Chapter 2105: Valuable Gift, Radiant Red Stone

————Still about ten minutes left~~

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Next, neither of them touched the pumpkin soup with the earthy taste and the radiation unique to the Underdark, but they did not let the other dishes go; even Xia Duo, despite his incomplete Perception avatar, tasted them one by one as much as he could.

Combined with Niya's reaction, although Xia Duo was somewhat surprised by the quality of the meal, he still held to his own view: what the so-called Easterners here in the Elf lands possessed was merely the title of "Easterner."

He could say with certainty that this was typical Elf food! Perhaps it incorporated the chef's brilliant cooking techniques and rich life experience, but it was still very different from the hometown food he had expected.

Perhaps this was what they called Eastern cuisine; after all, he was not a real Easterner, and he was on Earth! Naturally, one could not demand that the Eastern Kingdom of a magic world possess the same "flavor" as his hometown.

After dinner, a young Wood Elf waitress appeared from nowhere and handed Xia Duo a bill, deliberately imitating the manner of her Gold Elf compatriots in the Upper City, and said to Xia Duo with a cold face:

"Guest, your total consumption is 520 Xiermaier!"

Only a little over 500 Gold Coins?

Xia Duo felt quite surprised; he had originally thought this Shifeng Restaurant would rip him off, but he hadn't expected it to only ask for this much. Although 500 Gold Coins for a meal could be called luxurious for most people, it was nothing to Xia Duo.

Coming occasionally, he could fully afford the expense.

Of course, Xia Duo also did not believe that these 500-plus Gold Coins were completely without a premium, but it did not matter. It was not the first time he had encountered high-priced dining at tourist attractions; as long as Niya was happy, he did not care about this small amount of money.

He took the Cormanthor Gold Coins he had prepared in advance for the trip out of his Personal Space, filled a money bag (together about the volume of a teacup of water), tossed it to the Wood Elf waitress, and then proposed to meet the chef.

At this moment, the Wood Elf could no longer keep up the act; she revealed a sly and wild smile, hid the money bag under her apron, and then hopped and skipped toward the back kitchen, replying to Xia Duo as she ran:

"Guest, wait a moment, I'll call Old Man Shifeng out right now!"

Xia Duo couldn't help but smile, and Niya also asked curiously: "Could it be that this shop isn't run by an Easterner?"

"I don't know either, but I have a guess. Perhaps when that Chef Shifeng comes out, you will understand!"

At the moment, there were not many guests in the shop; besides the table of Xia Duo and Niya, there was only a table of Dwarves drinking and gesturing, but it was clearly mostly drinking, and they hadn't even finished a single dish after a long time.

Perhaps because of the expensive prices, or perhaps because the residents of the underground district were not used to being active at night—although the underground was also a city that never sleeps, compared to the bustle above ground, there was still a distinct difference.

Just as the Wood Elf waitress left, an Easterner dressed as a chef walked out from the back kitchen, followed by the gesticulating waitress, who only stopped when she reached Xia Duo's table.

"Guest, I heard from Mulian that you were looking for me. Are you dissatisfied with the dishes?"

Mulian must be that Wood Elf. Xia Duo glanced at the now-quiet Mulian and, suppressing his laughter, said to Shifeng:

"No, we are very satisfied with the dishes; we just wanted to see the chef who made them and, by the way, discuss a deal."

"A deal? What kind of deal?"

Shifeng immediately became vigilant, reached out to push away Mulian, who was standing behind him with her ears pricked up to listen, and Mulian then very obediently ran toward the back kitchen.

Seeing this, Xia Duo couldn't help but dispel his Illusion and return to his true form. "Chef Shifeng, there is no need to be nervous. I am very seriously wanting to discuss a deal."

"You are an Easterner?"

Shifeng immediately widened his eyes, looked Xia Duo up and down, then looked at Niya with much suspicion, and finally said:

"Are you thinking of settling down here? I can't help you with that! For the sake of you being an Easterner, this meal is on me. As for anything else, please don't mention it again, guest!"

"No, Chef Shifeng, you have misunderstood. I am here for travel, not to settle down."

"Then what deal do you want to discuss?"

Although Shifeng did not quite believe that Xia Duo really had such a simple purpose, thinking of the generosity the other party showed when ordering and paying, he still patiently listened on.

"I am currently a Lord in Netheril, and I want to promote Eastern cuisine in my Territory. So what I actually want is your recipes, Chef Shifeng. Of course, if you are willing to settle in my Territory or provide short-term guidance, I would also be very welcoming."

Xia Duo stated his request. After listening, Shifeng's mouth was already wide open, and after a long time, he said somewhat nervously: "You are the Lord Xia Duo who purified the Abyss a while ago?!"

"It is me, though purifying the Abyss was not my merit, but the work of a Divine Envoy from the Kingdom of Radiance."

"Isn't that the same thing!"

Perhaps seeing that Xia Duo had an Easterner appearance similar to his own, Shifeng's speech became more and more fluent. "I heard that you, Lord Xia Duo, have a fortress that can fly in the sky. Is that true?"

"You've heard of that here?" Xia Duo was somewhat surprised.

It wasn't that Cormanthor should be poorly informed, but that an ordinary Easterner in an underground city like Shifeng had heard of a Floating City meant it had likely spread even further elsewhere.

"From what I know, many Easterners here in the Andalite Community are paying attention to your deeds!"

Shifeng's words made Xia Duo surprised again. "Why? Why do they want to pay attention to me?"

"Because among us Easterners, there are few Spellcasters as outstanding as you. Although we don't live in the same city or the same country, our nature as Easterners is the same."

"So that's how it is!"

Xia Duo couldn't help but sigh. It turned out that the Easterners of the Main Plane still retained some of the hometown sentiments he was familiar with and had not been completely assimilated by the Elves. However—

"Chef Shifeng, do half-elves like you also identify as Easterners?"

The moment Shifeng appeared, Xia Duo had already discovered that the other party was not a pure human, but carried some subtle Elf characteristics, such as hair color, pupils, and even the posture of walking, which reflected certain structures of the body.

And that Wood Elf girl, Mulian, was a half-elf with even more Elf characteristics; perhaps she really was Shifeng's daughter.

……

Seeing that Xia Duo had discovered his identity, Shifeng was not surprised at all. He knew that Spellcasters always had many methods he didn't understand to know everything, but in his heart, he still felt some sadness.

"Lord Xia Duo, of course I wish I were a pure Easterner, rather than a mixed-blood mongrel who doesn't even have the qualifications to go to the Upper City. But there are simply too few Easterners in this world, so few that our chances of finding another Easterner partner are extremely slim."

Speaking of this, Shifeng suddenly asked Xia Duo a question: "I wonder if Lord Xia Duo has noticed the ratio of male to female Easterners in the Andalite Community?"