Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Tom was dressed in a suit, standing at the front of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant looking extremely professional. As for the guy with the slickback, he stood behind Tom with his eyes focused on the customers of the restaurant.
The crowd started gradually leaving the restaurant.
Talking among themselves while walking, the customers headed toward the street.
“I keep feeling like the lunchtime set by Boss Yuan is too short. How nice would it be if we could stay longer.”
“Yeah, but Boss Yuan is alone. He has no kitchen helpers to help so he’s already doing very well for a person doing this alone.”
“Yeah, Boss Yuan’s food is too good. How I wish to have a boyfriend like him.”
If the person who had said that was a pretty girl, Yuan Zhou would feel very happy inwardly. Unfortunately, the person who said those words was a man…
“I think I’ll have some Twice Cooked Pork tomorrow. It’s spicy and aromatic, and the only bad thing about it is the fact that I have to eat one more bowl of rice to go with it.”
“My wallet won’t be able to survive if I eat too much here. I have a dream, a dream to eat for free at Boss Yuan’s restaurant.”
“Keep dreaming.”
Tom overheard many of the conversations, but he did not seem shocked or astonished by anything he heard.
Tom was no idiot. He was aware that a restaurant that could be featured on the TV and could have such a huge number of customers would definitely have delicious food.
It was normal that there would be people singing the praises for this restaurant. After all, Chinese cuisines had existed for a very long time. There would definitely be good food, with Yuan Zhou’s food being one of them.
Of course, none of this would have any effect on how Tom personally ranked the various cuisines.
When nearly all the customers were gone and only a few of them were left, Tom spoke.
“Let’s go,” Tom turned his head and said.
“This way, Mr. Tom,” the guy with the slickback led the way.
“Um,” Tom gave a soft reply and entered the restaurant.
Only Yuan Zhou and Master Cheng were left in the restaurant. When Tom entered, his expression immediately changed into a wide smile.
“Hello, Boss Yuan. I am the logistics supervisor of Roll, Dear Beef, my name is Tom,” Tom introduced himself.
Yuan Zhou did not say anything. He merely gestured at Tom to wait a moment before he shifted his gaze to Master Cheng again, waiting for Master Cheng to finish what he was saying.
“Master Yuan, I’ll leave now. Please continue what you were doing,” Master Cheng ended the conversation.
“Um. See you,” Yuan Zhou said with a nod.
Ta. Ta. Ta. Master Cheng’s footsteps grew distant. Now, only three people were left in the restaurant, Yuan Zhou, Tom, and the guy with the slickback.
“Hello,” Yuan Zhou greeted politely as he turned to face Tom and the guy with the slickback.
“Hi, Boss Yuan. I hope we are not intruding,” Tom maintained a smile as he spoke politely.
His disdain towards Yuan Zhou’s food in comparison to Western cuisine was nowhere to be seen.
“Don’t worry about that. Are there any problems?” Yuan Zhou got down to business directly and asked.
“Don’t worry, Boss Yuan. There are no problems. We really need to thank you for your cooperation that helped this whole thing progress so smoothly. I am here today mainly to take a look at the environment around the restaurant and the arrangements in the restaurant. This will make it easier for us to set up our cameras and planning during the filming,” Tom explained with a smile.
“No access to the back-kitchen will be given,” Yuan Zhou declared as he stood at the front of the table.
“No way that will happen. Although I don’t know where the system is hidden, if they opened a random cabinet but found some living animals in it, I won’t be able to explain it,” Yuan Zhou thought inwardly as his expression turned solemn when he remembered the top quality ingredients filling his cabinets.
“Don’t worry. That is included in the contract. I won’t be entering the kitchen. In any case, you are not showing your face on the show. We can readjust the lighting of the back-kitchen at a later stage,” Tom was unhappy about this, but it was not shown on his face when he spoke.
“Um.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head.
“Well, you can get back to work, Boss Yuan. I’ll be taking a look around. Will it be fine for you if I take some pictures?” Tom politely asked as he took his mobile phone out.
“Yes,” Yuan Zhou replied with a nod. Then, he really started ignoring the two and begun cleaning the kitchen.
“We’ll start now then. Sorry for bothering you, Boss Yuan. Take this and take a picture of the entire restaurant,” Tom thanked Yuan Zhou before passing the camera to the guy with the slickback.
This time, Yuan Zhou only shook his head and did not say anything and continued wiping the azure stone countertop.
When Tom saw that Yuan Zhou had his back to him, his expression shifted to that of contempt.
“There’s not enough space in the restaurant and there’s not even a presentable menu,” Tom frowned when he saw the menu on the table.
Yuan Zhou’s restaurant was less than 500 square feet in size and it had to fit all the furniture. Even if all the facilities were complete and the design of the restaurant was rather refined, this restaurant was way too small for Tom. Tom was of the opinion that having more space was the way to go when it came to restaurants.
The arrangement in this restaurant was one that he couldn’t even stretch his arm straight without hitting the next table. This was completely different than the spacious design of Western restaurants.
“The director’s taste sure is weird to look for a restaurant this small. Looks like I still have to do some planning later,” Tom started getting down to business.
“Mr. Tom, done,” the guy with the slickback passed the camera back to Tom.
“Um.” Tom nodded before saying to Yuan Zhou, “Boss Yuan, we’re done here. We won’t be disturbing you any further as we still need to talk with the store owners around the area.”
“Ok. Goodbye,” Yuan Zhou nodded and walked out of the kitchen carrying a basket.
“You’re leaving as well, Boss Yuan?” Tom asked as he walked out of the restaurant.
“No, I’m practicing sculpting,” Yuan Zhou gave a simple answer.
When he heard Yuan Zhou’s reply, Tom felt somewhat dissatisfied. In his opinion, only those who were lacking in skill needed to practice. Yuan Zhou was most probably one of those people lacking in skill.
“Boss Yuan sure is hardworking. With practice, you will get better,” Tom said after Yuan Zhou sat down in front of the restaurant.
“Yeah, I’ll get better,” Yuan Zhou nodded.
“We won’t be disturbing your practice then, Boss Yuan. See you,” Tom said.
Yuan Zhou nodded and started preparing for his sculpting practice.
After walking about 20 or 30 meters away from the restaurant, Tom couldn’t hold himself anymore and started complaining, “He is still doing a last minute practice? We are going to film him sculpting, right? Is he even trustworthy?”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Tom. Everything will be fine,” the guy with the slickback said.
“This Chinese restaurant is so small and it’s even an open kitchen. When he cooks, the restaurant will definitely be filled with smoke. How will this even look good on the show? This is way too lacking in terms of artistic value, unlike the Western restaurants,” Tom complained again.
“And in Chinese cuisines, regardless of what they cook, they will use the same huge butcher knife. This is unlike the refined and delicate knives that are used in Western cuisines. It will be hard to position the cameras,” Tom started worrying.
The with the slickback guy turned around to look at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant before looking at Tom who was still complaining. He couldn’t help but to speak.
“Yes, you are correct. But the director has already decided on this restaurant. It is not our place to change it. But of course, we might be able to solve this,” he suddenly said.
“You have an idea?” Tom asked, disbelief on his face.
“No, it will depend on you. You do have such deep knowledge on Western cuisines and the Western cuisines have such a refined way of decorating their dishes. Since Boss Yuan is going to start sculpting soon, we might as well go have a look. If you notice any issues, you can offer him some advice,” the slickback guy suggested.
Tom’s gaze faltered as he said in hesitation, “Will this be alright?”
“Yes, it will. You only need to tell him what he needs to do to look good in front of the camera and how to hold the knife so he would look good. You’re an expert in this,” said the guy in the slickback.
“Yeah, that sounds fine. Let’s go take a look. I can also take this chance to think about the camera positioning during filming.” Tom felt like this idea was feasible. After all, he did not need to be bothered about how the food tasted. He only needed to ensure that Yuan Zhou sculpting would look good in front of the camera.
After all, it was fine to specialize in only one aspect. Tom nodded at the guy with the slickback approvingly. This was the best solution.
