Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 654 - 653: Researching New Dishes

Sun Wukong was momentarily stunned before he remembered that this person seemed to be a guest brought over by Chen Nuo from the Flowing Sand River, though he could no longer be considered a guest.

Tian Peng had stormed off in anger just now because of this person.

The master wanted to take him as an assistant and had even bestowed a name upon him that bore a striking resemblance to his own; at first listen, it sounded just like that of a fellow disciple, no wonder Tian Peng was so angry.

After all, he had been working hard to become the master’s apprentice, only for someone to suddenly appear out of nowhere, and even bearing a name given by the master.

"Master, do you need any help over there?" Sun Wukong asked Chen Nuo, who was busy cooking.

Chen Nuo, without turning his head, replied, "You’re back just in time. Check the orders, prepare the ingredients listed that I’ll need." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Got it." Finding work to be done, Sun Wukong had no time to be curious about Sha Wujing’s affairs; he checked the orders on the delivery machine and started to process the ingredients.

Most of the orders were for crawfish, which only had two days of activity left. Moreover, since the delivery machine had been upgraded to show the finished dish and allow pre-tasting, all the immortals were eagerly placing their orders within these two days.

When Sun Wukong went to the back mountain to catch crawfish, he also took the opportunity to visit the nearby village. By the end of the day, it was almost impossible to see any crawfish; if one wanted to eat crawfish, they would have to depend on farming them.

Chen Nuo was foresighted; he had started to prepare for crawfish farming techniques early on, but the overwhelming number of orders meant he hadn’t had the time to implement them.

Sun Wukong didn’t understand this, but he knew how to cook. Once he prepared the ingredients, he was sure the master would ask him to cook; he began to handle the crawfish farming matters.

After preparing all the ingredients, Sun Wukong carried them into the kitchen. Chen Nuo rubbed his wrists and indeed stepped away from the stove.

"Pour the oil," instructed Chen Nuo.

Sun Wukong immediately poured oil into the wok, then waited for Chen Nuo to guide him.

"Scallions, ginger, garlic, onions," said Chen Nuo, not bothering to watch Sun Wukong’s movements. He knew Sun Wukong would do fine; all he needed was to go through the process once, and Sun Wukong would grasp the rest on his own.

Following Chen Nuo’s instructions, Sun Wukong added the pre-cut scallions, ginger, and garlic into the oil that had been heated to medium-high; the oil was not too hot yet, there was just a bit of steam, but it didn’t sizzle immediately.

Chen Nuo watched Sun Wukong completely finish stir-frying a dish, then stood up ready to leave.

"There are still many orders tonight. You and Sha Wujing handle them together; I’m going to the back mountain," Chen Nuo said. "Sha Wujing is new here, so cooperate with each other and avoid conflicts."

Normally, he wouldn’t be worried about Sun Wukong causing trouble, but Sun Wukong was close with the Tian Peng Brothers. Furthermore, Tian Peng had just had a disagreement with Sha Wujing, and Chen Nuo feared that Sun Wukong might take the opportunity to take revenge for his brother and give Sha Wujing a hard time, so he chose to give a word of caution.

Sun Wukong turned and smiled at Chen Nuo, "Master, look at you, what kind of person do you think your disciple is? I will cook well and certainly won’t cause any conflict."

Sha Wujing also looked back at Chen Nuo, "Shopkeeper Chen, I will cook well."

Chen Nuo glanced at Sun Wukong and Sha Wujing, nodded, and left.

In the back mountain, Chen Nuo gazed at the pit he had dug earlier, which now contained only half the number of crawfish, lost in thought.

The consumption of crawfish was indeed much higher than he had anticipated; if it continued at this rate, by tomorrow they would probably run out before the day was over.

Raising crayfish was actually pretty straightforward, and with no other creatures inhabiting the back hill, Chen Nuo considered the possibility of free-range breeding.

Concentrated farming could lead to many issues. Although Chen Nuo only ran a restaurant, he had to deal with a multitude of tasks every day and didn’t have much free time to dedicate to breeding crayfish.

However, letting them reproduce in the back hill didn’t seem feasible either. Luckily, he still had his "Golden Finger." Chen Nuo tapped on the system.

"Recommend a few viable solutions for crayfish farming in the back hill, I’m looking for something cheap and efficient. I hope you won’t make the same mistake you did with the beer last time."

The system felt humiliated but had no choice, as this was its host. After searching through the entire system database, it found several solutions for Chen Nuo to consider.

"Here are three solutions for you, Host. Please make a selection."

Chen Nuo was waiting for the system to tell him the cost in Merit Points for each solution, but to his surprise, it remained silent after presenting the solutions, without mentioning Merit Points.

"Why aren’t you talking about Merit Points this time? Are they free?"

The system immediately replied, "The price for each solution is the same. The host can just choose one and pay a hundred Merit Points to proceed."

Chen Nuo raised an eyebrow; it indeed had become much smarter this time.

He chose a feasible solution from the three offered by the system and paid one hundred Merit Points to start implementing it.

The plan was actually quite simple: semi-free-range farming. He would mark a specific area on the back hill, use a Formation or a Magic Artifact to outline a range, and let the crayfish grow naturally there, ensuring they had enough food to maintain their nutrients.

Chen Nuo thought this plan was quite doable; following the instructions, he delineated a range on the back hill, set a boundary with a Formation, and removed the previous barrier set for the crayfish. And that was that.

In the village, eighty percent of the crayfish had already disappeared, but the Formation there must now be removed. This was to prevent the villagers from accidentally wandering into the Formation area—the discovery of a barrier marked by mortals wouldn’t be ideal.

Not long ago, Chen Nuo had acquired a Magic Artifact capable of collecting all varieties of an object into its built-in container. However, this artifact had a load limit; exceeding this limit would lead to damage.

The crayfish numbers were initially overwhelming, and once the artifact was activated, it couldn’t be stopped, which was why Chen Nuo hadn’t used it before. Now, with their numbers greatly reduced, he brought out the artifact.

Chen Nuo casually picked up a crayfish and placed it onto the artifact.

As soon as the crayfish touched the artifact, it was instantly absorbed. The artifact then emitted a series of flashing lights. Chen Nuo set it down on the ground, and as the lights on the artifact stopped flashing, it began to vibrate.

Sparse sounds gradually rose from the woods, and Chen Nuo watched as crayfish emerged from all directions, crawling onto the artifact.

Although there weren’t many crayfish left, capturing them all would take more than just a short while. Chen Nuo lacked the patience; he wanted to use this time to think of new dishes to prepare back at the restaurant.

After setting up the artifact, Chen Nuo walked away, leaving only the seashell-shaped Magic Artifact slowly collecting crayfish.

Upon returning to Chaos Residence, Chen Nuo did not immediately start brainstorming new dishes but rather sat leisurely under the Enlightenment Tea Tree, sipping hot tea.

His initial intention here was solely to open a restaurant, but now, with the development of Chaos Residence nearing saturation, merely maintaining the status quo failed to satisfy Chen Nuo anymore.

Moreover, he now had an apprentice and two potential apprentices, and Chen Nuo was not so keen on teaching them the same skills.