Chapter 382: Presentation of Culinary Skills
Translator: Xiong_Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
Theoretically, conventions shouldn't be rejected, but Yuan Zhou had his own consideration. Frankly speaking, his obsessive-compulsive disorder had already been in the late stages, but was now strengthened even more by the system.
"Respected Zhou, I don't need any assistants. If you have any queries, you can come to my restaurant personally and I'll prove to you." Yuan Zhou said that with a seemingly euphemistic tone.
The silence lasted for a great while at the other end of the phone. Then, Zhou Shijie said, "Do you mean you want no one as your assistant?"
"Yes." Yuan Zhou answered cleanly.
"Can you tell me the reason?" Zhou Shijie asked with puzzlement.
He just didn't understand why this person who didn't look prideful before was now even tougher than Chu Xiao.
At the very least, Chu Xiao chose two masters that were barely qualified.
"I'm just used to doing it all alone." Yuan Zhou said with an indifferent tone.
"Some of the precious ingredients will have to be processed in very short time. How many apprentices are you prepared to bring along?" Zhou Shijie didn't ask more, but changed the subject.
"I'm going to do it all alone." Yuan Zhou answered positively and earnestly.
"Leaving aside other work, the work of vegetable washing and cutting as well as plate presentation has to be done by somebody." Zhou Shijie immediately choked. Only after quite a while did he speak again.
"It's going to be done by me alone, too." There was puzzlement contained in Yuan Zhou's tone.
In Yuan Zhou's opinion, if he didn't need an assistant, the work was naturally to be done by himself. Otherwise, why would he refuse an assistant?
"Are you sure?" Although Zhou Shijie was puzzled, he had nothing to say as the rule was like that.
"Wait a moment." Yuan Zhou thought Zhou Shijie was going to hang up the phone and hence he uttered.
At the other end of the phone, Zhou Shijie contrarily felt relieved immediately. He thought Yuan Zhou would surely regret it and still needed the assistant, thinking inwardly, "Luckily, this guy knows to retract from the wrong path. He has to get one to help him."
"I have no requirement on hotels as long as it's not far from Taoxi Road. And for the time to cook, I want it to be 8:30 in the evening." Yuan Zhou brought out his requirements altogether.
"Is that all? Got it. This old man will arrange everything." Zhou Shijie then seriously choked and had to agree to Yuan Zhou's requirements.
Having thought for a while, however, Zhou Shijie said persistently, "There are no problems with all your requirements. But I must tell you in advance that you need to cook in an open kitchen. If you don't need an assistant, will there be any problems?" Zhou Shijie said earnestly.
"Ok. No problem." Yuan Zhou nodded his head and agreed.
"One more thing. You will start cooking at 9:00. During the half an hour before that, you have to persuade those chefs that were unable to take part in the cooking activity." Zhou Shijie stroked his beards and appeared quite solemn.
This convention was originally a kind of welfare to those chefs. Now that the winner was reluctant to offer them, he naturally had to explain to them by himself.
"Um, ok." Yuan Zhou also gave an affirmative answer.
"Good. I'll be looking forward to admiring Master Yuan's culinary skills." After saying that, Zhou Shijie hung up the phone.
After Yuan Zhou rested for a while, he suddenly asked in the quiet restaurant, "Whose food ingredients do you think are better, yours or theirs?
Naturally, he said that to the system. However, the system never paid attention to Yuan Zhou's desire to chat with him and usually he had no reaction.
Yuan Zhou just waited peacefully. Three days later, he would try to cook the top-notch food ingredients provided by others. Even Yuan Zhou had not made some of those dishes before, so he was also quite expectant.
Nevertheless, it wasn't so peaceful at Zhou Shijie's end. Just after he notified everyone that Yuan Zhou didn't want any assistants, his phone rang again.
"Master Cheng, what's the matter?" Zhou Shijie asked as usual.
"Are you serious? Master Yuan doesn't need any assistants and will do all the work by himself? Not even a person to wash vegetables for him?" Master Cheng looked to be quick-tempered. Once the call was put through, he asked impatiently.
"Yes. That's exactly right." On hearing that, Zhou Shijie answered habitually.
"Ok. Sorry to bother." Master Cheng kept silent for a while and then hung up the phone.
The few chefs all called him and inquired about that. Only when it was in the evening did Zhou Shijie's phone stop ringing.
"These chefs are way too anxious. Fortunately, it has all stopped now," Zhou Shijie muttered to himself.
Just after that, his phone rang again stridently, "Ding Ling Ling, Ding Ling Ling."
Without taking a look, Zhou Shijie directly answered it and said, "Master Yuan indeed doesn't need the assistant. He will officially explain the reason at 8:30 p.m. three days later."
"The rumor turns out to be true." It wasn't the voice of other chefs, but was the arrogant voice of Chu Xiao.
"Ah, it's Master Chu. Are you also calling to ask about that?" Zhou Shijie took the phone off his ears with puzzlement and then took a look. The two characters of Chu Xiao were glistening on the screen. It was indeed him.
"Um. Nothing special. I'm hanging up." Then, Chu Xiao really hung off the phone.
"It seems this guy is unwilling to admit defeat." Zhou Shijie shook his head. He didn't actually care about these trifles much.
After he hung up the phone, he directly went back home.
At the other side, several chefs that had taken part in the contest met. After all the chefs' communication and confirmation, they got to know that Yuan Zhou wanted to have the benefits of all the precious ingredients to himself.
"Ho Ho. I will just sit back and wait to see that Master Yuan get stuffed. How dare he uses twenty precious ingredients to cook dishes alone?" A moon-faced chef held his arms and humphed.
"Exactly. He really has eyes bigger than the stomach." One would for sure feel quite annoyed when their benefits were snatched even if the benefits hadn't fallen upon themselves, not to mention that there was a chance he would be obtaining the benefit.
"Do you guys think it is possible? Cook the dishes alone without even a single worker to help him?" The chef tidied his chef's hat and smiled scornfully.
"Bullsh*t, that's totally impossible. Of course, it's possible if he cooks all night long. But I'm afraid the dishes wouldn't be eatable then?" Master Cheng said with disdain.
"Although Master Yuan is indeed knowledgeable, I don't think he is that good on other aspects." Master Fang that had quit the game voluntarily also said scornfully.
Nobody believed that Yuan Zhou could process these food ingredients well in a short time by himself.
After all, the more precious and delicious the ingredients were, the shorter its freshness lifetime was, that was to say, Yuan Zhou had to use up all the ingredients to cook the dishes within 2 hours.
But according to Yuan Zhou, he wouldn't take anybody there, not even a worker to wash vegetables.
None of the chefs believed that Yuan Zhou could make it. After all, they would rather wash the vegetables or make some sculptures even though the winner didn't like them to cook. It wasn't necessary for them to do any of the work, but for the sake of the precious ingredients, they could accept that.
Nevertheless, Yuan Zhou didn't even give this opportunity to them. It was simply as if Yuan Zhou ate all the meat without leaving a single gulp of broth to them. How could they bear that humiliation?
"I'm just waiting to see that prideful person swallow his own bitter pill." It was almost everyone's wish.
However, will Yuan Zhou actually be frantic about that?
...