When She Stops Being Dramatic

Chapter 83: Chapter 48: Forsaken Wife of the 50s (48)

Director Gao couldn’t help but take a bite. He tasted it with a deadpan expression, but his eyes were already welling up with tears.

’Oh, heavens! If you were going to create her, why did you create me?’

Everyone had a taste, and soon, only the fish head remained on the plate, without a single fish bone in sight.

Next was the Wensi Tofu. The block of tofu was perfectly square. Zhu Yun gently tapped the top with a spoon, and it bloomed like a firework, like a brilliant queen of the night flower blossoming in layers. The fineness of the shreds far surpassed Director Gao’s.

Usually, after the senses of sight and sound have been so thoroughly impressed by a dish, expectations for the taste become sky-high. This often means something that should be a perfect ten ends up feeling like a seven, a little underwhelming.

But Zhu Yun’s dish made taste the grand finale, giving everyone a complete, rich experience of perfection in color, aroma, and flavor. It was so satisfying it could make every hair on your head stand on end.

One dish could perhaps be dismissed as a fluke, but the Wensi Tofu made everyone swallow their doubts.

Then came the Golden Lion Fish. It had been said that it could be cut into over two hundred strips, but that word ”over” was quite telling. Two hundred and one is ”over,” and so is two hundred and ninety-nine.

Just by looking at the fineness of the fish shreds and the way they swayed in the sauce, it was clear that Zhu Yun had once again come out on top.

After seeing the three dishes, it was certain she had won.

Everyone eagerly turned their gazes to the other two platters. As the kitchen assistant unveiled them one by one, even Director Gao couldn’t help but gasp, ”Pagoda Pork and Three Non-Stick!”

The leaders didn’t understand why Director Gao was so astonished. Wasn’t it just an ordinary tower of pork belly, and a lump of yellow dough?

At that moment, someone with a dazed expression explained, ”Pagoda Pork is sliced with a continuous cut, with every slice remaining connected. One wrong move, and the whole dish is ruined. The thickness of the slices, the height of the tower—it all matters. The closer it is to a perfect pyramid, the more incredible the knife skills!”

Director Gao couldn’t help but add, ”This dish is such an extreme test of knife skills that very few chefs even attempt it. To try and fail, making it look crudely cut? You’d be a laughingstock among professionals.”

Only then did everyone realize: the tower hadn’t been carved from a solid block, but was formed by coiling the meat layer upon layer!

Director Gao then personally explained the Three Non-Stick. The single fact that many great Xiahua chefs hadn’t mastered its essence even after more than a decade of practice was enough to demonstrate how formidable this dish was.

By now, everyone was looking at Zhu Yun with complex expressions. ’Just what kind of prodigy is she?’

Thanks to Mr. Chu, everyone had either secretly dug into Zhu Yun’s background or had it poured into their ears against their will.

Learning that she was Wang Xianbing’s ex-wife—the one from whom he was divorced but had not separated households—everyone felt that Wang Xianbing must have been struck by lightning or was just blind. How could he not know how to keep such a beautiful and talented woman in his home?

He was shallow, but for all the wrong reasons. He probably had his eyes on the Lin Family’s favorable conditions. Wasn’t that just like marrying into their family?

At that moment, they all felt contempt for Wang Xianbing in their hearts. As for Mr. Chu, who had recognized this uncut jade, they felt a mix of envy, jealousy, and bitterness.

This time, Zhu Yun was promoted to Deputy Section Chief without any objections. She also gained a group of entry-level disciples, many of whom were quite senior in age.

Everyone sat quietly in the conference room for a meeting.

Director Wang spoke a few words, then yielded the floor to Zhu Yun.

Zhu Yun glanced at the crowd. People in this era were simple-minded, especially artisans. They had their own tempers, but also a high sense of integrity.

She chuckled lightly and said, ”Yesterday was the first day our factory’s canteen was opened in response to the organization’s call. I wonder if any of you masters have any thoughts on it?”

At the mention of this, the crowd grimaced. ”The comrades acted like they’d lost their minds. They treated the public grain like it was nothing, wishing their stomachs were bottomless pits. Yesterday, an old lady even brought a basin to get her food...”

”We tried to talk some sense into them, but they came up with all sorts of excuses, like having many growing teenagers at home who can never eat enough. Besides, the organization ordered the canteen to be open, and they said they weren’t eating *our* food, so we couldn’t say a single word to dissuade them...”

”That’s right! Some even threatened to report us for not following the organization’s arrangements.”

The master chefs, who sometimes served food themselves, knew everyone’s usual portion sizes. To see the open canteen turn into such a chaotic situation left them angry and helpless, their hearts aching for the wasted grain.

They were all people who had endured hardship; they couldn’t stand to see such waste!

After listening to everyone’s complaints, Zhu Yun smiled. ”You can’t get anywhere without rules. The organization just said to open the canteen. Did they specify *how* it should be implemented?”