?"

Yu Shen: "At the time, I thought, since we just added each other, let's exchange a few pleasantries first, and then chat slowly. I can't just start saying those cheesy things right away, right? What if they already have a partner? That would be so awkward."

Li Zhibai: "So...?"

Yu Shen: "To liven things up, I added that there are a lot of beautiful girls at our school."

Li Zhibai: "..."

Good guy!

You two have been separated for so many years, and you're still saying things like that. No wonder they blocked you.

"And then what happened? Now that you have money, why don't you go to Germany to find her and clear up the misunderstanding in person?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Shen subconsciously squeezed the plum blossom doll in his hand. Despite his seemingly carefree and nonchalant demeanor as the representative of the second division, he harbored a deep-seated inferiority complex.

"I think...she probably already has a boyfriend."

Li Zhibai: "How do you know she has a boyfriend?"

Yu Shen: "Later, I added her again using a different account. She posted a status update on her WeChat Moments that read, 'It turns out that missing someone can be so agonizing.'"

"Look, she said that missing someone is agonizing. The one who can make her suffer must be someone she likes."

"I bet that guy must be really outstanding. Maybe he's a classmate from her university abroad, or some talented young man she met in the study abroad circle. After all, there are quite a few men in this world who are more outstanding and have better conditions than me."

After listening, Li Zhibai silently rolled his eyes, thinking to himself: You're really overthinking it. With your current conditions, you can already beat 90% of people at home and abroad. There aren't many people who can find someone with better conditions than you.

"Brother Yu, have you ever considered that the person she misses in her WeChat Moments might be you?" Li Zhibai stabbed him in the chest again.

Yu Shen: "..."

He almost crushed the wine glass in his hand when he heard this, his face turning bright red.

Three seconds later.

"The password!!!"

He suddenly stood up, startling the customers at the surrounding tables: "I'll buy a plane ticket right now! I'll fly right now! Even if I have to charter a plane tonight, I have to go!!!"

"Calm down!" Li Zhibai said.

Yu Shen: "I can't calm down! Don't stop me!"

Li Zhibai: "I'm not trying to stop you, I just want to tell you that there are no more planes flying at this time."

Yu Shen froze for a moment, then plopped back down, deflated.

"...Fine! I'm not sleeping tonight. I'm going straight to the airport and waiting for the earliest flight to find her!"

"Do you have a passport?" Li Zhibai added insult to injury.

Yu Shen: "..."

His bloodshot eyes stared intently at Li Zhibai, and he completely broke down.

"ah!!!"

"Li Heizi, if I ever buy you drinks again, I'll be a dog!!!"

At that moment, the bar brought on a new resident singer, a rather handsome young man. He strummed his guitar and began to sing a song filled with regret.

"I advocate letting it run its course if you can't stop it~~♬"

"This struggle between desire and despair~~♬"

"She still likes the warmth of marriage~~♬"

"Before leaving, he even turned off the lights~~♬"

So funny~~♬

"Ya i ya i ya i ya......♬"

.............

Around 2 a.m., Li Zhibai returned to his apartment, slightly drunk.

I drank a lot of beer with Yu Shen at the bar last night. Although the alcohol content wasn't high, the amount was so large that I'm starting to feel a bit tipsy.

After a quick wash, he lay down on the bed, tossing and turning but unable to fall asleep.

It wasn't that he was itching to research new products; even if he wanted to, it would be useless. A skilled cook can't cook without rice, and none of the ingredients he wanted were currently available in the shop.

He was thinking about Yu Shen.

What does love really taste like?

He didn't actually know either.

The way Yu Shen looked so pathetic and vulnerable today really touched him.

Because of one instance of cowardice, I have lived a life of torment and regret for many years.

That's really fucking ridiculous.

It's kind of funny.

But as he smiled, he couldn't smile anymore, because he, Li Zhibai, was 23 years old this year. He was successful in his career, owned a shop worth 8000 million yuan in the center of Jiangcheng (with a debt of 6000 million yuan), and had both skills and good looks.

But he is also a single mother.

Firstly, he was poor in the past and didn't have the inclination for it. Secondly, he had never met anyone in his life who could move him enough to make him willing to spend time pursuing them.

If he had to say what truly moved him, the only thing that had ever truly moved him and that he couldn't forget was the wallets of those big scoundrels.

"With my current conditions—good looks, skills, and a net worth of 50 million—finding a partner shouldn't be too difficult, right?" Li Zhibai muttered to himself, picking up his phone and opening Notepad.

Current liabilities: 60000000 yuan

He saw the number and instantly sobered up.

"Talk my ass! We need to make a killing!!!!"

"Women will only slow down my speed of ripping off customers. Instead of worrying about this and that while you're owing tens of millions, you should be thinking about how to squeeze more money out of those rich people next!"

Li Zhibai tossed his phone onto the bedside table: "Go to sleep!"

........

A minute later, Li Zhibai suddenly opened his eyes again.

It wasn't that he didn't want to sleep, but rather that he suddenly remembered something very important.

Long holiday tasks.

The system initially released a temporary task called "[Seven Days of Holiday Fun, Happy Shopping]", which involved giving back to customers with free orders during the long holiday.

He clearly finished it.

And then... what about the reward?

"System, what happened to the rewards for the long holiday mission? You didn't pocket them, did you?!"

system:【……】

"Stop playing dead! Come out here! You promised a random treasure chest as a reward after the event, but where's the chest? I haven't seen a single thing!"

He completed the system tasks during the long holiday, and there was supposed to be a reward. But after the holiday, he was busy with accounting, tax filing, opening the shop, and overcharging customers... and he actually forgot about such an important thing.

If I hadn't had a few drinks tonight and been a bit more clear-headed, I almost let that damn system steal my rewards.