The Game of Life

Chapter 561: Chapter 559 Heard You Got Poached (Extra for Alliance Hierarch Gu Yizhou Ya!)

In the midst of Zheng Siyuan’s bewilderment, Dong Shi’s helplessness, and Dong Li’s urgency, Master Huang successfully finished making the hot oil eel paste.

Dong Li saw his chance and tried to snatch the wok spatula from Master Huang’s hand, only to have Master Huang deftly dodge it.

Master Huang was so nimble that Dong Li even began to doubt whether the rheumatism that had plagued him in the past few years was feigned.

“Master, I don’t have any more orders on my side—just this one serving of hot oil eel paste. There’s no use holding that spatula without any dishes to cook,” Dong Li decided to lay out the facts and reason with his master, gently persuading him with both emotion and logic.

“Nonsense, I remember that little Shi still has two portions of squirrel-shaped mandarin fish!” Master Huang immediately exposed Dong Li’s lie, his face clearly conveying his eagerness to continue cooking.

Dong Li: …

Dong Shi: ?

“Master, I am quite good at making squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, so I can handle this dish myself. There’s no need for you to step in,” Dong Shi hadn’t expected his master to keep an eye not only on his brother but also on his own tasks.

“You dare to say that what you make is ‘quite good’? Is it anywhere near as good as mine? Don’t disgrace your two great-uncles, just stand aside and learn something,” Master Huang said sternly, taking the stance of a strict teacher. When he looked at Jiang Weiguo and Jiang Weiming, however, his face brightened into a smile, “My apologies, great-uncles. It seems my teaching methods are inadequate, and I’ve troubled you.”

Zheng Siyuan, who had been listening silently all this time, didn’t understand a single word and stood there utterly confused, appearing so small, pitiful, and helpless that he even considered calling the police.

“Teacher Uncle, what great-uncles are you talking about? Who are these great-uncles?” Zheng Siyuan asked.

“Oh, I was so busy cooking that I forgot to tell you. Come here, Siyuan, come over and greet your two great-uncles,” Master Huang put down the spatula and guided Zheng Siyuan over to Jiang Weiguo and Jiang Weiming.

Dong Li seized the opportunity to grab the wok spatula back and signaled with his eyes to his own brother to quickly prepare the squirrel-shaped mandarin fish.

“Quick, greet your two great-uncles,” Master Huang’s tone was exactly like that of parents prompting their children to greet their elders during festivals and family gatherings.

Zheng Siyuan, still looking utterly bewildered, was led by Master Huang to greet the two elders. Although he didn’t understand why, he greeted them nonetheless.

“Great-uncles, hello,” said Zheng Siyuan sweetly.

“Good boy,” Jiang Weiming replied with a smile, while Jiang Weiguo nodded in agreement.

“Third Uncle, Little Uncle, this is my apprentice’s son named Zheng Siyuan. He studies the art of making pastries, and his skills are decent. In a few decades, he might even surpass my apprentice,” Master Huang said, “Come on, Siyuan, make a few pastries for your two great-uncles to taste, and show off your skills.”

Zheng Siyuan: ?

An hour later, at 12:37 PM precisely, Zheng Siyuan gazed at the freshly-made pork mooncakes and fell into deep thought.

He seemed to partly understand and partly not. While making the mooncakes, he had finally grasped the complicated relationship between the Jiang Family and their lineage, and though somewhat skeptical, he had reluctantly accepted that the two chief cooks from Taifeng Building were indeed his great-uncles, and that he had suddenly acquired a host of uncles, grand-uncles, fellow apprentices, and juniors.

The only thing Zheng Siyuan couldn’t figure out was why he, a pastry chef from the Eight-treasure House, ended up carrying supplements to Taifeng Building’s kitchen, and even personally baked a batch of pork mooncakes for the ‘enemy’.

The supplements were still sitting at the entrance to Taifeng Building’s kitchen.

How was he going to explain this to Mr. Ling when he returned to work tomorrow?

How did things develop to this point?

Zheng Siyuan watched as his teacher uncle sat chatting with the two great-uncles on a small stool. Upon noticing Zheng Siyuan’s gaze, Master Huang returned a kind smile and, noticing that the pork mooncakes were ready, quickly stood up.

Despite Master Huang’s excitement at seeing the two great-uncles, the emotional high couldn’t offset the physical exhaustion. After making a serving of hot oil eel paste and two servings of squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, he was too tired to do more and could only sit down to chat with Jiang Weiming and Jiang Weiguo.

“Third Uncle, Little Uncle, Siyuan’s mooncakes are ready. I’ll bring a couple over for you two to try,” said Master Huang, lacking the energy to cook but still able to fetch a few mooncakes.

Zheng Siyuan made the pork mooncakes using Jiang Weiming’s oven, which was usually used for making roasted pork and was notably large. While studying the oven, Zheng Siyuan had wondered why Taifeng Building needed such a big one since they didn’t sell roasted duck. Due to the oven’s size, he ended up making an especially large batch of pork mooncakes.

Jiang Weiming took a bite of the mooncake, and after a slight chew, the juice from the meat spilled out, mixing with the fragrant, crispy crust for an excellent taste. However, he found the flavor oddly familiar.

While Jiang Weiming couldn’t pinpoint the flavor, Jiang Weiguo recognized it after just one bite. The pork mooncakes were identical to those Jiang Feng had been ordering for delivery around the Mid-Autumn Festival.

They were from the Eight-treasure House.

“Not bad at all. The foundational skills are very solid. The crust is crisp and flaky, the meat juice is well-contained without seeping through. That’s quite rare,” Jiang Weiming praised with a smile.

“Since he was young, Siyuan has always liked pastry making. He even opened a small pastry shop in Gusu before. Last year, a restaurant owner from Beiping took a liking to him. He has always been outstanding, and is much better than my two junior apprentices,” Master Huang began to praise Zheng Siyuan. “Siyuan, which store are you working at now?”

“Eight-treasure House,” answered Zheng Siyuan.

“Right, Eight-treasure House. I don’t have many interactions with the chefs here in Beiping, except I’m quite familiar with those from Taste House. Originally, I wanted Dong Shi and Dong Li to go to Taste House, but then these two kids watched ‘Taste’ and ended up creating a ruckus in your store, sorry for the trouble.”

“Master, there’s still quite a lot of mooncakes left that Brother Zheng made. Should we have Brother Zheng take them home, or shall we pack them to take back?” Dong Shi interrupted Master Huang’s chatter.

Master Huang looked and saw that indeed quite a lot were left, estimating at least 30 or more. Employees at the Taifeng Building’s kitchen started snacking from the moment they arrived, beginning with soup, then moving on to dishes, and now they were on to the main course. The staff meal at noon today was managed by Zhang Guanghang, and everyone didn’t want to miss out on lunch or the fresh meat mooncakes. Consequently, many people didn’t eat a whole one but shared with others, leading to a surplus.

“Siyuan, you decide what to do with it, it’s your call since you made them,” Master Huang gave the decision to Zheng Siyuan.

Zheng Siyuan was also troubled by the excess mooncakes; in all his years of making mooncakes, he seldom encountered situations where they didn’t sell out.

This was his first experience with such large-scale unsold stock.

“How about we just divide them?” Zheng Siyuan weakly suggested.

“Brother Zheng, if you don’t mind, we could give these mooncakes to the customers in the store,” proposed Jiang Feng. “Occupancy isn’t particularly high right now, so there should be enough to go around. We could give one to each table and say it’s on the house.”

“Okay,” agreed Zheng Siyuan.

Jiang Feng then carried the mooncakes out, instructing Ji Yue to distribute one to each table.

The customers at Taifeng Building, though not understanding why they were suddenly being offered mooncakes long after Mid-Autumn Festival had passed, happily accepted the unexpected treat.

And then they realized, the mooncakes they were served seemed to be made by the hands of Eight-treasure House.

After all, there wasn’t a second white chef in all of Beiping who could replicate the quality of Zheng Siyuan’s fresh meat mooncakes.

Suddenly, the customers were abuzz with discussions.

At 2 p.m., Ling Guangzhao was sitting in his office, somewhat headache-stricken as he reviewed the customer feedback from lunch that day.

Most customers’ feedback could be summarized in a sentence: without Master Zheng, there were no desserts, they were upset, negative reviews.

Ling Guangzhao even thought of calling Zheng Siyuan to ask if he could come back and work an evening shift in advance.

Then Ling Guangzhao received a call from Pei Shenghua.

Ling Guangzhao didn’t usually contact Pei Shenghua much, so he was somewhat surprised to see that Pei Shenghua had taken the initiative to call him.

“Hello, Master Pei, is something the matter?”

“Ling, I just heard that someone poached from you, what’s that about?” Pei Shenghua joked.

Pei Shenghua, the king of gossips in the chef world, was always known for his forthrightness.

Ling Guangzhao: ???

Poaching?

Ling Guangzhao felt insulted by Pei Shenghua; it was always him, Ling Guangzhao, poaching from others. When had it ever been someone poaching from him?

“You might have heard wrong, Master Pei. Everything’s fine here; nobody has jumped ship. Who told you someone was poaching from me?” Ling Guangzhao asked.

“Oh, then it might just be a misunderstanding. I just arrived in Beiping today and was going shopping when I happened to run into Zhou Chang and his wife and chatted for a bit. Zhou Chang told me that he had lunch at Taifeng Building today and they were given a fresh meat mooncake. The taste was exactly like the one previously sold by your Eight-treasure House; he even thought that your mooncake expert, Master Zheng, had switched over to Taifeng Building.”

Ling Guangzhao: …

“I called because I thought it was odd. There hadn’t been any signs of him switching jobs. Zhou Chang even told me the Squirrel Mandarin Fish they ordered at Taifeng Building tasted just like the one Master Huang would make. That’s got to be a joke; Master Huang hasn’t cooked for many years. If Master Huang could still cook, Huang Ji Restaurant wouldn’t be up for sale…”

Ling Guangzhao just felt his hand turning cold, and he didn’t take in a word of what Pei Shenghua said afterward.

“Master Pei, I have something to do on my end; let’s catch up another time,” he said, cutting off the call.