I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 322

Chapter 322: Nuo’er’s Large Snack Jar

 

Just as Ouyang Xue predicted, hot topics such as “maid delivery,” “new waitress at the café,” and “cat girl at the café” quickly trended that evening. The announcement Ouyang Xue posted on the official account, official WeChat, and QQ groups about “Nuo’er’s delivery service lasting for two days” received numerous praises from customers.

 

Many people were pleased that the café didn’t just have “Yin Nuo’er” show up for a promotional stunt. They were glad they saw the announcement and, with a mindset of giving it a try, placed a delivery order.

 

Even those who didn’t usually have food delivery apps installed were so intrigued that they broke their habits and installed the apps or added our newly launched WeChat and Alipay mini-programs to their desktops, just to experience the “maid delivery service.”

 

The next day, we received widespread praise from netizens, who commented that our delivery was “fast,” the “taste was good,” “Nuo’er was cute,” and asked, “When will Nuo’er wear cat ears?” This left me unsure whether to laugh or cry.

 

Other places’ deliveries are typically praised for “large portions” and “authentic taste,” but for us, the labels become rather chaotic. It reminds me of how in online novels, readers often comment on “harems,” “invincibility,” and “high productivity,” but for my works, it’s “the author is a loli” or “the author is my wife.”

 

Our café has listed on four delivery platforms. Some platforms, leveraging their monopoly, force businesses to choose one platform or use invisible tactics to coerce users into choosing one. For example, if we only list on their platform, the fee is just 10%, but if we sign with two platforms, they charge a high fee of 25%. This means for every 100 yuan of delivery sales, we have to give the platform 25 yuan, which is very frustrating.

 

This kind of situation is actually an old tradition for us. The authorities prohibit platforms from monopolizing and enforcing “pick one out of two” rules, so the platforms claim they don’t force users to choose one option.

 

Instead, they manipulate transaction fees. It’s like some mobile apps: the authorities prohibit splash screen ads, so they implement a “shake your phone” feature. There’s no ad on the splash screen, but if you shake your phone and it vibrates, it automatically redirects to an ad page and downloads junk software. There are always ways to bypass the rules.

 

Fortunately, with Dolly and Yueyue, we don’t need to pay for rider delivery fees, which barely keeps our prices down. Ouyang Xue had initiated our delivery service on the café’s opening day, but it was never very successful.

 

By a stroke of luck, Yueyue and I did a quick and simple overhaul of the delivery store. The next day, we capitalized on the buzz and delivered all day, effectively making the café memorable to the nearby diners. Additionally, a lot of related delivery videos appeared on Tongmeng Net.

 

You could say Ouyang Xue’s decision truly felt like it “saved the café,” because if Ouyang Xue hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have continued with the deliveries that afternoon. This could have led to a large number of customers seeing the promotion, placing delivery orders, but then being disappointed because we didn’t deliver, thereby losing faith in our shop.

 

We previously discussed why our delivery service wasn’t taking off. Ouyang Xue, Xiao Mo, and I concluded that Nanqi District is relatively remote, with many elderly residents. Young people work downtown, so while the physical store does okay, few people use delivery apps or even know about them. The few young people who do use delivery apps found our previous delivery speeds too slow and prices too high, which hindered our success.

 

However, based on the past two days of delivering orders with Yueyue, our previous conclusion seems to be wrong. There are actually quite a few young people in the Nanqi District who are willing to order delivery and who really enjoy the anime culture. The reason our café had few delivery orders was purely due to insufficient promotion. After this commotion, delivery orders skyrocketed.

 

Or rather, it wasn’t just a matter of orders increasing. By the second day, the number of café orders was best described as “terrifying.” Dolly, Yueyue, and I would set out with three orders at a time, and if the routes were favorable, we’d take four or five.

 

After setting off, we’d control our speed to reach the first customer’s address within ten to fifteen minutes. Delivering three orders took about thirty minutes, and then we’d rush back to the café. This method worked well in the mornings and afternoons, but during the lunchtime and evening rush hours, it was overwhelming.

 

At our busiest times, Dolly and I would barely leave the café before my phone buzzed with new order notifications. When we returned half an hour later, there would be another five or six orders waiting.

 

Given the situation, Ouyang Xue had to quickly explain in the group chat and on the official Tongmeng Net account that due to the overwhelming number of orders at midday and in the evening, we would split into two delivery teams: Dolly and I in one team, and Yueyue on her own. Everyone understood, especially since Yueyue, as a lively and adorable cat girl, spoke with a charming “meow” accent that even I found heartwarming.

 

With this division of labor, Dolly, Yueyue, and I delivered almost as many orders on June 10th as the café had in the entire month of May, receiving numerous positive reviews.

 

Afterward, I returned to my maid duties, Xiao Mo continued managing the first-floor cat area, Fei Luo took charge of the basement bar, Li Chen or Lan Jiajia handled the second-floor milk tea station, and Gabriel, under Su Yunjin’s guidance, started experimenting with live streaming.

 

The underground esports area was sealed off for renovation. With the experience from the past two days, Dolly and Yueyue became adept at delivering orders. The Shangjing Cat Maid Café entered a “complete” state and began operating smoothly.

 

…………

 

Every morning, we have breakfast together before heading to work at the café. In the evenings, we go to Nanqi Tower to watch the love story of the old couple, sometimes visiting Moon Orchid Island to chat and share our feelings. Occasionally, I tease Xiao Mo or get teased by her. Time passes leisurely, and before we know it, several days have gone by.

 

One day, like any other, I woke up early to make breakfast for Yueyue, Lan Jiajia, and Xiao Mo, and helped prepare Ai Luodi’s “dinner.” I put on the new uniform for the café, took out the trash, and left for work.

 

Today is June 16th, Sunday, Father’s Day. After a few days of getting used to things, I’ve come to understand Dolly and Yueyue’s personalities and hobbies quite well. Unlike Fei Luo and Gabriel, who are several thousand years old and constantly on the move, these two little ones still need some attention from Xiao Mo and me.

 

Their magical abilities aren’t strong enough to let them play freely in a human city, and it’s not in their nature anyway. So, every night after finishing the last delivery, Dolly and Yueyue come back to rest.

 

The café delivery service only runs until 9:30 PM, after which it closes for the night. This means Dolly and Yueyue’s working hours are from 8 AM to 9:30 PM with almost no breaks. To me, this seems very inhumane, but the two of them think it’s perfectly fine and even insist they don’t need a commission or salary, which makes me feel a bit awkward.

 

“Today’s breakfast: Dolly gets a fruit salad, three carrots, and two cucumbers.”

“Yueyue gets crab porridge and a can of fish… here you go.”

 

To make up for their hard work, I try to prepare a variety of delicious foods for Dolly and Yueyue every day, using all my culinary skills. Their eating preferences are at opposite extremes: one loves vegetables and the other loves meat.

 

Fortunately, their preferences aren’t absolute. Dolly occasionally eats meat, and Yueyue can eat some vegetables and fruits. This gives me plenty of options when preparing their meals.

 

For example, today’s fruit salad for Dolly includes one dragon fruit, one apple, some banana, and some orange slices, all topped with salad dressing. It’s worth mentioning that the salad dressing sold in the supermarket here is all “Kewpie Salad Dressing.” Though the name is a bit odd, it tastes pretty good.

 

Dolly particularly likes the carrots here. Previously, Xiao Mo found it too troublesome to go to the vegetable market, so she bought fruit carrots from the fruit store for Dolly. Later, I went to the vegetable market myself and bought a large regular carrot. Dolly thought the large carrot tasted better than the fruit carrots, so I started including regular carrots in her meals.

 

As for Yueyue, her food theoretically costs more than Dolly’s vegetarian diet. However, since Shenzhen City is a coastal city with an abundance of seafood, getting crab and canned fish at wholesale prices is easy. I only need to buy an extra fish when cooking and grab some fish cans on the way back.

 

The most exasperating thing happened a few days ago when Yueyue came back from delivering orders. She saw me feeding Dingman with small dried fish and cat food from the store, got curious, tried a few bites, and then started clamoring to eat the store’s cat food and small dried fish. Xiao Mo and I had to pull her away.

 

Even though the cat food and small dried fish from the store are made by reputable manufacturers and are hygienic, for the sake of Yueyue’s reputation and health, I prefer to spend extra time preparing other foods for her.

 

Most cat food is simple to make, just cooked meat sealed in cans without any seasoning. Many manufacturers use scraps to make cat food, which I learned from Ouyang Xue’s “Cat Care Handbook.” The handbook explains that there are main food cans and snack cans for cats. You can distinguish them by the appearance and nutritional content. Main food cans contain lots of nutrients and are usually made of meat paste, with high crude protein and fat content, which can be seen on the nutrition label. These cans can replace cat food and be fed to cats long-term.

 

As for snack cans, they typically contain solid pieces in broth or jelly. Fish cans for humans can also be categorized as snack cans. In cat snack cans, you can find large chunks of fish, beef, shrimp, and other meats, with broth or jelly clearly separated, making them look nutritious.

 

However, these cans often use scraps or lower-quality ingredients and include additives like flavor enhancers. Cats find these very appetizing and prefer them over main food cans. Because of the high levels of additives, snack cans aren’t suitable as a cat’s main diet and should only be given occasionally as a treat.

 

What Yueyue had her eye on was the snack cans in the café. I suspect the flavor enhancers in them also affected her.

 

“Wow! Thank you!”

 

In the fragrant living room, Dolly and Yueyue took the food I handed over, and as usual, they sincerely thanked me.

 

“Master Nuo’er is always so considerate, no wonder Maste Momo treats you like a treasure and cuddles you to sleep every day.”

 

“You sweet talkers.”

 

It was clear that Xiao Mo enjoyed the compliment. She gave Yueyue a playful glare and sat down beside me.

 

“Even if Nuo’er didn’t cook, it wouldn’t matter to me.”

 

“You two showing off your affection so early in the morning, have you thought about us single folks?”

 

Lan Jiajia picked up her chopsticks.

 

“Morning, at work, and again in the evening. You two are always glued together.”

 

“Doesn’t Sister Lan Jiajia have Sister Ai Luodi?”

 

Over the past few days, Dolly and Lan Jiajia had become good friends. As Dolly nibbled on a carrot, she curiously asked, “I remember you two are…”

 

“Ahem.”

 

Lan Jiajia interrupted Dolly, “Forget about Xiao Ai. If she remembers me while she’s gaming, I’ll be grateful.”

 

“Click.”

 

As she spoke, the door opened, and Ai Luodi walked in, yawning.

 

“Everyone’s here.”

 

As usual, Ai Luodi returned from her early shift with her signature sleepy dark circles under her eyes. “Is there any food for me?”

 

“Yes, yes, Nuo’er made crab porridge today. We had roast goose last night and saved a portion for you. I’ll heat it up for you in a bit.”

 

Lan Jiajia quickly stood up and walked over to take Ai Luodi’s bag. “Didn’t get enough rest again?”

 

“How could I rest on the night shift?”

 

Ai Luodi yawned again. “Forget the roast goose, I’ll just have some crab porridge. I need to shower and sleep, eating something too greasy will upset my stomach… Is the crab shelled?”

 

“I shelled it for you, geez.”

 

Lan Jiajia headed towards the second floor with Ai Luodi’s bag. “You’re not planning to add chili, are you?”

 

“How did you know?”

 

“Come on, adding chili to seafood porridge is pure madness. No chili.”

 

“Dipping seafood in chili sauce with a bit of soy sauce is delicious…”

 

“Who just said they didn’t want to eat anything greasy before sleeping?”

 

“Soy sauce isn’t greasy…”

 

Laughing and bickering, the two of them went up to the second floor, presumably to prepare a bath.

 

“Nuo’er.”

 

Shifting my gaze back from the two girls, Yin Xiamo pulled out her phone from her pocket. “I’ve finished drawing the design for the graphics card.”

 

“Is it done?” I took the phone. “Let me see what it looks like.”

 

The night before last, while I was writing as usual, Yin Xiamo went to the room across from mine to use her new computer to work on the “Graphics Card Girl” design we had contracted with Jiang Wei.

 

This task had already been prioritized since Jiang Wei had received the chips from Xiongxiong Company and had found the relevant manufacturers to produce the graphics cards. Now, the only thing left was to complete the design for the card’s exterior and the box art.

 

Jialan Company, a subsidiary of Xiongxiong, is currently focusing on three graphics card models: Tianqi 2600, Tianqi 2800, and Tianqi 3000. These correspond to the mainstream graphics cards 4070 Ti, 4080, and 4090, respectively. Except for the Tianqi 3000, the prices are almost half of their counterparts, with the Tianqi 2600’s suggested price reportedly under 3000. It’s clear they’re aiming for a price war.

 

Jiang Wei had already designed the non-anime versions of these cards, featuring the usual black or white themes. Our task was to complete the anime-themed versions, which Jiang Wei had initially proposed as “Tianqi Cat,” “Tianqi Battle Maid,” and “Tianqi Lily: Elven Throne.”

 

The first two card designs are based on me, with Nuo’er in catgirl form and Nuo’er in battle maid form. Under Jiang Wei’s guidance, Yin Xiamo quickly finished the corresponding character illustrations. The last one, the flagship card from Xiongxiong, uses a “dual poster girl” illustration. Jiang Wei’s suggestion was a dual-elf design featuring Yin Xiamo and me, as a white elf and a dark elf.

 

“Very nice.”

I looked at the illustration on Xiao Mo’s phone and nodded. “You’re amazing, my dear.”

 

Xiao Mo’s drawing skills are undoubtedly exceptional. Despite not having formal training, her grasp of anatomy and color is top-notch. The illustration on the phone showed both of us with distinct elements: a water elf and a thunder elf, one gentle and one stern, one pure and cute, the other valiant and dashing. Various elements were perfectly blended together, creating a flawless and exquisite image.

 

As a writer, I’m somewhat familiar with the conventions in the artist community. For a double-character illustration like this, a private commission would cost at least three to five thousand. If it’s for commercial use, the price would be even higher. For well-known artists, a commercial commission of this sort could easily go for thirty to fifty thousand.

 

“I’ll send the file to Marisa then.”

 

My compliment made Xiao Mo blush slightly. She lowered her head and began organizing the relevant files.

 

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing the final product.”

 

Today is June 16th, just two days before the traditional June 18th online shopping festival. The timing of Xiao Mo’s submission is perfect for Jiang Wei’s schedule.

 

Jiang Wei’s factory has nearly completed the production of the graphics cards. The 2600 and 2800 series are almost done, and the 3000 series is just waiting for the final step of printing and packaging.

 

Now that Xiao Mo has submitted the design, Jiang Wei can finish the packaging and printing by this morning. With a bit of painting and recoloring, they can use tomorrow to finalize and package everything, and 618 items will be ready for sale.

 

The regular Tianqi 3000 model is priced at 9,999 yuan, while the Tianqi Lily: Elven Throne is a bit more expensive at 10,499 yuan. According to market research from Xiongxiong, since the 4090 is already dominant in the market, not many people would be willing to spend ten thousand yuan on a Tianqi 3000.

 

Therefore, Jiang Wei didn’t produce a large quantity of this model. They are counting on a few enthusiasts or reviewers to purchase it, test its performance, and generate enough buzz to drive up the market demand.

 

Therefore, on June 18th, Jiang Wei doesn’t need to produce many graphics cards, ensuring supply is sufficient. Everything has been discussed. Xiongxiong’s Jialan company entered the market at the beginning of June, starting public relations efforts on June 16th and 17th for promotion. Agents like Jiang Wei can use these two days to produce promotional videos, and then on June 18th, launch them together on various major e-commerce platforms.

 

Once people buy the graphics cards, those closer might receive them in two days, while those further away might take three to four days. Upon arrival, it takes a day to install the graphics card and another to find games and test its performance. Eventually, people may realize that there aren’t many games to play with the graphics card they’ve just bought. This is when “The Age of Aquarius” comes out, with its open beta on June 23rd.

 

It’s worth mentioning that June 23rd is also Olympic Day or Sports Day. Choosing this date for the open beta, one has to admit, shows the shrewdness of “Age of Aquarius” operators and Tongmeng Net.

 

Of course, all of this has little to do with us ordinary people. Xiao Mo and I just need to continue our simple lives as usual. Creating this graphics card design is just a way to repay Jiang Wei’s earlier favor and make some extra money on the side.

 

“This salad never gets old, no matter how many times you eat it.”

 

“Nuo’er’s crab porridge is so delicious, but there’s just not enough crab… If only there were at least ten crabs in a pot of crab porridge…”

 

While eating, Yueyue kept lamenting, “That kind of crab porridge would shine like a five-star food, just like canned cat food…”

 

“Putting ten crabs in a pot, are you kidding me?”

 

I couldn’t help but scoff, “That wouldn’t even be crab porridge anymore, it’d be crab stew!”

 

Canned crab, pressure cooker edition. And besides, with my current finances, I couldn’t afford to eat ten crabs every day. That’s just too expensive.

 

“Don’t mind her, Yueyue is like this, she likes to talk nonsense,” Dolly pulled the cat girl to her side and placed a piece of cucumber into her bowl. “Have some fruit.”

 

“Okay…”

Yueyue hesitated for a moment, then grabbed a large crab claw from her own bowl and placed it into Dolly’s bowl. Then, as if remembering something, she took the claw back, opened her mouth, and with a few crunching sounds from her sharp teeth, crushed the crab claw, revealing the tender meat inside, before putting it back into Dolly’s bowl.

 

“Finished.”

 

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

 

“I’m almost full.”

 

“……”

 

The way the two looked at each other with disgust made me chuckle.

 

“Oh, by the way, it seems like the mayor is coming today.”

 

After finishing breakfast, I remembered what Ouyang Xue reminded me of in the group chat last night and said to Dolly and Yueyue, “The mayor is basically the… um, manager of this city. There will be many reporters coming for interviews, so today we all need to wear those new clothes. Just deliver meals as usual, answer whatever questions people ask, and avoid answering any questions related to the other world.”

 

“Okay,” Dolly nodded. “Is there something special about the mayor’s visit?”

 

“Not really, probably just a formal appearance,” I stood up and helped clean the table, then took the garbage to the trash can on the side. “I reckon Su Yunjin will handle it, so we don’t need to worry.”

 

“……”

 

……