"Is there really nothing to eat?" Yun Mengmeng’s eyes revealed a barely detectable hint of dimness.

She had thought she would get to enjoy some good food here, but her luck had turned out to be so bad that all the ingredients had been used up.

"Not even a little bit left?" Yun Mengmeng asked, unwilling to give up.

The woman in the sky-blue dress recalled what was left in the kitchen and seriously said, "There’s still a dish of garlic pickles."

"… then never mind. Have you eaten yet?"

The woman in the sky-blue dress paused, "No, why?"

"Then let’s eat together." Yun Mengmeng excitedly lifted up the paper bags she was carrying, which were packed full, and warmly invited the woman in the sky-blue dress.

Eating while walking was never as comfortable as sitting down to eat.

She had originally planned on ordering a few dishes in the restaurant and then enjoying some Spirit Food from the paper bags, but now it looked like she’d have to slightly modify her plan.

The woman in the sky-blue dress felt that Yun Mengmeng had no ill intentions. Sharing a meal didn’t seem too bad, so she agreed, "That works."

Yun Mengmeng tore open the paper bags, and the woman in the sky-blue dress went to the kitchen to grab some bowls and chopsticks. On a small table, the paper bags were arranged fully.

"Try this meat sesame seed cake; both the Chief Housekeeper and the Second-in-command think it’s delicious." Having company for the meal swept away the previous gloom, and Yun Mengmeng’s mood greatly improved.

The woman in the sky-blue dress delicately took a small bite, poured the soup juice into a spoon, and then carefully ate the meat sesame seed cake. Her movements were elegant.

"It’s really good."

Seeing this, Yun Mengmeng felt her own eating manners were somewhat lacking and elegantly mimicked the woman’s style.

During their conversation, she learned that the woman in the sky-blue dress was called Little Lotus, the head chef of the restaurant, which was only staffed by her and the owner. Due to the shortage of staff, the owner had to personally go out to buy groceries, leaving Little Lotus to mind the store. Their daily lives sounded quite tight, which probably explained why the restaurant was located in such a remote place.

Little Lotus also found out that the guest was named Mengmeng, and from her frequent mentions of the Chief Housekeeper and the Second-in-command, and her regular stays in the mountains, she seemed likely to be part of some mountain bandits. Little Lotus thought the girl didn’t seem very bright, probably tricked into going up the mountain, and listening to her, it appeared that the Second-in-command often deceived the Chief Housekeeper, not exactly an upstanding character.

Clang.

The two clinked their tea cups together and continued their earlier conversation.

"Is your shop really that unlucky? You had the demonic sect come before, which caused a fight and almost flattened your place. Luckily, your boss had some skills to save your small shop. After that incident, did you all feel the original place was too dangerous, so you moved to Demon City?"

Yun Mengmeng, eating her turtle jelly sprinkled with honey, was quite surprised by Little Lotus’s experiences.

"You sound like you’ve had a tough time too, running away from home to your close sister. Then your sister finds you a Chief Housekeeper and Second-in-command, who then leave you to fend for yourself, following the two bosses around."

Little Lotus, eating freshly baked mung bean cakes, which were warm and brought out the full fragrance of the mung beans leaving a persistent aroma, only found them a bit too dry.

"It’s actually not so bad. Both the Chief Housekeeper and the Second-in-command are good people. Originally, the Second-in-command was reluctant to come to Demon City, but he came because I asked."

The more Little Lotus listened, the more she felt that Yun Mengmeng might have been deceived.

Seeing that their food was finished, Little Lotus stood up to see her out, "Oh, Mengmeng, how long will you be staying in Demon City?"

"Until the Spirit Chef competition ends."

"Will you come back here?" Little Lotus rarely had the chance to chat with someone, and she felt a strange kinship talking with Mengmeng today, wanting to chat more, given that there were still many days until the Spirit Chef competition ended.

"I might." Yun Mengmeng felt that after the Second-in-command was pulled away, it would probably be quite busy afterward, not like these last few days when he accompanied her shopping. Better not to trouble the Second-in-command anymore; coming here to sit seemed nice.

"How about you come over in the evening? Do you have time? The boss usually goes out to buy groceries then, and she... she really doesn’t like me interacting with other people."

"Sure." Yun Mengmeng agreed cheerfully. It’s probably something no boss would want, a cook chatting with customers during work hours.

After Yun Mengmeng left, a while later, the woman in the gray skirt came back with a basket of vegetables. Seeing Little Lotus wiping the tables, she felt curious.

"Is there something good going on? Why do you seem happier than before I left?"

"You’re overthinking it."

The woman in the grey skirt instantly became alert. Had Lu Yang been here?

No, she could always sense Lu Yang’s location, and he hadn’t come towards their shop.

The woman in the grey skirt shook her head. She was overthinking.

Ever since she learned that Lu Yang had connections with Immortal Fairy, the woman in gray had had a premonition that the person she was looking for was related to Lu Yang—finding Lu Yang would lead her to Immortal Fairy.

However, when she sensed that Lu Yang had arrived in Demon City, the woman in gray found herself in a dilemma. But she didn’t know what she was struggling with—was she afraid of meeting Immortal Fairy or was it something else? She didn’t know, and she had never felt this way before.

"Let me help you." The woman in grey grabbed the rag from Little Lotus and began wiping the tables and chairs.

…

"Second-in-command, are you there?" Yun Mengmeng knocked on Lu Yang’s door.

"Yes, come in."

Lu Yang had thought Yun Mengmeng would return earlier than him, but it turned out he was back first.

Yun Mengmeng, carrying a few paper bags, placed them on Lu Yang’s table. These were items she had bought on her way back.

"I found a few types of tasty Spirit Food that I think neither the Chief Housekeeper nor the Second-in-command have tried yet. Want to try?"

"Yes, yes."

Lu Yang said yes twice, one of which was on behalf of Immortal Fairy.

In later times, Spirit Chefs were often creative; many types of Spirit Food were things that even Immortal Fairy had never seen.

Often, Lu Yang took a bite, Immortal Fairy possessed Lu Yang to take a bite, then returned the body to Lu Yang, and back in the Spiritual Space, she would incessantly criticize where the Spirit Food fell short, while Lu Yang just listened to Immortal Fairy’s commentary while eating.

"What did they pull you away for just now, Second-in-command?"

"It was the Taotie Clan Leader, wanting to compete for the position of the Spirit Chef Alliance Hierarch. He’s trained a large group to participate in the Spirit Chef Competition to win ingredients, allowing him to create his ideal dishes."

"Because I eat dirt, they thought I might use the Devour the Sky and Swallow the Earth technique. Well, I do know how to use Devour the Sky and Swallow the Earth, but anyway, it was a bit of a misunderstanding, and they mistook me for one of their own, so they wanted me to participate in the Spirit Chef Competition too."

"I thought it would be a novel experience, so I just went along with it."

Yun Mengmeng felt that the Second-in-command indeed had a great destiny, to have encountered a power struggle at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage so quickly.

"Sister Mengmeng, did you run into some trouble? You came back so late?"

"Not really no, I just happened to meet a Spirit Chef I could chat with, so we talked a bit more," Yun Mengmeng said sheepishly.

"As long as you’re okay. If anything happens, let me know. We have connections here in Demon City."