The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

When Fu Yu returned to the dormitory in the evening, the hallway was silent.

Fu Yu opened the door and entered the room. After a simple wash, he did not collapse into bed thanks to his amazing willpower. Instead, he gathered his energy and continued to review all of Liu Yunong’s cooking videos, sticking to his study plan.

Ever since he started spending his after-work hours learning at Shangshi Private Kitchen, Fu Yu’s time had become increasingly tight.

Every day, he rose early and worked late. On his rare day off, he still had to go to the music restaurant, leaving him with no time to rest at all.

Returning to the dormitory at night, he persisted in studying for an hour. By the time he could truly rest, he would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Life was tough, and Fu Yu couldn’t help but feel inferior whenever he saw Liu Yunong, who was always full of energy and perpetually in her best state.

How could this beautiful woman, just over thirty, manage to handle such a high-intensity work pace so comfortably?

While other women were busy maintaining their skin and enjoying the pleasures of life during their prime, Liu Yunong dedicated all her time to running her business.

She immersed herself in the kitchen, cooking, or remotely managed various work matters.

She didn’t go to entertainment venues, attend friends’ gatherings, or have any hobbies other than cooking.

Among all the women Fu Yu knew, Liu Yunong was a typical career woman.

She poured all her passion into her work, always wearing simple light makeup and decent but unremarkable clothes.

Mature, independent, exuding a charm missing in younger girls.

Even though she could rely on her looks, she chose to rely on her strength, dedicating herself entirely to her work.

Watching Liu Yunong working at the kitchen counter, Fu Yu inexplicably felt somewhat grateful.

Had she not lived like a career woman, she would have married and had children long ago, wouldn’t she?

Fortunately, Liu Yunong was engrossed in her career. Otherwise, where else could he find the opportunity to learn the rare Liu Family Cuisine?

...

Every weekend was the busiest time in the kitchen.

With a constant stream of orders, the time spent at the counter seemed particularly long.

Among the heavy and tedious work, Fu Yu’s only pleasure was catching Liu Yuqing delivering the orders and listening to her cheerfully talk about the issues she discovered while reviewing videos the day before.

The two would discuss and banter while looking at Liu Yuqing’s pretty and likable face, melting away much of the surrounding fatigue.

After Liu Yuqing left, Sun Qingning smiled and remarked, ”No wonder they say being handsome has its advantages! Look at our Chef Fu, struggling away in the kitchen, yet he’s got a beauty to comfort him.”

Hearing this, Fu Yu suddenly realized that maybe his life wasn’t so bad after all!

At Qianlima, he had the charming Liu Yuqing to amuse and soothe him.

At the music restaurant, there was the beautiful Qu Jing to please the eye.

At Shangshi Private Kitchen, there was the famous Chef Liu to learn from while enjoying the company of a beauty.

Upon such reflection, Fu Yu slowly realized that being busy with work daily was quite satisfying, after all. Otherwise, during his rest, besides his good friend, the divine right hand, he had no other entertainment.

Work is better!

You earn money and get to be around beautiful women!

...

At noon, an order runner came to deliver an order.

A big banquet, with a total of twenty-five dishes.

All of them were the restaurant’s specialties.

What was unusual was that the customer didn’t order any staple food or soups.

Zhang Jinyu stretched her neck to take a look at the long order list and exclaimed, ”Wow! How many people are eating? Ordering so many dishes?”

The order runner continued, ”It’s a family of three, and they said they are preparing to host a meal for others, so they came to try the dishes today.”

So, it was a tasting session, which made sense.

The restaurant had encountered this kind of situation before.

For such large banquet orders, by rule, whoever’s turn it was had to take the order.

Today, it was Zhao Meng’s bad luck; it was his turn.

Fu Yu took the order, nodded to Zhao Meng, and focused on the cooking.

Garlic steamed prawns, spicy stir-fried squid, steamed grouper, steamed egg with sea urchin, braised abalone...

One dish after another was carried to the front hall by the order runner.

Fu Yu was about to cook the salt-baked lobster when the order runner suddenly came back with a message.

”Chef Fu, the customer said they want to change the order.”

Fu Yu was taken aback, ”Why?”

It’s common for orders to change temporarily, but changing the entire menu was something Fu Yu encountered for the first time.

”Is it a taste issue?”

The order runner explained truthfully, ”No, it seems the family’s child once dined with the guests they’re hosting and really liked two particular dishes, but the child doesn’t know the names, only that they were eaten here, so they came to see if they could find those two dishes.”

Ah, so that was the method of tasting!

Since someone had tried the dishes and came, there was no worry about not finding out which two dishes they were.

After all, with his upgraded Craftsman’s Badge, just a few words would reveal the customer’s thoughts.

And the upgraded version, to this day, had not been used, so he wasn’t sure if it would indeed change like a sketch becoming a colored picture, as he previously thought.

But before that, certainly meeting the customer’s requests was the priority.

Since the customer requested to change the menu, then change it should be.

The kitchen agreed, and the order runner quickly brought the replacement list.

Fu Yu glanced at it; the dishes had indeed changed, shifting from every kind of seafood to a feast of all fish dishes.

Instead of whole braised or steamed fish, they opted for specialties like crispy fried fish strips and salt and pepper fish slices.

Two more dishes were prepared and carried away by the order runner.

Zhang Jinyu leaned on the kitchen wall, counted the remaining dishes, and couldn’t help but complain, ”Still 13 dishes left! How long will this tasting take? Taking this order is like working three shifts worth!”

In the kitchen, each order calculated by the seat earns a commission, and big banquets lead to more work, with less pay.

Fu Yu casually picked up a piece of braised fish and stuffed it into Zhang Jinyu’s mouth, ”Alright, stop talking, help me taste how it is?”

Zhang Jinyu’s eyes widened in surprise, happily biting into the fish.

Though it was called a tasting, it was essentially an extra serving.

Fu Yu no longer needed others to taste his dishes since he expertly managed seasoning.

Zhang Jinyu knew this well, and she happily chewed the fish in her mouth.

The hot fish was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, with a rich and fresh flavor, and no bones at all.

Zhang Jinyu inhaled sharply, eating while praising, ”Delicious! Chef Fu, your braised fish is absolutely amazing!”

Fu Yu asked, ”Still angry?”

Zhang Jinyu smiled foolishly, ”Not anymore, they all say that good food can cure everything!”