Chapter 1: Inheriting the Estate

Inside the clean and minimalist two-bedroom apartment, one large item after another, symbolizing a new beginning, was moved into the living room. After unloading the final refrigerator, the mover carefully wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead.

"Hard work, young man. Have a glass of water." The hostess, who was taking inventory, handed him a glass.

The mover thanked her repeatedly, took the water and downed it in one gulp, while quietly sizing up this wealthy family.

The lean, sharp, and capable hostess; the slightly chubby, sturdy-looking host; the fair-skinned, scholarly-looking son; and the round-faced, cheerful, and cute daughter.

What a truly happy family.

Not only were they a standard family, but they were also low-key. They lived in a house with an average price of six figures per square meter, yet the clothes they wore weren't big brands; they looked just like the 39.9 yuan ones he bought online.

But wealthy people these days are low-key. Perhaps these plain-looking clothes were custom-made pieces from some high-end brand, where a single garment could cost more than what he earned in a year.

So envious!

After settling the bill, the mover left with a face full of envy.

After the mover left, the sharp and capable hostess, Zhao Rong, grabbed her uncontrollably trembling right hand with her left. Her voice trembled just like her hand. As if waking from a dream, she suddenly looked up and asked her son, "Huaihuai, this house... 160,000 per square meter, over ninety square meters, that's over ten million... does it really belong to you now?"

The sturdy-looking host, Qin Congwen, rubbed his lower back, which had been strained just last year, and pressed, "And what about that cafeteria thing? Are you really taking it over directly without paying any money?"

The cheerful and cute daughter, Qin Luo, looked at her phone and exclaimed, "Cleaning service is 100 yuan an hour?! Brother, let me help you clean. I'll only charge you 50!"

The scholarly-looking son, Qin Huai: "..."

Qin Huai glanced at the exclamation mark in the top left corner of his vision and nodded affirmatively: "Dad, Mom, that's right. Your son has inherited an estate."

The story begins a month ago.

Our protagonist, Mr. Qin Huai, who possesses a system, was originally just an ordinary person from an orphanage who had never activated his system. At the age of 10, he was adopted by the Qin couple, who ran a breakfast shop across from the orphanage and had been childless for years. Then, his parents had a normal pregnancy and gave birth to an ordinary younger sister. After going through an ordinary academic career, he successfully got into an ordinary university, spent his college life normally, and returned to his hometown to live the life of a breakfast-selling beast of burden from 5 AM to 9 PM at the family breakfast shop, until an ordinary lawyer showed up at the door.

According to the lawyer, Qin Huai's biological parents were an inspirational model of a couple who started from scratch and built a business empire. After years of searching, they finally found the son they had accidentally lost years ago. However, fate was unkind and villains were at work. After a series of absurd events that even business dramas couldn't film, the company went bankrupt. The couple died in a car accident while distracted behind the wheel. The only inheritance left to Qin Huai was a two-bedroom apartment in the Yunzhong residential complex in Shancheng—a property that combined a school district and a commercial hub, was quiet amidst the noise, had a market value reaching eight figures, and had never been lived in—and a community cafeteria at the entrance of the complex that already had a signed five-year contract, was fully renovated, and was waiting to open.

Simply put, two years after graduating from university, through his own hard work and the inheritance he received—

He was financially free!

"Brother, why do you want to inherit that community cafeteria? Didn't you say that selling breakfast is the most tiring thing, and that when you have money in the future, you'll definitely turn our family's breakfast shop into a dessert shop?"

Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen felt that the hourly cleaners online were too expensive and that they were better off cleaning themselves. They also felt that Qin Huai and Qin Luo were in the way in the apartment, so they kicked the two out to find something to do. The two had no choice but to go to the convenience store across from the complex to buy two drinks and sit there to mooch off the air conditioning.

"It doesn't cost anything. The five-year contract fee has already been paid, the six-million-plus renovation cost has been settled, all channels are already set up, and even the manager is ready-made. How is this any different from those novels you secretly read in your room every night where the heroine transmigrates into the apocalypse and the system gives her a small shop to run? It's part of the inheritance anyway; it would be a waste not to take it," Qin Huai said.

Qin Luo threw Qin Huai a look that said, "You can fool ghosts with that; such nonsense might work on Mom and Dad, but it's absolutely impossible to fool your witty and clever sister," and buried her head in her drink without saying a word.

In reality, Qin Huai was indeed lying.

A community cafeteria—a project that sounded like a public welfare endeavor and had nothing to do with making money—was something Qin Huai would absolutely never touch, even if it were picked up for free.

But that wasn't the case—

He had a system.

Qin Huai tapped the void at the exclamation mark in the top left corner of his vision.

Player Name: Qin Huai

Unlocked Illustrations: 0/12

Skills:

Dough Leavening (Intermediate): Your dough leavening technique has defeated 99% of breakfast shop masters nationwide. (0/10000)

Filling Preparation (Advanced): Your filling preparation level has defeated 100% of breakfast shop masters nationwide. (0/100000)

Finger Techniques (Beginner): You don't style your pastries at all. (0/1000) Deep Frying (Intermediate): The fried dough sticks you make are not bad. (0/10000)

Knife Skills (Beginner): Household level. (0/1000)

Heat Control (Beginner): It won't poison anyone. (0/1000)

Food Tasting (Advanced): Fine, you're actually quite good at eating. (Cannot be upgraded)

Management (Intermediate): You're decent at doing business; you won't lose money. (0/10000)

Lying (Master): "Saying human words to humans, ghost words to ghosts"—that's you! (0/1000000)

Main Quest: (Optional)

1. 【Cafeteria Opening】: As a qualified protagonist, perfectly taking over a windfall is your basic skill, not to mention that this community cafeteria is an inheritance left to you by your biological parents. Please take over the Yunzhong Cafeteria and let it open successfully!

Quest Reward: Popularity/Traffic +100 【Select: Yes/No】

2. 【Inherit the Family Business】: As a qualified protagonist, perfectly inheriting the family business is your basic skill, not to mention that more than half of the reputation of this business was earned by you personally. Please inherit the Qin Family Breakfast Shop, take full control, and succeed in taking the helm!

Quest Reward: Popularity/Traffic +100 【Select: Yes/No】

Side Quest:

1. 【Chen Huihong's Troubles】: As an excellent neighborhood committee auntie, Chen Huihong has been sticking to her post for many years, working conscientiously and taking pleasure in helping others. But few people realize that the enthusiastic Auntie Chen also needs help from others. Her daughter's school, the First Experimental Primary School, is holding a Parent-Child Culinary Day on June 27th. Chen Huihong has been practicing kneading dough and chopping fillings for 3 months, but the dumplings she makes are so bad that even the family dog shakes its head. Please help Chen Huihong so she can shine at the Parent-Child Culinary Day and bring glory to her daughter.

Quest Reward: Title: 【Chen Huihong's Affirmation】, Popularity/Traffic +100 【Select: Yes/No】

Side Quest: None (Activated after selecting a Main Quest)

Achievements: None

Titles: None

Items: None

Evaluation: A novice just starting out.

Game Instructions:

1. This game has an extremely high degree of freedom; please explore on your own.

2. This game will not interfere with any of the player's choices; please strive to unlock illustrations.

3. All interpretations belong to the game.

The system issued so many tasks right from the start that Qin Huai felt he would be doing a disservice to the system's stingy rewards if he didn't stay.

Facing Qin Huai's strange behavior, Qin Luo curled her lips, unfazed, and complained loudly, "Brother, do you still think I'm a three-year-old? Do you really think I'll believe you like I did when I was little, that there's a red exclamation mark in the top right corner of your vision, and that clicking it will show 'Game Loading'? You didn't even make up a complete lie, causing me to run to kindergarten and brag to my classmates everywhere that my brother has a system. Grandma still remembers that incident. Why don't you say that you decided to inherit the community cafeteria because the system gave you a task the moment you walked into the cafeteria?"

Qin Huai nodded with a serious face: "That's right, you've discovered it. It seems there's no need to hide it from you anymore. The system wasn't activated originally, but unexpectedly, it activated the moment I walked into that Yunzhong Cafeteria. It even issued two main quests, asking me to go home and inherit the breakfast shop or stay here and take over the cafeteria. Luo Luo, you know me; I love challenges the most, so of course, I'm going to stay here and take over the cafeteria."

Selling breakfast requires getting up at five o'clock every day; it's really not a job for humans.

Qin Luo:...

Qin Luo was so angry that she picked up the iced cola Qin Huai hadn't taken a sip of and downed the whole thing in one go.

After Qin Luo finished drinking, Qin Huai thoughtfully advised: "Drink less; we're going to eat soon. Mom just messaged me, asking me to find an expensive restaurant to treat Ouyang and Sister Hong to a good meal. They've helped a lot these past few days. If you drink so much now, where will you have room to eat later?"

A hiccup stuck in her throat—Qin Luo, who couldn't burp it out or hold it back:...

〒_〒

Brothers are the worst!

e(> ===== CHAPTER 2 =====