Chapter 158

Page 158

“Nyo-chan is right. Opportunities are fleeting. Although Mr. Xia Xun is a great man, as Stardew Valley’s supplies gradually become more plentiful, the Night Sparrow’s scarcity will gradually decrease.”

"When you have the opportunity to make money, you must work hard to make money!"

"With this expansion, I will gradually upgrade the Night Sparrow Diner, first to the Night Sparrow Restaurant, and then to the Night Sparrow Hotel. I want to become the number one in the monster catering industry." Mistya's eyes gradually revealed a look of longing as she imagined the gorgeous scenes that the fashionable Ikami-on described to her.

“Misty.” Yugu Kyouko stared blankly at Misty, feeling as if her friend was as dazzling as the sun, burning brightly and radiating light.

"I understand. Let me also lend a hand to Misaki's dream!" Clenching her fist, Hibiki Yuuya felt herself getting fired up.

"Thank you, Kyoko-chan." Looking at Kyoko Yuya with emotion, Mistya quietly wiped the corner of her eye: "It is because of Kyoko-chan that I was able to take this step."

pat!

"What are you two babbling about? Hurry up and get to work, meow~" Orange, wearing an apron, poked her head out of the window of the Night Sparrow Diner.

Mistya and Hibiki Yuya were startled by Orange's words. Looking at the cat girl with annoyed expression, the two of them chuckled to themselves.

Although they initially found Ms. Orange intimidating, as they worked together for a while, they discovered that she was actually a very cute girl.

Even though Mistya, as a night sparrow, already knew Orange's personality, she was still instinctively afraid of the cat demon.

But when Orange saw the two of them snickering, its tail, which had been swaying casually behind it, suddenly straightened, and it glared at Mistya and Yuugu Kyouko with a fierce expression: "Stop laughing! You two better get to work, or I'll come after you for your money."

"Even if you grill eel for me, Misaki, I won't easily get past you."

"Hahaha, let's get to work." A silvery laugh came from the two of them, which quickly stopped under Orange's death stare, and then they buried themselves in their work.

"Sigh, I wish I could be as lazy as Nyo-en too."

Seeing the two of them start working seriously, Orange's tail and ears drooped down, and it sighed in frustration.

Lately, things have been getting busier and busier, but Master Zi and Master Lan haven't fed the cat any good fish at all, and it's almost impossible for it to muster the motivation to work.

I really want to go to Xia Xun's house and ask him for some delicious fish, but Lord Zi won't give me any time off. She must also want to become like Lord Lan.

Just then, a scent that had been firmly etched into their memory wafted on the wind, causing Orange's drooping ears and tail to instantly stand up.

"Meow, it smells like Xia Xun~!"

The window that had just been closed was opened again, and Orange jumped out of it, turning into a blur as she ran towards the person coming from the beast path.

"Xia Xun, Cheng has been working well lately and keeping a close eye on Mi Siqi and Xiangzi. I'll reward her with some delicious fish."

Like a lump of rice cake, Cheng hugged Xia Xun's face and shouted rapidly.

This commotion naturally attracted the attention of Mistya and Yuya Kyouko, who were busy at work. When they turned around, they saw Natsumi and Motoori Kosuzu.

With a start, Mistya quickly climbed down the ladder, dusted herself off, and pulled Yugu Xiangzi along as they ran towards that direction.

*smack*

After finally managing to remove the orange from her face, Xia Xun looked at the longing-looking Orange Cat and chuckled as she ruffled her little head: "Orange really does like eating fish."

"Mmm, Orange loves eating fish the most." Nodding its little head, Orange reached out and rubbed against Xia Xun's hand, its two fluffy tails wrapped around his arm: "I'll let you pet meow, and then give me some delicious fish."

Seeing how cute and proactive Cheng was, how could Xia Xun possibly resist?

Without thinking, I reached out and used my honed cat-stroking skills, making the cat so comfortable that it almost exposed its belly.

Motoori Suzume stood to the side, her big eyes curiously watching Orange's ears and tail. After tentatively touching Orange's ears and tail with her little hands, she happily stroked them when Orange didn't refuse.

As expected of a cat's fur, the soft, plush texture feels much better than that of the kittens in the village.

But their actions were somewhat frightening to Mistya and Yuuya Hibiki. The once imposing Miss Orange had become so soft and weak in Xia Xun's hands.

What a terrifying method.

The thought crossed their minds at the same time. Yugu Kyouko shrank her head in fear, while Mistya couldn't help but steal glances at Orange's reaction, her little wings flapping gently behind her back.

Mr. Xia Xun must be here to collect payment. If I let him touch my wings, could I ask him to give me a little more time?

Having thoroughly satisfied her craving for petting the cat, Xia Xun looked up at Mistya and Yuuya Hibiki, giving them a friendly smile: "Long time no see, you two."

"Alright, it's been a long time, Lord Xia Xun." With a nervous expression, Mistya bowed to Xia Xun, gritted her teeth, glanced at the limp Orange, and mustered her courage to step forward and extend the wings she had carefully tended every day.

"Please, please be gentle, Lord Xia Xun."

"Huh? Oh."

Xia Xun stared at Mistya's actions for a moment, then realized why when he caught a glimpse of Cheng out of the corner of his eye.

Although she knew it was a misunderstanding, Xia Xun, adhering to the principle of "since we're already here," reached out and carefully felt Mistya's little wings.

Although completely different from the fluffy feel of orange, the silky and soft wings are a great new experience.

As a dutiful younger sister and a keen researcher of yokai, Motoori Suzu naturally follows her older brother's lead.

After a while, Mistya's cheeks turned bright red, and her petite body was so shy that she looked like she was about to faint. Finally, the two withdrew their hands, still wanting more.

With a smile on her lips, Xia Xun looked at Mistya and said, "I heard that Night Sparrow Diner is expanding, so I came to check it out."

"By the way, please invite Mistya to the Stardew Valley party tonight."

Chapter 242 Night Sparrow Diner → Night Sparrow Restaurant

Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting dappled patterns on the animal trail.

"Hey, did Mistya and Miss Valley make all of these by themselves?"

Looking up at the new beams and pillars extending from the Night Sparrow Diner, Xia Xun sighed with emotion. As expected of a monster, even though it looked small, its strength was astonishing.

From the scene, he found no tools other than ladders, hammers, and nails, which means that the thick wooden beam, which was enough for one person to carry, was erected by their own strength.

"It's nothing. I can only do these simple things, and I'm not very good at them either." Mistya quickly waved her hand, her tone somewhat disappointed. "Even though Nyo-chan has already drawn up the design and calculated the materials needed."

"All I needed to do was build the new buildings on the original foundation of the Night Sparrow Diner, but I kept failing and it took me several days to barely complete this little bit."

"Meow already said we'd hire a professional construction team." Orange flicked its tail, followed Xia Xun, and gave Mistya a disdainful look.

Ignoring Orange Cat's advice will only lead to regret.

"I... I just wanted to save some money." Mistya said softly, head down, knowing that it was better to leave professional matters to professionals.

However, the main building staff in Gensokyo are now divided into three types: humans, kappa, and tengu.

Humans dare not approach monsters, the kappa charges too much, and the tengu would never bother with her little shop.

Thinking of this, Mistya looked at Xia Xun, who was deep in thought, her little face full of gratitude.

Although Xia Xun was extremely shy when she touched her wings, he gave her a grace period until she had enough funds to repay the loan next month.

Having received this promise, Mistya, who had actually set aside some funds for restaurant operations and loan repayments, was already considering whether to hire a kappa.

After all, the sooner the store is built, the sooner Night Sparrow Canteen can serve more customers.

"Can I see the design drawings?" Xia Xun asked Mistya.

“Sure.” Mistya nodded quickly and ran back to the store to get the design drawings.

After spreading the design drawings out on the table and studying them for a while, Xia Xun discovered that if the Night Sparrow Diner were built according to the design drawings, it could be expanded to more than five times its current size.

The original Night Sparrow Diner was a small shop run by Mistya, but it has been expanded to accommodate more passengers after this opening.

In reality, they simply used the original small shop as a kitchen, with a few tables set up in the open air in the front hall, making it a typical open-air food stall.

Now, according to the design drawings, the Night Sparrow Dining Hall has been built directly into the Night Sparrow Restaurant, and its area is definitely no smaller than that of the Minoton Pavilion.

"Mistya, what ambition!" Xia Xun exclaimed, giving Mistya a thumbs up. After thinking for a moment, he added, "However, with this design, it will take a lot of time for just the two of you, Mistya."

"If you don't mind, I might be able to recommend some professionals to help."

"Lord Xia Xun, are you referring to Kappa Heavy Industries?" Mistya asked, her little face immediately lighting up with anticipation.

Lord Xia Xun is different from me. As the god worshipped by the kappa, he can definitely get great benefits by entrusting the kappa with his mission.

"It's not the kappa. The kappa have been quite busy lately." Xia Xun shook his head. The kappa have a lot of projects going on right now, and many of them are his fault.

Especially regarding the new development plan for Rainbow Dragon Cave, he couldn't even find Kawashiro Nitori when he went to the Stardew Valley store.

“I was talking about another friend, someone who can take on projects involving kappa and tengu,” Xia Xun said, intending to introduce a job to the newly acquainted Kurotani Yama-onna.

Seeing Mistya's somewhat disappointed expression, he smiled and said, "As for your wages, consider them compensation for troubling you with tonight's banquet."

"Thank you, Lord Xia Xun!" Mistya bowed gratefully to Xia Xun, feeling that she had truly met a kind person.

According to the compensation agreement signed earlier, Xia Xun simply asked her to help without expecting any payment.

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing.” Xia Xun waved with a smile and looked at Mistya, saying, “I believe that with Mistya’s abilities, she will be able to pay off the debt soon and become a partner of Stardew Valley Farm.”

"You guys get the shop ready first, and take the ingredients you've already bought directly to Stardew Valley. Just ask Meixiao to reimburse you for the specific prices. I still need to invite other people next."

After giving his instructions, Xia Xun left the Night Sparrow Diner and took to the air, flying towards the Hakurei Shrine, with Cheng following along.

Mistya and Yuya Kyouko watched the three flying into the distance, then suddenly looked at each other, happily hugged each other, and jumped up and down with cheers.

With Xia Xun's assistance, the new Night Sparrow Restaurant will soon open for business.

On the other side.

Upon arriving at Hakurei Shrine, Natsumi discovered that Marisa Kirisame seemed to be a regular there as well, as there was a high probability of running into her every time she came.

"Oh, what brings you here, busy person?"

Marisa Kirisame smiled and raised her hand to greet Natsumi, glancing curiously at the two people beside him.

"Hehe, guess~"

Xia Xun smiled mysteriously, landed in the corridor and sat directly next to Hakurei Reimu, unceremoniously grabbing her teacup and taking a sip.

The almost tasteless tea made him awkward. He turned to look at Reimu Hakurei, who was reaching for the teacup, and asked, "Why are you drinking this tasteless tea again?"

"Sigh, what else can we do?"

Reimu Hakurei sighed softly, took a sip of her tea, and a relieved look appeared on her face: "Besides, Natsumi, you haven't sold any crops recently, and there haven't been any pilgrims either, so naturally you have no income."

"Hehe, with both mice and thieves visiting the kitchen, I'm already very happy that I can still eat my fill."

Xia Xun listened in silence. Was this the wickedness of human nature, or was Lingmeng simply completely devoid of resources?

"I didn't steal anything this time, I'm just here to eat." Marisa Kirisame quickly explained when she felt Natsumi's gaze, then helplessly shrugged.

"Actually, I've also thought about going to Xia Xun's house to freeload, after all, you're much richer than Ling Meng."

“But you’re never home, and I’m not very familiar with the rest of the family.” Marisa Kirisame said, resting her chin on her hand. “Reimu, you’re with Natsumi now, why don’t you just move in with him? I can freeload off him.”

At this moment, Xia Xun, Reimu Hakurei, and Suzu Motoori were staring at Marisa Kirisame with shocked expressions, unable to believe that the words "not very familiar" would come from the mouth of this blond, sunny girl.

"Hey, hey, hey, what kind of looks are those?" Marisa Kirisame was furious, glaring at the three of them and saying angrily, "Don't let my appearance fool you, I'm actually a shy homebody."

"Pfft~" x3

“Marisa, that’s funny enough to make you Aha’s servant,” Xia Xun said with amusement.

"Alright, let's go fishing together this afternoon, it's been a long time! I caught some amazing stuff this morning, we're having a feast tonight!"

Chapter 243 Farm Visit

It was evening.

Carrying today's catch, Xia Xun walked into the courtyard with a bright smile on her face.

"Xia Xun, give me some fish, I'll take it to Lord Lan!"

With her eyes fixed on the catch box, Cheng finally couldn't resist taking the catch from Xia Xun's hand the moment she entered the house, and ran towards the kitchen shouting loudly.

Following behind Xia Xun, Cirno, who had also been invited, flew excitedly toward Sunny and the others in the courtyard, who seemed to be being lectured by Kazaki Shirazawa Keine, ready to loudly mock them.

Seeing this, the great fairy hurriedly followed to prevent Cirno from causing trouble.

"Xia Xun, you're back~"

Sitting on the sofa, Saigyouji Yuyuko waved happily to Natsumi, her face full of anticipation for today's banquet.

Just thinking about how the theme of today's banquet is ingredients even more luxurious than Venus made her mouth water.

This pure and powerful appetite instantly made the girl next to her tremble with fear. Tsubasa Hisako shrank her head and looked at the great monsters around her with fear.

She never imagined that she would stumble into such a terrifying situation when she had only come to visit Xia Xun.

Her eyes darted to Saigyouji Yuyuko beside her, and Taniwaka quietly moved away, wanting to get a little further away. As a fellow bird-like creature, she had heard rumors about her.

Seeing Saigyouji Yuyuko's drooling expression, Natsumi couldn't help but smile, then turned her gaze to Taniwatari Hisa.

He looked closely at the familiar-looking girl before remembering where he had seen her before.