Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“A fixed salary of 4000-5000RMB per month and some performance bonus as well as some extra income. Tsk. It seems that I still can’t eat more than a few times.” The reporter’s mental arithmetic ability was fairly good.
He suddenly found that he couldn’t eat more than a few times with his income and hence knitted his brows tight.
“Those that have finished their meal. Please go this way.” Zhou Jia’s voice sounded by the reporter’s ear.
Only then did he found that he had stood up and left his seat.
“Oh, okay.” On hearing that, the reporter answered subconsciously and then walked out.
As soon as he went out, he heard people discussing the matter about Yuan Zhou winning the award. Then, he suddenly reacted that he wasn’t here to eat a meal.
“I haven’t interviewed him.” The reporter cried out in alarm and immediately turned around towards the restaurant.
“Excuse me! Did you forget to take something?” It was someone from the queuing committee who asked.
Besides that, he was a trainee of Chen Wei, the young and strong man who helped to draw liquor for Chen Wei for the first time.
After he helped Chen Wei to draw the liquor and drank it, he became a loyal customer of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. Furthermore, he had joined the queuing committee for a very long time.
And he happened to be on duty at the door today. He had already heard the reporter shout and wrangle in front and hence came over to check the situation.
“Oh, no. I have a very important matter about the award,” the reporter was also very shrewd. He replied inexplicitly.
“It’s business time right now. Boss Yuan won’t see you.” The young man immediately went up and stopped the reporter from going inside.
“Say no more. I asked you just now out of my duty. I already knew you were a reporter who sneaked into the restaurant. You better leave now.” The young man was a full head taller than the reporter. When he talked with the reporter, he directly looked down at him.
“But…”
“Don’t say but. I have seen so many people like you, who claim to be a reporter and wanted to interview him. However, they would only want to interview after eating. Then, basically, they would end up the same as you. They forget everything after the meal,” the young man said straightforwardly.
“Well…” The reporter instantly became speechless.
The young man was right. He had intended to sneak into the restaurant and eat something casually and then do the interview, as he also heard the dishes here were quite delicious. Therefore, he ordered a serving of 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine, namely the plain cooked rice.
However, he still forgot to interview Yuan Zhou.
“All right, forget it. I would rather not take this job next time. Fortunately, I have some photos.” On second thought, he prepared to use these few photos, which were taken by him when he first entered the restaurant, to report to his employer.
After all, he had been paid to take this job.
That’s right. The reporter took a job, a job to blacken Yuan Zhou’s name.
The payer was the boss of that shrimp and crab restaurant, more specifically, a crowd of people employed by that boss.
They prepared to mould public opinion when Yuan Zhou had just received the pennant of the Exemplary Restaurant and then implemented their own plan.
However, Yuan Zhou had no idea of all these things. He was now staring blankly at the reward of the system.
“The work hasn’t ended yet. Let me suspend receiving the reward temporarily.” Yuan Zhou turned off the interface on the computer and sighed.
“Will there be a result from the search tomorrow?” Yuan Zhou thought before he went to bed.
While Yuan Zhou’s culinary skills were improving rapidly, he was also looking for the family members of the boxer. But till now, he still had no clue.
At noon on the following day…
Two people, one young and old, came to Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. One was a regular customer of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant while the other came here for the very first time.
Actually, these kinds of things often happened. And this was the source of the reputation effect. One introduced another to come here. Of course, there were also some people who never shared good things for the sake of their own benefits like Wu Hai and Lee Yanyi.
“Here we are. This is the place,” said Zhou Shijie.
That’s right. They were Zhou Shijie and his little son, Zhou Xi, who had just returned home from abroad. Zhou Xi was in his twenties and was quite slim. He looked like Zhou Shijie very much and looked as prideful as Zhou Shijie in his youth.
“Dad, you specifically told me not to go to work just in order to come to such a small place to eat?” Zhou Xi revealed a manner of dissatisfaction, “I’m going to see Ming’s art show today. Dad, do you know Mingyi? He is an emerging artist of surrealism, who’s rarely seen at home. He was even invited to attend the Ernst Reminiscence Art Show before and was the only Chinese.”
Speaking of Mingyi, Zhou Xi instantly couldn’t control himself. He began to talk wordily, not caring if Zhou Shijie would like to hear that.
“Mingyi, I think, is the most distinguished young artist at home at present. His representative work, Rapidly Running Car Seated On A Man really has the style of Ernst’s representative work, Two Kids Scared By A Nightingale,” said Zhou Xi.
“Dad, how about I get another ticket and take you to see Mingyi’s art show? I don’t think there’s anything worth eating in this tiny restaurant,” Zhou Xi took Zhou Shijie’s hands and said on a whim.
When he caught sight of Zhou Shijie’s silent eyes, however, Zhou Xi suddenly stopped speaking. He was fairly afraid of Zhou Shijie.
“Hurry up and take the number ticket, then line up. There are more and more people coming.” The good mood of Zhou Shijie was totally destroyed by Zhou Xi’s words.
The key point was that there had been seven or eight people in front of them at the door while they were talking. The first one was naturally Wu Hai.
“Shameless Wu, did you hear someone was discussing about the paintings over there just now? Go to lecture them.” Qin Xiaoyi was the second one, right after him.
“No.” Wu Hai stared at Yuan Zhou who was preparing the ingredients in the restaurant and said without turning his head.
Qin Xiaoyi asked, “Why not?”
“He isn’t qualified to discuss them with me,” said Wu Hai.
Qin Xiaoyi laughed, “I would almost believe you if you were not staring at Boss Yuan. I think you are just afraid of losing your first position.”
Anyhow, Zhou Xi received the number ticket and began to line up.
“Dad, aren’t you the chairman of China Chefs’ Alliance?” Zhou Xi stopped abruptly before he finished his words, because he caught sight of a familiar person.
“My senior fellow student?” The person whom he referred to was Yu Chu, who was at the end of the line.
“Dad, are you really sure this restaurant serves nice dishes?” Zhou Xi pointed at Yu Chu without a trace.
He said cryptically, “Dad, you are the chairman, so I essentially don’t have a say in your taste. But that Yu Chu was a fellow student of mine who graduated several years earlier than me. He was never particular about eating. When we studied abroad, we had a saying. All restaurants where he liked to eat would not be on our radar. He successfully managed to avoid all restaurants that served delicious food. As a result, he was regarded as the quality inspector of fine food in Chinatown.”
“How long has it been since you met him last time?” Zhou Shijie asked.
Zhou Xi said immediately, “It’s been a few years, but his appearance hasn’t changed at all. I’m quite sure it’s him. And Yu Chu doesn’t care about the taste, which is a changeless truth.”
Zhou Shijie looked at his silly son. He wasn’t familiar with Yu Chu, but in any case, his son hadn’t seen Yu Chu for a few years. Even if he didn’t care about food before, it was fairly common for one to be changed in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
Not to mention Zhou Shijie could still remember Yu Chu’s incisive and merciless comments during the appraisal of the Exemplary Restaurant last time…
