The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Except for the two who didn’t stay in the dorm, everyone clocked out at the normal time in the evening.

Fu Yu and the others stayed with Zhao Meng to prep ingredients until midnight thirty.

Perhaps due to being too physically exhausted, he felt a bit mentally excited instead.

Lying on the bed for a few minutes, Fu Yu eventually picked up his phone.

He had work the next day, so he didn’t dare browse the web and directly looked through some tools related to dough work for a while.

After reading just two articles, his eyes locked on ”The flour sifter, also called a sieve, comes in wooden and stainless steel versions...”

His consciousness quickly blurred, and soon he was deeply asleep.

The next morning, he woke to find the phone screen still on the introduction to dough tools.

Fu Yu chuckled awkwardly.

Indeed, he was still just a poor student!

As long as it wasn’t theory, even if practice was tiring, it was fine.

Today was a morning shift, and a new batch of ingredients had just arrived from the purchaser.

The prep work that wasn’t finished last night had to be ready before customers arrived.

As a result, he was so busy that he didn’t get to eat breakfast.

In the afternoon, they finally found some time, and Zhao Meng urged Fu Yu and the others to eat first while he kept things running.

Fu Yu, mindful that Zhao Meng hadn’t eaten yet, quickly devoured his food and stood up to take over for Zhao Meng.

Just then, Gu Yunwu came in to eat.

Fu Yu quickly greeted him, ”Chef Gu!”

Gu Yunwu smiled at Fu Yu, ”Xiaofu! Busy afternoon, huh? I saw your area handled about four table orders, right?”

Fu Yu nodded, ”Yes, it was quite busy, but thankfully Chef Zhao was there to oversee. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have managed.”

Gu Yunwu casually remarked, ”You’re not bad yourself—diligent and efficient. I heard that during the last formal evaluation, you outperformed Xiao Yao, especially with that innovative presentation that became one of our signature dishes. It’s amazing! With you around, it definitely eases Chef Zhao’s load.”

Fu Yu humbly replied, ”I just got lucky that time. In terms of culinary skills, I can’t compare to Chef Yao; after all, everyone has their own strengths!”

His words were flawless.

Gu Yunwu thought to himself, this kid’s as slippery as an eel; why didn’t I see his potential before?

But, among the assistants back then, Fu Yu’s performance wasn’t particularly outstanding.

Other than being good-looking, he had neither skill nor experience.

It was only after some time working with Zhao Meng that he was gradually brought on board as an assistant.

Looking at it this way, Fu Yu still lacked experience, and his culinary skills were mediocre!

After all, how long has he really been cooking? Even with talent, without time to hone, those skills wouldn’t improve much.

Suddenly, Gu Yunwu laughed, ”You’ve just started being official. Once you handle things more and practice more, you’ll surely get better. The kitchen’s a great platform! With many customers, you get lots of practice. Cooking isn’t hard; it’s all about hands-on experience.”

”To improve your skills, you need to be proactive! Like us, it’s all about practice, step by step. When opportunities come, you should seize them. Practice more; you have great talent, and I have high hopes for you!”

Gu Yunwu’s words were particularly inspiring.

Fu Yu had just become official and was eager to get involved.

Before, there was no chance to cook; now that the opportunity was there, you’d be a fool not to seize it.

Especially now, with Zhao Meng getting a string of orders, he couldn’t handle them alone.

Working under Zhao Meng, if Fu Yu didn’t step up to share the burden, he’d be pretty clueless.

You could say Gu Yunwu was quite skilled.

With just a few words, he easily stirred someone’s emotions.

From personal interest or social conventions, he hit Fu Yu’s soft spot just right.

A young man Fu Yu’s age is at a stage where they’re full of ambition but sometimes have more dreams than skills.

A little encouragement, and he’s sure to be eager for action, wanting to bravely take tasks on.

And why did Gu Yunwu say these things to Fu Yu?

Naturally, he had an agenda!

Perhaps the restaurant’s luck changed because business was clearly improving.

Now, the kitchen got heaps of orders every day.

From an outsider’s perspective, it might just seem busy. With more tables, the commission, this was a good thing.

But everyone in the kitchen knew, once those orders came in, you had to hurry to complete and serve them.

If you weren’t careful and delayed or the dish’s flavor was off, impacting the customer’s experience, any little complaint could cause chaos in the kitchen.

At that point, no one cared about your reasons.

As long as you upset a customer, it was your fault!

Money definitely gets deducted, and who knows what else might be said!

And for Fu Yu, who had just gone official, he still lacked experience in leading the cook.

No matter how talented, with few practice opportunities, it’s all just a façade.

By then, if due to taste issues a customer pinpoints a problem, even Zhao Meng wouldn’t be able to cover it!

Gu Yunwu had said all he needed to, and with a chuckle, he patted Fu Yu’s shoulder, ”Alright, go ahead and get busy, I just got some time off to have a bite.”

Fu Yu nodded in agreement, and the two passed each other.

The afternoon remained busy.

Zhao Meng had already informed them not to take any table orders today, so he was just focused on handling the current orders.

Today, Yao Shi stayed in the kitchen. The restaurant had received an order for a reunion of old classmates, a VIP customer, who booked half the open dining area and specifically requested Yao Shi to be the head chef.

Therefore, all other orders were piled onto Gu Yunwu.

Everyone in the kitchen was too busy to look after one another.

Seizing the time before the evening rush, when orders were few,

Zhao Meng made a point to bring the orders over to Gu Yunwu, ”Lao Gu, these six are tonight’s orders, see which dishes you can help with, and I’ll measure out the rest.”

Upon hearing this, Gu Yunwu frowned, ”Oh dear... what to do? Xiao Yao just asked for leave; he had some family issues and took the afternoon off. He’s already gone. Over here, I only have one order, but tonight there’s another regular customer’s order, and I haven’t prepped the ingredients yet. If more orders come in later, I won’t be able to keep up! Honestly, I can’t help you with this!”

Hearing this, Zhao Meng’s face changed immediately.

He’d been too busy to notice what was happening earlier.

Now he looked over, and indeed, Xiao Yao’s station was neatly cleaned up.

Who knows when he had already left.

Gu Yunwu’s words essentially blocked all Zhao Meng’s retreat routes!

But Gu Yunwu spoke so logically and reasonably that no one could find a fault.

”If it really can’t work... Old Zhao, well, with Xiao Yao not around, there’s an empty station over here you can use if needed, what do you think?”

Zhao Meng felt a lump in his throat, unable to get any words out.

What he needed now was personnel.

What good’s a cooking station without people?

He still had a sliver of hope that Gu Yunwu could lend a hand, providing at least some assistance here.

Now he was left without any solutions at all.