Chapter 39 The drinks were served first, the complimentary ones. He Zhao didn't hesitate, and directly took both...

The drinks were served first, the complimentary ones. He Zhao didn't hesitate, stuffing two cans of carbonated drinks directly into her bag, intending to take them home and enjoy them slowly. After waiting a while, the dishes she ordered were served one after another.

This speed made He Zhao frown.

But then she let go, thinking: after all, it's hot pot, the ingredients are all raw, and it doesn't need to be cooked, so why spend so much time? Besides, she ordered the most popular set meal, which is popular because there are many people ordering it, so the food will definitely be served quickly.

But the moment she touched the ingredients, He Zhao's interest waned. She couldn't really comment on this kind of chicken, since she usually ate free-range Sanhuang chicken, while this one, which claimed to be Wenchang chicken air-freighted from Hainan Province, was one she hadn't eaten much of before, so she couldn't say whether it was fresh or not.

But after glancing at it a few times, the waiter put the chicken directly into the pot. She only glanced at it briefly, but didn't think it looked very good. Fresh chicken is usually white with a hint of pink and a slight yellow, but this chicken looked quite white.

It looks like frozen goods.

However, the freshly cut beef wasn't included, which immediately made He Zhao realize whether the ingredients were fresh or not.

People from Guangdong, of course, eat beef.

He Zhao could tell at a glance that the beef was frozen. Fresh beef cannot be faked by frozen beef; its color is usually light red or bright red, and you can tell it's beautiful just by looking at it. However, after beef is frozen, its color will gradually darken. If the beef turns dark red or even murky red, it has probably been frozen for a long time.

It's supposed to be fresh-cut beef, but it's not fresh at all.

He Zhao was somewhat disdainful; judging from the freshness of the beef, it wasn't very good. He Zhao felt he could skip the rest. But since he had spent 138 yuan, he figured he might as well eat it. As a native of Guangdong, he knew that beef should be taken out and enjoyed after only seven or eight seconds in the water, but since everyone knew it was frozen, He Zhao had to cook it a little longer.

When I ate it, the beef was tough and not very chewy. Even with their secret dipping sauce, it didn't taste very good.

When the chicken was cooked and ready to eat, He Zhao took a bite or two and then sighed – it wasn't fresh, it was frozen.

When it comes to chicken, freshness is key. Fresh chicken is tender, has a sweet aftertaste, and a naturally savory flavor. People from Guangdong love to go to remote mountain valleys to eat free-range chicken, mostly for that one word: "freshness."

No family's chicken is ever fresh; otherwise, it wouldn't attract gourmets.

He Zhao reluctantly finished the hotpot, then shook her head. She now felt that this wasn't Wenchang chicken at all; it was probably just ordinary broiler chicken. He Zhao regretted it somewhat; she should have known better than to go against her conscience and exchange a good review for a drink.

It deserves a bad review.

He Zhao was alone and couldn't finish all the food. Adhering to the good virtues of diligence, thrift, and mainly because he was short of money, He Zhao packed up the rest and planned to eat it again tomorrow.

After He Zhao went out, the cold wind made her feel a little heartbroken. The main reason was that 138 yuan could buy a fresh chicken at the market. Although she wasn't very good at cooking, she could put the chicken in a pot, stew it, and add some seasonings. It shouldn't be a big problem.

At this moment, the system chimed in: "[The host wants to learn how to cook? The system can teach the host and help them reach the pinnacle of culinary mastery.]"

"This is terrible! I just wanted to eat something new, I didn't want to be a culinary master. You can leave now."

However, He Zhao still took photos and sent them to Qiao Yanyu while eating. Putting everything else aside, as a popular online restaurant, the food looked really good in photos; it was quite convincing and looked delicious. Plus, the Hainan-style decor definitely had a tempting feel to it.

He Zhao also added the caption: Sister Qiao, I'm eating well even though I'm all alone, so you should eat well too!

Qiao Yanyu replied to He Zhao after He Zhao had finished eating: It looks pretty good, I've finished eating too.

She also took a photo, which looked like a work lunch. There was a plate at the bottom, vegetables on top, and a separate bowl of soup. It was obviously from the cafeteria.

He Zhao smiled, feeling that her bad mood from eating unpalatable food had improved considerably. Plus, she had partnered with Wang Yu for a day, and the next two days were her rest days, meaning she wouldn't have to partner with anyone else, making He Zhao even happier.

She carried the takeout bags upstairs, waiting until it was time to come down and set up her stall. But as she stepped out of the building and stood in front of her food cart, He Zhao paused. The system had told her: "[Host, there's someone on the fifth floor balcony, watching you.]"

He Zhao subconsciously turned her head and glanced upstairs. Her gaze quickly fell on the third floor. Although there was a system notification, it was already late. The curtains on the fifth-floor balcony were drawn and the lights were off. In addition, the balcony was quite far away from He Zhao, so He Zhao couldn't see what was going on inside.

He Zhao remained silent for a while before answering the system in his mind: "They probably just think it's unusual for me to go out so late. Keep an eye on it. If there are no other developments, ignore that person. If they continue to monitor me, then let me know."

[Good host.]

As a system, it cannot directly affect the real world or others, but it is reasonable for it to carefully observe its surroundings and provide intelligence to the host in order to protect the host.

Despite being observed by that person, He Zhao boarded the food truck and drove to the park to set up his stall.

She didn't tell Wang Yu about this, partly because that person had only observed her briefly, and it was only the first day, so maybe it was really as He Zhao thought, just that it was a bit abnormal for a girl to go out alone late at night; and partly because she and Wang Yu weren't that close, and she didn't want to tell Wang Yu about this.

If it were Qiao Yanyu, she would cling to her like a pest in no time, feeling scared of the green tea girl while simultaneously seeking comfort from Qiao Yanyu.

Wang Yu's condition wasn't much better than yesterday; she remained extremely wary of ghosts, a wariness that seemed to emanate from her very bones. Especially since—today there was an additional, unfamiliar guest.

That customer arrived at 1 o'clock, and was quite different from all the previous customers; his demeanor was completely different. Most of He Zhao's customers were rather clueless, even the big ghost. It seemed very composed, but didn't remember much about the past, so it occasionally revealed a bit of a simpleton's nature.

This guest, however, exuded an aura of "I'm not simple," and was far more aloof than the others, both in terms of appearance and demeanor. Unlike the Mud Ghost, whose gender was indistinguishable and could only be discerned from biographical records, this ghost possessed very distinct female characteristics. Although her face was obscured, her appearance clearly indicated she was female.

She had long, flowing hair and a slender figure; her long, black hair even obscured her face, making it impossible to see her features clearly. Aside from that, she was dressed very thinly, in a tattered black spaghetti-strap dress. The straps weren't thin; they were the kind that are thick. She was very slender, and her chest had little curves; she appeared to be around 1.6 meters tall. But no one would mistake her for a girl in need of help; from the first glance, they would know something was wrong.

It was dripping wet from head to toe. It didn't sit down, but just stood in front of He Zhao's stall. A puddle of water quickly gathered at its feet, and the puddle was slowly getting bigger and bigger, even showing a tendency to submerge the food cart and flood He Zhao's feet.

In the dead of winter, it would be so uncomfortable if your shoes and socks got wet. He Zhao subconsciously lifted his legs, regretting not buying a stool with a crossbar at the bottom so he could put his feet up; lifting them like this wasn't a good solution.

Besides the striking feature of being dripping wet from head to toe, there's also the difference in skin. Ghosts' skin is usually an unusually pale white, like the color of a grayish-white wall. But this ghost's skin was a bluish-white, a pale white tinged with blue, clearly not a pleasant color.

When the streetlights are on, it doesn't look like a person from a distance.

There was another thing that He Zhao and Wang Yu both noticed—it had sutures on its body. There were very obvious sutures on its wrists, elbows, ankles, and calves. These sutures didn't look like surgical sutures. Even though He Zhao had never had sutures done, he knew that surgical sutures were generally finer, and even with larger wounds, they wouldn't be particularly noticeable with current technology.

On the contrary, the scars are more noticeable in the stitched areas.

But this ghost, the stitches were particularly striking—black and thick, as if they were used so obviously just to emphasize their presence. The texture, combined with the slightly rotten look, made He Zhao think it was something like cotton thread…

He Zhao felt a pang of sympathy just looking at it; the sutures and the stitched scar looked incredibly painful.

He Zhao secretly gasped. At first, she only found the ghost's appearance a little creepy, but after experiencing Gossian, she was quite accepting of it. After all, the ghost in front of her looked terrifying, but at least it was still human-shaped.

Compared to the dissolving skin of Gossian, which was patchy and revealed even to the skeleton inside, it was still a bit inferior.

Therefore, He Zhao quickly calmed down.

At this moment, He Zhao instinctively looked for Qiao Yanyu beside her. Although she had calmed down, Qiao Yanyu was her only source of security. With Qiao Yanyu there, and seeing her wary yet confident gaze, He Zhao could truly feel at ease.

At that moment, He Zhao almost forgot that the person beside her wasn't Qiao Yanyu, but Wang Yu. So when she saw Wang Yu, she was momentarily surprised, then comforted herself: Wang Yu is fine too, it doesn't matter if it's a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches the teacher, it's a good cat.

As a result, He Zhao discovered that Wang Yu was a bit too nervous.

She stared intently at the ghost opposite her, who had been pulled from the water and was covered in stitches. Her eyes were wide, and she bit her lip tightly. Her expression clearly indicated something was wrong.

He Zhao swallowed hard and asked Wang Yu, "Are you alright?"

Wang Yu looked at He Zhao and gave a smile that was more like a grimace: "It's...it's alright. Don't worry, I'll protect you!"

He Zhao exclaimed: No way, sir.