What to Do if You Mess With an Omega? - Chapter 36.1

A food and lodging company has several branches across the capital planet, with one or two in each district.

A food and lodging company also had several branches on the capital star, with one or two in each district. Even so, business remained brisk.

Xu Yuqing took her to the main store. The main store had Old Wu overseeing it. When he saw that both bosses had a particularly refined and handsome Alpha following beside them, he paused for a moment. His gaze then fell on the other’s clean hands.

Ning Hanzhu had never shown her face. She only revealed a pair of hands while cooking, and even her speaking voice used a simulated mature woman tone.

As an old fan of her live stream room, he recognized those hands at a glance.

He felt a slight thrill.

Xu Yuqing gave him an affirming look.

Old Wu hurried over to Ning Hanzhu in a single stride. His smile was radiant, and the wrinkles on his face could form a chrysanthemum the next second. “You must be Turtle孫, No Guts, Huh?”

Ning Hanzhu, “?”

She suspected he was cursing her, but she had no evidence.

Back then, she had chosen such a sensational name based on the temperaments of most Alphas on the starnet. Of course, her goal had been to draw in that group of big pig hooves to click into her live stream room. Whether they stayed depended on her own skills.

In fact, that name had proven very effective at drawing hate.

Before Old Wu could finish his welcome words.

An untimely laugh came from the side.

Luo Tianran simply could not hold it back. She found it hard to associate such a provocative name with Ning Hanzhu. In her view, this Alpha from Elfa Star had a silly and honest personality. She spoke and acted in a leisurely manner. Apart from carrying a bit of innate good luck, she seemed utterly ordinary otherwise.

Oh, no—she could also make gourmet food.

Just that one point surpassed seventy percent of Alphas.

Xu Yuqing introduced them. “This is Old Wu. And this is our new partner, Ning Hanzhu—the streamer you have been following, Old Wu.”

A talent scout.

Ning Hanzhu’s gaze toward Old Wu clearly brightened. She immediately grasped his hand and shook it. “Hello, hello.”

Why had she suddenly become so enthusiastic?

Luo Tianran glanced at Xu Yuqing in confusion. The latter only smiled without speaking, her eyes curving slightly. She seemed to be in a very good mood.

A food and lodging company’s decor clearly leaned toward an interstellar style. The ceiling was adorned with a brilliant starry sky, robots greeted people at the door, and even the kitchen—a restricted area—had several robot assistants. Their knife work was crisp and decisive, swish swish swish. Ning Hanzhu thought that if placed in the military, these robots would be formidable weapons.

Even the restroom had a dedicated robot handing out towels.

Though the restaurant spanned several hundred square meters across two floors, there were hardly any live staff.

Ning Hanzhu was unclear whether other stores followed the same standard. In any case, after touring the place, she gained a new understanding of how reliant this world was on robots.

“The main ingredient for making octopus balls—”

“Please rest assured; all the ingredients are fully prepared. Follow me, if you will.”

Old Wu led her to the innermost part of the back kitchen. He placed his hand on a door, and it emitted an orange light. “Identification successful.”

The door opened, and a blast of freezing air hit them in the face.

Ning Hanzhu had the illusion of stepping from spring warmth into an icy wasteland. She shivered and peered inside. As expected, it was a freezer room.

Luo Tianran and Xu Yuqing did not approach. Places like this required them to don cold-weather gear to enter. But Ning Hanzhu seemed to adapt quickly. She even followed Old Wu inside for a look around.

The freezer room was vast, beyond her expectations—larger than the villa she lived in. The massive S-grade beast species squid that she had mentioned to Xu Yuqing lay limp like a dead fish in the prime spot, utterly lifeless. Its tentacles lay scattered in sections in the corners.

There was a bloody hole in its head, which appeared to be the fatal wound.

Yo ho.

They had actually captured it so quickly.

Ning Hanzhu’s eyes lit up as if she saw a squid feast. With such a large specimen, it was enough for her to make over a dozen squid dishes.

Old Wu puffed out his chest, full of pride. “The ingredients just arrived yesterday—very fresh. What do you think? Satisfied?”

When making gourmet food, the greatest fear was lacking ingredients.

Now that A food and lodging company had demonstrated their capability, Ning Hanzhu naturally needed to show her own skills.

She selected a section of squid tentacle and listed the tools she needed one by one. By the time she had cleaned the squid tentacle thoroughly, Old Wu had thoughtfully laid out everything she required in the kitchen.

Ning Hanzhu was about to start. She looked around. “Where is the chef who will learn from me? If it is convenient, have them come now.”

Old Wu, “!??”

He had cleared the kitchen staff in advance precisely to avoid leaking the recipe. Otherwise, how could such a large restaurant have no one in the kitchen?

Xu Yuqing, leaning against the doorframe outside, chuckled.

When Ning Hanzhu said she did not mind, she truly did not mind.

Anyone else would probably hoard it for life. How could they hand over a recipe worth a fortune so casually?

She was truly special.

Luo Tianran was astonished. “Is she an idiot?”

Though Ning Hanzhu explained the steps clearly during her live streams, countless people on the starnet had yet to replicate any of her dishes one-to-one. Everyone “knew” that she must have held back something during the cooking.

Xu Yuqing said confidently, “Have people prepare nondisclosure agreements. Those who sign can come learn.”

Luo Tianran was utterly baffled. “!? How many people do you plan to let learn from her? Are you not afraid that once others master it, she will be useless?”

This was why people often said that teaching apprentices starved the master.

She knew Xu Yuqing had a favorable impression of this Alpha, so she understood even less what she was doing now.

Xu Yuqing said with certainty, “It will not happen.”

Ning Hanzhu was unaware that learning from her required signing an additional strict nondisclosure agreement. She waited patiently. Soon, Old Wu brought over two people—two Betas, one male and one female, both looking particularly young, like university students.

“These two are our resident junior apprentices at A food and lodging company. They are willing to learn from you.”

“Hello.”

“Hello, Teacher.”

Ning Hanzhu greeted them with a shy smile. It was her first time as a teacher, so she deliberately slowed her hand movements and made a point of letting them see clearly while preparing the seasonings.

Xu Yuqing did not approach. She stood on the periphery and watched them. Ning Hanzhu was exceptionally focused and earnest while cooking. When she spoke, she would turn her body toward the others, her voice soft, her attitude gentle.

Yet Xu Yuqing felt as if this person were glowing, drawing the attention of everyone present.

After one full process.

Fresh octopus balls emerged from the kitchen.

Everyone gathered around to taste, especially Luo Tianran. She had been coveting the octopus balls for a long time but had been unable to have any because Xu Yuqing held a grudge.

Now her wish was finally coming true. No one should stand in her way.

Ning Hanzhu tasted it herself to check the flavor. No mishaps. She let the two apprentices try making it themselves.

Their voices tensed. “We can make it too?”

Ning Hanzhu was puzzled. “You should have seen all my steps clearly just now, right? I saw you taking notes very seriously. If you saw clearly, go ahead and try it yourselves. Only through constant attempts will you know what is lacking.”

When she had first started cooking, her results had been far from satisfactory— the kind even pigs would disdain.

But she had loving family members. Whatever gourmet food she wanted to eat, they would obtain it for her. Sometimes, they even hired chefs to make it.

She had tasted so much that whenever she craved something, she liked to tinker herself. The more she tinkered, the more frustrated she became because it differed so much from the flavors in her memory.

Out of unwillingness, she kept experimenting, and in the end, she honed her culinary skills.

So she encouraged them. “Go on, make it. Once done, let everyone taste.”

The two apprentices stared in shock. This differed from what they had expected. Before, when they had apprenticed under a master chef at A food and lodging company, they had only done prep work for half a year. Only when the master took a liking to someone would they let them take the helm. Otherwise, they had no chance to handle the cooking themselves.

Ning Hanzhu paid no mind to the storm raging in their hearts. Seeing Xu Yuqing standing alone outside the crowd, she carried over a plate of untouched octopus balls. “This batch has no spice. I do not know if you will like it.”

She forked one and naturally brought it to Xu Yuqing’s lips.

Xu Yuqing glanced at her and leaned over to bite it.

They stood close. As she lowered her head, her hair brushed Ning Hanzhu’s hand—soft and light, like a breeze, arriving quickly and leaving just as fast.

Yet Ning Hanzhu felt as if a cat’s paw had gently scratched her. Her heart itched. She could not help glancing at the other. Xu Yuqing always ate elegantly, but the octopus ball was so large that when she took it in one bite, her cheeks puffed out like a little hamster hoarding food. The ball bulged in her left cheek one moment, then slid to the right the next.

Ning Hanzhu nearly melted from how cute she looked.

Xu Yuqing noticed and immediately covered her face with her hand. She glared fiercely at Ning Hanzhu.

Ning Hanzhu was utterly undisturbed. She ate two more herself and even grinned cheekily, which infuriated Xu Yuqing.

Seeing that she had finally chewed and swallowed, Ning Hanzhu reached out to feed her another.

Xu Yuqing hesitated. This time, however, she did not lean over. Instead, she took the fork from Ning Hanzhu’s hand and took small bites, eating with complete satisfaction.

“By the way, do not leave right away later. I have something to tell you.”

“Okay.”

Ning Hanzhu could not leave for the moment anyway. The two apprentices had just started, and the octopus balls they made were utterly bizarre. She tasted one, and her face nearly turned green. “The outer layer is overdone, and the inside… is still raw. You probably did not control the heat well.”

As for the other, she smacked her lips. “You used too little seasoning.”

The two looked at each other, then hung their heads in dejection, waiting for Ning Hanzhu to scold them. But after a long wait, they heard her clattering as she dumped everything they had made into a single plate. She checked the time and jumped in surprise. “I need to go pick up my little sister first. You two keep making the next batch.”

Ning Qianqian was out of school.

Xu Yuqing let her drive the hover car to pick her up. Ning Hanzhu had never driven one before, so Xu Yuqing simply got in too, ready to teach her hands-on.

The two squeezed into the narrow control panel, where their limbs inevitably made contact—legs brushing against legs one moment, elbows bumping the next. These ordinary touches in daily life became infinitely magnified in Ning Hanzhu’s eyes. She only felt the skin contact too intense, scorching her heart into a tremor.

She should not be inside the car; she should be on top of it.

Her thoughts scattered. Lowering her head, she could see Xu Yuqing’s fair and slender neck. Xu Yuqing’s skin was snow-white and tender, with the gland position obscured by her hair strands. But upon closer look, one could still see a corner of the blocking patch.

She wondered what the other’s gland looked like.