The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

As the lunch hour approached, Fu Yu finished checking the pickling status of the side dishes and began inspecting the prep work of the assistants and the readiness of all condiments and kitchenware.

This was a habit instilled in Fu Yu by Zhao Meng through hands-on teaching.

No matter the time, before taking control of the stove, one must understand the ingredients, condiments, and kitchenware they will use.

It’s essential to be prepared.

This can prevent any slip-ups due to these necessities, and adjustments and arrangements can be made promptly according to the number of orders received.

Moreover, it’s necessary to instruct the assistants a bit more since they lack experience in handling the stove.

Zhao Meng did an excellent job in this regard; his team was generally able to perform well in their respective duties, not because Zhao Meng was exceptionally talented or skilled at organization.

Rather, it was because he was very serious about his work and had strict requirements for his subordinates.

He was fully aware of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses at work.

He could reasonably assign tasks, so his team always worked in a highly organized manner.

This was also a good habit Fu Yu learned from Zhao Meng.

After all the busy preparations, it was almost 10 AM.

The front hall began to receive order slips.

Fu Yu immediately threw himself into work.

Finally finishing the orders at hand and ensuring all the banquets had dishes ready to serve, Fu Yu took a quick break and headed to the restroom.

As he turned the corner from the back kitchen, he spotted Gu Yunwu standing in the hallway corner, chatting and laughing with a newly hired order taker as if they were hitting it off exceedingly well.

Just before, Gu Yunwu’s team was busy, running around tirelessly.

Fu Yu didn’t want to intervene, but when he thought about how Gu Yunwu took a large banquet order just now, and there were two reminders from the waiter before, he felt he had to.

In the back kitchen, Zhao Meng and Gu Yunwu typically took turns receiving orders. If Gu Yunwu couldn’t keep up, Fu Yu would be overwhelmed.

Thinking of this, Fu Yu couldn’t help but seize the opportunity to greet them and gently remind him, ”Chef Gu, you guys received a large banquet order earlier, and there are quite a few guests in-house right now!”

Hearing Fu Yu’s words, Gu Yunwu clearly didn’t take it to heart, just nodded and replied perfunctorily, ”Oh, okay, I got it.”

After he finished, he continued chatting happily with the order taker.

Fu Yu shook his head helplessly and proceeded to the restroom.

When he came out, Gu Yunwu was still there chatting.

Seeing Fu Yu, he just nodded without saying anything extra.

Fu Yu really didn’t know what to say.

He also nodded and quickly returned to the back kitchen.

To be honest, Fu Yu thought that for a man like Gu Yunwu in his age, setting aside physical appearance, in terms of work and financial stability, he was actually quite good.

Successful career, house, car, savings, high salary, and not too unattractive, at just over forty, he was in his prime.

With a bit of humor and eloquence, leveraging his rich experience, he was relatively easy to win the favor of young, inexperienced women.

In contrast, Fu Yu suddenly realized he maybe also had picked up a bad habit from spending too much time with Zhao Meng.

He tended to rush and become impulsive, sometimes blurting out words without thinking if they should be said.

People say words can bring trouble, and sometimes, words meant with good intentions may not be perceived as such by others.

After all, no one can read another’s mind, so how can they know what you mean by your words and actions!

However, there’s no need to overthink everything.

Fu Yu shook his head indifferently and returned to the back kitchen.

As Fu Yu anticipated, working alongside Gu Yunwu for order-taking was quite a challenging task.

With the influx of lunch customers, the number of orders in the back kitchen surged prominently.

At first, Fu Yu couldn’t help but occasionally keep an eye on Gu Yunwu’s order-taking, but gradually, he found himself too absorbed with his own workload.

He barely made it through the lunch rush hour.

By 2 PM, everyone in the kitchen gathered to have lunch.

Today’s lunch was handled by Gu Yunwu’s side.

With Yao Yihang not present, Zhang Jiaxin took over the cooking.

The dishes were average, made from leftover ingredients in the kitchen, and two extra fish were stewed.

Fu Yu glanced at it without much appetite.

It’s not that Zhang Jiaxin cooked poorly.

It’s just that staying in the kitchen, eating these things every day, he had long gotten sick of them.

Especially when he could have various specialty dishes at Shangshi Private Kitchen every night, these employee meals didn’t interest him at all.

He hastily ate a bit and then found a place to rest.

He took out his phone, picked a movie that suited his taste, and while watching, he admired the details of the scenes.

Movies with a storyline are more immersive.

Look at that delicate and fair sheen, and such an enticing rosy color.

This pork belly was chosen so well!

It must be from farm-raised pigs; the meat quality is entirely different from the common market feed pigs!

Fu Yu watched two movies with relish, but without a pen at hand, he could only rely on his memory for the detailed operations.

This time of the day is generally when people feel the sleepiest.

Especially when relaxing, once someone yawns, others surely follow suit.

Sun Qingning, sitting opposite Fu Yu, just yawned, and the next second, Fu Yu unconsciously followed, also yawning.

Feeling drowsy, Fu Yu decided to put down his phone and rest with his eyes closed.

It’s a common workplace phenomenon, still a world mystery: The more relaxed you are, the more likely issues arise.

Fu Yu had just closed his eyes to rest for a bit when an overwhelming drowsiness overcame him.

Fu Yu tried to stay awake, gave Sun Qingning, who was busy playing mobile games, a reminder, ”I’m going to take a quick nap; if anything comes up, wake me up immediately.”

Fu Yu adjusted himself to a more comfortable position and closed his eyes.

It seemed like he didn’t sleep long before falling into a deep slumber.

Sun Qingning, absorbed in his game, was suddenly interrupted when an order taker hurried into the back kitchen.

”Chef Fu, there’s an order!”

Following the usual order rotation, this order should be handled by Zhao Meng’s side.

Sun Qingning quickly stopped the person, ”Shhh, Chef Fu is asleep; keep it down. Let me see the order first!”