Xia Yu knew where the problem lay.
Not long ago, he had spent 1000 reputation points to upgrade the kitchen. The remaining points were enough for him to exchange for a spice-related cooking skill at the Chef God Store, which could be used with the "Spice Affinity" talent.
However, the application of cooking skills also needed a solid foundation in the study of spices.
To put it another way, it was like a scholar who had never learned any martial arts theories, suddenly having a world-class secret manual stuffed into his brain one day, yet unable to transform the knowledge into concrete techniques.
So, Xia Yu knew very well what his first step should be if he wanted to develop in the field of spices—
A crash course in spice knowledge!
Starting from the very basics of rote memorization, he needed to remember the commonly used spices around the world, understand their uses and taboos, and then move on to more advanced topics.
With the system’s help, Xia Yu wasn’t worried at all.
"Miss Liangzi, does the IGO organization have any professional books on spices?" He glanced at the failed attempt on the table, showing no sign of discouragement; his tone was full of energy and enthusiasm.
Liangzi Lina was surprised: "Actually, you should continue to develop your flame cooking. Mastery over the control of heat is your specialty. If you can truly elevate the taste of flames to an ’ultimate’ level, within a few years, both the Neon Food World and the global culinary scene will know you as a top chef specializing in flames."
Xia Yu shook his head, his eyes deep as he said, "Miss Liangzi, a top chef who only masters one ultimate flavor would be at the bottom among the starred chefs, right?"
"Moreover, if I wait until I become a top chef to start learning about spices, it’ll be too late. I’m still young now; shouldn’t I take advantage of my youth and good memory to learn more?" Xia Yu shrugged.
Liangzi Lina suddenly smiled, her lips curving upwards.
"Professional books? I’ll have my secretary retrieve them from the IGO internal library. By the way, do you want a digital or physical version? If it’s digital, I can have it delivered to you online via IGO shortly..."
"Digital version!" Xia Yu said, thanking her sincerely, "Thank you, Miss Liangzi."
"Helping you is also helping myself."
"Breaking through as a Lin Chef isn’t that easy. I’ve finally seen the dawn of understanding ’The Meaning of Food,’ of course, I have to seize it!" Liangzi Lina said as she walked, her voice drifting from the backyard of the shop as she spoke with her secretary.
Sakamoto and An Yilun also stopped their somewhat overly dramatic sumo shoving match.
"Mr. An Yi, it’s the first day of school today. Aren’t you going to build up your game club? Why are you here at the shop?" Xia Yu walked over and asked.
An Yilun also wiped the sweat from his forehead, catching his breath before saying excitedly, "Mr. Xia Yu, I’ve already built the online website for the restaurant, although it’s a bit simple..."
Xia Yu immediately said joyfully, "Come, let’s go to the second floor and open it on the computer to take a look."
He and An Yilun also went upstairs.
On the computer, An Yilun also skillfully entered a string of URLs, the domain suffix was jp. The URL was decided by An Yilun after consulting with Xia Yu, based on the initials of ’Xia’s Chinese Cuisine.’
Hitting the enter key, the webpage loaded.
The initial expectation was that the site would be quite basic, but when it appeared on the computer screen, Xia Yu was stunned to find that the homepage was more completed than expected. The background image was a carefully hand-drawn and colored depiction of the actual shop by a talented artist, full of a stylized world vibe.
There was a mini icon resembling a pull cord in the lower right corner of the page. An Yilun also chuckled, moved the mouse cursor over it, and clicked lightly. Suddenly, the stylized shop in the background shifted from day to night, where an empty and quiet store filled with various dining customers, creating a lively atmosphere. Of course, these customers also had a stylized visual style.
The luxurious and familiar look of the website background gave Xia Yu a sense of something akin to realistic scene images from Makoto Shinkai’s classic works, a man famed for his wallpaper-like visuals.
The detailed brushwork was clearly from a female artist.
A light bulb went off in his head, and he chuckled lightly, "Could it be Eriri’s handiwork?"
"It’s drawn by Eriri!" An Yilun also felt a bit disgruntled. Today was the opening day of Private Funezaki High School. He had moved up to the second year and, before the opening ceremony, had stopped his childhood friend Eriri in the corridor outside the classroom, passionately describing his plan for a pretty-girl dating sim game and inviting her to be the exclusive illustrator—only to face a cold rejection.
Yet, the stylized images used for the website of Xia’s shop, Eriri had taken the initiative to contact him after hearing about it and offered help.
Such a comparison made An Yilun even more upset.
Yet, business was business, and An Yilun took a breath, becoming full of fighting spirit as he guided Xia Yu through the website.
"Currently, the site only has two subpages, and one page is for reservation bookings." An Yilun manipulated the mouse, clicked on the nearby navigation bar, and boop, a reservation interface popped up.
In the interface, there were two maids: the one on the left had black hair, and the one on the right was blonde, both with a stylized look.
The black-haired maid on the left spoke first, her fair hands clasped in front of her apron, bowing and lowering her head while a chat bubble popped up, "May I help you with your dining reservation?"
An Yilun also clicked the "Yes" option.
Then, the blonde maid on the right chimed in, "How many guests do you have?"
Below the chat bubble were three options: single, double, three or more.
An Yilun also casually clicked on the first ’single’ option, and the black-haired maid covered her mouth laughing, with the text floating above her, "Oh, a single guest..."
Then came the formal reservation stages. The website administrator could set the menu for the day in the backend. Upon reaching this step, the customer could see real photos and descriptions of the dishes, choose one or more dishes, but not repeat, with online payment and in-store cash payment as two options.
"Not bad!" Xia Yu said with a thumbs up after taking a look.
This stylized interface, with its easygoing atmosphere, could guide customers in making reservations.
Moreover, even without reservations, the images on the web pages, whether of characters or the background, were high-definition wallpaper quality. Xia Yu was already thinking about how to thank the twin-tailed blonde 18-plus illustrator.
"The second subpage is an introduction to Xia’s shop. In the future, other sections can be added, like the manager’s recommended dishes..." An Yilun also said.
Xia Yu nodded in agreement.
The images were Eriri’s work, and undoubtedly, website construction was thanks to An Yilun.
An Yilun scratched his head and said, "For online payment, you need to contact the payment platform to open an interface. It seems like it’s not possible without being of legal age."
"I’ll have someone help with that," Xia Yu laughed.
After all, he was now a two-star chef with the IGO, right, and the certification for the shop as a two-star restaurant was in progress. If providing the IGO certificate to the payment platform, the interface could be opened quickly.
"The website maintenance will be up to you, Mr. An Yi. Whatever ideas you have, feel free to go with them!" Xia Yu patted An Yilun also on the shoulder, and they both stood up.
"Uh, Mr. Xia Yu, I left school early this afternoon, so I can only invite some partners here to meet and discuss things. It won’t disturb you, will it?" An Yilun also tentatively asked.
"Partners? You can bring them to the second floor," Xia Yu replied, then went downstairs.