After Luo Huai’an thought of a solution, she returned to the kitchen.

The Eighth Cafeteria was very large, and the kitchen was also larger than that of ordinary cafeterias.

The employees who were the fastest at math were responsible for serving meals, and most of the rest worked in the kitchen.

Second Fish gnawed on the tiger skin green peppers, lost in thought. Her husband had once told her he wanted to live a good life on land, and she believed him, so she followed him to land— only to be thrown into jail.

She did have a good life now, but this wasn’t brought about by her husband. Although her work was a bit tiring, she ate delicious food she has never tasted before and lived in the spiritually rich Fragrant Mountain.

Second Fish thought about her husband collecting garbage outside and couldn’t help but think, My husband is really… such an unreliable person.

Second Fish saw Luo Huai’an come in and hurried over. “How is business going today? Are the vegetables selling well?”

In her eyes, she and the others were responsible for washing and chopping the vegetables, while Luo Huai’an was responsible for casting magic, turning those high-quality vegetables into mouth-watering delicacies. She and the others put in a lot of effort and felt very involved, so she was naturally very curious about the sales.

Luo Huai’an nodded and said with a smile, “Sold out.”

This made everyone very happy, filled with fighting spirit.

Second Fish asked, “Are we going to cook the same dishes tonight as we did for lunch?”

Luo Huai’an nodded. “Yes, we will make the same 3 meat and 3 vegetable dishes tonight, with the same portions. Uncle Li and the others can finish eating it all. But we will have new dishes tomorrow, specially for the freshmen.”

After hearing what Luo Huai’an said, Second Fish felt a little guilty. She knew that the reason why the Eighth Cafeteria had so few customers was because of them.

Second Fish hesitated. “Will the new students come? Aren’t they afraid of this place?”

Luo Huai’an said, “Well, that’s why we have to find a way to get them to come.”

“How?”

“Let their curiosity about the Eighth Cafeteria overcome their fear.” Luo Huai’an thought of all the how-to-make-a-fortune testimonials she had read online and smiled brightly. “In modern society, even good wine fears a remote alley¹. So let’s promote it!”

… …

On the second day of school, the military training for freshmen officially began, and many freshmen formations appeared on the major open grounds around campus.

It was the hottest time of the year in Jiangcheng right now. The sun was a fiery ball, making it hard to look directly at it, and the temperature has soared to 39 degrees Celsius. Everyone felt like they were being grilled: nearly cooked to a crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. 

Furthermore, the instructors were incredibly strict and demanding. That plus the heat and exhaustion, made the students feel like they’re about to die. The open ground was filled with complaints. Almost all the freshmen hate military training, everyone counting the days until it would end.

Unless specially exempted for legitimate grounds, all freshmen were required to participate in military training. Liang Hai woke up early in the morning, put on his camouflage uniform, and went to the open ground with his roommates.

After a long period of standing at attention, the instructor gave the order, “Everyone, rest in place for ten minutes!”

Everyone relaxed and almost collapsed to the ground.

Liang Hai’s roommate took a sip of water, but it couldn’t soothe his inner distress. His throat was dry and sore. 

Liang Hai’s roommate couldn’t help but slap his thigh hard and said hoarsely, “When will this end? I really want to eat watermelon!”

The students around him heard his voice and nodded in agreement.

“On a day like this, I should be in an air-conditioned room, enjoying the cool air, and drinking iced Coke!”

“We ran 10 kilometers. My feet are worn out, and my throat tastes like blood.”

The more Liang Hai’s roommates complained, the sadder they became. “The food in the cafeterias are so bad, and the military training is so hard. If I could live my life over again, I would apply to National Tsinghua University instead.”

“I heard from my classmates that military training at National Tsinghua University isn’t much easier.” Liang Hai couldn’t help but point out his roommate’s mistake. “Besides, the food in the Eighth Cafeteria is actually quite good.”

Roommates:”……”

Other students: “…”

“You’re doing it again. I told you, there’s no way I’d be fooled a second time. I won’t try any cafeteria.”

“I’m timid. Even if what you said is true, I don’t have the courage to go.”

Liang Hai didn’t know how to explain, so he just kept silent.

Liang Hai was able to endure hardships and had it easier than the others, but he wasn’t much better off. He couldn’t help but gasp for breath. He thought, If only I had some ice water at this time.

At this moment, he suddenly heard a noise, which was made by the formation of the class next to them. The people in the class next to them pointed their fingers at a place outside the open grounds, exclaiming from time to time.

The students in their class gathered around and asked curiously, “What’s wrong? What are they looking at?”

“Someone’s there watching us. He’s eating!”

“Good friends, it seems like he’s enjoying a cool drink!”

“He grabbed all the bamboo shoots² from the mountain. He really grabbed them!”

“He must have done it on purpose. We’re doing hard military training here, and he’s eating over there, just to piss us off.”

“I heard something like this happened last year. A senior deliberately came to the open grounds to eat watermelon while the freshman were undergoing military training. He was criticized on the forum and became a school-wide sensation. Now it’s happening again. How could the seniors from Aero U be so mean?”

Their class was just about to go over and scold this person, but things didn’t go according to their intention. The ten-minute break was over soon and their class was asked to regroup.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

All the classes doing formations on the open grounds were training hard, and this person stood just outside it.

This person was tall and had a nice face, but the things he did were extremely hateful. Big Fish held what looked like a 500ml tall cup of milk tea in his left hand and a paper pouch in his right hand, with a small portion of pepper cake sticking out of the pouch.

Luo Huai’an had heard that promotions needed to be tailored to the specific situations. Since they were selling food, they could offer free tastings. But since the freshmen were still in military training, such tastings wouldn’t be allowed.

So she planned to eat in front of them to promote the delicious food of the Eighth Cafeteria.

As a result, when she was about to go out, the Director of the Logistics Department came over to inspect the hygiene and sanitation in the Eighth Cafeteria. Luo Huai’an had to shelve her promotion plan halfway.

Seeing this, Big Fish volunteered to take over and brought the food items for promotion.

Big Yu took a big sip of the ice-cold mung bean soup and sighed with deep satisfaction. “Ahh, delicious!”

The mung bean soup was chilled after being stewed, and it tasted quite sweet, making people’s mouths water.

He actually volunteered to come here not to do promotions but to have a good meal and also take the opportunity to slack off.

Big Fish was very proud of his intelligence.

However, just when Big Fish was enjoying his meal, he suddenly felt that something was wrong. He looked up and saw many freshmen glaring at him; he felt extremely confused.

I was just passing by to eat something! Why are these freshmen staring at me so fiercely? They looked as if they wanted to eat me alive. How scary!

… …

Luo Huai’an cooperated well with the leaders in checking the hygiene and sanitation of the Eight Cafeteria . The school leaders did not find any problems, praised her efforts, and left.

At this moment, Big Fish suddenly rushed in through the front door, looking very flustered, almost falling down when he entered.

Luo Huai’an asked, “What’s wrong? Why are you running so fast?”

Big Fish was panicked and burst into tears. “Boss, those freshmen are so scary! If I hadn’t run so fast, they would have beat me up!”

Luo Huai’an was puzzled. How could my excellent promotional methods be met with dissatisfaction? 

Like Big Fish, she had excellent physical strength and had never participated in military training. Moreover, humans’ joys and sorrows were not equal, and the two supernatural beings had no understanding of these new students’ hard work.

She had no choice but to open the school forum to ask for help, but before she could post her question, she saw Big Fish’ photo on the forum, being called ‘the man most hated by freshmen.’

Luo Huai’an then realized that there was a problem with the promotion method. She felt a little scared but also relieved that she herself did not go.

At this moment, many freshmen came in through the front door. They were aggressive, and everyone glared at Big Fish.

One person asked, visibly furious, “Is he from the Eighth Cafeteria?”

Luo Huai’an coughed lightly, immediately disavowing responsibility and said very seriously, “He took the initiative to do all this, it’s none of my business. He’s just an ordinary temporary worker.”

Big Fish: “???” Doesn’t your conscience hurt?!

Mythical Beast Cafeteria translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: Funny how Big Fish is not considered handsome when with his family yet is ‘tall and has a nice face’ when seen by other people.

If you’re enjoying my translations, do consider buying me ko-fi and get access to advance chapters as reward. Thank you for your support! ☺️
Chapter 12.1 — Suzhou-style Mung Bean Soup
Chapter 12.2 — Suzhou-style Mung Bean Soup
Chapter 12.3 — Suzhou-style Mung Bean Soup
Chapter 13.1 — Suzhou-style Mung Bean Soup Part II
Chapter 13.2 — Suzhou-style Mung Bean Soup Part II
Chapter 13.3 — Suzhou-style Mung Bean Soup Part II
Chapter 14.1 — Pepper Pancakes
Chapter 14.2 — Pepper Pancakes

FOOTNOTES:

1. Even good wine fears a remote alley. Even if your products are good, they still need to be promoted. The funny thing is, the original idiom was the complete opposite: Good wine fears no remote alley. Word of mouth will make sure it would sell and people will look for the shop even in remotes alleys. ↩︎
2. ‘Grab the bamboo shoots’, is a homophonic pun. Internet livestream anchor, Charming Teacher Guo, mispronounced ‘oh how damaging’ because of his accent and said ‘grab the bamboo shoots’ instead. It’s meant to mock people for their damaging behavior and can be expanded to humorous points like ‘You’ve grabbed all the bamboo shoots! Leave some for the pandas!”
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