"However, renting Sister Hong’s house to An Youyou is feasible. An Youyou has been working diligently lately, and her position has seen a certain promotion. I was already considering giving her a promotion and a raise after some observation. Now that she’s one of us, I’ll advance that to next month and raise her to assistant management, adding 1500 to her base salary each month."
"Assistant management? I didn’t know the community cafeteria had such a position." Qu Jing was a bit surprised.
Qin Huai replied calmly, "It didn’t before, but now it can."
"As for Sister Hong, if you have time, come to the cafeteria more often these days and chat with An Youyou when you can. I’ll make sure she runs more errands, especially delivering things to the residents’ committee."
Chen Huihong, catching on to the hint, said, "Got it. From now on, the residents’ committee’s afternoon tea will only have radish cake!"
Qin Huai glanced at the time and realized he had been in the bathroom for too long. If he stayed any longer, the staff might suspect he had digestive issues, so he said, "I haven’t finished practicing my knife skills for today, and I also want to practice the recipe I just received. I’ll get back to work now; we can talk more tonight if needed."
"Alright, bye-bye." Qu Jing waved.
"Xiao Qin, when are you starting to sell those meat buns? I’ll come by to buy them tonight." This was from Chen Huihong.
"What time? I’ll let Zhang Shumei go buy them." This was from Luo Jun.
Faced with this group of fellow residents from Yunzhong District, taking advantage of their proximity, Cheng Gong could only smile and wave at his phone, "Master Qin, take care and remember to rest, bye-bye."
Qin Huai hung up the video call, tidied up, washed his hands, and went back to the kitchen to continue chopping radish.
What Qin Huai didn’t know was that even after he ended the video call, the group video call was still ongoing.
Almost immediately after Qin Huai hung up, Chen Huihong couldn’t help but speak up, "Luo Jun, why are you in such a hurry? I thought you were so sure about it. It turns out you were just winging it. If it hadn’t been for Xiao Chen reminding us, I would’ve almost followed your lead and messed up Xiao An’s tribulation crossing."
Luo Jun, not conceding, said, "What do you mean I was just winging it? I was using the simplest, quickest method to help An Youyou cross her tribulation. She’s not in her last life, why the rush? The obsessions of the Three-legged Golden Toad are mostly quite peculiar, and traditional methods might not be helpful. Surprising the opponent is the way to win."
Qu Jing hadn’t hung up either and timidly asked, "Mr. Luo, I’m curious, why are you so eager to help An Youyou cross her tribulation?"
Luo Jun, known as enthusiastic citizen Mr. Luo, but not this enthusiastic.
Luo Jun snorted coldly, "Chen Huihong, you’ve really become less sharp over the years, not even as perceptive as Qu Jing. Haven’t you realized what the real focus of today is from beginning to end?"
"Isn’t it about helping Xiao An cross her tribulation?" Chen Huihong was somewhat confused.
"It’s the main quest." Luo Jun and Cheng Gong said in unison.
Seeing Cheng Gong say the same, Luo Jun reluctantly spared a glance at Cheng Gong’s profile on the phone’s split screen and continued slowly, "An Youyou’s memory is given by the main quest."
"How novel. Isn’t it the same with your memory and mine? Our memories were either given by the main quest or side quests. Xiao An didn’t trigger a side quest, so of course, the main quest provided it." Chen Huihong said.
"Haven’t you ever read a system novel?"
"No, why? I don’t like reading novels." Chen Huihong said, her reasoning not exactly persuasive but adamant.
Luo Jun: "... Can the main quest and side quests be the same? Are you saying our memories were also given by the main quest? Are we just unimportant side characters?"
"You’re completely misunderstanding me. What I meant was that An Youyou’s next memory is also given by the main quest." Latest content published on novel(ꜰ)ire.net
"This indicates that An Youyou is very important, at least in terms of task arrangement. She’s very important, and her memory is crucial."
"What?!" Chen Huihong was shocked, "You mean Xiao An is an important task, even more important than us side characters?!"
Luo Jun once again looked at his phone with eyes saying, "Are you serious?" trying to breathe fire through the screen at Chen Huihong.
"What I mean is, although An Youyou isn’t in her final life as a spirit, her awakening is urgent because it is related to the main quest."
"At least within Qin Huai’s current task priorities, her weight is heavier than other side quests."
"Qin Huai only has two tasks now, right? One is Old Wang’s side quest, and the other is Xiao An’s main quest."
Luo Jun took a deep breath, "Cheng Gong, explain it to her."
Cheng Gong paused his work, "Mr. Luo means that he believes the main quest takes precedence over side quests. Master Qin helps us awaken by completing tasks, which also benefits him. From any perspective, the rewards from completing the main quest will be greater than those from side quests. So prioritizing the main quest related to An Youyou will yield more than other side quests."
"Also, whether it’s An Youyou or Mr. Wang, neither are spirits in their final lives, so their awakenings are not urgently needed. Moreover, Mr. Wang’s awakening status is very good and doesn’t realistically require much external interference. Additionally, because Mr. Luo’s time is limited, he wants to do what he can to hasten An Youyou’s awakening."
Luo Jun, angrily: "Don’t let your imagination run wild!"
Cheng Gong continued to explain, "Additionally, since the difficulty of the Three-legged Golden Toad’s tribulation is not high, it means there’s a high margin for error, so Mr. Luo proposed such a bold approach earlier, wanting to take a chance."