Gourmet: Midnight Vending-Chapter 314 - 291: Not a Judge, but a Ringer

Chen Mo’s image became even more impressive in Hou Yao’s mind.

After all, what’s not to admire about a young man who’s willing to live in a dilapidated building instead of inheriting his father-in-law’s million-dollar assets?

Standing outside the unfinished building, Hou Yao pondered for a long time, feeling that his boss was truly unkind. Poor Xiaochen was already in such a state, and yet he still wanted Xiaochen to pretend to be a competitor to suppress the applicant named Zhou Yu.

Absolutely outrageous.

Hou Yao found a gap, bent over and crawled in. Following the instructions Chen Mo gave him, he navigated the concrete paths and winding turns until he reached a building.

There, he saw that where the ground floor lobby should have been, a yellow RV and food truck combo was parked conspicuously.

"This kid, spending money on this stuff, is he ever going to get married?"

Hou Yao thought to himself, then walked into the lobby and banged hard on the RV’s door, "Xiaochen, Xiaochen!"

From outside, one couldn’t see inside; the anti-peep glass design was excellent.

Chen Mo was on the sofa watching TV, happily eating a piece of cake and scrambled eggs, and sipping a glass of orange juice.

The cake was something he baked himself that morning, and some black pepper sprinkled on the scrambled eggs made them taste a lot better. The orange juice was freshly squeezed from the juicer.

"I wonder what Master Hou wants from me." Chen Mo mumbled, stuffed the eggs into his mouth in a couple of bites, downed half the orange juice, and went to open the door with plates in hand.

"Yo, having a meal?"

"Yeah, just finished." Chen Mo stepped out of the RV, tossed the dishes into the food truck’s cupboard for automatic cleaning. "What’s up, Master Hou? You could’ve just called, no need to come all this way."

Hou Yao waved his hand, "Can’t explain over the phone."

Seeing him looking around, Chen Mo grabbed two cups and asked, "Want something to drink? Come inside and sit down, we’ll talk slowly."

"Tea is fine?"

Chen Mo’s expression turned complex, his face quizzical, "What kind of tea?"

"Any black tea will do."

Standing at the juicer, Chen Mo quietly thought to himself, "A glass of freshly squeezed Keemun Black Tea juice..."

[???]

Though the system had questions, it obediently filled the glass with hot juice.

Chen Mo himself got another glass of juice.

Honestly, it took Chen Mo quite a while to get used to this orange juice. The juicer used the finest oranges, which should generally make for delicious juice.

But that wasn’t the case.

The taste was smooth, but it was overall more on the sour side, not very sweet.

At first, it was somewhat astringent, but after drinking it several times, one gradually got used to it, even finding it rich, unable to stomach other commercial juices.

Bringing two glasses of ’juice’, Chen Mo also took a kettle of hot water, "Come on in."

Hou Yao was still a bit curious. Following Chen Mo into the RV, he glanced around, "Ah, youth is great. Before coming here, I was thinking, Boss Xiao Chen made money but didn’t buy a house for a stable life and work. Now that I’ve seen your RV, young people should indeed live more freely."

"So what brings you here this time? By the way, Boss Fang said yesterday that you and Boss Mu have been invited to oversee today’s recruitment interview; I was expecting to meet at Wanglong Mountain later."

Just as Hou Yao was about to explain, he was captivated by the cup of Keemun Black Tea in front of him.

He thought, Boss Xiao Chen was meticulous; after brewing good tea, he only poured the tea soup for himself, without any tea leaves in the cup.

Through the transparent cup, he saw a tea soup of bright amber red, with a faint silky sheen. Although it was just a cup of tea, the more he looked at it, the more it seemed to have a gemstone-like quality.

"Good tea indeed!"

Being a tea lover, Hou Yao recognized the quality of the tea leaves at a glance based on the color and state of the tea soup.

Chen Mo placed the kettle of hot water next to him, "Mix it with water; I brewed this tea a bit strong."

"Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter." A delighted Hou Yao picked up the cup, "I just love strong tea."

Chen Mo quietly sipped some orange juice, hoping this tea wouldn’t make Master Hou regret it.

After all, for others, strong tea just means more water and less tea.

This strong tea, according to the information Chen Mo received from the system, was made from cold-brewed Keemun Black Tea juice.

First, Hou Yao sniffed it, then couldn’t wait to have a sip.

The tea’s texture glided over the lips and teeth like velvet, rich but not heavy, with a subtle astringency that felt like morning dew in the mouth.

Swallowing it brought a refreshing minty sensation in the throat, with a lingering sweetness on the tongue, which later turned slightly bitter.

"Tsk, not bad, indeed a bit strong, but the flavor is rich! Really good tea."

Feeling the warmth spread from his stomach to his limbs, Hou Yao felt the gentle waves of the tea calm his nerves.

Only then did he slowly say, "Do you know Boss Fang’s true intention?"

"Yeah, it’s to lowball. Speaking of which, isn’t this approach a bit unkind?" Chen Mo’s perspective was from the standpoint of an employee.

If this Zhou Yu really had such skills, but they wanted to cut his salary just to save costs, that Old Fang was really showing a capitalist face, wasn’t he?

Hou Yao, however, stood neutral, and cupped both hands around his cup, "You can’t think like that. If Zhou Yu really had high skills, why seek work out of town?"

"Huaiyang Cuisine is a highly recognized cuisine in the country and he could easily find work anywhere. Why come all the way from Jiangsu to Jingzhou?"

"Moreover, his desired salary is completely out of line with the income level in Jingzhou. I think Boss Fang could offer him a high salary, but it certainly wouldn’t exceed Jingzhou’s salary level."

"Roughly how much?" Chen Mo asked curiously.

Back when Chen Mo was with Fenghua Investment, the department manager’s monthly salary was about thirteen thousand, which was already high for the Jingzhou area.

Chen Mo’s salary at the time was around eight thousand, which was basically envied by everyone.

Hou Yao held up a finger, "No more than fifteen thousand. This is for a head chef. If it’s just for a cooking coach, it wouldn’t exceed ten thousand." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Hiss...

Chen Mo thought, this salary was way below what Zhou Yu wanted. If they said it outright, it would likely fall apart instantly, leaving no room for negotiation. How could they even talk about it?

They’re starting from more than half, how to negotiate?

"So, I’m here today because there are some things Boss Fang can’t conveniently say, and I’m acting as a mouthpiece."

"Go ahead."

Hou Yao took another sip of water; this tea was really good. He even felt like asking Chen Mo for some to take back home.

"Here’s the deal, Boss Mu wants you to go to Wanglong Mountain today, posing as an applicant. That way, you create the appearance of competing with Zhou Yu. Then you could ask for a lower salary, hmm, that way..."

"What the hell?"

Chen Mo was suddenly dumbfounded.

So that’s what Old Fang meant? I thought I was invited to be a judge and indulge in tasting some masterfully prepared Huaiyang Cuisine.

Turns out, they want me to be a decoy?!

The key problem is, being a decoy isn’t easy... If you’re careless, you won’t just be a decoy, you’ll end up as a comparison!