The Game of Life-Chapter 813 - 812 Lu Shengs Wish
Chapter 813: Chapter 812 [Lu Sheng’s Wish]
Chapter 813: Chapter 812 [Lu Sheng’s Wish]
Jiang Feng finally agreed to consider Lu Sheng’s request with reluctance.
It wasn’t because Lu Sheng’s attitude was sincere, but rather because when he left the kitchen and Lu Sheng followed, he walked, and Lu Sheng chased. During this pursuit, the game prompt sounded.
[Lu Sheng’s Wish]: As the owner of Yonghe House, Lu Sheng never had the chance to witness its most glorious period and could only listen to the stories of the bygone era from his elders. Now with new generations taking over and the last of the old chefs about to retire, the younger chefs had yet to mature, and the Swallow-wing Feast was on the verge of becoming history. Just then, an old friend entrusted him with a task. An old regular customer of Yonghe House wished to taste the complete Swallow-wing Feast once again. Lu Sheng found himself in a position where he could neither refuse nor agree to the request, leading to his anxious dilemma. The player is asked to help Lu Sheng by collaborating with the chefs of Yonghe House to create the full Swallow-wing Feast and fulfill Lu Sheng’s wish.
Task Progress (0/1)
Task Reward: Unknown
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Jiang Feng hadn’t seen much of Lu Sheng lately. If it weren’t for the long conversation they had last night, he wouldn’t have interacted with him at all and naturally wouldn’t have known that Lu Sheng had been so troubled by a guest’s request.
This made Jiang Feng very curious about what kind of guest could make Lu Sheng feel caught between being unable to refuse and unable to agree.
Jiang Feng used the excuse of going to the bathroom to view and accept the side quest, and after returning to the lobby, he told Lu Sheng that if fate allowed and his own skills permitted, he would be very willing to help Yonghe House prepare a complete banquet.
That is if his skills allowed it.
To put it bluntly, Jiang Feng didn’t know how to make any of the banquet’s signature dishes!
These were the true signature dishes of Tan Family Cuisine, which Cao Guixiang’s cookbook didn’t include. If he said he had seen the methods for Braised Big Black Sea Cucumber and Sunflower Duck sealed in memory, dishes like Yellow Braised Shark’s Fin and Clear Broth Official Bird’s Nest were ones he had never even seen before.
Jiang Feng felt there was probably no chance for him; this direct quest was most likely doomed to failure.
The task name was Lu Sheng’s Wish, but in reality, it was the wish of the guest. It wasn’t possible for a guest to always have so much time and patience to wait for a restaurant to complete a whole table of dishes. The guest’s wish might disappear in half a month or perhaps half a year, and then the quest would never be completed.
Jiang Feng chose to accept the quest just to give Mr. Lu some face. Even if the task failed, he wouldn’t lose anything. What if, by some chance, he completed it?
“What’s a Swallow-wing Feast?” Sun Maochai, who had been sitting in the lobby working on a menu, writing and drawing in his notebook, indicating he had a plan in mind, couldn’t help but interject upon hearing the conversation between Jiang Feng and Lu Sheng.
When Peng Changping prepared the Swallow-wing Feast, Sun Maochai had not yet arrived in Beiping; as he wasn’t from Beiping, he had no knowledge of the true signature dish of Yonghe House, so naturally, he didn’t know about the Swallow-wing Feast.
Lu Sheng gave Sun Maochai a brief explanation of the Swallow-wing Feast and mentioned in passing that the Two-colored Prawns was one of the dishes in the feast.
“I have heard of the names Yellow Braised Shark’s Fin and Clear Broth Official Bird’s Nest before. I thought that no restaurants sold authentic Tan Family Cuisine anymore,” Sun Maochai said, crossing out a dish from his notebook and turning to look at Jiang Feng, “Do you know how to make all the dishes for the Swallow-wing Feast?”
Jiang Feng pondered for a moment: “I know a little about Two-colored Prawns and Sunflower Duck, and maybe with a bit of effort, the Braised Big Black Sea Cucumber, but for the others…”
Jiang Feng awkwardly shook his head with a wry smile.
“Those dishes can’t just be quickly practiced and perfected in a short time,” Sun Maochai threw cold water on Lu Sheng’s hopes. “The feast is the highest grade of banquets at Yonghe House, so the dishes must not only be made but be made well and with precision. Even if we wanted to learn a dish from scratch and perfect it, it would likely take a good year and a half of hard work.”
Sun Maochai was right. Jiang Feng was already a triple grandmaster, and yet he had struggled for months to perfect Jiang’s Sea Cucumber Soup.
There is a big difference between being able to make a dish, making it well, and making it exceptionally well.
Having heard Sun Maochai, Jiang Feng started to sense something was amiss. Lu Sheng wasn’t oblivious to his own culinary strengths. Frankly speaking, although he had studied cuisine under Peng Changping for so long, he had learned Jiang Family Dishes and not Tan Family Dishes. From Lu Sheng’s perspective, Jiang Feng would be presumed not to know how to make even the Two-colored Prawns or Sunflower Duck, so how could he believe Jiang Feng could help with the Swallow-wing Feast?
Lu Sheng had been running Yonghe House long enough not to be ignorant of the fact that studying culinary arts with Peng Changping didn’t necessarily mean being adept in Tan Family Cuisine.
“Mr. Lu, there’s something wrong with you,” Jiang Feng narrowed his eyes at Lu Sheng, pulling him aside to a corner.
“Why do you think I can do it?”
As Jiang Feng began to suspect that Lu Sheng might be harboring some unspeakable, underhanded scheme, Lu Sheng appeared very open and candid.
“You can do it!”
Jiang Feng: ?
Lu Sheng met Jiang Feng’s gaze. “Actually, I’ve noticed for a while that you’re different from the others.”
???
“When you came to the restaurant to learn cooking from Master Peng earlier this year, I tasted the dishes you made. Back then, they weren’t even comparable to Master Xu’s work. How long has it been since then, and how long have you been learning from Master Peng? Look at your culinary skills now; they’re worlds apart!”
“You are a genius!”
“Plus, you said it yourself just now; you know a bit about Two-Colored Shrimp and Sunflower Duck, two dishes that Master Peng definitely never taught you. You must have picked them up while working at the restaurant.”
“I…” Jiang Feng wanted to argue but didn’t know where to start.
“It’s okay, I’m not blaming you. You didn’t steal the knowledge, and I believe you wouldn’t sell these dishes at Taifeng Building even if you knew how to make them. You don’t need these two dishes to be successful.”
With that, Lu Sheng let out a sigh. “Geniuses like you might not understand, but when I talked to Master Peng a while ago, he didn’t get it either. When you geniuses learn a dish, no matter how hard, you might master it in a few months or, at most, a year. But it’s not so simple for ordinary chefs. Ten years of basic training is just a beginning; it takes at least fifteen to twenty years to truly cultivate a chef from scratch.”
“Master Xu is about to retire, and you know the current situation in our restaurant. You must also be aware of the skill level of the other chefs. Once Master Xu retires, there will be no one else who can lead. I just want to host the Swallow-wing Feast one more time before he leaves, to at least let our old customers know that Yonghe House’s foundation is still strong. Then, even if Yonghe House really does fall on hard times and ends up like Eight-treasure House, at least we’ll have gone out with a bang.” Lu Sheng spoke with such sadness that, if Jiang Feng hadn’t known the truth about Yonghe House’s situation, he might have believed that it was on the brink of closing.
No way in hell!
Master Xu’s top apprentice had talent and was in his prime. With a few more years of training, he could possibly reach or even surpass Master Xu’s level. The chefs’ skills at Yonghe House had generally improved a lot recently, thanks to Peng Changping’s coaching. Peng Changping was currently focusing on training Zhou Shi, and when Zhou Shi was ready, he was supposed to return to Yonghe House. That was the agreement.
And this talk of following in Eight-treasure House’s footsteps.
Pfft!
Jiang Feng spat contemptuously in his mind.
Yonghe House was thriving, with a very promising outlook. Lu Sheng was clearly getting restless after having seen what a real Swallow-wing Feast looked like and was constantly dreaming of restoring Yonghe House to its former glory.
Jiang Feng had a good relationship with Lu Sheng but didn’t feel like playing along with his drama. He got to the point, “You shouldn’t have come to me for this kind of thing, you should ask Master Peng. If he’s in a good mood, he might cook the feast himself.”
“Because I believe in you!” Lu Sheng said earnestly. “Think about it, you grasped the basics of making broth from scratch in just a month or two. The toughest part of Tan Family Cuisine is the broth, and you’ve got that down. You mastered making Chicken Bean Flower in a few days; I’m sure Golden Braised Shark’s Fin will be no problem for you. I remember Jiang Family Dishes include a signature dish called Clear Broth Willow Leaf Vegetables; you should know that one, right? Since it’s a bird’s nest dish with clear broth, it definitely won’t be a problem for you.”
Jiang Feng: …
I don’t know how!
“Besides.” Lu Sheng changed his tone. “It’s a rare opportunity for you to help out in Yonghe House, so why not take it? It would be such a waste to miss this chance to challenge yourself. What if you succeed?”
Jiang Feng: ???
He knew it; no boss was a good egg.
“In your dreams. I’ve never even made shark’s fin dishes; mastering them in a few days is impossible,” Jiang Feng shook his head and went to check on Sun Maochai and the others to see how their research was coming along.
Lu Sheng followed him.
How well Sun Maochai and his team’s research went would directly affect Yonghe House’s business for the next two weeks. He had to pay close attention.
Yonghe House was planning a renovation on the second floor, and he was really a bit strapped for cash.
