"Mission Reward: One La Zhi Rou Jia Mo (Chinese Hamburger) Experience Pack. Please enter the Chef God Trial Grounds as soon as possible to practice." As the system's voice faded, a glittering golden experience pack appeared in Mai Ge's mind.
"System, give me another Fancy Hair Styling Experience Pack." Mai Ge thought to himself. He had crowdfunded 3000 gold coins today, so he still had over 400 gold coins left. He had already purchased 1000 portions of ingredients, and with no major expenses in the short term, buying a hair styling experience pack was just right.
"This system needs to perform permission calculations to determine whether to grant the host permission to purchase other experience packs." The system seemed a little hesitant.
"120 gold coins, I'll pay in cash." Mai Ge said calmly.
"120 gold coins collected, Fancy Hair Styling Experience Pack delivered, please accept." A line of text appeared by the system, and a blue experience pack appeared in his mind.
"The system collecting the money pretty quickly." Mai Ge thought to himself, then clicked on the blue experience pack. A flood of information rushed into his mind, and within a minute, he was completely organized.
Now he had hundreds of ways to tie hair in his brain, single ponytail, double ponytail, braid, bun… He knew every single one he could think of. The experience packs from the system were truly useful.
However, 120 gold coins equals 12,000 in Earth, making the tuition a bit pricey. But to make Amy happy, Mai Ge felt the money was well spent.
"Daddy, let's go out and play for a bit. Aren't the guests coming around noon?" Amy gently tugged at Mai Ge's sleeve, her little face full of anticipation.
Amy was at an active age, and the fact that she stayed quietly in the restaurant helping with the cash register during opening hours showed she was quite sensible. Mai Ge, of course, couldn't refuse such a request, smiling and nodding, "Okay, but before we go out, let's give Amy a nice hairstyle first."
"Really?" Amy's bright blue eyes widened, but looking at Mai Ge, she asked with some doubt and unease, "But Daddy, will you style my hair like yesterday?"
Remembering the hair her father had styled yesterday morning—which looked like a big bump on her head—Amy felt that if she went out like that, the other children would definitely laugh at her.
"Of course not. I just thought of a super cool hairstyle that would suit Little Amy perfectly. Can you trust your Daddy one more time?" Mai Ge looked embarrassed as he thought of the steamed bun from yesterday and looked at Amy earnestly.
Amy stared at Mai Ge's face for a while before reluctantly nodding, "Alright, then I'll give Daddy another chance. If it doesn't work, then Daddy can learn from Teacher Luna."
"Okay." Mai Ge nodded with a smile, but learning from Teacher Luna was out of the question. He now had hundreds of different ways to style hair; perhaps Teacher Luna would even need his advice someday.
Mai Ge cut the purple strip of cloth Amy had brought yesterday in two, then picked up a comb and began to tie Amy's hair.
As for which hairstyle to choose, Mai Ge wasn't overwhelmed by the sheer number of options.
For a little girl, double ponytail are the way to go!
However, to show off his skills, Mai Ge decided to try a more difficult braided double ponytail style.
Amy sat obediently on the high stool, her eyes constantly glancing upwards with a mixture of suspicion and anticipation. However, Mai Ge had confiscated the small mirror; she'd have to see it after the hair was done.
With experience in his head, Mai Ge was completely free of the nervousness he felt yesterday when tying hair. Although he wasn't quite at ease yet, he carefully followed the steps, parting the hair, braiding two small braids, and then tying them with purple hair ties—and a braided double ponytail hairstyle was complete.
Mai Ge withdrew his hand and took two steps back, looking at Amy. Amy's silver hair was braided into two delicate braids that hung down in front of her, the ends tied in small purple bows. Her exquisite face featured large, bright blue eyes that blinked, and paired with her black Lolita dress, she was absolutely adorable.
"Daddy, is it pretty?" Amy looked down at her braid hanging by her side and asked Mai Ge with anticipation.
"Amy, look for yourself." Mai Ge said without answering, smiling as he took a mirror from the side and placed it directly in front of Amy.
"Wow—" Amy stared at herself in the mirror, her mouth agape. She blinked, seemingly unable to believe that the reflection was truly her. After a moment, she looked up at Mai Ge with adoration and said, "Daddy, this hairstyle you make is so beautiful! Even prettier than Teacher Luna's make! You're so amazing!"
"It's nothing. Daddy will change your hairstyle everyday from now on. Come on, let's go out." Mai Ge nodded calmly, lifted Amy from the high stool, untied his apron, put a few gold coins in his pocket, and led her by the hand towards the door.
"Okay." Amy played with her little braids, looking up at Mai Ge, thinking to herself that her father could do everything; he was truly amazing.
Feeling the little girl's adoring gaze beside him, Mai Ge maintained a calm expression, but inwardly he was overjoyed. Those 120 gold coins were definitely well spent.
"Daddy, look! That silly bird is wearing leaves, and it looks like it has no feathers." As they passed the magic potion shop, Amy stopped and pointed to the birdcage next to her, saying in surprise.
Mai Ge turned his head in surprise. The raven from that day, with its sharp tongue, was still alive; the burnt cage had been replaced with a new one.
The raven was completely bald, except for a tuft of feathers on its head. Two leaves wrapped around its body, like a fig leaf, covered its private parts. It stared at the two of them, looking utterly comical.
"You…you two! You burned down my palace, burned my magnificent royal robes, and now what do you want!" the black raven said angrily, though today its voice sounded noticeably more bark than bite.
"Silly bird, be good, or I'll burn you up." Amy said seriously, her little face hardening.
"Stop, stop, stop!" The crow hopped a few times impatiently on the crossbar, flapping its wings as it said, "Fine, since you're rather cute, I'll grant you permission to call me Fama • Odin • Highness. You don't need to bow to me anymore, and you won't have to pay for the royal robes and palace."
Mai Ge looked at the crow's reluctantly resigned expression and almost laughed. It seemed this fellow had some kind of trauma regarding Amy.
"You can call it Black Charcoal." the green parrot chimed in, then nodded to Mai Ge and Amy, "You can also call me Sang Ni."