The Game of Life-Chapter 708 - 707 Preparing to Counterattack
Chapter 708: Chapter 707 Preparing to Counterattack
What would happen if a restaurant simultaneously had top masters of Shandong cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, and Sichuan cuisine?
Awesome!
What if you happened to be the owner of such a restaurant?
I’d wake up laughing from a dream.
Jiang Feng was now almost in that state. Whether he laughed in his dreams or not, he didn’t know, but he was bubbling with joy whenever he cooked.
Who was Sun Maochai? He was universally recognized as the number one master of Cantonese cuisine today, ranked eleven among famous chefs, and if everything went as expected, he would squeeze into the top ten today, ensuring that Chef Arno wouldn’t be the only active chef in the top ten.
He was young, vibrant, and creative, a few years younger than Chef Arno. Back in the days when he wasn’t married, he used to be on the list of most eligible bachelors every time the Hong Kong media did their rankings.
The most crucial part was his immense popularity in Asia—not just domestically, but even in neighboring Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, Sun Maochai was far more renowned than Chef Arno. After all, he specialized in Cantonese cuisine, which is Chinese food that suits the Chinese palate best.
Jiang Feng had researched Sun Maochai because he had previously eaten some old melons at the Sun Family’s place. According to unreliable media reports, in the past few years to retain Sun Maochai, the golden signboard, his former employers were willing to offer him a multimillion annual salary plus commissions. Sun Maochai’s annual income was basically in the eight-digit range, probably more than what all of Taifeng Building’s staff made in salary and bonuses in a year.
Thinking of this, Jiang Feng suddenly stopped chopping.
Jiang Weisheng was next to Jiang Feng looking for something and, thinking he had disturbed him with his movements, hastily said, “Feng, I’ll find it soon. You keep going.”
“Mr. Jiang,” Jiang Feng said with a troubled look, “how much annual salary do you think we should offer Sun Maochai? Should I go find out how much his former employer pays him first?”
Jiang Weisheng: ?
Weren’t we just worrying about Sun Jikai?
Zhang Guanghang and Ji Yue didn’t return until four in the afternoon, and truth be told, they were the most unfortunate ones. Halfway through reporting to the police, providing all sorts of evidence and information, Ji Yue even contacted countless people for screenshots, nearly making a PowerPoint presentation, only for Jiang Feng to call and inform them it was all a misunderstanding, that Sun Jikai was fine, in good health, and even helped Taifeng Building by poaching two employees.
Ji Yue: ?
Then, Ji Yue started apologizing to the police officers, apologizing profusely and skillfully. She and Zhang Guanghang had wasted hours of the officers’ time and even snagged two tasty boxed meals, only to turn around and say sorry, that it was all a misunderstanding. Ji Yue, as Taifeng Building’s outstanding supervisor, had learned nothing but making spreadsheets and apologizing over the year. She was very adept at various ways of apologizing. They didn’t return until past four because she spent half an hour apologizing sincerely and accepted another half hour of scolding from the police officers—Zhang Guanghang pretended to be a foreigner with poor Mandarin, so Ji Yue was the one being lectured the whole time.
The first thing Ji Yue did upon returning to Taifeng Building was head straight to the kitchen: “Dear boss, don’t you think you owe your darling staff a little reward and compensation?”
Ji Yue felt her throat was smoking; she had said all she had to say for the week.
Zhang Guanghang had already gone to buy her herbal loquat tea.
“Of course there’s a reward, there has to be compensation!” Jiang Feng immediately replied, “Tell me, what do you want to eat? Whatever you want, as long as I can make it!”
This meant it was Ji Yue’s turn to decide the menu.
Thanks to her mother’s pickles, the economic situation of Ji Yue’s family had picked up after the holidays. Worried about her daughter working as a waitress in Beiping, having to carry porridge bowls bigger than the pickle jars at home, Ji Yue’s mom had been giving her plenty of pocket money every month, money that was initially meant for Ji Qiran. Now Ji Yue had the aura of a wealthy matron—money was no object.
Jiang Feng’s generosity made Ji Yue hesitate. Now that Jiang Feng’s culinary skills had greatly improved and his dishes were far better than before, allowing her to order anything felt like a very big reward, so she certainly needed to think carefully.
“Chicken Custard?” The only dish Ji Yue could think of was this one; she could enjoy other dishes like Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon any time she was a bit shameless, but the only dish she couldn’t have yet desperately wanted to try was Chicken Custard.
You see, after she finished that small bowl of Chicken Custard yesterday, she dreamed about eating it all night. She ate a whole pot of it in her dreams.
Jiang Feng felt that several people perked up at this.
“Chicken Custard is a bit too troublesome; the stock alone takes half a day to prepare. And since it’s made in a large batch, can you even finish it? If you really want some, next time we have some extra clear soup, I’ll make a special small bowl just for you,” Jiang Feng politely declined.
Just as Ji Yue was about to say she could finish a whole pot, she heard the rest of his statement and held back. After thinking for a long time, she couldn’t come up with a reliable dish.
Jiang Feng, on the other hand, had an idea.
A dish lying in his game recipe column, which he had never made before, but was confident he could pull off perfectly on his first try, and was very suitable for Ji Gezi.
“I’ve thought of a dish, how about ‘Pigeon Swallowing a Swallow’?” Jiang Feng asked.
“Pigeon Swallowing a Swallow?” Ji Yue had never heard of that dish before.
“It’s somewhat similar to the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon. The Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon was actually created by Sir Sun, inspired by Pigeon Swallowing a Swallow. However, Pigeon Swallowing a Swallow is more exquisite; it uses bird’s nest for the stuffing,” Jiang Feng explained.
Ji Yue was stunned on the spot.
So it was settled—Pigeon Swallowing a Swallow. Jiang Feng felt that Ji Gezi had indirectly reminded him that now his fire control and seasoning had reached grandmaster level, his knifework was on the verge of reaching grandmaster level too—it was just a matter of time. It was time to start trying those many buff dishes from the recipe column he’d never attempted before.
Although the buffs might have some side effects, they were mostly good buffs. Jiang Feng thought it would be a shame not to give them a try.
The evening business went on as usual.
This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.
At 10:30 PM, Wang Xiulian @’d all employees in the Taifeng Building staff group to announce that Taifeng Building would be closed for a day off for all staff in three days.
Because Sun Maochai had also contacted Sir Sun during the evening, and after discussions, they decided to schedule the interview in three days. Over the next few days, it was necessary to find a suitable residence for Sun Maochai to stay for three days. This was easy to handle as there were a few vacant apartments upstairs in the Jiang Family’s building. They could simply rent those out as well, making it convenient for everyone to commute together. Ji Gezi could even invite everyone out for barbecue after work.
With comprehensive benefits like “five insurances and one fund,” and free meals and accommodation, the Jiang Family Members were serious about welfare.
Though it was supposed to be an interview, in reality, it was more about tasting dishes and setting the menu. The addition of Sun Maochai, Sun Jikai, and Qiu Fu was going to greatly expand Taifeng’s Cantonese cuisine options. There was a considerable amount of work to be done in just one day: tasting dishes, setting menus, and pricing. Meanwhile, Jiang Feng’s Chicken Custard also needed to be added to the menu, and some dishes required price adjustments. It was meant to be a day off, but the workload for the management increased rather than decreased.
Once the menu was set, it would be time for Taifeng Building to make a full counterattack.
The top-floor restaurant had been flaunting its number six-ranked Chef Arno for so long—it was time for them to witness the power of a top ten Chinese chef from Chef’s Ranking.
Who would win was still anybody’s guess.
