Tohru thought for a moment. It was still early, no rush.
"Alright, then I'll wait."
Noelle nodded and pulled out her phone to call Ye Yun.
At that moment, Ye Yun was playing at Luofu Changle with Klee and the others.
After answering the call, Ye Yun asked Rios and Dodo to keep an eye on Klee and the others, then returned to the shop.
The moment he saw Tohru, Ye Yun was very surprised.
Tohru? She actually came too.
"Hello, I'm Ye Yun, the owner of this shop. Nice to meet you, Tohru."
Thor looked Ye Yun up and down.
"Hello, I'm Tohru."
Ye Yun smiled and handed a teleportation gate to Tohru.
"This is a portal to my shop. You just need to place it somewhere once you're back.
But remember, choose the location carefully. Once placed, it will be fixed there permanently."
Tohru took the portal.
"Thank you, Ye Yun."
Ye Yun smiled again.
"You're welcome. Come and hang out whenever you're free. Your friends can use this portal to come too."
At that moment, Topaz walked over carrying a large suitcase.
"Tohru, here's the beef I promised—20 jin (about 10 kg) of premium beef."
Tohru quickly accepted it and bowed politely in thanks.
"Thank you, Topaz. I'm going to cook soon. Topaz, Ye Yun, Noelle, would you like to come over for dinner?"
This was something Tohru recently learned.
When someone gives you something, you should return the favor, either by giving a gift in return or inviting them to a meal.
Topaz shook her head.
"No need. We have several chefs over here; they're in charge of all our meals.
I see you're holding a spatula—do you enjoy cooking too?"
Tohru nodded.
"Yes, I really enjoy cooking.
Chefs? Can I meet them?"
Topaz glanced at her watch.
"They should show up later. We just had lunch a little over an hour ago."
Hearing this, Tohru thought for a moment.
"I'll come back in three hours. I'd like to learn some recipes from them."
In Tohru's view, if they're chefs, they must be good at cooking. Since she only recently learned to cook, learning from them would help her pick up more dishes.
Once she masters them, she can cook them for Kobayashi and Kanna.
Ye Yun said:
"Yeah, around 5 PM, Xiangling and the others usually show up."
Upon hearing that, Tohru lifted the portal with one hand and the beef-filled suitcase with the other.
"Then it's settled! See you all later!"
Thor waved goodbye to Ye Yun, Noelle, and Topaz, then returned to her own world.
After returning, she saw Kanna lying on the sofa in the living room, bored out of her mind.
Kanna noticed Tohru had returned and turned to look at her.
"Welcome home, Lady Tohru."
Tohru nodded and placed the teleportation gate in the living room.
"Kanna, just wait a little. Someone kindly gave us a bunch of beef. I'll cook some for you."
Kanna nodded and went back to spacing out in boredom.
Tohru opened the suitcase, put the beef into the fridge, then thoroughly washed and dried the suitcase inside and out.
She planned to return the suitcase later when she went back to the store.
It looked like a high-tech suitcase—clearly high-end and definitely not cheap.
She already took 20 jin of beef (about 10 kg) and didn't want to keep the suitcase too.
Around 4 PM, Kobayashi surprisingly came home early.
She was lucky today—no need to work overtime.
Kobayashi looked curiously at the new portal in the living room.
"Tohru, what's with this door?"
Thor poked her head out from the kitchen.
"Oh, that? Here's what happened..."
Tohru told Kobayashi and Kanna about Ye Yun's shop.
Thinking of what Ye Yun said, Tohru asked:
"Kobayashi, Kanna, do you two want to come along and take a look later?"
Kobayashi heard this and started to consider it.
Another otherworld, huh? Why not go take a look?
"Sure, let's go over together in a bit.
Let's go downstairs and buy some fruit or something. After all, we're going as guests."
Then, the three of them went downstairs and bought some fruit.
After getting everything, the three of them set out and arrived at Ye Yun's shop.
At this time, Xiangling and Jashin-chan were preparing food.
The Seven Littles had also returned and were playing in the sofa lounge area.
Milim and Paimon were curled up on the sofa munching on snacks.
Ye Yun, Jing Yuan, and a few others were sipping tea.
Noelle noticed the arrival of Thor and the others.
"Tohru, you're here."
Noelle came up to greet them.
Seeing Noelle, Tohru smiled happily.
"Noelle, I'm here. These two are Kobayashi and Kanna."
Kobayashi and Kanna gave a slight bow.
"Hello, Noelle. Nice to meet you."
Their conversation drew the attention of everyone present, and they all looked over.
Milim's eyes lit up when she saw Tohru and Kanna.
With a leap, Milim appeared in front of the three and curiously examined Tohru and Kanna from head to toe.
"Waa~ You're dragons too!"
Tohru and Kanna also sensed Milim's true form.
However, they weren't from the same world.
Milim, full of curiosity, circled around Tohru, looking her up and down, even touching Tohru's tail.
Seeing this, Himeko walked over and grabbed Milim by the back of her neck.
"Milim! Don't touch the guests like that."
Once caught by the scruff of fate, Milim instantly quieted down.
Himeko then looked at the three.
"Hello, I'm Himeko, the navigator of this train."
Tohru, Kobayashi, and Kanna quickly greeted her.
"Nice to meet you!"
Noelle then said,
"Tohru, didn't you just say you wanted to learn cooking? Xiangling and the others are here—let me introduce you."
Upon hearing this, Tohru followed Noelle into the kitchen.
Himeko glanced at Kanna.
Kanna's gaze had been fixed on Klee and the others.
Himeko smiled and spoke,
"Kanna, right?"
Hearing her name, Kanna looked up at Himeko and softly replied,
"Mm."
Himeko said,
"Would you like to play with Klee and the others?"
Kanna's eyes lit up and she nodded.
"Mm."
Himeko then called over Bailu, who was closest to her.
"Bailu, come here for a moment."
Bailu came running over.
"What's up?"
Himeko said,
"Bailu, take our new friend to play. Her name is Kanna."
Upon hearing this, Bailu looked at Kanna.
Oh! She has dragon horns like me!
Bailu grabbed Kanna's hand.
"Hi Kanna, I'm Bailu. Come on, I'll take you to play!"
Saying that, Bailu pulled Kanna over to the sofa lounge area.
Klee, Qiqi, and the other littles held a little welcome ceremony for Kanna and got to know her.
Himeko turned to the remaining one—Kobayashi.
"Kobayashi, we have drinks here: juice, black tea, and coffee. What would you like?"
***
Kanna was quite reserved at first and didn't open up to play.
She was a bit afraid—afraid that if she did something wrong, Klee and the others might not want to play with her anymore.
Seeing this, Bailu, Klee, and the other little ones took the initiative to include Kanna in their play.
Hook suggested:
"Let's go to the amusement park! We haven't been there in a long time."
Bailu shook her head.
"It's almost time to eat, there's not enough time."
Hook asked:
"Then what should we play?"
At that moment, Qiqi spoke up:
"Qiqi wants to go see the puppies."
Klee immediately responded:
"I think Qiqi's idea is great! Let's go back to the castle and see our puppies~"
Bailu thought for a moment:
"Okay, then let's go—off we go! GOGOGO!"
Bailu grabbed Kanna's hand and dashed toward the teapot realm.
A few minutes later...
The little ones returned to the Rose Castle.
As Bailu opened the door, several little Stormfang Wolf cubs came rushing out, warmly welcoming Klee and the others home.
Klee hugged her Stormfang Wolf, rubbing her little face against it.
Bailu held her own Stormfang Wolf and let Kanna pet it. As Kanna touched it, she exclaimed in surprise:
"Oh~ So soft and fluffy~"
After that, the little ones played in the Rose Castle for a while. When Xing came over to call them for dinner, they finally left.
At the dining table...
Tohru placed the dish she had cooked on the table.
"Everyone! Come try my newly learned stir-fried pork with chili!"
Tohru looked at everyone expectantly, eager to hear what they thought of her dish.
Ye Yun, Himeko, and the others picked up their chopsticks and tasted a piece.
"Hmm~ it tastes pretty good?" Ye Yun was a bit surprised.
Tohru hadn't known how to cook before—she had only recently learned, and even then it was mostly Japanese cuisine.
But this first attempt at a Chinese dish actually turned out quite tasty. Looks like Tohru really does have some talent for cooking.
Himeko, Kobayashi, and the others also praised it.
"Mm~ it's really good. Tohru, you're quite the chef."
Tohru scratched the back of her head shyly at the compliments.
"Hehe, well, it's all thanks to Xiangling—she guided me the whole time."
Xiangling smiled.
"That's because you've got talent too."
After saying that, Xiangling looked toward the kitchen.
"Jashin-chan, is the fruit platter not ready yet?"
In the kitchen, Jashin-chan turned around with a cantaloupe in hand.
She opened her mouth wide and tossed the entire cantaloupe into her mouth, chomping away.
"Almost done, don't rush. You guys go ahead and eat first."
Stelle, Firefly, and the others were dumbfounded at the sight of Jashin-chan swallowing a whole cantaloupe.
That huge cantaloupe—she just stuffed the whole thing in and chewed it a few times and it was gone?
Wait a minute, this Jashin-chan's body constitution is kind of insane...
Himeko glanced at the others.
"What are you all staring at? Eat up before the food gets cold."
Stelle, Hu Tao, and the others quickly started eating.
While eating, Stelle and the others began discussing what to do afterward.
Stelle looked at her Star Coins—she had already saved up more than 300,000.
All of these Star Coins were earned from the Genshin dungeon and the QQ Farm.
"How about we open a few crates later just for fun?"
Hu Tao shook her head.
"Not for me. I want to save a bit more so I can buy a Platinum-tier trash can straight up."
Stelle thought for a moment.
"Platinum tier, huh... Even if you use a Gold trash can to enhance it at the enhancer machine, it'll still cost 510,000. How are you planning to do it? Buy it directly? Or go the enhancement route?"
Hu Tao took a bite of food.
"I'll just buy it directly. If the enhancer fails, that 510,000 would be completely wasted."
Stelle raised a finger and shook it.
"No, no, no, you don't understand. Sure, spending a million to buy a Platinum-tier trash can is safe…But! There's no thrill in that! No sense of accomplishment!
Ask Kiana—didn't she feel amazing when her enhancement succeeded? Wasn't it super satisfying?Wasn't it a surprise?"
Kiana nodded as she recalled it.
"Yeah, it really was satisfying back then," she said, raising her hand. "Look, I even got this Rainbow Gem from the crate afterward. That was an even bigger surprise. But… I ended up on the enhancer machine's blacklist afterwards. Not so fun~"
Listening to Kiana's description, Hu Tao was a little tempted.It's true—succeeding at enhancement does give an extra thrill.
But in the end, Hu Tao stayed calm.
"Forget it. I already have 700,000 saved. I'll just save up to a million and buy it safely."
Upon hearing that, Stelle said:
"How about you lend me 200,000 so I can give it a shot, hehe~"
Firefly, sitting nearby, looked worried.
"Stelle, maybe don't… If the enhancer fails, that's 510,000 down the drain."
Stelle patted her chest confidently.
"It's fine, it's fine! If I fail, I'll just start over! I've got my QQ Farm! I've got Genshin dungeons! No worries at all, alright?"
Hu Tao looked over.
"Stelle, are you sure you want to try? If you really want to, I'll lend you 200,000 star coins."
Stelle nodded.
"Of course! If Kiana can succeed, so can I! Don't forget! I'm the protagonist! I'm the main character of this world!I have protagonist aura! I'm destined to succeed! I have no choice but to succeed!"
Stelle got more and more hyped as she spoke, eventually planting one foot on the chair and pointing dramatically at the ceiling.
Hu Tao, Firefly, and the others applauded enthusiastically.
Except for Ye Yun.
"Get down right now. You got the chair dirty. Noelle still has to clean up after you."
Upon hearing that, Stelle quietly sat back down and resumed eating.
After the meal…
Stelle, full of fighting spirit, bought a Gold-tier trash can and enhancement stones, heading to the enhancer machine.
Ten seconds later.
She slumped back to the table, lifeless, like a zombie. At her feet lay a Gold trash can.
The enhancement had failed, but thankfully the Gold trash can wasn't destroyed, so the loss was a bit less.
Hu Tao and Amber consoled her.
"Stelle, it's okay. It's just one failure. You're the protagonist—you're bound to succeed in the future!"
"Yeah, and you still have a Gold trash can, right? Try opening it! Who knows, it might give you something good?"
Hearing their words, Stelle glanced at the trash can at her feet, then kicked it open.
In that instant, a blinding red light burst out! The dazzling red glow filled Stelle, Hu Tao, and the others' vision.
When the light faded, an engine-like object appeared before them.
Stelle's mood flipped instantly. The moment she saw red light, she perked up as if nothing had happened.
She looked so excited—if she had a tail, it would've been wagging straight up.
She picked up the engine and ran to Ye Yun.
"Ye Yun! Look! I pulled a red item! Hurry and check what it is!"
Ye Yun looked at the engine in Stelle's hand.