Mountain and Sea Canteen - Chapter 5

After successfully calming the ruffled Golden Crow with a bonus and a work uniform, Ying Linglong returned to the shop and found that Director Yang had already sent someone over.

They had delivered a series of kitchen appliances, including a gas stove, oven, workbench, seasoning cabinet, sterilizer, and refrigerator.

The empty kitchen was instantly filled to the brim.

“He said if the shop goes under, we have to return all this stuff,” Chongming relayed Director Yang’s message.

“Bah, humbug! What nonsense about going under.”

Ying Linglong checked the time. “Li… Li Hui should be here soon to decorate the shop.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a small truck pulled up outside the shop.

Li Hui’s rough voice rang out: “Boss Ying, we’re here to decorate for you.”

Li Hui and his brother Li Ting had co-founded Huiting Home Decor. They were quick and efficient workers, and had already built a solid reputation in the industry.

Both were burly men, and as they walked in side by side, Ying Linglong was afraid they might break the door.

“I want to decorate from here to…” Ying Linglong was about to explain her decoration needs in detail when she noticed that Li Hui and Li Ting seemed to shrink back a bit.

She turned her head and saw Chongming and Golden Crow staring intently at them.

The brothers were also puzzled. Although they all appeared together in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, there was a hierarchy. The Classic of Mountains and Seas was, at best, a book of strange tales, and at worst, a recipe book, with half of it mentioning ingredients.

The Lili clan was slightly better off, perhaps because their meat wasn’t tender and had no special effects when eaten, sparing them the trouble of becoming ingredients, but they were still just ordinary exotic beasts. But the two beside them had an immeasurable amount of spiritual power, and Li Hui even heard Boss Ying call one of them “Golden Crow,” an ancient divine bird!

Li Hui and Li Ting were under immense pressure, fearing that they might suddenly become curious about how Lili meat tasted.

In reality, Chongming just wanted to see how they would do the work, while Golden Crow was concerned about whether the barbecue stall he was about to work on would be decorated to his liking.

“Don’t just stand there, there’s a sign I ordered on that truck, go help hang it up,” Ying Linglong quickly sent them out.

Ying Linglong had ordered a sign from the Mountain and Sea Mall. There was a small shop that sold wooden products and could custom-make signs. The owner was a sentient Migu Tree who had been making a living by selling to his neighbors on the same mountain for many years, which was quite insane.

The sign was made of Migu Wood, with black grain on the wood. Ying Linglong chose golden paint, with black background and golden characters, featuring four bold and vigorous characters: “Mountain and Sea Canteen.”

In the buffet restaurant, Ying Linglong was enjoying the meat roasted by the Golden Crow while furiously typing on her keyboard, successfully haggling the price down to 200 yuan. She even scored some extra branches adorned with Migu Flowers as a bonus.

These Migu Flowers were quite special-they glowed on their own. Legend had it that carrying these flowers would prevent people from getting lost. Ying Linglong, however, was more interested in their luminous quality. If she wrapped these flowers around her shop’s sign, she could save on the cost of a lightbox and electricity.

To anyone passing by, it would just look like a floral-shaped light fixture.

Ying Linglong gently touched the Migu Flowers, which shone like tiny light bulbs, and jokingly made a wish: “May everyone around here get lost and end up at my shop.”

The Lili brothers brought the sign with them, mainly because Di Jiang Express had monopolized all the deliveries on the Mountain and Sea Mall. The Lili brothers were dropped off nearby by Di Jiang and then drove over, so transporting the sign was just a convenient add-on.

Ah, the perks of a monopoly. No wonder Di Jiang was raking in the cash-he could even sponsor the app.

Watching Chongming effortlessly lift the heavy sign with one hand, the Golden Crow reluctantly handed over a hammer. Only then did Ying Linglong feel reassured enough to return to the shop and discuss some details with the Lili brothers.

With Chongming and the Golden Crow out of the way, Li Hui and Li Ting relaxed a bit and confidently assured Ying Linglong, “The paint we used is made from pigments we bought from the Qinggeng Birds on Jinli Mountain. We mixed it ourselves, and we guarantee it won’t fade even after a hundred years in the sun. As for the tiles, we made them by hand. If they ever crack or break, just say the word, and we’ll replace them immediately.”

Impressed by such excellent after-sales service, Ying Linglong nodded in satisfaction.

Then Li Hui added, “The patterns on the tiles can also be customized. You could even have all the tiles come together to form a complete picture! And if the price is right, we can even inlay jade, fluorite, azurite…” He hinted suggestively at Ying Linglong.

Ying Linglong quickly urged them to focus on the task at hand. She didn’t have the spare cash for custom tiles.

Since the shop was right next to the street, with people passing by frequently, the Lili brothers covered all the windows and doors with black cloth. Ying Linglong was also ushered out under the pretext of “too much dust,” leaving her standing outside with Chongming and the Golden Crow, staring awkwardly at each other.

She pulled out her phone and started browsing the Mountain and Sea Mall, which she hadn’t had the chance to explore thoroughly yet.

When Ying Linglong clicked to purchase ingredients, the interface thoughtfully filtered them into two categories: Edible for Humans and Exclusive to Yaoguai.

Surprisingly, there were indeed Yaoguai selling ordinary food that humans could eat. Ying Linglong stumbled upon a shop called Youyu Fishery, owned by Luo Youyu, who had leased a stretch of coastal waters specifically for shellfish farming.

However, the owner himself is a Luo Fish, an exotic beast with a fish body and bird wings. His fishery also cultivates a wide variety of other seafood, though these aren’t part of his official business operations. After all, no one could raise such a diverse range of fish without raising suspicions. So, the Yaoguai Management Bureau doesn’t allow Luo Youyu to openly sell these seafood products to humans, so he lists them on the Mountain and Sea Mall.

Perhaps the Yaoguai who previously bought seafood in bulk from him were also restaurant owners. To emphasize his long-standing reputation and reliability, Luo Youyu’s homepage prominently displays: [The same restaurant has outlasted five owners, but Youyu Fishery still stands strong.]

Ying Linglong swiped the screen a few times, trying to dispel the faint sense of bad luck this statement brought.

But Luo Youyu’s seafood was incredibly cheap-30% lower than market prices, and orders over 100 yuan even included free delivery straight to your door.

With Di Jiang Express handling the deliveries, could there be a faster service? It’s possible that the fish Luo Youyu just caught hadn’t even had a chance to gulp air before it arrived at Ying Linglong’s shop.

What’s the essence of seafood? It’s freshness. The same live fish, bought directly from a fisherman’s boat versus purchased from a market after transportation, would never taste the same.

Ying Linglong’s fingers moved slightly, adding Youyu Fishery to her list of favorite shops.

She continued scrolling through her phone, her screen filled with a dazzling array of ingredients-some familiar, some not, for both Yaoguai and humans to eat. Everything she could imagine was there.

Regretful tears almost dripped from the corner of Ying Linglong’s mouth. If Director Yang had downloaded this app for her earlier, she would’ve already tasted Shatang Fruit, Dangua Melon, and Grilled Heluo Fish.

She wouldn’t be in such a tight financial spot now, drowning in debt, with all these ingredients right in front of her but no money to buy them.

The shop door opened. In just a short while, Li Hui and Li Ting had finished decorating the place.

The floor was a soft beige, with faint, wave-like ripples subtly visible. The barbecue stall featured a light gray countertop and sleek metal accents, completely free from the greasy, grimy look typically associated with such stalls. At first glance, it appeared neat and clean.

In just an hour, two high walls had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, making the space feel less empty while hiding the unfinished, dilapidated stalls in the back. When you walked in, it felt like a well-sized, bright, and airy restaurant.

Ying Linglong was very pleased and handed the Lili brothers half of the 4,700 yuan decoration fee.

That’s right-this renovation was also financed on credit.

The other half of the loan would be repaid next month.

With such a large shop in place, the Lili brothers weren’t worried about Ying Linglong skipping town.

Ying Linglong crossed off the completed tasks on her list one by one, including cleaning the shop, redecorating, hanging the sign, and more.

She planned to open the day after tomorrow-the sooner she started business, the sooner she’d make money. Looking at it this way, there was still a lot to do tomorrow: ordering work uniforms, asking Li Hui’s cousin-who was skilled in ceramics and pottery-to rush the delivery of the tableware she had ordered, and scouting the wholesale market for ingredients…

There was one more thing Ying Linglong had almost forgotten.

She turned to the Cave Mirror and said, “Uncle Cave, help me send a message to Martial Uncle. Tell him I won’t be returning to the sect for a while.”

On Liqiu Mountain, in a room filled with the curling smoke of a gilded incense burner, the intricate cloud patterns on the burner’s surface seemed to ripple like ocean waves, depicting a celestial mountain on the sea within its small frame.

Not far away, lying on a couch shrouded in thin smoke, was a figure whose features were hard to make out. His long, dark hair was loosely spread across half of the couch. A flash of light from the mirror appeared above him, and he lazily reached out, his slender fingers plucking a piece of white paper. On it were Ying Linglong’s hastily scrawled words:

“Your disciple-niece is opening a shop at the foot of the mountain to pay off debts, so I’m not coming back! Martial Uncle, sleep more, smoke more, and take good care of yourself!”