To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

Chapter 490: Chapter 289: Bitterness Ends, Sweetness Begins (Part 2)

As a compliant NPC, the Ghost Bride had her own unique secrets.

Besides attacking with vines, her greatest use was making paper dolls.

With a snip and a blow from her, the paper dolls would come to life and then follow the commands of the group.

Apart from the kitchen, these paper dolls could go almost anywhere and complete any task, all without pay.

The hotel’s affairs were all handed over to the paper dolls, leaving Gong Gong only needing to work in the kitchen, while Tai Yin was freed from the daily chores, occasionally cleaning the kitchen and spending the rest of the time gnawing on watermelon at the door.

Naturally, the hotel’s business improved by leaps and bounds, but there were still some who were dissatisfied.

One day, just after finishing a day’s work, Gong Gong was about to rest when the chilly voice of the Ghost Bride suddenly rang out from behind, “My dear, we need to talk.”

Gong Gong, confused, sat on a small stool, unsure what the Ghost Bride wanted to discuss.

“Don’t you think your cooking skills are improving too slowly? At this rate, when will we be able to get married?”

“Slow? I’m surprised,” Gong Gong exclaimed, “I already work three hours every day.”

“Couldn’t you sleep one hour less and have more time?”

“That’s easy to say, but the problem is, no matter how much I do, it’s useless. The restaurant is only so big; the turnover rate just can’t go up.”

“Is that so…”

The Ghost Bride stood there, thinking for a long time, and then said, “So, if the turnover rate went up, you could speed up too?”

“In theory, yes, but…”

“I’ll think of a way.”

The Ghost Bride retreated, slowly disappearing into the wall behind her, leaving a puzzled Gong Gong alone.

The next day, the Ghost Bride showed up.

She wrapped her arms around Gong Gong’s waist and whispered in his ear, “I’ve figured it out. We don’t have to set up so many tables inside the restaurant; we can set them up outside.”

“The constables won’t let it happen, will they?”

“The constables are human too.”

Gong Gong felt a chill at these words, and at the same time realized that the ghosts here seemed a bit too extreme.

The next day, the arrest officer came.

He was pale, and as soon as he arrived, he glared at Gong Gong with clenched teeth, leaving Gong Gong utterly befuddled.

Slamming his hand on the table, he said to Gong Gong, “Boss Gong, that’s not very noble of you. I think I haven’t bent the law for personal gain, nor have I been corrupt. Why must you do this to me?”

“What have I done?”

“I just occasionally come by for a meal and maybe take a few drinks on the house. Why would you bother with me?”

“So what exactly did I do!”

“Oh, acting innocent after the deed? Fine, fine, let’s drop it. Your matter is settled; from now on, me and my fellows will steer clear of your place. Is that good enough for you?”

As he watched the man leave, eyes wide, Gong Gong still couldn’t understand what he’d done.

It wasn’t until a rough, musty-smelling hand rested on his shoulder that he jumped, turning to see the Ghost Bride behind him and asking, “What did you do?”

“I requested permission to set tables outside. Don’t worry, I was very civil about it.”

“His attitude doesn’t seem very civil to me!”

“I was really very civil.”

It wasn’t until later that afternoon that Gong Gong learned the truth from others.

The Ghost Bride was indeed quite civil.

She followed the arrest officer to his home and then used a scarlet liquid to fill his walls with red words:

[Gong Gong wants to set up more tables.]

No one knew what this liquid was, only that it was foul-smelling, looked like blood, and smelled like it too.

The arrest officer nearly wet himself in fright during a nighttime bathroom trip, and his son, terror-stricken, ended up wetting the bed five times that night.

After much effort to clean up, the officer barely turned around when the words reappeared, larger than before.

Despite washing all night long, not only did the words not disappear, but they multiplied. By morning, the whole house was covered in the same red characters, packed densely together.

[Gong Gong wants to set up more tables.]

The arrest officer was beaten by his own wife and, with no other choice, obeyed her orders. He went to find Gong Gong early in the morning and relayed the news that takeout services were now available.

As a result, Gong Gong became even busier.

Work that originally took her only three hours now demanded six hours to complete, leaving her no time to wander the streets with her stepmother to forage for food each day.

Although her culinary skills skyrocketed, Gong Gong realized this was not the way to go.

She came here to enjoy life, not to work for others!

So she immediately sought out the Ghost Bride and was about to air her grievances when the latter pulled her close and held up a large garment against Gong Gong’s frame.

“I was just thinking of finding you, but here you come on your own. Husband, this is the new outfit I made for you. Does it fit well?”

“It’s too big.”

“Then we can keep it for our child, and I’ll make a smaller one for you.”

“Let’s put the clothes issue aside for now. I wanted to talk about…”

“Do you think I should make one for your mother as well? I just happen to have some time and can make a few more.”

“I’ve already said, let’s put the clothes issue aside for a moment, I’d like to talk about my working hours. I’m spending too much time in the kitchen now, so much so that I don’t have time to go out on the streets every day, and I only have one hour to eat each day.”

“Is that so…”

Seeing the Ghost Bride deep in thought, Gong Gong felt hopeful.

Just as she prepared to press her advantage and get the other party to agree to her request, she heard the Ghost Bride say something utterly disheartening, “So you still have time to eat every day.”

“Are you focusing on the weirdest things?”

“Worthy of my husband, managing to squeeze out time to eat. Then as your wife, I can’t fall behind either.”

“Wait, what are you doing? I’m telling you, the traffic here has peaked, we can’t handle any more!”

“No worries, I have my plans. Hehehe…”

Accompanied by the Ghost Bride’s sinister laughter, Gong Gong felt like she had dug herself into a massive hole.

The next day, Gong Gong’s hotel launched a new service.

This service was quite innovative, with paper effigies wrapped up tightly wandering about, their clothes printed with the chef’s recommendations of the day on the front, and the location of Gong Gong Hotel on the back.

If someone wanted to order a meal, they just had to call over one of these paper effigies, tell it what they wanted to eat today, and it would bring the order back to the hotel for Gong Gong to start cooking.

Once the food was ready, the paper effigy would deliver it to the original location, collect the money, and then continue to aimlessly wander.

Since this service involved ordering from outside, it was affectionately dubbed “takeout.”

Thus, Gong Gong became even busier.

The Military Governor and Tai Yin were also roped in, turning the entire kitchen into a battlefield where orders flooded in incessantly every quarter hour, leaving Gong Gong overwhelmed with work.

While this allowed her more time to improve her culinary skills, Gong Gong felt that if things continued this way, she was certainly done for.

Yet she dared not say anything to the Ghost Bride, afraid the latter might discover there was still room to squeeze more out of her. If that happened, she didn’t need to stay—she might as well just delete the game.

The only thing sustaining her was the cuisine of Linhua City.

Her previous trip to Linhua City ignited a dream to go there and try all the delicacies.

Before her dream was realized, she definitely couldn’t die here.

Watching Gong Gong, who had become crazed, the Ghost Bride became even more moved.

My husband is actually doing all this for me.

Indeed, ours is true love.

So husband, rest assured about getting customers, I’ll take care of it!

You just focus on cooking and contribute to our little home!

In the end, Gong Gong became numb to it all.

Even when disguised as the management system of a factory, she had a lot to deal with, but it had never been as troublesome as this.

After all, she had computational power back then, and things went swiftly every day.

But the body she had here was flesh and blood, not nearly as convenient, and every task was a torment to both body and soul, pushing her to the edge.

But the days of hard work finally paid off.

She had attained the title of Food God of Nanan City!