The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Whenever a highly praised individual appears, there will always be a background character as a foil.

So when everyone eagerly discussed how amazing and excellent Fu Yu was, they would also mention another person.

Feng Hai became a key figure in the trending topic.

If Feng Hai’s culinary skills weren’t lacking and he could cook the divine fish, there wouldn’t have been any need for Fu Yu to step up and save the day.

So, in everyone’s eyes, the more outstanding Fu Yu was, the more it highlighted Feng Hai’s undeserved reputation.

Originally, Feng Hai wanted to slowly build some prestige in the eyes of others, quickly establish himself in the kitchen, and strive to compete for the head chef position in the future.

But unexpectedly, before he could even get started, he had already left a conspicuous impression on everyone, leaving them with the idea that his reputation was undeserved.

Now people were privately speculating about why the boss had hired Feng Hai back, wondering if it was because he was cheap.

Every time Feng Hai thought about this devaluation of his reputation, he felt a pang of anger in his chest.

However, this kind of gossip is always like a repeating echo—better to work through it than block it.

Even though Feng Hai was grinding his molars in hatred deep down, on the surface, he could only appear unfazed as if he knew nothing.

Since then, Feng Hai became even more pleasant and diligent in his work.

Especially when facing Fu Yu, Feng Hai appeared even more enthusiastic and friendly than Zhang Zhen.

Favored and treated well by everyone in the kitchen, Fu Yu found his one-day-per-week part-time job increasingly satisfying.

On Tuesday evening, Fu Yu took a taxi as planned to Shangshi Private Kitchen.

Liu Yunong now tries to come over every day, helping out in the kitchen and guiding Fu Yu with the right cooking techniques.

”Alright, give it a try yourself.”

Unlike Qianlima’s menu system, Shangshi Private Kitchen has a limited daily selection of dishes.

This provided Fu Yu with an excellent opportunity for practice.

He could repeatedly practice cooking the same dish.

And those who made it a point to dine at the private kitchen were knowledgeable gourmand customers with no concern for expenses, so their demands were high.

Liu Yunong carefully instructed Fu Yu on what to pay attention to while cooking, and then let him practice on his own.

Fu Yu was very interested in Liu Family Cuisine, and he studied it diligently.

He cooked two dishes on his own, earning Liu Yunong’s approval.

Thus, moving forward, these two dishes were his responsibility, and he began cooking them over and over again.

The service industry always encounters a large number of customers,

like a vast forest.

And in a large forest, you’ll find all kinds of birds, and all sorts of situations can arise.

The male waiter responsible for front-of-house reception was Zhang Conglin, who came over from the headquarters with others.

At Shangshi Private Kitchen, there is no front-of-house manager, so although Zhang Conglin is called a waiter, he’s actually responsible for all management matters up front.

Besides him, there are two runners and four waitstaff.

The Shangshi Private Kitchen is not very large, following the philosophy that rarity makes it precious, so the service staff is not as lavish as in other restaurants.

Zhang Conglin came hurriedly to the kitchen just as Fu Yu was handing over a finished dish to a runner.

Business was good today; even the private rooms were fully booked.

The runner rushed off with the dish, narrowly avoiding a collision with Zhang Conglin.

”Brother Zhang, what’s up?”

The runner asked casually.

Zhang Conglin usually handled customers in the open dining area and rarely came to the kitchen.

Zhang Conglin waved his hand, signaling the runner to deliver the dish first.

Then he walked quickly to Liu Yunong’s cooking station and said, ”Boss, a customer’s up front saying they’re long-term vegetarians and asked if we can avoid onion and garlic in the dishes.”

Liu Yunong paused and asked, ”What kind of customer?”

Zhang Conglin quickly replied, ”Looks like an aunt and her niece. The older lady must be over sixty, and her niece seems to be in her forties.”

In normal cases, if customers had dietary restrictions, the kitchen would do its best to accommodate.

But today, unfortunately, the menu mainly consisted of meat dishes, and the only two vegetarian dishes were flavored with garlic and onion.

These garlic and onion flavors—without the garlic and onion, what’s left to eat?

Liu Yunong nodded and suddenly said, ”Go tell them that eating vegetarian and eating a religious vegetarian diet are different. Eating vegetarian means avoiding fish and meat. Only a religious vegetarian diet requires avoiding those and certain pungent spices. If they aren’t religious devotees, then our vegetarian dishes can be normally ordered. If they are, it’s already evening, and isn’t it customary for them not to eat after noon?”

”Ask them exactly what they need, and we’ll place the order accordingly.”

Zhang Conglin understood at once, agreed quickly, and turned to leave.

Fu Yu listened to this whole exchange, and was full of admiration for Liu Yunong’s quick thinking and handling of the situation.

It’s possible to do that?

Curious, he peeked toward the service window while handing over a dish, and saw Zhang Conglin talking to the aunt and niece at the left side of the bar.

The younger middle-aged woman said, ”My aunt is a vegetarian, just two vegetarian dishes, and we’ll add these two other dishes as well.”

Zhang Conglin nodded and noted it down.

”Alright, the kitchen will get your dishes out as soon as possible.”

The middle-aged woman then asked, ”Did you make it clear to the kitchen? The two vegetarian dishes absolutely cannot have garlic or onion—my aunt is a vegetarian.”

Zhang Conglin repeated Liu Yunong’s explanation to her.

”If you’re simply a vegetarian, you can have garlic and onion. Being vegetarian means no meat or fish, while those items are part of the ’Five Spices,’ which only need avoiding for a religious diet.”

The middle-aged woman instinctively looked at her aunt, ”Is that so?”

The old lady hesitated slightly and nodded, ”I think so. I’m just a vegetarian, not really a religious devotee.”

After a discussion, they decided to order as usual.

Once everything was sorted out, Zhang Conglin was relieved and quickly placed the order slip in the kitchen’s order window.

Liu Yunong casually asked, ”How did it go?”

Zhang Conglin couldn’t help but give Liu Yunong a thumbs-up, ”Impressive! They’ve decided to order normally.”

Liu Yunong smiled slightly, clearly not making a big deal of it.

Fu Yu, having observed the entire situation: ”...”

Impressive!

Fu Yu curiously asked, ”Chef Liu, do you understand religious vegetarian diets?”

Liu Yunong shook his head, ”Not really. It’s just that I once went to a temple fair with my family and ate a religious vegetarian meal. I heard the older folks mention this there.”

In the food business, you encounter a diverse range of customers, and dealing with them appropriately relies mostly on experience.