Chapter 342: A Strange Contest
"What do you mean? You really are?" Ling Hong asked curiously.
"Yes." Qin Yu nodded his head.
"Ok. Great." Instead of having any special reactions, he just nodded his head, indicating that he understood.
"It seems that I’m the smart guy," Wu Hai said complacently.
When Qin Yu found the two people had no special reaction, he lowered his head and continued to eat the peanuts.
"Did you eat secretly while we were talking?" When Wu Hai stopped gloating, he found there was only half a plate of peanuts left and hence asked loudly.
"No. I was just curious about Zheng Jiawei." Qin Yu didn’t stop picking and eating the peanuts when he asked without turning a hair.
"Speaking of which, I’m also curious." Ling Hong also looked at Wu Hai curiously.
"Slurp slurp" Just when Ling Hong turned his head, Wu Hai picked one peanut up and stuffed it into his mouth.
It was really a good opportunity. Ling Hong didn’t even manage to react.
Having eaten the peanut, Wu Hai became content. After all, food that was stolen tasted better. It was the truth.
"My sister once went hiking with him. On the way there, both of them lost their phones and money." Wu Hai appeared fairly earnest when he talked about this matter.
"Then Zheng Jiawei brought your sister back?" Ling Hong speculated.
"Yes. He brought her back in a way that hurt him a lot." After a nod, Wu Hai continued saying.
"Wu Lin was wounded in the leg. He carried her for two days until they got out of that mountainous area, where one would usually spend at least 3 days to walk out alone." Wu Hai drank a mouthful of liquor.
"When they came back, his feet were severely wounded and badly mutilated. Therefore, he stumbles while walking even now. It was the consequence of great pain."
"This person is quite manly. Otherwise, I wouldn’t agree for my sister to get along with him." Wu Hai actually had tender love for his sister.
"Never did I expect that guy to be so persevering." Ling Hong nodded his head and showed great admiration.
"He is dutiful, reliable and ready to shoulder responsibility." Qin Yu summarized decisively. This time, Wu Hai didn’t say anything but nodded his head quietly.
The two women who were chatting at the side also heard the conversation; however, they didn’t express any of their opinions.
The silence only stayed for a little while before the chatting continued.
While taking good rest in the restaurant, Yuan Zhou was reading the newly-bought books.
He planned to finish at least 1/3 of the books before he started to use the 100 Ways to Make Mantous rewarded by the system. This was the target that Yuan Zhou set for himself.
"Ling Ling Ling, Ling Ling Ling". The phone suddenly rang. Instead of answering it immediately, Yuan Zhou first finished the chapter and made a note. Only then did he pick up the phone.
"Hello." Yuan Zhou answered the phone.
"Hello, Mr. Yuan. I’m Yan Jia, the assistant of Mr. Lee Yanyi." The person at the other end of the phone first made himself known.
"Um." Yuan Zhou nodded his head habitually. Only later did he become stupefied for a moment before he reacted and answered with an "Um".
"Mr. Yuan, what are your thoughts on that contest?" Yan Jia got straight to the point once he spoke.
"What kind of ingredients are you going to provide?" Yuan Zhou was fairly curious about that.
That’s right. Lee Yanyi recommended Yuan Zhou to take part in an internal contest among the chefs.
The content of the contest was quite interesting. It wasn’t the common cooking, but an examination on their knowledge of food ingredients.
Namely, the origin, the year of production, use and taste of the raw ingredients of different dishes.
"1/3 of them are the commonly-seen ingredients in the market while the other 1/3 are those that are not often used. And the remaining ingredients are the kind that are precious and scarce." Yan Jia made an introduction.
"Ok. I’ll go." Yuan Zhou nodded his head and agreed.
"Alright. I’m not going to bother you anymore. Good night," Yan Jia said courteously.
"Um. I will be there on time." Having thought for a while, Yuan Zhou added.
"Ok, Mr. Yuan. Do you need me to send you the address and contest matters by mail or email?" Yan Jia inquired.
"By mail, please." Yuan Zhou was always terrible with the high-tech electronic products, thus he chose the mailing method decisively.
"The mail will arrive at your end tomorrow. Please check and receive it." Yan Jia calculated the time and reminded him warmly.
"Um." Yuan Zhou answered lightly and spoke no more.
Then Yan Jia hung off the phone timely.
"An interesting contest." Yuan Zhou looked at the phone and said with interest.
When Yan Jia called him for this matter the first time, Yuan Zhou didn’t agree to it immediately.
According to Yuan Zhou’s theory, "I’m such a learned and elegant man and must be reserved. Even if I’m interested in that, I can’t appear to reveal it."
The reason why Yuan Zhou promised to join the contest was that he wanted to check if there were any differences between the ingredients provided in the contest and those provided by the system.
How large the difference was mattered a lot to Yuan Zhou.
"Making a cart behind closed doors isn’t likely to work all the time. I ought to check around for other chefs’ craftsmanship." Stroking his forehead, Yuan Zhou was thinking of the matter of the contest.
"Ding Ling Ling". The phone rang again.
The two characters of Sun Ming flashed constantly on the screen of his phone.
"What’s the matter?" Once the phone was put through, Yuan Zhou asked unreservedly.
"You answered the phone so quickly today." Taking the phone, Sun Ming ridiculed smilingly.
"Tell me what it is." Yuan Zhou knew his own brother quite well.
"Can’t I call you when I’m free? What about you treat me to dinner?" Once he opened the mouth, Sun Ming talked about eating, eating and eating, which conformed to his identity of a foodie.
"No problem. Let’s eat in the neighboring restaurant." Yuan Zhou agreed readily.
"Why are you so abnormal today? You don’t have a plot, Compass, right?" Sun Ming had never seen such a moment when Yuan Zhou was so easy-going.
"No, I don’t. I am treating you to dinner and you pay the bill," Yuan Zhou said calmly.
"Just as expected, you truly want to cheat me." There was some understanding in the tone of Sun Ming.
"Their dishes are much cheaper than mine." Yuan Zhou added with a low voice.
"No dishes are more expensive than yours," Sun Min complained.
Indeed. Dishes in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant were absolutely well-known for their very high price. Therefore, even if so many customers came for meals everyday, those small restaurants didn’t have any intention of poaching his customers and competing with him."
After all, who would make a comparison between a tiny restaurant and a five-star hotel, not to mention that the existence of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant brought a large crowd of customers.
As a result, even the business of those tiny restaurants got better by 20%. Therefore, the bosses of those businesses were only too anxious in hoping that Yuan Zhou’s restaurant remained like that.
"There is a newly-opened restaurant. It’s fairly famous and quite expensive." Yuan Zhou thought of the prices to be more or less the same as his and uttered an adjective of "quite expensive".
Yuan Zhou had always believed that his price was economical and practical. Of course, it was based on his food ingredients.
"No, I don’t want to go. I have a serious matter," Sun Min refused flatly.
He would rather save some good money and go to eat something more delicious in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
"Since Yuan Zhou has such a good cooking craftsmanship, why would I go to other places to eat?" Sun Ming was always so frank and straightforward.
"Ok. What is it?" Yuan Zhou didn’t insist. He had just been a little curious.
"Do you go out to cook for others? The labor cost is 5000 RMB per table and there are a total of ten tables." Sun Ming asked directly.
"Your friend? How is your relationship?" Yuan Zhou didn’t give an answer directly, but asked that way.
"A friend in my Weixin group. I’m not familiar with him, but he is rich." Sun Ming answered.
"No, I don’t." Yuan Zhou refused flatly.
"Alright. I have already anticipated this result." Sun Ming likewise guessed the answer. It’s just that this friend asked him. He felt that it was not complicated to make a call and hence inquired.
"Um." Yuan Zhou answered and then hung off the phone.
...