Chapter 84 - 79: Unexpected Guest

Chapter 84: Chapter 79: Unexpected Guest

The day of the food tasting happened to be a Saturday, so the cafeteria and food stalls were closed. Before dawn, the five of them rushed to Ning He’s house, finished their preparations, and then packed everything up, loading it into a van Connie had hired.

The address Leitel provided wasn’t his own home, but a sprawling villa elsewhere in the First Ring. As soon as their van arrived, it was directed to the backyard, where Leitel and a few of his old friends were waiting.

Ning He directed the team as they unloaded several temporary cooking stations, seven or eight coolers, a fully-stocked seasoning station, and a sizable collection of tableware from the van. It was quite a professional-looking setup.

Although the tasting didn’t necessarily require the food to be cooked on-site, Ning He saw the benefit in a full rehearsal. She didn’t mind the trouble of bringing all the equipment over.

Leitel walked over, his gaze sweeping across the professional equipment under the awning. His smile hid a trace of sheepishness.

"So, um... do you happen to have your specialty spaghetti bolognese today?"

Ning He nodded. "Of course. I knew you’ve been looking forward to it, so I made sure to prepare it."

Leitel’s heart instantly eased. "That’s wonderful, just wonderful! I’m in for a real treat today!"

After he’d relented and agreed to let Gates and Carolyn attend the tasting yesterday, Leitel had come under heavy fire from his old friends. They said he was getting senile, that the two were clearly coming just to find fault. What would happen if they embarrassed the young chef and she decided to leave?

The more Leitel thought about it, the more he felt they had a point.

After all, just because he and his old friends liked her cooking didn’t mean everyone would. Gates’s Level 3 Restaurant in the First Ring, in particular, had always prided itself on its high-end ingredients. This was Ning He’s weak point. If they nitpicked her on that, wouldn’t she be unfairly wronged?

But the spaghetti bolognese changed things. Most high-end restaurants served pasta dishes with a similar flavor profile. One taste and the difference would be obvious. Then, even if the young chef’s ingredients weren’t on the same level, Gates wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

Beaming, Leitel offered Ning He a few words of encouragement before walking away, reassured. He joined his old friends to play cards in a nearby pavilion.

Ning He learned from a member of the house staff that this was the home of the portly middle-aged man. The host himself, however, was still out handling business and wouldn’t return until noon.

As she glanced at the old men in the pavilion, engrossed in a loud, boisterous game of cards as if they were the only ones there, Ning He couldn’t help but be reminded of a certain idiom:

Cuckoos in the magpie’s nest.

However, from what she’d seen, it was a case of both sides being perfectly willing.

"Everything is ready. We can begin," Connie’s voice said, pulling Ning He from her thoughts.

"Okay. Let’s get to work."

Ning He put on her chef’s hat and took her place behind the stove. Soon, the area under the awning was filled with the sounds of clashing pots and pans, and the sizzle of deep-frying, pan-frying, and stir-frying.

"...You damn cripple, you’re cheating again!" the skinny old man shouted, his eyes wide with rage as he stared at the cards on the table.

The old man with the cane jutted out his chin. "Nonsense! When have I ever cheated? You’re clearly about to lose, so now you’re just being a sore loser!"

Still fuming, the skinny old man pulled the gray-haired man over. "You tell me what’s fair! Didn’t he already play this King of Hearts? How could he possibly have another one?"

"Er, well..." The gray-haired man looked conflicted. "I wasn’t really paying attention..."

"Leitel, what about you? Did you see it or not?" the skinny old man demanded.

But Leitel’s mind was far from the card game. With his eyes gently closed and a blissful expression on his face, he took a deep, deliberate breath.

"Do you smell that? This fragrance... It’s simply breathtaking."

The other three old men paused, then instinctively took a sniff. In an instant, the card game before them was completely forgotten.

"What is that? How can it smell so good?" the gray-haired old man asked, craning his neck toward the awning, his nostrils flaring.

"I don’t know. I’ve never smelled anything like it. But my mouth is starting to water," said the old man with the cane, pushing himself up from the table and swallowing hard several times.

The skinny old man’s eyes were glued to Ning He’s stove.

"What amazing dish is that young lady making now? Nope, this old man can’t wait any longer. I’m going over to get a taste right now."

True to his word, the skinny old man started walking out of the pavilion. The other three snapped back to reality and hurried after him. The four of them jostled their way to Ning He’s station.

There was a deep earthenware pot, its lid still on. Simmering over a low flame, plumes of fragrance escaped from the gap. Up close, the rich aroma seemed to fill their very lungs.

The scent was rich with the aroma of meat and fat, mingled with spices they had never encountered before and a deep, savory fragrance from the sauce. A closer whiff revealed a hint of sweetness, enough to instantly awaken one’s most primal appetite.

The four old men were entranced.

Before they could even ask for a small bite to soothe their craving, an even more overpowering and stimulating aroma wafted over. Their eyes snapped open as they searched for its source.

The fragrance was erupting from the wok in Ning He’s hands.

It was a dense, tangy fragrance, laced with a sharp heat that tickled the nose and a hint of a familiar numbing spice.

It was the kind of scent that could make one ravenous with a single whiff.

Their mouths began to water uncontrollably.

Just then, Youzhen opened the deep pot in front of him. A fragrance unique to chicken burst forth, carrying the fresh aroma of mushrooms, the savory scent of sauce, and a hint of pepper, washing over the four old men standing just a few feet away.

"I can’t take it anymore! It’s too good, I can’t stand it! Young lady, hurry and give us a little taste!" the old man with the cane shouted impatiently at Ning He. His eyes darted between the different pots, and he looked ready to lunge forward and take a bite out of one of them.

Ning He blinked, then burst out laughing.

"The braised pork isn’t quite ready, and the fish slices have to be cooked right before serving. The chicken, however, should be done. Youzhen, ladle out four small bowls of the chicken and prepare a plate of side dishes. Let our guests have a taste first."

"Right away."

Youzhen nodded. He quickly prepared the four bowls and the single plate, arranged them on a tray, and handed it to Leitel.

"Quick, back to the pavilion to try this properly!"

The eyes of the old man with the cane lit up the moment he saw the food. He began to urge the others impatiently, and in a flash, the four old men vanished.

Meanwhile, the car carrying Carolyn and Gates arrived outside the villa.

The moment they stepped out of the car, they were hit by the complex, intermingling aromas of food.

Carolyn took off her sunglasses and glanced at the middle-aged man beside her, whose smile had become stiff. The corners of her lips curled up slightly.

"It looks like you’ve truly met your match. You’d be hard-pressed to find an aroma like this even in the restaurants on the First Ring, wouldn’t you?"

A muscle in Chairman Gates’s jaw twitched, and he snorted.

"The aroma is decent, I’ll grant you that. But we’ll have to taste it to know if it’s actually any good. It’s too early to draw conclusions."

The pair walked onto the villa grounds and were guided to the backyard by a staff member. They immediately spotted the four old men in the pavilion. Each one was cradling a bowl, savoring its contents as meticulously as a child with a favorite sweet, their faces masks of pure, blissful satisfaction.

As for whether it was good or not, the answer was written all over their faces.

Chairman Gates’s expression darkened.

However, his attention was soon captured by the ever-thickening aroma in the air. Without disturbing the men in the pavilion, he and Carolyn headed straight for the source of the fragrance.

Under the awning, five figures were bustling about, each focused on their work.

Gates’s gaze quickly locked onto the young woman in the middle.

She appeared to be demonstrating for the young man beside her how to process an ingredient. The knife in her hand moved in a blur, its rise and fall nearly invisible. When she stopped, the perfectly square block of tofu had been transformed into a pile of delicate shreds.

Then, without a moment’s pause, the young woman moved on to another task.

She held an iron wok in her left hand and a spatula in her right. One by one, she tossed various seasonings into the wok, followed by a large bowl of rice. With a series of practiced flips, the ingredients mixed together, a medley of five colors. Even from a distance, Gates could see that the once-white rice was now coated in a golden sheen, and yet another fragrance joined the others in the air.

And while doing all of this, she still had the presence of mind to instruct her companions on their own tasks, never showing the slightest sign of being rushed or overwhelmed.

In his own restaurant, only the head chef possessed that level of fluid skill.

A slow smile spread across Gates’s face, and a shrewd glint appeared in his eyes.

Ning He sensed something and glanced up instinctively, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

’That’s weird. Why did I just get the feeling I was being watched?’

She muttered to herself, then returned to her work.

Half an hour later, the portly middle-aged man arrived home, and the tasting banquet officially began.