Chapter 93: Yuan Zhou’s Little Hobby
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: Meh / DesTheSloth
Having undergone a battle of wits and courage with the system last night, Yuan Zhou was slightly muddled even after sleeping until morning. He felt exhausted from head to toe after having dreamt of intense battles and life-threatening explosions the entire night.
It was 9:00 in the morning. Lying there lazily, Yuan Zhou didn’t want to move at all. The repetitive labor made him physically a bit exhausted. Luckily he had already informed his regular customers that he wouldn’t be open for breakfast today.
Suddenly, Yuan Zhou recalled that his new skill needed more practice, and hence jumped out of bed immediately and rushed into the bathroom to wash up.
“Xi Li Hua La”, after a series of splashing sounds, Yuan Zhou wiped his dripping hair and walked out of the bathroom.
He didn’t like using the hair dryer and believed it would harm his hair. The natural black hair was the best means to distinguish the age of a man whose face belied his years, given that he didn’t use hair dye.
Therefore, Yuan Zhou wiped until the hair became a medium dry and wasn’t dripping anymore, and then went straight downstairs.
With “Pa” sound, he flipped the kitchen light switch, the shadowless lamp illuminating the room, and began to select the ingredients from the cabinets preparing to practice carving for the entire morning. Of course, breakfast was inevitably still eaten.
Yuan Zhou decided to cook the Egg Fried Rice Set for breakfast.
After the meal, the washed carrot was drained, waiting to be carved.
Looking at the tightly shut door, Yuan Zhou decided to take the carrot out and practice carving outside the door, where there was a place for him to sit. He prepared to carve the carrot right out there.
He went up and opened the shutter door with a sound of “Hua La”, the sunlight shining right into the entrance. Yuan Zhou took a look at the few passengers in the street and then nodded, showing his satisfaction to such a quiet surrounding.
It seemed that Yuan Zhou was preparing to sit at his doorsteps and practice carving like that. Just a man, a chair, a knife and a vegetable.
When his parents had opened the noodle restaurant back in the day, they would also place two tables outside the door to entertain the customers when business was booming. So the place was fairly spacious.
He turned around and saw the wooden chair and the table. Though heavy, it felt comfortable to sit on. It let people straighten their back while sitting and moreover relax their body. It conformed well to the contours of the human body.
“Zi La”, Yuan Zhou pulled the chair and took it with ease. When he walked to the door, however, he suddenly halted.
The system displayed, “Host, your level is too low. Objects from the restaurant are not allowed to be taken out.”
Oh, right. If the system hadn’t reminded him, Yuan Zhou would have forgotten. However, he still wanted to give it a try.
“Even a chair isn’t allowed?” while taking the chair, Yuan Zhou stood still expressionlessly.
The system displayed, “Host, you are at a too low level. Please work hard to upgrade.”
“Alright.” after saying that, he put the chair back resignedly.
When it comes to his level, he truly had nothing to say to refute the system’s demands.
Leaving the door of the restaurant open, Yuan Zhou walked upstairs to the second floor and carried a chair out from his room. Smart and clever as Yuan Zhou was, he’d never let himself be defeated by a simple chair.
Yuan Zhou stepped heavily downstairs with the sound of “Dong Dong Dong”, while carrying the chair.
Soon Yuan Zhou placed the chair on his favorite site smoothly before taking the ingredients and carving knife to start practicing.
With one hand taking a big carrot and the other a carving knife, Yuan Zhou prepared to settle down to comfortably practice in front of the doorstep.
For something, however, one could only guess the beginning, but not the ending.
The system read, “Host, your level is too low. Please continue to improve yourself.”
“Ho Ho”, Yuan Zhou laughed grimly.
After the cold laugh, Yuan Zhou continued, “I’m just practicing at the door, I’m not leaving”, in response to the unreasonable haranguing.
The system kept silent.
“Once I finish practicing, I ‘ll bring it back, even the scraps.” Yuan Zhou touched his bangs speechlessly.
The system stayed silent.
“Although they say ‘silence is golden’ for men, you’re not human, so what are you staying silent for?” Yuan Zhou could only lay back the ingredients speechlessly. It wasn’t a big deal, as he could buy the ingredients by himself.
Standing in the restaurant, he looked at the empty chair outside the door and again at the cabinets filled with vegetables. Then he went up to the door and carried the chair back into the restaurant first before closing the door and going out.
His Carving skill still needed to be practiced. If there was no raw material, he might as well buy some outside and use them.
Fortunately, a small-scale vegetable market was located nearby. Though there weren’t many kinds of vegetables in the market, it had no lack of such common vegetables like the carrot.
Yuan Zhou walked leisurely into the small market, where he selected 10 equally sized daikons, some carrots and also some purple radishes. In a word, he bought a pile of radishes.
The radishes were quite heavy and the journey back was moderately far. With the heavy groceries and short journey, even a taxi driver was reluctant to take him.
In the end, Yuan Zhou managed to carry the radishes himself for the distance, teaching himself a lesson that it was better to buy less next time.
When he returned to the outermost front door, Yuan Zhou set down the plastic bag and then opened the door dumbly while glancing at his hands which were crossed with red lines left by the heavy plastic bag.
This time, Yuan Zhou finally began practice his carving skills smoothly with the carrots he bought.
He prepared to carve a rose out of the carrot. His target was to carve 11 petals this time, in order to make up a lucky number.
“Little Yuan, what are you doing?” living next door to Yuan Zhou, Boss Tong had long been curious about Yuan Zhou coming in and out.
“Practicing.” Yuan Zhou answered simply.
“It looks so nice. Is this a carrot?” Boss Tong said with a manner full of praise as he looked at the rose flowers that was gradually coming into being in Yuan Zhou’s hands.
“Thank you.” Yuan Zhou didn’t like to be disturbed while carving, so he answered very simply this time.
“You look pretty busy. I won’t disturb you anymore then.” seeing Yuan Zhou concentrating on his work, Boss Tong felt bad to ask anything more. Thus, she self-consciously stopped talking and went back to her store.
However, she was still a little hesitant in her heart. Boss Tong had already said that she would go to Yuan Zhou’s restaurant to support his business, but the very high prices just made her liver ache. However, she couldn’t pretend to have said nothing, for it was something she had promised before.
In addition, she saw so many customers in line waiting every day. As a result, her laundry business likewise got better with the restaurant acting as an advertisement by proxy.
“Sha Sha Sha”
Along with the rustle of the carving knife and carrot, Yuan Zhou became more engrossed. Now that there were no disturbances anymore, his hands moved faster and faster. In his hands the rose flowers gradually became full blossoms from half blooms and flower buds appeared in various shapes, all showing a vivid and lively manner.
This time, the carving skill of Yuan Zhou became much more deft, causing the scratches on the flower petals to be much fewer, with only a little visible. The exquisite design made the 11 rose flower petals appear incredibly charming.
Looking at the flower as realistic as the any real fresh picked one, Yuan Zhou felt fairly delighted and his solemn face also turned more mild-mannered. He unhesitatingly picked up another carrot and began to carve again, not even letting go of the rough carrot heads that were the hardest to carve.
“Boss, why are there so many flowers?” what Mu Xiaoyun saw upon getting close to the door was a pile of carrot flowers beside Yuan Zhou. If she wasn’t looking carefully, she would have mistook them as real flowers.
“Is time up?” upon hearing Mu Xiaoyun speaking, Yuan Zhou snapped out of his state of focus.
“Boss, it’s 11:00 a.m. now.” Mu Xiaoyun gazed at the boss who was always punctual and then said with disbelief.
“Oh. It’s actually so late already.” Yuan Zhou packed up the carving knife and prepared to throw all the practice works away.
Naturally, he wouldn’t treat the stuff that was to be thrown away with any care or caution. However, Mu Xiaoyun who was standing beside him couldn’t help but say, “Boss, can you give them to me?”
Yuan Zhou stared at Mu Xiaoyun for a while until she revealed an ashamed expression on her face due to asking for those so abruptly and then said, “No.”
Mu Xiaoyun then became a little disheartened.
“But, one day you’ll be able to take as many as you want.” Yuan Zhou continued.
After hearing that, Mu Xiaoyun quickly cheered up and helped him clear away the scraps at the entrance, not even minding the duration of the word “later” spoken by Yuan Zhou.
As for Yuan Zhou, he would never give these shoddy practice products to others……….