The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book)- 13

 

| TBBOTOF | 13

Three people were holding their bowls, eating with their heads down, too busy to say a word.

Tang Xu was quite confident in his cooking skills. Moreover, he had just glanced at the menu hanging on the wall of the restaurant. Although it was written in traditional Chinese characters, as someone who had seen various comics and animations, traditional characters were not difficult to recognize for him.

He came to a conclusion that the supplies here were abundant. Basically, there were all kinds of dishes and meats available. However, the culinary skills were somewhat lacking, probably because the author of this world was more inclined towards the romantic aspect of the story, so other aspects were somewhat lacking.

This was also the reason why he dared to cook. He was confident in himself.

Having been in this world for over a week, Tang Xu almost shed tears of joy when he first tasted white rice. He was grateful for the uncontaminated, natural, green vegetables. Even a leaf tasted delicious.

When the three of them put down their chopsticks, the three dishes on the table were already empty. They looked at each other and smiled.

Chef Liu patted his belly and licked his lips. Actually, he hadn't eaten enough. The salty and spicy flavors in his mouth made him savor it endlessly.

Boss Wu burped, seeing that there was still some bamboo shoots on the plate, he quickly picked them up with his chopsticks and stuffed them into his mouth, then blushed immediately.

What had he just done! It was too embarrassing.

Tang Xu took a sip of tea and broke the silence first, "Shall we discuss somewhere else?"

At this moment, there were quite a few people eating in the restaurant, which was not a suitable place for discussing matters.

Chef Liu glanced at the waiter's order list, all of which were dishes that could be easily prepared. He then stood up and said, "Shall we go to my room?"

Boss Wu frowned, clearly not too keen on going. Mainly because he planned to discuss the recipe matters with Tang Xu in the name of the restaurant. If they went to Chef Liu's room, it would be hard to say who would end up with the recipe.

However, he didn't want to appear suspicious to Chef Liu, so he remained silent, though his expression darkened.

Tang Xu noticed that Boss Wu might have some reservations and quickly figured out what was going on. He said, "Then let's go to Chef Liu's room. Boss Wu, could you please prepare some paper and pens? If your offer is reasonable, I will leave the recipes and sign the contract."

Chef Liu glanced at Boss Wu, who nodded and got up to fetch paper and pens.

Chef Liu's room was tidy. The three of them sat at the table. Tang Xu glanced at the two of them and said, "I'll go to the restroom first. I drank too much water just now."

He needed to give them time to discuss, otherwise it would be awkward if they argued over the recipes here.

After relieving himself and washing his hands, Tang Xu returned feeling relaxed. It was apparent that the two in the room had reached some agreement. Judging from their flushed faces, the argument earlier must have been quite intense.

Tang Xu sat down and looked at them.

Boss Wu spoke first, saying, "The restaurant offers three hundred taels for the recipes of your shredded pork with garlic sauce and crispy potato."

Tang Xu raised an eyebrow, realizing that they intended for each of them to get one recipe. However, the price offered was not high. He had seen on the menu that a dish like shredded cabbage with pork slices was selling for thirty wen.

He remained silent and turned to look at Chef Liu.

Chef Liu said, "Five hundred taels for the recipe of snowflake bean paste, and I can make the stir-fried mushrooms and tofu myself." After all, this dish was quite simple, and he could experiment with frying tofu multiple times to get it right.

The shredded pork in fish-flavored pork slices was cooked to perfection, tender and smooth yet not overcooked. Tang Xu couldn't help but admire it. Normally, when cooking meat, unless it was stewed for a long time, lean meat tended to become dry and tough. The meat slices or shreds he cooked never achieved the same texture. He had researched for a long time but couldn't replicate this texture, and the meat shreds were always either clumped together or broken apart when stir-fried.

Similarly, with the cut potatoes, he could taste that they were deep-fried. He had tried frying and stewing potatoes before, but the texture was completely different. They were either crispy or soft and mushy. This kind of soft and crispy texture was beyond his reach.

Chef Liu had a great attitude. If he couldn't achieve something, he would humbly seek advice. Overcoming such challenges would greatly assist him in creating new dishes in the future.

Originally, he wanted to buy the recipes for all three dishes, but he knew Boss Wu would not agree. After the debate between the two, Boss Wu suggested each person getting two dishes. The restaurant would purchase the recipes, and Chef Liu would be the one to make them. 

However, he had to sign a contract with the restaurant, agreeing not to leave for ten years, and he would also need to take on an apprentice sent by the restaurant. Additionally, he would receive a certain percentage of the profits from the dishes made using the purchased recipes.

Tang Xu wasn't surprised by Chef Liu's proposal. If someone could become a chef, but couldn't even distinguish basic ingredients, then their culinary skills would be limited.

However, five hundred taels for the recipe of snowflake bean paste seemed quite reasonable to Tang Xu. After all, this dish involved both deep-frying and sugar-coating the filling, and the selling price wouldn't be low.

He nodded and replied, "Alright, I'll definitely teach you step by step."

Chef Liu's mouth twitched, as if he wanted to pat Tang Xu's shoulder, but his hand suddenly stopped mid-air. He stared at Tang Xu's face for a while, then suddenly widened his eyes, as if he had been startled and sat up straight.

Tang Xu was puzzled. What's wrong?

Boss Wu was also startled by Chef Liu's actions. He looked at Tang Xu, then at Chef Liu, then suddenly turned to look at Tang Xu as if he had noticed something, making Tang Xu afraid that he would twist his neck with such a sudden movement.

"You, you, you, you're a ger?" Boss Wu was so shocked that he started to stutter.

Tang Xu was stunned, raising his hand to touch his forehead.

Ah, sweating while cooking, he wiped his forehead several times, probably smudging the black makeup on his face, revealing the mole on his brow.

"Oops, sorry. Do you want me to go wash my face?" Tang Xu rubbed his face with his hands, and when he looked down, his palms were covered in black smudges.

Boss Wu looked at him after his series of actions, seeing the mole on his brow covered again by the black makeup. Unable to resist teasing, he asked, "How much black makeup did you put on? It's applied so evenly."

"Not much, just applied it evenly," Tang Xu chuckled, shamelessly adding, "Sometimes being too good-looking is also a sin."

Chef Liu wiped his face, truly at a loss for words on how to describe this young man in front of him.

Bold yet meticulous, with excellent cooking skills, and... he carefully examined his face, couldn't help but admit, he looked quite good. It would be even better if he didn't smear his face with so much black makeup.

Having the same thought as Chef Liu, Boss Wu spoke up, "It's quite nice for someone to come to town with a dirty face. Let's get back to business. Three hundred taels, will you sell it?"

Tang Xu shook his head, firmly telling him, "I won't sell. Snowflake bean paste for five hundred taels."

Chef Liu's eyes lit up, and he took out the silver ticket prepared earlier and slapped it on the table. "Deal!"

Boss Wu: ...Did he just refuse to negotiate? Did he just reject me outright?

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