93: Change the world

"Old Man, you should have said so earlier. I steamed buns this morning and was planning to get some cucumbers to smash and eat with congee."

"Pick them, pick as many as you want. With your Cockroaches, I, this Old Man, will never have to worry about the yield of this vegetable garden again. Eat as much as you like."

"That sounds great!"

Ye Tian's face lit up with joy. Without standing on ceremony, he began picking the crisp, tender cucumbers he had already spotted.

He didn't stop until he had picked a whole bagful.

The Old Man was in high spirits and didn't pay much attention.

Once Ye Tian had picked enough, he led the way out of the greenhouse and closed the door.

They returned to the front yard.

Zhang Liang had arrived at some point.

Seeing the two of them beaming with smiles, he was a bit confused.

"Brother Tian, Old Man, did you two find money or something?"

"Heh, finding money is nothing. We two found a treasure today. Little Liang Zi, you should just be happy for us!"

The Old Man chuckled and ladled himself a big bowl of beef congee. Then, he grabbed a large meat bun and ate it with great relish.

Ye Tian also had an unprecedented appetite.

He smashed up the entire bag of cucumbers.

With some minced garlic and chili oil, he ate them with his congee and buns, feeling incredibly satisfied.

Seeing that the two of them had no intention of leaving any for him, Zhang Liang couldn't wait any longer.

He quickly joined the gluttonous army.

After a good while of eating and drinking.

The Old Man put down his bowl with great satisfaction.

"Little Ye, I won't worry about the outside matters today. I, this Old Man, need to study this 'using insects to control insects' method properly."

"No problem, Old Man, you go ahead and busy yourself."

Ye Tian cleared the dishes, also feeling a bit expectant.

If it were truly as the Old Man said, and the Cockroaches could form a predatory instinct without his direct command, it would definitely be a huge blessing.

Meanwhile, Zhang Liang, having heard about the morning's events at the table, went to the vegetable garden to check out the wonder with a look of astonishment on his face after finishing his meal.

Ye Tian called the waste recycling station.

Right off the bat, he ordered three trucks' worth.

Not long after, the egg trays arrived.

Ye Tian got straight to work.

By noon, he had actually carried all three trucks' worth of egg trays by himself.

And he wasn't even out of breath.

He even had the energy to prepare a table full of food.

The Old Man was busy coming and going all day, with people occasionally delivering various materials and tools.

Zhang Liang helped the workers finish two more rooms.

After lunch, Ye Tian originally intended to continue carrying egg trays.

However, he received a call from Wang Jia and her team.

"Boss, we scouted the places on the order list yesterday afternoon. Most are fine, but there are a few that are quite tricky. When do you think you'll have time to take a look?"

"Give me the addresses. I'll head over in a bit."

He hung up the phone.

Ye Tian returned to the room and opened the lid of the box.

With a call, all ten Strong-Grade Cockroaches crawled inside. After thinking for a moment, Ye Tian went to the breeding room and directed those Small Cockroaches to crawl in as well.

Then, he rode over to the address Wang Jia had sent.

When he arrived, he discovered it was a restaurant similar to Changle Restaurant.

However, compared to Changle Restaurant, it was much older—a true 'fly restaurant'.

Not to mention the kitchen, even the outer dining area was coated in a layer of dark, sticky grease.

Fortunately, this kind of restaurant wasn't in the area covered by the last major inspection; otherwise, it wouldn't even need an inspection—just one look would have resulted in an indefinite shutdown for rectification.

"Hello, I'm a service staff member from Tianxia Housekeeping. Is it here that needs housekeeping services?"

Looking around, Ye Tian's brows twitched slightly.

Having done housekeeping for so long, this was truly the first time he had seen a restaurant this dirty.

Because usually, restaurants like this would never think of hiring a housekeeping service.

"Yes, a young girl came by and said she would arrange for someone else to come. Um, could you take a look and see if you can handle this place?"

The person speaking was likely the male Shop Owner of the restaurant. He walked with a limp, seemingly having some issue with his leg. As he spoke to Ye Tian and looked at the state of his shop, he felt a bit embarrassed himself.

"This... it can be handled, but the fee might be a bit expensive."

Ye Tian hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Expensive... how much more expensive? You can see it yourself, our restaurant is just a small operation. If it weren't for the rumors everywhere about the next round of major inspections, I wouldn't be willing to spend money on a housekeeping service. Business in the shop usually isn't very good either..."

The Shop Owner said with some trepidation, limping over to pour tea for Ye Tian.

"Shop Owner, are you the only one in the shop?"

"Yes, usually it's just me. Sometimes my daughter helps out when she's finished with school."

Ye Tian nodded and took another look at the layout of the shop.

After pondering for a while, he said: "Shop Owner, I have a cheaper method, but I don't know if you'd be willing."

"What method?"

Hearing that there was a way to save money, the Shop Owner immediately perked up.

"It's that I want to use your place to film a before-and-after video to offset the extra cost. Otherwise, as you know, with the state of your restaurant, I'm afraid few people would be willing to take on a renovation, let alone housekeeping."

"Film a video? Does that require filming the name of our restaurant?"

The Shop Owner asked, feeling a bit guilty.

"No, I'll only film the interior. It won't expose your location or name."

"Then, how much cheaper can it be?"

"Just charge according to the market rate. For example, your restaurant is about 40 square meters. At three yuan per square meter, that's 120. For Cockroach extermination, it's 10 yuan per square meter, so 400. Let's round it off to 500 yuan. But Shop Owner, you should know the difference between your place and a normal house. Most Housekeeping Companies, let alone 500, even if you offered 2,000, I doubt anyone would dare take the job."

"Really, just 500?"

The Shop Owner's face lit up with joy.

"Yes, as long as you agree to the conditions I just mentioned, it's only 500."

"That's no problem. Thank you, little brother. To tell you the truth, I've asked several Housekeeping Companies before, and every single one of them asked for thousands right off the bat, which scared me so much I didn't dare continue the conversation. But, with such cheap fees, can you really do a good job?"

"Shop Owner, I'm planning to record a video, what do you think?"

The Shop Owner nodded in understanding. "Then you must be capable, little brother. Otherwise, you wouldn't think of using my shop for advertising. How soon can you start? Do you need me to help with anything?"

"Well, I need you to go out and have fun for two hours before coming back. Is that okay?"

Ye Tian smiled slightly.

"Why wouldn't that be okay? Then, little brother, I'll leave my shop to you. Feel free to do whatever you need; there's nothing valuable here anyway."

The Shop Owner breathed a sigh of relief. He then handed the shop keys to Ye Tian and went home to rest, following Ye Tian's instructions.

Watching him walk away, Ye Tian didn't waste any time.

He pulled down the roll-up door and turned on the lights.

First, he prepared the cleaning agent.

Then, he took out his phone and started recording the video.

He began filming the layers of shocking, aged grime in the shop.

Especially when he walked over to the kitchen stove.

Looking at the pitch-black grime that had been greasy for who knows how long, Ye Tian couldn't help but take many close-up shots.

Then, after ensuring he had filmed every angle.

Ye Tian gave a call.

The Cockroach army swarmed out.

However, this time, the invincible Cockroach army seemed to encounter an obstacle.

The cleaning speed dropped sharply.

There was no helping it; the grease was too thick. Without spending some time, they really couldn't eat through it.

Seeing this situation, Ye Tian wasn't in a rush to clean everything at once.

He found a stool to sit on and started playing with his phone.

Half an hour later, he got up and started cleaning.

This work lasted for two hours.

When Ye Tian poured out the last bucket of dirty water.

The Cockroach army was already stuffed, with each one's body even a size larger.

This time, even Blade had to be deployed to help with the cleaning.

There was no choice; the shop was just too old.

Many of the pipes, faucets, and such were covered in rust.

If they weren't dealt with, it would be an eyesore.

As a perfectionist, Ye Tian naturally wouldn't allow such a thing to happen.

So, when the strong cleaning agent he mixed couldn't completely eliminate those stubborn rust stains, he had to use Blade's saliva.

However, the effect was obvious.

The entire shop could simply be described as having undergone a sea change.

Even Ye Tian had never experienced such a stunning visual effect.

He couldn't help but open the shop door to let the sunlight in, then took his phone and snapped pictures frantically.

About ten minutes later, a sound came from behind him.

"Little brother, is it done?"

The Shop Owner walked forward with a limp, but his eyes, fixed on the shop front, were already wide open.

"Yes, it's about done. Shop Owner, take a look and see if there's anywhere I missed."

Watching the Shop Owner's astonished gaze, Ye Tian couldn't help but smile slightly.

After several hours of hard work, wasn't this kind of shock exactly what he had expected?

The Shop Owner nodded excitedly and walked into the room.

Everywhere he passed, he couldn't help but exclaim in wonder, his fingers touching here and wiping there. It was as if he had walked into an unfamiliar world.

He went all the way into the kitchen.

His exclamations of wonder came to an abrupt halt, replaced by a gasp.

"My God... is... is this my kitchen?"

"What's wrong? Is something not right?"

Hearing the other person call out so dramatically, Ye Tian thought something had happened and quickly followed him in.

"This... these tiles of mine, they're white?"

"Yes, they are white!" Ye Tian laughed.

"But, ever since I took over this restaurant—no, since I was a child, when my family opened this restaurant—I had always thought they were gray..."

Uh...

What could Ye Tian say? Apart from stifling a laugh, he couldn't say anything.

"And this stove, it's actually gray. That fan can actually turn now. Even the faucets are no longer rusty..."

The Shop Owner explored the kitchen like someone entering the Grand View Garden for the first time. He kept muttering non-stop.

After a long while, he let out a long sigh of relief.

He gave Ye Tian a thumbs-up.

"Little brother, I'm impressed! Your Housekeeping Company is truly awesome! In my whole life, I've never imagined that cleaning could be done to this extent. It's simply incredible."