"Don't you want your item?"
After taking the Mora, Felix watched Chef Mao turn to leave and raised an eyebrow. "There's something in the jar."
The jar Guoba broke wasn't empty. There was definitely something inside.
As he spoke, Felix glanced at the shards on the floor.
Amidst the broken pieces lay a slip of paper.
[Instant Noodle Recipe]: A culinary recipe from a mysterious world.
"An item?"
Hearing Felix's words, Chef Mao, who was about to leave, stopped in his tracks.
Oh, right. There was something in the jar.
He had seen it—a slip of paper.
Since he had already paid for the broken jar, that item was his.
Otherwise, wouldn't that be a total loss?
That slip of paper cost him 100,000 Mora. He had to take it back and remember this day.
Even if it was a blank piece of paper, so what?
He paid 100,000 Mora for it!
And all of this was because of Guoba.
Thinking of the culprit, Chef Mao glanced down at the little bear clinging to his leg.
"Lu..."
Guoba seemed to realize he had caused trouble. He clung tightly to Chef Mao's leg, not daring to run off.
"Sigh."
Chef Mao sighed, walked over to the shards, picked up the slip of paper, and stuffed it into his pocket without looking at it. He then left the shop without another word.
This place was too painful to stay in.
Felix watched him leave, waved his hand casually, and the shards on the floor disintegrated into fine dust. Then he lay back in his chair and resumed waiting for customers.
"Dad, why are you back so late today?"
At Wanmin Restaurant, Xiangling, who was cooking, looked at Chef Mao in surprise. "Isn't the Liyue Bank branch really close by?"
Her father had been gone much longer than she expected.
"Lu..."
Guoba, who had returned to Wanmin Restaurant, immediately ran over to Xiangling and buried himself in her arms.
"Hm?"
Seeing Guoba's unusual behavior, Xiangling's face darkened. "Did you cause trouble again?"
Every time Guoba got into mischief, he acted like this.
If her dad was back this late, Guoba must have done something!
"Lu..."
Hearing Xiangling's accusation, Guoba covered his face with his little paws.
"Dad, what did Guoba do this time?"
Seeing this, Xiangling sighed helplessly and looked at her father.
"He ran into a Jar Shop and broke a jar. I had to pay 100,000 Mora."
Chef Mao put down the oil and rice as he spoke.
His face was still dark as he said it.
One hundred thousand Mora.
Sure, he could earn it back quickly. It was pocket change for him. But paying that much for an ordinary jar? His heart ached.
This was the most expensive and most worthless thing he had ever bought in his life.
"What?!"
Xiangling's eyes widened in disbelief. "100,000 Mora for a jar? Did Guoba break some kind of antique?"
"Guoba!"
Xiangling glared at the little bear, clearly upset.
How could Guoba be so careless as to break an antique?
Only antique shops sold items that expensive.
But how did Guoba even break one?
Normally, Guoba wandered around Liyue freely. Everyone knew him. He was friendly and never caused trouble, so they trusted him.
But this time, he went out with her dad, and somehow ended up in an antique shop and broke something?
She looked at her father in confusion.
"I don't know why he ran in there, but it wasn't an antique. Just an ordinary jar."
Chef Mao shook his head. If it were an antique, he could accept it.
Guoba broke it; he'd pay for it.
But an ordinary jar in what amounted to a gambling den? That was hard to swallow.
"An ordinary jar?!"
Xiangling looked at him as if she'd seen a ghost.
Not an antique? Just a normal jar?
And it cost 100,000 Mora?
That's robbery!
Xiangling frowned. "Dad, did they scam you?"
"No. I asked the Millelith. That Jar Shop really does sell jars for 100,000 Mora each. According to the shopkeeper and the guards, even Lady Ningguang and Lady Keqing have bought jars there."
Chef Mao explained, "The jars are priced that high because they have things inside—sometimes good, sometimes bad. It's like gambling. That's why the price is so high."
"A Jar Shop?"
Hearing his explanation, Xiangling's heart skipped a beat. She remembered a rumor she'd heard yesterday.
Her eyes lit up. "Wait... is this the Jar Shop where someone pulled a Vision? Didn't someone open a Vision from a jar yesterday and cause a huge commotion?"
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