Chapter 54 Endless Stream

"Extra, extra! The latest edition of the Following the Wind Food Times is out! Would you care for a copy, sir?"

"Would you like a copy, sir?"

On the bustling avenue, a young newsboy clutched a stack of newspapers, shouting relentlessly to the passing pedestrians.

The pedestrians on the street hurried along, yet upon hearing that it was a newspaper dedicated to food, they would invariably choose to stop and inquire.

Though many lost much of their interest upon learning it focused on a remote town, well over half of those who asked about the price chose to make a purchase.

Soon, the newspapers in the newsboy's hands dwindled, until only one or two remained. The stifling summer heat robbed him of any desire to keep calling out, and just as he was about to pack up his remaining papers and head home, a small white hand gently tugged at the hem of his shirt.

"Excuse me, do you still have any newspapers left?"

The newsboy turned around, showing no surprise at the visitor's distinctly non-human features. Instead, a bright smile spread across his face as he spoke warmly:

"Mr. Bai, I've been waiting for you. Yes, we do."

......

Back at Peace Ranch, Chi Sui was holding Momo and staring blankly into space.

When Byron mentioned he wanted to write a feature article about the restaurant, she knew things might get busy, but she never imagined it would reach this level of madness.

To say nothing of herself, by mealtime Gudu and the others were moving so fast they were practically blurring, shifting from their initial enthusiastic chorus of "Welcome!" upon a guest's arrival to performing every task of setting down plates with an air of deep grievance.

Chi Sui had overestimated her own capabilities. She had naively thought that prepping for just fifty tables a day, with so many people helping out, would be an absolute breeze.

Yet after merely five days in business, calluses had formed on the hands she used for stir-frying, and she was on the verge of depression.

Though she used to be busy, at least she performed different tasks every day. Now, she was stuck doing the exact same thing over and over again, monotonous and tedious, long past the stage where it served as good culinary practice.

As Chi Sui cradled Momo now, she even felt a sudden urge to swing him around by his tail.

She was simply too used to flipping the wok.

As for why operations had ground to a halt today—that was a very good question.

The ranch's fields were completely empty!

Over the past few days, the little tender sprout atop Green Sprout's head had practically been sparking with exhaustion, yet the vegetables in the fields still could not meet the demand, and yesterday the crops officially went on strike.

Clearly, on the first day, the diners had consisted entirely of familiar residents from the small town showing their support. But by the second day, the crowds had surged exponentially. She had originally expected the ingredients to last the entire summer, but they had sold out in five days.

That initial target of fifty tables was just a goal Chi Sui had set for herself, never expecting to reach it so quickly—so quickly, in fact, that it had stripped away all her joy.

......

The spacious cave had grown crowded. Long before Chi Sui's business hours even began, a massive queue had formed at the restaurant entrance, stretching all the way out of the cave mouth and onto the plaza.

Not daring to let them wait like this any longer, Chi Sui seized the moment when they were completely out of ingredients and hurriedly hung up a "Closed" sign.

In this world, genuinely delicious star-grade food could drive people to utter frenzy.

"Found you. Here are the dining pass stubs you had me issue earlier; we've already reached number 132."

The dining passes were a solution Chi Sui devised to cope with excessively long queues, functioning much like reservation tickets. She distributed numbered passes to waiting patrons, who then filled out their names, addresses, and desired dish lists on the stub, while also indicating whether they were willing to try new dishes.

Once Chi Sui had the ingredients prepared, she would dispatch a chirpy bird to the guest's location, notifying them of their dining time and seat number.

If no one claimed the message, the chirpy bird would wait for ten minutes before departing, and the pass would automatically roll over to the next person. Likewise, if a customer failed to arrive as scheduled, their pass would be deferred.

Of course, upholding a human-centric service philosophy, missing your number did not mean you had to go to the back of the line; guests were granted one chance to have their turn deferred by three spots.

This system instantly transformed Chi Sui's restaurant from a daily limited-supply establishment into a strict reservation-only venue. With a call-number system this rigorous, Chi Sui figured her restaurant's user rating probably wouldn't be very high.

"Number 132? Why did you issue so many?"

Hearing this number, Chi Sui's expression turned pained.

Cooking the exact same dishes day in and day out—no matter how simple—was enough to drive her crazy.

Qi Ya looked somewhat helpless, shrugged, and said, "This was even after I persuaded a large majority of the customers to leave. I saw that everyone had written down that they were willing to try new dishes on their stubs, so I just accepted them all for you. It wouldn't look good to turn them away after the restaurant has only been open for such a short time."

"Are you sure they all agreed to new dishes?"

Hearing Qi Ya put it that way, Chi Sui felt slightly better.

"Definitely. I asked them one by one before I handed out the passes. Plus, all the ingredients in the ranch are completely used up—not to mention Bertha's ranch, where you've practically bought up all her eggs, to say nothing of her pigs. Slaughter any more and there won't be any left."

Chi Sui scratched her head, feeling a bit sheepish.

Aunt Bertha only slaughtered one pig per season, and just for her sake, the pigpen had been emptied out.

Fufeng Town's infrastructure was already inadequate, and the sudden influx of so many tourists had caused Byron's inn to burst at the seams. Lately, he had been up to his ears in work expanding the establishment.

Qi Ya's family bookstore had also seen a flood of backpackers dropping in to cool off and rest, turning the bookstore practically into a teahouse.

True to his merchant nature, Qi Ya had immediately expanded the bookstore upward into a second floor, converting the employee break room into a tearoom. If you wanted a seat, you had to pay for it.

What's more, because Fufeng Town had too few shops and lacking facilities, many tourists simply chose to stay in neighboring towns and rushed over to queue up the moment mealtime arrived.

Among the returned dining pass stubs, quite a few bore addresses from Bell Town and Warm Breeze Town.

Chi Sui never expected that opening a restaurant could end up driving the economic development of the surrounding towns.

Just two days ago, Mayor Ella had even come to see her, mentioning that several more shops had approached her for discussions and would officially open in the town once summer passed.

"I don't think any crops will grow in the fields anytime soon. Did you tell the customers that our operating hours are currently undetermined?"

Stroke Momo's soft fur, Chi Sui began to feel lazy.

"I told them. We reopen in two days."

"Huh? Why two days? Can you magically conjure food out of thin air?"

Qi Ya smiled and pointed at Chi Sui's money pouch:

"I may not have the ability to conjure food, but aren't you rolling in money?"

Chi Sui: ......

If she could, she wanted to turn into a pixiu—a mythical beast that only takes in wealth and never lets a coin go.

"I've checked with Hector. There aren't many nearby ranches that can steadily provide a large volume of vegetables over the long term, but when it comes to eggs, milk, and pork, there are plenty of decent options."

"Still, my suggestion is that while we can purchase supplies externally in the early stages, our ranch's own production capacity needs to be boosted later on. With so few animals, the daily egg yield isn't even enough for you to eat by yourself. After all, your primary profession is still being a rancher."

This remark caused Chi Sui to instantly look away; she had almost forgotten she was supposed to be a rancher.

"I've spoken with a few neighboring ranchers. They're willing to sell livestock as well as young animals. The green-haired cattle from Warm Breeze Town and the white-feathered chickens from Windmill Town are both great options for breeding. You'll have to make the final decision on the specifics."

"Besides..."

Qi Ya put down his recording ledger, looked straight at Chi Sui, and said solemnly, "Have you ever left Purple Island before?"

Chi Sui shook her head. The furthest she had traveled in all these days was Bell Town.

"Then you should take the opportunity to leave the island and have a look. I've inquired, and there's a floating airship heading to Green Island tomorrow. If you have a lot of cargo that needs transporting, our bookstore's cargo ship can also be rented out to you. It's not expensive—starting at 100 gold coins per hour. If worst comes to worst, I can accept a temporary tab."

Chi Sui clutched her money pouch and sighed: "Qi Ya, it's truly a waste that you aren't a full-time merchant."