Zhou Shijie’s laugh instantly made the crowd unable to say anything. And Chairman Masheng felt so mentally tired that he didn’t want to speak anymore.
Yuan Zhou had pushed the Sino-Japan exchange meeting into its most heated atmosphere. After Tengyuan left, the atmosphere returned to normal gradually.
At that time, the exchange meeting had been half completed. All the reporters and gourmet reviewers had almost tasted all chefs’ dishes.
Since it was no longer so busy, many chefs began to taste each other’s dishes. So did the two “rivals”.
“Here’s my creative dish cooked just now.”
Just when Yuan Zhou straightened up and pretended to be a prince charming, there suddenly came a plate from the side.
It was an exquisite plate. The plate was transparent and grass green like the azure stone. There was a piece of square steak on it.
What was special about the steak was that half had been fried golden yellow while the other half had reddish fat had beautiful marbling patterns. It looked fresh and juicy. Correct, that part was the raw steak.
Beside the steak were some fresh condiments, which contained some cold fragrance. The plate presentation was vivid and bright-colored, Just looking at it whetted one’s appetite.
“Looks fairly good.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head affirmatively.
“Of course.” Chu Xiao appeared proud as if saying whatever he cooked was obviously great.
“What I’m saying is this triangular-stemmed garlic is really not bad. The taste is like both the green onion and the garlic. And it’s fairly good to use it to decorate the dish and remove the offensive smell,” Yuan Zhou raised his head and took a look at Chu Xiao and then said earnestly.
The triangular-stemmed garlic mentioned by Yuan Zhou had a corymb. The white flower was similar to the lily, but nevertheless had a green primary vein, which made it appear more refreshing.
“Of course. It’s specially prepared and comes from the greenhouse.” Chu Xiao straightforwardly talked about the flowers, not feeling embarrassed at all.
“Um.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head. Then, he took up the fork and started to eat it.
Yuan Zhou had never wasted food all along. Even the decorations and other things in the plate were eaten up by him as long as they were edible.
Therefore, the plate was very clean.
“The taste seems to be great,” Chu Xiao looked at the clean plate and said directly.
“Not bad.” It was rare that Yuan Zhou didn’t counteract his words. Instead, he nodded his head.
While Yuan Zhou and Chu Xiao were tasting each other’s dish, other chefs at the side nevertheless looked at them frequently. However, they didn’t have the nerve to come over to join them and eat together.
After all, both of them had great craftsmanship. Therefore, neither of them dared to say anything for an instant.
However, the reporters at the side didn’t have such apprehensions. They straightforwardly started a discussion.
“Haha. Remember what I said? That old guy is nothing special. Boss Yuan is more awesome.” Old Li revealed an expression of “I have already expected this result.”
“Exactly. He’s from our hometown, Chengdu. Boss Yuan is already quite well-known in Chengdu,” Old Xu also said proudly at the side as if there were something to do with him.
“Leaving other things aside, it seems to be the very first time that Tengyuan was made speechless by others, doesn’t it?” The full-beard reporter sought to prove that smilingly.
“That’s right. This Tengyuan has been to China twice in total to attend the exchange meetings. In the first one, he ate only one dish but nevertheless criticized the chef so much that the chef almost wanted to remove his chef’s hat on site. He’s really sharp-tongued.” The middle-aged reporter was on the scene. Speaking of that, he was still indignant.
“So what? He’s always right when he comments on the dishes. Even our chairman must call him professor politely,” A younger reporter from Shanghai Daily got to the point.
“No, no, no. This time is different. Look at our Boss Yuan. He directly made that old guy have nothing to say by cooking a simple Steamed Rice With Japanese Grenadier Anchovy.” Old Li didn’t have any mustache. If he had, he would probably have stroked his mustaches and showed off for a while.
“It’s gonna be a headline on the front page. It’s the first time for Tengyuan to be defeated.” Old Li took out his phone and typed quickly. What he was typing was unknown to others, but either way, he typed very quickly.
“Hey, I’m talking to you. Why did you suddenly begin to work?” Old Li also started to edit the contents on his phone and then sent it out, not giving any impression of weakness.
This set a bad example. After that, other reporters also stopped talking and started to prepare for the press release.
On the following day, all the renowned newspapers and magazines reported this exchange meeting.
Actually, this news had been reported nationwide. However, the gourmet magazines of other provinces or districts all had their own different focus. For example, the gourmet magazine, Weekly Recommendations Of Delicacies in Shanghai, gave the report as below:
“During the Sino-Japan exchange meeting, the Chinese chef Yuan Zhou conquered all guests from Japan with his superb culinary skills. Even the pickiest Professor Tengyuan had to admit his dishes were excellent in regards to color, fragrance, and taste. This exchange meeting is a display of our abundant food culture and also a display of the influence that Chinese food exerted on the world…”
Most of them did the same way. They did mention that Yuan Zhou had conquered Tengyuan, but they laid much emphasis on the content behind.
That was called “bearing in mind the general situation”.
However, Sichuan Province was different because Yuan Zhou was a genuine Sichuan person. Therefore, the gourmet magazines from the province simply praised Yuan Zhou as much as they could.
“The Chef Yuan Zhou from Chengdu amazed everyone present in the exchange meeting with the ingenious craftsmanship of deboning the Japanese Grenadier Anchovies and thus created a legend,” from On Sichuan Cuisines.
“What’s the most delicious steamed rice in the world? If you ask me that way, the answers might be different. But from today on, the answer will keep the same. The Steamed Rice With Japanese Grenadier Anchovies cooked by Boss Yuan made even the Japanese professor, who is believed to be the best on Chinese foods, speechless,” from Gourmet Family.
Such headlines like The Man Who Has The Best Knife Skills, The Unparalleled Fascination or How Chef Yuan Became The Best, filled various gourmet magazines throughout Sichuan Province.
Even the renowned freelance writer, Ah La, from Sichuan Province made a comment on his special column.
“Mr. Jin Shengtan once said the most regrettable thing in his life was that the Japanese Grenadier Anchovy had so many fish bones. I have traveled the fair and wide in this country for quite a few years and eaten a lot of good things, but never have I seen such a dish worth looking at, let alone a delicious one. There are indeed many fish bones in the anchovies, but its meat is really really tender. That’s why there are so many articles to use.”
“The regrettable thing is that there were so many fish bones that have affected people tasting it. I didn’t believe it could be solved until I saw Chef Yuan debone it. I could find no words to describe this. It’s dramatic, fantastic, and requires superhuman craftsmanship. I don’t know how to describe this feeling precisely, thus I have to say this.”
“I have been conquered by Chef Yuan. I don’t care what the taste will be, I will definitely go to his restaurant for a taste just for the knife skills.”
Ah La traveled extensively because he was famous for recommending delicious dishes. He had a unique preference on taste and enjoyed good popularity. Therefore, he had three special columns on the Sichuan Gourmet Papers and which reported about Yuan Zhou and the exchange meeting.
As a result, there were all kinds of reports about the exchange meeting for the several consecutive days and basically, all of them would mention Yuan Zhou.
Yuan Zhou’s reputation soared rapidly and had gone out of Chengdu. He was now at the highest level in the whole Sichuan Province and had successfully made himself known to the people nationwide.
Yuan Zhou had benefited a lot from this exchange meeting with regards to fame.
“I will be leaving first. Bye, Chairman,” Yuan Zhou pulled his luggage and said goodbye to Zhou Shijie.
“Take care on your way back. You have your own restaurant, so I’m not going to keep you here.” Zhou Shijie nodded his head and waved his hand to Yuan Zhou.
“Goodbye.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head and then he walked straight towards the departure gate with the luggage in his hand.
That’s right. Yuan Zhou left right away as soon as the exchange meeting was over this time. Now, he was on his way back to Chengdu.
At that time, the system suddenly popped out.
The system displayed, “A main mission has been released. Do you accept it?”
…
