Chapter 182: Chapter 182: Slack Off Today, Become a Slave Tomorrow

Everyone was very satisfied with the staff meal. Only Shu Meng was a little unhappy.

If she had known, she wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to show off yesterday. Instead, Song Zhigao got to look good, while she ended up being the guinea pig who rushed in first.

But she wasn’t discouraged. One staff meal didn’t mean anything. Besides, there was a one-month trial period. It was still anyone’s game.

The afternoon was spent prepping ingredients again. At 5:30 PM, the four trial employees could clock out and leave.

Wang Xiaohui and Wang Xiaoci came by to deliver the metal Shen Lu wanted. Including what they collected yesterday, it came to 50 Star Coins in total.

The two little girls took the money, their faces flushed with excitement. "Thank you, Boss Shen."

"No need to thank me. You earned this with your own labor." Shen Lu patted the two children on the head and watched them skip away, pulling their small cart.

For dinner, Shen Lu finished the pickled fish she had started yesterday. She also stir-fried some chives with shredded lettuce stems and made steamed eggs with clams.

She used the steam-convection oven she won in the lottery yesterday to make the steamed eggs with clams. She had placed it in an empty spot against the kitchen wall this morning, so now was the perfect time to see how well it worked.

Steamed eggs with clams was a dish that required no real skill. The clams, having purged their sand, needed to be briefly boiled in water. The moment they opened, you had to scoop them out, or they would get tough.

Beat the eggs, add the cooled clam broth, strain the mixture into a container, arrange the clams on top, cover with a layer of plastic wrap, and steam.

After it was done, she added a dash of soy sauce and some chopped scallions, and it was ready to eat.

Fu Cheng could now barely manage to eat with a spoon, but not for very long. He was also slow, and would grow exhausted halfway through the meal.

But Shen Lu was already very satisfied.

’At least it saves me half the effort, right?’

Today, Fu Cheng seemed to have a particular fondness for the steamed eggs with clams. He barely touched the pickled fish or the stir-fried chives and lettuce stems, finishing the steamed eggs first.

Shen Lu asked, "You like this, huh?"

Fu Cheng paused for a moment before nodding slowly. "Yes."

Shen Lu smiled. "Then I’ll make it for you again tomorrow."

Fu Cheng: "Okay."

In truth, there wasn’t a single dish Shen Lu made that he didn’t like.

But of the three dishes at dinner tonight, the steamed eggs with clams was the easiest for him to eat.

He never expected Shen Lu to misunderstand.

After finishing the steamed eggs, Fu Cheng’s left hand had no strength left. Shen Lu, who had quickly finished her own meal, took the spoon and continued to feed him.

She fed him the rest of the meal in no time. Tidying up the plates, Shen Lu said, "I’ll be up in a bit to change your bandages."

Fu Cheng gave a slight nod, his fingers tightening into a fist under the blanket.

’Is it time to change the bandages again?’

Shen Lu returned quickly. She first went to the bathroom to get a basin of warm water and a towel, then retrieved the medicine and gauze from the bedside table.

Fu Cheng’s injuries had healed a lot. Some spots no longer needed to be wrapped in gauze, so the time it took to change his dressings was cut in half compared to before.

That being the case, she really ought to buy Fu Cheng a few changes of clothes.

Before, there were few places on his body that didn’t need to be bandaged, making clothes more of a hindrance. But now that many of the bandages were off, being naked made it easy for the medicine to get smeared on the blankets.

Shen Lu sighed. "I should have gotten you some pajamas sooner."

’If I had bought them earlier, I could just give them to you to use now.’

Fu Cheng’s voice was raspy as he squeezed out two words: "It’s fine."

Seeing her troubled over him, Fu Cheng wanted to say more, but that was all he could manage right now.

A word or two at most. He couldn’t say more, or his throat would hurt.

Shen Lu made a mental note to buy clothes for Fu Cheng. She planned to pick up a couple of outfits tomorrow when she went to get vegetables.

For now, that was all she could do.

Shen Lu flattened the head of the bed to make it easier for Fu Cheng to sleep, tidied up the spare bedroom, and went out with the basin.

After dumping the water and washing the towel, Shen Lu took a shower herself, washing away the day’s exhaustion.

With the matter of increasing the shop’s defense rating on her mind, Shen Lu no longer had the patience to save up Lottery Tickets.

’Draw, draw, draw!’

’The sooner I max out the defense level, the sooner I can have some peace of mind.’

To be honest, sourcing ingredients from local merchants wasn’t cheap at all. The prices were inflated. Anyway, Shen Lu had already spent over thirty thousand Star Coins just on the deposit today, and she’d have to pay that much again tomorrow to settle the final bill.

’No wonder things at other shops are so expensive. It’s not entirely without reason.’

Just as she was thinking this, a DING sounded in her ear.

Shen Lu looked at the interface floating before her eyes, where several large words had appeared.

[Thank you for playing. Better luck next time!~]

Shen Lu: ...

’Oh, great. Just great. You’re messing with me, aren’t you? You know I’m anxious, and you give me a "better luck next time"?!’

[Host, this blind box lottery machine has a certain probability of not awarding a prize...]

Sensing Shen Lu’s pent-up anger, the system quickly appeared to explain.

Shen Lu retorted, "But didn’t I win something every single time before? Even if it was just ten kilograms of scallions! You’re not even willing to part with ten kilos of scallions now, are you?!"

[That was a hidden bonus that came with the Newbie Welfare Month. But the Newbie Welfare Month is over now. The probabilities have returned to normal, so of course there will be times when you don’t win a prize.]

Shen Lu pursed her lips. ’Why do I feel so unconvinced, yet unable to find any fault with that logic?’

Shen Lu reluctantly grunted, "Fine. I guess that’s that."

She went back to her room to sleep, her mood soured. In the middle of the night, Shen Lu was still heartbroken, biting on the corner of her quilt.

She had worked hard all day, all for that one Lottery Ticket.

She’d gotten the Lottery Ticket, and she’d used it, but all she got for her trouble was nothing.

’WAAAH... when will I ever max out the shop’s defense? I’m so scared I’ll be captured and forced into slave labor.’

Shen Lu tossed and turned, only managing to fall into a hazy sleep in the latter half of the night.

She had insomnia, and Fu Cheng couldn’t sleep well either. He could clearly see Shen Lu’s worried expression. The sight of her tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep, made his heart ache.

When he was talking with Shen Lu yesterday, Fu Cheng had thought about asking her where she got the ingredients that could heal and soothe the Spiritual Sea.

’Could she have been tricked? Is she part of some experiment?’

But in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

For one, he guessed Shen Lu wouldn’t tell him. Second, he felt that this wasn’t the kind of experimental method any organization or institution would use.

Fu Cheng mulled it over. ’Could this be Shen Lu’s superpower?’

As for what kind of superpower, Fu Cheng had no idea.

Rather than asking himself, Fu Cheng hoped that Shen Lu would tell him of her own accord.

He wanted to become the person Shen Lu trusted the most.

His consciousness took the form of a finger and gently smoothed the crease between Shen Lu’s furrowed brows.

In her sleep, Shen Lu pouted. Following that gentle force, her brows slowly relaxed.

He didn’t know what she was dreaming about, but the corners of her mouth turned up, and she even let out a small laugh.

Fu Cheng was stunned for a moment, then his own lips curved into a smile.

...

At 6:00 AM, Shen Lu’s mind was awake, but her eyelids were stuck together, refusing to open.

This was the consequence of insomnia and sleeping late. Shen Lu had to manually "reboot" herself.

Rubbing her sore eyes, Shen Lu really wanted to just slack off today and not open the shop.

But she didn’t dare. She could only miserably crawl out of bed to wash up and change.

’How much longer do I have to work this hard before I can be a hands-off boss?’

Shen Lu looked at her reflection in the mirror, made a fist, and gave herself a pep talk.

"If you don’t work hard today, you’ll be a slave laborer tomorrow! Let’s go, Shen Lu! You can do this!"

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