Apart from the sounds made by the workers, the shop was very quiet. All the old tables, chairs, and benches had been cleared out as garbage, leaving the hall spacious and empty. While waiting for the workers to finish wallpapering, he pondered what kind of tables, chairs, and benches to buy.

Brian Cooper was very confident in the system, so he planned to fill the hall with tables to accommodate more customers.

“Ha ha ha.”

Thinking of the future when customers would flock in and branch stores would open one after another, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

The two people carefully wallpapering heard the laughter and couldn’t help but look back. The taller, younger one shot a questioning look at the older one, who glared at him, “It means mind your own work and don’t be nosy.”

The tall, young man shrugged. Seeing the older one about to get angry, he quickly begged for mercy and got back to work seriously.

After laughing twice, Brian Cooper finally realized his image problem. He quickly looked around, found that no one was passing by the shop entrance, and then glanced back at the two workers who were focused on their job.

Bored, Brian Cooper began calculating today’s expenses: repairing the gas pipes and stove cost 1,500, wallpaper used sixty meters in total, costing 1,080, cleaning was done by himself so it was free, getting the permits cost 600, tables, chairs, benches, and kitchenware were budgeted at 10,000. Adding it all up, out of the 50,000, only 36,820 was left. Of course, selling scrap brought in another 320.

The remaining money made Brian Cooper a bit unhappy. Just a bit of renovation had already cost so much, which was hard for the thrifty Brian Cooper to accept.

Thinking about the big expense of buying tables, chairs, and benches in the afternoon made his heart ache. So Brian Cooper decided to buy more tables and chairs in the afternoon to fill up the thirty-meter space, so more customers could be seated. If it weren’t for the strict city management these past two years, Brian Cooper would have wanted to put tables and chairs on the open space outside as well.

The wallpapering went quickly. After all, Brian Cooper had already torn off the old wallpaper last night, so today was just about putting up the new one. The two workers finished the job quickly, and after Brian Cooper checked everything, he paid the remaining balance, and the two workers soon left.

After the recent renovation, the beige wallpaper with small floral patterns was smoothly applied to two and a half walls, making the whole space feel cozy. Brian Cooper tidied up a bit, and the floor was spotless.

Pulling down the outside shutter, Brian Cooper took the bus to a secondhand market. Only here could he truly put his thriftiness and penny-pinching virtues to good use.

Of course, Brian Cooper was just carrying on the fine tradition of thrift from his ancestors, but he wouldn’t buy used items. Although it was called a secondhand market, they also sold new things here, and the new goods were good quality and cheap.

Upholding the fine tradition of comparing prices at three different shops, Brian Cooper browsed the entire secondhand market and finally chose a shop in the corner with a “Clearance Sale” sign.

He heard that the shop had already been transferred, and now these goods needed to be cleared out.

“Boss, how many sets of these tables do you have in total?” Brian Cooper picked out a set of milky white tables with green vine patterns on the edges and pointed at them as he asked.

“You’ve got your eye on this set, young man? This is the best quality set left in our shop. There are four sets left in the warehouse. How many do you want?” The boss pushed up his glasses and smiled kindly.

“Only four sets? I want six.” Brian Cooper gestured at the size of the tables, frowned, and thought about the size of his shop.

“How about this red one? There are six sets of this.” Seeing the deal about to fall through, the boss quickly pointed to a red set of tables and chairs nearby.

In the end, thanks to Brian Cooper’s clever thinking, he bought four white sets and two red sets. During the process, he used the excuse of not having six white sets to further lower the price. After buying the tables, Brian Cooper ignored the boss wiping his sweat and happily continued browsing the shop, discovering pots, bowls, and pans. After another round of haggling, he bought everything he needed.

“Boss, look, I bought so much from you. Help me deliver it to my shop.”

Looking at the packed goods, Brian Cooper said to the boss, who was standing at the door looking like he was seeing him off, his tone sounding very familiar.

“I don’t do delivery. Go to the front of the market and look for the trucks there—they’re for deliveries. I can keep an eye on your stuff for you,” the boss refused directly.

“Boss, that’s not cool. Even if you don’t deliver, at least recommend a driver. Otherwise, how do I know which one is good?” Seeing the boss’s firm attitude, Brian Cooper settled for the next best thing.

In the end, the boss gave in to Brian Cooper’s persistence and found the cheapest delivery truck for him. Of course, during this, Brian Cooper used the perfect excuse of not being able to explain the address clearly to hitch a ride back to the shop with the delivery guy. Truly impressive—he even saved two yuan on bus fare, enough to buy two tea eggs.

As dusk fell, Brian Cooper had arranged everything neatly. Sweat was still on his forehead as he sat on the newly bought chair, eagerly opening the task display.

【Task】Own a shop of your own—[Completed]

(Task prompt: As a future God of Cooking, how can you not even have your own shop? Young man, go strive for it.)

Before Brian Cooper could even feel happy, the system’s text appeared in his mind.

System message: “Initial task completed. God of Cooking System officially activated. Entering shop renovation mode.”

“Ping ping pang pang”