Reborn in Japan as a Chef God

Yan Qi's kind reminder left Xia Yu puzzled.

"For the 'Jade Dragon Pot'?"

He dismissed the thought.

According to Zhu Qing, another 'Jade Dragon Pot' was sealed in the forbidden area of the palace, controlled by the Dragon Head himself. Unless the Dragon Head wanted to emulate those chefs from a century ago who assembled the eight legendary culinary tools, he had no desire for the second pot.

After all, the main function of the 'Jade Dragon Pot' was to help the holder locate other kitchen tools; it had no noteworthy culinary use of its own.

He returned to the Zen Residence.

Tonight, there were many guests staying over; Liangzi Lina's garden was filled with people.

Xia Yu was allocated a small hut, about ten square meters—quite small. The floor was covered with clean bedding, and a little further away was a wall cupboard.

He opened the door, glanced around the room, then his gaze settled on the bed. Seeing a bulge that looked like a person lying under the blanket, Xia Yu wondered, "Did I enter the wrong room?"

His heart skipped a beat; fortunately, he hadn't encountered any maids in the hallway on his way back. Xia Yu wasn't nervous; he took a step back and closed the door.

But as the door closed, Xia Yu turned to look out over the corridor under the night sky, slightly dumbfounded.

"This isn't right!"

He checked the location of his room again, from left to right, up and down. Xia Yu's forehead vein throbbed, roughly understanding what had happened.

Bang!

He opened the door again; this time, he turned on the light, strode to the bed, and fiercely threw back the blanket. Surprisingly, there were no cries of alarm.

"Miss..."

A timid call.

A silver-haired girl, clad in a bathrobe provided by Reiko's house, lay on her side on the bedding. The bathrobe was retro and traditional, resembling a yukata. Eriina, lying on her side, purposely drew back a corner of her hem, spectacularly revealing her long, straight legs.

Seemingly aware of Xia Yu's eyes unintentionally moving toward her legs, Eriina gently bit her lip, a hint of alluring red appearing on her lovely face. Her legs under the bathrobe trembled, shifting to a crossed position.

As the shyness intensified, Eriina secretly hummed with pride. She was, of course, confident in her charm, inheriting good genes from her parents, especially her Northern European mother. Her long legs would definitely reign supreme among a group of high school girls in Japan.

"Eriina, you're going to lose this time..."

Just as a victorious smile was about to bloom on her lips, Eriina hadn't reacted before everything went dark before her.

Bang!

The sound of the door closing tightly. Eriina yelped in pain as she fell to the floor, the sheets wrapping around her body scattering. Ignoring the pain from the fall, she looked at the closed door a step away, both frantic and furious.

"Thunk, thunk!"

"Miss, open the door!"

"Open the door!"

Tears whirled in the anxious girl's eyes.

Still, there was no response from inside the room. Eriina started crying out of frustration, stomping on the spot, whispering in annoyance, "Didn't those romance guides say that nighttime attacks have a particularly high success rate?"

Undoubtedly, Eriina suffered a huge emotional blow. For the first time, she started to deeply doubt her own appearance and her youthful appeal, generally described as 'girl power'.

The door to Xia Yu's room remained quiet. Nearby, diagonally across from another room, the door was ajar. Eriina, similarly clad in a bathrobe and leaning against the door frame, saw the failed "night raid" and Eriina's tearful, frustrated state, and could not help but laugh aloud.

Hearing the schadenfreude-filled laughter, Eriina turned and glared, "Shut up!"

"Ha, hahaha..."

Eriina kept laughing.

Inside the room.

Shaking his head, Xia Yu moved another set of bedding from the wall cupboard, made the bed, and lay down. The slight ripple in his heart earlier had been forcefully quashed; now he was truly in a 'Saint Monk' state.

The girl's night attack was admirable, but unlike his extremely fanciful cooking style, Xia Yu was a conservative.

Pants belts can easily loosen, but once the floodgates are open, they are not so easy to tighten again.

Brother Cheng's bloody example had preceded him, he only thought with his lower half, and the result was often being chopped by a firewood knife. Thus, Xia Yu had reasons to be conservative and cautious. On the other hand, he did not want to see the lovely girl turn dark because of him; that would be terrifying.

Thinking of that blood-stained firewood knife, Alice smilingly holding a knife, yet her pupils were dull and lifeless...

Xia Yu closed his eyes, an image surfaced in his mind, and he shivered, silently chanting:

"Brother Cheng everlasting!"

The image immediately vanished with the dispelling of evil.

...

The next day.

Morning, Tokyo Airport.

A group of reporters, having obtained information from somewhere, blocked the VIP boarding gate. As the announcer reminded that the flight to the capital of the United States was about to board, the reporters finally intercepted the fairly low-key Lei Zhe.

"Chef Lei Zhe, your return trip is quite sudden, can you talk about the reason?"

"What did you gain from your trip to Japan?"

"A tweet this morning revealed a rumor that you were defeated in a private Food Duel, is that true?"

Lei Zhe, wearing large sunglasses, kept a straight face and did not respond to any questions, boarding the plane dejectedly.

Two of his followers, a man and a woman behind him, showed confusion in their eyes upon hearing the questions the reporters threw at them.

Had he really lost?

Thinking of returning to HQ and the inevitable shock it would cause, especially the leader's furious reaction, the two followers turned silent as cicadas in winter.

At a distance, another boarding gate.

The international flight to Shanghai was also set to take off soon. A slim man dressed in black, whose age was difficult to discern, glanced at the commotion and remarked, "This is going to give the Gourmet Association a headache, isn't it?"

Yan Qi chuckled.

One of the eight giants had been defeated, and the odds of victory for the others weren't looking great either. How would the leader handle this?

However, thinking of the young boy now gaining the attention of two great Heavenly Kings of the culinary world, Yan Qi's expression grew serious, "The road ahead will become increasingly difficult. If he can advance to Dragon level soon, the clouds blocking his path will be swept away."

"Rein, Liu Maoxing, Lan Feihong, and other predecessors had taken less than a year to move from Qilin to Dragon level; how about him?" Yan Qi couldn't help but look forward with anticipation.

Zen Residence felt eerily quiet.

Approaching noon, Xia Yu finally emerged from his room, washed up, and went to the main hall to discuss matters with the hostess.

All four giants had left, and the others were nowhere to be seen; as for the Yuchuan Sisters, they had left him a note, saying they had gone home with Yuchuan Xin the night before and would return to the shop during the day.

"You want to purchase a batch of high-quality sake?" Upon hearing what Xia Yu asked, the hostess was slightly taken aback, "The sake here is of good quality, but the quantity..."

The sake was intended to be mixed with rainbow fruit juice, brewed into Xia's Farm Specialty, and sold online in conjunction with Ichise Hui's business plan.

He certainly hadn't forgotten about the plan code-named "Xia's Farm Fangs."

Xia Yu waved his hand and said humorously, "I don't need the top sake, just high quality and good value; I haven't decided on the quantity yet, but it's at least a thousand bottles. Introduce me to some sake merchants, would you?"

The hostess visibly relaxed; her own brewed sake was usually reserved for entertaining distinguished guests and wasn't plentiful.

"A thousand bottles?" Although unsure what Xia Yu needed so much sake for, and considering the number wasn't large, the hostess didn't overthink it and answered with a smile, "Hasegawa Family from the Imperial Four Families is a sake brewing dynasty, with breweries all over Neon, definitely a giant in the alcohol industry. Coincidentally, I know a Female Du from Hasegawa Family who has started her own sake market; let me take you to see it!"

Thus, after a simple lunch, Xia Yu confidently got into the hostess's car and headed to a secretive sake market within Tokyo.

Entering the deep alley filled with the fragrance of sake, Xia Yu approached and took a deep sniff, praising:

"I came to the right place!"