Chapter 1 Rebirth In 1984

"I heard that the girl Zhou Yan rescued this morning was the niece of Deputy Director Lin, who was visiting relatives. She's a pretty girl from city."

"Nonsense! Zhou Erwa, a landlubber, saved someone? Is he trying to be the hero of the Condor Heroes by jumping off a cliff?"

"Zhou Yan was doing well as an apprentice in the textile factory cafeteria, so why did he open a restaurant? His half-baked cooking skills mean his dishes are either undercooked or salty. He can't even stretch his fried rice. He doesn't get more than three customers a day, so he'll probably go bankrupt in three months."

"This young man has high expectations but poor skills. I don't know who got him hooked, but he's piled on debt to open this restaurant, bringing his entire family down with him. If it really goes bankrupt, he'll have to sell hooks."

"Is the news true? Zhou Yan is a well-known handsome young man in the area!"

"Mrs. Lin, you really are..."

The stone bridgehead was like the town's intelligence center. Several middle-aged women chatted while washing clothes, talking freely.

There was a stir-fry restaurant at the roadside near the bridgehead. A sign read "Zhou Erwa Restaurant" but the door was closed, with only a little smoke still rising from the chimney.

In the restaurant's kitchen, Zhou Yan was burning paper at the stove. The words "suicide note" stood out in the flames, illuminating his handsome face.

The laughter of the shrewd old wives drifted in from the half-open window, their dirty jokes making one's ears burn.

However, the old wives were a true judge of character; Zhou Yan certainly wasn't the type to become the Divine Condor Hero. But he didn't jump off a cliff; he jumped into the Qingyi River.

The landlubber leaped into the Bailatuo that part of the river, barely a kick before he was dead.

Zhou Yan, a bright young man from Generation Z, opened his eyes to see a pair of pale arms bobbing in front of him. He choked on several mouthfuls of water, nearly choking.

Zhou Yan, who grew up by the sea and was known as a "white shark in the waves," recovered his composure and immediately grabbed the arms, pulling the girl out of the water. He then lifted her head from behind and floated downstream to shore, pulling her ashore.

Then a group of people gathered around and hurriedly carried the girl away.

One moment, Zhou Yan was concerned about the impact of the Sino-US tariff war on his three-digit savings account and the next second he got such a luck and arrived until 1984.

His mind was in a tizzy, and he didn't even notice how beautiful the girl was. He only remembered her fair skin and tender skin, and her screams were soft.

Of course, none of that mattered.

Following his memory back to the restaurant, Zhou Yan spent half a day digesting all the memories of the other "Zhou Yan" in his mind, accepting the fact that he had traveled to a parallel world and been reborn as the young man with the same name and surname.

The original owner was twenty years old and had been apprenticing at the cafeteria of the Jiazhou Textile Factory across the street for two and a half years. He was fired two months ago after a conflict with Director Wang.

This kid scraped together a loan of 858.52 yuan from his father, added his father's 500 yuan in savings, bought the shop at the factory gate, opened a restaurant, and threatened to bankrupt the factory cafeteria.

However, he had indeed overestimated his culinary skills, and his management was a complete mess. While the factory cafeteria survived, his restaurant was on the verge of collapse.

The borrowed money was gone, his boasts had become a joke, and Director Wang had even mocked him yesterday. With rent due in two days, little Zhou, who had a weak tolerance for pressure, drank all night, wrote a suicide note, and jumped into the Qingyi River at dawn.

Zhou Yan looked at the stack of IOUs in his hand and resisted the urge to throw them into the stove. What the hell was that?

Raised in an orphanage, Zhou Yan was extremely greedy for money; only money could give him a sense of security.

And he'd always lacked a sense of security.

He'd worked countless part-time jobs since childhood, and after college, ventured into the self-media industry. With his three-part funny, seven-part sarcastic commentary style and ninety-point handsomeness, he became a moderately famous food blogger with millions of followers. He saved up some money and was planning to open his first restaurant.

After finally turning his life around, he'd been working until 1984, and was broke again!

Zhou Yan: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

The good news: he had a restaurant.

The bad news was that not only had he inherited a restaurant on the verge of bankruptcy, he was also deeply in debt.

This amount of money would have been enough to film a meal before he traveled through time.

But this was in 1984, and the handwritten menu hanging on the wall wrote: Garlic Pork 3.5 cents, Salted Braised Pork 4.5 cents, Twice-Cooked Pork 6 cents, Dongpo Pork Knuckle 1.2 cents...

The regular employees at the Jiazhou Textile Factory next door only earned 38.5 yuan a month.

Along with the IOU was 3.87 yuan, two meat coupons, and three grain coupons.

Food bloggers come in two types:

One type is a natural cook, skilled at sharing recipes and winning fans' love and admiration.

The other type is a natural eater, adept at finding fault with food, sharing accurate reviews and exaggerated expressions, tempting fans to open those damned pornographic apps late at night.

Unfortunately, Zhou Yan falls into the latter category.

He doesn't have the ability to simply roll up his sleeves and show off his skills, reviving this small restaurant in southern Sichuan and making it a booming business.

But the situation isn't too bad. He shifted his gaze from the stove, and with a thought, a panel appeared in his field of vision:

[Player: Zhou Yan]

[Occupation: Chef]

[Wealth: -858.52]

[Professional Skills]:

Knife Skills (Intermediate): 8604/10000 (Your knife skills are sufficient for most dishes)

Heating Control (Beginner): 668/1000 (This dish needs practice)

Seasoning (Beginner): 695/1000 (Salt Prince, please be gentle)

Eloquence (Advanced): 88888/100000 (Pig Arch Curtain - All depends on your mouth)

[Mastering Dishes]:

Salted Shaobai (Beginner): 26/1000 (Brother went out for a walk, so walk, bro)

Twice-Cooked Pork (Beginner): 55/1000 (Newly paved roads are smooth, no rocks)

Dongpo Pork Knuckle (Beginner): 12/1000 (Diligence makes up for lack of talent)

Smashed Cucumber (Intermediate): 1871/10000 (Chef Huang, you're so capable)

…

[Main Quest: Become a Chef God! Become World-Famous!]

[Newbie Quest: Please bind a restaurant. Quest Reward: Newbie Gift Pack.]

[Wealth Mall]: Unlock after reaching 1000 Wealth.

This is the player panel from the ad for the chef-development game Zhou Yan had just accepted. The dedicated player even played for two days, only to find himself traveling through time.

The stats represent his current true skill level, fully explaining why Zhou Erwa Restaurant is facing closure.

Exquisite knife skills, but poor cooking and seasoning skills indicate that little Zhou is merely a waiter, not a chef.

On the wall-long menu, only the smashed cucumber dish is passable.

The cooking skills are truly appalling.

But this system's review style is truly bizarre. Is it even customized?

Like Daniel Wu, Zhou Yan also enjoys reading online novels. He's no stranger to time travel and systems, and he quickly embraced them.

While watching, he cursed: "Another system!"

When it landed on him: "What a good thing!"

1984 felt so far away for Zhou Yan. There were no filters, no memories.

However, he had filmed many time-honored restaurants and interviewed many self-made restaurant owners. Using the stories behind the food as a highlight of his videos was also one of his hallmarks.

Opening a restaurant in the 1980s was one of the first to take the plunge after the lifting of restrictions on individual businesses. It was far better than digging for food in the fields.

Zhou Yan worked part-time as a waiter in a restaurant, spent four years as a food blogger, and spent six months preparing to open a restaurant. Aside from his lack of cooking skills, he had the basic skills to run a restaurant.

This system could fill that gap for him.

Zhou Yan stood up and chose to bind.

[Ding! Zhou Erwa Restaurant binding successful. Newbie gift pack issued. Please claim it!]

Zhou Yan clicked on the gift pack with his mind:

[Dry Mixed Broccoli Beef Noodles], [Braised Beef Noodles], [Pork Rib Noodles], [Kimchi]

Four menu items popped up at once.

Zhou Yan's eyes lit up. Three noodle dishes, with a side of kimchi. Was this a plan to turn him into a noodle shop owner?

The richness of this newbie gift pack was somewhat beyond his expectations.

He pointed with his mind, and all four menu items opened simultaneously. His mind buzzed, feeling as if it was crammed with so much information, and he felt briefly dizzy.

Soon, a look of joy appeared on Zhou Yan's face.

It wasn't just four dry recipes or a cranial online video; it was the knowledge that flowed directly into his brain!

From rising the dough to pulling the noodles, from preparing the beef to braising it, from preparing the bone broth to seasoning the noodles—it was a complete set of experiences, as vivid and seamless as the memories he inherited from little Zhou.

Zhou Yan was a qualified food blogger, and he had inherited his culinary foundation from little Zhou. He could tell from the recipes in his brain that these three noodles would be good.

He had learned how to make three different kinds of noodles, and then he didn't stop there.

To put it another way, double pepper beef with minced meat is a perfect accompaniment to rice, beef with bamboo shoots is a classic Sichuan dish, and who can resist tender, boneless braised spare ribs?

Zhou Yan, who spent four years studying in Chengdu and became a food blogger known for Sichuan cuisine, truly understands the cuisine.

Every good noodle shop has a skilled Sichuan chef in the kitchen.

When it comes to enjoying noodles, Sichuanese people are no less passionate than northerners.

Here, anything can be used as a topping: he's tried ginger duck noodles, pork intestine noodles, eel noodles, chicken offal noodles, pork liver noodles, rabbit noodles... and the outrageous tofu pudding noodles.

The biggest problem with Zhou Erwa Restaurant was that it took too big a step, and little Zhou didn't have the necessary skills, leading to its utter failure.

A clerk who only knew how to make cucumber smacks created a menu of thirty or forty dishes. The cost of preparing the ingredients daily alone was enough to bankrupt this deserted restaurant.

Of course, a single dish of cucumber smacks couldn't sustain a restaurant.

The restaurant's monthly rent was 15 yuan, and with management fees and other expenses, it totaled a full 20 yuan.

This restaurant wasn't particularly popular; in the hands of ordinary people, it would be a hot yam.

Now that Zhou Yan had mastered three noodle dishes and a refreshing kimchi dish, he had a way out.

Leaving the kitchen, he ripped down the handwritten menu from the wall and crumpled it up.

From today on, every new dish on Zhou Erwa's menu must pass his scrutiny first, no ambiguity.

Starting tomorrow, he'll be selling noodles!

The rent is due in three days, so he'll have to earn it first.

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