The strongest anime shop owner

After hearing Su Luo's words, Ryoko Sakaki lost her temper and immediately punched Su Luo hard, roaring, "I told you, don't call me 'Auntie'!"

"Okay, Ryoko-san," Su Luo said, rubbing the steaming bag on her head.

Well, upon hearing Su Luo's words, Ryoko Sakaki immediately knelt down in submission.

"Hey, Su Luo-kun, we haven't even seen it yet, why are you leaving already?" Tadokoro asked curiously, listening to Su Luo and Sakaki Ryoko's conversation.

"Here's the thing, I already figured out what to do on my way here. There's still a long time before the competition, so I want to prepare the more difficult ingredients first. As for saury, we have it almost every day, so there's no need to rush. If you have experience, you can pick it out at a glance. If you don't have experience, you'll just have to figure it out slowly. After all, experience isn't something you can develop overnight. Besides, I already know what kind of saury I need. If you want to see more saury, then I'll be going now." Su Luo explained in response to Tadokoro's question.

"What? You came out with me, and now you want me to abandon you here? That's so unfair!" Soma, who had been staring intently at the saury, immediately complained as Su Luo said this.

But, is that really a good thing to say? And lastly, it seems like that's not the point of today!

"A rather difficult ingredient to obtain? What is it?" Alice Nakiri put a finger to her lips and asked curiously.

"I won't tell you!" Su Luo replied directly.

"Hmph! Who wants to know!" Seeing that Su Luo didn't give her any face at all, Alice Nakiri's mouth immediately puffed up, looking like a wronged pufferfish, and she muttered.

Looking at the childish Alice Nakiri, everyone was speechless. The art style seemed strange. Why did it feel like Alice Nakiri and Su Luo's souls had been swapped? Was Alice too childish or Su Luo too mature?

As for the person standing to the side, [the text abruptly ends here, likely due to an incomplete sentence or a formatting error].

"Does Ryoko want to go? If not, I'll be going now." At this moment, Su Luo ignored everyone else, looked at Ryoko Sakaki, and said. Actually, Su Luo herself didn't know why she wanted to invite Ryoko Sakaki; it was probably just a subconscious thought.

"Of course! I was brought here by you, so of course I'll be with you!" Sakaki Ryoko said matter-of-factly when Su Luo asked her question again.

"Then let's go." With that, Ryoko Sakaki hugged Su Luo and said.

"Ryoko-san, please let me go, okay? You're so heavy."

"No."

"If I don't grow taller, it'll all be your fault."

"It's okay, you're actually cuter if you don't grow taller."

"···"

Can I take back what I said earlier?

"···"

"Little brother, where are we going?" Sakaki Ryoko and Su Luo were walking on a road. After walking for a while, Sakaki Ryoko couldn't help but ask.

“Let’s go to the market,” Su Luo replied.

"What should we buy?" Ryoko Sakaki asked again.

"You'll find out when the time comes," Su Luo replied calmly.

"I suddenly realized you're really bad at chatting. If you keep this up, you might never find a wife." Ryoko Sakaki looked at Su Luo's half-dead attitude and really didn't know what to say.

"I'm still young, you don't need to worry about me. But for you, whether you can get married is a problem, after all, you're already getting on in years." Su Luo was clearly more venomous than Sakaki Ryoko.

"Damn it, I'm only 15 years old, okay?" Su Luo's words immediately made Sakaki Ryoko explode.

"Oh, only 15? Looking at your face, I thought you were over 30... Ouch." Before Su Luo could finish speaking, she was directly knocked out by Sakaki Ryoko.

"Uncle, do you remember me?" Time flew by during their conversation, and Su Luo and Shen Liang soon arrived at a butcher shop. After entering, Su Luo spoke to the man who was serving meat to customers.

"Oh, it's you! I heard you made it to the finals of the Autumn Selection. Congratulations!" Upon hearing the voice, the busy uncle looked up and recognized Su Luo immediately. After all, Su Luo had left a deep impression on him, whether it was her age and height, her status as a student of Totsuki Academy, or the ingredients she requested, especially the high price she paid. It would be hard to forget her, especially since it had happened recently.

"Thank you, but how did you know that?" After hearing the uncle's words, Su Luo was obviously surprised that the uncle knew about such a thing. Although the school's competitions were quite large, it shouldn't be to the point that even a butcher knew about it. After all, in Su Luo's memory, such things were only reported in the school newspaper.

Actually, Su Luo was wrong. No matter what, Totsuki Culinary Academy is still a top-tier culinary academy, even if it's not the number one culinary academy in Japan. And an annual food festival like this would definitely have a lot of publicity. Even without all that publicity, Totsuki would definitely inform its VIPs, famous chefs, and vendors. Plus, given people's gossipy nature, it wouldn't be a big deal if ordinary people found out.

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Chapter 224 The Choice of Ingredients: Lamb

Actually, seeing the customers who were buying meat here pointing and whispering about him, Su Luo should have known that this competition was obviously attracting a lot of attention, so the pressure must be immense.

"Oh, I saw it in the newspaper. Many shops here are suppliers to Totsuki, so it's not strange to have one or two Totsuki newspapers. But speaking of which, shouldn't you be preparing for war? Why are you here?" the uncle asked while busy with his work.

"It's nothing, I just came to buy some ingredients from you," Su Luo said naturally.

"Little brother, you seem to know this place very well. Do you come here often?" Seeing Su Luo chatting happily with the uncle, as if they were old friends, Ryoko Sakaki couldn't help but ask. After all, in her memory, Su Luo seemed to have hardly ever left the school.

"Hehe, this young man was quite accommodating to me last time, so we're pretty familiar." Before Su Luo could answer, the busy uncle replied after Sakaki Ryoko asked this question. He paused for a moment, looked at Su Luo, and said, "Oh, by the way, I heard your theme this time is saury, right? I don't sell saury here. As for other meats, you probably won't need them, will you?"

"No, no, no, I came here to buy meat, not saury. I wouldn't be stupid enough to come here to buy saury, would I? I'm a student at Totsuki Academy, I wouldn't make such a basic mistake, unless I've lost my mind." Su Luo responded humorously to the uncle's slightly teasing words. However, what the uncle said made some sense. Currently, it seems that very few people use other meats to cook with fish. Even if they do, they are almost always the same main ingredient. So, it's normal for a normal person to think it's impossible.

After saying that, Su Luo continued, "I do want to buy some meat this time. Although it's the same as last time, this time I want lamb. I wonder if you have any sources for this kind of meat."

"Of course! Although my shop isn't very big, the meat here is absolutely the freshest. And the source isn't from meat processing plants, but directly from the slaughterhouse. Hmm, is it the same as last time?" The uncle didn't forget to advertise his shop while answering this question. However, to be honest, as the uncle said, the ingredients were indeed the freshest, but with this kind of sales method, the slaughterhouse probably wasn't very big either. In many ways, in terms of variety and quality, it might not be as good as those big shops.

“Yes, I’ll take the whole one. Price isn’t a problem,” Su Luo nodded and said.

"Of course. I was too embarrassed to ask for a price before because you were just a kid, but now that I know you're a real tycoon, I won't be polite." After hearing Su Luo's words, the uncle immediately teased. Since the uncle knew about the Autumn Selection Competition, he must have some understanding of Su Luo's situation: "I wonder if you have any requirements for the sheep?"

"My requirements are quite simple: they must be sheep that have been grazed, not castrated, and not sick. They must have been used as breeding sheep for at least three years. I think it should be easy to find sheep like that." Su Luo wasn't surprised at all that the uncle would ask such a question, after all, every chef has their own standards for the ingredients they use to make dishes.

"Are you sure you want a sheep like this!?" After hearing Su Luo's request, not only was the uncle dumbfounded, but everyone else was too. Even ordinary people know that a sheep like this is practically something you wouldn't want even if you gave it away. Not to mention that the sheep is so old that the meat is too tough to cook and chew, even if you could chew it, no one could stand the gamey smell. Let me tell you, even Mongolian and Tibetan herders who are used to this kind of smell can't stand it! If you try to force it down with spices like star anise and pepper, the soup will just taste like spices, and no one will drink that kind of stuff. So, this kind of sheep is practically treated like garbage.

“Of course,” Su Luo said with certainty.

If it weren't for Su Luo's firm and certain tone, the uncle would have thought she was joking. Even if such sheep existed, they would be disposed of as garbage. After all, sheep like these wouldn't sell even if slaughtered. Add to that the labor costs of slaughtering and selling sheep, and it would be good enough if they didn't lose money. So no one would be foolish enough to do such a thing: "Alright then, almost every farm has some sheep like these. If you want one, I can find you one."

Seeing the uncle's frustrated expression, Su Luo found it amusing: "No, I need two. After all, I don't have the ability to collect ingredients and immediately make a finished product. Don't worry, I will definitely pay the price. Also, if you trust me, you can prepare more of these sheep. Maybe we can make a profit."

As Su Luo uttered her last sentence, a mysterious smile appeared on her face. After all, this wasn't a lie. If her dishes were to bloom in the autumn, some of the special ingredients would definitely see a dramatic turnaround in value. Currently, this kind of lamb is worthless, just like in China back then, where pig intestines were practically unwanted even as gifts. But after people discovered that the dishes made with them were delicious, the price skyrocketed. This shows just how much profit there was.

"Really? If that's the case, then I'll have to order more. If I really make money, I'll definitely treat you to a meal." After hearing Su Luo's words, the uncle was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"I wonder when the goods will arrive." Looking at the uncle's manner of speaking, Su Luo didn't know whether he believed her or not, but that had nothing to do with Su Luo. Whether the other party would do as Su Luo said was his own business. As for the profit, it was quite considerable. As for why Su Luo wouldn't earn it, Su Luo wouldn't do such a thing. Although the profit was large, just think about how many sheep there were in Japan. Even if the profit was high, it wouldn't amount to much money overall.

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Chapter 225 Baicaotang

"I'm not sure about that. It will probably take a few days. I don't know if you need it urgently. If you do, I'll give you the address, and you can go there yourself," the uncle said.

"It's not in a rush, but it would be best if it could arrive within 5 days," Su Luo said after thinking for a while.

"Then there's no problem. I guarantee it will be delivered to you within 5 days. I'll call you when it's delivered." Since they had done a transaction before, both parties had each other's phone numbers. The man made a phone call gesture and said.

“Okay,” Su Luo nodded and said.

"Let's go." After hearing what the uncle said, Su Luo felt there was no need to stay any longer, so she said to Sakaki Ryoko who was standing next to her.

"Where are we going next?" Sakaki Ryoko asked Su Luo. Looking at the ingredients Su Luo had bought, Sakaki Ryoko really had no idea what Su Luo was up to, and kept guessing in her mind.

"You'll know when we get there," Su Luo said, still not giving a direct answer.

"Can you always say that? If you're not going to say it, at least tell me what you want to buy so I can give you some advice." Seeing Su Luo like this, Sakaki Ryoko immediately felt resentful, as if she were an unwanted person.

"Doesn't keeping people mysterious make things more anticipated?" Su Luo didn't answer, but instead asked this question.

"Absolutely not!!!" After hearing Su Luo's words, Sakaki Ryoko answered without even thinking, as if it were an unconscious remark. After saying that, she couldn't help but complain, "The first time it does make people curious, but... you said it that way, but what I saw was different. Do you think I can still have any expectations for the ingredients below?"

"Ahem... Look at the sheep I chose, almost no one uses them. Don't you think dishes made with such ingredients are very appealing?" After hearing Sakaki Ryoko's words, Su Luo was speechless and could only cough a few times before speaking.

"That only applies to the dishes, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the ingredients, you bastard!!" Ryoko Sakaki really didn't know what to say.

"Hmm...we're here." Just as Sakaki Ryoko was about to say something, the two of them had already arrived in front of a shop. Before Sakaki Ryoko could speak, Su Luo looked up at the shop sign and said.

“Bai Cao Tang!? Isn’t this a traditional Chinese medicine shop?” Upon hearing this, Ryoko Sakaki looked up at the shop and saw the three Chinese characters “Bai Cao Tang” written in a flamboyant style on the signboard.

"You actually know it?" Hearing Ryoko Sakaki's words, Su Luo looked at Ryoko Sakaki in surprise. She was a little surprised by Ryoko Sakaki. She didn't expect that Ryoko Sakaki would know Chinese characters. Although Su Luo may not have spent as much time with the Polar Star members as with Soma, they had still lived together for a semester. In addition, she had watched the anime before and had not noticed this.

"What do you mean you actually know her? I do know her, although... I only know these few characters..." Originally, Sakaki Ryoko was immediately displeased by Su Luo's use of "actually" to describe her, so she wanted to retort. However, as she spoke, her momentum suddenly dropped.

Then, Ryoko Sakaki explained, "In the past, Yoshino often used Chinese herbs in her cooking, so I often went with her, so..."

Without Sakaki Ryoko needing to continue, Su Luo already understood what she meant. She immediately let out an "Oh!" and said, "So you don't know Chinese characters? You were speaking so fluently just now, I thought you knew them all, but you only know three." When she said this, Su Luo deliberately emphasized the word "three," which sounded like she was expressing strong contempt. Then, Su Luo shrugged and walked inside.

After the two went inside, Su Luo glanced around and suddenly realized that the person standing in front of the counter today was an old man, not the talkative girl she had met last time. This old man was none other than the same old man who had come to see a patient last time. The old man had gray hair, a long white beard, and was dressed in a Tang suit. Although his face was covered with wrinkles, it was rosy, indicating that he was in very good health. Just by his appearance, he looked quite like a wise man.

The old man examined patients with one hand and dispensed medicine with the other, his movements fluid and swift. Even when dispensing medicine, he showed no hesitation. Don't underestimate this skill in dispensing medicine; accurately determining the dosage is extremely difficult. Even with dedicated practice, it would likely take at least ten years to master it, and some people may never learn it in their entire lives. This alone demonstrates the power of traditional Chinese medicine. However, it also has significant drawbacks. Learning traditional Chinese medicine requires a tremendous amount of time, and in today's fast-paced society, fewer and fewer people have the time and focus to learn it, which is why it has gradually declined.

The old man was just busy by himself, but his mind was very clear. He seemed unhurried, but in the blink of an eye, he had already done several things. It seems that traditional Chinese medicine is quite popular abroad.

"You..." If Ryoko Sakaki still didn't know what Su Luo wanted to buy after seeing this, she would really be an idiot.

"Hmm... I bought the herbs for making cow dung here last time too. But to be honest, this pharmacy is really out of the way. I searched for a long time before I found it last time." Su Luo nodded and said. To be honest, she didn't know why this pharmacy was located in such a remote place. If someone said it was because they didn't have money, Su Luo wouldn't believe it. After all, there were always many customers when she came here a few times. However, Su Luo didn't want to ask any more questions about it. What other people do is their business.

"Uh..." Upon hearing Su Luo mention the dishes she made during that Food War, even though she hadn't eaten them, Sakaki Ryoko felt a bit nauseous. Looking at Su Luo, who seemed to have mentioned it intentionally, a strange feeling arose in her heart, and she couldn't help but say, "You're not going to make those kinds of dishes again this time, are you?!"

“Of course…” Seeing Sakaki Ryoko’s expression, which looked like she had swallowed a fly, Su Luo’s lips inexplicably curled into a strange smile. She deliberately drew out the first two words, and finally, seeing Sakaki Ryoko’s anxious look, she said the answer: “No.”

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Chapter 226 Medicine

Hearing Su Luo's affirmative answer, Ryoko Sakaki couldn't help but feel worried for Su Luo. She was really afraid that Su Luo would do this again. After all, this was an annual food festival. It was not only the contestants' face, but also the school's face. Although the judges might not be able to accept this kind of dark cuisine that looked like cow dung, they couldn't guarantee that all the judges would like it.

"Old man, isn't that talkative older sister here?" Soon it was Su Luo's turn, and Su Luo said casually.

As for Ryoko Sakaki standing to the side, she couldn't understand what was being said at all and looked completely bewildered.

"What old man? You little brat, you have no manners at all! And what do you mean by 'nagging sister'?!" Hearing Su Luo's address, the old man stuck out his head, puffed out his beard, and glared at Su Luo, saying this. Although he said this, the conversation between the two was very gentle, perhaps because they both spoke fluent Chinese.

"It's the one where I got my medicine here last time," Su Luo said, pointing to the front desk.

"Oh, you mean Xiaojing? What's up? Do you need to see her?" The old man would be surprised if he didn't know after hearing Su Luo's explanation, since usually only he and his granddaughter were in the shop.

"It's nothing." Need something from her? What a joke! Upon hearing this, Su Luo's lips twitched, and she said.

"Oh, this is... your mother. She looks like an eighteen-year-old girl." Only after hearing Su Luo's words did the old man notice Sakaki Ryoko's presence. After seeing the intimate relationship between Sakaki Ryoko and Su Luo, he blurted out such a comment.

puff~

Upon hearing this, Su Luo nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. "Mom!? Are you sure you mean this? And what do you mean by 'like an eighteen-year-old girl'? She's only sixteen, okay? And lastly, which eye of yours saw that we're mother and son?"

"Little brother, what is this old man saying?" Looking at the old man and Su Luo's colorful expressions, Ryoko Sakaki had no idea what was going on, so she asked curiously.

"Cough cough, it's nothing." After hearing Ryoko Sakaki's voice, Su Luo snapped out of her gloom, coughed a few times, and said.

"Hahaha, just kidding. Who told you to be so impolite, kid? Look at how fluent your Chinese is, you must be Chinese." Seeing Su Luo's extremely frustrated expression, the old man immediately burst into laughter.

"That is..." Su Luo was also very unhappy as she watched the old man laughing. Upon hearing this, her eyes darted around as if she had remembered something, and she spoke slowly, seemingly on purpose.

"It's really not easy to meet a Chinese person in such a big country like Japan." Clearly, the old man hadn't discovered Su Luo's scheme at all. Before Su Luo could finish speaking, the old man directly remarked like this.

Upon hearing this, Su Luo's lips immediately curled into a smile, and she said, "Hey, hey, hey, I haven't finished speaking yet. What I'm about to say is, it's impossible. In other words, I'm not Chinese, at least not anymore."

The old man, who had been sighing, froze upon hearing this. He seemed to have gleaned something from Su Luo's words and said, "At least not now? That's Chinese, um, this isn't..."