Playing house in the anime world

By the time Xiangling’s raspberry pepper pizza came out of the oven, no one else had arrived yet.

“Would you like to postpone the serving of the dishes on your table? Stir-fried dishes taste best when they are freshly cooked. They can be cooked quickly in a big pot over high heat. A bowl of food can be ready in just a few minutes!” Xiangling was worried that Gojo Aiko’s family, who had just arrived in Liyue Harbor, would not be able to eat the most authentic and freshest Liyue dishes.

No matter how delicious the food is, its flavor will be greatly reduced if it is cooled.

"Then let's wait a little longer." Aiko Gojo had raspberry chili pizza to eat and didn't mind waiting a little longer.

She looked at the raspberry chili pizza in front of her. This pizza had a thicker crust and was sprinkled with something like raspberry jam, and some fresh raspberry grains as garnish.

Chili pepper...I can't tell where it is placed for now.

Aiko Gojo silently picked up a piece and put it in her mouth.

Xiangling looked at her expectantly, and even Guoba's eyes widened.

"..." Aiko Gojo chewed the pizza in her mouth. First, she tasted the sweet and sour taste of raspberry jam, then the slightly salty cheese, and finally, when she bit into the soft crust, the taste of chili finally came out.

How should I put it...it was surprisingly not bad, which was a bit disappointing.

"It's delicious." Gojo Aiko originally thought that she would be able to taste something shocking, but she didn't expect that Xiangling actually kneaded chili into the crust of the pancake, which reduced a lot of the dark feeling.

Moreover, the pizza is sweet as a whole, with only the cheese and crust being slightly salty.

It seems that Sister Xiangling’s cooking skills are very superb, we must catch her!

Aiko Gojo had just finished her first piece of raspberry pepper pizza. Xiangling looked left and right, then picked up a piece of cut pizza and enthusiastically invited the guests at the front table to try it.

"Mr. Zhongli! Would you like to try the new dish I researched?"

Gojo Aiko took a look and found that Mr. Zhongli was the person who had just told her Guoba's name.

Zhongli glanced at Gojo Aiko and the pizza in front of her. He wanted to make the pizza quickly for Gojo Aiko to taste, and since this was a newly researched dish and was still in the tasting stage, the pizza made by Xiangling was very small.

After Aiko Gojo ate a piece, the pizza was basically only half left.

"Miss Xiangling, don't you want to taste it yourself?" He thought it would be better to let the chef taste the new dish first. After all, she had researched it herself, so she should know what it tastes like.

Xiangling then remembered that she hadn't eaten it yet. Although she had tasted it when she was preparing the sauce, she had never tasted the finished product.

"Then I'll make another one for Mr. Zhongli later!" Xiangling seemed very determined to let Zhongli taste her new dish.

"Aiko, Aiko! I see that you seem to be very knowledgeable about cooking. Does your family also run a restaurant?" Xiangling sat next to Gojo Aiko and shared half of the raspberry chili pizza with Guoba.

"Well... the restaurant is still in the stage of raising funds!" Gojo Aiko could only say this, "Also... we are researching the restaurant's future signature dishes."

"What kind of food are you going to sell?" Xiangling assumed that Gojo Aiko was from Liyue because she was wearing Liyue-style clothes, but that they had always lived in other cities outside of Liyue Harbor, such as Chenyu Valley or Qiaoying Manor.

Maybe they came to Liyue Harbor this time just to collect folk songs.

"Hmm... maybe the main dish will be the spicy curry bread? And also the specialty sandwiches." Gojo Aiko remembered that currently only Oda Sakunosuke's spicy curry bread and Morobushi Kagemitsu's sandwiches were clearly stated to be sold in the store.

Dishes conceived by others are still being innovated.

"Huh?" Xiangling felt that this bread and sandwich sounded a bit like Mondstadt's cuisine? But curry...it sounded like Xumi's cuisine?

"Are you... from Liyue?" Xiangling realized that she might have been wrong.

"To be precise, we may not have a nationality? But my parents should be Inazuma people, or maybe not." Gojo Aiko tried to be as vague as possible.

Xiangling thought for a few seconds, but didn't understand what Gojo Aiko meant for a moment.

"Anyway, we are not from Liyue." Gojo Aiko felt that she had successfully fooled him, and then she saw Zhongli looking at her.

Compared to Xiangling, who looks young and innocent, Mr. Zhongli is obviously an old senior with rich experience.

However, he obviously had no reason to expose Gojo Aiko's ambiguous statement. After all, who doesn't have some little secrets?

Also, there's no rule that says you have to be honest with a stranger you've just met.

Therefore, Mr. Zhongli just looked at Gojo Aizi twice more.

"So, you are a group of...wandering people?" Xiang Ling felt a little confused. In fact, the concept of nationality in the continent of Teyvat was somewhat vague. All countries would record the information of every citizen born on their own land, but no one knew what would happen afterwards.

Some may die young, some may go to other places with their parents, and some may die unexpectedly...

But these will not be officially recorded, especially once you leave your country, what happens next is only known to you.

A country like Liyue, which is relatively standardized in all aspects and has its own set of systematic rules, may be stricter in terms of so-called nationality and household registration, but this may not be the case for other countries.

Xiangling had not been to many countries, so she did not immediately think about what it would be like not knowing which country she was from.

After all, in Liyue, even if you have been an orphan since birth and don’t know who your parents are, Liyue will never leave you alone.

Either we find you a suitable adoptive parents, or you are raised by a professional organization. In short, Liyue will never let you wander outside and eventually become a homeless wanderer.

So she naively thought that Aiko Gojo and her family might have chosen to abandon their nationality and live a wandering life. After all, there are all kinds of things on the continent of Teyvat.

Like many adventurers, they yearn for adventure, unknown journeys and wonderful treasures. Many adventurers will never return to their hometown in their entire lives because the world is too big to be fully explored.

Of course, there are also more adventurers who died on the road of adventure.

Some businessmen also like this "wandering" life, traveling between countries to sell goods, but never staying in one place for too long.

But some people will choose to return to their hometown when they are old, or choose to settle in a country they like as a resting place for the last moments of their lives.

"Or should it be called... a wandering adventurer? Because I'm wandering, I'm taking risks. Because I'm taking risks, I'm wandering!" Gojo Aiko suddenly had a burst of inspiration and said some nonsense that made some sense.

"So that's how it is! So you are planning to open a restaurant. Are you preparing to settle down?" Xiangling didn't think there was anything unusual. Although she didn't fully understand, after all, the world is so big and full of wonders. Who would care how others live?

"To be precise, we hope to have a stable source of funds." Gojo Aiko counted on her fingers, "Supplies for adventures, weapons, renting hotels in each place, money for buying souvenirs... We are adventurers who like to enjoy life, so the expenses during the adventure are very high."

"That's true. Traveling on a budget is not a comfortable job, and the same goes for adventuring!" Xiang Ling had heard that a dragon appeared in Mondstadt. She was curious about whether dragon meat could be used to make dishes, so she traveled light and rushed to Mondstadt at full speed, which took her two months.

Although she would inevitably stop in the middle when she saw some interesting ingredients, she had to admit that those two months were indeed very tiring.

However, she collected a lot of interesting ingredients on the way, made new friends in Mond, and competed with Mond's chef. It can be said that she gained a lot, so it was still worth it.

But it’s okay to have this kind of experience once in a while, but if it happens too many times, it won’t work. So if you want to live a homeless life for a long time, you can’t be too financially strapped, otherwise you’ll really become a vagrant!

"So where are you planning to open the restaurant?" Xiangling was very curious about what Gojo Aiko's family's restaurant would look like. It sounded like they had been to many places for adventure, so they must have tasted delicacies from many places. The dishes they made must be very interesting.

"I haven't decided on it yet, maybe we'll sell it in a mobile vendor model!" Gojo Aiko suddenly felt that perhaps they could do some business in the other world.

For example, setting up a street stall and selling snacks.

"I recommend you to set up a stall at the port. There is a large flow of people there. You only need to report to the head office and apply, and you can get the qualification to set up a stall!"

Xiangling would often go there to buy some interesting snacks. Although most of the vendors were fixed merchants, there would occasionally be some temporary stall owners.

"What should we sell? Sister Xiangling, you are a local, right? Do you have any suggestions?" Gojo Aiko thought that this might really be a good suggestion, and... they might be able to calculate the exchange rates of various worlds, and then choose a suitable world to make a fortune.

"Let me think... Generally speaking, as long as it tastes good and the price is not expensive, it's fine..." Xiangling is the kind of person who would want to try food as soon as she sees someone selling it.

As for ordinary people, they may buy food because it smells good... or because it looks good, or because there are many people buying it, so they buy it just like everyone else, or because they are curious enough...

In short, a certain level of appeal is required, which means it must have characteristics.

Even some time-honored brands must have their own characteristics in order to survive.

“That spicy curry bread and special sandwiches you mentioned before should be okay, right? After all, there aren’t many places selling this kind of foreign food.” Xiangling felt that if they were only staying in Liyue for a short period of time and setting up a stall, it would be enough to sell some rare things that no one had seen before.

Many people will buy it just for the sake of novelty.

But most people are definitely used to local cuisine, so they may only buy it once or twice and then lose interest in it.

This is naturally not possible for those who aim at long-term operation.

But for those who just want to sell in a wave and then be done with it, it’s perfect.

At the dock, there are actually many similar business methods, especially those merchant ships from foreign countries. They will bring their own country's specialties, sell them locally, and then purchase Liyue's specialties and then go to other countries to sell them.

"Spicy curry bread... I think it tastes best when it's freshly baked. The taste won't be so good after it cools down, and it's not suitable for selling at a stall." Aiko Gojo began her analysis.

Xiangling: "Is spicy curry a sauce? It's really not suitable to be sold cold."

"It's about the same, and it's a very thick sauce." Aiko Gojo imagined the spicy curry that would become semi-solidified after it got cold, and the taste would definitely not be very pleasant.

"What about the specialty sandwiches?" Xiangling thought this sounded like something that could be sold at a stall.

"The special sandwich... is actually the sandwich made by Brother Moruobushi. What's inside the sandwich is not fixed, and the flavor may be different every day." Gojo Aiko thought about it. This does sound like something that can be sold at a stall, because it can be eaten even after it's cooled. The flavor will definitely be a little worse than freshly made ones, but it won't be particularly bad.

"A different flavor every day?" Xiang Ling didn't know what she was thinking. "Is there a slime gel flavor? Or a Jueyun pepper roasted sunset fruit flavor?"

Aiko Gojo: “Maybe there’s a triple cheese smoked ham flavor, or a refreshing summer vegetable flavor, or a creamy fruit flavor.”

As for the slime gel...is that thing really edible?

Jueyun Pepper Roasted Sunset Fruit sounds okay, it’s just roasted fruit with peppers.

"It sounds delicious!" Xiangling couldn't wait.

"Or... you can sell some small drinks. Do you have a milk tea shop here?" Gojo Aiko remembered that Chiba Niyuu said that Inazuma seemed to have milk tea, but it seemed that not many people liked it.

"Milk tea? Is it the kind made from black tea and milk?" Xiangling remembered that she seemed to have seen something similar in Mondstadt, but the people of Mondstadt seemed to prefer drinking more.

The people of Liyue prefer pure tea.

"Is there any milk tea with a lot of toppings? Or any refreshing fruit tea?" Aiko Gojo suddenly felt that she might have discovered a business opportunity.

"Milk tea with a lot of toppings added...what do they mean by toppings? As for fruit tea...does it mean that kind of fruit drink? I seem to have drunk it in Mondstadt." Xiangling remembered that the taverns in Mondstadt even sold a kind of drink that tasted like wine, but was not wine. It seemed to be called Apple Brew, and it was delicious.

"How about I buy this?" Aiko Gojo's eyes sparkled. Milk tea plus a sandwich, this can be considered a simple meal. Sounds good?

"Do you have the ingredients? Can you make me a cup to try?" Xiang Ling had completely forgotten her duties as the chef of Wanmin Hall. She excitedly pulled Gojo Aiko straight to the kitchen of Wanmin Hall and asked Guoba to help occupy the seat where Gojo Aiko was originally sitting, in case her family came over and couldn't find anyone.