Chapter 152
The only thing that bothered her was that Han Qianshan and Han Qianhai were in a state of nothingness. She had initially wanted to poison them, but the policies didn’t allow it, and that had always been a regret in her heart.
No worries, there’s plenty of time ahead. Yu Xunge slipped into a corner and transformed back into a cat.
After running around the area for a bit, about ten minutes later, the well-prepared Yu Xunmiao, having drunk the premium ginseng extract, arrived under the big tree with two cats and a dog. The three cats and one dog stood nearby, neither too close nor too far from the elderly couple and the three young people, their eyes wide and watery as they looked at them.
Han Qianhai immediately stood up and told the elderly folks that he was going to buy some food for the little animals. This was a great opportunity to build his character and gain some favor.
One of the elderly women also got up, preparing to head home to fetch some fish.
Yu Xunge brought her newly recruited three little brothers over to the group. The real cats and dog were busy being adorable, while she perched herself by the big tree, sitting demurely and not allowing anyone to touch her.
As per the usual routine, she first changed Yu Xunhuan’s luck value to 1—otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to steal anything at all.
Then she began using her skills on Yu Xunhuan and the Han siblings.
The premium ginseng extract could restore 1% of health per second for 15 minutes. When she made it herself and drank it, the effect tripled, meaning she could restore 3% of health per second for 45 minutes.
Usually, she only drank the regular ginseng extract; she had never sold the premium one and had rarely allowed herself to drink it. The best ginseng on the market had been snatched up by the Special Affairs Bureau and various major powers, but today was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and she couldn’t leave midway, so she drank the premium extract.
The premium ginseng extract maxed out Yu Xunge’s stealing ability.
On average, she could steal once every 5.5 seconds. Considering she had to occasionally lick her paws and swish her tail to act more like a cat, and respond to the elderly couple’s “Meow, look over here,” she could manage to steal about once every 10 seconds.
She didn’t play favorites either; Yu Xunhuan, Han Qianhai, and Han Qianshan took turns, one at a time.
After a while, feeling a bit tired from stealing, she jumped onto the table and nibbled on a piece of fried fish that the elderly woman had brought.
By the time Shen Yushi returned home, Yu Xunhuan and the others got up to chase after him, Yu Xunmiao’s bag already contained 79 gold coins, one rare item, one tool, nine pieces of equipment, and a skill book.
As for the attribute points, there were even more. After changing Yu Xunhuan’s luck value to 1, she had taken away 14 attribute points from him, while Han Qianhai and Han Qianshan contributed a bit more, with 35 and 25 points respectively.
Now, Yu Xunge’s unarmed base attributes were:
【Character】Yu Xunge (Level 8, 79%)
【Health Points】: 2795/2795
【Mana Points】: 3825/3825
【Strength】: 31+35
【Constitution】: 29+24
【Intelligence】: 47+13
【Agility】: 50+3
Distributable Attribute Points: 15
The 15 distributable attribute points included 5 points she hadn’t had the chance to allocate after leveling up from 7 to 8, 8 points from eating Shen Yushi’s dishes, and 1 point she received after first disguising herself as Han Shi to listen to the Hope Hymn at Su Yitong’s place.
The only frustrating point was that none of the three had much agility. Han Qianshan was a tank, Han Qianhai was a melee fighter, and Yu Xunhuan, for some reason, hadn’t invested much in intelligence and had started putting points into constitution instead.
This led to Yu Xunge stealing for half an hour and ending up with the least amount of agility points.
Yu Xunge, with her cat paws clutching the fried fish, happily admired her attribute panel.
This should at least be worth 0.4 of a blueprint, right?
The rare items, tools, and equipment this time weren’t particularly interesting, but the attributes were good, so she planned to keep them for future use when she needed to switch disguises and stir up trouble in Zelan.
However, that skill book was quite intriguing.
【This Life is Unbearable】 (B-grade): After using this skill on any dish, it will be able to speak, complaining about the mistakes made during its preparation.
She had picked this book from Han Qianshan, and while the skill might not mean much to her, it was a godsend for a chef. Its rating was only B-grade, but its value to Yu Xunge was no less than A-grade.
It was like having a personal tutor who could help her identify her mistakes at any time—without any risks involved…
In fact, she already had a similar item—【God of Food’s Magical Spoon】.
She had obtained it from Yu Xunhuan a long time ago.
【God of Food’s Magical Spoon】 (B-grade): A spoon used by the God of Food to taste the saltiness of dishes. Long-term use has imbued it with the essence of the God of Food, allowing the user to detect shortcomings in the dishes they eat.
She had used this magical spoon many times and could indeed taste the shortcomings, but therein lay the problem! She could identify the flaws, but how to fix them?
It was like doing a math problem, flipping to the back to see the answer, which said 9, but didn’t explain the process—this really tested her intuition…
She had long realized that her talent lay in alchemy. Sometimes, just a slight hint from Hufflepuff would allow her to quickly identify what went wrong with her potion and how to correct it. Most mistakes, once made, wouldn’t be repeated, and she didn’t even need Hufflepuff to explain in detail.
But when it came to cooking…
Every time she used this magical spoon to taste her own dishes that scored over 80 points, the general process went like this:
Take a bite—Oh my, could I be the legendary top chef Xiao Ge?—but something feels off.
Unsure, she took another bite to savor it—Hmm, it’s indeed delicious, but there’s definitely something not quite right.
Another bite—No wonder it only scored in the 80s; something is really off.
After finishing the whole bowl, she still couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
She even doubted whether this spoon deserved its B-grade rating; it felt like the game was just flattering the God of Food to curry favor…
But the skill 【This Life is Unbearable】 felt different. It didn’t require the creator to taste and guess; it allowed the food to communicate directly with you—how considerate!
Thinking back to the conversation she had overheard when she transformed into a cat and the expressions of those three when they saw Shen Yushi, Yu Xunge suspected this was a gift the Han family intended for Shen Yushi.
That made things a bit awkward. She had no qualms about stealing from the protagonists; she felt justified in doing so.
But intercepting something meant for Shen Yushi felt wrong. No matter how much she insisted that she would treat the elderly woman as just an ordinary relative, Yu Xunge could never forget the help Shen Yushi had given her. Not to mention, this skill book was undoubtedly a good thing for the elderly woman, but she couldn’t possibly give it up.
Yu Xunge simply added Shen Yushi as a friend through the mail records.
There was no way to test the waters; if she asked, “If the Han family gave you something, would you accept it?” with the elderly woman’s mindset, she would immediately conclude that Yu Xunge had obtained something they originally intended for her, and this child was just being stubborn by asking her.
【Yu Xunge】: Do you need anything?
【Shen Yushi】: What have you done that makes you feel guilty towards me?
【Yu Xunge】: Just wanted to thank you for cooking for me these past few days.
【Shen Yushi】: Thank you? What’s with the eighth day of gratitude?
【Yu Xunge】: Recipes? Cooking tools? Ingredients? Skills? Equipment? Items?
【Shen Yushi】: Hmm, looks like you’re being stubborn again.
【Shen Yushi】: Something related to the God of Food, right? Items or equipment are fine. I have a talent that makes me stronger the more items used by the God of Food I have.
Without hesitation, Yu Xunge sent over the 【Rusty Spatula】 and the 【God of Food’s Drool Bib】 to Shen Yushi. She had been worried about what to do with those two items.
She didn’t give the 【God of Food’s Magical Spoon】, not because she was reluctant; she had stolen it from Yu Xunhuan, and she couldn’t just hand it over directly, not even to Shen Yushi. She had to pass it through someone else first.
【Shen Yushi】: Received it, I really needed this.
Only then did Yu Xunge head straight to the airport. After returning home and transforming back into her human form, the first thing she did was learn 【This Life is Unbearable】.
Then she made a dish of Stir-fried Eel, which was the dish she was most skilled at. After it was done, it scored 83 points.
This was something Shen Yushi didn’t see; if she had, she would have had something to say about Yu Xunge, who was still indulging in her culinary cravings without having perfected her skills before attempting such a challenging dish…
With great anticipation, Yu Xunge used 【This Life is Unbearable】 on the shiny, fragrant dish.
The next second, the eel fillets screamed.
—“This life is unbearable! Do you even know how to cook?! You messed up the first step so badly; you’re about to turn Stir-fried Eel into dried eel! How many times do I have to say it? If you want it to be delicious, stop thinking about low-fat and low-calorie!
“This dish is a long story; five of the eel fillets are cut thicker than the others, there’s not enough oil, the oil wasn’t hot enough before you added them, you overcooked them by five seconds, the soy sauce isn’t fresh enough, you added the salt too early, you didn’t stir-fry evenly, the thickening was too much, it looks like it’s been licked by a cow, the Sichuan pepper isn’t from this year, and the variety of numbing pepper is subpar…
“And the utensils, utensils, utensils! Where did you dig up these chopsticks from? They’re not even fit to pick me up! And your chopsticks and plate don’t even match! A porcelain plate with disposable wooden chopsticks? Damn it, this is just absurd!!”
Yu Xunge & Tu Lan, who had rushed over excitedly after smelling the aroma, ready to dig in: …
The dream of becoming a top chef shattered into pieces.
The day after her dreams were dashed, Yu Xunge received her ninth reward from Shen Yushi—a Bamboo Shoot and Shrimp Shaomai.
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