Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 375 Guess the Dish Name

Maitreya Buddha could actually only sense that something was off with Sun Wukong, but he didn’t know what Wukong was planning to do. Could it be that the disciples of Buddhism had offended Wukong or his master without his knowledge, prompting the master and disciple to publically embarrass these Buddhist disciples?

Thinking this, Maitreya Buddha felt it was necessary to try to mediate, even though he sometimes didn’t understand the actions of his fellow Buddhists.

In such a situation, especially with him present, no matter what the Buddhist disciples had done, whether they deserved forgiveness or not, he should step in to prevent any discord.

Even if his intervention were to be ineffective, it was still important to say something to save face. Otherwise, it would leave behind grounds for gossip.

As a great master himself, to stand by and watch his own people be bullied without doing anything would undoubtedly lead to later discussions within Buddhism.

"Chef Wukong, don’t be angry. I merely misspoke. Everyone makes mistakes in speech. Please don’t hold this against me," he said.

Sun Wukong snorted, "Humph, if it weren’t for the fact that you praised this dish so much, I would have already splashed this cup of wine on you."

"Don’t do that," Maitreya Buddha took away the cup, "It would be a waste to spill such good wine. Let me drink it instead. Perhaps if I pour it into my stomach, Chef Wukong might cool down a bit?"

Sun Wukong then smiled, "Fine, you Smiling Fatty sure have a way with words."

The two exchanged a few more toasts, and Maitreya Buddha pointed towards the Buddhist disciples and said, "I wonder if any of them has offended Chef Wukong. Please don’t take it to heart, they are just young and often speak without thinking, so it’s inevitable that they may offend someone. Chef Wukong, if anyone has offended you, just tell me, and I’ll make them apologize privately."

Sun Wukong sipped his wine, his eyes rolling around. Aha, no wonder Maitreya Buddha had been all smiles while talking to him; he had been waiting for this moment.

"No, no one has offended me. Maitreya Bodhisattva, what do you mean by that? Do you think that I, Old Sun, am so small-minded that if one person offends me, I need to vent my anger on all of them?"

"That’s not what I meant at all," Maitreya Buddha realized the conversation was heading in the wrong direction and quickly changed the subject, "Look at how you misunderstood me, Chef Wukong. I was just asking out of curiosity. Since you let them do that, you must have your reasons. Although I am not much involved in affairs, as a fellow Buddhist, I can’t help but be curious and ask more about it."

"I see," Sun Wukong chuckled, "Well, rest assured. Those fools, although they did not speak nicely, didn’t offend me. I’ve already explained why I did it earlier, didn’t Maitreya Bodhisattva listen carefully?"

"Oh, how could I have paid close attention? I was completely focused on the food you made, how could I notice anything else? If there’s really nothing wrong, let’s just forget it. Please, Chef Wukong, go easy on them. Look at them, they’re all about to turn blue from holding their breath."

Sun Wukong snorted again, "Maitreya Bodhisattva, look at you, misspeaking again. What have I done to make their faces turn blue?"

"It’s because they’re drooling over the dish you’ve made."

Sun Wukong burst out laughing at Maitreya’s comment, "So that’s it. I thought that disciples of Buddhism would be nauseated by the smell of meat, but it turns out they can crave it too."

"You jest, Chef Wukong. Although we are Buddhists, we also grew up eating grains. It’s only natural to crave such tantalizing dishes on smelling them, even after ascending and achieving enlightenment," replied Maitreya Buddha.

"That’s true enough," laughed Sun Wukong, shifting the topic, "Maitreya Bodhisattva, you agree that the dish tastes really good, right?"

Maitreya Buddha, not understanding why the question was asked, replied, "Right, it’s especially good. Not just me, everyone here thinks it’s exceptional."

Master Zhenyuan, with his keen hearing and having finished his dish, overheard their conversation and immediately chimed in, "Yes, if we could eat such a dish every day, even if it meant losing ten years of cultivation, it wouldn’t be too much to ask."

"Really?" Sun Wukong approached with a beaming smile.

"That’s really great, I was actually feeling a bit cheated for making all these dishes for nothing, even thought about asking you guys for some compensation."

Wukong’s words surprised the Immortal Officials who were busily gorging themselves. Some hurriedly set down their chopsticks, "Well, Chef Wukong, Master Zhenyuan was just joking with you. Besides, this Dharma banquet is hosted by Tathagata himself, it’s not our place to be paying you even if it were appropriate."

"Right," they said.

"Exactly, Chef Wukong, Master Zhenyuan was praising you. If you want to ask for money, go to him, we never said anything like that."

Sun Wukong laughed heartily, "Look at you all getting scared, I was only joking too. Relax, it was just a joke taken seriously."

This made the Immortal Officials breathe a sigh of relief, and they laughed along with Sun Wukong, "You should’ve said so earlier, Chef Wukong. You had us so scared we didn’t dare to eat."

Having said that, the Immortal Officials who hadn’t finished eating yet bowed their heads and continued their arduous eating.

Sun Wukong raised his voice, "This dish my master created after over a month of research, what do you think of the taste? Great, isn’t it?"

As soon as Wukong finished speaking, a chorus of praises followed.

"After eating this dish for so long, I, Old Sun, have forgotten the most important thing. I forgot to tell you the name of this dish. How about this, since it was a spur-of-the-moment idea for me too, why don’t you guys guess the name of this dish?"

Master Zhenyuan, who knew the actual name of the dish, didn’t dare speak. He thought to himself that no one present could possibly guess the name he had come up with. He was so sure that if anyone did, he’d twist his head off and use it as a ball to kick around.

"Whoever guesses correctly, I, Old Sun, will make a dish for them for free!"

"Alright, I’ll go first!" Master Zhenyuan, always eager to show off at such events, was the first to respond.

"Please speak."

Master Zhenyuan stroked his chin. He definitely wasn’t going to reveal the real name of the dish, so he made something up, "This dish, with its golden soup and flavors of pork and beef bones, includes delicacies like mushrooms, scallops, abalones, quail eggs, and such. It encompasses everything from the sky above and the earth below, from the waters and the lands, and the taste is specially delicious. I bet it’s related to these things, right?"

Instead of confirming if it was right or wrong, Sun Wukong just nodded, signaling Master Zhenyuan to continue.

"Names of dishes typically relate to their characteristics. I think this dish should be called ’Pot of a Hundred Delicacies,’ am I right?"

The name seemed decent, and the other Immortal Officials also felt it was quite fitting, eagerly looking at Sun Wukong, waiting for him to nod.

Sun Wukong chuckled, "You’re quite good at coming up with names, but that’s not the name of the dish. Any other takers?" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The God of Cookery, not wanting Master Zhenyuan to steal the show, especially since he had just been embarrassed by him shortly before, stood up promptly when Zhenyuan’s guess was wrong, "Since Master Zhenyuan’s guess wasn’t correct, let me have a try."

Before Chen Nuo and Sun Wukong came out of nowhere, the position of head chef in the Heavenly Court’s Imperial Kitchen was always held by the God of Cookery.