Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Chef Li was filled with confidence after hearing what his disciple had to say.
“Go pick a couple of catties of kuruma prawns for me,” said Chef Li as he decided to make some kuruma prawns.
He was going to start practicing cooking right now. After all, it had been quite a while since he last cooked.
The kuruma prawn, also known as Japanese tiger prawn, was one of the more common types of seafood. Compared to other types of seafood, the meat of kuruma prawn was more tender.
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The apprentice nodded but did not leave. Rather, he stood there staring at his master, wanting to say something yet hesitated.
“By the way, I have a question, master,” said the disciple hesitatingly, seemingly having difficulties articulating his thoughts.
“Just say what’s on your mind. Stop hesitating. I will answer any questions you have,” said Chef Li who was feeling generous as he felt like he was about to reach the apex of his life.
“Chairman Zhou and Chairman Zhang are very close to that Yuan Zhou. Since they are the judges for this challenge, will they be biased when judging?” The disciple was worried that the match would be fixed and they would be defeated even if they cooked better. After all, fixed matches weren’t all that rare nowadays.
Chef Li smiled and answered confidently, “A person capable of being a chairman will, at the very least, be just when it comes to cooking. Moreover, with their status, they can’t afford to be biassed in an official match.”
Hearing that, the disciple felt relieved and immediately left to get the kuruma prawns.
The match would be held during the afternoon. After all, Yuan Zhou would not interrupt the normal opening hours of his restaurant for the sake of some inconsequential people.
As Yuan Zhou had never slacked, he did not need any warm-ups before the match. He would be in top form at all times.
Today, the restaurant was opened as usual.
Today, nobody came to create trouble. Thus, the atmosphere there was in relative harmony. Naturally, some customers were still confused. Thus, they were all talking about it.
“I wonder why Boss Yuan refused to accept the challenge. They were obviously stepping on him.”
“What’s the point of accepting a challenge from someone that low?”
“True. Our Boss Yuan’s level is not so low that he has to accept the challenge from some unimportant person,” said Wang Hong.
A few days ago, Wang Hong had just written a book titled Birth of Miracle. The name gave an impression that it would be an impressive book, but in truth, the title was totally a form of bait as the content of the book merely detailed the birth of Wu Zhou’s child, the miracle.
The incident from the other day was still fresh in Wang Hong’s mind. The love a stranger had for a newborn life gave off an indescribable feeling.
In the book, Wang Hong wrote that in truth, many conflicts in this world could be resolved at the instant where a new life was birthed.
For example, in the Bollywood movie Three Idiots, the director in the movie, Viru, was so strict his own son was pressured to death. After personally witnessing the birth of his grandchild, his outlook toward life changed completely.
In truth, Wang Hong was good at writing, and he was also an extremely learned person. He could easily quote the classics any time of the day. Unfortunately, when he wrote, he would only write whatever he wanted and never spared any thought to whether what he wrote would be received well by the readers.
Today, Wang Hong had arrived with an atypical renowned author. They were going to have a knowledge sharing session at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
The reason this author was called an atypical renowned author was because he had never revealed his pen name. Wang Hong had merely discovered that this person had a very good relationship with the book publishers. He even heard that more than 1,000,000 copies of this author’s book were sold overseas.
When this author first received the invitation, he planned to reject it. But he changed his mind when he found out the venue was Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
There was a popular theory on the Internet that to increase the odds of reaching a deal, three treasures must be included: liquor, singing, and Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
The final treasure was a mythical treasure capable of increasing the odds of success by 10%!
Thus, the author was successfully invited. The two reached quite early and were among the second batch customers.
As for Wu Hai, he had already recovered. In full spirits, he was first in line again today.
“I already read your new book. Your biggest issue is still the same. You are always ignoring the reader’s reading experience,” said the author while they were waiting for their dishes to arrive.
“For example, here at this part, when you quoted Phoenix, there is a lack of footnote…” the author started analyzing seriously.
Wang Hong was dissatisfied and argued, “The readers should already know that, right? Providing an explanation is redundant. Phoenix is Jürgen Habermas, the most influential philosopher in the present age, a professor at Goethe University Frankfurt. Who doesn’t know that?”
Jürgen Habermas was indeed popular. He was nicknamed Phoenix not because of his accomplishments, but rather because of his long life. Not to mention the people of his generation, he had even outlived the people of the next generation.
So why was Jürgen Habermas the current number one guy? The moral of the story was to become the best of a field, one only needed to live longer than others who were also great.
Jürgen Habermas might be popular, but only among those interested in philosophy. But those with no interest would have no idea who he was.
“Sure. Ask around. See how many people here know him,” said the author, not bothering to argue.
Wang Hong was stubborn and was not convinced. Thus, he stood up and started asking the customers one by one, including those in the queue. He asked over 30 people in total, and only five knew who Jürgen Habermas was.
Of the five, only one knew more about him. The author had successfully proved to Wang Hong with the cold hard truth that common sense might not be so common after all.
The extremely stubborn Wang Hong was still unconvinced, “An author must have his own style and can’t allow the readers to shape him as they wished.”
That was quite logical in a way since literature had always been a selfish field.
But next, the author said something that hit straight on the mark, “Do you think you have the fame or skills of someone like Wu Hai? Sure, when you are that popular, do whatever you want and you will still receive support.”
Wu Hai had long left the restaurant as he was part of the first batch of customers.
Wang Hong was completely stunned. No matter how conceited he was, he approved greatly of Wu Hai’s artistic talent.
Then again, Wang Hong was of the opinion that he wasn’t much worse than Wu Hai. But due to Wu Hai’s fame, he decided not to say anything about that.
“Perhaps you think you’re as talented as him,” the author continued, perhaps because he thought his explanation wasn’t sufficient. He added, “An unappreciated talent is not talent. Rather, it is a failure.”
This completely stunned Wang Hong. He used to think he was a talented person with no chances to display his talents.
But thinking about it, was he truly talented? Or was he merely a failure?
“Thank you for the generous meal today,” said the author. He had finished the meal while Wang Hong was daydreaming.
That’s right. The author first stunned Wang Hong into stupefaction. Then, the dishes arrived. After finishing the dishes, the author proceeded to thank Wang Hong.
“Thank you for your guidance today. Can you please tell me the name of your book? I will definitely buy it and study it repeatedly,” said Wang Hong as he bowed seriously.
“Boss Yuan’s food is really as good as rumored. Nevertheless, one will only know how good it is after personally eating it. As for my book, forget about it,” said the author awkwardly when his book was mentioned. He forcefully shifted the topic and insisted to not talk about it when he saw the stubborn look on Wang Hong’s face.
He sold over one million books overseas yet was embarrassed to say the name?
Wang Hong was bewildered, yet he did not linger on it. He was still trying to digest the words the author had just told him.
The other customers continued eating. The day passed without anything special happening. After dinnertime, Yuan Zhou cleaned the restaurant before heading to the trash dump station as usual.
But this time, right after he placed his trash bag down, an old man called out at him.
“Boss Yuan, hold on. Boss Yuan, hold on,” called the old man, somewhat gasping for breath. It was obvious his stamina wasn’t that good.
