Chapter 78 (1/2)
Chapter 78: It’s Possible to Spend a Hundred Million On a Meal, Can You Believe It?
As the Female Zhuge, Qiao Zijiang’s predictions were accurate.
When the dinner started, everyone paid their respects by toasting to their savior, Vigilante A, who seemed to have descended from the sky. Each of them offered a private meal to the hero, almost demanding the hero to answer to all of their invitations by gracing them with his presence. As usual, Vigilante A nodded and passed them a name card with his Wechat and QQ contact.
Unfortunately, it did not take long for the crowd to catch on the fact that Vigilante A was not a person who could be treated for a meal by your average Joe after they started eating.
At the table where Vigilante A sat was Qiao Anping, Qiao Zishan, and two other males. Qiao Anping personally accompanied the hero during his meal, but he soon realized that the 3 other men and himself were… unnecessary. Even their chopsticks couldn’t interrupt the hero and his meal…
The other 8 tables has 6 people and around a dozen dishes, and all of them stopped having new dishes served to them. After all, the food served was very filling, and despite that they tasted divine, they couldn’t fit any more in their stomach no matter how much they wanted to. Each dish came with a luxurious price tag, and since the folks on top always droned about prudency, they wouldn’t call for more when they knew that they could no longer finish what was served.
Hailan accompanied a few other ladies at her table. Their ages varied, but they shared a common characteristic – none of them had a significant appetite. Thus, she silently gobbled down all of the delicious herbs just like she planned, taking in all the much-needed nutrients under the envious stares of her female counterparts.
These courses were all so exquisite that they would have loved to eat more, but the ladies were more concerned about suddenly gaining fat to actually do that. Well, they never really had enough of an appetite in the first place.
Hai Lan’s complete disregard of her image as she devoured the food stemmed from the fact that these ingredients don’t come easily to them, even as middle to upper-level employees in the institute. They would only have access to it if they happen to chance upon a merry celebration, or that they manage to contribute a huge achievement to the institute. Besides, she blamed everything on the godlike cook. He didn’t lie about his abilities; these dishes are comparable to those served in heaven. They were so amazing that they should not have existed in the mortal realm…
No wonder the True Dragon would only dine in his place; no wonder Fang Ning had the guts to proclaim himself as the True Dragon’s designated chef. Judging from this, Fang Ning was indeed a truthful man.
With that thought, she looked towards Qiao Anping’s table, curious to see how Vigilante A reacted to the heavenly taste.
She froze.
Vigilante A sat upright, his hands and legs unmoving, his face void of emotions. He chewed as if he was eating wax, and he would only occasionally open his mouth for slices of food to fly directly into it. She blinked and watched closer to find that those were chunks of meat with their bones and seasoning removed. Sometimes, the hero would open his mouth and inhale, and streams of soup will flow into his mouth from the bowls like a reverse waterfall. None were left in the bowl after that.
Soon, she realized that the hero achieved all that using a masterful maneuver of vital energy. He controlled the dishes around him with delicate amounts of energy, commanding them to remove the skin, bones, and seasoning on the food. The hero managed to make eating a streamlined process, pushing the process to a groundbreaking efficiency. She could only sigh in defeat.
The four people around him could only accompany Vigilante A in the most literal manner during the meal. While the other three were dumbfounded in shock, Qiao Anping was the only man grinning happily when he witnessed how Vigilante A absolutely enjoying the meal. In northern culture, a guest’s respect to the host was measured by the amount of food they ate. After all, if a guest ate in abandon, it meant that they do not view themselves as an outsider to the host!
Hence, Qiao Anping kept ordering the personnel to urge the kitchen for more food, repeating the fact that he wanted nothing else but to see this savior of theirs sated and satisfied. At the same time, the guests on the other table had long since finished their meal. Only one table remained, and there was no sign of stopping…
After a period of observation, Hai Lan concluded that Vigilante A had no intentions to fake his appetite out of respect. The hero took Qiao Anping’s offer to allow him to continue eating seriously, and had somehow managed to eat even faster than before. It felt as if the hero was fully intending to swallow an entire ocean, at this point.
At the same time, a personnel stood in the kitchen and huffed at the chef, “Quick, the hero’s 60th dish is no more already.”
‘Fang Ning’ made sure his actions were quick; in fact, he moved so quickly that it was barely visible with the naked eye. They had been working for so long that all of them were too exhausted; well, all except Fang Ning. They were thankful to have enough personnel on standby that they could afford a rotational work system, which allowed them some time to rest in between.
Fang Ning seemed to be the only person unaffected by the workload. He stood firmly and did his job with endless vigor, his actions delicate and meticulous like those of a robot’s. His accuracy and speed were so immaculate that the onlookers could only gasp at his abilities as a superpowered individual.
Soon, a new plate of food was done, and a personnel whisked it away immediately. Suddenly, someone piped up, “Uh, we seem to have ran out of ingredients for the next dish. The herbs too.”
“Then we should quickly report to the Vice Principal…”
Qiao Anping got the report immediately. He excused himself and left Vigilante A to go to a secluded area. When he was there, Qiao Anping immediately answered, “This is not a problem. I’ll give you a signature, and you can immediately go to the reserve warehouse to retrieve what you need.”
One of the personnel spoke with an unpleasant pull at the lips, “The quota for this dinner was specially made for by the Institute Committees. It already took a substantial part of the budget, so I’m afraid…”
Qiao Anping’s face darkened when he heard that. “That honorable hero solved such a big problem for us, and this is the first time he came over to be a guest at my turf. How could I garner respect from others if I allow Vigilante A to leave without getting fed? At this point, money does not mean anything anymore. Cash everything to my personal account!”
The personnel still looked hesitant. “But… The things he ate are those that couldn’t be bought with money. They’re usually supplied internally.”
Frustrated, Qiao Anping huffed, “Why are you so pesky? Alright, I’ll call Old Man Xu right now and ask him to give his approval.”
Qiao Anping picked up his phone and dialed Old Man Xu’s contact and explained the situation to the latter. It was evident that this Old Man Xu had no idea what the appetite of Vigilante A entailed as he jovially proclaimed, “Ah, of course, no problem! Just do what you want, Anping, I’ll tell the others about this afterwards.”
Of course Old Man Xu would agree wholeheartedly. Firstly, Vigilante A managed to solve a big issue within the Institute before the issue exploded above. That definitely saved the old man a bucket load of trouble. Besides, the hero had even bothered to save his useless son! How could he disagree with something like this when the hero helped him in both work and personal contexts?
After receiving the direct orders from the Principal, some staffers immediately took Qiao Anping’s signature to get the goods from the warehouse. Soon, a huge load of food came pouring into the kitchen along with the suitable herbs, all prepared for the masterful chef to cook without stopping.
When they saw how Vigilante A cleared the table for the 10th time, the crowd who were waiting for the dinner to end so they could go home with their gifts felt that they might be blinded by the scene before them.